Hi everyone,

I just signed up for this site yesterday, and I must say that I'm really impressed with the amount of comaraderie and helpful information here. I look forward to participating here in the future, with regular posts containing my thoughts regarding the various aspects of my GMAT preparation.

Anyway, I downloaded the GMATPrep a couple of days ago and took the first practice test (skipping the AWA). I was pleasantly surprised with a 730 (Q48, V42), since I ran out of time for the Quant section and guessed the last five questions. Not only that, it turns out that I got all five of them wrong.

Verbal was a bit better, but it seems that I need to work on my timing and sentence correction. I finished the verbal section with 5 minutes to spare (how I wish I could've used those for Quant!), and later found out that I got several SC questions wrong.

I'm an English major so I held my own in the Verbal, but I have zero formal grammar training... so I relied completely on my ear for the SC part, which - needless to say - is not the most effective method.

I bought the Official Guide 11th Edition today and will begin doing the diagnostic section tonight.

Upon browsing these forums, it seems that I should start on Quant first, then work on my greatest Verbal weakness (SC). Which leads me to a question. I've gathered that by far the best prep book for SC is the Manhattan GMAT SC book. I've searched for it at my local bookstores, and they don't carry it. I tried to order it on Amazon.ca (yes, I live in Canada), and it states a delivery estimate of sometime in late April. That's a bit unreasonable, especially when considering that I'm on a rather tight schedule (would like to write the GMAT by May) and plan on starting with SC prep in two weeks.

So... is there an easier and faster way of obtaining the Manhattan SC book? I live in Vancouver, Canada.

Thanks, and hi again to all of you!