Which Official Guide to follow ?

Question

I have just started my preparation for the GMAT. Is it necessary to follow the updated OG for the GMAT? I am following Beat the Gmat 60 day plan which has 2018 OG(Latest). Will there be any consequences?

DisciplinedPrep · Answer

NeerajRajpal  - Please check our in-house  GMAT study plan . Typically, you must follow the latest version of the official guide because every year GMAC removes some old questions and adds new ones.

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi Neeraj,

You don't have to follow the latest version of OG. The latest version of OG has a few more additional questions than the previous versions. Having said that, as you have just begun your GMAT Prep, I'm afraid OG is not the best resource to start with. It is a great resource to practice questions but before you dive into practicing, you have to learn the concepts and the right methodologies to solve questions.

I suggest you to go through the below articles to understand the right way to prepare for GMAT.

How to effectively plan your studies for GMAT

3 Key skills you need to ace GMAT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65n8_LIbPIM

When to use OG?

There are certain things you need to do in order to make your GMAT Prep effective. They are:

Learn the concepts of a topic (Deal with one topic at a time) 
 Learn the right methodology to solve the question types of those topics 
 Practice questions of that topic to solidify your learning (You can use OG at this stage) 
 Move to the next topic only if you get a decent accuracy in the quiz. If not, revisit the concepts and the methodology 
 Repeat the process for all the topics 
 Start taking timed quizzes once you are done with all the topics

I hope you got a decent idea of how to proceed with your GMAT Prep. Make sure you choose the right resource for your GMAT Prep. The resource has to help you learn the concepts and methodology and provide you standard questions with detailed solutions so that you can analyze the solution once you solve the question. You can checkout the free trial of GMATWhiz online course to know more. If you wish to have a detailed discussion regarding the study strategy, you can get in touch with me using the below link.

Click here to schedule a call

Russ19 · Answer

OG-18 is a great source to practice, and I agree with DisciplinedPrep that you are going to have new questions in the latest version. Explore the link below:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmac-officia ... ml?fl=menu

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi NeerajRajpal,

Since the overall 'content' of the GMAT has not changed much over the last several years, you would be fine using a slightly older version of the OG (such as the GMAT2018). That having been said, 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. To that end, you might want to consider working on the OG a little later on in your studies.

Before I can offer you any additional advice for your studies, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How long have you studied so far? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) Have you taken any practice CATs/mocks yet? If you have, then on what dates (or approximate dates) did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

Goals:
3) What is your overall goal score?
4) 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

NeerajRajpal · Answer

EMPOWERgmatRichC 
hi,
Thanks for your answer.

As of now, I am studying only 10-12 hours per week. I have started with Quants.
I am following Beat The Gmat's 60 days plan for the Gmat. in which the first 20 days is all about quant then verbal then practice.
Before starting my prep. I gave the official mock test in which I scored only 320 considering I left all the geometry questions & critical reasoning questions. I scored well in arithmetic, number properties & sentence correction

My overall goal is to land somewhere around 680-720 & I have decided to give GMAT in the month of April. considering 2-3 months is enough for practice. My target year is 2022.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi NeerajRajpal,

Many GMATers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before they hit their 'peak' scores, so an April Test Date might be too soon for the type of Score Goal that you are interested. While you will likely score notably higher once you learn all of the necessary content that is tested during the Exam (including the areas that you essentially 'skipped past' when you took your 1st CAT), you will have to hone a variety of different skills before you will be able to consistently score 680-720 on your CATs/mocks - and that training will take time.

I suggest that you study however you like for the next 2-3 weeks, then take a NEW, FULL-LENGTH CAT - and make sure to take it in a realistic fashion that matches-up with what you will face when you take the Official GMAT (take the FULL CAT - with the Essay and IR sections, at the same time of day as when you'll take the Official GMAT, if you will be at a Test Facility, then wear a face mask, etc.). Once you have that Score, you should post back here (or you can feel free to PM me directly) and we can discuss the results and how you might best proceed with your studies.

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

vamshikaithi · Answer

Hi Neeraj, The version of OG doesn't matter. You can use any version. But if you are thinking of starting your prep using OG, then that's not the best way to start. From my personal experience, I can say that OG comes at a later stage of the preparation. Before you use OG, make sure to learn the concepts and the methods. I made a detailed debrief of my GMAT journey. You can go through it to understand the right way to prepare. Debrief of my journey from 570 to 680 to 720: https://gmatclub.com/forum/my-journey-f ... l#p2648110 Hope it helped!!

gmatgames · Answer

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