How old are the questions?

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megank413: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 1; Joined: Wed Feb 23, 2011 8:06 am

by megank413 » Wed Feb 23, 2011 8:14 am

Hello,

My husband is currently studying to take the GMAT later on this spring. He has been working his way through all three OG books (most current editions) and going through the MGMAT self-study books for the lessons, but is still looking for additional official GMAT questions. That said, other test prep books like Kaplan and Princeton Review are out. We are thinking about getting either the OG11 (for the extra 300 Q's) or the retired tests through GMAC and are wondering if anyone knows when questions are "retired" from the GMAT. He doesn't want to study old questions that aren't going to be indicitive of what's on the current test. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Megan

Source: Beat The GMAT — GMAT Strategy | Wed Feb 23, 2011 8:14 am

KapTeacherEli: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 578; Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2009 6:00 pmFollowed by: 62 members; Thanked: 136 times

by KapTeacherEli » Wed Feb 23, 2011 11:25 am

Hi Megan,

When the GMAT changes, it does so slowly. The last major change to the test was the introduction of the Bolded Statement question type several years ago, and that type doesn't even show up on every test-takers test. There have also been reports that recent RC passages are longer and more convoluted than they have been in the past, but there isn't (to my knowledge) any concrete confirmation that this is so. In other words, though older questions may differ slightly in the proportion of problem types and distribution of difficulty, they will still test the same concepts and the same strategies as modern questions. Newer stuff is better, but the older stuff will definitely help to prepare you for the GMAT.

Eli Meyer
Kaplan GMAT Teacher
Cambridge, MA
www.kaptest.com/gmat

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