Q37, V28 550. Goal of 650 but with limited time.need advice

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Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 24
Joined: Tue Aug 05, 2008 9:24 am
I took the GMAT almost exactly a year ago and got a 550. I had VERY little and VERY poor preparation. I familiarized myself with the format, skimmed through a few books and took the GMATprep test online. That was pretty much it. i work full time and I'm looking to go to school next fall and have the school in mind. I know I need a 650 to have a good shot at it.

The problem: Applications are due in May and I am currently renovating a house that takes up 99% of my free time. It will be done in the next 6-7 months but it really hinders my ability to spend any time preparing for the test now. I can however spend my lunch hour everyday preparing. My company will also pay for me to take a test prep course although I really don't know that I can take the time to even do that. I really want to start MBA in the fall of 09 but I realize it's going to be very difficult for me to make the time to get a 650 before I have to apply. I may have to wait until fall 2010 but I am really trying to make it happen in 2009.

Will an hour a day make any kind of impact if I can do that consistently for the next 5-6 months?

What kind of time committment are these prep courses and what is the best one?
Source: — GMAT Strategy |

Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 24
Joined: Tue Aug 05, 2008 9:24 am

by tnis0612 » Wed Oct 01, 2008 10:01 am
still looking for some responses but just thought I would update on my potential plan....

i'm going to try to pretty much exhaust the OG11 materials...at least first. They seem to be the consensus best pick. Also going to go with manhattan SC materials....if I scored a 550 on the gmat...should I still start at the beginning of the OG and do EVERY question? I'm not sure of the difficulty level of the book. I know some people who are in the 650-700 range start in the latter sections of the book. Should I skip some of the first ones or am I better off just doing them all? Also...is there something that I should start with first as far as strictly a learning book that doesnt necessarily have just example problems before I get into the OG problems? Or will I be able to learn what I don't know well enough just from doing the problems and studying the explanations?

I am going to spend an hour a day 5 days a week studying and doing practice problems for 5 months. At the end of each month i'm going to do a CAT on Friday morning. I plan to do Kaplan, 2 Manhattan, and 2 GMATprep tests.