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spiderman, when i work it, here's what i get. x - 2y -2 = 0 -> 2y = x - 1 this is an equation of a line that is rising. the two intersection points have been noted by you. 2y = x - 1 => 2y - x + 1 = 0 so we know that (0, -4) is below the line. plug it into the above equation. what do you get? it is :) perhaps, the point is to make it as a line equation where y = ax + b. or rather y - ax - b = 0

then in that case, let me modify my statement. anything to the right of the line is > 0. anything to the left of the line is even if the line is vertical, the equation will be x - 5 = 0 for example. to the right of the line, x will be > 5, eg, 6 which is definitely > 0. to the left of the line, x

let's see ds7, i think both 1) and 2) are insufficent to tell me what the angle ACB. you don't know whether the triangle is isoceles or just a normal triangle. i would say that the answer is E. ds9, a rhombus is a parallelogram with 4 equal sides. from 1), area of a parallelogram is length * height. but you are not told what the height is. from 2), by knowing the diagonal, you don't know much else. even if you have 1) and 2), you cannot figure out one side... so i say the answer is E ds15, from 1), it is insufficient as it does not tell you anything about the 2 triangles. from 2), we only know that one triangle is an equilateral triangle. we don't know about the second triangle. so i also say that the answer is E ds35, answer is C. sum of interior angles is equal to opposite exterior angle. ds36, from 1) you just know the coordinates of M and not N. from 2), you know that OM is equal to 5. but that is still insufficient to figure out what N is...even if you have 1) and 2), you lack information about N. N can be any line from M that touches the x axis. so answer is E

i think perhaps ds45 answer is wrong. (A+B)^2 = A^2 + B^2 -> 2AB = 0 1) now, if a > 0, you are not guaranteed 2AB can be equal to 0. for eg, if B is positve, then (A+B)^2 is definitely != A^2 + B^2. but if B = 0, then the equality holds. 2) now, if b if 1) and 2) holds, then we are always guaranteed that (A+B)^2 != A^2 + B^2 because 2AB is always negative since A > 0 and B answer is C.

i would solve it in a different way. for any line (equation of a line), anything above the line is > 0. anything below the line is so, from 1), by plugging in x = 9 and y = 10, one can figure out from the line equation that the value is > 0. but that is insufficient because we are not sure that it will be in the shaded area or the above above AB but below CD from 2) itself, by plugging in x = 9 and y = 10 into the equation, the value is also > 0. by itself, you still are not sure which area it would lie (same explanation as above) with 1) and 2), you can figure out that (9, 10) lies, which is the shaded area. answer is C

raj, are you familiar with coordinate geometry? a quadratic equation, ie, x^2 + ax + b = 0 can be represented as a U shaped graph. the two points where the U curve cuts the horizontal axis are the two roots of the equation. so 5x^2 - 25x = 0 can be considered a quadratic equation. the two roots are 0 and 5 (when you solve for the equation). now, we know that the U shaped graph cuts the horizontal axis at 0 and 5...anything above the horizontal axis is > 0. anything below the horizontal axis is 0, it has to be the area above the horizontal axis, meaning that x 5 that's the best that i can explain. i find it quite easy if one can visualize the quadratic equation as a U shaped graph.

1) x can be any integer. as such, if x = 3, x is > 2 and 4. 2) 5x^2 - 25x > 0 => 5x (x - 5) > 0. this means that to satisfy this inequality, x 5. as such, you are guaranteed that x does not lie between 2 and 4. B is sufficient. note that a x^2 - ax + b = 0 equality, is represented a U shaped graph, where the two points that it counts the horizontal axis are the two roots of the quadratic equation. if you can visualize such a graph, then you know that if the equation has to be greater than 0, then the area above the horizontal axis should be taken. if the equation has to be less than 0, then the area below the horizontal axis should be taken.

ptan, for Q4), even if one of the digit is 0, you are not guaranteed the the smallest integer is even. eg...consider this sequence, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2 -> smallest integer is -2 and it is even. consider another sequence -1, 0, 1, 2, 3 -> smallest integer is -1, and it is odd.

suchitralingaraj, i think for 2), even though you get x^2 - y^2 = 0, you cannot ascertain that x+y = 0. if x+y = 0, then x^2 - y^2 is also equal to x+y which implies that the statement is true. if you solve for x^2 - y^2 = 0, you get x = -y and x = y. if x = -y, x+y = 0...which makes the statement true. but if x = y, then x+y != 0...which makes the statement false. so 2) is insufficient.

1) insufficient. average speed is (total distance / total time). you do not know at which speed the car was travelling when it had completed half of the distance 2) insufficient. you can only calculate the average speed together...both are still insufficient. just tells you what the average speed is. to get the speed for half of the distance, you need to know the amount of time taken to taken the first half of the distance. this information is not given. answer is E.

yup. shrutig, you got it right. it was the cost of the armchairs that are left in the store

thanks for the rc practices.

i also believe that B is the correct answer. the rest of the answers are wrongly phrased. the "which" is actually referring to the effects of drug and alcohol abuse.

yah, when i saw that question, i also thought that it was weird that the residents can be part of a culture...but apparently, it is proper english to say so.

this is a trick question. the key is that it asked about the number of armchairs in it's stock. one has to assume that some armchairs would be sold...as such, a) is in sufficient since it only gives information about additional costs b) even if you know about total revenue, you don't know what each armchair is being sold at my answer is E. both information are insufficient

q2 seems weird to me because it did not indicate that all 300 people had voted for candidate R. if 33 had reported voting for candidate R, it does not imply that the rest of the 267 had voted for candidate R. :confused: for Q3, it says that from a square piece of cloth, 4 ft were trimmed from opposite edges. so technically, for 2 of the sides, 4 ft each was gone. and then 5ft from opposite edges. so for the remaining 2 sides, 5 ft each was gone. if x is each side of the square one side will become x-8 (4ft from opposite ends, meaning actually 8 ft was trimmed) the other side becomes x-10 (5ft from opposite ends) area = length x breadth = (x-8)(x-10) = 120 (remaining area)

thanks to everyone for their kind comments. let's see... princeton review: 700, 710, 690 -> i seem to get worse with each trial. in addition, i had my computer set to a different regional language, which kind of screwed around with the princeton questions kaplan: 590, 630, 670. the 4th test was supposed to be a trial test, so i cannot get any results. some of the questions were repeated and there were a whole bunch of ds questions. unfortunately, i didn't know my exact scores breakdown. what i can say is that my math score is always quite high, with just a few mistakes, around 49-51 area. my problem lies with verbal, from 32 - 38. usually on verbal practice, i got around 10+ questions wrong on average. here's my strategy 1) spend more time on rc and cr and less on sc questions. sc questions should take about 1 minute or less depending on difficulty. the rest of the time i will spend on rc and cr. 2) for rc, i try to read first line of each paragraph. the rest of the paragraph, i just skim through. then when i go to the questions, i will go back to the passage and look for the answers 3) i am weakest at cr...so i dunno how to advise. i do however believe that with practice, one can become better at finding the assumption

i also had problems with ds which is why on the GMAT, i paid more attention and time to it. a few things that helped me... 1) i check for 1st premise and then check for 2nd premise. usually, if both premises are right, they will give the same equation 2) be careful with the words. if they say numbers, it can mean, integers, decimals, fractions. if they say integers, it can be positive and negative 3) do not take the figures to be 100% correct. i believe one can only assume that a line is a line...and nothing else. 4) try coming up with values to break the equations if they are asking for equality types of questions

Q1) i think answer is E. is Lisa and Tom the only employees to receive the stock? if Lisa and Tom are the only employees, then the answer is D Q2) any number divisible by 5 is either 5 or 0. therefore, # has to be either 0 or 5. 1) if sum of * and # = 11, # can be 5 and * can be 6 and this will work. but if # is 4 and * is 7, then this will not work 2) if 34,2*# / 5 is an integer, 34,2*# is definitely divisible by 5 which further implies that # is either 0 or 5. regardless, it is sufficient to answer the question above. answer is B Q3) not too sure. i think that the answer is E. 1) xy = y^2 implies that either y = 0 or x = y. plug it back into the equation, if y = 0, x^2 = x...which is possible if x = 0, 1. but any other value for x will make it not equal. if x = y, the equation becomes 0 = 2x -> this is only equal is x = 0, so insufficient 2) x^2 = y^2 implies that x = y or x = -y. plug it back to the equation, it still does not give a concrete answer. take both together, you will get that x = y. even then, it is still insufficient, so i think the answer is E Q4) 1) if product of 5 integers is 0, it implies that one of the integer is 0. but that is still not enough to tell us whether the smallest integer is even or not 2) if sum of 5 integers is 0, given that this is an odd number and consecutive integers, then the sequence is -2, -1, 0, 1, 2. thus you know that the smallest integer is even. answer is B

Q1) seems to be wrong though. i get the anwer of 3:2 Q2) this is even weirder. is there some information that is not given? Q3) let x be one side of the square (x-8)(x-10) = 120 x^2 - 18x - 40 = 0 (x-20)(x+2) = 0 x = 20 Q4) i believe you have repeated two answer choices but anyway 6/7 - 5/6 = 1/42 4/5 - 3/4 = 1/20 2/3 - 1/2 = 1/6 add all of them together, it is definitely between 0 and 1/2

frankly speaking, i have no idea what i did right. in fact, i have tried all the test materials books, kaplan, princeton review, barrons, cliff notes, arco and peterson. my opinion is that kaplan is tough, princeton review is weird, barrons is not exactly right and the rest are not worth mentioning. my personal opinion: i believe that official guide is probably the best. ps questions: usually, i don't have problems with them. primarily because i can check that my answer is correct ds questions: i have a bit of difficulty with them. i will solve for the first premise and then go on to the second premise. usually, i think the answer will be the same for both premises (if both are true) rc questions: i have big problems with them. i find it hard to read on one side and then answer question on the other. usually, i like to have the entire passage on a piece of paper cr questions: it is a hit and miss. sometimes i can figure out the assumption, sometimes i cannot. for weaken and strength questions, i try to assume all the answers to be true and see which one will affect the conclusion the most sc questions: i have a bit of problems with these questions. sometimes the answers all seem right. i try to use process of elimination in figuring out which answers are wrong (grammar, tenses)

found this forum by google. pity that i only discovered this wonderful forum just a few days before my actual gmat. tried my best to absorb whatever's advice that had been posted. thanks everyone.