sk_gmat

WHat is the OA?

Should be A B,D,E can be eliminated as hi0parag mentioned. Between A and C, I would pick A for "to guide". "For guiding" indicates a process. But sentence means that she returned with the goal to guide others to freedom.

IMO C (A) of a given magnitude typically devastates an area 100 times greater in the eastern United States than it does in the West - Will is required here. 100 times greater is wrong (B) of a given magnitude will typically devastate 100 times the area if it occurs in the eastern United States instead of the West -"if it occurs. Same earthqauke can not occur © will typically devastate 100 times the area in the eastern United States than one of the comparable magnitude occurring in the West - CORRECT. Correctly compares with "100 times the area.....than....one..." (D) in the eastern United States will typically devastate an area 100 times greater than will a quake of comparable magnitude occurring in the West - 100 times greater is wrong (E) that occurs in the eastern United States will typically devastate 100 times more area than if it occurred with comparable magnitude in the West - 100 times more area is wrong

IMO B (A) on the basis of avoidance of duplicated facilities alone - Verb is preferred for conciseness (B) on the grounds of avoiding duplicated facilities alone - correct © solely in that duplicated facilities should be avoided - "should be" is wrong here (D) while the duplication of facilities should be avoided - "should be" is wrong here (E) if only because the duplication of facilities should be avoided - awkward, "should be" is wrong here

I would have picked C. D and E are out because "that" is not required here. A is wordy and also a verb is preferred over a noun for conciseness. Between B and C, I picked C because of the tense meaning. It indiciates that American conservatives are currently doing something , hence present continous should be used . Present indefinite as in B shows something that is done regularly.

Tough one. I would go for C (A) inescapable conclusion seems to be one of Claudet conceiving and executing part of Rodin’s enormous production of that period - "one of Claudet conceiving and exeucting" seems awkward. (B) conclusion of Claudet conceiving and executing part of Rodin’s enormous production of that period seems inescapable - "inescapable should be placed near conclusion". Also "conclusion of " does not sound right. © conclusion seems inescapable that part of Rodin’s enormous production of that period was conceived and executed by Claudet - Making conclusion as the subject , that seems inescapable. (D) conclusion of part of Rodin’s enormous production of that period having been conceived and executed by Claudet seems inescapable - conclusion wasNOT about a part of Rodin's production (E) seemingly inescapable conclusion is that Claudet would have conceived and executed part of Rodin’s enormous production of that period - "seemingly inescabale" does not sound right to me. I could not really find out very sound reasons for rejecting some options. Very confusing choices. Would have picked C

Those is required as sources is plural. That would be wrong here.

Hi Mitzi, I think "just as" is used as "in similar way" or "even as" here. There are two different idioms (as I looked upon) "just as" - in the same way "just X so y" - To the same degree as Please refer this. just as: Information from Answers.com thanks

IMO A The sentence should be logically parallel. "extending" works as participle here and should NOT be used as verb as it does in D. Contained is needed. I would pick A.

Should be D for parallelism

IMO C (A) It ignores the possibility that the majority of Economic Merit Prize winners from previous years used a retirement plan other than the Acme plan. - Irrelevant (B) It fails to address adequately the possibility that any of several retirement plans would be good enough for, and offer a financially secure future to, Economic Merit Prize winners. - Out of scope © It appeals to the fact that supposed experts have endorsed the argument’s main conclusion, rather than appealing to direct evidence for that conclusion. - Correct. The people simply endorse that the plan worked for them and hence can work for everyone without any sufficient evidence. (D) It takes for granted that some winners of the Economic Merit Prize have deliberately selected the Acme retirement plan, rather than having had it chosen for them by their employers. - Doesn't matter who chose it (E) It presumes, without providing justification, that each of the Economic Merit Prize winners has retirement plan needs that are identical to the advertisement’s intended audience’s retirement plan needs.- The ad targets audience with similar retirement plans. hence out.

Thanks Abhishek_mumbai. I almost did not notice that although is underlined in A. I thought although is NOT underlined. Yes, As although is MUST, it has to be A. A contrast is needed.

D and E - because of parallelism of Unlike X, Y. Between D and E, I would choose E as D changes the meaning. D -their last scheduled day in order to collect, the automobile company’s severance package is available to workers - "their last scheduled day". Look at this, they are scheduled to collect on last working day, NOT that their last day is scheduled. Last day can not be scheduled. Agree with Mitzi about conciseness of "to collect". "In order to collect" is wordy E -the last day that they are scheduled to collect, the automobile company’s severance package is available to workers - Clear in meaning unlike D. It clearly says "the last day (of workers) that they are scheduled to collect"

A is the best among all, though I could not get a solid reason to reject B apart from a missing word - many. A- the restaurant company has recently added many new restaurants across the country and its sales have increased dramatically, its - CORRECT B- the restaurant company has rescently added new restaurants across the country & its sales have increased dramatically, its - Very close. I only see difference from A is that the word "many" is missing here (if there is no typo here). C- many new restaurants have recently been opened across the country and its sales increased dramatically, the restaurant company's - Subject in this sentence is "many new restaurants" and its refers back to it. Subject-verb agreement error D- having recently added many new restaurants across the country with its sales increased dramatically, the restaurant compnay's - Awkward and the possessive noun problem E- recently adding manu new restaurants across the country and having its sales increase dramatically, the restaurant conpany's - "restaurant company should be the subject, NOT the restaurant company's"

Recent indications of weakness in the economy have led consumers to be more conservative with their purchases; so depressed have sales figures been as a result that the government has launched several initiatives to actively encourage consumer spending. a) so depressed have sales figures been as a result that - "as a result" is misplaced. The correct usage is "so X that Y", but here as a result is misplaced and slightly changes the meaning. b) the sales figures have been so depressed as a result that - "as a result" is misplaced. Comma is missing as well, that changes the meaning to mean that the sales figure have been depressed as a result of something. But the sentence meant that because of depressed sales, govt took some action. c) as a result, so depressed has the sales been that - "has should be have" d) the resulting sales figures having been so depressed that - awkward sentence. Resulting should be proper noun. e) the sales figures have been so depressed that, as a result, - best. proper usage of "so X that Y". comma clearly separates the cause and action

What is the OA? Since it is from OG 12, could you please post the explanation provided in the book (if it doesn't take much time). Thanks

aaadith, the point about redundancy is also valid in A if you picked A. Consider these two "...by focusing primarily on patient's mental condition....., the mental health professionals .." "...by focusing primarily on patient's mental condition....., predictions about the .." Who is focusing on patient's mental condition? mental health professionals, NOT the predictions. The whole sentence is a noun modifier and the first part modifies a noun (mental health professional, NOT the predictions). Hope this helps. Thanks

I think the meaning of sentence gives a hint to choose E over D. I went initially for D, but after reading the sentence back, I picked E. D - "competitive imbalance that now exists between Japan and all major industrial nations" E - "competitive imbalance that now exists between Japan and all other major industrial nations" Which one sounds correct? The competitive imbalance is between Japan and other nations as the sentence is trying to say. In D, it means the competitive imbalance between Japan and all major industrial nations (changing the meaning that Japan is NOT an industrial nation). E depicts the meaning correctly.

Should be B A is wrong as Mitzi explained. Scientists can NOT be based on something. In fact, their estimate is based on something. I think OG has a question explaining this concept. Thanks

IMO A (A) for accused persons than does the legal system of any other country - "more X than Y" is required here. CORRECT (B) to accused persons as the legal system of any country - "more than" is required. Wrong usuage of "as". It requires clause, but here it has noun in the 2nd part © for accused persons as the legal system of any country - "more than" is required. Wrong usuage of "as". It requires clause, but here it has noun in the 2nd part (D) to accused persons as the legal system of any other country - "more than" is required. Wrong usuage of "as". It requires clause, but here it has noun in the 2nd part (E) for accused persons than the legal system of any country - Wrongly compares legal systems with safeguards.

IMO D. A, B are ruled out because of between. C, awkward. D clearly makes the meaning clear-> "a deft balance of .......and ....." is required. E changes the meaning and among is not appropriate.

Hi Friends, Thanks for the responses. It's encouraging. I understand that GMAT is not the only part of application, but it definitely would be a good measure for the IT Indian male pool. As I said that I do have good profile (couple of startups under my belt), but I really would not like to weaken my application because of GMAT. As far as schools are concerned, yes Wharton at least is in my list. Hence, I feel the need to take the last shot. But as I had mentioned, I really need to change or at least understand what else I can do from here to score better marks in GMAT. I really appreciate the help you guys are doing by replying to my thread. Trust me, I am eagerly waiting for you guys to come and help me in pulling along. Its pretty much decided that I would write GMAT again, but I really want to crack 720+ in this attempt - for my satisfaction and also for making my profile more competitive. PS: I did try out couple of schools with old scores, but as I said I got hit by the low gmat score and was dinged.

Guys, I really need some expert advice here. I hope someone will take a few minutes to pen down his/her thoughts. I am keen to know about how to improve. Please help. Thanks much for your time and patience.

Hi Friends, I have been a silent member of testmagic but have been getting inspired from all the posts posted out here. Not to mention about the discussions about umpteen number of problems posted on this forum. I have written gmat couple of times. My previous scores are 660 and 670. My first attempt was one year back and I ended up with M-48 and V-32 with 5.5 on AWA). For my 2nd attempt, I did not start preparing for gmat until Dec 2008 due to unavoidable personal circumstances. However, I did everything while preparing for 2nd attempt to overcome my weak areas and took GMAT in last week. I had solved LSAT questions, that gave me confidence to tackle RC and CRs. I did not focus much on maths as I could easily score 47-48 without much preps. I took sets, MGMAT, GMATPrep. My scores in these tests were MGMAT 1 - 690 (M-48, V-36) MGMAT 2 - 670 (M-43, V-38) MGMAT 3 - 680 (M-46, V-36) MGMAT 4 - 730 (M-48, V-41) MGMAT 5 - 730 (M-48, V-41) MGMAT 6 - 710 (M-48, V-38) GMATPrep I - 730 (M-50, V-38) GMATPrep II - 750 (M-49, V-44) GMATPrep I Re-take -750 (M-49, V-42) (Some verbal repeats - 2/3 questions and couple of questions in maths) Real GMAT - 670 (M-47, V-35) After all these practice, I was quite confident in my 2nd attempt to score 700+ plus. On my test day, I focused on initial 10 questions on maths and I think I was doing well until I started taking more time for a few questions to get the correct answer. That's where I guess I screwed on maths. I could smell that I am running out of time and may have to guess a few questions. That's what happened as I had little time to solve each question and had to guess on questions I could have easily solved. I guessed almost on 5-6 questions and that explains my maths score. While I knew that I messed up Maths(due to inefficient time management), I had no clue that I was also messing up verbal. I found RC very easy and could solve each question. Some SCs were confusing, but CRs were fine too. I was quite confident that I could make up for maths in Vebal. I felt that I was doing good in verba,l but alas, was disheartened to see 35 for verbal and 47 for maths (making score of 670) on the final score. Not sure what to do next as I have finished most of the material (OGs, 1000s, Prep exams, MGMAT etc). I am an entrepreneur and have had started my own companies. I belong to the IT pool but have a few good achievements on my plat to boast about. My goal is to be an entreprenuer and based on some of my friend's advice I started looking for MBA as an option of achieveing my goal. But never thought that GMAT itself would take up so much time. I am quite fedup writing and preparing for this exam, but on the other hand I don't want to opt out as a looser. Even if I don't do MBA, I want to score a massive 700+ before forbidding good bye to GMAT. By nature, I am a guy who do not give up and hence I am quite determined to take the exam another time (may be last as I would have missed chance to apply for MBA this year if I don't score this time). Any tips would be useful as I have only this year to apply. I know I need to practice more efficient time maangement for maths, but I am not sure what and MORE IMPORTANTLY HOW should I study for verbal now. (I have identified only one way so far -> to solve questions on this forum). I have exhausted everything out there and could identify and attack my weak areas. But after my 2nd attempt I am clueless and looking forward for some guidance from folks who, either had been in this predicament or have good idea about a way to come out of this unusual/usual situation. Thanks and best wishes to all

Hi Star, That's an inspiring post. I have written gmat couple of times and I was totally clueless until I hit upon your post. My previous scores are 660 and 670. I was quite confident in my 2nd attempt to score 700+ plus I guess I screwed on maths. I could smell it while I was giving maths. I used to score 49-50 on prep tests in maths and scored 38-44 in verbal on gmatpreps. In the real exam though I could smell that I messed up Maths(due to ineffieicnt time mangement), I had no clue that I was also messing up verbal. I felt that I was doing good in verbal but alas was disheartened to see 35 for verbal and 47 for maths (making score of 670). Not sure what to do next as I have finished most of the material (OGs, 1000s, Prep exams, MGMAT etc). Any tips would be useful as I have only this year to apply. Thanks