givemeanid

Thanks guys. CrackXam, regarding the math section, practice is the key. OG11 is a good start. However, if you are aiming 700 or maybe 720+, then you have to seek out other source. This forum is a great start. Also, MGMAT tests are good practice. They are much harder than the real thing but give you a good thorough training on letting it go and move on which you will have to do on the real test no matter your score.

You guys are fun. Thanks for all your wishes. Good luck to you too. Just go out and beat the GMAT!

IMO, developing instincts is the key to tackling Verbal. As a rule of thumb, if I couldn't really get a handle on the question within 45sec-1min (you have to get a sense of the time without having to look at a clock. Also, the clock does not show seconds and you are not allowed to carry a watch or anything), I would start POE and narrowing down the choices. The only exception is the RC passage which you should take your time to reach. For CR and SC, especially for SC, if you do not know within first 45 seconds or so what is really wrong, then you need to start thinking of an educated guess and that is where your instincts come in. If you read my debrief, you will realize that I was in a mini-panic mode during the test. It is not a good idea to get into that state but I owe my decent score to instincts. I sailed through Quant since it is my stronger area. Verbal has always been weak for me and that is why, IMO, your instincts will guide you. There are patterns (for e.g on RC, GMAT will never use a condescending or overly negative tone for an answer) and you should learn to recognize them. It's not just about how much you know, but also about how you 'take' the test.

I definitely think 45Q in MG Prep is good. Their Quant is way harder than the real thing.

MGMAT CATs do a good job of getting you to 'move on', especially in the Quant section. Remember that the test is adaptive. It will try to find your level and will throw things at you that YOU WILL NOT be able to solve in 2-min (or maybe not at all). You just have to pound it into your head that you cannot afford to ponder over one question. It does you no good if you lose time on one question for two reasons: 1. It's more important to get easier questions (or questions at a level below yours) right than it is to get harder questions wrong. For e.g if your level is 720, then you would not really be penalized for getting a 760 level question wrong but you WILL BE penalized for getting a 680 level question incorrect. 2. You spend time trying to solve a 760 level question when that lost time could have been used to solve a 680 question later on. I learned to move on by thinking of GMAT as a speed-dating event. You are given a face time of 2 min. and you move on no matter what. You are not in the game for a long-term relationship! You see her, you like her or you do not. You get the question, either you can do it in 2 min or you can't. Simple, isn't it?

I did MGMAT CATs with 4, 3 and 2 weeks remaining for the real GMAT. I used to do one practice test every weekend. I have mixed feelings regarding MGMAT. Their quant is undoubtedly harder than the real thing. The best part about this is that it gets you into the habit of 'moving on' when you are stuck on a question. The best I managed on MGMAT was 27 correct responses on the quant section which, in terms of correct questions, is my worse than quant performances among all other tests. On the real test, I never felt pressured for time on the quant section and finished with maybe 3-4 minutes left. (I did get a little leisurely towards the end and was double checking my answers but still...) Verbal on MGMAT is maybe, just maybe, a little easier than the real thing. The reason for this might be that MGMAT sticks to only concepts that are tested in OG. Now, don't get me wrong. There is enough material in OG to kick all our collective behinds anytime but I found MGMAT Verbal to be a little 'formulaic'. I had much less tough time on MGMAT SCs than I did on OG SCs. I am not sure what to tell you about your scores. GMATPrep is hands down the best indicator but scores in MGMAT are usually lower for a lot of people than the score on real thing.

Thanks guys. All of you were great help because my prep consisted of answering questions on the forum and figuring out new stuff all the time :) I would not be as active as I used to but message me anytime and I will try to help out any which way I can.

Thanks bro. Quant was always the easier part for me. I tried to avoid careless mistakes but that was pretty much it. The material wasn't anything new, so I never really put any effort to learn it from scratch. Verbal, on the other hand was initially hard, especially SCs. However, MGMAT's SC guide helped me a lot and I kept a record of my OG questions. I would review these questions every once in a while. RCs, to be honest, I never really practiced much and I guess that was the reason I freaked out when I saw a big nasty RC during the test. I practiced CR entirely with OG and with the forum posts. Just lot of questions is all I did with CR.

I did not really do any sets. I downloaded all of them but did not even touch SC sets. I did ONE RC. Yeah 1 passage from the sets. I have ADD and RCs really used to get to my nerves during practice :) However, I did the first 7 batches of 20Q each for CR. I just checked my notebook and I got around 8 or 9 incorrect. I primarily did OG11 and MGMAT SC Guide.

Yeah. Done with it and glad it is over. Although I scored pretty much where I figured I would, a part of me wants a higher score :) I started thinking about taking the test a couple of months back. I went on a book shopping spree and ordered everything (they are all on sale starting now!). I have OG11, OG Verbal Review, OG Quant Review, Kaplan, Kaplan 800, Princeton Review AND Manhattan GMAT SC GUide. The only books I ended up using were OG11 and Manhattan SC Guide. The others are in pristine condition! (As a side note, send me a private message if you want to buy any of these. I am in New York City.) However, all my studying was done on Beat The GMAT and Test Magic forums. I figured that since only the questions that get posted on the forums are the ones someone is unable to do, or has a doubt in, these questions would provide good practice. One good thing I did was study consistently everyday for like an hour in the evening after I get home from work and maybe 2-3 hours on the weekends. Verbal was my Achilles' heel and I knew that if I get past the '40' barrier, I would be in good shape. During the test, AWA started off ok. I didn't practice any essay writing before hand and so getting even a 5.0 on AWA would be acceptable to me. Quant section started off pretty well and I really got concerned towards the middle since the section didn't seem to get any tougher as some other debriefs had mentioned. A score of 50 does suggest that I made probably careless mistake since there wasn't a single problem I faced that I thought I couldn't do. As a matter of fact, I guessed on only 1 question during the middle when I was pretty even as far as time was concerned and I didn't want to lose time on a single question. Towards the end, I was even double checking my answers. Then came the dreaded Verbal part. The first was a SC and I had NO CLUE. Lights out amigo. Made an educated guess and moved on. The second was another SC. NO BLEEPING CLUE. Game, set, match, no championship, ousted in the first round. I was getting concerned. So, took a deep breath and continued. A messed up CR on 3rd or 4th question. I started to get into a panic mode. A few questions later came RC which was 'ok'. I checked the time and I figured I wasn't doing too well. I was at question 13 around 48 minutes remaining. Few more CRs and SCs later came an RC passage that seemed like it was made for kindergarten. I kid you not. It was so simple that I contemplated at that point I should just sit and memorize it rather than continuing since I have probably messed up the Verbal section by now. Also, around question 20 or so, I noticed that I did not get a single @#$@#$% boldface which usually shows up, according to some posters, when you are doing well. Let the good times roll. Few more messed up SCs (I can tell you with all honesty that I had no confidence in majority of the SCs on the test) and CRs later shows up this nasty a$$ RC. I was around question 28 or so with 24 minutes left and I was in complete panic. I couldn't make head or tail out of it, it spanned page and a half (you had to scroll to read it) and there were FOUR questions based on it. I am fairly certain I got all of those wrong and at that point I was hoping that it was an experimental one. Well, I thought that if I got another RC, I will definitely not finish the section on time. And then I got two really nasty CRs that I boiled down to THREE choices by POE and guessed. Around question 35, I was so convinced that I have to retake (I had decided that anything less than 720 and I will retake) that I actually paused for a moment, looked around, took a deep breath and started contemplating whether I like Godfather-I more than Godfather-II or vice-versa. I then started thinking of Pulp Fiction that I saw umpteenth time a few days ago and cursed Tarantino for not letting us know what was in the suitcase. Somehow, cursing him made me focus again and I finished the section finally with couple of more educated guesses. Then came the screens that ask you to fill out some personal info. After those came the moment of truth where GMAC asks you to 'report' or 'cancel'. It's like GMAC is being Mommy and asking you after school 'have you been good?' I paused. At that point, I could hear my own heartbeat. Then I said to myself, BLEEP it and clicked next. And then the digits showed up. 7 5 0 in that order. I shook my head in disbelief, goofy *** smile on my face and walked out of the test center. What a day! Tad bit disappointed that I did not get a 51 in Q. It has got to be careless mistakes. Also, just in case anybody wants to know, here are my practice scores: GMATPrep 1(baseline): 700 Kaplan 1: 660 (Q48, V36) Princeton Review 1: 730 (Q50, V30) Princeton Review 2: 710 (Q50, V41) Princeton Review 3: 730 (Q51, V37) MGMAT CAT 1: 710 (Q48, V39) MGMAT CAT 2: 750 (Q48, V44) MGMAT CAT 3: 720 (Q50, V38) GMATPrep 2: 770 (Q51, V45) GMATPrep 3 (re-install): 780 (Q51, V45) Moral of the story: Cursing Tarantino calms you down.

Agreed

f(x) = f(1-x) When f(x) = x^2 * (1-x)^2 f(1-x) = (1-x)^2 * (1-(1-x))^2 = (1-x)^2 * x^2 = f(x) D it is Check other choices by plugging in as above to see they don't match up.

A it is

f(x) = f(x^2) f(2) = f(2^2) = f(4) f(4) = f(4^2) = f(16) So, f(2) = f(16)

Is it E?