770 (q50, v45) - 09/07
Well, just got back from the test centre, and must say I'm rather pleased. I've been lurking on the forums since I began studying but have only contributed a little, thought I'd let you know what I did as this forum has been an excellent resource.
Quick run down of the material I used, in order:
Princeton Review - Cracking the GMAT
Kaplan Test Prep - CD Only
Official GMAT 11th Edition
Kaplan GMAT 800
Manhattan GMAT Prep - Sentence Correction
Official GMAT - Quantatative Review
Official GMAT - Verbal Review
I think the above list worked pretty well.
The Kaplan CD is brutally hard. Hypothetical speaking, one might look for this on certain file sharing networks. Only to replace that scratched original though.
Princeton Review was nothing special but the online practice tests went well.
Kaplan 800 was good for fine tuning those last few things.
Of course you need the official GMAT books.
I really found the Manhanntan book to be the best explanation of grammar etc.
My essays probably weren't spectacular, but I'm not too concerned, PR online grader service helped me a little here.
Practice test results:
Before studying:
PR CAT 1 - 640
Kaplan CAT 1 - 560
After some study:
PR CAT 2 - 670
After a lot of study:
PR CAT 3 - 730
PR CAT 4 - 730
Kaplan CAT 2 - 660
Kaplan CAT 3 - 640
GMAT Prep 1 - 730
Weekend before the exam:
GMAT Prep 2 - 770
Looks like I peaked at the right time.
Do I have any tips?
Quant, I was expecting a 50/51 here as this is my thing, sometimes things can upset you though. I'd say just make sure you learn a few basic rules and if you can't see it straight away plugin numbers (start with obvious things like -1, 0 , 1, -0.5, 0.5)
Verbal, I surprised myself here, get the Manhattan book for grammar. Don't read too much into the question. The answer will often be the simplest and most obvious choice there. Don't infer too much. Main points of the passages will be general and not too strong. It it's asking for assumptions or conclusions try to think of all the points in your head and draw the dots, again don't go too far.
Best of luck to all of you. I certainly had my fair share of luck today!