How important is "the source of a verbal question"

Expert replies

How important is "the source of a verbal question" to you?

Very Important (Only quality materials from GMAC, MGMAT etc deserve my attention): 4; 100%

I dont care (I just try to solve it no matter what the source is. Just gimme more n more!): 0; No votes

: Total votes: 4

mevicks: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 269; Joined: Thu Sep 19, 2013 12:46 amFollowed by: 7 members; Thanked: 94 times

by mevicks » Sat Oct 12, 2013 2:37 am

Hi all,

There are tons of GMAT-like verbal questions floating around on the internet forums and website. Some dont even come close to what one can expect on a GMAT exam and others are just compromising on quality over quantity.

A review done by magoosh says that only MGMAT and OG13 are the good ones:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-book-reviews-2013/

Wanted to know what others feel about this issue and what according to them is a "safe" gmat strategy...
which company can be considered safe in terms of quality verbal material... (past test takers could shed some light on this

)
etc...

Thanks & Regards,
Vivek

Source: Beat The GMAT — GMAT Strategy | Sat Oct 12, 2013 2:37 am

GMAT/MBA Expert

Brent@GMATPrepNow: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 16207; Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2008 6:26 pmFollowed by: 1268 members; Location: Vancouver, BC; Thanked: 5254 times; GMAT Score:770

by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Sat Oct 12, 2013 8:46 am

There are, indeed, a LOT of bad verbal questions floating around.

My (possibly flawed) observation: If you check out verbal questions on the Beat The GMAT forums, you'll find that the Experts often don't respond to the bad (un-GMAT-like) questions. So, if an Expert has responded, there's a good chance that the question might be okay.

Cheers,
Brent

Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com

canbtg: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 46; Joined: Fri Oct 11, 2013 5:42 am; Thanked: 4 times

by canbtg » Sat Oct 12, 2013 9:22 am

totally agree with Brent . Stick to official Materials only for Verbal . Trust me its going to save a lot of time and effort.

rakeshd347: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 391; Joined: Sat Mar 02, 2013 5:13 amFollowed by: 4 members; Thanked: 50 times

by rakeshd347 » Sat Oct 12, 2013 5:13 pm

Here is my take.

I took 6 MGMAT mock tests, 5 veritas prep mock tests, 6 kaplan mock tests and 5 800-score mock tests.
I have been analysing all my mistakes in MGMAT tests,which I gave about 2 months back. I totally agree that MGMAT verbal is most closest to the official source. Veritas prep are good too. Their SC is bit awkward and tests the ideas or logic which GMAT has never tested or unlikely to test (not unlikely, usage of like is correct for example). Apart from these issues veritas prep is very good for CR and RC ( being the best I have seen so far).

Kaplan is just the worse. I have seen so many questions in which most of the experts will argue for one answer and Kaplan will argue for other. Their SC and CR both are too awkward. RC is too tough to tackle. I mean I score V37-38 and its too tough imagine a person who scores V40 it will be just impossible for him. They score accordingly though. But thats not the point. Material in books and tests should be similar to gmat.

MGMAT is very good for CR RC and SC. I found their SC the best. Their Quant,however, is too tough again. But as we are discussing the verbal part here I guess MGMAT or Veritas is a good choice.

vinay1983: Legendary Member; Posts: 643; Joined: Wed Aug 14, 2013 4:27 amFollowed by: 7 members; Thanked: 48 times

by vinay1983 » Sat Oct 12, 2013 5:41 pm

As far as i have seen no questions can beat Og questions. The fact that those questions appear so polishes, so well written makes them stand apart. Yes MGMAT comes close at second. I have solved all 6 cats of theirs. I have not tried Kaplan, Veritas etc etc, so i cannot comment on them, but OG questions win anyday.

You can, for example never foretell what any one man will do, but you can say with precision what an average number will be up to!

mevicks: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 269; Joined: Thu Sep 19, 2013 12:46 amFollowed by: 7 members; Thanked: 94 times

by mevicks » Sat Oct 12, 2013 7:09 pm

@All: Thank you all for the valuable feedback! Much appreciated.

@Brent: Thanks for that great tip.

@Rakesh: Ditto! Actually I was planning to buy some additional tests (exhausted the 6 mgmat ones saving 2 gmatprep ones for the last) to identify my verbal weakness areas at this point in time. Went ahead and took the veritas free test and as you mentioned found their SC questions a bit weird. But then going by your experience it seems that veritas is the only close contender after MGMAT and $49 for 5 more non-gmac but pretty decent test is worthwhile.

Thanks & Regards,
Vivek

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