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by VP_Jim » Sun Nov 09, 2008 6:17 pm
A sub-500 score usually means that you need to work on your fundamentals first, before worrying about the GMAT stuff. One reason the course might not have worked as well as you hoped is because you didn't have that foundation. When you learned the GMAT tricks and strategies, you didn't have the requisite background knowledge to truly apply what you learned.

My advice is between now and your Veritas class is to forget about the GMAT for awhile and simply focus on your fundamentals. Perhaps take a college algebra class to get ready for quant - if you are good at algebra and mental math, the quant section starts to get a whole lot easier. For verbal start reading a lot. This will improve your reading comp and your "ear" for good grammar. If you do these things first, you're likely to get a lot more out of your prep course.

Hope this helps!
Jim S. | GMAT Instructor | Veritas Prep

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thanks

by anujladha » Mon Nov 10, 2008 4:52 pm
Thanks Jim for your advice. I hope it will help me. Do you have any suggestions on books/material I can get in order to learn fundamentals? I have Math Smart, Writing Smart, and Word Smart from Princeton review.

On a second thought, I may decide not to pursue a course and instead focus on taking several practice examinations from the free GMAT Prep software, which I downloaded from MBA.com, since it resembles the look of the actual exam. However, it is good for me to access past actual exams as well for practice purposes. Do you have any suggestions, perhaps on this?

Also, how is the Veritas Prep overall as a test preparation company? The only reason why I might consider taking a course is because they have 15 practice exams, versus just only 5 with the Princeton Review. Perhaps, you may suggestions for me.

I also have some mild learning deficiencies because I have a learning disability. It takes me times to understand some concepts and apply techiques for answering questions. Perhaps, Veritas Prep has helped students who have such learning situations and have to put in twice or more extra effort than the average test-taker/student.

Thanks :)

Anuj









VP_Jim wrote:A sub-500 score usually means that you need to work on your fundamentals first, before worrying about the GMAT stuff. One reason the course might not have worked as well as you hoped is because you didn't have that foundation. When you learned the GMAT tricks and strategies, you didn't have the requisite background knowledge to truly apply what you learned.

My advice is between now and your Veritas class is to forget about the GMAT for awhile and simply focus on your fundamentals. Perhaps take a college algebra class to get ready for quant - if you are good at algebra and mental math, the quant section starts to get a whole lot easier. For verbal start reading a lot. This will improve your reading comp and your "ear" for good grammar. If you do these things first, you're likely to get a lot more out of your prep course.

Hope this helps!
Tennis Lover

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by VP_Jim » Mon Nov 10, 2008 9:25 pm
I don't know anything about those materials. I usually recommend "algebra for dummies" or something like that. Those books have great explanations and lots of practice problems, and aren't GMAT specific so you don't get confused by the added complexity.

As for Veritas, I'm a little biased since I do teach for Veritas, but I think we have a great prep course. One benefit you might get from Veritas vs. another company is that our course is 42 hours, far longer than those of our competitors. We have a lot more time to go slowly over foundational material and do lots of examples and problems in class.

As for practice tests, the ones on mba.com are excellent. You can also check out the free Veritas exam here:

https://www.veritasprep.com/gmat-prepara ... ctice-GMAT

Let me know if you have more questions about Veritas!
Jim S. | GMAT Instructor | Veritas Prep