GMAT Strategy

Hi guys.. I just signed up to take the GMAT on the 5th of December. I am off from work so I can study pretty much every day from today till the 5th. But is 40 days enough or did I schedule too early??


Also, where can i get/buy sample GMAT exams online?

I feel that 40 days should be enough if all you are doing is studying for GMAT. Be sure to make a timetable and put in a concerted effort into prepping. During initial days you might not be able to focus a whole lot (I'm basing this on my personal experience), but keep going and soon you will pick up lots of speed and will be on your way. Also take a diagnostic exam before starting to prep just so that you know your strengths and weaknesses. I found Kaplan diagnostic to be pretty decent.

I made some mistakes when I started my preparation as in I was confused about which prep materials to use, which ones are good or bad, which tests to buy etc etc. Theres a lot of stuff on the web like Nova, Arco, etc etc. Make sure to skip all of those.

Also if you have gone through previous posts on this forum, there is one sentiment that echoes throughout -- OG 11 is the most important prep material of all. So make sure you review Math and Verbal sections of OG 11 and solve them completely.

Apart from OG 11, other books I'm using are: Kaplan 800, 2007 Princeton, GMAT Math Bible (Jeff Sackmann), PowerScore CR Bible, MGMAT Sentence correction guide.

From a tests point of view I am doing Kaplan CATs, Manhattan CATs, GmatClub practice and the best of all GmatPrep (which seems to be the closest to the real GMAT in terms of questions and scoring.)

Good that you have 40 days and more importantly, you are away from work.. I assume you can study 8-10 hours everyday...perfect platform to get a great score!!

Verbal: OG 11 - work out all questions and understand the explanations... the logic and thinking-pattern are very important.. Use Manhattan SCs and Kaplan for CR.. for RC, OG 11 is good enough - has passages from a number of topics... you may also work a few passages from ARCO GRE...

Quant: I strongly recommend 4GMAT's math books.. Since you have time, you can get their math books mailed to you (you should get them in a week)...
https://www.4gmat.com/prep_courses/math_ ... rial.shtml
Has a number of short-cuts, you will save time.. I finished math with 15 min to spare... My overall score is in the 98th percentile...

Practice tests (online/computer based): Work out only Gprep, Powerprep and Manhattan tests..Avoid other tests as they are too easy or too difficult.

pl. drop me a line at: [email protected] for some good verbal materials....

I agree that as long as you aren't working, 40 days should be good to see some serious improvement. But, of course, your score will depend on from where you're starting. You can take a free practice GMAT from us (Veritas) here:

https://www.veritasprep.com/gmat-prepara ... ctice-GMAT

The test is pretty accurate - my real score was 10 points higher than I scored on the Veritas test. The GMAT Prep tests are also very accuruate, but I might save those for further down the line.

I also agree with the above that working through the OG is the most important thing you can do. Truly analyze every problem you do - including wrong answers and (for math) looking for alternate approaches to solve problems.

In addition to OG11 (the orange book), you should get the two OG supplements (green and purple) along with a prep guide from one of the reputable GMAT companies. That should be more than enough study material - more than that and you risk spreading yourself too thin.

Good luck!