Chapter 9 of MGMAT SC...im conflicted!

Question

im currently going through the MGMAT SC book and taking my time to give it a decent read. I have reached the idioms chapter and i find nearly 200 examples listed there. Given the new rule on idioms being phased out in the exam, i wanted to understand if i should spend a lot of time memorizing the lists in this chapter.

can anyone pls advise :?:

piyatiwari · Answer

I would say don't spend time 'mugging' up the entire list. But gift it at least couple of reads. Idioms are very important.

If you are native speaker or voracious reader, you will already be familiar with 80% of them.

Swoosh617 · Answer

I agree, I wouldn't spend all this time memorizing the list. Read through it, highlight the ones that don't make sense to you or that you know you have been using incorrectly. If you just brush up on those select few, i think that would be enough

bgpower · Answer

Hi tsheshraj, it was just today that I reached Chapter 9

And thought the same. You have another 40 pages of idioms, some of which are well-known, others - quite specific. I decided to read them once now, complete the Problem Set as well as the OG12 questions. I won't create any flashcards or things like that, just read. Another thing is that in order to memorize only the correct things and rely on my "ear" I'm reading only the correct and the suspect examples, not the wrong ones. This also safes some time. Of course, if I see that section wrong includes interesting examples, I may read them as well. That's how I will tackle it! The same goes to all idioms from MGMAT Verbal Foundations

Regards,

ts2014 · Answer

thanks Piya. best of luck for your exam.

do let us know how it went. hope u cross the 700 mark!

ts2014 · Answer

thanks bgpower. that sounds like a pretty sensible approach. i see that you are referring to the MGMAT verbal foundations as well. is it good (im a non native speaker and verbal is the weaker one)? :-D

is it worth buying?

ts2014 · Answer

hi swoosh and bgpower,

thanks for the replies. when are u planning to give the GMAT btw?

bgpower · Answer

Hi tsheshraj,

I plan to give GMAT in the end of May if I complete everything by then. Otherwise I will postpone it to June, although with the new format, because I don't think Integrated Reasoning makes that much of a difference.

Regarding MGMAT Verbal Foundations - I bought it, because I'm also a non-native speaker and wanted to have more prer in Verbal. I think it's worth it, as it focuses on the various parts of speach, how they relate etc. It's not short - about 320 pages, but again a substantial part are idioms. I would recommend it for sure, if you have time. You can see a more detailed review of mine in my topic "740+ Study strategy".

Will be happy to answer other questions as well!

Regards,

ts2014 · Answer

hi bgpower,

your earlier post "740+study strategy" was very useful. I believe im currently where you were at the start of the year as i plan to give the exam in august.

given your prep plan, and that mine has just started i have some very similar questions that you could probably shed light on. i am working, and i can spare 1-2 hrs on a weekday and 8-10 hrs on weekends:

1. How were your initial diagnostic scores and how are they faring now? how much of a marked improvement do u find in each section?
(my initial 3 tests had the 660-570, q-44-48 and v-29-34)
GMAT prep- 660, 650
Princeton - 570
2. My weak subjects are SC and CR. I have MGMAT (8 guides) and Powerscore CR with me for the topics and would like to go thru e-GMAT SC when i have the time in the coming few months. Would you suggest adding MGMAT verbal foundations and Aristotle SC (heard pretty good reviews) to these? As expected, does this sound like an overdose for 4 months?
3. What material is available for good quant practice? given my initial scores (44-48), i feel that my basics arent too bad and i would need to focus on more coneptual questions to hit 51. the MGMAT guides seem basic though im giving every one of them a thorough read. im planning to take MGMAT advanced quant. heard good things about jeff sackman's set but seems very expensive.
4. Do error logs help? i find that to be too tedious and it feels like im spending a lot of time entering stuff that i could substitute by simpler menthods (circling qns to be reviewed, etc).

detailed post but really need some help to finetune my GMAT strategy! :-D

bgpower · Answer

Hi buddy,

I didn't take any diagnostic exam right at the beginning. When I had completed both Foundation books I received a 610 (q40, v34), which was 3 weeks ago. Then I started with SC, which turned out to be my weakest area. I hope, after completing all 8 strategy guides to have boosted my score at least by a 100 points. But lets see. It's a long way.

While you have plenty of time until August, I would still suggest you complete all Strategy Guides and the Powerscore CR bible and see then if to buy Aristotle SC (MGMAT SC should be enough). Regarding the Verbal Foundations - if you can do it - order it. I'm sure you'll find some helpful explanations there as SC and CR are your weak areas. But if you generally feel OK with MGMAT SC - don't. Then it may be too easy for you.

For good quant practice use - MGMAT Quant Guides and when you have finished them - GMATClub tests

Another option - Jeff Sackmanns TOTAL GMAT MATH

The error log helps a lot. I've still not developed mine to 100%, but I see that if you keep one, it's much easier to check in which sections you have the most problems, if they are due to timing, concentration or lack of knowledge! Keep one! It's a must!

Hope this helped you at least a bit! Shar other questions as well!

Regards,

Another option - Jeff Sackmanns TOTAL GMAT MATH

The error log helps a lot. I've still not developed mine to 100%, but I see that if you keep one, it's much easier to check in which sections you have the most problems, if they are due to timing, concentration or lack of knowledge! Keep one! It's a must! Hope this helped you at least a bit! Shar other questions as well! Regards,

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Chapter 9 of MGMAT SC...im conflicted!

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