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Can someone help me? Don't know where to start!

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Can someone help me? Don't know where to start!

by catgo » Thu Mar 19, 2009 10:00 pm
I just bought some books to prepare for the gmat. I plan on taking the exam in about 6 weeks. I have about 3 hrs per day on weekdays and about 5 on weekends to study for the exam. I also will be taking a break from work for about 10 days in early april to be able to study.

I have about 5 books with me but I don't know which of those books would be more appropriate to start with.

BTW I graduated with a business major 4 yrs ago and have been working ever since, so I might need a little refresh in basic mathematical concepts.

These are the books I have:

-The official guide for the gmat, 11th edition.
-Kaplan Gmat Comprehensive program 2009.
-Manhattan Gmat Equations, Inequalities, & Vic's
-Manhattan Gmat Number Properties Gmat Preparation Guide
-Manhattan Gmat Geometry Gmat Preparation Guide

I also downloaded/signed up for online test samples from:

Kaplan
Knewton
Manhattan Gmat
Gmat Prep

With all these books and tests, I don't know where to start, can some one advise me where I should start and which books should I leave last?

Also, I have obviously decided to concentrate on math since I believe its my greatest weakness according to the diagnostics test from the the official guide. However, I plan on buying a verbal guide as well, which one do you guys recommend?

Thanks!
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by hk » Fri Mar 20, 2009 7:28 am
Since you have already taken the Diagnostic tests from OG, you have already made the right start. Analyze the answers and find the sections that you are weak in Quant. Once you have done this, i would suggest you go thro the manhattan guides to refresh all the concepts.

After you get your fundamentals clear, i would suggest you to start solving problems from the OG. Not a hundred a day but atleast 40 a day, and make sure you time them and review ALL the answers to know where you went wrong and what method of solving would best suite the question.

Since you have only 6 weeks, i'd say limit the above study to one and half to 2 weeks. Then start with the GMATPrep CAT 1. Take it to get a better estimate on where you stand. And then base your preparations on that.
All this is assuming that you are good at verbal, and need just a little bit practice. Go over the OG for verbal practice.

One humble suggestions, since you have only 6 weeks to prepare, dont overwhelm yourself with loads of books. Not only will you not able to complete them, you might be wasting time just studying things that you might already know (especially in verbal). Stick to the OG as much as you can. Use the Kaplan and OG books to prepare for your verbal and use Manhattan guides to get your fundamentals strong in Quant!!! And finally take the prep tests whenever you can, maybe twice a week. Its not important to finsh as many tests as you can but its important to review and improve from your mistakes!!

Hope this helps...
Good luck.
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by catgo » Fri Mar 20, 2009 1:38 pm
hk wrote:Since you have already taken the Diagnostic tests from OG, you have already made the right start. Analyze the answers and find the sections that you are weak in Quant. Once you have done this, i would suggest you go thro the manhattan guides to refresh all the concepts.

After you get your fundamentals clear, i would suggest you to start solving problems from the OG. Not a hundred a day but atleast 40 a day, and make sure you time them and review ALL the answers to know where you went wrong and what method of solving would best suite the question.

Since you have only 6 weeks, i'd say limit the above study to one and half to 2 weeks. Then start with the GMATPrep CAT 1. Take it to get a better estimate on where you stand. And then base your preparations on that.
All this is assuming that you are good at verbal, and need just a little bit practice. Go over the OG for verbal practice.

One humble suggestions, since you have only 6 weeks to prepare, dont overwhelm yourself with loads of books. Not only will you not able to complete them, you might be wasting time just studying things that you might already know (especially in verbal). Stick to the OG as much as you can. Use the Kaplan and OG books to prepare for your verbal and use Manhattan guides to get your fundamentals strong in Quant!!! And finally take the prep tests whenever you can, maybe twice a week. Its not important to finsh as many tests as you can but its important to review and improve from your mistakes!!

Hope this helps...
Good luck.

Thanks for your help. So basically I should focus on the OG guide and leave the Manhattan books for the end. I have planned to take the practice tests in 4-6 day intervals to see the progress I'll be making.

Thanks again for your help.
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by pJackson79 » Fri Mar 20, 2009 10:55 pm
I would recommend doing about 100 of the math questions from the OG. Then, make a tally with the category of all the questions you missed. Find which areas are your weaknesses (for sure, not just guessing).

In addition, I would try to take a number of practice tests simply so that you get a good feel for the test, build endurance for it, and become mentally comfortable with it.
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