Veritas Prep Complete Course Live Online Debrief 1 - Ajith
The following is a guest post by Ajith, one of the five Giant GMAT Giveaway winners for Beat The GMAT. For his prize, Ajith chose Veritas Preps Complete Course Live Online and he has written a candid debrief of his experience so far. This is the first of three articles Ajith will write for the Beat The GMAT community providing a straightforward and inside look into his GMAT prep journey with Veritas Prep. Without further ado, heres Ajiths first impressions.
After winning Beat The GMATs Giant GMAT Giveaway, I chose the Veritas Preps Complete Course Live Online (formerly called Virtual Veritas Prep) after a lot of research, opinion collection and thinking. I needed a high quality course that offers a lot of flexibility in terms of time because of my own time constraints due to work pressure. The Complete Course Live Online offers live online lectures as well as self-paced on demand modules, which is exactly what I was looking for, again because of my hectic work schedule. In case I miss a class, I can catch up using the self-paced online modules.
Online vs. Classroom?
Well, I had no doubt about the quality of Veritas Prep but E-learning was something I was a bit skeptical about - it gives me all the flexibility I need, but can it be as effective as good old classroom coaching? In my case, because of my geographic location, I didnt have much of a choice about the classroom coaching as this was not an option for me; however, even if I did have that option, I still would have gone for the online option because of the freedom it allows in scheduling and pacing.
First Impressions
First impressions: I believe I made the right decision on both the GMAT prep provider (Veritas Prep!) and the format of the lessons. I wanted to enroll for the class starting on February 27th primarily because classroom sessions (the live online class) were scheduled for the weekends and start times were pretty late in the evening (IST 10:30 PM to 1:30 AM). I thought if I enroll for this particular session, I would miss a lot less classes (boy! I was wrong - more on that later) and even if I did miss classes I would be able to catch up using the self-paced online modules.
Getting Started
February 27th was just a week away from the conclusion of the contest and it was a challenge to get me enrolled for this session. I would like to thank our own David Park (davidp) and Scott Shrum (Veritas Prep - Director of Admissions Research) for making it possible. Scott sent me an email congratulating me and asking for my address (it meant a lot to me that he personally took care to make sure that I got into the class) and he made sure that all the formalities were taken care.
I indeed started my lessons on February 28th I missed the first class, thanks to my Internet provider who had an unscheduled outage. Tatiana Becker, our instructor, welcomed me on that day and reassured me that I could catch up using the self-paced online module. I left the class that Sunday at around 1:30 AM, convinced and proud about the decisions I made in the last week.
Key Takeaways
What I like about the course: I am very impressed with the online platform, Elluminate, which works seamlessly, even with low Internet bandwidth (which was very important for me). The online platform has a lot of functionality to make the class really interactive. I am impressed with my instructor she seems to know everything about everything and I have not met many people who are as warm and kind as her. The self-paced online modules have been a life-saver when I miss a class, which again has been helpful due to my hectic schedule. Dislikes - none so far and I hope it stays that way! Make sure to tune in for my next debrief on my progress in beating the GMAT!