Combining GMAT Courses

Question

Hi - I’m new here and looks like a great community - I look forward to contributing (at a time when I can hopefully provide useful input!) ?

I’m a late twenties guy, working internationally in commercial real estate in Europe. I have recently started my GMAT journey and have a three month plan through to test day in late November, using EMPOWERGmat and OG content to set a structured guide of training and CAT testing.

The content is *great* so far, with a heavy focus on strategy and approach, but I was wondering whether others have supplemented this (or other courses) with a second and more ‘knowledge heavy’ online course, such as Magoosh? Or books - MGMAT?

I’m *very* rusty, racing through a first CAT to test my base knowledge and scoring around 500, verbal OK with dismal quant. I know my ability, I just need to put in the hard yards to shake off the cobwebs and push on to my potential score (what that might be at this stage is unclear!) so want to get the right course mix for the next three months.

Very grateful for any input and if you have combined courses, which ones? benefits? Any downsides? (E.g teaching of different techniques/approaches for a problem could be dangerous)

Thanks!

Ed

Posted from my mobile device

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi Ed,

I understand that choosing a course which focuses on all aspects is a tedious task. There are few factors which you have to consider while choosing an online course. But before that, you need to understand what it is that is actually tested on GMAT. This will help you understand what to look in an online course. Let me share my insights here.

What GMAT actually tests? 
If you are in a misconception that understanding concepts will help you score well on GMAT, let me tell you the harsh truth. GMAT is a test of application of concepts and it would require a strong conceptual knowledge and the right use of strategies to ace the test. Let me give you an example from an SC module stand-point. There is a misconception that SC questions test your knowledge of grammatical rules. But what GMAT actually tests is the ability to convey the right meaning without any ambiguity. So, it is really important to approach them from a meaning stand-point. You will often come across answer choices which are grammatically correct and which convey a logical meaning but are indeed incorrect. So, it is important to understand the intended meaning of the original sentence and then eliminate answer choices which are grammatically incorrect or which do not convey the intended meaning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SGA8bwFNJM

What to look for in a course? 
So, I would recommend you to look for an online course which  focuses on the right methodology . Learning the right methodology can be difficult during the initial stages but once you start practicing a few questions, it comes as a natural process. So, during the initial stages, there's no harm in spending time in analyzing the solutions. The best way to learn the right methodology is to compare your approach with the right one. There are a few more factors which you have to consider while evaluating a course. You can got through this   blog   to understand " The key factors to consider while evaluating the right course ”

If you are open to suggestions, I would recommend you to check the GMATWhiz course. 
  It offers you a  personalized study plan  integrated with the course 
 The first unit of every topic starts with the methodology and then moves on to the concepts. This will help you to apply the methodology right during the learning stage. 
 The concept booster and practice quizzes help you get comfortable with GMAT like questions 
 The  detailed solutions  provided for each question help you understand the right methodology in an effective manner. 
 The  dedicated mentorship  provided helps you in planning your further steps thereby helping you to focus on the right parameters 
 The AI technology analyzes your performance and provides you with real time improvement modules to help you focus on your weaker areas right away

There are many exciting features which you can experience by checking out the free trial of the course. I would recommend you to take a decision only after you check the free trial of the courses which you feel are the right ones. If you wish to know more about the study strategy and anything related to GMAT, you can  schedule a free consultation call  using the below link.

Click here to schedule a call

efswe · Answer

Thanks for the insight into your course - I will check it out!

I guess where I am still not clear (and would be great to hear from other students) is whether it is worth it to combine two *different* courses - in this case a strategy based course and a knowledge intensive course (working more on theory and application of mathematical rules rather than testing or eliminating etc)

If anyone has insight there please let me know! Thanks again ?

Posted from my mobile device

IanStewart · Answer

The word "strategy" is used in dozens of different ways in GMAT prep circles (people talk about "study strategy", "pacing strategy", "Data Sufficiency strategy", "guessing strategy", "weighted averages strategy", "Reading Comp strategy", and on and on). Some of this 'strategy' is very important -- you need to know how to approach DS questions for example, and you should know a general approach to any category of math problem (weighted average problems, say).

But companies often use the word 'strategy' to describe a portfolio of 'test taking tricks' like 'backsolving', 'testing numbers', and 'counting equations and unknowns', along with a variety of guessing strategies. Some of these strategies are provably either worthless or actively counterproductive - some of them will hurt your score if you use them. Others are useful only on lower-level questions, and only for test takers who would have difficulty solving questions any other way (so might be helpful to a Q20 level test taker aiming for a Q30, but not for a Q40 level test taker aiming for a Q48). Others are optimal in some identifiable situations, even on hard questions, but are bad choices most of the rest of the time.

So it's a complicated topic to discuss properly, because there are exceptions and caveats I'm not mentioning above, and I'd need to write a very long post to get into those. But the general principle is fairly simple. GMAT Quant is a math test. You might think back to every other math test you've ever taken and ask yourself how much time you devoted, when studying, to learning 'strategy'. You probably didn't think about 'strategy' at all. Instead you probably learned how to do the math. That's the best way to prepare for the GMAT too, at least if you're aiming for a fairly strong score. That shouldn't be surprising to anyone, I don't think. But if you read the promotional materials from certain companies, you might get the impression that you can prepare for the test by learning 'tactics' or 'tricks' or 'strategies', or that it's important to understand certain secrets about the allegedly 'mysterious' scoring algorithm (the algorithm is not mysterious, and there isn't much that is helpful to know about it). If you understand what the GMAT is for -- MBA programs use GMAT scores because they correlate fairly well with MBA grades, so GMAT scores provide evidence that a test taker will be handle the academic component of an MBA course -- you can deduce what the GMAT actually measures. In Quant, it measures how well you can think about elementary math concepts, and how well you can reason through logic and math problems. If you can do those things well, you can probably learn calculus. Whether you can 'backsolve' well is presumably nearly irrelevant to how capable you could eventually be at calculus, which is why that's not a skill the GMAT is assessing.

If you were perfect at math and knew nothing about strategy, you'd get a perfect Quant score. If you were perfect at strategy and knew nothing about math, you'd get an extremely low Quant score. So you should be devoting most of your Quant prep time to learning GMAT math concepts, and to learning how to solve GMAT-level questions properly. You should not be spending much time on what some prep companies call 'strategy', and any study material that is placing a great emphasis on 'strategy' is probably not effectively preparing you for the medium level and higher level material on the test. Good luck!

Hoozan · Answer

Hi Ed, I have been preparing for the GMAT for quite sometime now. I believe I could share a few insights that could help you with your prep. I won't bore you with super long paras and simply list the main points down for your convenience

Quant

(1) Focus on understanding the concepts - Know what formula is needed to solve a particular question. Why this formula is used in the first place and is there any better approach to solving the question at hand.
(2) Since you starting off with your prep do not focus on timing yourself. Just try to understand the question and the concept tested.
(3) Please give enough time to each topic and solve enough  official questions  to solidify your concepts 
(4) Maintain your error log and review it time to time - Keep a track of your errors and make sure you do not repeat the same mistakes. Keep a track of what type of questions and/or what topics in quant you struggle with.,
(5)  (Cont.. of point 4)  Keep a track of questions/topics that take you take a lot of time to solve, you find it difficult to solve, and you simply hate solving. You must also keep a track of questions types that you make a lot of careless mistakes in.

Verbal

(1) Focus on the  Meaning and then grammar  when it comes to SC
(2) Focus on improving your comprehension skills in RC
(3) Focus on improving your "logical thinking" in CR. Understand the various types of questions that are asked on the CR section. Know what logic went behind the correct answer.
(4) Like quant, verbal too will require an error log. Note the type of errors that you make  (Are they concept based errors? application based errors? etc.)  Why did you make the error?  (did not understand the question? got confused with two options? why did you get confused?etc.) 
(5) DO NOT FOCUS ON ANY TRICK. the only trick is to learn and understand the concept.

To answer your question 
(1) Avoid mixing courses. Each Test prep company has a different approach towards teaching the concepts. You do not want to get confused with the plethora of information given to you.
(2) Check the testimonials of the students, Take up the trial courses yourself and see what suits you.
(3) If any test prep company revolves a lot around teaching "tricks" take that as a  red flag  and run away
(4) I have seen good reviews of TTP eGMAT GMATWhiz you could take the free trial and check them out.
(5) You could sign up for one course only for its verbal and one only for its quant. You can mix courses in such a manner. But do not plan doing verbal from two companies at the same time. 
(6) Do not overburden yourself with too much information. There is a lot of content out there, Make sure you pick the right one. And as much as you can, stick to the Official questions.

I hope this helps,
~H

efswe · Answer

Thank you both - both very insightful in different ways. Ian - thanks for framing strategy in the context of the GMAT for me - I had been thinking of it as a catch all but makes much more sense to looks at the nuances.

@H- these are great tips and I’m glad to get them at the start of my journey. Good luck with yours!

I have a feeling engaging on this forum whilst going through the process is going to be fruitful.

Posted from my mobile device

Hoozan · Answer

Feel free to PM me if you need any help w.r.t your prep.

ashwink · Answer

You can definitely combine multiple courses. First step would be to check what the split is in the CAT and then decide on what supplement courses you can take.
If you already have a strong math score, then a verbal heavy course would be helpful, eg. EGMAT etc.
If you're strong in verbal, then a course like TTP might be helpful as their Quant is super dense.
Of course, OG should be the go-to book for any practice questions!

All the best!

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