Where do I find OG answers explanations?

Question

Hi Guys! Hope you all had a good weekend! I am new to this painful journey

I understood that this forum might have better answer explanations for OG questions (in terms of quality) than the course I already signed up for. Do you mind guiding me on how and where I can find these answers explanations? for both quant and verbal sections. Thanks!

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Nouralabbassi.

The quant explanations in the OG often don't resemble the approaches anyone would actually use to answer the questions, and the verbal explanations in the OG are limited and sometimes not even correct. On GMAT Club, on the other hand, you can often find useful quant explanations and detailed, correct verbal explanations to official questions.

To find the explanation for a particular question you can use the GMAT Club search or an internet search with a few words from the question as your search term.

Once you've found the question, there will generally be multiple explanations by various people.

You have to use a little judgment regarding these explanations. Some will be much better than OG explanations, but others will be things people made up that aren't really correct, particularly in verbal. In fact, even some explanations by experts will be incorrect. So, be careful about what you believe, and cross check explanations with others to see whether people agree.

Also, if after reading the explanations for a question, you still aren't sure about some aspect of the question, you can post a response marked as an Expert Reply Request, and generally, an expert will respond with an answer to your question.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Nour,

Since you originally posted back in mid-August, have you been doing any studying since then - or did you push back the start of your studies until now?

If you're just beginning, then it would be a good idea to take a FULL-LENGTH practice CAT Test; you can access 2 for free from www.mba.com (and they come with some additional practice materials). If you want to do a bit of practice first, so that you can familiarize yourself with the general content and question types first, then that's fine - but you shouldn't wait too long to take that initial CAT. A FULL CAT takes about 3.5 hours to complete, so make sure that you've set aside enough time to take it in one sitting. Once you have those scores, you should report back here and we can come up with a study plan.

To find explanations to specific OG questions, there are a couple of different methods you can use. You might find it easiest to simply 'Google' a prompt (re: type in the first 6-8 words of the question and the Google search results will likely offer you a direct link to that prompt). While the OG books are great sources for practice questions, they're not designed to teach you Tactics, patterns or the little 'secrets' behind the GMAT - for those, you'll need Course-oriented materials. As such, you might want to work on the OG a little later on in your studies.

I'd like to know a bit more about your timeline and goals:
1) What is your goal score?
2) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
3) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

Contact Rich at: [email protected]

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

A quick way you can find the specific post for the question you are searching for is to  enter the starting few words of the question into google and add the keyword "gmatclub" . The first link that appears should take you to the relevant post.

All the best with your prep. Some quick Quant and Verbal tip videos on the gmatknight website. The downloadable idiom list over there may be worth checking out for Sentence Correction.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Nouralabbassi,

Have you tried googling the problem stems of the questions that you wanted to find solutions too? Generally you will find posts here on GMAT Club, with many expert replies.

Nour112 · Answer

thanks all!
I have problems explanations by MP course but sometimes especially verbal .. explanations sound to be quite biased! So I will follow looking it up by typing the first few words as you all advised, and also making sure I ask for an expert reply when totally lost!

EMPOWERgmatRichC  no I didn't dare to put the studying on hold. started end of aug, completed a course and now I am in the phase of finishing the very last and practicing more. my 2nd mock test shows no improvement though from the first :S struggling a lot with time ..

Let's see where I will end up!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Nour, I've sent you a PM with some notes and additional questions. GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made, Rich Contact Rich at: Rich.C@empowergmat.com

Braintree · Answer

This is a great question - since I think that having access to quality solutions is at least as important as quality questions themselves. Ironically, OG solutions are not that great as mentioned by the experts above. Apart from all the wonderful expert solutions here on GC, I found two other sources, one free and one paid, particularly wonderful.

1. Free -  dabral  video explanations to each and every Official Guide questions (site's name is gmatquantum); I just wish he would provide links to his videos on GC too, so that I wouldn't have to keep so many tabs open on my browser.
2. Paid - Manhattan's Navigator, which has solutions only to the Official Guides (not the VR and QR supplements though. If you buy their 'All the GMAT book set", they provide access to this for free, along with a bunch of other online stuff, including their mock tests. Else I think you have to pay around $50 dollars.

WaiLinn1988 · Answer

Complete the following series. 20,35,60,105,190, ?.

Where do I find OG answers explanations?

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