andspeed

Hi crazy800, thank you. Yes, the nerves got the better off me on the test day :(

I don't know to feel happy or sad. Though 700 is a good achievement considering that I got only 580 in my first attempt, I truly believe that this score does not reflect my potential (especially Quant) I have been averaging 730-740 in my mock tests (GMAT Prep, Manhattan free CAT, Knewton Free CAT) so this score comes off as a disappointment. My lowest was 680 (Knewton) and highest was 780(GMAT prep, Second attempt and on the day before actual exam!). I did some 10 mock tests. Quant: Preparation I prepared for about 4 weeks on quant. The concepts tested are simple. But the wording in GMAT makes the question look harder. Practicing tough questions is the key for success in Quant. I never attempted a quant question from OG. I practiced from Manhattan quant sources and gmatclub . These are way tougher than OG. One should do a lot of mock tests to get the pacing in quant right. Exam Day I messed up with Quant on exam day. I had been under the wrong impression that if we get continous DS questions early, it is an indication that you will do well. I was not getting repeated DS questions early and I started to panic. Some of the questions were really tricky. I panicked at one question and stared at the question for so long (at least 5 mins) and that started by down slide. My pacing was pathetic and I somehow managed to revive the section towards the end. Verbal: Preparation For RC and CR, I relied only on OG & LSAT materials. I would say doing a good number of LSAT papers will help you do well in RC and CR For SC, I relied only on OG materials. There is no point going through unofficial materials (like 1000sc). Forums like this ,mgmat and beatthegmat are good sources of SC explanations. But nothing beats the masters of SC in TestMagic - 800bob and Erin. Their explanations are simply awesome. I really hope these guys start contributing actively to TestMagic again. Exam day The SC's were tough for me. I am sure I didn't get the 700-800 level SC questions right. The CR's and RC's were ok. I was confident of most of them. I expected to score 40 but ended up with only 37. My dream schools are INSEAD, IMD and LSB. I am really not sure whether with a 6 year experience in IT field & with this GMAT score I would be able to get an admit into these schools. Anyone out there who thinks this should be competent enough. Should I take the GMAT again?

Bob, you are on hell of a genius when it comes to the GMAT. Thank you for all your valuable explanations here.

In CR questions, it is very important to identify the "conclusion" of the argument. Conclusion = Facts + Assumption We are asked to find the "assumption" in the CR passage to get the stated conclusion. After reading the CR passage you should be able to spot the following 1. Fact(s) given in CR passage: "The Earth’s rivers constantly carry dissolved salts into its oceans" 2. Conclusion of the CR passage: "Using the last hundred years' rate of increase in ocean salt levels to extrapolate backwards millions of years to the hypothetical birth of the oceans" Now check the answer choices for an "assumption" that will connect the fact and conclusion. That is clearly provided by A. For more details check the link I provided in my previous post on this thread. D is completely out of scope. Ask yourself how can D explain the conclusion?

The answer is A. 800bob has explained it nicely here : The answer is A. The argument suggests using the last hundred years' rate of increase in ocean salt levels to extrapolate backwards millions of years to the hypothetical birth of the oceans. The argument assumes that the rate of increase in the last hundred years has been roughly the same as it has always been. Try denying A: if, in fact, in the last hundred years rivers have been depositing unusually large amounts of salt into the oceans, then the rate of increase in this recent period cannot reasonably be taken as representative of all time. The argument does not depend on the truth of choice E. It might well be true that the Earth's oceans have always used up some of the salt deposited by the rivers. That does not matter. What matters is whether the rate of increase on the last hundred years is equivalent to the rate of increase throughout the life of the oceans.

Now everything is clear :) Thanks a lot

Wow, that's the kind of explanation I was looking for. Thanks Paul. How do you get these things right. I am sure you are an avid reader :)

Hi Erin, I though this question was testing whether to use -ed form or -ing form of the verb and hence the correct answer according to the rules given in (http://www.www.urch.com/forums/faqs/700-gmat-sentence-correction-growth-railroads-led-abolition.html) the correct answer is "In one of the most stunning reversals in the history of marketing, the Coca-Cola company in July 1985 yielded to thousands of irate consumers demanding that it bring back the original Coke formula" So if there was an additional choice like the one I mentioned above, which one should we choose? How do we know if the GMAT is testing our understanding of when to use -ing or -ed form of the verb? :hmm: Thanks,

Shreeman, I can understand the feeling you get after seeing the final score. I have been through the same. Even though I scored only in the 570's in my practice test, I was thinking that I can give my best at the exam and get a decent score of at least 650. I got 580 in the actual exam. I knew for sure that the score is not a reflection of my true ability. But with a test like GMAT, it is the right attitude and right preparation that would bring in the results. "Quality is never an accident. It is always the result of intelligent effort". How true that is. Anyone who wants to crack GMAT has to put a good amount of effort. If that happens, I am sure he/she will succeed. I am trying for that now. I am yet to take a date for my second attempt. I hope I can do justice to my talent next time. Cheers and good luck dude. -andspeed

Hi Chatru, let us hope to do justice to our abilities and preparations soon.

Thanks greatman1234 for your encouraging words.

I had my GMAT today. To be frank, I was not surprised at my score. The GMAT Prep accurately predicted it. My preparation had lasted for 1.5 month( though I had been reading/studying bits and pieces for the last 3-4 months) . I couldn't give much justice to the preparation but I really wanted to know where I stand in the actual GMAT( I underestimated GMATPrep I guess). I had taken the first GMAT prep 3 weeks before the exam( 560) and the second one four days before the exam(570). What I have understood from this is that my preparation/approach since the last 1.5 months was anything but effective. About the test AWA: Pretty ok. I don't want to type the topic here but it was generic ones. For one analysis of issue, I just remembered a similar thing that happened in my team as an example and wrote it. Quant: Didn't have any problem except for 3-4 questions. But I am pretty sure I made so many careless mistakes. I never bothered to correct them when it happened in GMAT prep also since I was confident that my score wont go below 44-45 ( busy taming the verbal then!) Verbal: Initial SC's were ok. But then some of the RC passages were really tough ones. Seeing that itself, I lost confidence. I got lost somewhere and there were 20 questions to finish in 25 minutes ( pathetic pacing!). I messed it up from then onwards. The less said the better. End of the story. I am a non native English speaker. Interestingly, I had started liking SC once I came to read about rules and some tips from this forum. But I get bogged down by the big complex sentences. I believe this is because I am yet to fully understand the concepts required to tackle SC. On an average I used to get only 5-6/10 right in SC during my practice sessions. CR's were challenging, but I used to take too much time to decipher the probem. I think that cost me dear. Only pratcice would help me in the CR. On an average I used to get 6/10 in CR sessions. Same with RC. Compared to SC, I really don't have any problem in the RC section for the moderate level passages ( usually gets 7/10 right for RC). The complex ones were always difficult for me ( could manage to get only about 40% or even less correct) Quant - I hardly prepared. Infact nothing except the GMAT prep tests. I know 44 is an average score. But I am pretty sure I can bring it up to 48-49 level. I am not giving up. I want to feel the joy of conquering this test - especially the verbal. Looking forward for help from some amazing people on this forum. I will be taking the test again in another 2 months. But this time I will confirm it only after GMAT prep gives me the go ahead. Good luck people.

Thx JohnMack212. I have been timing the individual section these days. It's been a bit difficult but its a matter of time I will catch up..

I have been following this forum for a month and started preparing for GMAT. I am Software Engineer with 4.5 years of Industry experience. For the preparation, I concentrated mainly on SC. Did OG10 CR's & RC's. No Quant prep at all. Today decided to take the GMAT prep 1. I couldn't attempt all the questions in the alloted time, which was very worrying for me and the reason why I am writing this. For Quant, I did only 25 questions ( I simply gave a random answer for the remaining 12 questions). For Verbal, I did only 35 questions( and gave random answers for the rest 6) My Score was 560 ( 38Q, 29V) . Frankly, I am dejected and scared. I am planning to take the exam in another 3-4 weeks doing lots of practice, practice practice. I know this might sound stupid for someone to ask - Assuming that I practice well enough to manage the time, do you think that with this amount of subject knowledge I would be able to get a 700+ in my GMAT ( that happens in another 3-4 weeks). I am asking this because I know there are lot of guys out there who must have gone through similar experiences. Just want a reassurance that it is doable. Cheers, Anand