Nick_AAPL

Its "D". Explanation: "and added" in A, B, and C kind of separates the sentence. It must be written as one sentence. $50 billion capital investment left Mexico, adding to the strain... is CORRECT ! "as having left Mexico" is awkward and wordy in option - E So "D" is the best choice.

Its "A"

During her lecture the speaker used map to clarify directional terms, for not everyone in attendance was knowledgeable that winds are designated by the direction from which they come. (A) for not everyone in attendance was knowledgeable (B) for everyone in attendance did not know © with everyone in attendance not knowing (D) with everyone attending not knowledgeable (E) for not everyone attending knew "During her lecture" --> shows action continuing in the present. "for not everyone in attendance was knowledgeable" ["was knowledgeable" is in the past] --> Eliminate A. B --> Awkward C ---> used map ....with everyone --> changes meaning D ---> same as above E ----> is correct

I think a low GMAT score ( Its important to focus energy on the following: 1. What unique experience you bring to the table? [iT Consulting, 5 yrs work ex, and a good GMAT not necessarily are common among applicants]. If you have good leadership display at work / took initiative in bringing change to an Organization's strategy and showed leadership in implementing the recommendations ...it will put you among top applicants] - Admissions committee looks for "differentiation factor". 2. Why an MBA? Why this school? What you did before and what you want to do after? - This sounds very cliche..but its a very important question. Need to be very specific and thorough in your answer. There are several such things that can change the game, so be positive and show your strengths in this area. If you think you can get a substantially higher GMAT score w/o much effort, then you can take GMAT again. But a 690 to 740 doesn't make any difference in my view. Even 780+ doesn't mean an applicant is admitted. It will support your Apps but an application should be well rounded i.e, equally stronger in other more important areas.

I would recommend to take the test again. This will be a sign to show the admissions committee that you can improve and is serious about strengthening your application. Fisher school is competitive!

Thanks everyone ! Lurkman, 690 should be good enough considering your experience (# of years). I heard from many of my friends who went to top schools that 690 is good enough and it will not break an application. For that matter, GMAT score doesn't carry much weightage unless someone has a very low score. For executive MBA's, many schools pay lot of emphasis on work experience and leadership. Most of the schools like Columbia Univ. may not even ask for a GMAT score (My cousin graduated from Columbia Univ. recently) However, I learnt that reputed companies like McKinsey, BCG (as I am interested in Mgmt Consulting) do look at GMAT scores for interview selections during placements. So if everyone at the same school had similar GPA's, aspirations, work experiences then GMAT can make a difference during initial interview selections. So, a high GMAT score has some value not only for admissions but also for other purposes. I depends on the type of MBA program you are looking at and where you want to go after an MBA.

I will split my entire debrief into 3 simple parts: 1. My Test Preparation 2. GMAT test experience 3. General Strategy 1. My Test Preparation ----------------------------------------------------------------- I believe in focussed preparation with clear cut goals. So I signed up for GMAT and allowed 3 weeks for Prep. The first week wasn't very productive (used to prepare 1-2 hours a day apart from partying almost daily - I can't help myself as I live in a Party house, also there is heavy Peer pressure). But was very serious from 2nd week onwards. I did study consistently for 4-5 hours a day and then used to hang in with my friends late night for relaxation). I used to score 90%+ on SCs w/o preparation, but then my score got lower and lower after studying Manhattan SC and GMAT800. These books are excellent but I think I over analyzed SCs and ended up making mistakes. My strike rate was pretty good in OGs (95%+ on RCs, 90%+ on CRs and around 75-80% on SCs). After 2 weeks of study, I took 3 Manhattan CATs and 2 GMATPrep and scored: GMATPrep 1: 710 (Q50, V37) GMATPrep 2: 710 (Q48, V40) Manhattan CAT 1/2/3: 640/650/660 I knew that I needed additional practice on SCs considering my lackluster performance. But I believed in working on my mistakes and not repeating them. Although I kept scoring low on SCs (in practice tests), I used to analyze each question on SC, prepared notes and worked on it). Finished Manhattan SC, GMAT800, OGs in 2 weeks !!! I was doing well on RCs and CRs. So just concentrated on my past mistakes in these areas, prepared notes and mastered them. I did think about postponing the test for 2 more weeks but then I thought its better to take the test rather than loose $250 bucks. Also I worked hard on Math to make up for any misses on SCs [tried to get 51]. I never gave up on SCs though, I did everything that I could do in 3 weeks. Well, if I take my GMAT again, I will definitely kill this section Next time including Math ! 2. GMAT Test Experience ------------------------------------------------------------------ I took my test at 4:30Pm on a Saturday night. I wanted to sleep well and take my sweet time to get up in the morning (so 4:30Pm was a good time). Reviewed my notes, met my friends in SF, had lunch and finally hit the test center. I got inside the test center at 4:35pm sharp, finished all the tutorials in 10 sec, entered my top 5 choices of schools and then I started making few headings on the rough sheet (Assumptions, Conclusion, Weakness, Strengthen etc.) before hitting the button to Start "Analyze an Argument". The attendant at the test center quickly came upto me and said this is a violation of GMAT rule...I am not supposed to write anything on the Yellow Sheet until I start the test. She then replaced my work sheet with another one and told me not to repeat it this. [Learning: Don't make this mistake! Even if you are writing headings and not necessarily any information, its against GMAT rules. This distracted me a little bit initially but then I diverted my attention and focussed on TWA. I wrote about 7 paragraphs on Essay 1 (Analyze an Argument) and 6 paragraphs on Essay 2 (Analysis of an Issue). I organized the essays well with syntactic variety and persuasive examples. I did have time to check the grammer and spellings. Overall, I finished very strong on these essays. Key: Have your templates ready and practise writing atleast 2 Full Tests (especially GMATPrep: start with Essays, Math and then Verbal). Focussing for 4 hours is not easy. By the time you get to verbal, its exchausting !! - Especially for me as I have a Full time job, I used to prepare for 1-2 hours after work and then take a practice test. After I was done with "Analysis of an Issue". I raised my hand to take a break. Signed out and was walking to the locker to get a drink, but the lady interrupted and said, "You started the test late, so I would appreciate if you cut down your break time". I thought she was rude to me (the way she said that). I didn't loose my cool, I just said I will try my best and then got near the locker, had some orange juice and got back in under a minute to start my Math section. [Learning: Better go early to the test center and avoid such remarks from other people] Math section seemed pretty easy to me. I got some tough questions around 8-10 and then around 18-21. Rest of the test was pretty smooth. I was extra cautious on all questions (checked my answer infact 3 times) but still finished the Math section 10 minutes before. Somehow I was at my BEST, maybe because its a REAL test that counts. [Learning: Just keep your pace throughout the test, don't think whether you got a question right?] I was disappointed after I saw my score on Math at the end (ofcourse verbal too, I will discussion this next). I raised my hand again to take the next break. This time I took my sweet time (about 6-7 minutes) and got back in. Verbal section started with 2 sentence completions, a CR followed by an RC (4-8 questions). My weak area is SC. I used to score 100% on RCs especially Practise tests on GMATPrep and 90%+ on the CRs. I used to suck on SCs (used to get 4-5 correct out of 14-15 questions on GMATPrep) which used to bring my score down quite a bit. I was very cautious on my GMAT verbal to start strong. I did start strong but took more time from questions 14-31. I was left with 10 min and 12 questions at the end. I got a 4rth RC on my 32nd question, I knew the rest of the 8 questions (other than 4rth RC) will definitely be 5 SCs and 3 CRs. So I took my usual time to work on the last RC (as its my strength). I should say I messed up in the last 10 min. Although I did get what the author was exactly trying to say in the RC, the questions appeared very tricky and the answers were very close. As time was running pretty fast, I couldn't concentrate well but I believed in myself thinking that I had a consistent performance on RCs and just raced to finish all the RC questions. I had just under 5 minutes and 8 questions now. I got a tough CR (quickly understood the gist of it and chose an answer). Got a string of SC's (I think 3 of them), I tried to do my best on them knowing that its my weak area (I spent lot of time here, I should have just selected the best choice and moved on, instead I tried to read the SC again to get it RIGHT). Finally left with 6 seconds and 2 questions. I randomly selected an answer on the 40th question but then to my bad luck, the screen was stuck for a couple of seconds to give me a final question (those 2 crucial seconds seemed like eons for me). I couldn't answer 41st question, as I ran out of time. This is the main reason for not reaching 700+ score. I might have been penalized 10-20 points for not finishing the test. [i always used to finish practise tests but couldn't on the REAL GMAT, I did have 3 seconds but the screen was stuck on the 40th question for 2 extra seconds after I had answered. So moral story: FINISH THE TEST ! DON'T EVER DO THIS PLEASE, this will bring down your score). I expected a 710-740 on my REAL GMAT despite not finishing the verbal section. But I ended up with 690. My practise test scores on GMATPrep 1 and 2 were 710. I thought after mastering every mistake, I could only improve my score and get around 740). Real GMAT score 690 (90%tile): Quant (49)/89%tile - Verbal (34)/70%tile 3. General Strategy: Books: ---------------- SC - OG11, Verbal OG, Manhattan SC, GMAT800 RC - OG11, Verbal OG, GMAT800 (Its a TERRIFIC book for RC) CR - OG11, Verbal OG and Manhattan CR Math - OG11, GMAT800, Manhattan Number Properties Strategy ----------------- 1. Practice, Practice, Practice on taking full length tests (including essays) 2. Review all mistakes and make notes - Most importantly, understand why the other answer choices were INCORRECT). This strategy will greatly help on SCs and CRs. Someone on TestMagic said, if you master Verbal OGs, you should get 40+ on Verbal. Its 100% TRUE. 3. Regarding Math - Practice tough problems (GMAT800 isn't tough - may be try some Math problems on 9th and 10th grade if you are from Asia). Avoid mistakes; GMAT comes with tricky questions - so be careful!).

I took my GMAT on Saturday night in San Francisco and scored a 690 (Q49/V34). I will write a debrief soon !

B is the only option that correctly compares the mortgage payment of a 31 year old as a % of his income (for the year 1973 Vs 1984). There are two things that this option correctly shows: 1. Using semi colon to show that they are two independent sentences (the second sentence in the original question "and 44% in 1984" ---> is incomplete and is not a proper comparison) 2. Correctly compares % in 1973 to % in 1984 (note in Option B: in 1984 "the figure" was 44%)

The answer is to look for something that "strongly supports the claim that the proposal, if carried out, will have the announced effect?" Removing public alarm boxes and relying on private telephones will work ONLY if the Fire department will be able to trace all the alarms and from where they came from. This strongly supports the claim that private telephones can be used to minimize prank calls w/o hampering people's ability to report a fire. Imagine, if the fire department cannot trace a private telephone call, then it DOESN't MATTER if some traced telephone calls can provide more information like nature and size of the fire. Other options like B and D are IRRELEVANT as it doesn't answer why using private telephones will reduce Prank calls w/o hindering the chance of reporting a fire. Option E WEAKENS instead of STRENGTHENING the claim ! Hope this helps ..

Hi, There are no explanations given for GMAT Prep questions. You will only know whether you got a question correct and the RIGHT answer.

Hi, There is no CAT software for MGMAT. Its taken online. You have to buy any one of the Manhattan GMAT books to take the tests online (book has some directions on how to register and take these tests). I would recommend you to buy Manhattan SC correction book. Good luck !

Its "A". "They" must be used as "employment costs" is plural. Employment cost is countable here (although not stated explicitly)..so "less" is used correctly in "A". Whats the official answer?

Hi there, I found GMAT800 to be very useful for RC. I have been consistently correct in answering "main idea of the passage", "purpose of the passage" & inference questions in many practice RC's after I went through this book. It definitely improved my scores and confidence.

In English writing..its correct to say "unqualified support of labor" rather than "labor's unqualified support". So "C" is better than "A".

I will go for "B" as "compared" is simple past and doesn't go with the words "racing" and "bouncing". Made a comparison between X and Y makes sense including the tense used.

I will go for "A". Please post the answer.

can you PM me the list of Probability questions please..

Let "x" be the additional # of machines. So 6*12 = 8 * (x+6) which impies x =3 Note: If question is asking for additional # of machines, it always helps to take additional # of machines as "X", because most of the people calculate the answer as "9" machines and forget to subtract "6" from it. Just a thought ! it could help you save 10 points.

Yes, I agree with "C" as well.

Correct sentence should be "Because they can reproduce several times each year and produce offspring in large numbers, many insect species can generally adapt quickly to changes in their environment". They refers to "Many insect species" correctly. "C" has errors as well. Because they can "reproduce yearly several times" (yearly several times distorts the meaning), along with producing offspring in large numbers, "so many insect species" (It should be Many insect Species). Also reproduce and producing aren't parallel in C. Maybe 800Bob might help here...

Its "D". Good explanation there by Quiver..

Its "D". "as many ... as" is the correct idiom.

"Furthermore rising rental rates force them to use far more than the standard 25 percent" is redundant. Further more ------far more (kind of redundant) ..a correct sentence should be crisp and clear. So "B" is incorrect.

"D" if not the BEST is the better choice of all the given options. "They" refers to Workers. Although "they" is not very clear..D is a better choice.