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Re: online learning vs book

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Re: online learning vs book

by 007.r.mason » Sun Aug 08, 2010 3:09 pm
Hi,

I am getting back to my gmat prep after a few months (6) and want to improve on SC. I don't plan to go for a face to face course (gotta save money for those applications and the MBA) so the choice is limited to online resources or books.

I am looking to make a decision on eGMAT or Veritas book. Regarding eGMAT, I have taken their free content and like what I see. Also I had some lessons from eGMAT last year which I found to be quite easy to understand. However, I would like to get inputs from others about the course. Has the eGMAT course helped anyone. Moreover, does it cover all the topics on SC.

I have also heard good things about the Veritas SC books on amazon. they seem comprehensive. I am looking from inputs from those with experience with either one (or both).


Mason

PS: I already have the Manhattan SC book.
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by DanaJ » Sun Aug 08, 2010 4:03 pm
I have not personally tried eGMAT, but as far as I can tell they're a new company on the market. As such, it will take a while before they develop a solid base of former customers that can share their opinions on the usefulness of the material. There's a good chance that their materials are good, but you also risk being a guinea pig, I guess...

As far as the books from Veritas go, they're pretty OK. I have not fully reviewed their SC books (you need to get two of them), but their RC and Combinatorics books were good.

I've also heard some positive reviews regarding the PowerScore SC Bible, you might want to check that out too - just so I give you more stuff to research in case you didn't have enough :)

About online practice: honestly, the only resources I've reviewed so far are Grockit and the Beat The GMAT Practice Questions. They can both be of use to you, but you should pick one or the other depending on what you find most important:
- the thrill of competition - Grockit
- video explanations for all questions - Beat The GMAT Practice Questions

Note however that both involve practice and not a review of concepts, so if you need that you might want to consider other resources.
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by shilps » Mon Aug 09, 2010 12:44 pm
Hi Mason,

I have taken e-GMAT SC course. They are really good. Few facts that I would like to share are :

The course content is very good, easy to understand and completely on line.

Before every chapter, there is pre-assessment quiz to test the knowledge and after each lesson, and there is a post-assessment quiz. They provide a good explanation of concepts (such as verb tenses) along with the examples.

There are ample number of practice problems. I have improved my OG accuracy after going through the course.
If you have less time for your exam and you want to cover SC then it's really a worth investment.
However you need to invest 1 hour daily for a couple of days on e-GMAT to go through the slides and review the answer choices carefully.

I have no idea about Veritas.

Hope this helps you.
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by 007.r.mason » Mon Aug 09, 2010 3:36 pm
Thanks Dana and Shilps,

Both of you have raised some very good points which will help me decide. Dana, I have looked at grockit and I love their questions. I also agree that e-GMAT is not established, hence my concern. However, while Grockit provides some high quality questions, is does not focus as much on the concepts or basics. One option for me would be to take on the grockit course, and then take some tutoring for basics. This option while excellent could get a bit expensive. Hence, overall I am looking to choose between spending ~ $200 on grockit (assuming 3 private tutoring sessions with Andrea) or $39 for e-GMAT. Based on others inputs, I might decide by Wednesday.

On the other hand, we now have feedback from Ships who seems to have taken the course. Shilps, I am assuming that you have taken the full course and not just the free trial. My question to you would be the following:

1. Does e-GMAT cover all or most concepts covered on the GMAT. Do they do a good job. I mean, did you feel the need for going for a private tutor because concepts were not well-covered.

2. Do they have high quality questions that are OG like and error free. I have done OG, but have not found very many online sources of high quality questions besides Grockit. I am yet to try the btg questions pool.

3. Overall does the course work. Have you improved your performance in solving SC problems.

A smaller concern; Is egmat a stable website. I mean have you had any technical difficulties with the website.

Dana, regarding Grockit, I have heard excellent things about their tutors. So thats a low risk option but at a slightly higher cost.

My overall plan is to keep the bible (MGMAT) close to my heart and use it as the reference, but have an online resource where I can go and improve my SC performance and track my improvement and probably have access to experts who can answer my questions.

40 days to go and 6 points to improve on the Verbal..3 points on the Quant.. wish me luck.
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by komal » Mon Aug 09, 2010 3:45 pm
Hi Mason,

I have taken the e-mat course personally. I have been fairly good at verbal section of the gmat but SC is what I have always found little difficult. After going through quiet a few resources on sentence correction I took the e-gmat course.

The first time I logged on to e-gmat SC Course I was amazed at the sheer depth of the course and the content. The course covers every major SC concept tested on the gmat in a very easy to understand format. Every concept starts with the basics and builds up on that. This ensures that the student gets a thorough grasp on the subject before moving on to the next. The best thing about the course is that it is highly interactive and that it has hundreds of practice questions on which the concepts learned can be applied.

After completing all three levels of the course my SC accuracy rate shot up from about 50% to about 90%.

I would highly recommend this course to anyone trying to brush up on his SC skills or to anyone who is a beginner. I am thoroughly impressed by the course and I hope the course will help other GMAT aspirants as much as it has helped me.


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by reply2spg » Mon Aug 09, 2010 3:54 pm
You are back to forum....Nice to see you and Dana back on the forum. Welcome back Ladies!!!!

Mason, I am going through e-gmat currently and it seems good to me. I have one to one session with one of e-gmat administrator on 11th August. I would recommend you to that course.
komal wrote:Hi Mason,

I have taken the e-mat course personally. I have been fairly good at verbal section of the gmat but SC is what I have always found little difficult. After going through quiet a few resources on sentence correction I took the e-gmat course.

The first time I logged on to e-gmat SC Course I was amazed at the sheer depth of the course and the content. The course covers every major SC concept tested on the gmat in a very easy to understand format. Every concept starts with the basics and builds up on that. This ensures that the student gets a thorough grasp on the subject before moving on to the next. The best thing about the course is that it is highly interactive and that it has hundreds of practice questions on which the concepts learned can be applied.

After completing all three levels of the course my SC accuracy rate shot up from about 50% to about 90%.

I would highly recommend this course to anyone trying to brush up on his SC skills or to anyone who is a beginner. I am thoroughly impressed by the course and I hope the course will help other GMAT aspirants as much as it has helped me.


Sudhanshu
(have lot of things to learn from all of you)
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by 007.r.mason » Mon Aug 09, 2010 10:37 pm
Thanks Sudhanshu, Konal and Shilps!! These inputs help.

Komal, 90% accuracy is excellent!! you are making people nervous...

Shilps, I plan to spend 40+ hrs on any source that I decide on and it would help my score a lot (2+ points) if my performance improves half as much as that of Komals'.

You have answered most questions barring one. Can any one of you answer the one below.

2. Do they have high quality questions that are OG like and free of errors. I have done OG, but have not found very many online sources of high quality questions besides Grockit. I am yet to try the btg questions pool.

I don't want to refer to different sources. I have completed OG so I am looking for a fresh source of 150+ questions. Ultimately my performance on these questions and mock exams would tell me if I am improving.
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by shilps » Tue Aug 10, 2010 1:08 pm
Hi Mansion,

Glad to know that my experience has helped you.

e-GMAT has a very good source of questions and explanations too. They have reference to OG12 for explanations. They have put 3 levels in the site (Level 1 ->beginner, 2 -> Intermediate , 3 -> Expert somewhat like that). They advise to solve particular question sets from OG as you move forward with your levels.

I remember, one of the slides explains about Idiom "distinguish between" where they have given the reference of OG with the page number from it. As far as I know, they have used OG12 for all the concepts and methods they taught in the course.

As I said earlier, The concepts are well explained with every day's simple examples. One should able to devote at least an hour daily to properly understand the concept and solve the exercises.

Thanks
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by gmatmachoman » Thu Aug 12, 2010 12:30 am
Seema soem big people has already shed their opinion abt e-gmat,

I do personally feel e-gmat has soem core strength that sets things apart. The audio mode really makes the user to showed "enhanced" interest for SC.

Certain concepts like SV inversion/ Comparision combined with parallelism is nicely covered in the concept modules.

One can see really mindboggling and hard questions at Level segments.

Its a thumbsup for egmat. Actually I was craving for one such module for longtime.
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by 007.r.mason » Thu Aug 12, 2010 7:31 am
I would like to thank everyone for their feedback. Having seen such good feedback and having tried the product, I think that its a great product and have decided to take the course. I spoke to the folks at eGMAT and they also mentioned the simple return policy which made my decision easy.

Thanks Dana, Shilps, Komal, reply2spg and gmatmachoman and others who I may have missed.

PS: they mentioned about introducing some new things. Dont know the specifics but they said that they would be announcing sometime today.
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