Manhattan GMAT Course, now Knewton.. am I crazy?

[bosox8]

I just finished my MGMAT in-person course, and took my GMAT, scoring a 670. In MGMAT practice tests, I was scoring from 700-720. I definitely learned a lot from MGMAT have gone over the books more than once and have done all of the OG questions. I am looking for some new material and was considering doing the Knewton program over next month (~30 hrs a week) and taking advantage of the 50 point guarantee. I would like to get the GMAT done with before Christmas as I would rather not be studying at that time.

Does this sound like a sane study strategy? I know that I will probably be doubling up on a lot, but it would probably reinforce and strengthen many different areas, while giving me a fresh start. Plus, the convenience of doing everything online.

Basically, I am wondering, am I nuts to be considering this, even though my practice scores in the past were high? Does Knewton teach strategies to tackle the challenging problems?

[gmatboost]

If you have the dedication, time and the money to do so, I don't think it's absolutely crazy. Having said that, I think it's probably not the best use of your time or money.

I think you should first ask yourself what your weak points are and then decide if another prep course will address those weaknesses. I think there is a good chance that it will not.

In my view, students are in general too eager to jump into more new questions and not eager enough to spend quality time understanding exactly what went wrong on every question they have ever gotten wrong or that has taken too long (see more: https://blog.gmatboost.com/2011/08/11/th ... -the-gmat/).

So, I would recommending looking through your MGMAT materials and trying to understand what you need to improve most. If you feel you are making careless mistakes, you may want to spend the time documenting all of these mistakes and coming up with ways to prevent them. If you are having trouble answering the toughest questions, I would consider a resource that focuses on helping you understand the toughest questions.

One such option is my site, but other such options exist as well, and I encourage you try all of them out. (Try searching "gmat advanced" on Amazon for a few other options.)

[AbhiJ]

Is your approach of reviewing problems applicable to verbal as well. I feel that its more applicable to quant where there is a sure fire logic and process which gets repeated. Verbal questions are subtle that are hard to categorize and the takeaways may not be re-usable under exam condition. While some review is good, thorough practice to develop the intuition might be better. What do you think ?

[Jessie@Knewton]

Hi Bosox8,

The difficulty of the items in the Knewton course matches that of the GMAT. We have questions at every difficulty level, and the CATs are valid for all ability ranges.

Assessments and Re-Assessments are generally of low to mid difficulty, as they focus on fundamental concepts. General homework will run the gamut of difficulty, while particular assessments and supplemental lessons will focus on specific difficulty ranges like fundamental practice or challenge sets.

You should bear in mind that our 50 point guarantee is only applicable if you have completed all of the required coursework. The course is self-paced, so whether you'll be able to do so depends entirely on how much time you have to dedicate. It's possible to finish in three weeks, though the average completion time is 4 to 6 weeks. If you don't think you'll have enough time, I wouldn't recommend you signing up on the basis of the money-back guarantee.

So, in short: Yes, our course includes many strategies for tackling challenging questions. If you don't have enough time to commit to finishing the course, you're not eligible for the refund.

Let me know if you have any other questions and good luck!

All the best,

Jessie
Knewton GMAT Team

[chieftang]

If you have the dedication, time and the money to do so, I don't think it's absolutely crazy. Having said that, I think it's probably not the best use of your time or money.

I think you should first ask yourself what your weak points are and then decide if another prep course will address those weaknesses. I think there is a good chance that it will not.

In my view, students are in general too eager to jump into more new questions and not eager enough to spend quality time understanding exactly what went wrong on every question they have ever gotten wrong or that has taken too long (see more: https://blog.gmatboost.com/2011/08/11/th ... -the-gmat/).

So, I would recommending looking through your MGMAT materials and trying to understand what you need to improve most. If you feel you are making careless mistakes, you may want to spend the time documenting all of these mistakes and coming up with ways to prevent them. If you are having trouble answering the toughest questions, I would consider a resource that focuses on helping you understand the toughest questions.

One such option is my site, but other such options exist as well, and I encourage you try all of them out. (Try searching "gmat advanced" on Amazon for a few other options.)

Great advice, Greg. Do you plan on expanding GMAT Boost to include verbal?

[gmatboost]

I don't plan to expand to verbal, because I don't think that format would be as useful for verbal.

Especially on CR and RC, I think the key is to really focus in on each specific word in the passage, the question, and the answer in order to understand what makes a given choice right or wrong. It's less about strategies and tips, in my opinion.