An Epic Battle With The GMAT Comes To An End - 740!

mercierdaniel- you know what? i'm sorry but i wrote that backwards and never even noticed. I meant to say that people that are just starting should focus on accuracy before timing (this is primarily during your first basic run through of the test material). I have edited my post. Sorry for the confusion.

The way I see it is that you need to start with a basic run through of everything the test covers using a general guide such as princeton or kaplan. At this stage you're more intersted in learning the material than you are at learning pacing and test strategy. After this initial stage you should be working on everything - knowledge of material, accuracy, pacing, test strategy, etc. To do this you will primarily use OG, a variety of practice tests and an error log. I think my long posts earlier on in this topic talk a lot about how accuracy, timing and overall test strategy are all interelated. The overall goal is obviously to get a high level of accuracy AND finish the test on time. Of course, this is easier said than done.


Now you sound like you're at a point where you've already covered the basic material so I would try out some of the strategies I've listed (if any appeal to you) and time every question. Also, you asked if i've ever used an error log religiously. The answer is ABSOLUTELY! I did this during my final month and it was instrumental in helping me break the 700 barrier. My error log was just an excel spreadsheet with the following headings: question type/topic, time spent, right/wrong and diagnosis. I think i talked about error log earlier but I'm not sure. I actually logged every question and not just the ones I missed.

I think the PR and Kaplan books are pretty similar. I think your fine with either. As far as CATs go here's my take:

GMATPrep - absolutely the best! retake these as many times as you can stand! you won't get to many repeats and even if you do you still get to see questions that are even closer to the real test than OG! This test is the most accurate in every regard (difficulty, scoring, etc). Of course, its made by Pearson so it should be.

Princeton (mine were from the course so I'm not positive their the same as the CD) - Overall pretty accurate scoring. Verbal is great. Math is to easy and it will deceive you about where you stand in terms of pacing (I had been finishing math on PR then took a GMATPrep & guessed last 6-7, it was a shock to learn i was that far behind on my pacing so deep into my studies)

Kaplan - Quant is good. Its pretty similar to the real thing and it will definitely help you work on your quant pacing. The verbal section is absolutely awful and not representative. Also the scoring is way off. Overall I still think its a decent CAT, especially if you need to work on math pacing.

MGMAT - Real tough. Harder than the real GMAT. Not adaptive. The math is pretty good. I'd say its generally in the spirit of the GMAT but tougher. I think its great practice if you're going for 700+. The verbal section is ok but CR questions are terrible. Do not worry about your performance on these. Also, the scoring on MGMAT is not accurate. I got a 620, 2 weeks before the test at the same time as I was getting 720-750 on GMATPrep. Obviously GMATPrep turned out to be the more accurate indicator as i got a 740 on the real test. Use MGMAT primarily for its math content (identify weakness understand why you missed certain questions, etc)

PowerPrep - ETS software. pretty decent. All Q's come from OG. The test is much easier than the real thing though (although scoring is still accurate because PowerPrep requires higher accuracy than GMATPrep).