GMAT course

Hi Trtorch,

My situation is similar to yours - I went through all of the problems in the OG's and the materials from MGMAT on my own, and took the exam twice; however, my score peaked at 680 (that was actually the score on my first try), with a verbal score in the low 30's. I've just registered for the Kaplan Advance course, hoping it can provide additional verbal guidelines that may not have been covered by MGMAT and boost my score to the 40's.

I had also considered taking the full MGMAT course after my first try, but, after sitting through couple trial courses, I didn't think it was helpful for those students who had gone through all of its materials. I suppose the classroom experience may be different depending on the instructor and his/her style, though. If you want to stick with MGMAT, you can probably consider its private tutoring option (I took two private tutoring sessions and thought that they were okay, but I'm sure this experience varies by instructor as well).

To briefly share my take on MGMAT and experiences on the GMAT:
I thought that its materials (esp. the sentence correction section) were helpful and that I definitely gained a better grasp at verbal by going through the MGMAT stuff again after my first exam (I also attended MGMAT's Quest for 750 - SC workshop and thought it was excellent). That said, I somehow got a lower score on my second try.... . For whatever reason, I just felt that the verbal questions (esp. CR and SC) on the actual GMAT were harder than those from the OG's and MGMAT. I'm not sure if my nerves got the best of me, I was not prepared enough/not comfortable with the exam environment, or it was a stamina issue, etc......I am certainly happy to hear if you or anyone has any comment/advice on my problem.

Cheers,
Jason

TrTorch -

Just wanted to let you know that you have other options other than going back through with the same books and strategies that you have already read...

There is a free Veritas forum "Conquering the GMAT" presentation which is tomorrow night March 30th from 8PM to 10PM Eastern Time. About 1/3 of all Veritas students score over 700 on the GMAT so if you are looking for something to take you to that level you should check it out.