missionpossible

Crazy1, I personally would start with Kaplan for the theory part of it as OG has limited content particularly for verbal section. However, there is no golden rule. Go with your plan if you have a good reason. The way I did it was to review from all the resources I had and then solve the problems from each of them seperately. Good luck in your preparation.

if anything, ull only improve the second time around. but really the time in which you got to retake depends on how well prepared you were the first time. You may read my debrief as well and see if the experience helps. There is obviously a big window of potential improvement in Q and V sections.

zuckerman, am sorry. was out of town and could not check your message. I personally have not solved too many questions from the forum but whatever I did was helpful in reviewing some concepts and recognizing different strategies for the problem. also, i find them a good way of randomly practicing during working breaks instead of browsing. in terms of difficulty, i think they are good more so because people tend to post difficult questions. other users of this forum may possibly extend their opinion on this view.

shockerpee..i am sorry i cannot answer your question as i have not used Mc.Graw-Hill GMAT. anilmanu..i have an engineering background and i will PM you about the schools. ..Thanks for your wishes sgmat

Well, did take the test again after a month and ended up with a 700 after a disappointing 650 (Q44, V35, AWA 5.0). Just wanted to share some of my experiences on this forum as it really has been my virtual companion in the 1 month between the tests. I also would like to thank mathphobia for sharing some of the notes and Vineet Dixit of this forum who has been very generous and prompt in providing his feedback. I will try to highlight a few issues that I think are relevant and could be of some help to future aspirants. A brief insight into my GMAT journey: Resources used: Princeton Review, Kaplan, OG 11, MGMAT Sentence Correction, Some of the shared notes on this forum Practice Tests: GMAT Prep, Manhattan GMAT, Princeton Review, Kaplan Average Scores leading to the Test: GMAT Prep (4): 710 Manhattan GMAT(5): 710 Princeton Review(3): 600 Kaplan(1): 600 As I sincerely feel I am an amateur at best in recommending strategies considering the vast amount of resources and more than generous people on this forum, I will try to be address a few issues that I personally realized are important. I will be glad to answer any specific questions. FEED BACK: 1) Practice Tests: I would recommend Manhattan GMAT (needless to mention GMAT Prep) as they seem to be the next best thing to GMAT Prep in terms of scoring algorithm. The math does seem to demand more time than a comparable GMAT problem but I guess their scoring system is liberal enough. Besides, they do expose you to a wide variety of concepts. So taking their tests and reviewing them is a learning experience and preparation in itself. I personally would not recommend princeton tests though their reading material is a good start in the initial stages of preparation. The same applies for Kaplan , especially the verbal section. Their RC passages are ridiculously long and if anything, very uncharacteristic of real GMAT passages. Also, their explanation of problems is clumsy and is often circular in justification. (Answer "A" is correct. B,C,D and E are wrong because they are different from "A". :) A subtle exaggeration but not far from truth.) 2)Quant: My weak area after my 1st test was DS-Number Properties section. The standard advice is practice a lot and dissect the question stem as much as you can before looking at the answer choices. I would also think, solving mathematically instead of religiously plugging in numbers , where applicable i.e., saves time and also confirms the right answer. However, dont deviate from what is comfortable to you. Ultimately, you have to solve the problem in a method that suits you the best. Again, a very standard advice. Try to maximize the accuracy of first 10 questions. After my 1st test, I was convinced that is where I went wrong. It not only gives you confidence but also builds the pace and confidence for the following ones. And remember, it is alright to miss a couple. The idea is to be extra careful not to make careless mistakes in the very beginning that you would have otherwise done right. 3)Verbal: I read Manhattan GMAT sentence correction and I believe its a worthwhile investment not just for the book but also because it gives you access to 6 tests online. In the actual GMAT, however, I felt the choices were a lot more subtly different to make an easy final pick. Besides that , strategies and practice questions in Kaplan and OG 11 are very useful. I also think one must have a definitive strategy in approaching a problem(CR or SC or RC). Do what you are comfortable with and do not try different things during the test unless you are totally thrown off. 4)AWA: Finally, I would suggest taking AWA as well in the last 4-5 practice tests leading to the exam as it will expose you to the fatigue of sitting through a 210 min. session instead of a 150 min. session. The experience could be different depending on your endurance levels. Not much to worry about but keep in mind that they keep you intellectually involved for an extra 1 hr. 5)People planning on Retake: It is generally a good idea to retake in about a month (sincerely wish none of you will need to) as you will be aware of your relative strengths and weaknesses. However, consider retaking shortly only if you think you scored less than what you expected, not less than what you wanted. I dont mean to say you cannot score higher within a month. Most people do. But do whats best for you. If you think you were short of practice, take several tests. If you think you need to brush up more quant or verbal skills, invest time and you are guarenteed an improvement. Take a rational decision not an emotional one. Adios!!

B as x and y are positive as per statement.

Congrats on your score and thanks for sharing your experience. Good luck in your applications

The OA is "D" ps: The problem is from MGMAT CAT tests.

Vineet, Thanks for the feedback. Well as far as test experience goes, I did not lose my nerves. One thing I clearly got wrong is that I was not very confident in the first few questions on the Quant section. After a point, I realised the difficulty level slipped and it kind of stayed that way excepting some DS questions. And in Verbal, I really do not know what went wrong. Score does tell me that I have to pay attention to the overall accuracy level. I was actually ok with the verbal score though I would have ideally wanted to score in the high 30s. I was very disappinted with the Quant as I felt a 49 on Quant would have made my day a lot more better . I will take your advice. It appears that I did not have effective strategies in place. I would appreciate if you can forward me your formulae notes. I will PM you my email address. Again, thanks for the wonderful inputs.

Jinx25, in your approach, you have to consider that their positions are not fixed.Only their relative positions are. ie to say they could be in positions (1,2) or (2,3) etc.

Ignoring Frankie's requirement for a moment, observe that the six mobsters can be arranged 6! or 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 720 different ways in the concession stand line. In each of those 720 arrangements, Frankie must be either ahead of or behind Joey. Logically, since the combinations favor neither Frankie nor Joey, each would be behind the other in precisely half of the arrangements. Therefore, in order to satisfy Frankie's requirement, the six mobsters could be arranged in 720/2 = 360 different ways. The correct answer is D.

Six mobsters have arrived at the theater for the premiere of the film “Goodbuddies.” One of the mobsters, Frankie, is an informer, and he's afraid that another member of his crew, Joey, is on to him. Frankie, wanting to keep Joey in his sights, insists upon standing behind Joey in line at the concession stand. How many ways can the six arrange themselves in line such that Frankie’s requirement is satisfied? a)6 b)24 c)120 d)360 e)720

thats neat. you made it look simple. I did try the same by picking numbers. Like the mathematical solution better. Thanks for your input.

Machine A can complete a certain job in x hours. Machine B can complete the same job in y hours. If A and B work together at their respective rates to complete the job, which of the following represents the fraction of the job that B will not have to complete because of A's help? 1)x-y/x+y 2)x/y-x 3)x+y/xy 4)y/x-y 5)y/x+y

alactraz,nzm0dx,Mnair and crazychachu, mailed you all the requested document.