Choosing additional GMAT products such as GMAT®Official Practice Exams

Question

This might look like a very stupid question, but it would be great if someone could answer this.

Is it mandatory to choose the additional GMAT products (such as GMAT®Official Practice Exams 3-6) at the time of registering/scheduling the GMAT exam? Or can I purchase them later on if at all I need it?

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Cubie,

As with any product or service that you might purchase, you can purchase the Exam Packs at any time (so you do NOT need to purchase them when you register at mba.com.

If you're looking for any additional advice about your studies, then it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How long have you studied?
2) What study materials have you used so far?
3) How have you scored on EACH of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

Goals:
4) What is your goal score?
5) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
6) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
7) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

Cubie · Answer

Hi EMPOWERgmatRichC,

Thank you so much for your response.

Yes, I would appreciate your help. I have updated the comments inline. Looking forward to hear from you.

Studies:
1) How long have you studied?    
2) What study materials have you used so far?   
 
3) How have you scored on EACH of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)? 
  ]

Goals:
4) What is your goal score?      
5) When are you planning to take the GMAT?    
6) When are you planning to apply to Business School?    
7) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

Thanks,
Cubie

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Cubie,

While the Official Guides are great books for realistic practice questions, they aren't designed to properly teach you Tactics, patterns and the little 'secrets' to the GMAT. Thus, you'll likely need to invest in additional, non-book resource to hit your Score Goal. In addition, the 710/V40 seems like an 'outlier' relative to your other CAT Scores, so we have to assume that your current 'ability level' is probably in the low-600s. For your next practice CAT, I suggest that you take one of the Official GMAC CATs and take it in a realistic fashion (take the FULL CAT - with the Essay and IR sections, take it away from your home, at the same time of day as when you'll take the Official GMAT, etc.). Once you have that score, you should report back here and we can discuss the results.

You still have plenty of time before your Official Test Date to study and improve - which is good. In addition, the GMAT is a consistent, predictable Exam, so you CAN train to score at a higher level.

1) Have you used any other study materials besides the Official Guides?
2) Going forward, how many hours do you think you can consistently study each week?

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

Cubie · Answer

Hi Rich,

Thank you so much for helping out!!

I have taken the Official GMAT CAT today ( I did not get time to take it earlier due to my work schedule) and have got a score of  660 (Q49, V32) . As suggested, I did imitate the test conditions as closely as possible.

I took the test in the following order : VA,QA,IR, AWA. I had started with VA as I knew that this was my weakest section. Despite starting the exam with VA (when you are more fresh), I struggled to finish off all the questions in this section within the given time (I had guessed around 6 questions towards the end at a stretch).

To your questions, please find my response below:

1) Have you used any other study materials besides the Official Guides?   C: I had referred notes found within gmat club : powerscore cr bible, manhattan sc  ]
2) Going forward, how many hours do you think you can consistently study each week? 20 hours per week (2 hours per day on weekdays and 5 hours on weekends) ]

Looking forward to hear from you.

Thanks,
Cubie

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Cubie,

This recent CAT Score seems to 'fit' with your prior CAT Scores, so assuming that you did take this CAT in a realistic fashion, then you would likely need another 1-2 months of consistent, guided study to hit your Score Goal.

"Review" is an exceptionally important part of the GMAT training process; your ability to define WHY you're getting questions wrong is essential to defining the areas that you need to work on (and the specific things that you need to 'fix '). As such, I'd like to know a bit more about your last CAT. While a full Mistake Tracker would provide a lot more information, there are some basic questions that you should be able to answer (and the more EXACT you can be with your answers, the better):

After reviewing each section of this recent CAT, how many questions did you get wrong....
1) Because of a silly/little mistake?
2) Because there was some math/verbal that you just could not remember how to do?
3) Because the question was too hard?
4) Because you were low on time and had to guess?
5) How many Verbal questions did you 'narrow down to 2 choices' but still get wrong?

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

billionaire · Answer

Hi Cubie It is not mandatory to purchase additional GMAT products, such as GMAT®Official Practice Exams 3-6 at the time of registering/scheduling the GMAT exam. Of course you can purchase them later, if you decide so. Nothing is mandatory in GMAT prep

However, I would strongly advise you to purchase them since they are the best possible thing on market and most realistic. None of the third party companies that you tried (I suppose free test only) can match GMAC standards. They only come into play, when you have exhausted all official materials and want more, for some reason. Speaking of that, after GMATprep and additional paid ones 3-6, next best thing are Manhattan and GMAT Club tests. If you need to spend more $$$, invest there. Kaplan is also praised to be similar to GMAT standards, when we speak about their mocks. Kaplan books are rather easy, more for starters. I don't find Veritas to resemble GMAT standards in terms of practice questions/mocks. If you need to cover more basics/fundamentals in theory, then Manhattan books and GMAT Club sources are best way to go. Finally, if you decide to take online course I would pick Manhattan, but you may check here reviews and decide for yourself what works best for you. They all offer trial periods so you can try them. Regarding you goal, 730 is enough to get you admission to any school on planet. You can find more about that and corresponding facts in majority of my posts/replies, here is an example, but feel free to browse for more: https://gmatclub.com/forum/is-730-on-gm ... s#p2098634 Good luck and happy prep !

Arro44 · Answer

You can purchase them anytime you like!

Cubie · Answer

Hi Rich,

I have reviewed each section of my recent CAT and these are my observations

In the verbal section, I got 17 out of 41 wrong
* Silly mistake - 1RC
* Question was hard - 1SC, 5CR, 2RC
* Low on time; had to guess - 3SC, 3CR, 1RC ----(I had to hurry up on the last 10 questions, and got only 3 correct)
* Narrow down to 2, then got wrong - 1SC

In the quant section, I got 15 out of 37 wrong
* Silly mistake - 2PS, 2DS
* Couldn't remember - 1PS, 2DS
* Question was hard - 8DS

Looking forward to any help that you can provide.

Thanks,
Cubie

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Cubie,

A few months ago (in April), GMAC announced some structural changes to the Exam (the primary differences being that the Quant and Verbal sections would have fewer questions with less time for each section). From your prior post, it sounds like you took a CAT in the old/longer format. Have all of your CATs been in that format or have any of them been in the current/shorter format?

Based on your review notes, you're losing a lot of 'gettable' points due to little mistakes and missed opportunities. If you can 'fix' these issues on your own, then you could potentially score at a much higher level than you did on this CAT. However, if "your way" of approaching the overall Exam is leading to these types of errors, then continuing to study in that same way might not be effective. With a planned Test Date in September, you still have plenty of time to improve, but you'll need to be efficient with your studies going forward.

Are you following a particular set of Tactics (that you may have learned in a book or Course) or have you essentially been working through lots of practice questions and 'learning by doing?'

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

Cubie · Answer

Hi Rich, Thanks for the prompt replies!

You are right. I took the recent CAT in the older format as the tests in the GMAT Prep software have not been updated. Of the 3 CATs I had taken prior to this one, only 1 was in the new format. Yes, I have been mostly 'learning by doing'. I have gone through all the SC, CR and PS questions in the OG, looking up concepts in the Powerscore CR and Manhattan SC guides as and when required. Since I am taking my exam in the first week of September, I feel going through the books from the beginning to the end, at this point of time, might not be a good idea. Would classes focused on the verbal section help? Or should I just continue to work out problems from the other sources? I do not have a clear-cut plan in front of me. Do let me know your thoughts. Thanks, Cubie

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Cubie,

While the downloadable package from GMAC includes 2 CATs in the 'old' format, you CAN take Official CATs in the current format online - and going forward, I suggest that you make sure that all of your CATs (regardless of the 'brand' of CAT) is in the current format.

Given your particular needs, I think that a Verbal-centric Course that emphasizes Verbal Tactics would be a good idea at this point. With about 5 weeks of study time remaining, you have the necessary time to learn and practice those Tactics - but you'll need to be efficient up until Test Day to properly lock in that higher Score.

Based on everything that you've described, I think that you would find the EMPOWERgmat Verbal Score Booster to be quite helpful. Most of our clients finish that Study Plan in under a month, so it would fit your schedule perfectly. During that time, you'll also be able to access any of the Quant resources that interest you. We have a variety of free resources on our site (www.empowergmat.com), so you can 'test out' the Course before setting up an account.

If you have any additional questions, then you can feel free to contact me directly.

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

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