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Better Practice material for Verbal

Critical Reasoning, Reading Comprehension
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Better Practice material for Verbal

by Gaurav Mittal » Fri Apr 08, 2016 1:19 am
Hi

I am planning to start with GMAT preparation targeting exam within 4 months. Can someone please suggest which book will be better for Verbal practice - Kaplan Verbal workout or GMAT Official verbal review.

I plan to first finish off with Manhattan SC, OG and Kaplan premier before getting onto one of the above books I mentioned. Please suggest.

Thanks
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by [email protected] » Fri Apr 08, 2016 9:57 am
Hi Gaurav Mittal,

When it comes to realistic practice materials of ANY type, the various GMAC materials are the most realistic on the market. However, there are plenty of quality practice materials besides the GMAC ones. Also, doing lots of practice questions isn't necessarily the best way to improve your Verbal skills. While doing a certain amount of practice is certainly necessary, if you don't know the proper content and Tactics, then you could very easily make the same mistakes over-and-over and not actually improve.

1) Have you done any studying so far?
2) Have you taken any practice CATs yet?

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by Gaurav Mittal » Fri Apr 08, 2016 10:42 pm
Hey Rich

Thanks for your response. I am just starting with the preparation now and consolidating study material for starters. I agree with you on quality of preparation rather than just quantity and thus wanted a suggestion on which one to choose. I dont want to buy both as I don't think I will get that much time. I guess I will go with OG verbal review to supplement OG.

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by [email protected] » Sat Apr 09, 2016 5:23 pm
Hi Hi Gaurav Mittal,

If you're just beginning your studies, then it would be a good idea to take a FULL-LENGTH practice CAT Test; you can download 2 for free from www.mba.com (and they come with some additional practice materials). If you want to do a little studying first, so that you can familiarize yourself with the basic content and question types, then that's okay - but you shouldn't wait too long to take that initial CAT. That score will give us a good sense of your natural strengths and weaknesses and will help provide a basis for comparison as you continue to study. A FULL CAT takes about 4 hours to complete, so make sure that you've set aside enough time to take it in one sitting. Once you have those scores, you should report back here and we can come up with a study plan.

I'd like to know a bit more about your timeline and goals:
1) What is your goal score?
2) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
3) When are you planning to apply to Business School?

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Rich
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by MBAPrepCoach » Sun Apr 17, 2016 5:45 am
Over the course of 16 years, I have found that OG is always best, but Kaplan is acceptable. Everything else (ie Manhattan) does not aptly reflect the exam IMO. I would recommend the OG verbal review but above all, would recommend you focus on online test materials. There's too much of a disconnect between paper guides and the online test - you lose your security blanket (paper, tangible object.) Would agree that doing a ton of questions is not as important as studying your performance on less questions. The goal is to build an effective strategy/model that will work on test day and the questions are just a container for that.
Keep that as your focus.
Gaurav Mittal wrote:Hi

I am planning to start with GMAT preparation targeting exam within 4 months. Can someone please suggest which book will be better for Verbal practice - Kaplan Verbal workout or GMAT Official verbal review.

I plan to first finish off with Manhattan SC, OG and Kaplan premier before getting onto one of the above books I mentioned. Please suggest.

Thanks
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