lou34 wrote:
Hi all,
I have a few questions which came up after I read this post:
I just started to prepare for the GMAT and I am using the Manhatten books and the
OG. My primar focus is on the practice questions of the
OG, but I just read here that those are too easy?! Which other source would you recommend then, to practices quant and verbal questions if I am aiming for a 700+ score? What about the problem sets in the Manhatten books? Are those useful?
I always thought that the best way to prepare for the actual exam is solving all the questions in the
OG (+ going through the answer explanations) because those are actual questions from past exams.. That's why I am a little bit confused right now, and would really appreciate your help and some information about other sources for practice questions.
Thanks in advance!
The
OG questions are perfectly fine. In fact, the
OG questions should be THE source you use when preparing for the actual GMAT. I have followed this board for awhile and have noticed that some posters seem to rate all of the
OG questions as 'easy' except for a few half-dozen. Not all of us have quant backgrounds after all or are aiming for Q 51s. And by 51, I am referring to 90%-ile, which is where you will likely encounter the relatively difficult problems that will make the
OG problems seem easy. In any event, you don't need a 90%-ile Q score to get a 700+ (but yes for 750-800).
Anyhow, as a non-quant person, I'd say that the
OG Q problems are excellent practice and line up pretty closely to what you will see on the four GMAT Prep tests and the actual exam, if you are not going for that 90%-ile Q score. Also, it's good that you are using the
Manhattan GMAT books. If you purchased one and have access to their GMAT Navigator, their software gives you relative difficultly level of the problem compared to the location of the problem in the book (
OG problems start out easy at problem #1 and increase in difficulty with the number, supposedly). For example, question #210 should be a difficult problem given the high number, but it may be a relatively easy problem for that difficulty level according to the Navigator.
I'd say
OG Verbal is pretty spot on with the actual exam. I actually think
OG RC is a tad more difficult than the actual exam because the
OG is in print, and the computer highlights passages, one question at a time etc.
It's good that you are using Manhattan, but note that their Q on the CATs are a bit more difficult in general than GMAT Q (at least to me, and others have echoed this as well). My Q average with MGMT is about 42 and on the Prep tests it's 45-46. However, their Q CATs are great because they really prompt you to think conceptually about a problem, which is really helpful for the actual test.
The problem sets in the
Manhattan books are good practice and mimic
OG questions, but are not the real, actual questions of course. They are a pretty decent simulation.
Manhattan books are great for learning and applying strategies... the
OG does not give much, if any insight into strategy (why would they?). However,
OG's CR verbal explanations are pretty helpful.
So yes, if you are aiming for a 700+, stick with the
OG, use
Manhattan books for strategy, use Manhattan's GMAT Navigator for answer explanations, and take the
Manhattan CATs. Also, some posters on this board have insightful ways for solving problems.
And, the Q answer explanations in the
OG are pretty awful... some answers are insightful but overall they are not great. Again, I'd use Manhattan's GMAT Navigator... their explanations are pretty clear (includes video) and they solve the problems using common sense (not gobbledy-gook like
OG). In many cases, the
OG answer explanations are the most inefficient way to solve problem.