GMAT Strategy

Hello,

After a few months of deciding whether or not I should get the GMAT's out of the way, I have decided to move forward with it. I only have a year of work experience under my belt, but everyone who has ever mentioned the GMATS has stated that waiting too long to take the exam was their biggest mistake. I figure I can get the test out of the way while I have time and work on gaining solid work experience in the next 2 years.

My plan is to take the exam on September 11th at 12pm since I am not a morning person.

As of right now, I have decided to take a prep course in DC called Griffon Prep, which starts on July 13th. The reviews on the course has been extremely positive and I feel like I can benefit from such a class as I am a poor standardized test taker.


I just purchased the OG12 through Amazon and was wondering if it is better to start studying for the exam prior to my prep course and get 1 month of decent studying in coupled with 2 months of intense studying? or if it makes more sense to wait until the course and just do 2 months of intense studying by using the materials offered in the course along with the OG12 booklet?

I took a gmat practice exam on Knewton. It doesn't seem to be very popular around here and only got a 420 on it. Taking the exam while at work and zipping through the exam probably hindered my score a bit, but I felt really uncomfortable with a large portion of the quant and verbal (particularly the SC and Logic type questions). It was a bit disheartening as many people start off with 550+ scores prior to studying.

I did well in many of my math courses, but haven't taken a math course in about 6 years and it shows with how poorly I had done on the practice exam. My goal is to get a 650+ on the GMAT and i'm not sure how much time or preparation is needed to achieve this goal. Obviously, I have my work cut out, with a score of 420 even with the conditions that I was in.

What would be some advice/strategy you can offer? Anything would be helpful!

Thanks!