Effectiveness of online courses?

[Sent]

Hi all,

I have recently begun studying for the GMAT and was wondering how effective online courses are in studying. I am aiming for as high a score on the GMAT as possible - definitely 700+ and ideally 750+. I am planning on taking the GMAT in May, which gives me roughly two months on top of the studying that I have already done.

I was looking at both Veritas' and Manhattan GMAT's online / on-demand courses, and both of these cost $950-$999. This seems like a lot of money to drop on an online course! The in-person courses are even more expensive. However, I would be willing to pay for these courses if, say, they could take me from a 720 to a 760+. Is it common to take these types of courses if you want a high score? Could anyone who has taken these courses weigh in on how valuable they feel the courses were? Do they add value above and beyond what I could get through practice books and self-study?

A little more about me for background info:
- Started studying two weeks ago
- Have access to the OG 2016 as well as the Manhattan strategy guide set, and plan to get some more books on top of this (I hear princeton and kaplan are the other common ones?)
- Taken two of the Veritas practice tests. I took the first test completely cold and got a 650. The second test I took after a week of studying and got a 680 (quant improved, verbal stayed the same). I got a deal for $20 for 7 tests, so I have 5 more Veritas tests available to me. Have not taken any of the official gmat practice tests yet.
- Historically I feel like I have done well by self-studying for tests in general, however I am not used to creating / sticking to a structured study plan. I'm 100% willing to try to create a structured plan for the GMAT, and once I have this I believe I can stick to it, but I may need some help on how best to structure this. My previous two weeks of study have mainly consisted of me reviewing my practice tests as well as working through the OG for problem types I feel like I had the most trouble on.

[[email protected]]

Hi Sent,

Assuming that you took this first CAT in a realistic fashion and scored 650, then you're likely a naturally strong Test Taker (the average score on the Official GMAT hovers around 540-550 most years). GMAC has publicly stated that a Test Taker's Official Score is within +/- 30 points of actual ability - assuming your CATs function in the same ways, that 680 is essentially the same overall performance (+- a few correct answers on specific questions).

Have you had a chance to review both of these CATs in detail? How many questions did you get wrong because...
1) of a silly/little mistake?
2) the question was too hard?
3) you narrowed the answers down to 2 choices and 'guessed wrong'?
4) you were low on time and had to blindly guess?

The above issues are likely what you have to 'fix' to pick up the missing points that you're after. Thankfully, the GMAT is a predictable, standardized Test, so you CAN train to score at a higher level. Whether you need an expensive Course or not is debatable. With a May Test Date, you still have plenty of time to study and improve. I suggest that you study as you see fit for the next 2 weeks, then take one of the Official GMAC CATs (make sure to take the FULL CAT - including the Essay and IR sections). That score result will provide some important information about how well you're studying on you're own.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

[MartyMurray]

Hi Sent.

You can find out how self-study courses have worked for people by checking out the reviews here. https://reviews.beatthegmat.com/

Whatever you do, you should use some official tests in addition to test prep company tests. Sometimes people prepare for the GMAT without using any official practice tests and get surprised by the style of the questions that they encounter when they take the actual test. As much as test prep companies seek to duplicate the actual test experience, none have entirely accomplished that. So be sure to at least go to MBA.com and download the two free GMAT Prep tests. When you take them you will notice among other things that the quant questions tend to have a certain trickiness to them and that answering them often does not take using all that much math.

[MartyMurray]

To get a sense of how to structure your training, you could read this blog post. How to Score a 700+ on the GMAT - A Mini Guide for Success

[Brent@GMATPrepNow]

- Historically I feel like I have done well by self-studying for tests in general, however I am not used to creating / sticking to a structured study plan. I'm 100% willing to try to create a structured plan for the GMAT, and once I have this I believe I can stick to it, but I may need some help on how best to structure this.

You might consider signing up for Beat The GMAT's free 60-Day Study Guide (https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/gmat-guide).

Each day, you'll receive an email with a series of learning activities that guide you, step-by-step, from Day 1 to test day. This will ensure that you will cover everything that the GMAT tests.

Here's an outline of all 60 emails: https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/gmat-guide-outline

Cheers,
Brent

[Sent]

Hi Sent,
I suggest that you study as you see fit for the next 2 weeks, then take one of the Official GMAC CATs (make sure to take the FULL CAT - including the Essay and IR sections). That score result will provide some important information about how well you're studying on you're own.

Thanks Rich! I like this idea the best, and I'll plan on doing this.

Have you had a chance to review both of these CATs in detail? How many questions did you get wrong because...
1) of a silly/little mistake?
2) the question was too hard?
3) you narrowed the answers down to 2 choices and 'guessed wrong'?
4) you were low on time and had to blindly guess?

I have reviewed my CATs, and have an understanding of what types of problems were harder for me. However I haven't really approached it from the lens of why I got the question wrong (instead of what the question type was), and I'll keep this in mind going forward.

Some initial observations I had on my tests were:
- I tend to run out of time on the quant section, frequently having to guess for the last couple of problems. I'd therefore like to be very focused on working to improve speed of solving quant problems (as well as maintaining / increasing accuracy of course)
- On the other hand I tend to finish the verbal section with ~10 minutes remaining, and so I think I can afford to slow down and really think over some of the more challenging questions I run across
- I noticed that I'm fairly comfortable with reading comprehension on the verbal, while critical reasoning and sentence correction were harder for me.
- On the quant side I tend to be comfortable with probabilities, but have a harder time with questions asking for number properties (e.g. properties of factorials, squares, primes...), and can slip up on problems involving algebra that should be easy from time to time.

Marty & Brent - thanks for the resources, I will definitely look in to them!

[[email protected]]

Hi Sent,

Overall analysis of your performance is important because there's a reasonable chance that the missing points that you're looking for are not going to found in the 'hard' questions - they're going to found in 'gettable' questions that require you to change how you 'see' (and respond to) the Test. This is one of the reasons why I suggested that you continue to study for 2 weeks. You might be able to correct these issues on your own; if you score in the 650-680 range again though, then you'll likely need a more guided study plan going forward.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

[GMATinsight]

Hi all,

I have recently begun studying for the GMAT and was wondering how effective online courses are in studying. I am aiming for as high a score on the GMAT as possible - definitely 700+ and ideally 750+. I am planning on taking the GMAT in May, which gives me roughly two months on top of the studying that I have already done.

I was looking at both Veritas' and Manhattan GMAT's online / on-demand courses, and both of these cost $950-$999. This seems like a lot of money to drop on an online course! The in-person courses are even more expensive. However, I would be willing to pay for these courses if, say, they could take me from a 720 to a 760+. Is it common to take these types of courses if you want a high score? Could anyone who has taken these courses weigh in on how valuable they feel the courses were? Do they add value above and beyond what I could get through practice books and self-study?

A little more about me for background info:
- Started studying two weeks ago
- Have access to the OG 2016 as well as the Manhattan strategy guide set, and plan to get some more books on top of this (I hear princeton and kaplan are the other common ones?)
- Taken two of the Veritas practice tests. I took the first test completely cold and got a 650. The second test I took after a week of studying and got a 680 (quant improved, verbal stayed the same). I got a deal for $20 for 7 tests, so I have 5 more Veritas tests available to me. Have not taken any of the official gmat practice tests yet.
- Historically I feel like I have done well by self-studying for tests in general, however I am not used to creating / sticking to a structured study plan. I'm 100% willing to try to create a structured plan for the GMAT, and once I have this I believe I can stick to it, but I may need some help on how best to structure this. My previous two weeks of study have mainly consisted of me reviewing my practice tests as well as working through the OG for problem types I feel like I had the most trouble on.

All one-on-one course are not that expensive and certainly On-demand course might be more costly than some online one-on-one live classes

here is a little analysis of offerings

[DavidG@VeritasPrep]

Hi all,

I have recently begun studying for the GMAT and was wondering how effective online courses are in studying. I am aiming for as high a score on the GMAT as possible - definitely 700+ and ideally 750+. I am planning on taking the GMAT in May, which gives me roughly two months on top of the studying that I have already done.

I was looking at both Veritas' and Manhattan GMAT's online / on-demand courses, and both of these cost $950-$999. This seems like a lot of money to drop on an online course! The in-person courses are even more expensive. However, I would be willing to pay for these courses if, say, they could take me from a 720 to a 760+. Is it common to take these types of courses if you want a high score? Could anyone who has taken these courses weigh in on how valuable they feel the courses were? Do they add value above and beyond what I could get through practice books and self-study?

A little more about me for background info:
- Started studying two weeks ago
- Have access to the OG 2016 as well as the Manhattan strategy guide set, and plan to get some more books on top of this (I hear princeton and kaplan are the other common ones?)
- Taken two of the Veritas practice tests. I took the first test completely cold and got a 650. The second test I took after a week of studying and got a 680 (quant improved, verbal stayed the same). I got a deal for $20 for 7 tests, so I have 5 more Veritas tests available to me. Have not taken any of the official gmat practice tests yet.
- Historically I feel like I have done well by self-studying for tests in general, however I am not used to creating / sticking to a structured study plan. I'm 100% willing to try to create a structured plan for the GMAT, and once I have this I believe I can stick to it, but I may need some help on how best to structure this. My previous two weeks of study have mainly consisted of me reviewing my practice tests as well as working through the OG for problem types I feel like I had the most trouble on.

The beauty of the current prep landscape is that most companies offer a fair amount of free material, so you can evaluate how useful you find a particular resource before making any financial commitment.

All of our pre-recorded lessons are available via our free app: https://www.veritasprep.com/gmat-iphone-apps/

And if you want additional questions to drill on, check out this question bank: https://www.veritasprep.com/gmat-question-bank/

And as others have suggested, you'll want to mix in the official practice tests as well: https://www.mba.com/us/the-gmat-exam/pre ... tware.aspx

Take this material for a spin. If you hit your target, that's great. If not, and you feel the resources you've used fit your learning style, then you might consider either a class or tutoring options.

[ceilidh.erickson]

I think that online classes can be enormously helpful for certain students. Mprep has taken great efforts to make theirs as fun and engaging as in-person classes. Having a weekly schedule provides a lot of structure, and having a live instructor provides a lot of guidance.

That said... if you were a student in one of my trial classes, and you told me that you got a 650 cold, and a 680 after a week, I'd tell you not to take the online class. You'd likely be ahead of a lot of your fellow students, and you mind find the pace slower than you'd want.

Instead, I'd tell you to study as much of the content as you can on your own, and keep taking CATs every 2-3 weeks. Then if you hit a plateau - if, for example, you got to a 700 but couldn't break over to a 720 - then take some of the money you would have spent, and apply it to a few private tutoring sessions. It will be more personalized help.

Good luck!