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.

Practice Test - Kaplan - 620

620 on Kaplan test.
Q - 40 (12 incorrect)
V - 35 (16 incorrect)

I had a massive pacing problem on Quant.
I got frustrated with confusing questions, in which I couldn't figure out what the hell they were saying!
I got further frustrated with my slow pace.
This further affected my ability to answer questions I could've answered otherwise.
By the end of it, I guessed on the last 5 questions. Yes, I did that.

I ended up starting the Verbal section without taking a break, by mistake. I did not know how to pause the test, so continued anyway.
I underestimated the amount of time left, so I rushed through 2 RC passages (yes, literally glanced through them).
At question 31, I realised I have 20+ minutes remaining. For some reason, I thought to myself - hey! I have DOUBLE the time left (for some reason, I thought 1 minute per question is what I needed!). So I went slow with the next few questions, and...........you guessed it! I had to guess on the last question.


Damn it!

This is a Kaplan 2007 CD with 4 tests on it. I took CAT #2. I am never touching another test from this CD again. There are spelling mistakes, confusssssssing questions. Argh! I know that's not the only thing that harmed my score today, and that keeping my cool in such a situation is what'll get me through on test day. But today, I just wanted to kill someone! I hated going through the test. And I usually quite enjoy it.

I want more official tests. None of this crap. :(
Can't I give ONLY official adaptive tests for the next 3 weeks? :(

Ok ok...on a more serious & calmer note - I really need to be able to pace better on the WHOLE test. I feel like I know so much, and with careful deliberation I will be able to get most of my answers right. I need to feel the way I felt when I was giving those practice questions from OG12 these last few days. So calm, methodical...yes, that's the way I need to feel.

On my next practice exam, I think I should try answering questions in a quick yet calm manner, and probably every 7th or 8th question, take a random guess if I see that the amount of time remaining is lesser than according to plan. That way, I keep my cool, and also answer all the questions I try solving. Down side is obviously that I may guess on questions I could've gotten right in under 2 minutes, but I really think I should try this out and see if it can help on my test. What do you guys think? Any other strategies to pace better?

PS. My accuracy in RC was terrible (as was expected), and was quite good in CR (getting better at taking apart the argument). In Math, Word Problems had the lowest accuracy, and Geometry the highest! But, co-ordinate plane DS questions really get to me, because all that I know are the formulas. I need to get some insight into this.

Is Verbal my new weakness?!

Only 2 chapters left to do from MGMAT SC Guide. Have also gone through all Math theory concept review chatpers from Kaplan Premier - mainly the practice sets. Work is also coming along at a good pace.

Am also done with putting in all my Diagnostic test answers in the error log. Difficult task to match all the question categories between different error logs available on the net. Need to work on it, so that I can accurately tell which areas are my weak points. At the moment, Strengthen & Weaken category of CR questions appears to be my weakest link. More on this later...

Now for some non-GMAT, non-MBA, non-work related stuff:
My boyfriend came back to town yesterday after a 9 day trip abroad. :-) That's probably how I've got so much studying done along with work! :-p
Saw a gorgeous top at Zara (Rs 3600) and an amazing dress at Forever New (Rs 5000+)...and I want them both! I know, I know, expensive...but...will probably get the Zara top this weeked...and the dress, won't really have any place to wear it to...so probably won't. But it's such a pretty dress! And it fits me sooo well! *sigh*

Date of Expiry

My access to Kaplan Premier's online quizzes and tests expires on 28th August!!! :-O
I totally forgot about this...damn it! Need to do all the quizzes before it expires. Damn it damn it damn it!

Deviating from my standards

Sunday morning up with a lark,
I think I'll take a walk in the park...
Hey, hey, hey it's a beautiful day...
So, Sunday morning. And I've been up since 5. Spent about 90 minutes going through and understanding the concept of Standard Deviation. I've read it's not a common topic on the GMAT, but an 800-scorer can't afford to ignore any topic. ;-)

Went through Kaplan book's section on Averages (as suggested by 60-day Study Guide - BTG). Worked through it's practice set, which is quite simple. Moved on to Standard Deviation chapter from GMATClub's Math book. Very short. The author has posted a link to some PS and DS questions on SD which made me very happy. Till I realised they were questions from GMATPrep. At which point I quickly stopped. I want to have minimum repeat questions on my practice exams.

Did some random SD questions from GMATClub then, from non-official sources I hope.

Oh, and if you're wondering about the topic of this post - waking up at 5 for 2 straight weeks, and even on a Sunday is 3 standard deviations away from my mean! :-) (if you study the concept, you'll get it.)

And it's a wrap.

Done with Geometry Theory. Got 38/42 correct in Kaplan book's practice sets. 3 questions - very silly mistakes. 1 question - although easy, it had a particular method to solve it. It's definitely a CP. Will post it soon.

Now starting off with Standard Deviation.

How To Wrap Up The Geometry Theory Module Perfectly

Geometry theory from OG - check.

Geometry theory from GMATClub's Math book - check.

Go through FCs to drill the formulae into your brain - partially done.

Geometry theory from Kaplan - pending.

Action Plan (from BTG's 60-Day Study Guide: Day 15)

To Do:

• In Kaplan's GMAT 2010-2011 Premier with CD-ROM:
• Read the section on Lines and Angles (p. 293-295)
• Answer questions 1, 3 and 4 on the Lines and Angles Practice Set (p. 296-297)
• Read the section on Triangles (p. 299-404)
• Complete the Triangles Practice Set (p. 305-306)
• Read the section on Polygons (p. 306-308)
• Complete the Quadrilaterals and Other Polygons Practice Set (p. 308-311)
• Read the section on Circles (p. 311-314)
• Complete the Circles Practice Set (p. 315-317)
• Read the section on Multiple Figures (p. 317-319)
• Complete the Multiple Figures Practice Set (p. 319-321)
• Read the section on Solids (p. 321-324)
• Complete the Solids Practice Set (p. 324-326)

Note: I have the 2009-10 edition, so page numbers might be different.

I have 2 days to finish this. I will go through the theory section to see if I've missed out anything. If yes, I will make a FC for it. Then I will do the practice sets. :-)

CP #10

GMAT Blue Quiz - Kaplan

UNDERSTAND EXPLANATION!!!

Question

Is a – b > 0?

(1)    a > 2b

(2)    b > a + 3

Solution

The inequality in the question stem can be manipulated so that the question reads "is a > b?"

At first glance, Statement (1) would seem to be sufficient. If a and b are both positive, and then a is certainly greater than b. But what if a and b are negative? If a = -3 and b = -2? Since -3 > -4, a would be greater than 2b; but since -2 > -3, b would be greater than a. Since Statement (1) can lead to either a yes or no answer, it is insufficient.

Manipulating the inequality in Statement (2) is more fruitful. Subtracting b and 3 from both sides gives you -3 > a-b. If that's true, then a – b is certainly less than zero. Statement (2) leads to a single, definite answer (which happens to be "no") and so is sufficient.

Kaplan Permier: Blue Quiz

Completed Kaplan Premier's Blue Quiz today. Scored an 87% overall. Got 26/30 right. Wrong - 2 CR (DOUBT IN #20 - ASK A KAPLAN INSTRUCTOR), 1 SC (idiom - as many...as) and 1 DS (ASK FRIEND!).

CP #5

Question #2 from Kaplan Problem Solving challenge.

The “connection” between any two positive integers a and b is the ratio of the smallest common multiple of a and b to the product of a and b.  For instance, the smallest common multiple of 8 and 12 is 24, and the product of 8 and 12 is 96, so the connection between 8 and 12 is 

The positive integer y is less than 20 and the connection between y and 6 is equal to . How many possible values of y are there?

	7
	8
	9
	10
	11

Answer Explantion:

If the connection between y and 6 is , then the least common multiple of y and 6 must equal the product 6y. The least common multiple of two numbers equals the product of the two numbers only when there are no common factors (other than 1). Since y is a positive integer less than 20, check all the integers from 1 to 19 to see which ones have no factors greater than 1 in common with 6:  1, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, and 19. So there are 7 possible values for y.

 -------------------------------------------------------------------

In my own words (which I can actually understand!),

for the ratio to be 1:1, the LCM should be =6y (so that it cancels out with the product).

For this to be possible, y should NOT be a multiple of 6, and should not include 2,3 or any multiples of 2,3. The only numbers that are not multiples of 2,3 and 6 are 1,5,7,11,13,17,19, a total of 7 numbers!

Why I got it wrong:
I actually randomly guessed on this one cos I knew it would take me more thinking to get the right answer, and so I tried applying the pacing advice I read on a MGMAT forum today.

CP #4

This is a Kaplan Problem Solving Challenge question. It's a 25 minute quiz with 16 questions. I finished it just in time, but I got 2/16 wrong. Here's the first one:


In the diagram above, the line y = 4 is the perpendicular bisector of segment JK (not shown).  What is the distance from the origin to point K ?

	4
	8

Answer Explantion:

Don't try to keep all the information in your head - add to the diagram so you can refer to it as you solve. Horizontal line y = 4 is the perpendicular bisector of JK, so JK must be vertical and parallel to the y-axis. Draw in segment JK, dropping straight down from point J through the x-axis. Before you can find the distance from the origin to point K, you need to know its coordinates. K is directly below J so both points are the same distance from the y-axis and their x-coordinates must be the same. So the x-coordinate of K is 6. Since the line y = 4 bisects JK, the vertical distance from J to the line must be the same as the vertical distance from the line to K. Vertical distance is the difference between the y-coordinates, so the vertical distance from J to line y = 4 is 10 - 4, or 6. Therefore the difference between the y-coordinates of line y = 4 and point K is also 6, so the y-coordinate of K = 4 - 6, making -2 the y-coordinate of point K. So the coordinates of point K are (6, -2). You will notice that K, the origin O, and the point where JK crosses the x-axis is a right triangle, with its hypotenuse being the distance from the origin to point K. Use the Pythagorean theorem to find the length of the hypotenuse. Hypotenuse² = (length of leg lying on the x-axis)² + (length of the leg parallel to the y-axis)² = 6² + 2² = 40. So the distance from the origin to K =  = .

What I did wrong

1. Didn't remember distance formula

2. Made a mistake in considering K (6,0) since I didn't realise that my K to line y=4 was only 4 points away, not 6.

Wow, this is a first! Didn't remember the formula, AND made a silly mistake!

My First Post

Yes yes, my post title is a cliche. So is my blog name, blog description, and this list will eventually include a whole host of cliche posts with cliche contents, so much so that even the comments other people start leaving on the same posts will be cliche!
I think I should change the name of this post to "Cliche", just so that the cliche content of this post is reduced by atleast a small amount.
See, THIS is why blogging about my GMAT prep is a bad idea. I love to write! And, unfortunately for you first-post readers, I haven't written any non-financial-update-report matter in many months!
Getting back to the point, I think it's pointless to tell you why I made this blog. Everyone knows the answer to that.

What I would like to tell you is this:

1. I gave my CAT (Common Admission Test) last year, and got an 80 percentile, with a 94 percentile in the Verbal section *jumps with joy*, and obviously horrendous percentiles in Math & DI (Data Interpretation). I had joined T.I.M.E. coaching classes, but was irregular in attending the same. When I finally got serious in August 2008, I did put in a whole month's worth of serious prep time. But, I eventually realised I wanted to score well on my college exams in October instead, so I said goodbye to CAT 2008 then.

2. Because of #1, I expected myself to be better at GMAT Verbal than Math (I sucked at CAT Math). Although I have till date not solved a single official GMAT question (read: from the Official Guide for GMAT Review), I did realise that my speed at solving Verbal questions (specially RC) is kind of...slow, to put it mildly.

3. I know #2 because I have read the theory/review sections from Princeton Review's (PR) "Cracking the GMAT with DVD" 2010 edition.

• I found their RC (Reading Comprehension) strategy pretty helpful (it helped me increase my speed with RC...but only to an extent). But, I read on a blog today that Kaplan's RC strategy should be incorporated into PR's to get the best way of doing RC. I shall look into this later. Please remind me!
• I still haven't gone through all of CR (Critical Reasoning) because it got kind of borrr*yawn*iiinnnng.
• SC (Sentence Correction) seemed mostly pretty basic (that's 2 adjectives in a row...is that correct?). I hope this will be my strength, because I believe my grammar is pretty good (loved Wren & Martin as a kid!). I think I'll have to read up on the rules for grammar & an idioms list for this.
• I gave a warm-up test from PR where the Math questions I got wrong were mostly Data Sufficiency (DS) questions. I found that my problem was skipping to Statement (II) before reading (I) properly, and my eagerness to mark (C) as the correct option. Pretty basic, careless mistakes...
• The Math review from PR seemed pretty unsatisfactory to me. So I went on an internet-surfing-hunt to find the 'perfect' Math review. I found a couple of helpful links/notes...I shall upload them here soon, or provide links to them.

4. My target GMAT score is 800.

5. I believe in The Secret (Rhonda Byrnes book).

6. I want to get into ISB Hyderabad to start my MBA in April 2011.

7. I want to give GMAT only ONCE because it costs Rs.10,000! And also to stop waking up at 5 am every morning.

I have been reading up on the GMAT for more then a month now. I have realised one thing - if you give yourself 4-5 months to prepare for the GMAT, your first 1-2 months are going to go sllllooooooooowww. Therefore, I am 'planning' on giving the GMAT by December end now, so that I can start pushing along my preparations.

I started waking up at 5 am in the morning to study for GMAT before I went to work (I leave home by 8-8:30) because I'm too tired to study by the time I come back home (usually 7 pm). I was totally into this routine for about 1.5-2 weeks, when I gave that damn Warm-up test, and ended up doing a lot worse than I would've liked. I know, I know...that's no excuse for not studying for MORE THAN A WEEK! But, as luck would have it, I've been getting fever the last 2 nights, so all plans of getting back into action have been kicked aside once again.

However, the second I'm physically up to waking up early and studying again, I shall get back to my GMAT preparations.

Remind me to add my previous posts here, flashcards from Manhattan GMAT & Beat The GMAT, notes from MGMAT, math review from the guy who scored a 790, list of quant formulae, tough quant problems.

Till then, I think anyone interested in the GMAT will thoroughly enjoy www.gmathacks.com It's an amazing website with amazing insights into the GMAT! I currently subscribe to their "GMAT Question a Day", but I stopped solving them when I couldn't get ONE question. This seems to be a trend with me :-(

Enjoy the site! And I hope you enjoy my blog!