How to continue after the first preparation book?

[Sandro.Miller]

Hey guys,

I just finished 'Cracking the GMAT' by Princeton Review which was actually really helpful to get started. Made a summarization (approximately 40 pages) about everything.

After that I tried the diagnostic test (only quant. section so far) by GMAC and answered 90% of the questions correctly. Is this test a good indicator for my actual score on the GMAT?

And which book should I start with next? (have learned 1 month so far ; 3 more are left) Thought about Kaplan or continuing with the OG. Verbal books should be considered as well since English is not my native language, but I think getting used to the basics first is the best way. Are there any books that only contain difficult (600+) questions?

Thanks for your help
Sandro

[VP_Jim]

I think you should take an actual computerized practice test to see where your weaknesses are; it sounds like you took a paper-based test. Obviously, getting 90% right is excellent - but it would be good to see how that translates into a CAT score.

I see that you're German. My experience traveling in Germany tells me that your English is probably better than that of many native English speakers! In any case, if you're worried about it, I'd recommend just getting practice reading and writing in English as much as you can. Start reading novels, magazines, newspapers, or whatever else you can in English. That's the best way to set a solid foundation for verbal.

As for practice problems, the OG is defintely the best source of materials. There are two other OGs as well that you should buy if you haven't already. They are green (quant) and purple (verbal). Those problems are very accurate unless you're scoring over 90th percentile in math. If that describes you, you'll need to get some other materials. Also, note that the books go in approximate order of difficulty, so don't get too confident if you get all of the first 1/2 of each section right - the true test is in the latter problems.

Here's a link to free Veritas practice test. After you take it, let us know how it went and where your weaknesses were.

https://www.veritasprep.com/gmat-prepara ... tice-GMAT/

Good luck!