GMAT Strategy

Hey everyone,

Been reading for a few days now and decided to join to ask a couple of questions.

I want to take the GMAT near the end of Sept 09 and I've been doing a lot of googling/reading web forums (mainly this one) to find out which prep set would be the best for me. My target score for the GMAT is >700 and I am currently a college senior at Rutgers University doing a double major in Finance and Accounting. I am also currently taking summer courses so I intend to study for the GMAT and my classes concurrently.

My math skills are so so and verbal skills (imo) are average. But I love doing math problems so I have a feeling I will enjoy the quant section.

I have read in numerous threads that the Manhattan GMAT prep is the way to go for people that want to score in upper quarantile (>700) so I am leaning towards the Manhattan GMAT.

A few questions I have:

It says on the Manhattan prep website that the complete package includes all 8 strategy guides. Are these strategy guides and in depth analysis of how to solve each particular problem or are they just tips and tricks on conquering the problems.

The complete package also comes with the three official guides (12th edition) which I hear are excellent because they are actual GMAT problems but do not have a substantial amount of analysis/strategy. Is this true and can someone comment on the official guide a little bit more.

One more question about the official guide (quant book). I've also read that the majority of questions are similar to the 11th edition. What I wanted to do in preparation for the quant section was to be able to follow khan academy's (khanacademy.org) video's in solving the problems. Sal (the owner of the website) has gone to EVERY SINGLE problem in the 11th edition and shown how he achieved the solution. He posted all of his work on YouTube and you can actually watch him as he solves each problem.

Last question, I was thinking that if maybe the MGMAT wasn't enough I would supplement it with the Kaplan 800 or Kaplan advanced (can someone also explain the difference between these two to me), would this really be necessary?

Any additional info would be great!

If you read all this than kudos to you.

It says on the Manhattan prep website that the complete package includes all 8 strategy guides. Are these strategy guides and in depth analysis of how to solve each particular problem or are they just tips and tricks on conquering the problems.


In depth to the extent needed for the GMAT. Tips and Tricks are just an addon as side notes.


The complete package also comes with the three official guides (12th edition) which I hear are excellent because they are actual GMAT problems but do not have a substantial amount of analysis/strategy. Is this true and can someone comment on the official guide a little bit more.


Yes OG solutions may not be best way to approach a problem. This is where the materials u use /BTG forum solutions can help u.



One more question about the official guide (quant book). I've also read that the majority of questions are similar to the 11th edition. What I wanted to do in preparation for the quant section was to be able to follow khan academy's (khanacademy.org) video's in solving the problems. Sal (the owner of the website) has gone to EVERY SINGLE problem in the 11th edition and shown how he achieved the solution. He posted all of his work on YouTube and you can actually watch him as he solves each problem.

These ar very good videos for OG11. OG 12 has 300 new questions(all sections combined) which is good to solve as these may represent more recent retired questions(atleast I think so)
However problems in OG10 the green quant book are different from OG11/12.Good additional practice.

Last question, I was thinking that if maybe the MGMAT wasn't enough I would supplement it with the Kaplan 800 or Kaplan advanced (can someone also explain the difference between these two to me), would this really be necessary?

If u have the time and have exhausted the resources above then YES
They both are the same I think. Kaplan has changed the title from Kpalan 800 to Kaplan advanced. One of the Kaplan member of this forum may answer this question better if u post it in Kaplan section of the forum.

Any additional info would be great!

USE THIS FORUM(an excellent resource) IN CONJUCTION(all gmat prep problems are solved here) WITH OG is what I would suggest.



P.S. U can download 2 exams for free from www.mba.com and the S/W is called GMAT PREP (as representative as the OG w.r.t gmat questions)

Good luck.

Regards,
CR