GMAT prep Day 0

Today, I officially signed up to take the GMAT (September 19th).  The test is roughly 4.5 hours and costs $250.  I was ’supposed’ to start prepping in the Spring but a lot of things got in the way.  Actually, the mental block can be summed up in one word: Poker.  It’s too bad because I learned today that August is the best time to take it (because of scholarship eligibility), but at this point, I’m more concerned about getting a good score.  Well, at least now I think I’ve got enough self-control and will power now to keep me focused in my studying (made some changes here and there).  I’ll start documenting my prepping on this blog on [an almost] daily basis.  I’ve got some pretty good resources (forums, study materials, MindManager, books, etc) to turn to and really just comes down to how much I want to do well on this.  It’s good that the NBA Playoffs are over (one less distraction) and I can apply some of the lessons learned as inspiration to my studying. 

The GMAT is not a difficult test.  It’s definitely easier than the MCATs (Medical School) and LSATs (law school), but to score in the top 4-5%, still will require a lot of preparation.  I learned a lot of valuable lessons at work this past year and am beginning to fully realize how an MBA education will benefit me.     

Tomorrow, I will review Word Translations (permutations, combinations, overlapping sets, probability, etc) and work on the practice problems in the Official Guide (11th edition) and the Quantitative Review–both Problem Solving (PS) and Data Sufficiency (DS).