Advice/Feedback Needed ... tools to conquer GMAT over 5/6 mo

Received a PM asking me to reply.

I would say that most people take about 3-4 months to prep, but obviously that will vary depending upon your situation: how much time you have to study every day, how much of an improvement you want, etc.

Start with a practice test from one of the test prep companies - something that will give you a report with extensive analysis on your strengths and weaknesses (including question types, content areas, and timing). Most companies offer one test for free; you can get one from my company by "buying" a $0 free practice test in the "store" area of our web site. Make sure to take the test under full official conditions. (essays, 10 min break, quant, 10 min break, verbal)

Download GMATPrep practice tests from www.mba.com, but don't use them yet - save them for later in your prep. These tests are from the people who make the real test; they are a great gauge of your progress / current scoring level, but they provide absolutely no analysis, so they're not a good tool to start your prep.

Okay, now that you have your starting score, see how far away you are from your goal score. That will give you an idea of what you will need to do. Fairly obvious, but: if you are pretty far away, you will likely need to take longer to study than if you are not so far away. If you are pretty far away, you may need to take a class / work with someone; if you are not so far away, you may be able to study on your own.

Re: books, you definitely need the official guide books (real past test questions from the people who make the test). The current ones are Official Guide 12th edition, Verbal supplement, and Quantitative supplement. You may also eventually want to use GMAT Focus (another official quant product), but I would save that one for a bit later in your study.

You'll also need some books that teach you the content and strategies you need to know for the test. I won't comment on this (I'm biased - obviously, I like my own company's books!).

If you do decide to take a class, I do think it's a good idea to do some work before the class starts. Depends on the class, but our class assigns a LOT of homework, so if you do some of the work upfront, you'll have more time during the course to concentrate on the harder stuff. eg, you may want to get the quant books and start reviewing all of the math rules and formulas, most of which you probably don't remember from high school (and earlier!).

Also, all the companies offer lots of free stuff, so take advantage of it. In addition to the free practice test, my company also offers free information sessions and lets students sit in on a first class of the course for free. I'm sure other companies do similar things, so just check everything out and see what you think will work best for you. Good luck with all of your tests!