January 24, 2007

How to Approach the GMAT

The first thing any MBA aspirant should do is visit official MBA/GMAT site

spend some 2-3 hours there. (or even 2-3 days!)

read as much as you can. The information published there is genuine, authentic, eye-opener & myth breaker.

So you should do that first.

Then you should download a sim C A T GMAT test available there: name is GMAT Prep; it’s of ~25MB size.

The site mba.com will help you understand: whats GMAT in general terms, its significance, its structure and the way company conducts the test worldwide.

(I will not go into GMAT structure deeper since I am going to present only resources in this article)

Then you'll need some books to prepare for GMAT.

GMAC, the company that sets GMAT test, came up with three books recently, known as official guides.

They are: (Follow the link to read reviews about these books)

  1. The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 11th Edition
  2. The Official Guide for GMAT Verbal Review
  3. The Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review

they are nicknamed as orange, purple and green guides respectively.

Official guide 11th edition is THE book you should start with and end your preparation.

You should trust these guides along with GMATPrep software (~25 MB)

Although these guides and a simulation software for CAT are fantastic for the practice problems, they don't provide (/come up with) extra strategies...

In short: when it comes to problems solving in practice sessions, nothing beats above mentioned materials. But for strategies (read shortcuts ) you need to look for some extra materials.

Other books i would recommend:

(I'll write an article exclusively for recommended books some time soon.) These books offer good strategies to attack GMAT, they’ll show you how to approach each section and each problem individually.

But then for taking the test in one go you need to have a patience, faith and stamina. & for that you need to take as many GMAT sim CATs as possible.

[Note: Do not rush and sign up for just any sim CATs available on would wide web.]

Following are the GMAT prep companies you should trust: Reason : they have done enough research to come near to the real GMAT test... (still they are not as near as GMAT Prep or POWER Prep)

[Note that I am not talking about GMAT coaching institutes but the online resources for practice tests ]

  • mba.com (nearest possible)
  • manhattangmat.com (?near? quant tough)
  • 800score.com (easier)
  • kaptest.com (tough)
  • pricetonreview.com (neutral)

They offer good Sim GMAT tests.

Note that I have not mentioned about other books or other sites for practice tests which simplymeans they are NOT worth your time & money. Caution: This has exception of Veritas Prep. I haven't had chance to review their products.

Now lets have some non-brand materials,

Materials those are freely available on cyberspace and have no copyright issues.

BeattheGMAT’s flashcard (best flashcards you could get )

Grammar Notes:

Sahil’s Grammar Notes

Spidey's Sentence Correction Notes

Rajat-nda’s Sentence Correction Notes

You will get above documents anywhere, or for all lazy bumps click here

The reason why I am so selective in mentioning about the resources is, people just take any darn test or soft copies of books available on internet just to end up in pracitsing non-GMAT questions.

Therefore I am with trusted and reputable sources.

DONT WASTE YOUR TIME IN STUDYING AND PRACTISING WRONG SETS OF PROBLEMS.

...still if you want more practice problems then I would advise you to download thousand series by scoretop

  • 1000 SC
  • 1000 CR
  • 3000 RC

These documents are available freely everywhere on internet. Note that documents do not have explanations to the problems. You will have to join some GMAT realated online forums to discuss those problems. I am not pro-1000 series doc as such but I feel these documents are one of a kind. You'll never get great no. of questions compilied in a single document.

[OK! after some time getting into GMAT prep environment), you should start realising the easy methods to solve the problems, you should discover some shortcuts; You should collect the strategies that are discussed in prep books and use them according to your needs.] If you see these signs you know that you're going in the right direction.

Post GMAT course for getting admission into MBA programs

While prepping for GMAT you should also be aware of the b-schools you want to apply. You must have a long term plan & You should do some research on the b-schools that suits your long term goal.

For such informations you have b-schools' own web-sites which give all information about MBA programs you desire

/along with plenty of other good sites:

Dave’s MBA Journey

Hjort’s b-school corner from GMAT Club Forums :

Then, you should also aware of admission process:

Accepted.com

ClearAdmit

Stacy Blackman Co. blog

Keep tab on all these site & be informed.

That's it! Thanks for reading till the last line. Do post a feedback, hope this helps.

13 comments:

Balaji.P.B said...

Hi,
Interesting blog. I have included a link to your blog in mine. I hope it is okay with you. Thanks for sharing the info.

Anonymous said...

NO problem at all. i am flattered

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing all the info!

Harsha

Anonymous said...

Harsha why dont you use shout box...

it was specially designed for people like you :gm: :gm: :D

Ajay said...

Hi Aim,
Thanks :-)
Can you please tell me what's the difference between Kaplan premier and
Kaplan Compressive.I mean how these two books differ from each other in their content

Anonymous said...

Dear Ajay,
sorry for replying late.

"comprehensive book" is my comment on the "Kaplan premier program book".

Both are not different books. There's just ONE book!

Thanks

Anonymous said...

Editor's note: From the sources of 800score.com, Their tests are actually harder than the real GMAT test. (this is 800score.com officials opinion by the way)

Source: MBA Podcaster Interview

Anonymous said...

Great blog.Can you also review Princeton Verbal review. I am planning to get this book.
http://www.freegmattest.net/

Anonymous said...

Are you the owner of fregmattest.net?

I cannot commit anything as I am not preparing for the GMAT these days but I'll definitely check the site out.

All the best!

Anonymous said...

YEAH I AGREE WITH YOU GMAT!!

Sandy Tammana said...

hey dude,
nicely listed all the material that can possibly be covered.
thanks a bunch

unspun said...

I found the following RSS feed of
GMAT practice questions quite helpful.

Anonymous said...

Very nice list of resources. I didn't know about some. Thanks

January 24, 2007

How to Approach the GMAT

The first thing any MBA aspirant should do is visit official MBA/GMAT site

spend some 2-3 hours there. (or even 2-3 days!)

read as much as you can. The information published there is genuine, authentic, eye-opener & myth breaker.

So you should do that first.

Then you should download a sim C A T GMAT test available there: name is GMAT Prep; it’s of ~25MB size.

The site mba.com will help you understand: whats GMAT in general terms, its significance, its structure and the way company conducts the test worldwide.

(I will not go into GMAT structure deeper since I am going to present only resources in this article)

Then you'll need some books to prepare for GMAT.

GMAC, the company that sets GMAT test, came up with three books recently, known as official guides.

They are: (Follow the link to read reviews about these books)

  1. The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 11th Edition
  2. The Official Guide for GMAT Verbal Review
  3. The Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review

they are nicknamed as orange, purple and green guides respectively.

Official guide 11th edition is THE book you should start with and end your preparation.

You should trust these guides along with GMATPrep software (~25 MB)

Although these guides and a simulation software for CAT are fantastic for the practice problems, they don't provide (/come up with) extra strategies...

In short: when it comes to problems solving in practice sessions, nothing beats above mentioned materials. But for strategies (read shortcuts ) you need to look for some extra materials.

Other books i would recommend:

(I'll write an article exclusively for recommended books some time soon.) These books offer good strategies to attack GMAT, they’ll show you how to approach each section and each problem individually.

But then for taking the test in one go you need to have a patience, faith and stamina. & for that you need to take as many GMAT sim CATs as possible.

[Note: Do not rush and sign up for just any sim CATs available on would wide web.]

Following are the GMAT prep companies you should trust: Reason : they have done enough research to come near to the real GMAT test... (still they are not as near as GMAT Prep or POWER Prep)

[Note that I am not talking about GMAT coaching institutes but the online resources for practice tests ]

  • mba.com (nearest possible)
  • manhattangmat.com (?near? quant tough)
  • 800score.com (easier)
  • kaptest.com (tough)
  • pricetonreview.com (neutral)

They offer good Sim GMAT tests.

Note that I have not mentioned about other books or other sites for practice tests which simplymeans they are NOT worth your time & money. Caution: This has exception of Veritas Prep. I haven't had chance to review their products.

Now lets have some non-brand materials,

Materials those are freely available on cyberspace and have no copyright issues.

BeattheGMAT’s flashcard (best flashcards you could get )

Grammar Notes:

Sahil’s Grammar Notes

Spidey's Sentence Correction Notes

Rajat-nda’s Sentence Correction Notes

You will get above documents anywhere, or for all lazy bumps click here

The reason why I am so selective in mentioning about the resources is, people just take any darn test or soft copies of books available on internet just to end up in pracitsing non-GMAT questions.

Therefore I am with trusted and reputable sources.

DONT WASTE YOUR TIME IN STUDYING AND PRACTISING WRONG SETS OF PROBLEMS.

...still if you want more practice problems then I would advise you to download thousand series by scoretop

  • 1000 SC
  • 1000 CR
  • 3000 RC

These documents are available freely everywhere on internet. Note that documents do not have explanations to the problems. You will have to join some GMAT realated online forums to discuss those problems. I am not pro-1000 series doc as such but I feel these documents are one of a kind. You'll never get great no. of questions compilied in a single document.

[OK! after some time getting into GMAT prep environment), you should start realising the easy methods to solve the problems, you should discover some shortcuts; You should collect the strategies that are discussed in prep books and use them according to your needs.] If you see these signs you know that you're going in the right direction.

Post GMAT course for getting admission into MBA programs

While prepping for GMAT you should also be aware of the b-schools you want to apply. You must have a long term plan & You should do some research on the b-schools that suits your long term goal.

For such informations you have b-schools' own web-sites which give all information about MBA programs you desire

/along with plenty of other good sites:

Dave’s MBA Journey

Hjort’s b-school corner from GMAT Club Forums :

Then, you should also aware of admission process:

Accepted.com

ClearAdmit

Stacy Blackman Co. blog

Keep tab on all these site & be informed.

That's it! Thanks for reading till the last line. Do post a feedback, hope this helps.

13 comments:

Balaji.P.B said...

Hi,
Interesting blog. I have included a link to your blog in mine. I hope it is okay with you. Thanks for sharing the info.

Anonymous said...

NO problem at all. i am flattered

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing all the info!

Harsha

Anonymous said...

Harsha why dont you use shout box...

it was specially designed for people like you :gm: :gm: :D

Ajay said...

Hi Aim,
Thanks :-)
Can you please tell me what's the difference between Kaplan premier and
Kaplan Compressive.I mean how these two books differ from each other in their content

Anonymous said...

Dear Ajay,
sorry for replying late.

"comprehensive book" is my comment on the "Kaplan premier program book".

Both are not different books. There's just ONE book!

Thanks

Anonymous said...

Editor's note: From the sources of 800score.com, Their tests are actually harder than the real GMAT test. (this is 800score.com officials opinion by the way)

Source: MBA Podcaster Interview

Anonymous said...

Great blog.Can you also review Princeton Verbal review. I am planning to get this book.
http://www.freegmattest.net/

Anonymous said...

Are you the owner of fregmattest.net?

I cannot commit anything as I am not preparing for the GMAT these days but I'll definitely check the site out.

All the best!

Anonymous said...

YEAH I AGREE WITH YOU GMAT!!

Sandy Tammana said...

hey dude,
nicely listed all the material that can possibly be covered.
thanks a bunch

unspun said...

I found the following RSS feed of
GMAT practice questions quite helpful.

Anonymous said...

Very nice list of resources. I didn't know about some. Thanks