Day 6 - Critical Reasoning & Veritas prep

The prep schedule is now changing from the original plan a little bit. Read on to see why and how...

Starting off, I continued with the Critical Reasoning practice questions from Kaplan today. Not too much to talk about - I got just over 70% of the answers correct. It was quite surprising to me though, since I've understood CR concepts quite well. Can't figure out as to why it did not show in the practice quiz/test. I guess it just requires some solid, intensive practice.

Now, before all of this, earlier in the day, I enrolled myself for a Veritas intensive GMAT prep course. I had attended a seminar on the same a couple of weeks back and was quite impressed with what the founders had to tell us. I wasn't sure though, that I'll take it up. You can say I decided just yesterday that I want to go ahead with this. It's a 9 day intensive in-class course, that's supposed to cover everything on the GMAT. Yup, 9 consecutive days, almost 9 hours daily. Quite honestly, my primary motivation for taking this up was the fact that it was falling perfectly in my schedule, and I don't have to go out of my way to do this. Besides, it's not for conceptual knowledge that I'm doing this, rather it's an attempt to look at different strategies to approach the GMAT. Also, not that self prep is not enough, I reasoned that if this can help me get even an etra 20 points over my own prep, it's money (and time) well spent. For sure, I believe external help is not at all necessary, but one has to weigh all pros and cons, and see if it can add any value at all. I'm hopeful Veritas does add value to my prep.

Anyway, we started off (co-incidentally enough) with some Critical Reasoning basics today. Being an intensive course, we're just understanding some strategies for problem solving, and practicing a few questions in class. They have provided a a good bunch of material to practice at home.

It's after today's class that I came home and solved the Critical Reasoning from Kaplan, which was even more reason to be disappointed with my performance there. Somehow, I still feel confident about CR. Confidence helps. :)

SUMMARY OF WORK
Veritas prep course - (Arguments &) Critical Reasoning
Kaplan GMAT - Critical Reasoning practice quiz, pages 47 - 94

LESSONS LEARNT

1. Prep courses (classes) may add value, but it's completely an individual decision, never to be generalized. Ultimately, if it can help you go from a 700 to a 720, I'd say it's worth it.
2. Confidence is everything.