Started studying for the GMAT this past Spring using Kaplan's GMAT Premier book with 5 CATs. After I finished the Quant, SC, and CR sections in the book, I felt like I needed something more concrete than the strategy and material Kaplan provided, especially on the Quant section. I wanted to really dive into the math behind the Quant. I hadn't seen some of the math concepts since high school and just reviewing the concepts themselves wasn't enough; I needed to learn how the GMAT applies the basic math.
My girlfriend received an alumni email about preparing for the GMAT with Target Test Prep, so I hopped on the conference call and listened in. Afterwards I setup some time to talk with the presenter, Jeff Miller, who also happened to be one of Target Test Prep's Quant tutors. We did an hour trial tutor session, and I decided to continue. Although private tutoring obviously isn't the cheapest route, I felt it was right for me. By working with Jeff I had access to the online book that his colleague, Scott Woodbury-Stewart, wrote. I thought the book was great at breaking down the individual topics that the GMAT could test you on. They also had an online test center, which I used to practice the concepts I was reading about. They've since merged these two into the Target Test Prep Online GMAT Math Self-Study Course. Depending on the chapter length and my comfort level, my goal was to cover an individual topic per week and then meet with Jeff for an hour or two to gauge how I was doing. I definitely saw a level of improvement in my Quant on practice tests as I moved through the book.
My Quant needed the most work, which is where I focused most of my study time. Towards the end of preparing for the GMAT I worked through Manhattan's SC guide, which was pretty thorough. To help with some of the underlying concepts for SC and CR, I then worked with Target's verbal tutor Neil Lukatch. He helped refine my approach to CR and with SC concepts that have slipped since being in the working world for 6+ years.
I took the GMAT a couple weeks ago and scored Q46 and V35 for an overall score of 660. I was surprised by my verbal score, as I had been scoring 38-39 on two official GMAC practice tests in the week leading up to the test. I've seen that pattern in some other debriefs as well. I don't know, maybe a few questions I had narrowed down to two answers didn't go my way. Anyways, time to move onto the rest of the application for Round 2.
I'd definitely recommend Target Test Prep's math self-study course, and if you can swing the money some sessions with their tutors as well. Best of luck.
My girlfriend received an alumni email about preparing for the GMAT with Target Test Prep, so I hopped on the conference call and listened in. Afterwards I setup some time to talk with the presenter, Jeff Miller, who also happened to be one of Target Test Prep's Quant tutors. We did an hour trial tutor session, and I decided to continue. Although private tutoring obviously isn't the cheapest route, I felt it was right for me. By working with Jeff I had access to the online book that his colleague, Scott Woodbury-Stewart, wrote. I thought the book was great at breaking down the individual topics that the GMAT could test you on. They also had an online test center, which I used to practice the concepts I was reading about. They've since merged these two into the Target Test Prep Online GMAT Math Self-Study Course. Depending on the chapter length and my comfort level, my goal was to cover an individual topic per week and then meet with Jeff for an hour or two to gauge how I was doing. I definitely saw a level of improvement in my Quant on practice tests as I moved through the book.
My Quant needed the most work, which is where I focused most of my study time. Towards the end of preparing for the GMAT I worked through Manhattan's SC guide, which was pretty thorough. To help with some of the underlying concepts for SC and CR, I then worked with Target's verbal tutor Neil Lukatch. He helped refine my approach to CR and with SC concepts that have slipped since being in the working world for 6+ years.
I took the GMAT a couple weeks ago and scored Q46 and V35 for an overall score of 660. I was surprised by my verbal score, as I had been scoring 38-39 on two official GMAC practice tests in the week leading up to the test. I've seen that pattern in some other debriefs as well. I don't know, maybe a few questions I had narrowed down to two answers didn't go my way. Anyways, time to move onto the rest of the application for Round 2.
I'd definitely recommend Target Test Prep's math self-study course, and if you can swing the money some sessions with their tutors as well. Best of luck.
