GMAT Strategy

I scored a meager 560 (Q-36, V-31) after self-studying for about two months. I'm looking to sign up for one of Veritas Prep's 6 week long intensive courses (twice a week meetup) to increase my score to at least a 660-680. Can anyone provide feedback on their course and whether it was helpful in a similar kind of situation? I'm looking to apply for R2 so I'll be re-taking the GMAT in December almost right after completing the course.

Thanks

Does anyone have any experience with Veritas Prep at all? Any feedback would be very much appreciated!

Eric,

Thanks for the response. I did look at all the reviews - all of which seem to be highly positive. Unfortunately (fortunately for them) most students seem to have had scores in the mid-600s before taking the prep course. I'm looking for feedback from students who had a score in the mid-500s and, by taking the class, were able to increase their score by 100 points or more. I'm a little worried that other students in the class will start with a score much higher than mine which might render the class useless to me...

Hi USJ,

This may not address your query exactly. But still worth a shot:

https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/10/ ... -1-praveen

Thanks - I did take a look at that entry. Unfortunately it's about the web-based course rather than classroom-based course. I am specifically concerned about the range of experience of students in the classroom and how that's going to affect my learning abilities.

I took the Veritas course, but I did start in the 600s. I can say this though, the majority of the people in my class were in the 500s and everyone found the course helpful. I think the course will be helpful for you because the teachers are great and the books are phenomenal. I think the only people that don't find the Veritas classes helpful are those that don't go through all of the materials. If you go through all of the books and truly understand the problems you get wrong, I don't see anyway that you score lower than mid 600s.

Thanks for the feedback, it is much appreciated. I believe the class itself lasts 7 weeks; I am initially hoping to dedicate, on top of the hours for the class itself, at least 6-8h/week to study for the GMAT, giving a total of ~12-14h/week. I will inquire with Veritas to see if they know, ahead of time, the avg GMAT score of other students.

Hey usj:

Thank you for your interest in Veritas Prep! I'm far from impartial on this topic but figured I'd weigh in - I can definitely understand anyone's apprehension about testimonials and reviews wondering "yeah, but are those people like me?". My guess - since it's the BTG review site, a healthy number of reviewers were familiar enough with BTG from self-study before taking a class that they had already earned a fairly high starting point, so we're bound to have a somewhat skewed starting point for that sample (kudos to Eric and the gang for their help in getting everyone there!).

We definitely do help quite a few people get from the 500s (or below) to the high 600s and 700s. My personal record is a five-day, 490-to-710 improvement from a guy named Jason White (not the Heisman winner) back in around 2004 or 2005 when you could take the GMAT once per calendar month and he happened to take one of our one-weekend programs that fell on the last couple days of a month so that he could take the test a day or two later.

Honestly, to a pretty high degree I find starting points to be a fairly inconsequential - a lot of people infer limits from a 520 that they wouldn't from a 610, but without proper preparation neither score is all that indicative of your potential. Somewhat simple things like proper time management (usually gained through proper strategy), awareness of potential errors and pitfalls, etc. can make a huge difference, and without those factors you may be a 650-level student with a 500 score just because you're not enabling yourself to showcase much of your potential.

Long story short - I'd be willing to bet that more of our students start in the 500s than the 600s (a normal distribution bell curve would support that theory nicely) but also that the BTG review section itself is more apt to have higher starting points because, to quote Robert Palmer, the BTG student is "anything but typical" (and also simply irresistible).