Where & How to start???

[RyanDe680]

I am hoping to take the GMAT in Mark or April 2008, so I would like to take my time and study.

I am shooting for 690 to 710 (700 would be too easy to say).

I was born and raised in Chicago, IL. Math was my stronger subject throughout HS and college.

I currently work for a major Wall St. wirehouse.

I have OG 11 and Manhattan SC guide.

Where do I start? I open up the OG and there's a lot going on in there. My questions are:

Do I take the exam from mba.com first to determine where I am at?
Do I just start working on questions?
Should I make a spreadsheet to track progress?

Right now, I feel like and would like to have a smooth transition from studying to the exam.

Thanks!

[beatthegmat]

The first thing you need to do is to form a study strategy. Check out https://beatthegmat.blocked and https://www.beatthegmat.com/resources.html for more information on how you can design a strategy tailored to your needs.

Next, I think taking a GMATPrep test at the very beginning of your prep journey is wise because it will provide you a good baseline of where you stand today. GMATPrep from MBA.com is the best indicator of your actual GMAT performance because it features actual but retired questions.

After you take this first test, write up a detailed error log on the questions you got wrong on the test (you should always do this after every practice set). This will be your preliminary guide for identifying your weaknesses.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes!

[bates88]

Eric has given you great advice. Add GMATPrep to your arsenal, and also an overall review book for general test info and strategy. I strongly preferred Princeton Review's GMAT book (Cracking the GMAT) over Kaplan, both for strategies and the quality of the tests.

OG11 is great, and while I haven't used MGMAT, I've read good things about the SC guide here in the forum.

Once you get your diagnostic score from one of the GMATPrep tests, you'll have a basic idea of how much work you need to do to hit 690-710. Aim for about 2 hours a night of practice questions, untimed, on weeknights, and a full, timed test every other weekend. If you do one question type at a time for a good half hour on the weeknights, you'll pick up error patterns faster and get into a good groove. After you've done this a few times with each question type, mix it up so that your practice resembles the real GMAT, with question types appearing randomly for each section.

Most importantly, review, review, review as you go to see where you're improving and where you still need to focus your efforts.

Good luck!

[RyanDe680]

The first thing you need to do is to form a study strategy. Check out https://beatthegmat.blocked and https://www.beatthegmat.com/resources.html for more information on how you can design a strategy tailored to your needs.

Next, I think taking a GMATPrep test at the very beginning of your prep journey is wise because it will provide you a good baseline of where you stand today. GMATPrep from MBA.com is the best indicator of your actual GMAT performance because it features actual but retired questions.

After you take this first test, write up a detailed error log on the questions you got wrong on the test (you should always do this after every practice set). This will be your preliminary guide for identifying your weaknesses.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes!

Thanks for your suggestions!

I will be taking the first exam from GMATprep very soon, so I can have a good base with which to start from...

[beatthegmat]

Awesome, please let us know how it goes!

[Stacey Koprince]

Agree with everything above - one more thing:

As you take tests or otherwise determine your strengths and weaknesses, post here in the forums for advice! You may sometimes get conflicting advice (or just so much that you couldn't use it all), but better to have lots of ideas from people and choose what you think will work best for you! Just make sure that you are thoughful about the various pieces of advice and choose things that will work well given your particular profile - don't try to follow every piece of advice given to you.