Done

Got a 730 (96%)
Q48 (82%)
V42 (95%).

Yey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Off to holidayyy now.

Update: Got 6.0 in AWA. Yey! But why is 6.0 only a 91%?

700 (+100) :p

Got a 700 on GMATPrep #2 on Saturday afteroon. Q47 V38. Will try not spending over 2 minutes on any question which is leaving me feel blurry in my head... :) whatever that means!
All that's left to do now is revise my SC notes - mainly the 2 chapters I didn't get to revise before the test. Might flip through the condensed Math notes I made. That's about it.

Ready to hit it, and smash it :) on Tuesday morning. Can't wait!

Who vs. Whom

Both of them should be "whom".

This is the man to whom I wanted to speak...

Marvin wondered to whom he should give the message...

We use "whom" when we're referring to the object of the sentence.

We use "who" when we're referring to the subject.

There's a very simple test you can use to figure out which version to use:

Turn the statement into a question and answer it with a pronoun.

For example:

Quote:

This is the man to whom I wanted to speak.

To whom did I want to speak? I wanted to speak to HIM.

Quote:

I really hate the guy who stole my girlfriend.

Who stole my girlfriend? HE did.

If you answer the question with him/her/them, then "whom" is the right choice.

If you answer the question with he/she/they, then "who" is the right choice.


--
As explained by Kaplan instructor Stuart on BTG.

Final Stretch

Hey...so I'll fill you in real quick. I gave an MGMAT test on Sunday morning and scored a crappy 670 (Q45 V36). Felt really crummy post that, obviously. And then I fell sick on Monday, and have had fever since. I've tried studying a little from OG. Finished reviewing my Math FCs today. Now I need to buckle up and really revise my SC notes from MGMAT's guide, and probably practice a few questions from OG to reinforce those rules. Other than that, today's the first day I've not had fever. So I guess I'm getting better. Feeling a little tired though - I guess it's just a little weakness.
I know I wanted to do a whole lot more of fine-tuning before my actual exam, and obviously the falling test scores weren't helping my confidence either. But, you know what, I think I've put in a lot of effort over the past few weeks, and hopefully I shall be fully fit to give my exam on the 1st. I don't feel like giving up just yet. The only change in plan is that I will give my final practice test - GMATPrep #2 on Sunday instead - so that I can review/practice a little bit more before the test. I'm sure the practice test will go well, and I'll be on my way to scoring well on the GMAT.

Parting words for today...

"I promise myself...
To be so strong that nothing can disturb my peace of mind.
To think only of the best... and to expect only the best.
To be too large for worry, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
To live in the faith that the whole world is on my side..."

710...

710 (Q49 V37) on GMATPrep v1 #1 - DO NOT USE THIS TEST. It has repeats from the OGs and from GMATPrep v.2 (more than I would've liked).
Argh! Q49 can be partly attributed to repeat questions, although I had to redo them. Still, it means I might have known how to solve them.
And V37 to overconfidence? Yes, I thought I was having trouble with the questions because they were "too difficult". Haha, no. I was just being lazy/tensed. I don't know. 7 SC mistakes - why is this on the rise? I need to review my MGMAT SC notes - maybe I'm forgetting things? :( 5 CR mistakes - some were confusing, in some I didn't feel like thinking. :( Was very tired after AWA and Quant.

I'm getting a little frustrated. Today's practice test might as well have been a waste of my time, since Quant had so many repeats, and I got complacent in Verbal. Hmmm...or maybe it wasn't. Now I know NOT to use GMATPrep v1 ever again, and also to NOT be complacent during Verbal. Oh, and I finished Quant on time. Other than seeing repeats, I realised one thing. If I'm calm, my accuracy increases in Quant. Or I don't let anything I can't solve get in the way of trying my best to solve the next question. Useful to give this test then? Yes, maybe.

I don't think I'm going to study today. Feeling like, well, to put it straight, crap. I'll moan over this for a while more and then move on.

Thanks for listening! Keep up the good work with your padhai!

13 days to go!

Hello! I went through incorrect questions on last 2 tests, and found 2 math topics to focus on: Number Properties (specially Divisibility & Primes), and Inequalities. Done going through all the Number Properties questions from OG11, 12 and OG Quant supplement. Might go through "Integer Properties" category of questions from my BTG account.
Going to do the same for Inequalities today.
Finished Modifiers from MGMAT SC. Need to go through my notes again, and practice some more questions from OGV for those topics.

Another practice test tomorrow morning.

Happy studying you guys!!!

Practice Test - GMATPrep - 720

GMATPrep #1.
720 (Q47 V42) - with AWA (most of my practice tests are with AWA - FYI).
Ummm...so...good to know that the 740 on MGMAT last time was not a fluke. I guess I did get better over the last 1 month.

Q47 - 13 incorrect (9 DS, 4 PS - obv DS seems to be the problem.)
V42 - 6 incorrect (1 CR, 5 SC!!! Hmmm...SC needs a lot more work.)

Now, my problem is Q47. I thought us Indians were supposed to find this section easy? Hmmm...
Plan of attack:
1. Review Math section of last 2 tests and see which category of Math questions need to be handled. Do questions from these categories from OG12 and OGQ (using MGMAT's OG Tracker excel sheet).
2. Finish all Quant questions from OGQ, going through answer explanations for EACH AND EVERY question, even if you got it right (need to figure out quicker ways to solve questions, especially DS - where I end up plugging in too many numbers and am confused by the end of it). - THIS REALLY NEEDS TO BE DONE!

3. Review which SC category questions I got wrong in last 2 tests. See what kind of mistakes I made.
4. Revise SC chapters from MGMAT guide, and also continue going through it like I have been in the last few days.
5. Continue to do CR & RC questions, and understanding why you're getting it wrong from OGV (and some RCs in OG12).

Phew.

Good luck to the rest of you...
And 800, here I commmmmeeeeee! :)

Verbs Video help

Verb Tense help from Ron.
http://vimeo.com/17098165

CP #25

MGMAT CAT#2


The greatest common factor of 16 and the positive integer n is 4, and the greatest common factor of n and 45 is 3. Which of the following could be the greatest common factor of n and 210?

		3
		14
		30
		42
		70

Solution

The greatest common factor (GCF) of two integers is the largest integer that divides both of them evenly (i.e. leaving no remainder).

One way to approach the problem is to consider what the GCFs stated in the question stem tell us about n:

The greatest common factor of n and 16 is 4. In other words, n and 16 both are evenly divisible by 4 (i.e., they have the prime factors 2 × 2), but have absolutely no other factors in common. Since 16 = 2 × 2 × 2 × 2, n must have exactly two prime factors of 2--no more, no less.

The greatest common factor of n and 45 is 3. In other words, n and 45 both are evenly divisible by 3, but have absolutely no other factors in common. Since 45 = 3 × 3 × 5, n must have exactly one prime factor of 3--no more, no less.  Also, n cannot have 5 as a prime factor.

So, n must include the prime factors 2, 2, and 3. Furthermore, n is not divisible by 8, 9, or 5.

The number 210 has the following prime factorization: 210 = 2 x 3 x 5 x 7. Thus n and 210 are both divisible by 2 and 3, and both might be divisible by 7, but it is not the case that both numbers are divisible by 4 or by 5:

(A) 3: missing a 2
(B) 14: missing a 3
(C) 30: n cannot be divisible by 5
(D) 42: Correct. n and 210 are both divisible by 2 and 3, and n could be divisible by 7.
(E) 70: n cannot be divisible by 5 and must be divisible by 3.

The correct answer is D.

CP #24

MGMAT CAT#2

Is the positive integer N a perfect square?

(1) The number of distinct factors of N is even.
(2) The sum of all distinct factors of N is even.

Answer Explanation:
(1) SUFFICIENT: The factors of any number N can be sorted into pairs that multiply to give N. (For instance, the factors of 24 can be paired as follows: 1 and 24; 2 and 12; 3 and 8; 4 and 6.) However, if N is a perfect square, one of these ‘pairs’ will consist of just one number: the square root of N. (For example, if N were 49, it would ahve the factor pair 7 × 7) Since all of the other factors can be paired off, it follows that if N is a perfect square, then N has an odd number of factors. (If N is not a perfect square, then all of its factors can be paired off, so it will have an even number of factors.) This statement then implies that N is not a perfect square.

(2) SUFFICIENT: Let N be a perfect square. If N is odd, then all factors of N are odd. Therefore, by the above reasoning, N has an odd number of odd factors, so their sum must be odd. If N is even, let M be the product of all the odd prime factors (as many times as they appear in N – not distinct) of N, which is also a perfect square. (For instance, if N = 100, then M =5 × 5 = 25.) Then the sum of factors of M is odd, by the above reasoning. Furthermore, all other factors of N (i.e., that don’t also divide M) are even. The sum total is thus odd + even = odd.
Therefore, the sum of the factors of any perfect square is odd, so this statement implies that N is not a perfect square.
This statement can also be investigated by trying several cases of even perfect squares (4, 16, 36, 64, 100), noting that in each case the sums of the factors are odd, and generalizing.

The correct answer is D.

-----------

I picked numbers to get to my answer, but made a silly mistake by omitting "1" as a distinct factor in Statement II.

And to the MGMAT explanation - hunh?!