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Messed Up

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frmail
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Messed Up [#permalink] New post   09 Apr 2011, 09:21
I'm new here and I've landed to this forum hoping to find answers to a few of my questions at this time. I have been preparing for GMAT for over a week now and I must say that I'm not happy with my performance so far.

First I started with GMAT Review Official Guide, 11th Edition and took a diagnostic test. I found the quantitative section quite easy and the verbal section was ok.

Then went on to another book: Nova's GMAT Math Bible. Most questions I encountered here were too difficult and it got me disappointed to some extent.

I moved on to Arco Master The GMAT to work on the verbal section. Again, the questions were too difficult compared to what I have found on the official guide. It was too depressing.

I feel like if that's how I'm going to perform, what the point of taking the test. I'm looking for a score of as-much-as-I-can-score but I'm definitely not looking for a 550. I have a maximum of 1.5 months to prepare and take the test. I'm studying like hell now, 8-10 hours day and I'm planning to keep on doing this month.

My question is: Are actual tests that difficult to what I've found or is it similar to the official guide?

Also, if you have any suggestion, please let me know.
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tarkaston
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Re: Messed Up [#permalink] New post   09 Apr 2011, 09:52
The OG is actually quite resembled the questions that going to be tested at the GMAT, while I don't really familiar with the other sources you use.
If you really curious about the level of difficulties of the real test you can try to use the GMAT Prep as the starting point to know your weaknesses and strength.

Please see this study plan thread plan for details
gmat-study-plan-for-gmat-novices-start-your-gmat-journey-80727.html
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whiplash2411
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Re: Messed Up [#permalink] New post   10 Apr 2011, 16:58
Depends on the level you're at. Personally for me, I did like two questions from the OG for Quant. It was absolutely useless for me. The questions I got on my actual GMAT were far harder. In the end I got a 50/51, which might explain why they were grilling me with three dimensional geometry and spheres. But if you're looking at a 500-700 level, I think the OG questions are fairly accurate to a ball park estimate. You'll still need to go over a bit if you want to be sure of scoring 700+
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Re: Messed Up [#permalink] New post   10 Apr 2011, 21:05
tarkaston wrote:
The OG is actually quite resembled the questions that going to be tested at the GMAT, while I don't really familiar with the other sources you use.
If you really curious about the level of difficulties of the real test you can try to use the GMAT Prep as the starting point to know your weaknesses and strength.

Please see this study plan thread plan for details
gmat-study-plan-for-gmat-novices-start-your-gmat-journey-80727.html



I second this suggestion. Also, try to get more up to date material, such as OG12.

I also recommend looking into more "name brand" guides... I havent heard much about the two you listed above, but plenty of people have found success with MGMAT, Princeton, Kaplan, to name a few. Might be able to snag these for free at a local library too.

GMAT club also has fantastic questions aimed at high level (700+) quant grilling. Those will be critical to secure a top score!

good luck!
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thetiming
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Re: Messed Up [#permalink] New post   11 Apr 2011, 06:52
I was just going to share the link tarkaston pointed you to.
Approach things more systematically - the simplest advice in this direction could be: Get the Manhattan GMAT guides and solve the OG problems just as and when the guides tell you to.
Afterwords - you should practice hard questions, but be careful not to feel beaten/worthless/desperate.
good luck!
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desiaggie1980
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Re: Messed Up [#permalink] New post   11 Apr 2011, 09:16
OGs and MGMATs are a must, kaplan for a out of the box ques and rigorous CATS-mgmats, gmat-preps and any gmat club material, this is the minimum basic stuff u should be thorough with, any thing over this is based on you area-specific weakness.

Posted from my mobile device
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frmail
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Re: Messed Up [#permalink] New post   11 Apr 2011, 14:19
Thanks a lot guys for replying. I do have Manhattan, OG12, and Kaplan with me right now. I thought I should practice some of the unknown ones and leave the popular and better ones for the future since I don't have unlimited resources and I don't like solving same questions twice. I guess right now, I need to draw a timeline for preparation and based on that, pick a date for the exam.
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Re: Messed Up [#permalink] New post   11 Apr 2011, 18:52
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frmail wrote:
Thanks a lot guys for replying. I do have Manhattan, OG12, and Kaplan with me right now. I thought I should practice some of the unknown ones and leave the popular and better ones for the future since I don't have unlimited resources and I don't like solving same questions twice. I guess right now, I need to draw a timeline for preparation and based on that, pick a date for the exam.


First thing you need to do is take a GMAT Prep Test 1 from mba.com as seriously as you can. Mind you, it is the closest thing to the actual GMAT, though perhaps a little easier (just a little bit). See what you score on that and you should score a +-50 points of that in the actual exam right now. Take a cue from the test and focus on your weak areas while practicing the rest. 2 weeks before the exam, take GMAT Prep Test 2 and that will give you an even better idea. The actual GMAT questions will be similar to what these two tests throw at you - Basic concepts, tricky applications.
What is important is not how many books you study from, but how well you understand whatever you study.
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naushad
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Re: Messed Up [#permalink] New post   14 Apr 2011, 12:17
I agree, its not the # of books, but how well you know the material
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Re: Messed Up [#permalink]
14 Apr 2011, 12:17

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