Depends on how smart you are, and how much time you put in with it. Go to gmatclub.com and check out GMAT Success Stories. Some guys will put in two weeks where all they do is eat, sleep, shit, and study for the GMAT. Others will spread it out over 3 months. The success stories are also good to get some good study tips, test strategies, etc. I am currently in the process of studying so we will see how well it pays off.

looking for that pick-me-up to power through an all-nighter?
 
Best Response

See some links and book recommendations below. I would work through the books in the order they are listed. I spent about 10 weeks studying, mostly nights and weekends. Your mileage may vary as the poster above indicated.

In general, I highly recommend you do a lot of timed practice. The GMAT is all about solving the problems within a short window of time. The first time around I made the mistake of just working through the practice problems without worrying about speed. This hurt me on my first real test since I got stuck on a few and ended up guessing on the last 3-4 problems. You can’t work too long on any one problem… essentially you have to force yourself to answer each one in 1 ¾ minutes. If you get stuck, it’s better to take an educated guess and move on quickly. To practice this, I mocked up some excel grids, printed them off and would write down the start time for every problem as well as whether or not I had to guess. I would push through an hour of problems then stop and grade myself using the answer key. In addition to the flat out wrong answers, I would also mark “wrong” any problem I guessed or was slow on. I would study the solutions for each of these wrong answers then set them aside for a few days. At the end of the week, I would go back through and rework any missed/slow/guesses from scratch.

After you finish the Princeton Review book and get started the Official GMAT book, you may want to take one of the official practice tests. This will give you a good idea of how you might score without more practice. Based on that, you might decide to finish the Official GMAT book, do the Kaplan 800 book, then take the second practice test. Finally, there are supplemental Quant/Verbal review books that have more practice problems. I actually ended up doing every problem in all 5 books, but depending on your target score, you may not need/want that much practice.

Anyways, also read through the links below and let me know if you have any questions. Good luck studying!

Books:

Princeton Review: http://www.amazon.com/Cracking-GMAT-Graduate-School-Preparation/dp/0375429263/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258604875&sr=8-8 Official GMAT Book: http://www.amazon.com/Official-Guide-GMAT-Review-12th/dp/0470449748/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258604875&sr=8-1 Kaplan 800 Book: http://www.amazon.com/Kaplan-GMAT-2008-2009-Gmat-Advanced/dp/1419551795/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258604875&sr=8-13

These next two are optional if you want more practice:

Official Quant Review: http://www.amazon.com/Official-Guide-GMAT-Quantitative-Review/dp/0470449764/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258604875&sr=8-3 Official Verbal Review: http://www.amazon.com/Official-Guide-GMAT-Verbal-Review/dp/0470449756/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258604875&sr=8-6

Here are some helpful sites:

http://www.gmathacks.com/ - great site for techniques and test taking strategy http://www.urch.com/forums/gmat/ - online forum discussing good practice strategies

 
Sojourner:
See some links and book recommendations below. I would work through the books in the order they are listed. I spent about 10 weeks studying, mostly nights and weekends. Your mileage may vary as the poster above indicated.

In general, I highly recommend you do a lot of timed practice. The GMAT is all about solving the problems within a short window of time. The first time around I made the mistake of just working through the practice problems without worrying about speed. This hurt me on my first real test since I got stuck on a few and ended up guessing on the last 3-4 problems. You can’t work too long on any one problem… essentially you have to force yourself to answer each one in 1 ¾ minutes. If you get stuck, it’s better to take an educated guess and move on quickly. To practice this, I mocked up some excel grids, printed them off and would write down the start time for every problem as well as whether or not I had to guess. I would push through an hour of problems then stop and grade myself using the answer key. In addition to the flat out wrong answers, I would also mark “wrong” any problem I guessed or was slow on. I would study the solutions for each of these wrong answers then set them aside for a few days. At the end of the week, I would go back through and rework any missed/slow/guesses from scratch.

After you finish the Princeton Review book and get started the Official GMAT book, you may want to take one of the official practice tests. This will give you a good idea of how you might score without more practice. Based on that, you might decide to finish the Official GMAT book, do the Kaplan 800 book, then take the second practice test. Finally, there are supplemental Quant/Verbal review books that have more practice problems. I actually ended up doing every problem in all 5 books, but depending on your target score, you may not need/want that much practice.

Anyways, also read through the links below and let me know if you have any questions. Good luck studying!

Books:

Princeton Review: http://www.amazon.com/Cracking-GMAT-Graduate-School-Preparation/dp/0375429263/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258604875&sr=8-8 Official GMAT Book: http://www.amazon.com/Official-Guide-GMAT-Review-12th/dp/0470449748/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258604875&sr=8-1 Kaplan 800 Book: http://www.amazon.com/Kaplan-GMAT-2008-2009-Gmat-Advanced/dp/1419551795/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258604875&sr=8-13

These next two are optional if you want more practice:

Official Quant Review: http://www.amazon.com/Official-Guide-GMAT-Quantitative-Review/dp/0470449764/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258604875&sr=8-3 Official Verbal Review: http://www.amazon.com/Official-Guide-GMAT-Verbal-Review/dp/0470449756/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258604875&sr=8-6

Here are some helpful sites:

http://www.gmathacks.com/ - great site for techniques and test taking strategy http://www.urch.com/forums/gmat/ - online forum discussing good practice strategies

Haha I have been following the exact opposite advice about timing: http://gmatclub.com/forum/gmatclubbing-administered-770-50q-45v-86239.h…

This kid says to worry more about mastering the material by doing tons of practice, and learn the concepts instead of worrying about timing. He says that over time after doing many practice problems, you eventually start to understand the problems better and are thus able to do them quickly. Again, it all depends on your style... I think I'm better off learning everything now and then practice timing closer to test date.

As with any standardized test, their is a way to beat it. You just have to figure out the path that will allow you to beat it with the greatest ease.

looking for that pick-me-up to power through an all-nighter?
 

Obviously there is no single "best" way to approach the GMAT. I'm simply describing what worked for me along with many others.

The approach I described doesn't preclude learning concepts. You just spend time to learn the concepts upfront and then again after for problems you miss, guess or are slow on. It's a way to systematically hone in on your weak spots.

Slow practice is typically bad practice for timed events. You wouldn't train for a 100 yard dash by jogging it every day. You train under conditions closest to those in race conditions. After your trial run, you evaluate where you could improve.

Anyone can walk 100 yards just as you can solve most any GMAT problem if given enough time, which is why I'm advocating a timed practice approach to the GMAT for the majority of your prep.

 

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