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After purchasing the 9 session study guide from MGMAT I was offered 6 CAT exams for free for purchasing the self study session. I have to say these are extremely accurate assesments of your ability to perform well on the actual GMAT exam. While the Quant portion I felt was more challenging than the actual GMAT exam the Verbal portion was well within the level of difficulty of the actual exam. I would highly recommend using MGMAT CAT exam along with GMATCLUB exams in order to assess and bolster your current quant ability. They provide excellent explanations for answers I did not answer correctly. The exams also helped to pinpoint areas where I could improve upon my Quant Score which I always had trouble with. I felt the Verbal portion was not as challenging but if you really want to challenge yourself I would highly recommend using previous years LSAT exams.
The Manhattan prep books have really helped me to brush up on my basic concepts and very quickly move to advanced concepts and techniques. The practice test which is a bit tougher than the normal GMAT also helps to challenge yourself and try to improve your level to an acceptable range.
I really enjoyed the questions in the advances techniques book which gives an opportunity to really test yourself on the tougher concepts and push yourself to do creative thinking which would be normally a scary thing to have to do on the day of your exam itself.
Highly recommend Manhattan as a great prep provider for GMAT.
I found that the Manhattan CATs were great practice material and that the online platform + tools were great at analyzing your performance and identifying key areas for improvement. One issue I did find was that the quant material in the Manhattan CATs were much more difficult that the official GMAT algorithms. It's not necessary a bad thing - just make sure to do the official tests as well before convincing yourself that you'll never break 700. To put in perspective, my official score was much higher than any of my practice CATs, and was mainly skewed by the difference in quant score.
This is the BEST prep material apart from the GMAT PREP CATS
1. The questions come with a lot of detailed explanation. Hence one can learn a lot by taking the CATS.
2. There are six CATs - hence there is a wide variety of questions to try out
3. The analysis and insights on strengths and weakness are BRILLIANT. They will really help one identify the areas of improvement and hone it to perfection
The math section is relatively harder. Hence don't worry too much about it. Don;t try these tests as question banks. Try them as real mock exams once you complete your preparation - that is way more effective!
I stared using Manhattan material to boost my English specially SC being a non native speaker. Each topic is explained so well with examples that after couple of weeks you start analyzing the sentences (set of rules) when you read any articles, newspaper,etc. All the important topics are covered in SC guide. Always try to cover a topic from SC Guide and then solve the SC questions from GMAT club. You can also download the app from App store and read them. You will find different types of problem e.g. easy medium and hard problems, which really helps you to boost your confidence.. All the concepts and tricks are well explained. Test series are well balanced I found quant bit lengthy. If you are non native speaker I think Manhattan is the best material to start with. Quant materials are really helpful to build your concepts.
All the Best. Cheers!!!
To start, I want to be very clear: The Manhattan Prep CATs are excellent. While the Quant is much harder and more verbose than what you will find on your GMAT, it prepares you more than adequately. I found that when I took CATs from the actual GMAT website, the quant seemed easy by comparison. I took all 6 CATs... The first test I took? I scored a 500.
I thought I was done for. I was a 3.9 Phi Beta Kappa student at a top 30 school and here I was, blowing it on the one test that matters. But I kept focused and really leveraged those detailed score analyses. This breaks down your strengths and weakness by topic. Couple that with a detailed answer guide and you'll be able to sort through your mistakes incredibly thoroughly.
Test after test (matched with intense self study and the 9 week course) and I saw a little improvement test to test. 500 to 520, then 580 to 630, and finally 640 to 700. Now, I felt good going into the test but with that range, I thought I would score between 580 and 650. BUT, those Manhattan CATs prepared me so much, the test felt like a breeze. When I hit "show scores" I felt good. Sure enough, that 710 popped up on the screen and I knew I had Manhattan Prep to thank. Highly highly recommend their material across the board. For non-native english speakers, the verbal is very easy to follow and for people with a good grasp of grammar and english, their break down on how to tackle CR and RC is super helpful.
So if you feel good going in with self study, the book set and CATS are definitely worth it. If you want to combine your study with some teacher/classroom help, my 9 week online course with Birdwell was amazing and helpful.
Thank you MGMAT!
Okay, not quite prefect: 790 (Q:51, V:51, IR:8, AWA:6).
I accomplished this in one try by completely giving myself over to the MGMAT system. I read (practically memorized) every book (for quant, I only skimmed verbal) and problem. Took every practice test. Redid every problem I got wrong multiple times.
I started from a relatively low base of knowledge (I had somehow never encountered prime factorization), but the MGMAT system got me up to speed. This took 3 months of weekend and social life killing study, but it worked. (Note: I only used the books, did not take the class.)
Yes, the practice tests are harder than the real thing, but think of it as resistance training. By the time you get to the game, it's easy. On my first MGMAT practice test I got 640. I never scored higher than 730 on the MGMAT practice test. But the actual test was a breeze - it was the first time I had ever finished the IR section (I took 9 practice tests, and never finished IR) and finished quant with 3 minutes to spare.
I absolutely could not have gotten the score I did, in the time I had available, without MGMAT. In particular, their test-taking strategy tips in the advanced quant book are invaluable. I cannot recommend their system and services more highly.
The exams provided great basis. I highly recommend purchasing the tests and going through all questions in a timed environment. I used the test to help my exam, and currently I have improved my score from a 500 - 700 +. If you consistently use the software and book you will improve. highly recommend.
Really enjoyed the experience.
The exams provided great basis. I highly recommend purchasing the tests and going through all questions in a timed environment. I used the test to help my exam, and currently I have improved my score from a 500 - 700 +. If you consistently use the software and book you will improve. highly recommend.
Really enjoyed the experience.
MGMAT CATs have questions of a higher level of difficulty when compared to the ones of other CATs available online for practice . I would strongly recommend to take CATs offered by others like veritas, gmat club to get a better understanding of where one stands.
However before going in for the CATs i recommend to study the techniques offered by the manhattan strategy guides and then apply the same in all the CATs to score better.
It is very important to follow one and only one strategy and stick to the same throughout the preperation so that one does not loose the plot for scoring high in GMAT.
All the best!!!!!
I decided to buy Manhattan´s CATs after my Kaplan in'person class expired and I hadn´t reached my goal score. I got a 640 and was aiming for 700+
I took all the CATs and carefully reviewed all of them, question by question noticing where I made avoidable mistakes, but still after taking all 6 CATs my score did not improve. In total I´ve taken Kaplan´s 9 CATs twice, the free tests from GMAC, some from the economist to enter their contests, and the 6 from Manhattan... my conclusion, taking lots of CATs won´t make your score increase magically.
Overall, Manhattan´s CATs are, have challenging questions and great explanations.
But I need more than that to increase my score,so just purchased The Economists complete plan... GMAT Club will give you 10% discount on it so take advantage if you want to buy it. Hopefully this time I reach my goal score and finally get done with the GMAT!
Hey guys so I have recently taken up the gmat exam and I have tried the practice test series of Manhattan , Veritas and Kaplan along with the mba.com two free practice test and my rankings would be as follows:
1. GMAT Prep Official Software : This mimics the actual gmat test as close as possible and would give you the best possible estimate where you might land on the actual gmat. The questions are relevant and the scoring too.
2. Manhattan Test series : They have a very good question bank and prepares you really well for the actual exam. The scoring system is also pretty much accurate.
3. Veritas Test series : This is equivalent to Manhattan. I have just put it after manhattan because the questions may be a just little less competent than the manhattan. I say this because after you have given a couple of tests one or two question in the subsequent tests may be repeated or are very much similar that you know the answers without solving them. The scoring is also pretty much accurate. The advantage of Veritas over manhattan is that the analysis after the test that it provides-pretty detailed and helpful.
4. Kaplan Test : The questions of this test are equally good compared to manhattan. However, the scoring system seems to be inflated. So if you are giving the test in order to boost your morale then this might be a good pick :-p . The test taking experience and questions are on par with the other test series.
I hope the post helps!
Happy preparations and best of luck for GMAT.