Hey guys,

I have been a member of Beat The GMAT for a while, but this is my first post. I really enjoyed reading everyone's stories while I studied for my own GMAT exam and I hope to hear from more of you as I share mine.

So here's my story. After putting it off for many months I finally got serious about studying for the GMAT in October. I decided to give self-studying a try at first, using the 60-day beat the gmat guide to help me. My tools of the trade were as follows

All Manhattan GMAT guides
Kaplan Math Workbook
Kaplan GMAT 800
GMAT Official Guide 12th Ed
GMAT Quant Official Guide 1st Ed
GMAT Verbal Official Guide 2nd Ed

I adjusted my study guide for the Manhattan GMAT books and quickly realized that 60 days worth of studying while working 50+ hours a week would be too daunting a task so I pushed my exam ahead until the middle of Jan 2011. I studied about 1.5-3hrs after work almost every day outside of a few b/c my brain couldn't take it after work and about 3-5 hrs on the weekends for about three months. I started off somewhat well, going from a 490 in my first GMAT Prep CAT to a 670 by my 4th MGMAT CAT. I felt I was well on my way to slaying the beast on test day.

Unfortunately, for whatever reason sometime in the third month I hit a wall. I was essentially done with the study guide and now just practicing from the Official Guides and taking CAT exams. Within two to three weeks I went from a 670 to 630 to 570 to 520 right before the exam. I guess I settled into doing well on 500-600 range questions, but my strategies/knowledge were not good enough for questions in the higher level. My confidence was hurt but I tried to push myself harder and stay positive just working on Official Guide questions as well as reading my flashcards. Finally on Test day I felt good but scored

510T 36Q 25V 6.0 AWA

Utter disappointment. Its been a week, and I know I have to take it again since I need a 670-700 to have a really good shot at my top choices, but I really don't know where to go from here. I'm considering doing Kaplan online course since I already have the Manhattan materials but I'm finding it hard to make the right decision on what direction to take.

Thanks for hearing me out guys, hope to hear from you all soon.