GMAT Verbal resource

[aanchalsinha]

Hi,

I stumbled across this resource and was wondering if anyone has views, +ve/-ve regarding the same.

McGraw - Hill's CONQUERING GMAT VERBAL AND WRITING

I am trying to improve my verbal score and trying to establish the best strategy forward. Test date: 1/08/11

Thanks

[arun@crackverbal]

Though I have not gone through that book I would be doubtful. A lot of McGraw Hill books are made to capture the fringe market i.e. the 2% who will end up buying it on a whim when they see it on amazon's "people also saw this" list or when they are browsing it on a book-store aisle (do people still go there? ).

The nature of GMAT is such that (unfortunately) anyone (and surely many) can write/talk about it. However remember GMAT is much more than a bag of math tricks or a bunch of grammar rules. I would prefer you stick to the books made by the more famous test prep providers.

Arun

[aanchalsinha]

Thanks Arun! So for the verbal section you would just stick with Manhattan, OG etc? I struggle with time i think on the verbal section, but I guess practice is the only solution then?

[arun@crackverbal]

Yes practice using only "standard" stuff.

Regarding time - my take is if accuracy is nailed then fixing time is a relatively easier part. So are you saying that if you spend (say) 2.5-3minutes you are able to get a very high accuracy?

Arun

[VivianKerr]

Arun's right on.

I haven't seen this McGraw-Hill book, but if you can spend the money, I think it's best to go with the best-known ones: the OG, MGMAT SC, Powerscore CR, etc. There's enough good material online (Grockit, GMATPrep, BTG, GMATClub, etc.) that you can supplement your studies with those.

I would really put your focus on strategy first, esp. with CR and RC, and work untimed, really utilizing your scratch paper and developing a solid step-by-step approach, until you have 90%+ accuracy. Then you can work on pacing. Worrying about pacing this early out, is a bit like putting the cart before the horse.