How to use the Manhattan GMAT and the OG?

Question

Hi,

Until last week I was using the Manhattan GMAT Strategy Guides 5th Ed. and after completing every Chapter I was doing all the Official Guide exercises listed on the Problem Solving Set and on the Data Sufficiency Set for that topic. My plan was to finish reading all the books and then solve the exercises from the Quantitative Review and the Verbal Review on a random order.

This week I bought the Manhattan GMAT 6th Ed. of the Strategy Guides and although the books give some guidance on how to use the OG, It's still not clear to me. My understanding from reading the books instructions is that I should not do the OG exercises after completing each Strategy Guide chapter. Instead I should do only the mid-quiz and final-quiz and solve all the other OG, Quantitative Review and Verbal Review problems after completing all the Strategy Guides? Is that correct?

So far I have completed two books.
Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Michael

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Michael,

It sounds like either approach would be fine. If you're looking for a specific answer from an employee of that company, then you might consider emailing the MGMAT website. Kyle or Dmitri might also be able to answer your questions about those resources, so you might try sending one of them a PM.

Since your approach is so "book heavy", I'm curious about how your studies have been going:

1) How have you been scoring on your practice CATs?
2) When are you planning to take the Official GMAT?
3) What is your score goal?

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

mvfridman · Answer

Hi Rich,

I have been studying for about 3 weeks and plan to go through all the content at least once before doing the CATs. I know that is not the standard study strategy, but I chose not to do any diagnostic test. While reading the material, I adjust my speed according to my knowledge of the subject. As soon as I read all the MGMAT Strategy Guide chapters and do all the OG exercises I will start doing the CATs and random exercises from other sources.

I am studying around 16 hours per week and planning to take the GMAT at the end of May. My score goal is 720+.

Any suggestions will be highly welcome.

Bye,
Michael

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Michael,

With a late May Test Day, you have about another 2 months to study, which is a good amount of time. To properly prepare to score at the 700+ level, you have to fix the "little things" as they occur (as opposed to trying to fix all of them near the end of your studies). As such, it would probably be a better idea for you to take CATs on a regular basis throughout the course of your studies than wait to take them all at the end. By taking a FULL-LENGTH CAT every 1-2 weeks, you'll be able to gauge your progress across the content that you know, the content that you don't know that well and the physical tasks of taking the CAT (endurance, energy levels, fatigue, pacing, etc.). There are plenty of aspects to scoring at a high level on Test Day that are NOT about GMAT content - you have to train for those aspects now and taking those CATs is a great way to measure your strengths and weaknesses in these areas.

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

DmitryFarberMPrep · Answer

Hi,

You should definitely  not  work straight through the books without doing some OG problems and taking some CAT exams. There are many effective ways to study, but they  all  involve working to test and apply what you know. The GMAT is a performance exam: it tests your ability to carry out problem-solving tasks, not (for the most part) your memory of facts and formulas.

With that in mind, definitely stop and do the review problems at the end of each chapter to check for understanding. In fact, check your answers on those as you complete each problem. If they aren't going well, stop and review before moving on. Then do some of the OG problems for each topic you've covered. Just a few at a time will do--you don't want to do them all at once. Rather, save some problems so that you can check in periodically to review and extend your understanding. Ideally, by the time you finished the last strategy guide, you would have done a few hundred problems from the OG. Then, after you're done with all the guides, you'll want to start doing mixed sets of random problems from the OG (the Quant and Verbal Reviews are good for this), but you can also continue to revisit each individual topic with small focused sets.

I'd also recommend that you complete at least 2-3 CATs during this initial study period. Again, the GMAT is a performance exam, and you don't want to wait too long before working on that aspect of your preparation.

I hope this helps to clarify. Feel free to follow up with any questions.

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