larbgai

PR tests do tend to be on the easier side. They don't push you as much as Manhattan or Kaplan tests. However, my bigger concern with PR is that they emphasize "hacking" at problems instead of fundamentals. They are heavy on plugging in and backsolving techniques, and very light on core concepts. The result is that you will miss most of the hard questions, because these tend to have exceptions that are very difficult to crack with the techniques that PR and Kaplan give you. It is not surprising that most people who take these courses get around a 500-600. That is really all they are preparing you to be able to do. It is very difficult to get a high score on the GMAT using simplistic math techniques like those taught in PR and Kaplan. Also, if your instructor is telling you that "you are better than 60% of students", then that is disingenuous and sad. They shouldn't be enabling mediocrity, but helping you achieve your desired score. Unfortunately, a lot of the instructors for these courses don't have that high of GMAT score themselves (some companies will take a 680 in order to be an instructor). Anyway, don't settle for anything less than your desired score. Keep pushing at the test, and you can crack 700 without a problem. It is all about learning the fundamentals. I would suggest getting the Manhattan GMAT books and reviewing these thoroughly - they were a revelation for me after having initially gone through Kaplan materials.

charry- I think you might be right about this not being a properly formed GMAT question. You would expect at least one of the solutions from statement 1 to show up in statement 2 for the value of x. B is the answer, because it gives a definitive result for x. However: Statement 1 says: x^2 - 5x = 6 so: x^2-5x-6 = 0 so: (x-6)(x+1) = 0 so: x = 6 or -1 Statement 2 says: (x^2-1)/(x+1) = 1 so: (x+1)(x-1) / (x+1) = 1 so: x+1 cancels on top and bottom so: x - 1 = 1 so: x = 2 Statement 2 gives us a definitive result for B. However, it is not part of the solution set for statement 1, which I don't think happens on the GMAT (although I could be wrong - this is an 800Bob question, whether you can have a different answer for a statement that wasn't part of the solution set of the other statement).

Congratulations rawjosh! I'm so happy that all of your hard work payed off. Best of luck with your apps!

yup - tricky... y is integer less than 1, so y = 0. Given the stem, y cannot be less than 0. Answer is D.

I thought the paper tests were good practice. However, they are very different from the CAT. The early math questions are real easy. The late math questions are fairly difficult, but I think the real thing definitely has more tough questions. Using the paper tests to practice timing isn't a bad idea - the time pressure is pretty high for each section. Theoretically, the CAT should approximate your paper test score. But I wouldn't rely on this - I think the CAT is more challenging, especially since you can't skip questions and return later.

krovvidy- I think whether you retake or not has to do with your goals for school. If you are shooting for a top 20 school, I would strongly encourage a retake. Your scaled score is actually pretty good, but that is mostly due to your kick *** quant score. Your verbal score, however, is going to hurt you in the application process. I have heard that the top schools look for a minimum 80%/80% split (give or take, of course). Your verbal being below the 70% range is going to hurt your application. I am going to say that 19/20 times, your quant score is going to fall within 1 scaled point of where it is currently. The good news is that this allows you to put all your energy into verbal now. You are clearly a sharp dude from your posts on this forum, which means that you won't have a problem bringing up your verbal score if you are willing to do the work. I would stick with the OG's for verbal. As I understand it, you are a native speaker, so with some hard work you should be able to knock out a solid verbal score. If you study hard on the sentence correction, and take your time on the first 20 questions of the test, that should put you in at least the 80%, which combined with your quant score will put you well over 700. Anyway, there are others on the forum to whom I have given the opposite advice, because their q/v was well balanced, and there were no guarantees they could repeat the same performance. However, I am very confident in your ability to repeat on quant all day long, and given some practice you should be able to bring your verbal up to over 80%. So I would say definitely give the test another shot.....

rkwagle- In data sufficiency, you must always be able to answer the stem question definitively. This stem asks for the value of x. You cannot have more than one value for x, since it asks for a singular value. So it is not sufficient to have 2 and 3 be the value for X. In this question, only C allows for a singular value of X.

How can OA be B? If v-k = 6, then v = 10 and k = 4. Or, v = 1000006 and k = 1000000 Is 10^3 - 4^3 = 1000006^3 - 1000000^3? Don't think so. Answer is E.

Answer is A. Can only be 2 for A. Can be 2 or 0 for B.

Agree with Abhijit. If 50/100(y) = 80/100(x), then y>x, where y = total number of professors, and x = total number of scientists

If xyz ≠ 0, is x (y + z) ≥ 0? (1) │y + z│ = │y│ + │z│ (2) │x + y│ = │x│ + │y│ The more I deal with these types of problems, the more I am convinced that the "logic based approach" is the only way to really solve them accurately. The stem tells us that none of the variables is equal to zero, and then asks if x * (y+z) ≥ 0 So the only way for the stem to equal 0 is for y and z to be of opposite sign, since x isn't equal to zero. So if y and z are the same number but of opposite sign, then the answer to the stem is yes. Otherwise, we want to know is x and y+z have the same or opposite sign. If they are of opposite sign, the answer to the stem is no. If they are of the same sign, then the answer to the stem is yes. (1) │y + z│ = │y│ + │z│ This tells us that y and z are of the same sign. The reason is that if they are of opposite sign, then the y+z on the left side will cancel out, and can't equal addition of abs value on the right side. However, we don't know if x has the same sign as y+z. So we get an insufficient answer. (2) │x + y│ = │x│ + │y│ This tells us that x and y have the same sign. However, we don't know the sign of z, so this is insufficient. Together: This tells us that x,y,z all have the same sign. Therefore, when multiplied together, they must be greater than or equal to zero. Answer is C.

Also, MGMAT challenge problems for advanced quant. They don't get much more advanced than that. If you can solve those, you can solve most questions.

If you are legitimately getting a 720 on the GMATprep test, without having repeated it, then your score of 570 is not due to inability to perform on the test. You need to analyze your state of mind on the test. Did you sleep well the night before? Are you a morning person? If not, do you keep scheduling your tests in the morning? I never really talked about this in my debrief, but the first time I took the GMAT, I scheduled it for 8AM on a Saturday morning. I am not a moning person. I felt this hurt me a little. The second time I took it, I scheduled it for 11:30 AM. By this time in the day, I was fully awake and ready to go. You might want to consider some of these factors. And as others have said, don't freak out. At this point, you are frustrated and questioning whether B-school is for you. Use that to your advantage. The next time you take the test, the absolute worst thing that can happen is you don't do well. So stop worrying about not doing well! Just go in, and take the stupid, evil test. Don't worry about anything else. Just focus as best you can on the questions, and treat it like a game. You are just trying to do as well as you can. Since the next time you take it, you are going to treat it like a game, you are also going to act the way you would in any game where points are the objective. You are going to skip questions you can't solve immediately. You are going to focus on the one's you can solve quickly and accurately. Then, you do as well as you do. Just take the test, and see what your score is.

In general, whenever you see addition in ratio problem with unknown variables, you usually can't find the ratio. Let's say the amount of sugar is 2. Then the amount of flour is 3.5 Then, let's say the amount is sugar is 100. And the amount of flour is then 101.5 Is 2/3.5 = 100/101.5? Obviously not. So this is not sufficient. A is the answer.

Congratulations on a great score! I agree with you - this test can be cracked if you are willing to put in the time. You don't have to be a math genius to ace the GMAT. But if you are not a math natural, you have to invest the time to learn strategies to solve problems quickly and accurately. If you are willing to do that, then any score is possible on the GMAT.