Concern about using stuffs of scoretop that are available in

[you4545]

I start preparing for GMAT from this jun'09 and there is high probability that i will appear for gmat exam at the end of this year. I am totally unknown of what is legal or illegal materials. Couple of weeks ago my friend gives me 1000 ds, ps, cr, sc and rc and other stuffs like VIP material which belongs to scoretop.On 12th jun'09 , i visit scoretop and show it was shutdown .Then i searched in google why it is banned and found certain confusing information. However,I was not a vip member , i never visit scoretop before 2009 and when i visit it for the first time it was blocked by GMAC.But one of my friend said that i visited scoretop which is a banned site ( i didn't get access because it was shut down)and i have their materials like 1000 serial packages and other vip materials which i collected from my friend during 2009, so i can not appear in the GMAT exam or if i can appear ,my score will be canceled in future.is it true????? please relief me from this hell because i didn't do any bad things.I want to shine my life by enrolling one of the top most b-schools.PLEASE HELP ME OUT.

[StaceyKoprince]

You're okay - you can still take the test and go to b-school.

The 1000 stuff was not just from scoretop. The VIP stuff did include some illegal material, so you should immediately delete whatever your friend gave you, but because you didn't participate while it was still active and there were known "live" questions floating around, you're okay. Just use this as a warning: make sure the sites you visit and the materials you use from now on are legitimate.

The 1000 stuff is not that great, by the way - there are some very good quality questions in there, but there are other poor quality questions mixed in, and most people (who aren't teachers / experts) can't always tell the difference.

The best practice questions to use are Official Guide questions. These are official past test questions that have been legally published by the people who make the exam. You'll have to pay some money to buy the books, but they're not that expensive (the latest Official Guide 12th edition book costs around $30, I think, and has around 900 questions - that's a pretty good deal!).

[you4545]

HELLO Stacey Koprince,

Thanks for your reply.By the way what ever thing my friend told me as vip stuffs(20 sets practice questions created in 2005-2006 )are available in almost every forum nowadays. I found that those aren't scoretop materials. Thanks again for your reply and i will do whatever you suggested me to do .

Best regards,
you4545

[StaceyKoprince]

You're welcome! Yes, the stuff labeled "GMAT Sets" didn't include live test questions, but the material itself isn't all that great. :)

[jigar24]

Stacey, could you please share the break-up of erroneous vis-à-vis non erroneous question no.s from the 1000 question sets or "GMAT sets"? OR just good quality question no.s from these sets?

[StaceyKoprince]

Unfortunately, I haven't surveyed the 1,000 questions to figure that out - it would take way too much time. I just know that, when people posted questions from this source, enough of them either had serious typos or were bad questions that we decided to ban that source in general from our own forums - too many times, we were simply saying, "This is a bad question in general; don't study it."

[jigar24]

so would you recommend NOT wasting time over the 1000 q series??

Currently I am using the following material:

1) I am using OG12, Math Review, Verbal Review, Paper tests(GMAAC), GMAT Prep - all official
2) MGMAT 3rd editions strategy guides, question banks, and 6 CATs + doubts posted on the forum
3) Princeton 4CATs

Could you please suggest if all of this is enough to prepare for a 750 score on GMAT (of course, assuming I make the required efforts too)

Thanks,
Jigar

[StaceyKoprince]

personally, no, I do not and would not use the 1,000 series. The official materials and high-quality test prep materials are numerous and sufficient. The 1,000 stuff is free, but that's not a good enough reason (for me) to use it.

The one other thing you might want to look into is GMAT Focus (also official source) - an online-only set of quant problems.

FYI, guys, new versions of the Quant and Verbal supplements are about to be released. Each one has about 75 new questions; the others are old.

[jigar24]

Thanks Stacey for the prompt reply. I will look into the GMAT focus materials.

One thing though, who is about to release new quant and verbal materials? MGMAT or GMAAC?

Thanks once again.

Jigar

[jigar24]

Hey, I just checked on the MGMAT blog, the new books are from GMAAC.

Now, I ve already spent on the older versions? Would you recommend these new books especially since it introduces only 75 new questions

Jigar

[StaceyKoprince]

I wouldn't go out and get the new versions right away, no - there aren't that many new questions. Work with the older versions first and only get the new ones if you feel it's worth it to spend the money for 75 new ones. :)