Can anyone provide tips on setting a strategy to study?!?

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Hi BTG community!

I rec'd all my study materials about a week ago, which includes the OG Guide 12th ed review, OG Quant & Verbal. Additionally, I purchased the Manhatten GMAT 8-pack, and the Manhatten for GMAT Math supplemental guide.

I've started my studying by reviewing the Manhatten GMAT for Math book. The upside with this book is the drill sets at the end of each chapter. There are plenty of problems to practice with. My guess is that the guide is to help with building up speed.

I haven't opened the OG books yet as I wanted to review the Manhatten books first - thinking this will help provide a foundation with the concepts tested. I scheduled the exam for mid-September, so I have some time. But, as we all know, time flies by these days. :)

Being that the OG book is nearly 900 pages, I'm wondering how many of you have actually worked every problem in the book. I've read in other posts that some worked the last 100 questions in each chapter. Is that safe? Did people have the answers open at the same time?

With so many review materials and about 2.5 months to go, I'm hoping I can get some advice on how to plan my studying accordingly. I'm allocating about 2-2.5 hrs during the week after work to practice some math - as I'm working full time as well. I plan to put aside the weekends to really hit the books studying.

Your input is greatly appreciated!

Daniel
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by Patrick_GMATFix » Fri Jun 25, 2010 6:21 am
Hi Daniely73,

The books you have are good and 2.5months is not ample time but it could be much worse. I would suggest that you add the OG Companion to the mix.

It's not enough to read lessons and to practice. A key part of improving is to review your work after you've practiced. Once you begin practicing out of the OG12, use the OG Companion for 2 purposes: (1) to study detailed solutions, solving strategies and take-away lessons to the OG questions; (2) to organize your practice by topic (the OG Companion has a reference section that classifies all the OG quant into topics and difficulty levels).

Finally, I would suggest that you take the GMATPrep exam regularly (every 2 weeks until 1 month before your test; every week after that). Review the solutions to the questions in GMATPrep to learn additional strategies and tactics.

Good luck!
-Patrick
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