GMAT to GRE

[PeterG995]

I have been prepping for the GMAT for a while, but continue to struggle with the math. Math was never my deal, so I haven't used it with any regularity since the early days of college, 15 years ago. I have struggled to re-learn the basics, and even more so to ID which type of problem it is to know which math to use. I feel very strong on the verbal, but have hit a huge wall on the quant. (To the point of getting frustrated and letting work and a new baby distract me from what has been some pretty rigorous studying.)

I have put to much into the GMAT to not take it, but it is worth it to me to have a back up. I plan on finishing my prep and taking the GMAT in the next month (for better or worse). I will probably follow with a little prep and then the GRE. Do you have any recommendations of resourses to get spun up on the diffrences over a month period? Resourses/specific topics to address / things to pay attention to? I have taken the full, in-class GMAT course and have all those resourses (but also can't spend a pile of $ prepping for the GRE). I believe that my application will be very strong, but I still have to get at least a mildly competitive score on at least one of the tests. ...Please help.

[StaceyKoprince]

Hi, Peter! Thanks so much for attending the GMAT vs. GRE workshop on Thursday. (And congrats on the new baby! )

Let's start with the GMAT. I can't remember now which articles I linked during the session, so some of this may be a repeat.

First, read these two articles:
http://tinyurl.com/executivereasoning
http://tinyurl.com/2ndlevelofgmat

And read this too:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... -the-gmat/

Think about how what you've been doing does and doesn't match up with that and how you may need to change your approach accordingly. From what we chatted about on Thursday, I think the above might be a big part of what's going on with you.

Then, use the below to analyze your most recent MPrep CATs (this should take you a minimum of 1 hour):
http://tinyurl.com/analyzeyourcats

Based on all of that, figure out your strengths and weaknesses as well as any ideas you have for what you think you should do. Then come back here and tell us; we'll tell you whether we agree and advise you further. (Note: do share an analysis with us, not just the raw data. Your analysis should include a discussion of your buckets - you'll understand what that means when you read the last article. Part of getting better is developing your ability to analyze your results - figure out what they mean and what you think you should do about them!)

That will help get us started towards your final month or so on the GMAT.

For the GRE, the content in your GMAT math guides covers what you need to know for the GRE, but there is one new question type that you need to learn: Quantitative Comparisons. (There are also multi-answer questions and some other variations, but they're still generally regular math questions. QC is...different. Like DS is different.)

We have one strategy guide devoted to Quantitative Comparisons (and Data Interpretation); I think you would just need to get that for quant.

For verbal, the RC and CR stuff is very similar; your GMAT materials will generally work there. (Just familiarize yourself with the differences - for instance, on the GRE, some RC passages are just one shorter paragraph and come with just one question.)

The major difference on verbal is the vocab stuff - again, you'll want one book there: Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence. And getting just one of the books gives you access to all 6 practice CATs, so you'll be good there.

There is an Official Guide book for the GRE - you should probably get that as well.

And you might want to consider our 5-lb book of practice questions. Not to toot our own horn, but it's a best seller (it's made the top 100 Amazon list of ALL books, not just test prep books!). Amazon's got it on sale right now for $15 and it has more than 2,000 practice questions - awesome bang for buck.

I'm not totally convinced you should give up on the GMAT just yet, but I agree that it's wise to have a back-up plan. Okay, let me know what you think about all of that GMAT stuff!