GMAT Prep for non-natives

Question

Hello,
I am aiming to take my GMAT in 2016 and i started to look up for preparations strategies and read some successful stories of non-native speakers on GMAT. And now i am in doubt over the Prep Guides to take, i'm thinking about to take the Manhattan GMAT Complete Strategy Guide Set, the GMAT 2016 Official Guide Bundle or the E-GMAT online course.
I'm asking you guys as a non-native speaker what is the best prep-guide to take.

thanks in advance

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi pves,

It sounds like you're just starting out. Is that true? Have you done any studying so far?

If you're just beginning, 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 bit of study beforehand, so that you can familiarize yourself with the question types and general concepts that are tested, then that's fine, but you shouldn't wait too long to take that first CAT. 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

pves · Answer

Hello Rich,
First of all thanks alot for your availability and help.
I'm just at the beginning, i have not started study. I'm at my senior year of my bachelor degrees. And because of that i'm planning to take the GMAT in September of 2016. My goal score is around 720 and i'm planning to apply to IE Business School and do the Msc in Finance.

Thanks again, Rich.

OptimusPrepJanielle · Answer

Hi pves,
Of the guides that you have listed, Official Guide Bundle 2016 is essential for your preparation. It is not a study guide and may not teach you much about how to strengthen your fundamentals, but it will give you questions that have appeared on the test and will give you valuable lessons from the solution of the questions.
You have a lot of time at your hands and many times this is counter productive. You would need close to 3 months to be well prepared for the test.

Regarding the other materials, there are primarily three methods in which you can go about with your preparation:

1. Classroom course
2. Studying from books
3. Online preparatory course.

Chose the one you are most comfortable with. Most of the courses including ours offer a trial period. Make use of that and see if the course fits your needs.
Once you are through with the concept building phase, I would recommend you to buy Exam Pack 1 and Question pack 1 from mba.com for additional official questions.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi pves,

Since you've described your timeline in a bit more detail - and you're not planning to take the GMAT for another 10 months, have you thought about when you might want to start studying? Many Test Takers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before hitting their 'peak' scores, so you should factor that into your long-term planning.

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

GMATPill · Answer

You've got plenty of time between now and Sept 2016. We encourage you to take a look at some of our student stories: www.gmatpill.com/testimonials

For practice purposes, you may also be interested in our Practice Pill Platform to get yourself familiar with the types of questions you will see: www.gmatpill.com/gmat-practice-test/

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi pves! Since you mention "non-natives", I am assuming that you are alluding to the Verbal section of GMAT.

Thought I would highlight that our sentence correction book  Sentence Correction Nirvana  is perhaps the  only  book that offers a score improvement  guarantee , and is especially designed for  non-native  speakers.

After reading the book  twice  (yes! it's an  academic  book, and so must be read twice in all seriousness, to  reinforce  the concepts), you will start looking forward to solving SC questions!

The book is available on  Flipkart  and  Amazon.in . You might want to refer to these sites, to also read testimonials of how readers have benefited.

If you want to  sample  a chapter before deciding to go ahead with our book, please PM me your mail-id (along with the chapter that you would like to sample) and I will be happy to send that chapter to you by mail. In addition, the entire Grammar section of the book is also available for free preview at  pothi .

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