Hi,

Thats the good post. I should have done it before I started my preparation. No regret. I started with OG12 and figured out that I need more assistance. I read few articles and compiled the list of books I need to buy. Master GMAT 7 days free trial was very inviting and jumped in to the offer. I was excited with the course and registered with them.

I worked on Master GMAT prep course, books and beatthegmat.com forum questions. I was exhausted and it was my worst strategy for preparation.

In the sum, either buy books or join the prep course (may be you can have 1 or 2 books to support). Complete the study materials and start giving the test.

Good Luck.

Hi newtoogmat,

1. I'd get a system in which I study "material" and then use OG questions as practice. In my particular case, I use MGMAT (which does it like that), but I'm sure the other companies have similar systems. The idea is that the OG is invaluable since it's a stash of "real" problems, but you don't really learn from them, you just "train" with them. For your learning, you need a very different book, a prep book.

2. I'd get a diagnostic test only if you believe you will get paranoid later that your prep company isn't helping much. Otherwise, there's no use for a diagnostic test. You'll need lots of those later.

3. I found the MGMAT tests to be the best at mimicking the real thing -but still FAR from perfect. The one I found to be the worst was the Princeton Review CAT -although I must say I only took the free one.

4. About GMATPreps. I'd use them at the very end of my study timeline (last month). You can get 4 of them if you install both the new and the older version of the software -it takes a bit of tweaking, but you can do it. These are EXTREMELY accurate, so you really want them to give you a realistic idea of whether you're ready or not, more than for practicing timing.

In my blog I have a couple of posts about my study strategy.

Good luck!

Thanks hcueva.

Do any of the resident "experts" care to chime in?