quercus

Hmmm... I think most people would say "She is looking at Finance as her sub-specialization." (And then, "Looking to finance her education with student loans." - but that's yet another use of the idiom) In the "Looking at Finance as her sub-specialization" example, looking at is used as in examining closely or investigating. In the "looking to the waterfront" example in this SC problem, "looking to" is used as in "looking toward the future." So ... Looking toward the future. Or looking to the future. Looking to the next generation. Looking to the planets as our next frontier. And ... Looking at business schools in New York for Fall 2005 Looking at waterfront property on which to build a vacation home Looking at marketing as a possible major.

I'm one of those native English speakers who usually knows the correct answer, but can't tell you why, so I don't know how helpful I'll be in explaining this in terms of the rules test-takers here are taught, but I'll try. A. "could not enter without any" is a double negative so it changes the meaning. B. This actually doesn't change the meaning, but the addition of "any" is awkward. You have probably learned some grammar rule for this that I don't know. Sorry. D. and E. Both can be eliminated quickly because they use "neither" and "or" rather than "neither" and "nor." D has other problems as well, but you can stop at the use of "or" instead of "nor." That leaves "C" which is correct, assuming it should have been a comma after permission rather than a period (just a typo below I'm assuming?) And yes, it sounds funny.

I think C and D

I'm kind of new here and I'm just wondering why this is true? In standard English it's not true. Also, with all due respect, your use of "the reason being" in your response is not correct, on the GMAT or otherwise. You should say, "The reason is that an infinitive is always ..."

A simple rule: look for the "ings": treating, releiving and dulling. In "B" all three words are written that way so there's parallel construction. This rule generally holds. Also, another small tip, if I can be so presumptuous (it may help you somewhere else). In your question you asked, "Need specific's." This should be "need specifics." When you make a word, such as specific, plural, you don't have to put an apostrophe before the s.

I'd like to see all the choices for this one. A split infinitive is when an adverb is placed between "to" and the verb that follows it. In this case, the adverb "intentionally' is placed between "to" and the verb "segregate." Do you have the other choices? Is there is one that says, perhaps, "school systems are forbidden from intentionally segregating the races by law or practice." If so, I'd pick that one.

It turns out there are two books, one with the CD (sells for $37), one without (sells for $20). I purchased the latter, without the CD. I just exchanged it for the former.

Can someone tell me how to get the Kaplan Diagnostic test? I bought the Kaplan book, but the one without the CD and all it has is practice questions in the front -- a lot of them -- and a full length paper test in the back. Is that the diagnostic test? Or do I have to purchase the other book with the CD? The cover of the book says, "Get more practice and help online - a $50 program FREE!" but going to the Kaplan site, it's not immediately evident what they're talking about.

No, I knew you were joking! No problems. I just ordered a copy of the 2004 Kaplan CD so I'll take the pre-test and set a baseline from there. Thanks again.

Ha. Thanks Mercedes for making me feel so old! Seriously, I don't mind. I've been out of college for 24 years, but haven't had math since freshman year, though I did take GRE back in 1981. I'm going into a part-time MBA program now. The questions I took were from the book, not the CD. The big group of practice questions in the front of the book. So I'm not sure what bin they're from. I guess I should have bought the version of the book that comes with the CD. I'll look for a copy of the CD online. Thanks for your excellent advice. I'll report back on the progress.

I just started approaching the GMAT this week after 25 years out of school. Started by looking at the sample questions on mba.com, then found this site. Bought the 2005 Kaplan book and started at the beginning with the intro sections for each type of question to learn how to approach these before I ventured into the real sample test. Question: How do I know how my results on these practice questions might correlate to my results on an actual full-length practice test? I don't want to jump into the full-length practice test yet. I'm just trying to see if I'm below average, average or above average so I know where to focus my efforts. These are the results so far: Critical Reasoning: 36 correct out of 45 questions (80%). Sentence Correction: 51 correct out of 53 questions (98%) Obviously there is quite a lot of room for improvement here, esp. on CR. I gave myself a 50 minute time limit on each section, and followed the actual test rules as much as possible: answered in sequential order, no writing in the book, etc. What do these results mean?

I'm applying to a part-time mid-career MBA program that starts next fall, which means the GMAT is the first standardized test I've taken in about 23 years. It's actually been 26 years since I had a math class. Anyone remember the 20th Century? I actually did pretty well in math back in the day but now I can't remember a darn thing. Where to start? I figure to start I have to assess my strengths or mostly weaknesses in both the math and verbal areas. I'm most sure even how to approach the test because it seems most of the preparation advice is geared at people who are in school or only a few years out, not us addled old folks. I'm wondering if taking a college algebra course might help or if GMAT math is unique. I started the free sample math test at mba.com and was at an utter loss on how to approach some of the math problem solving questions, particularly the probabilty questions (and algebra, and percentages, and ...) I'm a little more confident on the data sufficiency questions. The verbal section is less problematic, though I'm rusty there as well. Any advice for a rusty old geezer on where to get started? I think I have about 5 months to prepare but if I don't have to drag it out that long, that's fine, too. Thanks kids.

Solved it myself. Souped up my Mac with a little more RAM and Virtual PC is running fine on it now, so all the standard tests are now running. I'm not sure if Virtual PC is still being sold. I already had it on my Mac. I even loaded the latest version of the FireFox browser. Downloaded Powerprep, the Flash test from score800.com. Everything works.

yup, pretty sure it's D

This one is strange. I guess B, only assuming the familes stayed in separate rooms and paid full price for those rooms.