Critique my plan for May 09 Test

[samdiesel]

I'm taking the GMAT in late May, and I'm shooting for 700+.

Tell me if these materials and plan are OK.

1 Hour Verbal/2 Hours Math - Week 1
2 hours Math/1 Hour verbal - Week 2
Then it just keeps flip flopping...

My materials are Manhattan SC, OG11, Kaplan GMAT for CR, and 4GMAT.com's ebooks for all 3 subjects of math.

First of all, should I start out with a diagnostic test, and if so, where?
How often should I take practice GMAT tests, and where are more free ones besides the Challenges and the official GMAT site?

Will I be ready? The only practice test I've taken was from my Kaplan book and I BOMBED it. Like mid 500 territory. But I've read the Kaplan test are tough.

Help me out guys, I'll give you all sorts of feedback as I'm going and will let you know how it goes when I finish.

-Sam

[StaceyKoprince]

Just to make sure this isn't a typo - you're planning to study for 3 hrs a week, not a day, right? Spending three hours a week over 6 months is probably not going to be as effective as spending 6-10 hours a week for a shorter timeframe. Most of the things you need to know for the test are not things you do every day (except when you're studying, obviously), so you're likely to forget a lot of the material if you only do a little bit over a long period of time.

Think of this as a college class: typically a 3-4 month timeframe with steady work throughout.

Also, we can only talk in broad generalities until we know what your current scoring level is (and how far away that is from your goal score). I do recommend taking a practice test as soon as you can. Take it under full, official conditions (30m each for two essays, 10m break, 75m quant, 10m break, 75m verbal, and all at once - no other breaks or interruptions) and take it at roughly the same time of day as you think you'd take the real test. (I know you probably don't care much about the essays, but due to mental fatigue, having to do the essays can impact your score on the multiple choice portion of the test. So you need to take it under full conditions to make sure you're getting an accurate representation of your current scoring level.)

I would recommend that you start with a practice test from a test-prep company and save the GMATPrep tests (which are from the makers of the real test) for later in your study. Naturally, I like our own tests. :) You can sign up for one free one with us or you can ask around and use any company's tests - just make sure that the test comes with computer-generated analysis of your performance, including timing and difficulty level. If you don't have the analysis, it's a lot harder to figure out your strengths and weaknesses. (I have also heard from students that the Kaplan tests often produce very low scores relative to what people score on other tests, including GMATPrep and the official test, so it may be worthwhile to try another test from a different company.)

You've got a source for SC and CR, but I don't see a source for RC. What do you plan to use for that question type? And I'm not familiar with 4GMAT, but I assume that those books cover every math topic that's on the GMAT? (number properties, algebra, geometry, statistics, rates & work, fractions, decimals, percents, other word problems, etc.)

Also, you may want to spend some time browsing through old posts in this General folder. There are a lot of posts about good ways in which to study, identify your weaknesses, etc. Good luck!