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vcbabu
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How I upgraded my 700 to a 770 (Q50, V44) 12 Aug 2009, 06:52
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In the Jeff Sackmann , are u referring to 1,800 practice GMAT math questions as extereme challenge problems.

THere are things like 2 sets ,3 sets ...10 sets.
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How I upgraded my 700 to a 770 (Q50, V44) 12 Aug 2009, 12:05
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vcbabu
In the Jeff Sackmann , are u referring to 1,800 practice GMAT math questions as extereme challenge problems.

THere are things like 2 sets ,3 sets ...10 sets.
Show more

I'm referring to only one of the question sets, which contains 100 problems. It's called Extreme Challenge. He offers 18 different sets of questions with 100 problems each.
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How I upgraded my 700 to a 770 (Q50, V44) 13 Aug 2009, 19:21
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Wow, that truly is an amazing score. Congratulations!

You really do make Jeff Sackmann's products sound tempting, but how would his Total GMAT Math compare to the Manhattan GMAT math series?

I just started MGMAT Number Properties, and plan to finish this book. But afterward, should I jump ship or continue with MGMAT?

Thanks in advance!
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How I upgraded my 700 to a 770 (Q50, V44) 14 Aug 2009, 06:22
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bjmillan
Wow, that truly is an amazing score. Congratulations!

You really do make Jeff Sackmann's products sound tempting, but how would his Total GMAT Math compare to the Manhattan GMAT math series?

I just started MGMAT Number Properties, and plan to finish this book. But afterward, should I jump ship or continue with MGMAT?

Thanks in advance!
Show more
I can't make a fair comparison, because I've only used the Number Properties book, which I thought was very good. I think the real value in Jeff Sackmann's book is the practice material and answer explanations for each chapter. It's also worth mentioning that Total GMAT Math also covered all of the concepts that were covered in MGMAT Number Properties, so it wasn't necessary to use both for that subject.

Maybe someone else who has used both resources can comment.
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How I upgraded my 700 to a 770 (Q50, V44) 16 Aug 2009, 03:43
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Avernusaur

Great score!

I just finished the challenge set for geometry and i was pretty impressed (espc DS is much more challenging that PS)

Good luck with ur apps!
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How I upgraded my 700 to a 770 (Q50, V44) 09 Oct 2009, 13:38
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Hey Avernusaur, thanks for sharing your experience.

After reading this post, I decided to purchase Total GMAT Math. The book, however, is not exactly what I had expected. Of course, I did not think it would be a miracle worker, but something seems a little off.

The book does cover a great deal of topics, but the amount of space devoted to each section is miniscule - 1.5 to 3 pages at most. The rest is spent on questions. This would normally be fine, but it seems that the book doesn't cover the material sufficiently for readers to answer the end-of-chapter questions. I have dealt and looked at other math guides, and they don't have this characteristic.

Is my approach to this book wrong? I'm concerned that, even after reviewing the answers, I will only be able to answer these particular questions and not different ones because I lack the necessary math skills and concepts.

If anyone can shed some light on this, I would be VERY grateful.
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How I upgraded my 700 to a 770 (Q50, V44) 12 Oct 2009, 17:13
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CONGRATULATIONS !!!
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How I upgraded my 700 to a 770 (Q50, V44) 28 Oct 2009, 13:28
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Congrats again.

And we appreciate the thorough review.
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How I upgraded my 700 to a 770 (Q50, V44) 29 Oct 2009, 11:28
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bmillan01
Hey Avernusaur, thanks for sharing your experience.

After reading this post, I decided to purchase Total GMAT Math. The book, however, is not exactly what I had expected. Of course, I did not think it would be a miracle worker, but something seems a little off.

The book does cover a great deal of topics, but the amount of space devoted to each section is miniscule - 1.5 to 3 pages at most. The rest is spent on questions. This would normally be fine, but it seems that the book doesn't cover the material sufficiently for readers to answer the end-of-chapter questions. I have dealt and looked at other math guides, and they don't have this characteristic.

Is my approach to this book wrong? I'm concerned that, even after reviewing the answers, I will only be able to answer these particular questions and not different ones because I lack the necessary math skills and concepts.

If anyone can shed some light on this, I would be VERY grateful.
Show more

Sorry for the delayed reply, I haven't been very active on the forum lately. I'll try to give you some advice, but I everyone's learning experience is different.

Although the book does cover every topic, I had a pretty decent foundation before I started (Q47-48). In my experience, everything in the Practice Questions was covered in the previous text. If you think you need a stronger foundation of the fundamentals, I'm a fan of the Kaplan GMAT Math Workbook - this is the book that I used for my first GMAT attempt. If you want to test your knowledge, start doing practice questions from a variety of resources.

What I liked most about the Total GMAT Math approach to learning is that it teaches you the GMAT question framework through repetition. After a while, you'll start noticing patterns that will allow you to pick your approach very quickly. At times it might feel like the questions are all the same with a different outfit on them, but that's the way the GMAT really is. Knewton actually uses the same strategy.

I hope my response wasn't too late! Let us know how you're doing.
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How I upgraded my 700 to a 770 (Q50, V44) 14 Nov 2009, 08:10
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Congrats!! :)
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How I upgraded my 700 to a 770 (Q50, V44) 14 Nov 2009, 17:28
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Wow.. Really inspiring post!
Congrats!
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How I upgraded my 700 to a 770 (Q50, V44) 14 Nov 2009, 20:58
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Congradulations!!! Awesome score and great debrief.
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How I upgraded my 700 to a 770 (Q50, V44) 01 Feb 2010, 15:12
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Avernusaur

The Recommendations
Quant
For quant, I used Jeff Sackmann’s Total GMAT Math, as well as his Extreme Challenge Questions Set. Total GMAT Math is by far the most thorough quant book available for the GMAT. It starts with the assumption that you know nothing about the GMAT and ends with the most difficult subjects, such as combinations, permutations, probability, and symbolism. Total GMAT Math contains every concept that you will need on the GMAT, but it won’t expose you to every combination of concepts. This is where the Extreme Challenge set comes in. The question set contains 100 questions that are all 720+ difficulty level. What I liked most about this question set is that it requires you to solve difficult questions by combining concepts. Consider the following question:

"How many ways can you select 4 people from 5 married couples if no two people from the same couple can be selected?"

You know that order doesn’t matter, but you can’t really solve this question with the combinations approach either. What’s the solution? You use the permutation approach and divide out the number of ways they can be ordered.

(10x8x6x4)/(4x3x2x1) = 80

Jeff Sackmann’s explanations are outstanding and all of these questions appear to be based on official questions.
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Can you guide me from where can I get these books... I dont see them in Amazon! :( Moreover they aren't listed in the forum site too!
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jeeteshsingh
Avernusaur

The Recommendations
Quant
For quant, I used Jeff Sackmann’s Total GMAT Math, as well as his Extreme Challenge Questions Set. Total GMAT Math is by far the most thorough quant book available for the GMAT. It starts with the assumption that you know nothing about the GMAT and ends with the most difficult subjects, such as combinations, permutations, probability, and symbolism. Total GMAT Math contains every concept that you will need on the GMAT, but it won’t expose you to every combination of concepts. This is where the Extreme Challenge set comes in. The question set contains 100 questions that are all 720+ difficulty level. What I liked most about this question set is that it requires you to solve difficult questions by combining concepts. Consider the following question:

"How many ways can you select 4 people from 5 married couples if no two people from the same couple can be selected?"

You know that order doesn’t matter, but you can’t really solve this question with the combinations approach either. What’s the solution? You use the permutation approach and divide out the number of ways they can be ordered.

(10x8x6x4)/(4x3x2x1) = 80

Jeff Sackmann’s explanations are outstanding and all of these questions appear to be based on official questions.

Can you guide me from where can I get these books... I dont see them in Amazon! :( Moreover they aren't listed in the forum site too!
Show more

https://www.totalgmatmath.com/

It's an e-book that's delivered in PDF format via email. Great content, but a bit of a pain to print out and organize in a binder.
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How I upgraded my 700 to a 770 (Q50, V44) 26 May 2010, 06:20
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congrats
and thanks for sharing your experience
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How I upgraded my 700 to a 770 (Q50, V44) 27 May 2010, 03:25
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Avernusaur,

How did you study Jeff's book? Did you read the whole book, or did you skip some chapters?

How long did it take you to finish the book?

Why did you prefer to use an ultimate set rather than GMAT Club tests? I know you wrote that GMAT Club tests had been demoralizing. However, wasn't they good for practice?

When solving problems from the Ultimate GMAT Math, did you time yourself, or not?

Thank you for answering my questions.
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How I upgraded my 700 to a 770 (Q50, V44) 29 May 2010, 22:49
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nonameee
Avernusaur,

How did you study Jeff's book? Did you read the whole book, or did you skip some chapters?

How long did it take you to finish the book?

Why did you prefer to use an ultimate set rather than GMAT Club tests? I know you wrote that GMAT Club tests had been demoralizing. However, wasn't they good for practice?

When solving problems from the Ultimate GMAT Math, did you time yourself, or not?

Thank you for answering my questions.
Show more

1/2) With Jeff's book, I skimmed over the subjects that I already knew and spent most of my time working on the areas that I thought needed more attention. I don't remember how fast I worked through the book, but it was mostly paced by time required to complete the practice questions.

3) I preferred the Extreme Challenge set over the GC tests, because I thought they were the best representation of genuinely difficult GMAT questions. The explanations for each of the Extreme Challenge set questions are also really good, so you're not left on your own trying to figure out how to properly solve each question.

4) I don't remember if I timed myself with Jeff's material, but I had already developed a natural rhythm for solving questions in 1-2 minutes, so I typically made a note if I felt like the question took longer than it should have.

When it comes to selecting study materials, sample everything and choose what you think will work best for you. I used a larger variety of materials than most people, but that was mostly out of curiosity (I didn't use each resource 100%). You should take the free GC math test and see if it works for you. If you don't like it, try something else :)
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How I upgraded my 700 to a 770 (Q50, V44) 29 May 2010, 23:47
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Avernusaur, thanks for answering my questions.
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How I upgraded my 700 to a 770 (Q50, V44) 19 Jun 2010, 20:45
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Really good info about Sackmann's study material!
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How I upgraded my 700 to a 770 (Q50, V44) 19 Jun 2010, 21:46
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Congrats on the awesome score and thanks for sharing your experience!
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