GMAT prep via apps vs study material/books

Hey Mike,

After going through some of the comments in the forums I have figured out some of the following material that will aid me in getting a good score (700+ and around 750). These are as follows:
a) GMAT OG REVIEW 2016
b) Manhattan SC guide
c) Aristotle SC,CR,RC Grails
d) Manhattan Quant guides
d) Manhattan advanced quant (please share your views on this)
e) For testing purpose using MGMATs, gmatpreps, gmatclub tests

Kindly let me know your views on this and how to go through these materials and if at all you could help me with a study plan of 3 months using these materials that would be highly appreciated.

Thanks
Rahul

Dear Rahul,
I'm happy to respond.

My friend, beware of thinking that GMAT materials of various kinds will be responsible for getting you to an elite score. YOU and you alone are responsible for getting an elite score. Think about it. Virtually everyone on GC and virtually everyone studying for the GMAT has access to all these materials, and yet, only about 10% reach 700 and only 2% reach 750. If you think that the materials automatically will get you there, you are mistaken. Getting into that elite territory involves a complete revolution in how you understand yourself and how your approach anything & everything in your life. Are you will willing to work harder than 98% of the population? Are you willing to be more dedicated, more committed, more organized, more diligent, more enthusiastic, more optimistic, more resilient, and more emotionally balanced than 98% of the population? Read what the most ambitious students on GC say they are doing: are you wiling to do all that and more? See this blog:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2014/gmat-stud ... 0-or-more/

Now, having said that, some materials are better than others. ALL official materials are superb. Definitely get the OG 2016: the Verbal Review and Quant Review books are also superb. The GMAT Prep tests are the highest quality tests out there: save those until late in your study schedule. The MGMAT material is all very good. I would highly recommend their SC guide and all their Quant books, including the Advanced Quant. The MGMAT online CATs are also very good: Magoosh recommends them in our study schedules.

I think MGMAT and Magoosh offer the strongest verbal preparation. Magoosh has a large library of verbal lesson videos that cover every aspect of the test. I have also been impressed with a number of Veritas questions. I have seen many low quality questions from other sources on GC and that makes me very suspicious of their offerings.

Finally, I will caution you about the GC tests. For math, those tests are superb: the genius Bunuel is the curator of all the math, and through his brilliant guidance, the math questions on the GC tests are of exceptionally high quality. Unfortunately, there is no verbal analog of Bunuel, and correspondingly, the Verbal questions on the GC tests are of mixed quality: some of them are OK, but I have seen some very low quality verbal questions on those tests. I would recommend using them only for math.

Does all this make sense?
Mike

Hi rahulzlpr,

This is essentially a list of commonly-used books, but many Test Takers who take a 'book-heavy' study approach end up getting 'stuck' at a particular score level. That may or may not happen to you, but we won't know until you get a bit further into your studies.

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.

1) Have you scheduled your Official GMAT yet?
2) When are you planning to apply to Business School?

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