GMAT Materials

Okay so first things first, go to gmac.com and download their free software (which comes with two free exams)

Next, you gotta think of your studying not as one continuous curriculum but as a 2-part exam, with each exam testing for completely different content and techniques/competencies, however here’s the key, you have to keep in mind that the exam isn’t testing your knowledge of algebra or geometry or grammar , it’s using what it assumes is your preexisting compentency in all those areas to test for Decision Making. Taking that to heart at the outset and always keeping it in mind throughout the entire process is key. So when you see a hard math problem and only got 50sec or whatever to do it, it’s not about the math, it’s about being able to use decision making and your base knowledge of math to eliminate answers/approximate/intuitevely figure out the answer/ use tricks & shortcuts

So , on that note, you’ll wanna go to magoosh.com and just get their base package, it’s the cheapest out there and for math/quant section, it is

Next, buy/rent/find Manhattan prep books for the verbal, you’ll wanna read through those quickly, ALWAYS focusing on the questions, b.c. If you do enough of them the concepts will naturally be included in the explanation and it’ll stick more than just reading the grammar rule/idiom bullshit etc haha

Last of the 3 major pieces (and what I found made the biggest difference in my last round of wacking at this tree), the vast majority of the “extra practice” you do for verbal HAS to come from the official GMAC materials. Now, there’s only ~300 verbal problems per book, which is why you’re gonna need a 2005 or 2007 edition , ~2010, ~2013/5/8 ... there’s a lot of overlap within any 5 yr period so it’s realistically like 800-1000 problems total (which go quick ). Now, the explanation you’ll probably often find unsatisfactory, with no “clear rule”/take-away listed, and hence why you need to basically learn the “actual” gmat rules through trial by fire (eg. test prep providers will say something like, "the word 'which' must ALWAYS refer to the word immediately before the comma"... well i thought that was the case until i saw in the 2007 official GMAC guide a 'correct answer choice' that violated that rule

all to say, it's kinda brutal, but i will say, i did this exam 3 times, and never got above a 39 on the verbal, then i did this "hands in the mud" approach, just soaking in these gmac OFFICIAL questions and trying to decipher the actual gmac preferences by deduction/developing a feel for the right answer, and then got 47

so to recap, 1st thing to do then 3 next:

First) Download this: https://www.mba.com/exam-prep/gmat-official-starter-kit-practice-exams-…

1) Magoosh.com for math --> register ASAP

2) for verbal --> get your hands on Manhattan prep books. this is for Technique and Methods (there aren't many actual problems anyway, though they're good)

3) also for verbal -->try to get your hands on some old GMAC Official Guides (on amazon you can get a deal). the older the better (>'04 though), really focus on the answer explanations and itll be annoying at times cause they contradict/dont explain themseleves enough... but i wont lie, those little nuances and getting a feel for "what would gmac pick" in that rushed moment on exam day was basically the major difference in score (i ended up not even finishing the last question of quant which is pretty crippling - but with the boost from verbal got 99th %, - not saying to brag at all (this sites anonymous isnt it hah)... simply mentioning it to emphasize that this method of trial-and-error on countless GMAC verbal questions, though tedious at times, works better than anything i've found.

finally, this is ALL you need for AWA... step 1) memorize, step 2) fill in the blank come test day:

In a recent _, the author concludes that _. To support this conclusion, the author _, but __. While the author’s argument has some merit, it contains several flawed assumptions that need to be addresed.

Most egregiously, the argument assumes that _. Imagine, for instance, that _. Clearly, this argument would be quite weak. However, if _, then the argument would be much stronger.

Addionally, the argument relies on the assumption that _. This, too, is a gross assumption, as it could very well be that _. Moreover, _. Accordingly, the author should provide evidence that _.

Finally, the argument fails to account for the possibility that _. Even if _, the _ could be. Perhaps _. Similarly, _. To make a compelling case, the author would need to __.

In conclusion, the argument that _ is poorly supported and makes a number of questionable assumptions. Not only does the author assume that _, but he also presupposes that _. In order to provide a more convincing argument, the author should _. Without this information, the argument cannot be properly evaluated and is thus unconvincing.