Kaplan GMAT Premium Online Course Debrief 3 – Komal
The following is a guest post by Komal, one of the five Giant GMAT Giveaway winners for Beat The GMAT. For her prize, Komal chose the Kaplan GMAT Premium Online Course and she has written a candid debrief of her experience so far. This is the third of five articles Komal will write for the Beat The GMAT community providing a straightforward and inside look into her GMAT prep with Kaplan. Here are some of Komal's impressions of the course to date.
Hey everyone,
I am pleased to share with you another installment of my Kaplan GMAT Premium Online Course reviews. Today I will be reviewing Sessions 4 and 5.
Session 4 Arithmetic and Number Properties
The topic covered in Session 4 of the Kaplan GMAT Premium Online course is Arithmetic and Number Properties. It is divided into 12 lessons each dealing with the fundamentals of major Arithmetic and Number Properties concepts tested on the GMAT.
Fractions, exponents, radicals, absolute value and inequalities are introduced very well. The lessons also include basics ofNumber Properties concepts such as Integers/Non-Integers, Odds/Evens, Positive/Negatives, Factors and Multiples,
Remainders, Primes and Sequences. The lessons are followed by a quiz and then a quiz review. The lessons give a very good overall idea about the sub-topics, but they dont go below the surface of any topic. For a person like me who is rusty in math, it was great to learn the math basics from scratch; however, I feel they didnt cover anything beyond the basics in any specific math area. I guess I will have to wait until the advanced math session to get more detailed information.
Pros:
1. Ideal for GMAT aspirants who want to brush up on the basics of math
2. Most lessons include Data Sufficiency questions for the topic discussed in that particular lesson.
Cons:
1. Only a general idea of topics is presented.
2. A bit fast paced, lessons move forward rather quickly
Session 5 Basic Reading Comprehension & Sentence Correction
Session 5 deals with my favorite GMAT section - Basic Reading Comprehension and Sentence Correction. This 18-lesson session is divided into 9 lessons each of Reading Comprehension and Sentence Correction. The session begins with an introduction to Reading Comprehension passages and moves on to strategic reading. Emphasis is given on how to map the passages using keywords and how to arrive at the Topic, Scope and Purpose of the passages. Reading Comprehension question types is discussed in the following lesson, which is then rounded out with a quiz and quiz review. Overall a very powerful session that deals effectively with this difficult sub-section of the GMAT.
Next are the 9 mini-lessons dealing with Sentence Correction. It starts off with an introduction to Sentence Correction and The Kaplan Method for Sentence Correction. The Kaplan Method basically demonstrates the strategies on how to eliminate wrong answer choices. The method sounds simple but it is very effective as I found out later while doing the quizzes. Next comes applying the Kaplan Method when dealing with Sentence Corrections questions. The last six lessons each deal with one of the six major Sentence Correction concepts tested on the GMAT: Verbs, Pronouns, Modification, Parallel Structure, Comparisons and Usage & Style. The lessons are very informative and provide a wealth of information on each concept.
50-point score improvement!
I took CAT 3 right after Session 4 without completing the given assignments and workshops. I scored 530 (10 point decrease from CAT 2). I was a little disappointed but then gathered myself knowing fully well that I shouldnt have rushed to take the CAT before finishing the required assignments. I took CAT 4 after completing Session 5 and all the required assignments. My score shot up to 580! I am pleased with the score of this last CAT but need to work harder to cross the 650 mark, which is my target after the next couple of sessions. Below are my CAT scores after 5 sessions of Kaplan Premium Online Course.
I'll keep you posted about my progress.
Adios for now....