Hi Stacey,
I am glad that you brought up the realities of trying to do too much prep work in a short period of time. I think that the time that you take to prepare for the GMAT also depends on how much time that you have available outside of work. I am not currently working on a full time basis so that I can devote a lot of my time to studying for the GMAT. I remember when the Manhattan GMAT online course started on March 11. I made up a plan to study for the test that took into account most all of the material that Manhattan GMAT has to offer in print and online. I also thought that I was being smart when I added some other material that I had downloaded from MBA.com in the form of old, retired GMAT paper tests. In addition, I thought that I could use all of the Powerprep practice sets as well.
So, making a plan like that, seemed to be the kind that would be way too much work given the time frame that was available to me until I take the test in May. Accordingly, I decided to "tweak" that study plan of mine. Now, I am only concentrating on what Manhattan GMAT asks us to do as a part of the structure of their course. If I had stuck to my old plan, I would be sitting here spending five hours a day, every day, to finish everything on that plan. Now, for the most part, three hours a day is my limit. On practice test days, I will have to spend four hours plus to finish the tests. I have to say that even though I am currently not working at my job on a full time basis, I just couldn't spend any more than 25 hours a week doing my prep work. Honestly, spending any more time than that would really burn me out.
My advice is to not overload yourself with too much in too short of a period of time. I am doing just fine studying this way, too.
Greg
