Doing OG Qs. will inflate GMAT prep score?

Hi hsambiguity,

Restricting yourself to just OG material is a questionable choice. While the available Official resources are quite useful, they aren't the only useful materials on the market (and the OGs are not designed to teach you Tactics, patterns or the little 'secrets' behind the GMAT - for those, you'll need Course-oriented materials). By extension, if your studies involve answering lots of Official questions in these forums, then you'll likely come across questions that you'll see on the 6 Official GMAC CATs. Answering those questions in advance - and then seeing ANY of them later on when you take the GMAC CATs - will almost certainly lead to inaccurate, 'inflated' practice CAT scores. THAT is something that you want to avoid.

Since it sounds like you're just beginning your studies, then it would be a good idea to take a FULL-LENGTH practice CAT Test; you can download 2 for free from www.mba.com (and they come with some additional practice materials). If you want to do a little studying first, so that you can familiarize yourself with the basic content and question types, then that's okay - but you shouldn't wait too long to take that initial CAT. That score will give us a good sense of your natural strengths and weaknesses and will help provide a basis for comparison as you continue to study. A FULL CAT takes about 4 hours to complete, so make sure that you've set aside enough time to take it in one sitting. Once you have those scores, you should report back here and we can come up with a study plan.

I'd like to know a bit more about your timeline and goals:
1) What is your goal score?
2) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
3) When are you planning to apply to Business School?

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

Thank you all for your answers.

Hi EMPOWERgmatRichC,

Thanks a lot for your reply.
It's been around 4 weeks since I've started studying for GMAT. I want to take GMAT around mid-November. (Planning to apply in R2)
I have covered most of the concepts in Quant and Verbal and did few practice Questions from OG17 & GMAT club
My goal score is 730.
During last month I have taken 2 tests in following order
1. GMAT club free Quant test Q38 2. GMAT prep test - 610 (IR 5 Q44 V31)
In my GMATprep test, I already knew 1 question as I had done it earlier in my practice session.


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Hi hsambiguity,

With a mid-November Test Date, you've given yourself plenty of time to study, which is good. As you continue with your studies, it's important to take FULL-LENGTH CATs (with the Essay and IR sections) at regular intervals - so you should plan to take a FULL CAT every 1-2 weeks. To raise a 610 to a 730 will require some significant work though and you'll have to make some big improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections. As such, you would likely find it beneficial to invest in some non-OG training materials that will teach you the necessary Tactics to score higher (as opposed to trying to figure them all out on your own through heavy repetitions). You don't have to make any decision on that just yet though. I suggest that you continue studying as you have been, then take a new FULL CAT in a couple of weeks. That score result will help to define how well 'your way' of studying is helping you to improve.

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

Thank You for the guidance Rich. Much appreciated.