Retest #3 Strategy, in need of advice!

[eellison85]

Hello everyone,

I have 3 days to decide the best strategy to undertake in tackling the GMAT, for the third time. The Manhattan "In-Person" course I have been looking into starts on Tuesday, but I'm unsure if it's the most efficient way for me to use my time (which is limited of course) as I'm a fairly "seasoned" GMAT test taker. First, some background:

I am applying to B-schools in round 2 of this season. I was quite sure I wasn't going to retest this late in the game, but I have a small window of opportunity and I'm going to take advantage of it. The likely date of GMAT #3 will be mid-October, leaving me about 2.5 months to prepare one last time.

The first time I took the GMAT was December of 2011. I "self-studied" for about 7 weeks. I brushed up on my math with an outdated Kaplan book, a basic math refresher book, the Manhattan CATs, and the GMATPrep tests. I really don't remember doing much for verbal, outside of what was in the Kaplan book I had. I purchased the '12 OG, but didn't use it much as I ran out of time. I scored a 670 (Q42, V40) and felt pretty good. Here are my scores from the CATs:

CAT 1 11/7/2011 580(Q40, V30)
CAT 2 11/18/2011 520(Q26, V36)
CAT 3 11/23/2011 680(Q44, V38)
CAT 4 12/2/2011 630(Q43, V33)
CAT 5 12/9/2011 640(Q44, V34)
CAT 6 12/13/2011 700(Q43, V41)
CAT 6A 12/16/2011 730(Q48, V42) recognized a few problems
Official GMAT Prep #1: 670
Official GMAT Prep #2: 680
I took the two official tests in the last week before my actual test date.

The second time I took the GMAT was in March of 2012, about 2.5 months later. After taking the holidays off, I studied hard for about 6 weeks. This time I used the Knewton program and really enjoyed it. My scores were roughly in range with those of the MGMAT CATs (see below), however, I was discouraged that I never broke 700. I assumed that the Knewton algorithm was just too new to be as accurate as MGMAT. I felt like the program really strengthened my verbal skills, but didn't do much for me quant wise. On test day #2 I scored 670, again. This time my breakdown was (Q40, V42), I was so upset that after all the prep my quant score actually decreased.

Past exam reports Date Q V Total
Diagnostic GMAT 01/27/2012 40 37 620
Practice GMAT #1 02/07/2012 36 35 580
Practice GMAT #2 02/16/2012 43 37 650
Practice GMAT #3 02/22/2012 38 37 600
Practice GMAT #4 02/24/2012 38 42 640
Practice GMAT #5 02/29/2012 45 40 690


Fast forward to the present. After 18 months off, here I am again; preparing to face the evil GMAT one last time. This time around I have about 11 weeks to prepare, and about 15 hours/week to dedicate to prep (I am in grad school full time). This is where I really need advice...

I am considering, as I mentioned, the "In-person" MGMAT 9 week course as I've only heard great things about it. It seems very thorough and this would be the first time I'll have access to the MGMAT course material and practice problem sets (with the exception of the CATs). This is a ton of new information I haven't been exposed to and in itself should be a great prep tool. As far as the classroom aspect, I'm unsure if it will focus too heavily on familiarization and easier problems tailored to the first-time test taker who is concerned with just breaking 600. If someone who has completed the course could chime in it would be really helpful. Did the in-class portion teach you how to tackle the 700-800 level problems, or was this developed through self-study of the MGMAT material?

Another option is "Guided Self Study", and it is far less expensive. I am able to stay on task on my own, but what I really need is someone who can identify what I need to be studying, how frequently, etc and really supervise my progress. I need a detailed study plan that will help me improve my quant considerably without allowing my verbal score to dip below 40-41. Does anyone have experience with MGMAT private-tutoring? Maybe 5 hours of tutoring spread out over 11 weeks to establish a game plan and also receive intermittent progress checks? I am currently around the 60% in quant and I need to get this as close to 80% as possible. Also, I haven't tested in 18 months, I imagine I'll be a little rusty at first.

I need opinions about retesting startegies, and what has/hasn't worked. Is a general course an effective way for a seasoned test taker to improve their score? Are there other courses, or "advanced" options that might be better?

Sorry for the long message, I just wanted to make sure as much of my "story" came through as possible. Any advice helps, thanks in advance!

[StaceyKoprince]

I'm glad your message is long! The more info we have, the better we can advise you.

First, as you've probably figured out by now, the forums aren't the best source for questions that need an immediate answer - we're only checking each folder a couple of times a week.

If you (or anyone else reading this) need fast advice, call the office (800.576.GMAT).

Your verbal scores are very good - obviously you need the most help with quant. Classes spend about half the time on quant - but in terms of value for money spent, classes are better than tutoring. (Tutoring is more efficient - you only work on what you want - but it's very expensive.)

We have a set group of slides for each class, but teachers are free to customize within those as they see certain needs in their classes (we set up more slides than we could use for each lesson to allow that customization). We include mid-level and harder questions - don't forget that you can learn a lot by studying and discussing questions that you already know how to do / answer correctly.

To some extent, the mix in class will be guided by the particular students in that class; if you are much higher than everyone else, then it's possible that parts of the class will be too slow-paced for you. You can attend any class 1 for free, to see what that class and teacher will be like. You can also see how experienced the other students are (keeping in mind that some may also be attending for free and may not take that class).

So, long answer short. We do 600 level, 650 level, 700 level... but the specific mix is going to be driven by what the teacher sees that the students in that class need.

Given that your current scoring level is about 60th percentile in quant, I do believe that the class would be the most appropriate option for you. As I said, you could also do tutoring, but it's a lot more expensive for less face-time with a teacher - you'll have to decide whether you're willing to pay that kind of money. :)

You ask for advice from other students (about classes, tutoring). I think that's a great question to ask - but you might not get many (or any) responses here. :) This folder is specifically set up for teachers to give advice to students.

If you have any other questions, let us know!