Here is a short followup on my yesterday’s GMAT post.
In my preparation for GMAT I did not use any in-class or online prep courses. The reason is quite obvious – I was not applying to top 10-20 full-time MBA programs, which have a very high break-in GMAT score. Part-time MBA programs available in Washington, DC area, even though they are offered by very reputable Business Schools, have significantly lower entry point as far as GMAT is concerned.
After utilizing a few books and doing a few simulation tests I knew what my weakness was, namely the quantitative part of the test. But that I have known from my high school years anyways. I also realized that even though I was not an A student in math at school, the material we were studying at school in my country of origin was at significantly higher level than what most of the high schoolers in America study. Based on the preparation materials I figured that we covered at high school what was equivalent of trigonometry, college algebra and pre-calculus in today’s USA.
I also learned that my biggest problem in taking the test was the time. While doing exercises in the beginning I was not timing myself, and I was able to crank about 55-70% of questions in quants and around 60-75% in verbal part. Once I started timed exercises, my quants slipped to just around 50- 55%, verbal was retreating just a little bit. Of course, as I was preparing and practising more, my solved questions percentage climbed slowly up.
At any rate, I knew that self-study would be sufficient for me to get the necessary GMAT score for the MBA programs I had on my list. Therefore I did not want, nor did I really need to spend money, and comparatively big money for that sake, for any in-class or online prep cources for my GMAT preparation.
Most of the materials I used for GMAT preparation I either got online or borrowed from a local library. There were just four books that I actually bought, because they were not available at the library. All the books I used in my GMAT preparation (in bold are the ones I found most helpful):
- Official Guide for GMAT Review, 10th and 11th editions
- GMAT for Dummies
- Cracking the GMAT, Princeton Review
- Verbal Workout for the GMAT, Princeton Review
- Math Workout for the GMAT, Princeton Review
- Kaplan GMAT
- GMAT 800, Kaplan
- GMAT Premier Program, Kaplan
- Peterson’s master the GMAT 2008 -probably the least realistic problems compared to real GMAT, in my opinion
- Manhattan GMAT: Equations, Inequalities, & VICs -very good.
The last book I bought after my first fail on GMAT. I had read good reviews about Manhattan GMAT series, but I did not need the whole set. I just got the one on the topic I felt I needed more help with. I think that book really helped me with this particular topic and if I had to buy another book from the series, I would, based on my experience with this one.
