My goal to get an 800 on the GMAT

I'm starting this blog to journal my preparation to score an 800 on the GMAT. Yes, I know that it is a very difficult feat to achieve, but I didn't want to call the blog "700 on the GMAT". Why set a low bar? Anyway, the real goal is to get into Stanford or Haas so that I can get my MBA and stay close to home.

First off, I want to credit Eric at "Beat the GMAT" for giving the inspiration and providing all the great information on his blog. I plan to beat his GMAT score of 720, that's for sure. =)

Secondly, I hope to make full use of all the Verbal section studying that I will be doing by posting grammatically correct sentences. If you read this blog and find mistakes, please alert me to them so I can learn and improve. One aspect of the GMAT I've read so far is that there are many idiomatic phrases in the test, and as a non-native English speaker (ok, I've been in the country for almost 25 years) I may have some issues with idioms. Also, having learned much of my early English from reading newspapers (and being corrected and made fun off many times throughout my life), I know I have a tendency to write in passive voice -- this is a major faux pas in the GMAT sentence correction section.

So what's the plan? I plan to take the GMAT in 2-3 months, and I will be using a bunch of books to help me prepare. I don't plan to take any of the review courses since they are pricey. I will instead take the test over (and over) again if my plan to score 800 doesn't pan out the first time around.

What are my tools? I luckily had a $50 amazon.com gift certificate given to me by my sister for Christmas and about $35 left over in a rebate card from a present I gave my wife (the present ended up being free, but that's a different topic). So I purchased the following books:
1. The Official Guide GMAT Review, 11th Edition. (c) 2005 by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). (abbr: OG)
2. The Official Guide GMAT Quantitative Review. (c) 2005 by the GMAC. (abbr: OGQ)
3. The Official Guide GMAT Verbal Review. (c) 2005 by the GMAC. (abbr: OGV)
4. Kaplan GMAT Premier Program 2008 Edition. (c) 2007 by Kaplan Inc. (abbr: KG)
5. Princeton Review, Cracking the GMAT (c) 2007 by The Princeton Review. (abbr: PR)

I've already began reading the OG, and I'll post what I've done so far later. My strategy is to go through the diagnostics test in the OG, then take one of the computer adaptive tests (CAT) from the free downloadble GMATPrep software. I will then go through all the books starting with OG, then PR, then KG, then the two specific OGQ and OGV books. I believe the PR and KG books come with online test components, so I will be taking lots and lots of tests throughout all this. From my recent readings, the key to the GMAT seems to be learning the rules and having the endurance for the 3.5 hour test.

As opposed to Eric at Beat the GMAT who had graduated recently when he was studying for the GMAT, I have been out of school since 1997 (I went to UC Davis and graduated with a BS in Genetics.) Since then, I've taken some courses in marketing through UC Berkeley Extension, and I recently sat through a standardized test when I took a real estate license test. Other than those, I haven't had a lot of exposure to schools and tests that would prepare me extraordinarily for the GMAT.

Thanks for reading. I hope this chronicle becomes yet another tool for someone planning on following down this well-beaten path.