My Study Material - Your suggestions are important :)

[SOUL1985]

HI,

I will take the GMAT on April 20 and May 20 as I had a very disappointing score 420. The reason why I'll take the exam twice is the limited time for applications deadline. My scores in Kaplan CAT and GMATPrep as follow:

Actual GMAT : 420 (Q:28,V:18)

CAT1 : 280
CAT2 : 460
CAT3 : 460
CAT4 : 500
CAT5 : 480
GMATPrep : 420
GMATPrep : 420
CAT6 : 540
CAT7 : 530

I'm taking Kaplan Advanced Everywhere prep. course, additionally, i'm using the following material for more details and support:

1. OG12
2. Kaplan Premier 2011
3. Kaplan Math Workshop
4. Kaplan 800
5. Powerscore Critical Reasoning Bible
6. Manhattan Sentence Correction
7. CliffsNotes : Math for standardized tests

I don't know if i'm doing a mistake by using all these resources but I feel that when the concepts are planted in my mind then I'd be able to solve for the problems effectively. I have big issue with timing, where almost all the exams I get the last 5 while I'm done with 60%-70% of the questions ! so when after guessing without even reading the questions just lead to a tremendous decline, I guess.

You suggestions and experience is highly appreciated where I'm running out time and I need to work efficiently.

Sincerely,

[vineeshp]

Sorry, this is not a reply to your query.

I would like to inform you that this forum is for GMAT success stories. Please post in the appropriate forum.

[lunarpower]

i received a private message regarding this post.
i'm afraid that i can't specifically say very much in response to this post, since you haven't actually said anything about what you plan to do with all these resources - you've just listed a bunch of books and/or courses, and haven't said anything about how you plan to go about studying them.
nevertheless, a couple of comments:

1, that's an insane amount of material for the timeline that yo'ave given.
OG12 alone contains at least enough material for a couple of months of study, even for people who are already scoring in the 600's, so that one -- all by itself -- would already take you past the date you've given for your second exam administration. (here's a post about what you should be able to do with each of the OG problems before you consider yourself done with them: https://www.beatthegmat.com/550-to-720-i ... tml#330724)
if most of your scores are in the 400's, then you could probably study for a whole year with the list of resources that you've given here.

2, there is a very large incongruity between your listed resources and your practice test performances so far. namely, your practice test scores are all either at or below the gmat median, but two of your listed resources are "kaplan 800" and "kaplan advanced course". something is wrong here - you are trying to work in "advanced" materials and courses already, even though your scores indicate that you should start with a thorough review of ground-level fundamentals, leaving the "advanced" material for later.

3, on what sort of timeline have you taken all these practice tests?
i have a suspicion that it's a rather short timeline; if it is, then you are just burning practice tests that could otherwise be valuable resources later down the line.
remember that there's really no reason to take a practice test more often than every 2-4 weeks - a practice test is an assessment tool, not an improvement tool!
taking lots and lots and lots of practice tests is not going to make you any better at the gmat, except maybe in terms of timing. however, timing is definitely not the principal issue at the moment; right now, and for some time, your principal issue will be learning the fundamentals of each of the different problem types as well as solidifying your foundation in quant.

what is your goal score?
if your goal score is substantially higher than the numbers you are earning right now, then you do NOT want to take two more exam administrations in the next 1.5 months; your scores are not going to increase as if by magic.
it is definitely possible for you to increase your scores substantially from where you are, but it's not realistic to expect such an increase on a timeline as short as the one you've listed (unless your goal score is only a little bit higher than where you are currently scoring).