Which material or prep recommendation is right?

Question

My name is Srinivas and I'm new to GMAT prep and this GMAtT club forum. I'm from a pretty lower middle class background (I'm 27 and I just bought my first proper smart phone, lol). I joined the GMAT club as per my friend's suggestion but this place is an ocean with so many recommendations, references, choices and links and all prep materials seem expensive (Hundreds of Dollars)

My basic questions are -

1. How do I know which one of them to follow/which one is right for me? 
(magoosh, Veritas, official gmac (within gmac there are bundles..),Manhattan.... The list goes on.

2. One of the popular responses talked about studying and being thorough with the GMAT syllabus. Where can I find the syllabus and study/be familiar with the topics?

I look forward to your response.

Thank you.

Posted from my mobile device

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Srinivas,

Since it sounds like you're just beginning your studies, then it would be a good idea to take a FULL-LENGTH practice CAT Test; you can take 2 for free at www.mba.com (and they come with some additional practice materials). If you want to do a little studying first, so that you can familiarize yourself with the basic content and question types, then that's okay - but you shouldn't wait too long to take that initial CAT. That score will give us a good sense of your natural strengths and weaknesses and will help provide a basis for comparison as you continue to study. 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.

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?

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

Achuuuuuuu · Answer

Hi Rich,
My goal score is around 740.

I am planning to give it by October end/November 1st week.

I'm trying for the 2019 intake. I hope to get into ISB or business schools in India/Asia.

Thank you.

Posted from my mobile device

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Srinivas,

With about 4 months of potential study time, you could improve a great deal. At this point though, we really need to know your current skills and 'starting score', so I suggest that you plan to take a practice CAT Exam this weekend. Until then, you should work through some random practice questions of each type (which you can find in the forums). Do not focus on anything too difficult; we just want to make sure that you at least have a basic understanding of the question types and how to work through them (especially Data Sufficiency, which you probably have not seen before). Once you have your initial CAT Score, you should report back and we can discuss the results and how best to proceed.

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

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Best Material

For Concept Learning

Manhattan Quant Guides
Manhattan Verbal Guides
For CR: The Powerscore GMAT Critical Reasoning Bible
For RC: Aristotle RC Grail

For Practice

The Official Guide for GMAT 2015-18
The Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review 2015-18
The Official Guide for GMAT Verbal Review 2015-18

Top CATs for Practice

1. Official GMAC CATs
2. Manhattan CATs
3. Kaplan CATs
4. GMAT Club Quant CATs
 
Good Luck

Achuuuuuuu · Answer

Hi.

Sure. I'm planning to give the practice CAT exam tomorrow. Is there a forum/means to try and understand the sections and what to expect in the GMAT CAT exam?

Posted from my mobile device

rohan2345 · Answer

Hi Srinivas, You should dedicate around 3 months to achieve your target score. I would encourage you take one of the two GMAT PREP practice test. You can know your weaknesses and work on them. If you are willing to study dedicatedly for that period, you are sure to achieve your goal. I believe you may benefit from taking a GMATPREP course. In order to make an informed decision I would highly encourage you to go to their websites and try on their free trial and decide for yourself which one do you like better. You try out free access to EmpowerGMAT, Magoosh and Optimus Prep as they have great reviews on GMATCLUB. However, if you are on a budget, you can try out Experts global course. I think it is a very good course for both Quant and Verbal and you will find your moneys worth. You can try out the course for free by requesting access code on this link https://gmatclub.com/forum/free-access- ... s#p2090036. Further taking multiple mocks might help. Apart from the GMATPREP, Manhattan GMAT tests and Veritas Prep Tests in my experience have a good verbal and Quant section and will certainly help you point out and improve your weak areas. Further another advantage of taking many mocks is to build up your stamina. Apart from the GMATPREP tests, taking practise tests of any major GMATPREP company ought to do that. I would also encourage you to purchase the GMATPREP QP 1 for some great additional practice. Lastly, you can check out a very interesting article by Mike McGarry from Magoosh detailing a 3 month study plan https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/3-month-g ... -students/. You will find it very helpful as it gives out a study plan as per your needs. Hope this helps. All the best.

GMATPill · Answer

Each course takes a slightly different approach - and what works for one person may not work for you. So explore around to see which approaches resonate with you.

We take a "thought process" approach - with expert demonstration videos that show the thinking process that goes on in an expert's head as they think through a test question.

Here is a Google Sheet with links to OG SC video explanations:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

As an example, you can try to watch through a few walkthroughs here:
https://www.gmatpill.com/sentencecorrection/og/q007.mp4
https://www.gmatpill.com/sentencecorrection/og/d35.mp4

This is a great resource from which to practice and also hear an expert's perspective thinking through test questions.

We encourage you to explore some of the success stores of GMAT Pill-ers at:

https://www.gmatpill.com/testimonials

---and get additional GMAT Practice at our online question bank, which has 1,000+ practice questions available free. A paid account is required to view all of our excellent video explanations.

Focus, focus, focus,
https://www.gmatpill.com

egmat · Answer

Hi  Srinivas ,

Congratulations on getting your first smartphone. I hope you are enjoying the experience! I see you are confused amongst all the available options and are finding it difficult to make a choice. While reviewing the courses you must look at the following factors:
 1.  Will the course work for you?  
Look at the  free trial  of various courses out there and evaluate their teaching methodologies. Choose the one which suits your needs.
2.  Is the course proven to deliver success to students like you?  
Look at the  reviews of courses  out there and see what others have to say and then decide.

EXPERIENCE THE e-GMAT  FREE TRIAL  
I’m sharing some direct links of free trial material with you which can help you evaluate our course better. More of them (25 video lessons and 380+ practice questions) are available on your free trial dashboard.
 
 Check out our Video concept files 
• Learn to identify "Verb-ed" forms that don’t act as verbs -  Play Video Lesson 
• Learn to understand the "Main Point" or purpose of a RC Paragraph -  Play Video Lesson

Attend Free RC Webinar this weekend 
We are conducting a free RC webinar this weekend.  Register  now to reserve your spot and learn the methods to get ahead in your RC prep.

Regards,
Aditee

Which material or prep recommendation is right?

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