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mercury986 · 2008 June 7th, 09:50 PM

I just took the GMAT this morning, so it's fresh in my mind. Although my score isn't official yet, I know if I don't reply now, I'll probably never get around to it.

I used Princeton, Kaplan, 11th OG, OG supplements, and the Manhattan sentence correction guide.

I started with Princeton because their book is the most readable and amusing - a great way to get your study ball rolling. The review questions in their "bucket 4" are quite challenging and seem similar to what you'll see on the actual test. Their practice tests are easier than what you should expect. This guide also contains a template for writing your essays, which I found quite helpful. I didn't spend much time prepping for the essays because I have yet to hear of any grad school that considers them much. Using these templates should give you a fantastically inconsequential satisfactory essay score.

Kaplan has excellent quantitative problems. They are somewhat harder than the official questions, but you need to know all the concepts presented here. I had major issues with their verbal problems because the answers were vague, relying on loose associations with the given text. I would not recommend Kaplan verbal problems at all. The reading comprehension passages were so difficult to read that I gave up on them.

The Official Guide should be your bible. Do every problem in all the books and do them carefully! The questions in these, although not identical, exactly mirror the format and complexity of those in the actual exam. Unfortunately, the questions in the practice tests are pulled straight from these books, so after a while, doing more GMATPrep practice exams has diminishing value.

Manhattan GMAT's sentence correction guide is excellent. Armed with its rules, you should be able to figure out all of the SC problems. It's about eight hours worth of reading, but it's well worth it.

On to my test results:
Princeton CAT1 online 640 (46Q, 33V) 2/18/08
Princeton CAT2 online 740 (50Q, 43V) 2/24/08
MGMAT1 online 610 (44, 31) 2/29/08
Kaplan CAT1 560 (36, 31) 3/8/08
Kaplan CAT2 580 (38, 32) 3/15/08
Kaplan CAT3 600 (50,29) 5/19/08
GMAT Prep 710 (48, 39) 5/26/08
Kaplan CAT4 660 (50, 36) 5/31/08
GMAT Prep 700 (49, 36) 6/3/08
Power Prep V3 730 (49, 41) 6/6/08
REAL GMAT 770 (49, 46) 6/7/08

Needless to say, I was BLOWN AWAY by my verbal score. I was sitting there in awe in front of my computer for so long that the proctor had to come over to put my jaw back on my head. At this point, I'm basically expecting the GMAC to send me a letter saying that there was a computer error.

Hopefully this gives all you future test takers some hope.

Thank you, TestMagic forums. You've made my five month prep for the GMAT very worthwhile.

2008 June 7th, 09:50 PM	#360 (permalink)
mercury986 I JUST got here. Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 1	I just took the GMAT this morning, so it's fresh in my mind. Although my score isn't official yet, I know if I don't reply now, I'll probably never get around to it. I used Princeton, Kaplan, 11th OG, OG supplements, and the Manhattan sentence correction guide. I started with Princeton because their book is the most readable and amusing - a great way to get your study ball rolling. The review questions in their "bucket 4" are quite challenging and seem similar to what you'll see on the actual test. Their practice tests are easier than what you should expect. This guide also contains a template for writing your essays, which I found quite helpful. I didn't spend much time prepping for the essays because I have yet to hear of any grad school that considers them much. Using these templates should give you a fantastically inconsequential satisfactory essay score. Kaplan has excellent quantitative problems. They are somewhat harder than the official questions, but you need to know all the concepts presented here. I had major issues with their verbal problems because the answers were vague, relying on loose associations with the given text. I would not recommend Kaplan verbal problems at all. The reading comprehension passages were so difficult to read that I gave up on them. The Official Guide should be your bible. Do every problem in all the books and do them carefully! The questions in these, although not identical, exactly mirror the format and complexity of those in the actual exam. Unfortunately, the questions in the practice tests are pulled straight from these books, so after a while, doing more GMATPrep practice exams has diminishing value. Manhattan GMAT's sentence correction guide is excellent. Armed with its rules, you should be able to figure out all of the SC problems. It's about eight hours worth of reading, but it's well worth it. On to my test results: Princeton CAT1 online 640 (46Q, 33V) 2/18/08 Princeton CAT2 online 740 (50Q, 43V) 2/24/08 MGMAT1 online 610 (44, 31) 2/29/08 Kaplan CAT1 560 (36, 31) 3/8/08 Kaplan CAT2 580 (38, 32) 3/15/08 Kaplan CAT3 600 (50,29) 5/19/08 GMAT Prep 710 (48, 39) 5/26/08 Kaplan CAT4 660 (50, 36) 5/31/08 GMAT Prep 700 (49, 36) 6/3/08 Power Prep V3 730 (49, 41) 6/6/08 REAL GMAT 770 (49, 46) 6/7/08 Needless to say, I was BLOWN AWAY by my verbal score. I was sitting there in awe in front of my computer for so long that the proctor had to come over to put my jaw back on my head. At this point, I'm basically expecting the GMAC to send me a letter saying that there was a computer error. Hopefully this gives all you future test takers some hope. Thank you, TestMagic forums. You've made my five month prep for the GMAT very worthwhile. Last edited by mercury986 : 2008 June 9th at 07:50 AM.