Kaplan, Knewton, or another online prep course?

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Hello all,

I am trying to pick an online program to prepare for the GMAT in time for Round 2 deadlines. I've taken a couple practice tests over the years (low 600s, and one time 650), and know that I need a lot of work on quant (or at least feels that way) especially. Verbal I feel I can pick up quicker.

The problem I'm running into is time and focus. With only a couple months until Round 2 deadline, I really need to study for this test, but with work, I have found it hard to find the time and focus. This is why I want to pick an online program which will help organize and provide me a schedule. I was going to pick the Kaplan online GMAT course for $800, but have now come across Knewton with their 50 point guarantee and half the cost. This seems good to me of course, but I don't know which program is the right fit for me?

I have not done any prep yet, and so will be starting with a blank slate in that regard. I have a couple months (would like to be done by late November/early December), and so only have one chance at this. I am not looking for something like 720+, but as close to 700 as possible of course. 680-700 would be great.

Which program would you recommend? Is there another program I should consider? I saw Manhattan GMAT, but it is much pricier. I am ok with that if it is truly worth it, but am not sure. Really would appreciate the help and advice as I'm just honestly a bit intimidated/nervous about the exam and the prep. Thank you!

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by [email protected] » Thu Sep 26, 2013 10:03 pm
Hi guest543,

Since you're starting from scratch, you have to consider that your goal might require more time than you initially think. As a hypothetical question, would you give up completely if you couldn't make the Round 2 deadlines or would you apply for Round 3? I only ask because you're planning to attempt to do a lot in just 2 months (in addition to all of the other aspects of preparing your applications). I generally advise a 3 month study plan, although you might be able to hit your peak in less time than that. You've listed 3 options for your prep, but you might consider more than the names that you know.

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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Fri Sep 27, 2013 8:06 am
To get an idea of the time it will take you to prepare, take an official practice test: https://www.mba.com/the-gmat/download-fr ... tware.aspx
It may be the case that you're already scoring above your target score, in which case you may not need to prepare at all :-)
More here: https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2013/05/ ... st-already

Cheers,
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by rakeshd347 » Sun Sep 29, 2013 5:02 am
guest543 wrote:Hello all,

I am trying to pick an online program to prepare for the GMAT in time for Round 2 deadlines. I've taken a couple practice tests over the years (low 600s, and one time 650), and know that I need a lot of work on quant (or at least feels that way) especially. Verbal I feel I can pick up quicker.

The problem I'm running into is time and focus. With only a couple months until Round 2 deadline, I really need to study for this test, but with work, I have found it hard to find the time and focus. This is why I want to pick an online program which will help organize and provide me a schedule. I was going to pick the Kaplan online GMAT course for $800, but have now come across Knewton with their 50 point guarantee and half the cost. This seems good to me of course, but I don't know which program is the right fit for me?

I have not done any prep yet, and so will be starting with a blank slate in that regard. I have a couple months (would like to be done by late November/early December), and so only have one chance at this. I am not looking for something like 720+, but as close to 700 as possible of course. 680-700 would be great.

Which program would you recommend? Is there another program I should consider? I saw Manhattan GMAT, but it is much pricier. I am ok with that if it is truly worth it, but am not sure. Really would appreciate the help and advice as I'm just honestly a bit intimidated/nervous about the exam and the prep. Thank you!
I have used quite a few books myself and I am not a teacher. Being as a student and as I have scored Q49-50 in real gmat 2 times I can suggest you few things.
Quant is all about practise. You need to have basics knowledge and then practise practise and practise. One thing I want to thank and want to give credit to is Gmatprepnow videos. You can check their free videos at www.gmatprepnow.com
I bought the whole course for $139. they have cr sc, RC, IR quant and essay. all in 139. Now I want to mention that I found it this way that if you are only targeting around 680 area this would do the job. Specially for Quant I would give 8.5 out of 10. Their video is self paced and you will get to know the techniques and you will be surprised to know that you can solve questions so easily.
Now I used another free and UnBeatable of all for Verbal....Thursday with RON. For SC and CR no book can teach you what those videos can. Well I haven't read all the books but most of the CR and SC books but he is just too good in SC and CR. He has got QUant free videos too but those videos doesn't cover all the quant section.

If you follow these 2 things along with lot of practise I think 2months is more than enough.

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by KapTeacherEli » Sun Sep 29, 2013 5:43 pm
guest543 wrote:Hello all,

I am trying to pick an online program to prepare for the GMAT in time for Round 2 deadlines. I've taken a couple practice tests over the years (low 600s, and one time 650), and know that I need a lot of work on quant (or at least feels that way) especially. Verbal I feel I can pick up quicker.

The problem I'm running into is time and focus. With only a couple months until Round 2 deadline, I really need to study for this test, but with work, I have found it hard to find the time and focus. This is why I want to pick an online program which will help organize and provide me a schedule. I was going to pick the Kaplan online GMAT course for $800, but have now come across Knewton with their 50 point guarantee and half the cost. This seems good to me of course, but I don't know which program is the right fit for me?

I have not done any prep yet, and so will be starting with a blank slate in that regard. I have a couple months (would like to be done by late November/early December), and so only have one chance at this. I am not looking for something like 720+, but as close to 700 as possible of course. 680-700 would be great.

Which program would you recommend? Is there another program I should consider? I saw Manhattan GMAT, but it is much pricier. I am ok with that if it is truly worth it, but am not sure. Really would appreciate the help and advice as I'm just honestly a bit intimidated/nervous about the exam and the prep. Thank you!
Hi guest543,

I've been away for a bit, so I missed this--sorry for the delayed response! Kaplan offers free sample classes--check for free events here, just enter a random zip code and it will tell you when our classroom anywhere sample classes are being run.

Once you try us for yourself, I'm sure you'll understand what Kaplan has to offer--until then, let me know if I can answer any questions for you!

Best regards,

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

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