High school books vs. Gmat prep books.

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luvuntn: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 8; Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2008 4:20 am; Location: FARIDABAD,INDIA; Thanked: 1 times

by luvuntn » Sun Jun 20, 2010 9:25 am

HI ! My question is that instead of kickstarting gmat prep.from gmat books eg. kaplan premier or manhattan strategy guides,shouldnt i review maths and grammer from my high school maths and then proceed to gmat prep.books, as they have more description moreover as they say that gmat tests only upto high school level verbal and quant or should i directly start from manhatten/kaplan assuming that reviews of basics in these books are sufficient for a 710+ score.
Two points i would like to be taken into consideration -

1.IT HAS BEEN AROUND 5 YEARS SINCE I HAD TOUCHED ANY TEXT BOOK.
2. FIRST GOING THROUGH HIGH SCHOOL BOOKS AND THEN GOING THROUGH GMAT BOOKS WILL INVOLVE LOT OF TIME AS I WILL BE DOING SAME TOPICS FROM 2 DIFFERENT BOOKS.

thanx in advance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Source: Beat The GMAT — GMAT Strategy | Sun Jun 20, 2010 9:25 am

grockit_andrea: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 357; Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2009 8:31 pmFollowed by: 7 members; Thanked: 128 times

by grockit_andrea » Sun Jun 20, 2010 10:20 am

luvuntn wrote:HI ! My question is that instead of kickstarting gmat prep.from gmat books eg. kaplan premier or manhattan strategy guides,shouldnt i review maths and grammer from my high school maths and then proceed to gmat prep.books, as they have more description moreover as they say that gmat tests only upto high school level verbal and quant or should i directly start from manhatten/kaplan assuming that reviews of basics in these books are sufficient for a 710+ score.
Two points i would like to be taken into consideration -

1.IT HAS BEEN AROUND 5 YEARS SINCE I HAD TOUCHED ANY TEXT BOOK.
2. FIRST GOING THROUGH HIGH SCHOOL BOOKS AND THEN GOING THROUGH GMAT BOOKS WILL INVOLVE LOT OF TIME AS I WILL BE DOING SAME TOPICS FROM 2 DIFFERENT BOOKS.

thanx in advance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would recommend a combination of the two approaches, focusing specifically on test-prep mechanics. So for instance, using SAT prep books to brush up on math and grammar concepts with which you're not confident would probably be a great idea, but going through a regular high school English book might be more time and effort than its worth. You're right that those lower level books might break things down on a more basic level, and if you need to re-develop those skills from the ground up, that's not a bad place to start. I think whether or not the reviews in GMAT prep books will be sufficient without more basic foundation review really depends on how much you already know, and you're the best judge of that. But if you're questioning your knowledge, it's probably worth spending a little time at least skimming those lower-level texts to see if there's anything you've completely forgotten, before you move on to more challenging GMAT materials.

Andrea A.
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https://www.grockit.com

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Dan@VinciaPrep: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 384; Joined: Sun Nov 01, 2009 9:54 amFollowed by: 13 members; Location: Paris; Thanked: 92 times

by Dan@VinciaPrep » Mon Jun 21, 2010 8:33 am

luvuntn wrote:HI ! My question is that instead of kickstarting gmat prep.from gmat books eg. kaplan premier or manhattan strategy guides,shouldnt i review maths and grammer from my high school maths and then proceed to gmat prep.books, as they have more description moreover as they say that gmat tests only upto high school level verbal and quant or should i directly start from manhatten/kaplan assuming that reviews of basics in these books are sufficient for a 710+ score.
Two points i would like to be taken into consideration -

1.IT HAS BEEN AROUND 5 YEARS SINCE I HAD TOUCHED ANY TEXT BOOK.
2. FIRST GOING THROUGH HIGH SCHOOL BOOKS AND THEN GOING THROUGH GMAT BOOKS WILL INVOLVE LOT OF TIME AS I WILL BE DOING SAME TOPICS FROM 2 DIFFERENT BOOKS.

thanx in advance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How much time do you have to prep? Building on the basics is always useful although it may not be efficient enough for your needs. I've seen many people who were out of school for longer than five years, who used just GMAT prep material and who achieved a 700+ score- so yeah, I think GMAT Prep material can be sufficient.

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