flo0976

1. One RC was 115 lines, of course they were shrunk into 5-6 words/line, but that made visual control over the material extremely difficult. It was over 550 words for sure. 4 questions on it too. 2. Most people on this board are great in math because most people in here are bright, and willing to study whatever there is to study. GMAT Math is a discipline in which you can really improve by studying. Study official guide. Study Princeton and Kaplan. In the end, if you go on to challenge the 700s, you will see questions that are as tough or tougher than the hardest Kaplan or Princeton problem. 3. The adaptive nature of the test confronted me with a tough reality. A 700+ student will be faced with dreadful (kaplan type) questions since very early on. My high fever did not help, but on the other hand, questions were the toughest I had seen. Tougher than most KAPLAN 800 problems I had done. Word problem after word problem, easy algebraic problems were almost entirely absent. Everything revolved around difficult and confusing language. It was different from any practice test I have done, which tells you that most practice tests are not true CATs reflecting a mid 700 student. 4. I was particularly pleased with my essay performance. Wrote 5-6 paragraphs each. I am confident on a 5,6 score. Templates do help. 5. Verbal was brutal. Of course, I am a foreign US resident with only 7 years in this country. All questions were long. Most of my CRs were between 10-15 lines. After the 5th question, there was no giveaway. All tough. As tough as or tougher than what I have seen in all practice materials. Once again, my health might have made it look difficult, but I honestly don't think so. It is funny how the last 4-5 questions (immediately after the 115 line RC ordeal) were relatively easy. I know I lost 3 out of 4 in that passage and that dropped me from the 90s (percentile wise) to the 80s. At that point, it was a brand new game. I completed the last 5 questions in 4 minutes. I am pretty sure I was right in all of them. This adaptive form of the test is extremely unfair to some strong performers. You can't massacre someone who is in the 700s with dozens of TOUGHEST questions until he/she breaks down (due to time constraints) and falls to the upper 600s. While someone else who has been in the upper 600s for most of the test, can get the last 5-8 right and get to the low 700s. It is one big BS. I anticipate change in the way these tests are designed. There is no parity right now. It's like gambling. 5. Verbal preparation is key, but the truth is that the verbal section is extremely challenging, especially for foreigners. If English is not your native tongue, time constraints will make sure that you never get to what your true potential is. 7 years out of 29 spent in the US and a college degree did not give me the necessary linguistic ability to have the stamina to absorb a 115-word passage in 3 minutes. In the same way that my high math score indicates my strong math fundamentals (East European schools are good at teaching such stuff since early grades), my lower verbal score indicates a lack of such linguistic tradition. Language is a mechanical discipline. It is acquired since our early years. I am sure 21 more years of English speaking and reading would place me in the upper 90s (percentile) instead of the current 80s. However, I hope some of the schools will evaluate me based on the demographics that I represent. More notes to follow. I am just collecting myself this morning.

Luck was absent as usual. Struggled with the flu Thursday-Sunday. Went to the test center with crippling fever and headache. Struggled to keep pace throughout, and 8 questions from the end, was handed a 115 line passage. 10 minutes left. I don't know how I managed to read that junk, I really don't. May be that passage dropped me from the 750 I was shooting for. May be... I am disappointed as I knew I had about 740-760 in me. Unfortunately, today could have been a major debacle given the circumstances. I hope my 3.97 GPA comes to the rescue. I am applying to Harvard, MIT, Dartmouth, NYU, Cornell, Yale, BC, BU. I don't know whether I should retake. More notes to follow. Right now, I need to pass out.

CHOICE B Responsible FOR is the right phrasal way... one action over ANOTHER is also better than THE OTHER

Clearly A

To me it's B... Choice A looks too awkward. The others are obviously wrong.

Verb should denote an action that has started in the past and still going on. HAVE BEGUN is necessary in this sentence. CHOICE D

it is going to be very difficult to get less than 4 questions wrong per section. I am very confident Princeton Review's scoring is bogus. But just in case it isn't, I will attempt to get 40 out of 41 in verbal. Who knows, may be that gets me in the 700s. The commercial nature of the test prep business is getting in the way of providing fair assessment on one's progress. I find KAPLAN and PRINCETON's practices very deplorable indeed.

I understand they absolutely had to throw 4-5 permutation/probability questions in there. However, how can I get 33 out of 37 right and be scored at 46 for the QUANT section. And then in verbal...a score of 36 having gotten 35 of 41 right. I think that should be at least a 720. Instead was scored at 680. Ridiculous...Please advise what could be going on.