francesco.mosca

07-31-2003, 05:43 PM

Dear Francesco,

I wish you the best of luck with your GMAT preparations. I am not familiar with GMAT REVIEW, but you may want to simply ask them for some references (students who took the course who you can speak with) and see what you can find out. Either way, I agree that a prep-course makes sense, particularly if you are targeting a top school in either Europe or the USA.

If GMAT REVIEW doesn't look good, I believe that there is a Kaplan center in London.

Regards,

Graham Richmond, Clear Admit

Hi Graham,

Thank you very much for your reply.
I actually attended the GMAT REVIEW course in London.
It was very good as far as the quantitative part is concerned.
I believe this kind of courses can be usefull because teach you tricks not available on the GMAT preparation books available on the market.
Anyway they don't reduce the time you have to study on your own.

Francesco

Graham, Francesco,

On the subject of GMAT courses, I am thinking of doing Manhattan Review's GMAT REVIEW course. I know of another one in Hungary (although they also teach it in Paris), which is a lot less expensive than GMAT REVIEW. The website is www.gmat.hu. But the website doesn't have any student testimonials, so I don't know what past students think of it. You can also get details of other courses in the UK at http://www.fulbright.co.uk/eas/studyus/tests/testtraining.html.

Francesco, I'd like to know whether you think the GMAT REVIEW course was a real benefit over learning just with a book. I ask because I used the Kaplan book to study and despite getting almost all the questions correct on untimed practice sections and scoring 650 in the diagnostic, I got just 580 when I did the ETS PowerPrep timed practice exam (this was despite spending only 1.5-2 minutes per Kaplan question, well within the time allowed on the real test). So I hope that the reason for my low performance is due to nerves, and was wondering whether taking a course could help with this aspect?

Martin

Hi Martin,

I think Manhattan review preparation course was not very good for my preparation. Is it true that the teach you a couple of tricks but I am quite sure that if you study on your own for 3 hours a day for 3 weeks will be enough. use Kaplan book both gmat 2003 and GMAT 800. The last book contain difficult questions only.
Regarding the score sometimes you will find that it will be a lot different from one test to another. I believe Kaplan tests are quite realistic but better to rely on ETS software. Remember that if you get some questions wrong at the beginning these will cause your score to change considerably. May be that's your problem. Good luck and contact me again for futher expalnation.

Francesco

Francesco,

Thanks for the advice. I looked at the Kaplan GMAT 800 book but in the end I decided to get ETS' Official Guide for GMAT Review (10th Edition). I want to become more familiar with ETS questions first, then perhaps I'll get the GMAT 800 if I still can't score better on the test.

Martin

Mr Graham,

I am planning to take the "Kaplan's comprehensive GMAT Classroom" to preparation for GMAT. I was wondering if that is the right kind of cource to take if I am aiming at 700+ in GMAT. Do I have better alternatives?

Any pointers will be greatly appreicated.


thanks

There are alternatives to Kaplan -- some worth your time, some not. Check out Test Prep Rankings (http://www.testpreprankings.com)

GMAT Advanced Simulator (GAS) is GMAT exam preparation software. GAS is intended for students, who are already familiar with GMAT basics and have the necessary verbal and quantitative skills for taking GMAT. http://rnb-consult.ru/gas/index.php?ID=1

pk...if you're planning to take a class, you'd probably have better luck with Princeton Review. They have a stat on their site that shows GMAT-takers are twice as likely to score 700+ if they take their class (it's been verified by an outside source).

I have the PR prep materials and they are definitely better at teaching GMAT strategies. They do a solid job on the fundamentals, but their focus is on mastering the test and that can make a huge difference. You can be a math genius and still blow GMAT math if you don't know the pitfalls to look for.

Good luck...I'd say have fun but that just doesn't seem appropriate for the GMAT. :D