Hi fellow Gmat club members and fellow Internationals,
My earlier exams 620 (45,29); 670(49,32)
I took my GMAT recently and scored 700 (Q 48, V38). I used several preparation materials – Master GMAT Knewton, GmatPill - in this process and I will discuss as to what helped me. Please note, these views are my own. I don’t intend to state that what worked for me should apply to every other individual.
I hardly visit any other sites than Gmat Club, so it was a pleasant surprise that some offers on another website proved useful. I am really glad as I came across and was able to get hold of the Master GMAT offer.
For verbal, I would suggest internationals to pick up
Mgmat SC guide, then enroll in Master GMAT and practice
OG regularly.
Master GMATProsI need to acknowledge the support of Ms. llana at the Academics team, she clarified my doubts with patience.
Master GMAT, It’s a must for any international student. It uses a method of retention and practice. I didn’t carry any huge expectations; maybe that’s why I really hooked on to it. The course does not offer video based learning but pure interactive content relevant to the test taker. There are many levels of questions and I loved that not one of the SC, CR questions repeat.
I enrolled for the entire program but I followed only their Verbal lessons, so I cannot comment on their Quant program although after looking at the level of depth of the Verbal program, I am sure that their Quant program is on par.
Their price structure is really affordable for internationals and I am really glad they had the sense to realize that international applicants from emerging countries do not earn the same salary structure as their US or UK counterparts.
They offer a one week trial period.
Customer support is cool, you can enter your doubt in one of the commend boxes right next to the question and they will respond back soon with the entire question tagged along.
Their exam levels are on par with the real thing; my scores almost matched the practice tests.
ConsThere was one instance where I was irked out by the rude comments of one of the teaching staff.
ConclusionMy only suggestion to all international students would be to try out their trial period and if satisfied then enroll in their course, whichever suits you best in terms of timelines and affordability, and just study. A word of caution is do not expect videos or personal tutoring because MASTER GMAT teaching system is really different in that it teaches you fundamentals and builds up to advanced topics slowly building a repository of relevant information in the process.
Knewton.ProsI must acknowledge the support and patience of Ms. Lara in helping me with my doubts. Her emails were always optimistic and lively and such positivity helped me get a better perspective.
I benefited from their Quant lessons. Regardless of the difficulty level, I liked that they had many practice questions in Mathematics and I was able to analyze different ways to arrive at the solution. Christopher Wu taught Mathematics well and the whole process helped me get a 49 in Quant.
Good client support with good response time.
I liked their video quality and everything else, but in the end verbal learning didn’t translate into results.
ConsWhen I enrolled, It costed approximately 500-600$ and I was unimpressed by the lack of originality in their verbal section. The verbal section did not help me scale up my score and I struggled with their lackluster practice questions. My point is, Knewton's verbal questions need to be revised.
I was unimpressed with their constant change in policies stating that they are unable to take up my doubts anymore because they revised their policies overnight to limit x amount of doubts per week.
ConclusionThe prices could be lower. Enough with the revision of policies.
Gmat PillI would describe it as an augmentative source. It has good tips which can help you in your overall journey.
ConclusionMaster GMAT was most cost effective for me. Surely, I might be singing paeans of Knewton had it worked for me, but I felt Master GMAT was really effective as I was able to learn most of the verbal topics and SC, CR and RC became intelligible to me.
Kudo me if you found this useful.