GMAT Strategy

gmayank wrote:Hi Friends,

I am going to start the prepairation for GMAT early next month as I am planning to write GMAT by the end of Dec,2008.
I am a software engineer and dont have time to go to regular classes to any trainng intitute.
Please somebody tell books to read for GMAT and some strategy to follow.

I am planning to buy OG11 but apart from that what should i buy???

for PRACTICE PROBLEMS, the following sources should honestly be more than enough:
* the OG 11th edition (yellow)
* the OG verbal supplement (purple)
* the OG quant supplement (green)
* the GMATPREP software from mba.com (do not use until your exam is relatively close and you're done studying content)

for CONTENT REVIEW, our manhattangmat strategy guides are optimal because they're divided by topic: i.e., you can buy only those strategy guides that deal with subjects in which you're weak.
additionally, our strategy guides come with complimentary access to our online bank of practice tests and auxiliary questions.

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if you find yourself running out of practice questions - especially if you're stressed and pressed for time in the first place - then that means you aren't studying the questions in the right way. specifically, you need to study the CONNECTIONS and ASSOCIATIONS between the questions, not just the problems themselves. don't forget that you aren't going to see those particular problems again, but you will see problems that are LIKE them. therefore, you should be able to answer the following questions for EVERY problem (especially quant):
* what TYPE of problem is this?
* HOW DID I KNOW what type of problem this is? (i.e., what SIGNALS indicate the problem type?) -- this question is especially important to answer for problems you got right, because you know your strategy was successful on those problems!
* what STRATEGY is generally effective in solving these problems?
* what's my OPENER for problems like this? in other words, how would i START the problem, immediately, even if i can't see my whole way through the problem?
- the opener is almost certainly the most important object of studying quant problems. you MUST have instant openers for the vast majority of the problems; otherwise, you simply won't have time to solve all the problems effectively.
- if you're the type of student who tries to "see" all the way through the problem BEFORE solving it, in the same way a chess master would try to anticipate his opponent's moves 6-7 turns ahead, you will need to change that philosophy IMMEDIATELY. only the easiest problems can be seen through that readily; for any problem offering even a modicum of difficulty, you just need an effective OPENER, after which you can see where the problem leads you.

good luck.