MGMAT Guided Self Study -- Hugely Beneficial

I used the Manhattan GMAT Self-Study Guide (purchased from MGMAT for $480) and followed their curriculum. This approach was hugely beneficial for me. This Study Plan came with a detailed day-by-day study guide -- which chapters to read each day, which problems to do each day -- which kept me on track. The plan is designed for 9 weeks of study. I condensed it down to 6 weeks. What this meant was that I would do two days worth of studying for each day. On top of working a 9-5 job. On weekends, I was logging in 6 hours each day (to make up any of the problems I didn’t get to during the week). (And in case you were wondering, yes, I wasn’t much fun to be around this last month. And yes, I ate crappy food all the time. )

I'd like to backtrack for a moment and say that once I got my MGMAT materials, I took an initial MGMAT CAT exam to see how I'd do. At this point, I was only vaguely familiar with the GMAT content, and just needed to know where I stood. I scored a 580—I am horrible at math.

Anyways, one of the nice things about the MGMAT Self Study approach is that throughout the 9 (or 6 weeks), you end up doing most of the OG problems in the book. And, included an OG tracker in Excel, so I was able to track my answers, timing, and get a detailed analysis of my weak spots. It really broke it down for me -- I can't say enough about how helpful it is.