Veritas Prep Representative
Joined: 26 Jul 2010
Posts: 416
Given Kudos: 63
Re: Diff between veritas advanced online course ®ular online course
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26 Feb 2019, 09:40
Glad you asked! We started offering the Advanced Course around the middle of 2018, with the goal to have something that really challenges and engages the folks who have already scored into the 600s and are targeting those 700+ scores. If our regular course is somewhere in the neighborhood of 25% content review, 50% strategy/application, and 25% what we call "Think Like the Testmaker" insight into the clues, traps, and tendencies of the way questions are written, the Advanced Course is 50% strategy/application and 50% Think Like The Testmaker.
The assumption coming in is that you're already familiar with things like the Data Sufficiency format and answer choices, with the rules and processes of algebra and geometry, with what parallelism means, etc. And if you do find that you have a few gaps in knowledge you have the Veritas Prep books and the Veritas Prep On Demand lessons, so you can note "wow I'm rustier on quadratics than I thought" and go back to get the knowledge and repetition there. So that's what's "missing" from the regular class - we make that assumption that if it's an advanced class and we suggest that you're scoring in the 650 range before enrolling, you either already know the core content well enough to think about strategy/application, or you already know that you need to continue to work on it and would rather do that work on your own so that the class can focus on the higher-level reasoning and strategy.
What I love about the advanced class is:
-The problem curation - there are certain problems that have great takeaways for strategies at the 700+ level that are often too "risky" to pull out in a class where not everyone is familiar enough with the content. We call those "bogger-downers" - the takeaway is phenomenal for the right people, but you run the risk of getting bogged down in a 10-minute content review when all you really wanted to do was show the 700 crowd a trap they need to watch out for or a clue they should be picking up on. (Note: we still get to those takeaways in the regular class, but often there's that perfect problem that sells the takeaway beautifully for those who have the skills to be ready for it, but confuses the heck out of those who don't, and you just can't run that risk sometimes so you have to use another example that's good but not "amazing")
-The homework set - we specifically chose homework problems that push from the 600s into the 700s. When I taught the first one one of my favorite comments was someone typing in "Brian these classes are great but I don't think you guys promote how helpful the homework is. That alone is making this class worth it."
-The student energy - because the class is designed for people who are already very familiar with the test and who have been studying for a while, the vibe in the class is fantastic. Students are genuinely happy when they learn from a mistake, really excited when they get a problem right, and overall just adding a ton of really helpful comments and asking good questions.
In your case, I'd say that if you've hit 640 on an official practice test you could do really well in the advanced course, but I'd also add that it helps a ton if you've studied a good bit for the GMAT already (some 640s are on just pure ability without much knowledge of the test...I think that would be pretty hard, but if you've worked toward a 640 and have put some thought into the core content and knowledge of question types, that should work well). Know, too, that if you do find it too challenging or fast-paced after the first weekend's classes, you can always transfer to another class. That's something the instructor (Chris is teaching this one) will mention a lot, too - if you're struggling with the pace or just realize you have a bigger blind spot for a subject than you thought, you can transfer to another class or re-visit that lesson in the regular class.