GMAT Strategy

So I've been trying to attack the GMAT on and off for a over a year! I've taken the exam 3 times, and my score stayed flat between the 2nd and 3rd time. I took a prep course with Kaplan twice, hired a private tutor with Kaplan and nothing helped. I thought I would improve but I didn't! I spent a lot of money and time towards the GMAT and its the one component of my application holding me back...

I'm ready to focus again, but do you think its worth studying on my own or spending another $1000+ on a prep course like Manhattan GMAT?

Please HELP!

Hi Nisha,
I took the Kaplan GMAT prep course several years ago. Granted, it is true that they have lots and lots of practice material to help you study. But, Kaplan did not include the Official Guide to the GMAT at all in their GMAT preparation course. They said that their own material would prepare me well enough to get a good score on the GMAT. I did get through all of their material and I took 3 practice tests as well. However, I scored 450 or thereabouts on all of the tests. I had already signed up for the test, so I took the GMAT two weeks after the course ended. Well, I got a lousy 410 on the test. For that reason, I didn't think that I wanted to take the GMAT, and or another GMAT prep course for a long time or ever again, in fact.

I don't want to mention the names of any of the other GMAT prep courses that I have tried since I last took the GMAT, but I took them. Honestly, those other prep courses were not any better that Kaplan was. Each one of them had something about them that didn't work at all for me. However, within the last two years, I found the Manhattan GMAT strategy guides one day on the internet. So, I bought them. This year, I decided that studying on my own was not going to work for me anymore. So, I enrolled in the Manhattan GMAT virtual online course in March. I already liked their 7 strategy guides and that they use the Official Guide to the GMAT as a big part of their program, too. Honestly, what I really liked about their program was that it is a well developed, structured study plan that was the perfect one for me at right time, too.

So, if you want a GMAT prep program that has all of the best ingredients designed to get you well prepared to take the GMAT, I would take a look at what Manhattan GMAT has to offer. I am sure that you will like it, too.
Greg

Thanks Greg!!! Your feedback is really helpful.

I bought all of the official guides in addition to the hundreds of dollars I spent making Kaplan more rich! I was more shocked that I didn't score higher on the 3rd time cause it was prolly the time I studied and gave it my all!

I read a lot about the posts on the forum..and lot of people took the virtual Manhattan Gmat course. do you reccomend the virtual class over the class room training?

Hi Nisha,
My virtual online Manhattan GMAT course ends on May 6. I really would recommend taking the virtual online course because it is taught by two, real live instructors. I liked taking the MG course that way because it is not only interactive and engaging, but you can take it anywhere if you have a PC and an internet connection. That online course even comes with a head set and a microphone for talking during the class. That is why I said something about the class as being interactive and engaging, too. You also get access to all of the online Manhattan GMAT material as well. I already outlined all of the things that I like about that program, but there is more. I think that if you look at this forum, you will see that Stacey Koprince from Manhattan GMAT, spends a lot of her time giving people advice about any question and or concern that they might have about the GMAT. In my opinion, I have never found anyone from any other GMAT prep program who actually cared enough about other people to take the time to help them like Stacey does.

But, of course, you may want to take a live course, instead? I think that it would all depend on where you live or what your home life might be like, too. And, maybe you like having someone right there teaching you the material?

I do have one question for you about what you think made you not feel as prepared to take the test like you said you were? I really didn't think that anybody at Kaplan really cared about how I did on those practice tests, even the instructors didn't. Maybe, that is what happened in your case, too? Manhattan GMAT offers extensive explanations about each question on their practice tests. In addition, I also know that the instructors from my class said that they were interested in the results of how we did on our practice tests, too. If you do sign up for their course, either online or in person, I would make sure that you take one of their practice tests before the class starts. You will have access to a tutor for a half an hour once a week. And, I am sure that the instructor for your class will find a way to help you, too. Of course, you can post a lot on here about the questions that you might have about your practice test results as well. Ask Manhattan GMAT, as a subforum to the GMAT strategy one, would be the perfect place to do that after you took one of their tests, too.

Greg

Nisha - I completely understand where you are coming from. I've been studying for the GMAT for the last 9 months off and on. It's a huge time committment. But like Greg said, the Manhattan GMAT online course is awesome. Just be sure that you have the time to do it. It is an intense course that is 9 weeks long and it's really easy to get behind. I've done it twice now and something always gets in the way of me studying. So I'm always falling behind. But I'm about to tackle it for the third time hard-core. I have to. I'm scheduled to take the GMAT for the first time this Saturday and I know that I'm not going to do well because it's hard for me to study on my own. And application time is coming up.

And I'd like to finally score well enough (practice tests not so hot....470) so that I can put this whole GMAT hell behind me!!

ITObean - I'm sooo on the same page as you!!! I'm aware of my weaknesses and work hard at it to make it a strength only to find out another area needed work.

Did you take the virtual or classroom course with Manhattan GMAT?

I heard about some template on this forum that can help with analyzing errors...can someone tell me where its located or send it in this thread?

If you feel you are not improving then go back to the basic concepts. This is especially important for people who are weak in math. If you simply practice the medium to hard question without fully and comprehensively understanding the basic concepts you will never understand why you got a question wrong. I would recommend ARCO's GRE/GMAT book which goes over some of the basic concepts of math tested on the GMAT.

As far as verbal is concerned read the question very carefully. Fully understand what it its saying before moving on to the question because if you dont i can guarantee you that you will get that question wrong. I always do this and it helps me a lot on verbal...ask yourself if the answer choice provided is too strong/weak based on the argument. Choose the answer choice that most matches the argument structure. You can eliminate strong answer choices right away for question's with weak arguments. Just my 2 cents..hope it helps.

I know that I have told you all of the good things about my experience with the MGMAT prep course. And, I don't have anything negative to say about that program, either. But, it is true that it is very easy to get behind in that course because that is what has happened to me. I did ask for extra time off from work, but during April, I had to work more than I had planned to. Honestly, my job can be very tiring, too. In spite of my best intentions, I missed two of the Sunday class sessions because of work related issues. For several reasons, I suddenly found myself being at least two weeks behind in that class. I did what I was supposed to with the assigments for the week. However, things became difficult for me when one subject built on another one. And, to be even more honest, I am still behind in a lot of the things that should have been finished two weeks ago. I have only myself to blame for letting things get to this point. At the same time, the MGMAT course information that I got before the class started in March, very clearly made reference to the fact that you have to keep up with the work as it comes along. It also made it a point to tell us that if you do get behind, keep up to date with the current week's assignment first. I am behind right now, but I am plugging along day by day.

There is one thing about the MGMAT course that I have made reference to before. That is that it is a nicely structured study plan. For that one reason, it is much better than Kaplan and or the other prep courses. If I have to take the GMAT a second time this year, I am going to go back and follow the MGMAT preparation process from the beginning to the end. I will have access to all their materials until August 6, 2007. That would give me all of June, July, and up to August 6 to complete everything, if I have to. But, right now, I am giving this my best shot in spite of where I am in the MGMAT prep process.


Greg

Nisha: I took the online version of the class. It's amazing! And like Greg said, they give you a study plan. Even though I feel behind twice, I'm still using that same study plan to try to figure out things. But I think a lot of my problems with the math is that I do not have fundamentals....it's been a really long time since I've had Algebra and I've never had Geometry. But with that course, you get great study workbooks. It's just a matter of even more time for people like me. I just haven't been dedicated enough. And here I am - 3 more days till my test and instead of reviewing I'm contemplating what I want for dinner and from where. I suck!!

Hi Nisha,
I think that there is one more really good thing about the MGMAT(I know?) course. It is that if I really focus in on the strategies that they give me, it is amazing how much better I have been doing when I practice problems in the Official Guide. I still find some OG problems that stump me, but not as many as before. That is where "practice, practice, practice" seems to work very well for me, too. And, the learning part has also been all about going over the explanations for the OG problems that I completed, in detail. Honestly, I think MGMAT really went to great lengths to design their program to be able to do something like finding a better and easier way to solve Official Guide problems. I really like their Data Sufficiency "rephrasing the questions or statements" technique. I think that is a very good way of getting to the solution faster with better results that make sense.

Go MGMAT!!!
On that note, the Golden State Warriors rule!!!
Greg

Hi Nisha1218,

Verbal:

For verbal,you should master OG completely. You should solve all questions with explanations. If you completely master OG, you will almost certainly do good in the verbal section. You should refer to other materials for verbal only after you digest OG. Out of the plethora of resources, OG is what we should first master.

Thanks everyone for all your feedback to my post! Your advise is surely useful...

wow, what great advice! I really need to get back to the basics on math---- im doing the math workbook now and I do great on some parts and just tank on others!

Danielle