Help with Picking an online course

Question

Hi All,

I have done 1 attempt at the GMAT and scored a 580. I prepped for about 3 months before I took the GMAT. I believe that my anxiety on test day is what contributed to my low score. I did do 2 office GMAT Mocks and a few Mocks on E-GMAT, the course I had registered for. My scores on the mocks were in the range of 580 - 720.

The materials that I used:- 
1. GMAT Official guide
2. E-Gmat

Verbal is my weak spot as I scored a V26 and my quant has always been a strong point but I scored a Q44 only. I know that I need to work on my timing as on the test day I ended my randomly selecting about 10 questions in verbal and about 5 in Quant.

The E-gmat course was very good and helped me with the basics. I loved the SC but was not a big fan of pre-thinking and struggled on RC.

I do want to retake the exam in about 2 months. I would appreciate any suggestions on:-

1. If I am to choose a different online prep course which one should it be. 
2. I feel that I have by basics in place although I would like to strengthen them via an online course. 
3. what should by study plan/strategy be for the next attempt.

Thank you!

Russ19 · Answer

Hi

e-GMAT is great! Going through more online platforms might not help to secure a better score. If you just follow some gmat club verbal experts such as  GMATNinja ,  AndrewN  and follow their posts and articles, you can simply do well. You can also consider going through manhattan prep strategy guides.

Good Luck!

Shubhi1995 · Answer

There are many free sessions available for major courses, you can try out their open session and then decide which suits you

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  dhruvm05 . I am writing in response to the mention by  sjuniv32  above. I am a huge proponent of free resources, a product of, well, the way I grew up and was raised. Yes, the structure provided by a paid subscription to an online learning module can be helpful. At the same time, you can follow videos on Verbal  topics  that may be just a bit broader in scope without paying anything, and gaining access to the likes of legendary instructors such as Ron Purewal and Charles Bibilos, the GMAT Ninja, is not to be brushed aside. I would start with the following and let the words wash over me, so to speak.

1)  Thursdays with Ron

2)  GMAT Ninja YouTube series

Try out a few videos and see how you like them. You can always comb through the Marketplace if you want something a bit more structured down the line.

Best of luck with your studies.

- Andrew

CRACKGMATNUT · Answer

I think a hand held approach till you score well on gmat is what you require. You should try a demo class of Educationaisle, and I am sure you will end up enrolling with them. Good luck

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EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi dhruvm05,

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day didn't go as well as planned. When these types of score drops occur, the two likely "causes" involve either something that was unrealistic during practice or something that was surprising (or not accounted for) on Test Day. Before we discuss any of those potential issues though, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How many hours did you typically study each week?
2) On what dates (or approximate dates) did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

Goals:
3) What is your overall goal score?
4) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

You might also choose to purchase the Enhanced Score Report. While the ESR doesn’t provide a lot of information, there are usually a few data points that we can use to define what went wrong on Test Day (and what you should work on to score higher). If you purchase the ESR, then I'll be happy to analyze it for you.

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

vamshikaithi · Answer

Hi dhruvm05, I was in a similar situation a year ago. I spent months of time preparing and scored 570 in my first attempt with Q43 and V26. I finished going through the concepts and practiced a lot of questions. I didn't know how to proceed. Then I started focusing on the process of solving questions. I understood that GMAT is more about the application of concepts than just the conceptual knowledge. I enrolled for GMATWhiz online course and started preparing. I could improve my score to 680 and then eventually to 720 with Q50 and V38. Coming to the strategy, as your score is almost similar to mine, I think I can help you with the strategy I followed. After scoring 570 in my first attempt, I started my prep from the scratch. I went through every concept video of GMATWhiz (both Quant and Verbal). I did that because I didn't want to miss out on any information that would help me score well. I practiced questions only after learning the concepts and the methods to solve questions of a particular topic. If my accuracy is not very great, I would go back to the concept video and make sure that I learnt perfectly this time. The course made the process really easy as it provided me a study plan and helped me identify my weak areas in a simple way. I made a debrief of my journey. You can go through to understand a little better. Debrief of my journey from 570 to 680 to 720 https://gmatclub.com/forum/my-journey-f ... l#p2648110 Hope it helped. Feel free to get in touch if you need any more help. All the best

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dhruvm05 · Answer

Thanks a ton everyone for all you help and suggestions, which proved very helpful.

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi dhruvm05,

When you choose a resource, make sure to choose one which helps you with the right aspects for your GMAT preparation. As GMAT mainly tests your application skills, the resource you choose must help you with:
  Concepts 
 Methodology (Very important) 
 Practice questions 
 Their detailed solutions

So, you first learn the concepts of a particular topic, then learn the methodology to solve questions of that topic and only then practice questions to solidify your learning. This is how you go about your GMAT preparation. The resource you choose must make your prep a lot more structured and effective.

And one more important thing to look for in a course is the  study plan . To make your prep effective, you need to be really consistent. So, a study plan will help you to be consistent. Having said that, you cannot follow a study plan which doesn't suit you. For example, a person who can dedicate just 3 hours a day cannot have the same study plan as a person who can dedicate 6 hours a day. So, the study plan has to be  personalized . And not just that, it's important to have the  right guidance from the mentor  because students often get stuck in the middle of their prep and do not understand how to proceed further.

You can go through the article below to understand how to choose an online course

Key factors to consider while choosing an online course for GMAT

The better way to choose an online course is to check the free trials of the courses and then decide which suits you the most. I suggest you to check the   free trial   of GMATWhiz and then take a decision. It provides you with a  personalized study plan  by taking into account the number of hours you can dedicate for studies in a week. It focuses mainly on the application of concepts and has detailed solutions for the questions which helps you to learn the right methodology. And a  dedicated mentor  will be assigned to the student once he/she enrolls for the course. The student can get in touch with the mentor once in every 15 days to seek guidance on how to proceed further.

And as you are planning to retake, you definitely need to tweak your study strategy. I can help you in a better way if you can tell me - 
  the way you prepared till now (Did you focus on the process of solving or just focused on practicing more questions?) 
 Your weak areas in both Quant and Verbal 
 your approach of solving questions

A zoom conference call would be a better way to analyze your approach of solving questions. That way, I can identify the flaw if there's any and then suggest you the plan of action. Please use the link below to schedule a call with me.

Click here to schedule a call

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi dehruvm05,

Regarding prep courses, in addition to seeking advice in this thread, take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for  the best quant  and  verbal courses , and also read through some  GMAT success stories  to see what materials have worked well for other test-takers.

Regarding your study plan for your next attempt, here is a helpful article:

how to score a 700+ on the GMAT .

Good luck!

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