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Freedom007

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  1. hey it's been almost a year since i took the GMAT and guess what? im still not ready to apply to any B-school...haha...just throwing that out there. regarding the CR, i think i mentioned this in my original post, but i was fairly strong in my verbal to begin with. It's generally easier to improve SC than it is to improve CR, so if your verbal is weak overall and your test date is pretty close, you might want to consider ramping up your SC as high as possible before bothering with CR at all. On the other hand, if you've isolated CR as the reason for lower than desired Verbal scores, then your best bet is to find the type of CR question that trips you up the most and do as many of that problem type. For every CR question you miss, you must sit with it and understand exactly why you missed it. Doing this will show you the thought patterns you need to go through in order to answer the different types of questions. I hope that answers your question :2cents:
  2. now that you mention it, i didnt get any bold face questions on my test. I'm not complaining though. lol :)
  3. Thanks Tush :) The two books that i wholeheartedly recommend for math problems are OG12 and MGMAT Number properties (if you have difficulty with number properties like i did). I also found the math review in Barrons GMAT 2007-2008 to be quite helpful (good for reviewing basic geometric relationships, work problems, word problems etc). I recommend this book with reservation because the verbal section is not so great and the practice tests are not the best. All these books can be purchased online or at bookstores such as borders and barnes and noble. Of course, google was my bestfriend throughout prep. If i did not understand the solution to a problem from the OG or if i felt there must be a quicker way, i googled it and always wound up on beatthegmat.com or some other forum that provided excellent answers. That's how i learned that 6 is a perfect number :grad: hmmmm....I basically started working on OG12 SC problems from problem number 70, which falls roughly in the middle and worked my way pretty much to the end of the SC problems. I actually never considered repeating the questions since i either wrote down or made a mental note of the types of SC problems that i had a penchant for missing. Compared with the mgamt sc problems, the OG sc problems and those on the actual test are definitely less difficult. Nevertheless, I love mgmat's sc problems because they really toughened me up for the 800 level questions i got on my real test. Good Luck! :)
  4. Thank you, star. On the real test, if i remember correctly, I guessed on four out of the last five quant questions. For some reason, I had more time at the end of the test than I usually had on the gmatprep or mgmat so i was able to solve one of the last five. Verbal was always my stronger section, so I never needed to randomly guess on the actual test or on practice tests I don't really see why something that is true for the gmatprep will not be true for the actual test. My suggestion is that you should try the "guess on the last few" strategy as well as the "try to finish" strategy (yes, i made those names up). This should help you to see which approach works for you. for what it's worth, i accidentally posted the wrong breakdown in this thread. I later confirmed that my actual breakdown is Q45, V46. If i could do it, trust me--you can do it too Thank you sepandsalimi
  5. thank you very much. Reading debriefs on here was very encouraging for me as i was preparing. It reminded me that crossing the 700 mark is entirely possible. :) I actually started visualizing myself writing my debrief about a week before my test date...lol :grad:
  6. Thank you so much everyone. I am so happy that i wont have to re-do it. I plan to spend the next few years beefing up my work experience before applying to mba programs. I used OG 12, and I think the CR and SC sections on the gmat are comparable to the actual test. Unfortunately, I didn't study for the RC section so i wont be of much help in that area. My weakest area in verbal was SC and practicing from OG12 and reviewing my mistakes in my mgmat practice tests whipped me into shape in no time. i hope that helps
  7. hahaha.... here's the rest :2cents: Like i said before, quant was the bane of my existence. I was extremely slow at solving problems, and I didnt have enough time to practice speed. I took the my first gmat prep on 04/14 and scored 660 because of my quant performance. However, i guessed on the last 7 quant problems because I ran out of time. I spent some time reviewing problems online, and i also took the 800 score math prep. On 04/24, i attempted my first manhattan gmat test online, and scored a 640. everybody knows mgmat is more difficult than the actual test, so i wasnt too worried, but i knew i was still just as slow as before because i ran out of time and guessed on the last six questions on the quant section--again! I took my second gmat prep on 04/26. My verbal was almot perfect, but I still scored 660. This time, i made sure that i attempted every quant question but i was a nervous wreck. constantly cheking the time and stuff. if i was spending too much time on any question, i guessed and moved on. This test showed me that i was better off working at my own pace at the beginning and guessing on the last five questions or so (how crazy do i sound now?). Finally, I took my 2nd mgmat test two days before my test, and scored a 690. With this test, i worked at my own pace in the quant, and guessed on the last 5 quant questions--so i was very impressed with my score. On the actual test, I knew i was doing very well because many of the problems were of comparable difficulty to the 700 range problems in OG12. The way I see it, if i am calm and performing in the 700 range at the beginning, and if i get at least one guessed problem correct, then it cant hurt me too badly. I will encourage everyone to play around with this idea and see what works for you. My personalized quant timing strategy is as follows: I assumed that i was only going to solve 32 questions, and that i had 2 mins to solve each question. this way, i *needed* only 64 mins but the clock will "give" me 75 :) I should mention, though, that i always got some of the last ones i guessed correct :whistle: Finally, this debrief wont be complete if i dont mention that I am Christian, and I prayed alot about this test. If you are Christian too, dont underestimate the power of prayers. :p
  8. I am not 100% sure of the break down, but i think Q42 V45 is about right. My test date was Thursday, April 30th. I was aiming for 700+, so i am absolutely elated. Before i start the debrief proper, I hope this post inspires those who are weak in quant, and those who are scared to death of standardized tests. The first hurdle you need to surmount is your fear. As long as you have your confidence, you have won half the battle. It also helps to have friends who will listen when you just need to whine and whine and complain about how the gmat is about to ruin your entire future. That said, I did about 2 weeks of intensive studying (approx 5-8 hrs on most days) and some on and off practicing for about 3 weeks prior to that. I very quickly realized that quant was my weaker area, so i decided to leverage my strengths in verbal (never mind that i am not a native speaker). I took several tests in order to figure out the best way to tackle the quant. The scores from the computer adaptive ones are: gmat prep 1: 660, gmat prep 2: 660, manhattan gmat 1: 640, manhattan gmat 2: 690. Like i said before, I experimented with the quant in each test, so if you want more info about what i did to scale the 700 bar despite my dismal quant performance--just ask :) I try to keep my posts as brief and relevant as possible. The books i used are 1. Kaplan 800: this book is simply terrific for sentence correction. The critical reasoning section is also worth reading. 2. OG 12th edition. need i say more? 3. Barrons GMAT 2007-2008: has some useful info for brushing up basic math concepts 4. Manhattan GMAT number properties: gave me the confidence and knowledge i needed to ace number property questions
  9. everyone else seems to be pretty familiar with sets, but i have no clue what you all are talking about. where do you get these sets from and why are they so popular? sorry if this is a "duh" moment for anyone, but im still pretty new to this :blush: please include links in your reply if you know. thanks Freedom007
  10. the straight math section is disappointing. conversely, the word problems are definitely worth looking at. i can't speak to the verbal section. i plan to start on that tomorrow.
  11. assuming the number (or probability) of birds having avian flu is given, what's the equation to determine the answer to the question? I am having a really hard time understanding why we cant just add statements (a) and (b) thanks people
  12. got it. thanks for catching that :)
  13. How likely is a bird to be classified as positive? (1) 80% of birds with avian flu are classified as positive (2) 5% of birds without avian flu are classified as positive please include your thought process. OA to be posted later.
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