GMAT Strategy

I've bought the 8 set series from MGMAT and started making my way into each
book...I've finished the first 3 and am currently on the fourth. When do you guys
think that an appropriate time is to start taking a practice test? I've been eager to
gauge my placement, however I didn't want to take one before my prep because I believe it
would have been a waste of time.

I still recommend taking one now and the remaining after your first round of prep.

If you take one now and see that you are strong in some areas, you can spend lesser time in the remaining guides. What say?

You should take a practice test now. Practice tests give you a sense of timing and can gauge your strengths and weaknesses on a test - spread the rest out over your study session and have two left to take one each the two weeks before your test date.

Best of Luck.

Hey everyone, brud89 here (having problems with my original account). Anyhow, thought you guys
were right about taking an exam now. I scored a 600 after studying for three days, and currently have been going over some of the MGMAT books that are relevant to what I feel I've been missing. Anyway, you guys were certainly right, after doing the test and some questions on the question bank via MGMAT website I found an interesting correlation. It wasn't a particular question but rather the type of question. I found that the % of questions I got wrong was WAY higher in data suffic. questions than problem solving (makes sense since I have never done problems in that manner). Anyhow, I guess I'm going to finish my MGMAT guides, and start doing as many ds problems as possible, and after a couple weeks give a MGMAT practice test a shot and see if I have improved. Thanks!!

Wow you guys were so correct. My initial Q score was 31 day one,
38 after one week, and I just finished another test and scored 43
after week two. Sure does help to be able to focus on certain
subjects. I just hope this 43 isn't a fluke because I've been
working hard!

Understood, thanks for the advice! I really wish the GMAT Prep
software gave explanations after the exam for each question.