590 to 700 - Please Help!!

[RayDream]

Hello Everyone,

I had posted to this forum a few weeks back about going from 590 (on the real GMAT) to 650. Due to personal circumstances, I've had to move my potential MBA start date to 2011. As a result, I have given myelf 2.5 months to study and get at least a 700. I had previously taken Kaplan and still have access to the Premier online course until mid-June.

I need help with material and course suggestions. I'd like to take a course so that I have some structure to my studying. My weak areas in verbal are CR (I'm very weak in this area!) and RC. My weak areas in Quant are number properties, combinations and probability.

I have heard as many positive things as negative about Veritas. I dont know much about Manhattan but that seems to be the preferred provider on BTG. I am able to devote 20 to 30 hours a week for 2.5 months. My target score is 700.

I'd like to find out the following:
- What course should I take?
- What books should I buy? (I have OG 12 and the official quant and verbal guides. I also have access to Kaplan online which gives me 9 CATs and a question bank)

Thank you everyone for assisting me in my journey towards 700. I appreciate your time.

[becnil]

- What course should I take?

I took the Veritas 42 hours full length classroom course for my test and I liked it. They do have some problems with their online materials, especially the tests, but the class lessons and the workbooks were good. I have seen positive review about Manhattan Prep as well, but don't know specifically. However, selection of a course will also depend on your preference of classroom (in-person), live online, virtual preparation etc. and the time you can afford towards this preparation.

- What books should I buy? (I have OG 12 and the official quant and verbal guides. I also have access to Kaplan online which gives me 9 CATs and a question bank)

OG 12 is your best friend for preparation for the GMAT. Read the book thoroughly (preferably twice), do all the problems (I mean ALL !!) and definitely read all the explanations of the answers. Since GMATPrep tests do not have explanations for their answers, OG 12 will help you most to understand their logic. For CR, you may refer to the Powerscore Critical Reasoning Bible - I started with the book a little late but still found it pretty effective in terms of explanation of the logical structures of all different kinds of CR problems. For RC, I will suggest doing all problems in OG 12 (of course) and read the explanations carefully. I found the lesson from Veritas on RC to be pretty good. Overall, you have to practice a lot of questions in CR & RC to get over your weakness.

Hope that helps you a bit !!

[RayDream]

Hi becnil,

Thank you so much for the advice. I appreciate it. I think I will go with the Manhattan online course as the timing and structure works best for me. I will also get the Powerscore CR bible. I've started with the OG. I'm looking to write end of June so just starting to put more time into the prep. Thanks once again.

Raydream

[DanaJ]

Hey RayDream,

You can check out more book reviews here. The MGMAT books are not there yet, I have reviewed them and full reviews will be posted soon. Most of them are pretty good, complete books.

I'm not sure if you've decided on your course, but before you do, I advise you to sit through a few trial classes and figure out what's best for you. Most prep companies will offer a complimentary class.