Hi All,
Bottom Line: I used the KNEWTON online program to raise my score and IT WORKS.
Now that I've said that, I want to thank the members of this forum for so much excellent study advice. I decided less than a month ago to take the GMAT and apply to business schools with a hopeful start date of this coming fall. With such a short timeline, I was very concerned that I wouldn't be able to adequately prepare for the test. I am going into the application with a huge disadvantage--I will be in the last round of admissions for each school to which I apply. Knowing this, I really wanted to break a 700 on the test. You can imagine my dismay when my first practice test returned a pathetic 540. Below average!? Not where I was hoping to start.
A little background about me: I am 32 years old, served in the Army for 8.5 years before transitioning to a job in sales. After a little over a year in the corporate world, I've realized that in order to really be competitive for top leadership roles, I need an MBA. I was going to wait one more year before applying for school, but due to some significant changes in my company, I've decided that it would be best for me to start school in the fall.
That said, I want to take a moment and provide some personal feedback on the methods I used to prepare for the test. After my first practice test, I was disheartened and researched several possible online courses I might be able to squeeze in before my actual test date at the end of February. I settled on the Knewton program.
THE KNEWTON PROGRAM IS GREAT.
I really enjoyed watching the videos associated with each lesson and felt as though the homework was adequately challenging and pushed me to understand the concepts the test covers as well as the strategies that make one a good test taker. The instructors are extremely likeable. By the end of the 13 lessons, I can honestly say that I would like to be friends with each instructor. They are humble, intelligent and take the time to explain concepts multiple ways to help ensure each person watching their videos can find an understanding that works for them. Homework problems are explained in great detail and often with multiple routes to the final answer.
I recommend the Knewton program without reservation.
In addition to completing the Knewton program, I made it a point to do 10-20 problems *every night* from the Official Guide. My verbal skills were much stronger than my quant skills (I've been out of college for 10 years and haven't thought about math at all since I saw my alma mater disappearing in my rear-view mirror on graduation day). It was really helpful to have so many practice problems under my belt. There were a few times that I could swear the problems on my test were exactly the same as problems I had encountered either in my Knewton homework or in the OG. There were a few problems in the verbal section where I could hear the voices of the Knewton instructors in my head guiding me to the correct answer. ("This is TOTALLY out of scope! We don't care about that! Now *this* has to be true for the author's argument to be valid...") I took several full length practice tests:
Veritas: 540 (first test)
Kaplan: 680
Princeton Review: 670
Manhattan: 660
GMAT 1: 660
GMAT 2: 660
Powerprep: 660
This brings me to my biggest lesson learned: the more problems you do, the more likely you are to beat the GMAT. I feel confident that I could raise my score even more if I spent more time doing more problems. There are so many ways test takers can ask the same questions. I really believe that the key to success is practice, practice, practice. Oh, and some more practice.
I don't know what will happen with my applications, but I can say that after just a few short weeks (full of lots of studying), I did well enough on the GMAT that I do not feel like I need to take it again. Ever. If I don't get into Stanford, or any other top ten schools for next year, maybe I'll feel differently--but for now, I am happy enough with my 710 to say, GMAT: CHECK. Now I can focus on telling my story!
Good luck.
Bottom Line: I used the KNEWTON online program to raise my score and IT WORKS.
Now that I've said that, I want to thank the members of this forum for so much excellent study advice. I decided less than a month ago to take the GMAT and apply to business schools with a hopeful start date of this coming fall. With such a short timeline, I was very concerned that I wouldn't be able to adequately prepare for the test. I am going into the application with a huge disadvantage--I will be in the last round of admissions for each school to which I apply. Knowing this, I really wanted to break a 700 on the test. You can imagine my dismay when my first practice test returned a pathetic 540. Below average!? Not where I was hoping to start.
A little background about me: I am 32 years old, served in the Army for 8.5 years before transitioning to a job in sales. After a little over a year in the corporate world, I've realized that in order to really be competitive for top leadership roles, I need an MBA. I was going to wait one more year before applying for school, but due to some significant changes in my company, I've decided that it would be best for me to start school in the fall.
That said, I want to take a moment and provide some personal feedback on the methods I used to prepare for the test. After my first practice test, I was disheartened and researched several possible online courses I might be able to squeeze in before my actual test date at the end of February. I settled on the Knewton program.
THE KNEWTON PROGRAM IS GREAT.
I really enjoyed watching the videos associated with each lesson and felt as though the homework was adequately challenging and pushed me to understand the concepts the test covers as well as the strategies that make one a good test taker. The instructors are extremely likeable. By the end of the 13 lessons, I can honestly say that I would like to be friends with each instructor. They are humble, intelligent and take the time to explain concepts multiple ways to help ensure each person watching their videos can find an understanding that works for them. Homework problems are explained in great detail and often with multiple routes to the final answer.
I recommend the Knewton program without reservation.
In addition to completing the Knewton program, I made it a point to do 10-20 problems *every night* from the Official Guide. My verbal skills were much stronger than my quant skills (I've been out of college for 10 years and haven't thought about math at all since I saw my alma mater disappearing in my rear-view mirror on graduation day). It was really helpful to have so many practice problems under my belt. There were a few times that I could swear the problems on my test were exactly the same as problems I had encountered either in my Knewton homework or in the OG. There were a few problems in the verbal section where I could hear the voices of the Knewton instructors in my head guiding me to the correct answer. ("This is TOTALLY out of scope! We don't care about that! Now *this* has to be true for the author's argument to be valid...") I took several full length practice tests:
Veritas: 540 (first test)
Kaplan: 680
Princeton Review: 670
Manhattan: 660
GMAT 1: 660
GMAT 2: 660
Powerprep: 660
This brings me to my biggest lesson learned: the more problems you do, the more likely you are to beat the GMAT. I feel confident that I could raise my score even more if I spent more time doing more problems. There are so many ways test takers can ask the same questions. I really believe that the key to success is practice, practice, practice. Oh, and some more practice.
I don't know what will happen with my applications, but I can say that after just a few short weeks (full of lots of studying), I did well enough on the GMAT that I do not feel like I need to take it again. Ever. If I don't get into Stanford, or any other top ten schools for next year, maybe I'll feel differently--but for now, I am happy enough with my 710 to say, GMAT: CHECK. Now I can focus on telling my story!
Good luck.
