jayshah1982

Two months of mind-numbing hard work and utmost patience cumulated into a score of 730. Weird SC's that don't make sense, Roundabout CR's, Long convoluted RC's, DS's with (D) solutions that look impossible are a thing of the past. The Experience Took a break from work to study for GMAT. My initial thought about the GMAT was that it was this stupid exam and to score a 700 required no more than a month's preparation. It's turned out to be exactly the opposite. I set out with a target of 700 from the beginning as I knew anything less would mean that I probably would have to settle for a college not on my Wanted List. It took me some time to get into the groove of studying since I had been working for two years. I found it really hard to study for more than two hours a day but after quite a struggle the pace picked up slowly. I had initially taken a date of Aug 23rd but soon realized that getting a 700 score was not going to work out with the preparation the I had. Hence I postponed the date to the 21st of Sept. The key to a 700+ score is organization, organization and then some more. My initial effort was very disorganized with no sense of direction. I landed up doing Maths and English in a random manner, and realized that it was hardly helping my cause. Excel became my next best friend. It's a great tool to log in and organize your answers. The Effort For me GMAT boiled down to pure effort. I’m not the most brilliant guy around and I knew for a fact that there was no way I could correct SC’s effectively by learning all the concepts about English, let alone master it. The 1000 SC’s played a very important role. Although I think the approach rather than just solving the SC’s is more important. Even if you know the correct answer to a SC, debate over why the other choices are wrong in more than one way. Initially I used to just label them wordy and move on. Wrong approach! The Preparation A week prior to the exam 1. OG (11th Edition ) – Complete 2. Kaplan Premier – Complete 3. Kaplan 800 – Complete 4. 1000 SC’s – Around 550 5. Tons of PS and DS practice I think it’s very important to practice PS and DS even if you know the majority of all the concepts. The simple reason being it helps! images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif . For me after a point in time I realized that 90% of the questions were just slight variations and shifted my efforts to English. Since I was fairly confident in Math, the last five days were spent doing English. I was fortunate to be good at RC’s and did not need to practice it a lot. However CR’s and SC’s were a constant struggle. I had averaged around 80% in both towards the last week. I think what made the most difference to my English score was the fact that I did close to 350+ SC’s and around 400+ CR’s (from the 1000 CR document, although didn’t do any LSAT ones) in the last 5 days prior to the exam. In the end quantity rather quality made the big difference for me. The Scores GMATPrep 1 : 620 GMATPrep 2 : 670 GMATPrep 3 : 720 GMATPrep 4 : 730 After 4 GMATPrep’s, the software is only good practice and nothing more. Kaplan 620 , 600 , 610 , 580 – I say the same as everyone else, don’t read to much into the scores , but they have some really good and difficult SC’s along with GMAT level maths. The maths section however, according to me, doesn’t cover the entire syllabus. The IMS tests are extremely good for maths, but they are really bad for English. I gave around 11 tests with an average score of around 680. The Books 1.OG – Has to be completed first 2.Kaplan Premier & 800 – Although I think the 800 is much hyped 3.The 1000 series (SC, CR & DS) – These made all the difference 4.Forums – Very helpful in providing perspective, although they sometimes led me to believe wrong concepts. To know whose explanations are correct majority of the times is very important. I, myself have been guilty of stating a wrong concept on one occasion :eek:. Use the search function extensively! The fact of the matter is the moment you get complacent, it’s all over. It’s pays to be paranoid! Try not to adapt to someone else’s strategy, instead come out with your own. “Believe you me it makes a world of a difference”! Best of luck!

I would pick B, CDE all suggest that the rooms, and not structures, were connected by roads. In A if we remove the everything between the commas we get something like Anasazi settlements were built.... spectacular scale with 75 structures, were My only doubt , is it right to say scale with or scale of?

I tries searchind , but somehow my search doesnt work! Any idea why?

1. Art museums do not usually think of their collections as capital or consider the interest income that would be generated if a portion of the capital would have been invested in another form. (A) be generated if a portion of the capital would have been (B) have been generated if a portion of the capital would have been © be generated if a portion of the capital were (D) be generated if a portion of the capital was (E) be generated if a portion of the capital had been

1. An unusually strong cyclist can, it is hoped, provide enough power to set a new distance record for human-powered aircraft in MIT’s diaphanous construction of graphite fiber and plastic. (A) can, it is hoped, provide enough power to set (B) it is hoped, can provide enough power that will set © hopefully can provide enough power, this will set (D) is hopeful to set (E) hopes setting

Is the correct idiom acclaimed as or acclaimed to be?

1. Although it was expected that workers under forty would show hostility to the plan, the research report indicates that both younger and the older people approve of governmental appropriations for Social Security. (A) younger and the older people (B) younger people and the older © the younger and the older people (D) younger and older people (E) people who are younger and those who are older

1. Although films about the American West depict coyotes as solitary animals howling mournfully on the tops of distant hills, in reality these gregarious creatures live in stable groups that occupy the same territory for long periods. (A) films about the American West depict coyotes as solitary animals howling mournfully on the tops of distant hills (B) in films about the American West coyotes are depicted to be solitary animals that howl mournfully on the tops of distant hills © coyotes are depicted as solitary animals howling mournfully on the tops of distant hills in films about the American West (D) films about the American West depict coyotes as if they were solitary, mournfully howling animals on the tops of distant hills (E) films about the American West depict coyotes to be solitary and mournfully howling animals on the tops of distant hills My answer

sure, sorry.

I think A is wrong becasue "each" refers to a roof and a flat top dwelling which is not possible. i think it's E

I think they are trying to day , college was renegade becasue of X and Y Therefore shoudnt the it be B which uses "for" ( a substitute for becasue) ? C is wrong is wronf because it gives the impression of the college was founded for it's decision to accept!

I think it's A, the idiomatic expression is disproportionate to, and in D the word screen is used for a “disparate effect", whereas it should be screens

The only idiomatic expression is characteristic of, hence A for me!

I thinks it's either D or E. havent we heard , people speaking on the condition of anonymity on various channels. Out of D & E , I would go with E , becasue you cant have names in press reports but you can take names in press reports

I think it's A, B : Wether & If mismatch C: Same as above D: Wether or not is redundant E: Not only to, but also to is misssing