Beat The GMAT

dbart06 · Mon Jul 07, 2008 7:36 am

Took the Gmat sat. 7-5 and bombed it. Scored an awful 480. Looking to retake the Gmat in Oct. Would like to know some great..not good but great study guides. I studied the OG 11th, PR and McGraw & Hill. They seemed to be Ok but looking for more in depth material. What I discovered was that I was trying to learn how to solve the problem without really understanding the concepts.....the day old adage
"Help a man to catch fish, feed him for a day...show him how to fish, feed him for a life time" or something like that.

I do not have the money to take an actual class, everything I do is self study. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

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czechchamp · Mon Jul 07, 2008 7:46 am

OG 11th is obviously good. Can't really comment on PR have never used them. McGraw Hill...do not particularly care for their study guides.
If you're having trouble with the content knowledge, get the MGMAT study guides, they are very helpful.

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manju_ej · Mon Jul 07, 2008 10:45 am

I am in the same boat as urs, taking it in Aug 4th 2008

Some tips:

1.Repeat OG 11 problems umpteen number of times, each time when I do I feel I get new insights. Say 40 PS + 20 DS from OG 11 Quant a day and try to do it in 60 minutes, what ever Q's u go wrong, try to attempt them one more time, u'll come up with some strategy to crack them, then review each and every of these 60 Q with the explanation provided, make a log of wrong ones and attempt them after a couple of days later.

For the quant - concepts, I used - Kaplan Math work book, http://www.prepfortests.com, and http://www.800score.com. There are some free stuff in both these sites.

2. Kaplan 800 , its so amazing. Its worth the money.

3. SC , CR and Rc - Manhattan GMAT books for verbal + kaplan 800+ OG 11(using 'emule' u can download the pdf format of all the Manhattan SC, CR and RC for free )

4. Take some 20 tests before the actual test.

This is the strategy that I am following at the moment, Hope I will make it to 700+, I believe u can also do it.
GL

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dbart06 · Mon Jul 07, 2008 1:15 pm

Thanks for the tips.

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netigen · Mon Jul 07, 2008 4:43 pm

Great books won't help at that score. What will help is to realize that you are missing the concepts.

You need the books that will help build the concepts. Try the Kaplan math review book. It is great to build the basic concepts.

For CR use the CR bible and for SC use the manhattan SC book. These will help to understand the basic concepts and different approaches to solve the problems.

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ngufo · Tue Jul 08, 2008 11:47 am

dbbart,
If anyone can really suck at Maths and Verbal, I would take the official cake. Plus I did not have the finances to take courses either. What I did have is the belief that I could learn the basics, given enough time and hard work. I took a whole 6 months to study, write the GMAT and get a 720 (I dont have the brains, but looks like commitment and hardwork can work wonders too). I truly believe anyone can do that - you nailed the problem though. You have to make sure you understand the concepts inside out. That was the one thing I did.

You are already on the right track, do read my blog at http://www.beatthegmat.com/gmat-720-95-q49-v40-people-never-fail-they-just-give-up-t7227.html

I have detailed out a lot of information about how I did self study in the blog, and am hopeful that will help you out some.

dont loose hope - until the time you've given it everything you've got, done the best you can. I am pretty sure the next attempt put in will give you the dividends you seek.

Wish you all the best,
-ngufo

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mbadrew · Tue Jul 08, 2008 1:46 pm

Sorry to hear about your defeat. Well here's my strategy,

1. GMAX online review (www.gmaxonline.com)

2. OG 11, OG quant and OG verbal.

3. Manhattan booklets; all 7 of them.

4. Official GMAC prep tests that you can download from www.mba.com when you register for the test.

Be sure not to register for the test until you are so ready, that if someone wakes you up at 2am and asks you to solve a gmat question, you can do it in less then 1.5 minutes.

Don't set unrealistic deadlines for yourself. Recognize your weakness and turn into your strength. If it takes you six months to get the core concepts down, then it's OK, because your ultimate goal of getting a decent score (700+) will be achieved.

Remember, "it's better to get there late than never"!

thanks
D

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kirube · Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:05 am

Get OG11 and manhattan books ~

First, walk through the concepts in Manhattan books.

Next, practice with OG. Even if you get a question correct, check whether you did it in the same way as it is detailed in the answer section. Also try to understand why the other answers are wrong.

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Tarmac · Thu Jul 10, 2008 11:12 am

Don't use McGraw Hill. Tons of typos

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Ancientmtk · Sat Jul 12, 2008 3:11 pm

McGraw Hill sucks. Don't use it.

I just took the test today and scored 610. On the practice tests i get around 680-720. I think i really choked big time.

What is this Manhattan book that everyone's talking about? I have the 6 Manhattan GmAT review books, while i think they are good at covering basics, I don't feel that they are enough. Are there practice test books from Manhattan GMAT or other things that i missed out?

Thanks in advance. Good luck and Shall we all beat the gmat in the next try.

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