gmatguyIL

jsam, since u are about 50 below the average score, if the rest of your credentials are not spectacular, then I would retake the GMAT, maybe try and get atleast 680.

If you have an idea of what you are going to write, then i would say 1-2 weeks is good enough for each B-school you want to apply. Some schools have similar questions, so you can save time on those. If you have to start from "self-introspection", then you need to give yourself maybe a month.

I think it may also have something to do with other factors such as how many tough questions you got etc ?

pacman , I would not necessarily agree with you that the score is the most important component in the application package. If the average score for a school is 650 and you get a 660, then you are better off focussing on other parts of the apllication rather than on retaking the GMAT to try and get a 690. In such a case, Time spent on applications = much better opportunity cost than time spent on retaking the GMAt and improving score by 20-30 points.

Storm, this may be the "correct" approach to solving it in high school. This approach may take a while to think, formulate and solve in a GMAT. Is this the official explanation for the problem ?

Faizu, First of all, Relax!!! MBA or GMAT or adcome folks don't run your world - you do! Dont get nervous. Im sure that you were extra nervous and tha has brought down your score. Why don't you taka some time, and analyze yourself why you did worse than last time. Was it really RCs? What did you hope to improve in 1 month and why dint you improve? If you feel you can do better with more time, you can tell the adcom folks that something came up at work or that you got sick etc and ask them to keep your application pending for next quarter. If you feel you just got nervous or it was something temporary that caused the lower score, but in general you feel "ready", then by all means go for retaking immediately.

kippy, Im kind of in a smilar boat as you regarding scores vs. retaking the test. After some soul-searching, I feel that you should retake the test only if : a)You are below the average score required for that school u wish to attend, OR b)You are around average(which is your case) and you feel that you belong to a candiate pool that is extremely competitive for that particular school. In such a case, the GMAT could be a determining factor when they have a few similar profiles and want to knock off a few candidates. In other cases, I think your time is better spent on focussing on applications. You always have the option to retake the GMAT if you did not get into that school the first time. Most schools look at GMAT just to gauge whether you can handle the rigorous coursework. Also, some top schools will not admit candidates below a certain minimum due to standards they have set and the reputation of the school being at stake. A higher GMAT score can NEVER be a substitute for lack of credentials the schools are seeking! Hope this helps. Good luck!

amit, unfortunately one of the most difficult things to advise is on how to improve ur RC scores. How well you do in RC depends on a number of factors such as : * How familiar or alien you are with the broad subject matter already * How is your state of mind at the moment in the test when dealing with the passage * How difficult/easy the passage is , and how easy the following questions are Goto Reading Comprehension section of this forum, read thru the posts there. There is one topic regarding what you want to know. One tip I found useful was to go back to the passage no matter how sure I am about the answer. Shaves a few extra minutes off, so plan accordingly. Also, practice as many difficult passages as possible in simulated test conditions. Figure out your own methodology on how to attack them. For example, * how many minutes do I spend reading the passage * To what level do detail do I make notes hope this helps

smtripathi, geeky,nikshin,mercedes,alakshma,chegv,inglewood,scoot - thanks for the wishes. Merecedes, thanks for the link - I had found that site while doing my search. Once I am done with my essays, I will post any other sources that I have found useful. Another thing I forgot to mention in my post - For some people, like me, I think it is very important to chose your timing for the test. For example, I am usually sleepy and not attentive in the mornings, so it was important for me to do my test in the evening - thats when I am sharp and at my best. So if you are one of those, and you know who you are, then pay more attention to the time of the test when you sign up. Also, I was so ignorant that I did not know this fact until the actual test. In RC, on the top left side, they mention the number of questios that u will get for that passage. For example, above the passage, they write "Questions 20-23". This will help in how much time and importance you want to pay while reading the passage initially. Again, like I said, most of you may already know this!

thanks mba05 and suM. mba05, Im not sure if this score is enough. Trying to scope out where to apply and when. Believe me, if I do find out this score is sufficient, I will be the first to move on! I know someone brought up an issue about essays and applications in this forum sometime back. Is there any links or info that someone can help me with to get going? Thanks again, you guys rock!

Just got done with my test. Don't know if I am disappointed or satisfied with my score yet...Will probably take a while to reflect. Thanks to all the members of this forum, and a special thanks to Erin. Have a few names to thank specifically for taking time to answer my questions - Psygzy, anita, gmatgnat, alakshma, chegv, nikishin,adroja, sargataur, bull, gmatgrl, geeky, moyeen, maria,…Will thank the rest in my next message! Sorry! I'm acting as if I won an oscar here! My prep - abt 7 weeks or so. [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip], Kaplan 2005, Kap 800, Kaplan Verbal Workout and a few tests- ARCO, Princeton,etc. PP1 - 710, PP 2 - 740. Around 560-590 in Kaplan tests. And 650-690 in ARCO tests. Around 620-640 in Princeton. PP 2 is NOT a true indicator of your score if you prepared using [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip]. Inspite of advice by many to take it easy, relax and get good rest around test day, I did the opposite. I am the kind who will study until the last minute. Thats always worked for me, and I dint want to change that. Although doing PP2 with 7 hrs to go for my main test was not smart, I got nervous and had a brain freeze during the intial part of quant. That feeling, coming so close to main test, helped me overcome anxiety in the actual test. I had visited the test center 2 weeks back, so I had no problem getting there. AWA was a breeze. A word of advice to you folks. Try to visit the AWA section of this site. I happened to look at one essay by gmatgrl to comment on it and guess what - I got the exact same essay! In the break, drank some so called energy drink - dont know if it was of any use, but psychologically I told myself that I was all ready to rock! Quant started out easy. Then came the tough ones. I guess somewhere between 20-35 minutes, I slowed down and could never catch up. In hindsight, I feel that if you know you are 650+ scorer, try to finish your first few questions in quant as fast as possible. No point being extra careful. Ofcourse, you have to count on the fact that you will not make careless mistakes. I had to guess on some questions(4 or 5, 2 of them were blind guesses) towards the end, and was cursing myself, since some of them were relatively easy ones to solve. The questions were similar in type to [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip], just a couple of notches higher in terms of difficulty. Lots of DS, 2 or so comb/prob questions - 1 initially and 1 towards the end, geometry probs, work probs, dreaded time consuming divisor DS problems, simple looking problem with tons of calculation needed - in a nutshell, I had all kinds of problems. Cant tell you what is important - just be ready for anything they throw at you, and you'll do fine :) Verbal was easier than I expected. I guess I got a slightly easier bin of questions. I had RC questions which were pretty easy to read (I was dreading dry literature RCs). The initial SCs probably did me in and threw me into a lower difficulty set. When the test finished, I was pretty worn out. When I saw my score pop up, I did not have any reaction. Just finished the survey, came home and switched on the TV. Before finishing this long mail, just a few more words. When you come across any problem in [tooltip=Official Guide]OG[/tooltip] where you dint really understood the answer or you just barely understood it, dwell deeper into it. For example if its abt a divisor, try changing the question slightly and try solving it yourslef. And post the question and answer here. For absolutely no cost to you, u will get a custom made analysis of your method with the right approach and answer! Isn't this forum wonderful? My take on verbal is this - If you are like me, the best return on your prep time is for SC. Look at a question, attack it, look for the answer and understand it. If you basics are weak like mine was, then don’t worry abt timing your SC. Just look at question and then the answer. The main point is to understand. For RC, I found out that most of them had 1 main idea question. So I read the passages and concentrated only on getting the main question right initially. Helped me focus, and surprisingly found that once this was clear, the other questions were'nt all that bad. Time to chill out now. Cheers!

Sorry have changed it now.

thanks geeky. nuthan wht is the source of this question? Could the OA be wrong ?

I suspect that the 7 numbers are not integers. Could be 7 consecutive numbers in any series. Stmt 2 reaffirms it, else that info would be redundant. Agree with E. Does the term "Consecutive numbers" have to mean integers ?

Is it E ? Heres how I approached this problem. Please feel free to critique my approach! Assumed x=1. Eyeballed the difference. In 50 days, price of corn=320+(50*5)=570 wheat = 580-(50*.41)=559.5 (since sqrt(2)-1=0.41) In 48 days, corn = 320+(48*5)=560 wheat=580-(48*.41)=560.32