I just took the GMAT, 740 score, 49 Quant, 41 verbal. My prep over 4 weeks was as follows:
I thought my quant would be ok (I have an 800 quant from the GRE), it was verbal that woried me most.
Books:
Princeton Review - basic stuff, good for an overview but no good if you're chasing a serious score. I never bothered with their trial exam.
Kaplan Premier - solid, but almost too difficult. The cd is very useful, the mini quizzes are excellent. I did find this almost a confidence breaker as it can be soo difficult. My time was short so I gave up on Kaplan and moved over to the OG books.
Official Guide 11, Verbal Review, Quant Review - these 3 books are a must. The best resource out there (next to the GMATPrep cd).
Strategy...
Quant: The OG has the best review section of basic concepts. I'd also strongly advise on learning the Airthmatic Progression formulas (no book seems tro mention these - they are a big timesaver).
Verbal: The best resource I found were Spidey and Sahils notes on this website. Find them, print them, learn them - they are your best friend when it comes to SC.
On the Day...
My quant section was nasty, I barely finished and had to guess at least 3 questions due to their difficulty. In the GMATPrep I had always finished with minutes to spare so this was a shock. The key here is to stay cool, if its a brutal question good chance is its a trial question.
Verbal was much like the prep cd. Learn those grammar rules (find those notes I mentioned), SC can be dramatically improved by practice.
My score was on the money, my test exams were 730 and 750, so 740 was spot on. Also - take the GMATprep exams a few extra times, the questions vary and they're the best resource out there.
Good luck out there!
I thought my quant would be ok (I have an 800 quant from the GRE), it was verbal that woried me most.
Books:
Princeton Review - basic stuff, good for an overview but no good if you're chasing a serious score. I never bothered with their trial exam.
Kaplan Premier - solid, but almost too difficult. The cd is very useful, the mini quizzes are excellent. I did find this almost a confidence breaker as it can be soo difficult. My time was short so I gave up on Kaplan and moved over to the OG books.
Official Guide 11, Verbal Review, Quant Review - these 3 books are a must. The best resource out there (next to the GMATPrep cd).
Strategy...
Quant: The OG has the best review section of basic concepts. I'd also strongly advise on learning the Airthmatic Progression formulas (no book seems tro mention these - they are a big timesaver).
Verbal: The best resource I found were Spidey and Sahils notes on this website. Find them, print them, learn them - they are your best friend when it comes to SC.
On the Day...
My quant section was nasty, I barely finished and had to guess at least 3 questions due to their difficulty. In the GMATPrep I had always finished with minutes to spare so this was a shock. The key here is to stay cool, if its a brutal question good chance is its a trial question.
Verbal was much like the prep cd. Learn those grammar rules (find those notes I mentioned), SC can be dramatically improved by practice.
My score was on the money, my test exams were 730 and 750, so 740 was spot on. Also - take the GMATprep exams a few extra times, the questions vary and they're the best resource out there.
Good luck out there!
