Please, any advice on how to jump from 620 to 700+ in 3 mnth

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I took the GMAT in Feb 2008 and received a disappointing score of 620/74% (34/70% for verbal, 41/63% quantitative). I guess it wasn't too bad considering it was my first attempt at the real GMAT, but I still wish I had done much better, especially for the quantitative section.

I have decided to retake the GMAT as I recently won a full MBA scholarship from a local company in my country. The scholarship will cover all expenses (tuition, allowances etc), provided that I can get into one of the top 15 universities in the US. For this reason, I obviously have to take the GMAT again to increase the chances of getting into these universities and to keep my scholarship.

Therefore, I would REALLY appreciate it if any one of you in this forum could spare just a few mins and help provide some advice on how to boost my GMAT score, preferably from a 620 to a 700+. I am particularly interested in advice on things such as:

1) Quick/shortcut formula for maths questions. An easy example would be a question that asks you for the sum of all numbers from 1-30, because instead of adding 1 + 2 + 3 ... + 30, there's a formula to do it. The problem during my last exam was, I always found myself taking too much time to arrive at a solution.
2) Time management. I plan to apply to the various universities for the academic year 2009...therefore I should be taking the GMAT no later than October 2008? (3 months+ from now...). How do I management my study time in those 3 months most effectively, keeping in mind I also have a full-time job to do on all weekdays.
3) Lastly, are there any challenging books/materials that I shouldn't miss? Last time I used the OG11, Princeton, Manhattan Sentence Correction, and a little bit of Kaplan. But I feel that the questions on GMAT were much harder than the ones I found on those books, so I think I need more challenging practices.

Sorry for the rather long post, but I'm really determined to get it right this time. I know a GMAT score isn't everything, but a decent score is at least something. I'm willing to put 150% effort and invest in any materials that would best prepare me. So if you have any advice, please do share. Thanks for a great forum!
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by VP_Jim » Wed Jun 25, 2008 9:14 pm
In my opinion, the best way to learn the tricks/shortcuts is to invent them yourself. Here's what I mean:

Get the GMAT official guide. Start doing the math problems, but focus on trying to do each problem a couple different ways. By doing this, you'll get really good at adapting strategies to different problems. There's always multiple ways to do them - usually, the best way is NOT the one that the OG gives as the explanation. It's very challenging and time consuming to study like this, but it will get results. I studied like this and would sometimes spend 20 minutes on a single problem, working out the best way to solve it.

Good luck!
Jim S. | GMAT Instructor | Veritas Prep

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by absolut_frui2233 » Wed Jun 25, 2008 9:58 pm
Thank you for the suggestions.

I have another question...the last time I took GMAT, I pretty much studied all the books that many people here recommend ie. Princeton, OG10, OG11, Kaplan, Manhattan SC...

Now that 4 months have passed by..Do you think I should get totally new books? or work on the same old questions I used to work on (even if I may still remember some of them?)

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by VP_Jim » Wed Jun 25, 2008 10:32 pm
It's fine to work on questions you've seen before - try to solve them in new (i.e., better) ways. I studied exclusively out of the Official Guides - quality is better than quantity, when it comes to the number of practice problems you do.
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by absolut_frui2233 » Fri Jun 27, 2008 2:30 am
Alright..so now I have the OG10, OG11, Princeton Review, and Manhattan SC with me

- Is studying those sufficient in order to get pass the 700 target,, or should I buy the Kaplan GMAT 800 as well (I heard it's a good book for ppl who aim for high scores)
- I have about 3 months to study, and I have no idea how to start. Should I work on each book one by one? or each topic per week etc etc? I've read a few blogs and it seems that everyone organized their studies so differently it's a matter of preference? I would love to hear if there's like an "optimal way" for making the best use of these materials..