Beat The GMAT

marepally · Sun May 28, 2006 9:54 pm

Hi,

Please help me to make a decision. I have started the preparation for the GMAT, and I have completed the Verbal part from the Princeton Reivew Book, and the Kaplan GMAT book. I have decided on some strategies for CR, RC, and SC. I wanted to know if I should start Practicing OG now or start the CR/SC/RC 1000 sets.

I thought of doing the 1000 sets first, and after getting comfortable with the problems, I will take GMAT Prep test. After that I will start OG.

Is this a good approach?

Also, I have another 3 months of time for preparation. I am planning to take GMAT in the first week of September.

Thanks,
Srikanth.

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beatthegmat · Mon May 29, 2006 2:37 pm

Hi marepally:

My suggestion is to start working on OG, and use the 1000 documents as supplemental practice problems. I believe that it makes sense to begin studying OG relatively early in a person's prep schedule because it will give you more time to examine actual GMAT questions and allow you time to pick up on the question patterns commonly tested on the GMAT. As I had said before in other posts, the GMAT tends to test the same question patterns over and over again. You can get a sense of these patterns through a thorough study of OG--but just to caveat, it takes a lot of TIME, PRACTICE, and REPITITION (perhaps going through the book more than once) to sense these patterns.

Thus, if I were you I would: Focus on OG, and use the 1000 documents for further practice. Also, consider taking one GMATPrep test at the beginning of your studies, and one at the end. Doing so will help you guage your improvement during the course of your preparation.

Best of luck!

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marepally · Mon May 29, 2006 10:02 pm

Thanks a lot for the Advice Eric!, I will take one GMAT Prep test on this weekend and then will start doing OG. Simultaneoulsy, I will practice 1000's set.

I have one more question here. I am planning to take one full lenght test on every weekend to monitor my progress. I am planning to take the following tests, let me know if this would suffice for my preparation. Also, let me know if there is anything that I can do to guage my preformance.

1. Princeton Online CAT 1, 2, 3
2. Kaplan CD 1, 2, 3
3. GMAT Prep 1, 2 (one before doing OG, and another before the exam)

Regards,
Srikanth

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beatthegmat · Mon May 29, 2006 10:04 pm

Hi marepally:

Princeton Review and Kaplan will give you some good practice test material. A CAVEAT: DO NOT take your Kaplan scores seriously! They are consistently 80-100 points lower than what you could expect your performance to me on the real GMAT. So don't feel discouraged if you get a low GMAT score on the Kaplan tests.

Try to take at least one practice exam under simulated conditions each week.

Best of luck! Don't hesitate to ask this forum for advice or for help on specific questions.