So far, so good, but I need to pick it up

I signed up to the Veritas Prep "Essentials" course, which meets over two weekend days to cover the topics at a high level.

As mentioned here, in every package, you get access to the pre-recorded On Demand lessons that cover all of the material of the full blown course, as well as all of the course books. I am also locked in to go to the first in-class lesson of the full blown Veritas Prep course (consisiting of 42 hours of in-class instruction). I thought I would trial this out and, if I like it, will upgrade my course.

Anyway, here's what's been happening so far in terms of prep work:

• Monday, 3 January 2011 to Wednesday, 5 January 2011: Class 0: "Maths Essentials" On Demand. ~9 hours to go through the three part lesson which was split into arithmetic essentials, algebra essentials and geometry essentials. Blasts from the past included: prime numbers, LCMs, quadratic equations and trapezoids! Although the concepts were basic and probably first taught in junior high school, I haven't used them in years (maybe over a decade). I also haven't done any maths work without a calculator in well over a decade. 
• Wednesday, 5 January 2011: To establish my baseline and get a gauge of where I am at without preparation, I attempted the first of the 15 CAT exams that came with the Veritas Package (in this case, the GMAT Simulator). I took this test between 1am and 4am and scored 620 (40Q/35V). Clearly I am in need of practice. The big surprise was that I scored better in quant than verbal. ~3 hours to take the test, and ~1 hour to go through mistakes.
• Thursday, 6 January 2011: Class 1: "Arguments" On Demand. ~2 hours to go through the lesson.
• Friday, 7 January 2011: Class 2: Arithmetic On Demand. ~2 hours to go through most of the lesson but I have to do all of the problem questions.

Finally, I have sourced the Official Guide 12th Ed as well as the OG GMAT Verbal Review 2nd Ed, OG GMAT Quant Review 2nd Ed. These set of books are apparently essential to GMAT success as they cover actual questions that have been retired from previous exams. Apparently, the explanations in the Official Guide 12th Ed are a little light on so I have also sourced Manhattan GMAT's OG Companion. Rounding out the materials, I have also got a copy of Manhattan GMAT's Foundations of GMAT Math Supplement.

More on all of these materials as I progress through them.

In the next post, I'll review the Veritas Prep class that I will be attending this evening.

Running tally to date: 

• 14 hours of prep work (including going through materials, doing practice questions, attending class, and checking answers and mistakes - does NOT include taking practice CAT exams).
• 1 CAT exam. (CAT 1: 620/40Q/35V).