Beaten by GMAT - 660 (Q50,V29). NEED HELP/ADVICE ON RETAKE - Page 2 - The Beat The GMAT Forum

Beaten by GMAT - 660 (Q50,V29). NEED HELP/ADVICE ON RETAKE

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gmattaker20: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 21; Joined: Sun Aug 28, 2011 9:13 am; Thanked: 1 times

by gmattaker20 » Thu Sep 08, 2011 2:35 pm

Sorry for late reply guys.

@Abhij: I totally buy your point of practicing at least 1000 problems for the trouble-facing topic (particularly SC). And I plan to enroll for e-gmat and most probably Master GMAT too. However, I have tried Grockit and its standard nowhere compares with OG-SCs; so might drop Grockit.

@ronaldramlan: Thanks for the advice; I would definitely not waste time and money on Knewton now.

Now before starting my preparation, I would like to share my new strategy. Guys, please share your views regarding the same.

SC - I would start with a good grammar book preferably "Doing Grammar", heard lots of good things about it. Revisit OG-10,12,Verbal. Then move to 1000SC and side by side do e-GMAT or MasterGMAT or some other prep company material.

CR and RC - I would revise OGs first and then practice on LSAT material. If required practice from 1000 CR and RC.

CATs - e-GMAT, Grockit, GMAT Prep, not sure whether I should repeat MGMAT ?

Could you suggest more good CATs ?

Thanks!

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DanaJ: Site Admin; Posts: 2567; Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2009 10:05 amFollowed by: 550 members; Thanked: 712 times; GMAT Score:770

by DanaJ » Thu Sep 08, 2011 2:59 pm

Received a PM.

The 1000 SC/CR/RC docs have a really bad rep on our website. To my knowledge, they're a collection of questions from various sources, some of them shadier than others, and the answers are not always the correct ones. I wouldn't necessarily advise you to use them. You can try the Veritas Prep guides, they're pretty packed with practice questions if that is what you're looking for.

I get the feeling that your prep is too focused on practice right now. There's too little focus on other elements such as concepts/theory/improving your overall knowledge of English. These are essential! I've noticed that non native speakers in general (and Indian test takers in particular) seem to believe that practicing it out will yield the best results. Not necessarily true! I advise you to spend time on theory as well:
- make flashcards
- take notes
- create your own cheat sheet (Stacey wrote a nice article about this just search for cheat sheet)
- review everything!

Good luck on the retake!

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gmattaker20: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 21; Joined: Sun Aug 28, 2011 9:13 am; Thanked: 1 times

by gmattaker20 » Thu Sep 08, 2011 3:17 pm

Thanks for the prompt reply Dana. I will sincerely incorporate your suggestions and try to focus on theory as well.

However, I am skeptical about heavily practicing form any particular prep. company as I have realized that one gets attuned to its patterns which are mostly off-track from real GMAT. For the same reason I thought of practicing from 1000 SCs at least they are close to official questions with few aberrations nonetheless. But I will definitely try to avoid 1000 RC and CR and instead focus on LSAT and OGs.

Once again thanks for the review Dana.

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maddy12: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 8; Joined: Fri Sep 09, 2011 11:23 pm

by maddy12 » Sat Sep 10, 2011 12:56 am

thanks

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AbhiJ: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 381; Joined: Wed May 19, 2010 10:15 pmFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 41 times

by AbhiJ » Sun Sep 11, 2011 11:41 am

Pick Doing grammar only if you are prepared to give a minimum of 2 weeks to it. The author recommends 6 weeks.

Grockit may seem easy to you, but see if you can get a 90% accuracy on it. If no then probably it still has some value. The problem with 1000SC is there are no explanations and you would have to google to find out(which is time consuming and tedious). However if you feel that you only need to use google less frequently(you can figure out answers) then it can be a good fit for you.

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