amit_ace

Smalish Manhattan SC guide I used is the one which has grammar lessons like noun, pronoun etc in the beginning

My debrief I am trying to put in everything that I have read in other people's debriefs or wish it was there. Pardon my spelling and grammar mistakes :-) This was my only attempt at GMAT. I started my preparation around July. However actual prepration time was less than 45 days. Here are my prep scores 1.GMAT Prep 1 - 720 (before starting preparation) Kaplan diagnostic -680 (before starting preparation) 2. GMAT prep 2 - 770 (Around middle of my preparation) 3. GMAT prep 3 -two weeks from D day- 740( After getting 770 I lost my interest due to lack of challenge and did not study for a long time.Also messed up in timing both on quant and verbal)- By the time I took the test I had forgotten all SC rules :( 4.GMAT prep 4.(770) After dismal performance in SC in previous test I was seriously thinking about postponing the test.Took the test exactly one week in advance to decide whether to postpone or not.I am glad I did'nt. My strengths Quant Verbal- critical reasoning, RC Weakness SC- sucked big time My journey Material used(Did not do anything more than once) OG 11 - verbal OG 10 - Only did SC Last 75 questions-That was after my GMAT prep 3 -I had flunked badly in SC in the test. Maths OG 10- PS/DS only last 50 questions Kaplan -CD and 4 tests - CD has good lessons too. Testmagic- used heavily for SC answers, solved some CR's and maths questions off an on just to be touch. 1000 SC - Solved first 260 questions or so. SC I spent most of my time on improving SC. I took wrong approach in the beginning and could not improve at all in first few weeks.I strongly suggest reading the Manhattan SC guide ,the new one,which has grammar basics and the OG 11. Read each OG explanation carefully and make notes. SC is nothing but learning a set of few rules and then practicing to identify patterns. Dont break your head trying to go after non-GMAT type questions. GMAT is a test designed not for the gurus of grammar but for normal people like you and me. Used to take me average of 1.25 minutes Over time you improve your ability to identify those patterns -increasing both speed and accuracy. OG 11, OG 10(last 75), 1000CS first 260 or so, testmagic forum Imp note: Unless you are a Grammar guru make sure you practise SC regularly , atleast a week before the test. CR It was my strong area. Never followed any technique. More often than not I was able to guess the correct answer after a single reading of the questions.Never tried to identify conclusion, premise etc.Just read the question and answer it.Usually took me little over a minute to solve each CR.solved OG 11 for CR.Once in a while used to check questions in testmagic just to keep up my confidence. RC Was disheartened by my kaplan RC results. Good news is the GMAT passages are much easier. Again did not go with any techniques as I was able to do resonably well with OG11 questions.My strategy was to just read the passage once for understanding and then trying to answer the questions.It is always good to refer back to the passage when answering reference questions as it improves accuracy drastically. Read the first few lines of the passage slowly. Even if you dont understand the passage a 100% it is fine. You will get another chance when you come back to it for reference questions. PS/DS I was good at it. Just needed to remove some cow webs. Also in DS I used to take both choices in consideration while solving. Changed that habit by practicing a few questions. Did not do much practice. Used kaplan and some notes posted by people to brush up knowledge(basic defintions) Only practise was the FLT's and two hard maths test floating on the web. IMP note : number of hours is not important. What you learn in them is. Whenever you finish studying ask yourself what new concepts have you learnt? You might have solved 100 questions but not learnt anything new .It means those hours were a waste of time. D-day I did not take any day off from work prior to the test. As it always happens the work pressure increases before D-day.Be positive , dont expect too much (I was hoping just to get 720+ which I knew i could get easily if I dont mess up big time with my timing) and dont put too much pressure on yourself. For verbal I conciously decided to stay ahead of time as it reduces the pressure of time and you perform better. Have your own strategy. For me my main point was timing and careless mistakes For maths - I decided I would double check my answers only if I have more than two minutes remaining per question. For verbal again I had decided I will not linger on SC's if i dont know how to crack them.I will not re-read the passages again and again if I dont understand them completely. Unlike other people who spend 1 minute per q on SCs and then 2 on CRs and rest for RC my strategy was 1.25 minutes SC and 1.25 CR then the saved time for CR. Point is do what works best for you. SC in the actual test was easy that GMAT prep, rest everything was almost the same level. It is best to set the exam date when you start to keep yourself motivated and focused. I did the mistake of not doing so and could have easliy given the exam atleast a month earlier. Also, plan to take the exam near your peak. My SC peaked during second Gprep and I was more prepared then, than I was when I gave the exam. Last but not the least do not panic. Being in a positive and relaxed state of mind is imperative to perform to your potential.

I would like to thank members of this forum for the valuable help. I will post a debrief soon. I am a non native with engineering background. Male Indian IT 8+ years experience.

Imo C, A ,d ,d

IMO B B - talks about all lions and tigers but D seems to talk about only those lions and tigers whose hyoid bones vibrate loosely

I think it should be C protecting ..... is a participle phrase It modifies the "animal hide shields......military equipment" for E we have a preposition phrase which modifies military equipment.

I think it should be A Also in D and E incude should be includes

IMo C OA please

IMo A too. OA please

Imo B, B what is the OA

Imo C

IMO B- Please post the OA

IMO D- although B was close and none of them very convincing

Imo E

IMo C E could be argued if the question said that the suggested way is the only way to stop accidents.