ok.. here is the debrief..
I studied on and off for about 5 weeks, with that last two weeks getting serious about the whole ordeal and studying 4 hours a day.....
I am a 24 year old male psych undergrad. I currently work as a teacher in the Los Angeles.
I teach 6th grade math which actually helped with a lot of the math on this test.... Prime numbers, factors, fractions, percents, proportions, ratios, probability... I have not taken a formal math class since senior year of highschool when I passed AP calc....
To study I used:
the big orange (OG 11)- most of it...
SC Manhattan- read through it once.
Geometry Manhattan- Read half of it, and was mad when I saw maybe 1 geometry question on the entire test....
Kaplan 2005- Read the math strategy, and took the practice tests.. Never broke 600 on them by the way.. The math was RIDICULOUS..
I bought the verbal and quant review OG's but never got around to doing them.
The main way I studied was by TAKING PRACTICE TESTS! I took over 10 in the course of my studies..... Most scoring in the 690- 730 range with a few higher outliers...
I recommend buying a manhattan prep book! There is a great deal where if you buy one book you get the 6 practice tests online for FREE!!
They sell for 39$ if you buy them, so buy two books, get the tests and still save 5 bucks!! These books are the best. I wish I would have bought the algebra book, but I admit to being lazy, and not wanting to spend time learning new concepts.....
Advice-----
I don't really have much.. My score started out at around 650, and just got better as I took more practice test, and focused while I took the test.
Reading comp and critical thinking were always easy for me, and I just hated sentence corrections... I even read and studied all the rules, but rarely did I find a problem that a rule could cleanly be applied.. This part really bothered me...
On the math, I don't really have much advice. My math ability capped out at around 49, as the problems just got too tough for me to figure out in the amount of time given.
When you break down the math, a lot of it just goes back to basic princibles of math... Know how to write equations from word problems and manipulate variables....
On data sufficiency think about what you NEED to solve the problem, and see if you have it.. ie. If you have two variables, you need two DIFFERENT equations...
The AWA section is a breeze... Although i don't know my score I am confident I did well... Just study the formula that 800 score gives you..
bottom line on AWA is that they NEVER give you enough information to back up the argument...
On test day- Relax.. I freaked out because I thought my reading questions were too easy towards the end.. Don't even think about that stuff.. Just focus and rock the test....
I honestly didn't have much strategy while taking the test. I just did a lot of PRACTICE, which refamiliarized me with the topics and methods, and helped me speed up these processes so I could use them in the course of the test....
Now I am off to try and convince a top 20 business school that they need a 24 year old teacher in their 2009 class.....
GOOD LUCK...
