friendlydragonca

GMO, As Anita said, take a few months to prepare for the GMAT. If possible, get some time off work or school to focus on the preparation. First of all, please read Erin's advise on GMAT preparation at: http://www.www.urch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=994 Second, please read how Ursula prepared for her GMAT, at: http://www.www.urch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10134 Whatever else you do, read the 2 threads above completely. These strategies worked for me and countless others on this forum. Just read all the 700+ folks who thank Erin and Ursula for their advice. Success on the GMAT is a matter of: 1) learning efficient strategies for doing the test, and 2) practicing these strategies on the questions in the Official Guide. You have to believe that getting 600+ on the GMAT is possible for you, and it is, provided you have at least normal intelligence and good study skills. There are no easy shortcuts to doing well. You will need to put in long study hours; the only "trick" really is to study efficiently. I would also suggest that you send time on this forum reading over the posts during your preparation period. There is a lot of good advice, and it also help keep you motivated. Think of it as a study group (albeit virtual) of people working towards a common goal. Good Luck.

Sunil, It is harder to objectively judge the difficulty of a CR question compared to the quant questions. But It seemed to me that in the CR sections of the [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip], the difficulty level was evenly spread out. Also, the difficulty in the [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip] was fairly representative of what you will see on the GMAT. I would suggest you do all the SC questions on the [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip], or as many of them as your study time permits. Don't worry about the difficulty level. Instead, if you have a question in the [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip] that seems easy - say you are sure you have found the right answer after 30 or 40 seconds, then pick that answer and check to see if you in fact got it right. If you can consistently get the right answer for the easy CR questions in under a minute :D, this will help you on the GMAT test because the time you save on these questions can be used to do the tougher verbals questions, like a really long RC passage with dense scientific jargon. :eek:

Congrats, Indiandude. A 760 with only 3 weeks of preparation is pretty amazing. If I may ask you a question: do you think that your GRE experience helped you with the GMAT, and if so, how much?

Eileen, There are 2 things in particular that I would suggest: 1. Try to find out if you have a particular weakness in the verbal part. Is it the SC, CR or RC that gives you a problem? Do you make errors because you don't understand particular words, or do you just run out of time? Try to find what you are weak at and spend more time on correcting it. 2. This is something I have said a few times already, but I really believe that the key to doing well on the verbal section is to do the verbal questions in the [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip], and immediately after doing each question, check the answer in the back of the section and carefully read the explaination. Read it over until you understand exactly why ETS consider the one choice right and the other 4 wrong. You need to do this in order to understand ETS' style and form of doing these questions. This make take quite a bit of discipline, becuase it can be very dull work, particularly with the SC explainations. But you just need to force yourself to do it - it is the price you have to pay for a good GMAT score. Good luck

Raksmba, This is an interesting issue. As it turns out, I spend about 3-4 hours a day for about 2.5 month to prepare for the GMAT. At the start of my preparation, I did not have any set plan for when I would do the test. It was only after 2 months of prep that I felt I was going to do as well as I could, so I booked the test. So, based on my experience, I think your study schedule is reasonable. I am sure that everyone reaches a point in their GMAT prep where you are as ready as you are going to be for the test, and further study is not worth it - this is the point at which you should book the test. What I am not sure about is if 4 hours a day for 2.5 months is suitable for everyone. One major factor to consider is English fluency. I am a native English speaker, so I don't see my general reading skills improving a whole lot, no matter how long I study. But some of my Chinese friends told me they prepped for a whole year for the GMAT, and most of the work was on the verbal part of the test - obviously they were starting at a lower level of English reading comprehension. Again, this is an interesting issue, and I certainly would like to know other people's opinions on this.

I just read the advise from the Gmatclub link above. I particularly like the post-test strategy: A. get drunk because you got a high score and don't care about anything B. get drunk because you got a low score and don't care about anything If this matches your philosophy, get a bottle before you visit the test center. However, allow yourself plenty of time, for other test takers may be following the same logic, creating lines in the liquor stores near the test center. Yeah, this matches my philosphy pretty much to a "T" ;)

Scarletletter, Even if you don't get specific responses to your questions in this forum, it is still a goldmine of useful information on writing the GMAT. Take some time to go through the threads. I promise you, if you are really committed to doing well on the GMAT, it will be well worth your time. I have read several posts by people who found this forum only after a lot of GMAT prep, and they all wish they had known of this forum before they started the prep.

Um, are you sure this is a GMAT question? To the best of my recollection, there was no question of this style in the Official Guide, nor in the GMAT test when I took it. I am wondering if it could be an LSAT question instead?

Transyt, The question asks which of the options "must be true" Option B must be true, and so must option F that you suggested. I don't think one answer is better than the other, so the GMAT would not have a question like this (i.e. one option must clearly be the best).

Interesting little trap in that question. When I first read it, I thought it was C. :D But having read throught the [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip] explaination, I accept that B is the correct answer. :doh: What had happened is that in my mind, I lumped in the 3 children as on monolithic unit, and assumed that they either were all find or all had measles. I considered all 5 options :hmm: based on this assumption, and concluded that only C could be correct. But, of course, my assumption was clearly false. :o The question does not imply it in any way, and it is completely plausible that among a group of 3 children, some but not all of them can be sick. My hat's off to ETS for a devious (but fair) question.

You will find that people have different opinions on this, but here is my 2 cents worth: - keep studying at the same pace up until 2 days before the GMAT - on the day before the GMAT, do a final review, but keep it relaxed and easy, just an hour or two, keep it low stress to preserve your mental energy - do a full powerprep test 3 or 4 days before the test - simulate the test conditions as closely as possible. - go over some of the [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip] questions again. Do a selection from all sections of the guide, but if you are weak in a certain area, spend a bit more time on this. - let your friends and family know about the GMAT test, and ask them to go easy on you the last few days before the test (i.e. make sure they don't bother you with anything that could distract you from doing well on the test) Good luck, and let us know how you did.

Nonpariel, D is the wrong choice because it is irrelevant. If information was provided on the incidence of vitamin deficiency in other groups, the reasoning would still be flawed. C is the correct answer because it exposes the flaw in reasoning. Look at it this way: The passage says many pregnant women do not have a vitamin deficiency in their diets, yet they suffer from a vitamin deficiency. In other words, these women are not getting enough vitamins, yet there are enough vitamins in the food and drink they consume. Illogical, as the Vulcans would say.

We need data about others groups to prove disapprove the claim Sunil, the question asks you to choose the answer that will show a flaw in the reasoning behind the statement.

Congrats Whino - I am sure it took a lot of discipline to put the study time in on top of your regular schedule. I was interested to read your remark: I've traveled to over 40 states in the US and learned and seen things that you just can’t learn from a textbook....even though I feel like I could have easily reach that infamous 700 and that does annoy me a little - I feel this mindset is just a result from all the genius foreigners who visit this forum... people who have spend their lives studying and haven't really enjoyed life....but again, I both thank and envy you people and the dedication you have. So basically my point here is to all the “average” Americans who want a shot at a top 20 school….You don’t need a 750 FOR ANY SCHOOL unless your demographic (ex – Indian) requires it. I don't think an Indian necessarily needs 750 to get into a top B-school, but you do raise a good point. A lot of us (and I am guilty of this too) focus on grades and getting a high score on the GMAT; we may tend to neglect the other things required for success in the business world or life in general. As you say, you can learn a lot from travel and from doing other things outside the academic world. These are things you can put on a MBA application essay that may well get you into a top B-school whereas a higher scoring GMAT candidate would be rejected.

For 160 (vitamin deficency) A, B, D - all irrelevant to the argument E - "higher requirements" not ambiguous - it means that pregnant women need more vitamins than do other people. C - correct answer The first time "vitamin deficiency" is used, it is with respect to pregnant women. The second time it is used, it is with respect to the general population (i.e. a different reference group)

Both (B) and (D) are handicapped to the same extent; they both could use a premise each in the question stem that will furnish info critical for their selection. I disagree with this. You have to make too much of an inference with B to undermine the argument, whereas D does so more directly. I cannot stress this point strongly enough: you need to understand what ETS considers a reasonable inference. It will almost certainly be more direct that what an intelligent, logical-minded and literate adult will consider reasonable. I think once you have done enough of the CR questions in the [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip], and reviewed the explainations, you will develop a sense of how much you can infer for GMAT purposes. This gets me to thinking. The real world that we deal with day-to-day has quite a lot more fuzziness and grey areas than the scenarios we deal with in GMAT questions. A example that comes to mind is the US presidential candidate's debate last week. In my opinion, a debate should be won by whomever can present the most clearly logical argument to support their position. But in politics - victory seems to hinge on far more ephemeral factors - repeating a simple message over and over, appearing confident and poised, establishing a connection with the audience, looking "presidential" (whatever that means).

I'm just trying to ingratiate myself into their way of thinking. Pariel, What can I say? It's their (ETS') game, their rules. For the 4 hours you are in the exam centre, you have to view the world as they do.

Hard call to make. As a rule of thumb, Kaplan scores are 100 lower than your real scores, where PP scores are close to the real one. Based on this, you are in the low 600s right now, which is the minimum you need. If money is no object with you (i.e. you don't mind paying for a 2nd test), perhaps you should write the test Oct. 5 and see how you do. If you get the score you need, you are done with this. If not, you will know where you stand and be able to better judge how much extra prep you need to put in. On the other hand, if time is no object (i.e. you don't have lots of demands on your time presently), perhaps you should postpone the test for 6 to 8 weeks and keep preparing.

Hi Scarlett Letter, There are probably a few geniuses in this forum, but I think most of us are just intelligent and educated people who are focused on getting a good GMAT score, and disciplined enough to do the work required. If you read through the testimonials of people who scored 700+, you will see that most of them put a lot of time in prepping for the GMAT. If you have not done so already, please read: http://www.www.urch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=994 Basically, you need to go through a good strategy book to learn an efficient approach to solving GMAT problems. Then you need to practice (a lot) on questions in the Official Guide. In other words, you have to work hard and work smart. In regards to quant problems. Perhaps you are a bit rusty with math? I sure was when I started. There are basic math review section in the Official Guide and in the Strategy books - go over them until you are fairly comfortable with them. Then start practicing on the quant questions. And make sure you do the Data Sufficieny as well as the Problem Solving questions. In time, you will better understand what is being talked about in the math threads.

Thanks for the writeup, KRM. It may seem like a minor thing, what you do on test day, but it does help others to know what to expect on the day of the exam, and avoid any unpleasant surprises, like having to memorize the list of schools to send your GMAT score to. I also remember getting the survey immediately after finishing the test, and before the score is displayed. I don't blame you for just skipping through the questions. It sure is a dammed odd time to be giving someone a survey.:hmm:

Hi Constance, I don't think it is too important when you do the PP tests, but in my opinion, you should do the first one somewhat early in your prep. As 4gmat said, this will tell you where your weak points are, so you can give them extra attention. You may wish to do the second one within a week of your actual GMAT test so that what you see on the actual screens will be fresh in your mind.

but I think the quality of the question is poor I have no doubt in my mind that D is the correct answer, but since there have been so many reasonably argued dissenting opinions on this thread, I would have to agree with you. I hope this question did not come from the [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip]. Just to clarify, I think D is right in the context of the GMAT test. That is to say, it is what ETS would consider right, not necessarily what is right in the real world.

Matrix, Good report. It is surprising to hear you got so many prob. questions - someone else mentioned that ETS is using more of them on the test now. You said: Nobody may believe me, but is there a possibility that one could see the questions from [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip] in actual GMAT? Because I can swear that I answered some, especially SC, questions without even reading the question. I doubt that ETS would use the exact same question as before, but perhaps they are taking old questions and changing them around a bit. If they are doing this, then the answer would change, so IMO it is necessary to read every question, even if it looks familiar to you and you think you know the answer. Of course, it is an old teacher's trick to take questions from past tests and reword them a bit to make a new question - or even just to reuse the old question if the teacher is really lazy.

Try doing a Powerprep test under actual test conditions. As soon as you finish, review the questions - see how you did with the CR. Then you will have a better idea how you stand. On another note, even if you find the [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip] CR questions easy to do, I nonetheless urge you to read the explainations in the [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip] for these questions. You need to learn ETS' way of reasoning to do well on the CR (and other sections).

Could I get my score up? Maybe if I study another month. I only knowingly screwed up one question, however, so there isn't any guarrantee that I would do better. Netragazzo, First of all, congrats on a great performance on the GMAT. A few observations on what you said above: 1. I am almost 100% sure that an extra 10 or 20 points on the GMAT will have no bearing on your chance of getting into the B-school of your choice. 2. A higher GMAT may get you some more scholarship money. Check with your B-school web site. You need to decide if the time spent for extra prep is worth the shot at the money. 3. I have a tech background too, but did better in verbal than in quant. Nothing strange about this, nor any need to get embarassed. I am sure Engineering work is not the same as GMAT math, for the most part. 4. If you want to rewrite the GMAT for the sake of pride, I can understand this. I felt a bit like this too. But consider this: when you are scoring in the high 700s, there is only 20 or 30 points worth of improvement, and such a small margin could easily be a result of good or bad luck. So if you study another month, and get 780, you may just have got a better blend of questions second time around. Or you may get 760 - you have improved, but you got a few tough breaks with some of the questions. Anyway, think it over carefully. If you really enjoyed the GMAT experience, one alternative to retaking the test yourself is to get into GMAT tutoring. If you feel you know the GMAT inside out, it will be a challenge worthy of your talents to see if you can train others to do well on it also. Hey, maybe you can even get a job with ETS to write GMAT questions :hmm: