Getting started

These are the records of my journey as I prepare towards the GMAT in June 2008. I have done some light preparation in the last one month and am now initiating a last-leg of intense study leading up to 18th June - D-Day.

I am hopeful that besides being a record, this blog will add some discipline to the preparation itself by forcing me to reflect on the status of preparation on a daily basis.

So, here is what I have been doing so far in the name of preparation.

1. Looked up a host of websites with gmat questions (scoretop, manhattan, testmagic, beatthegmat).

2. Downloaded over 500 MB (!!!) of material from esnips, 4shared etc. Also finished all the material in the Princetop review book (except the online tests) - this was the first book I bought. Also bought the OG 11th edition. Bought the Barrons guide too - big mistake and pretty much a waste.

3. Discovered that a lot of stuff on the online forums is stolen/borrowed OG (Official Guide) material. Also realized that OG questions is where the action is. Finally - felt that refering to too many sources leads to bad planning - you cannot track what progress you are making. Maybe one online forum is good enough to keep trying out a few questions from time to time and to post some answers to difficult questions where you can as that helps clear your own thoughts about how you approach tough problems. I like both the scoretop and the mahattan forums.

4. Wrote some sample official paper tests for scores of 740, 690, 760, 750. Gave me a bit of confidence, but I really don't know if this will translate into a good score on the actual test. Let's see - I have 6 weeks of prep left.

5. Decided to focus on OG 10th edition and then get started on OG 11th edition. No plan yet for AWA - will get to it in a couple of weeks after finishing OG 10th edition questions (which is about 60% done).

6. Consistently getting about 90-95% answers right in OG 10th and all other question sources I have tried so far. Not sure what score it translates to.

7. Not able to get a good idea of 700+ question types so far - based on all the stuff I have read online, might go for buying the Kaplan 800 soon. OG 10 + OG 11 + Kaplan 800 - I think that is good enough if one's Math and English fundamentals are okay and if one is not really desperate for a 770+ score. I could be wrong, though.