Practice Test #3...or #1? Last one was in Dec '09.

Have reviewed my diagnostic test, have some verbal doubts which I will put up on BTG or GMATClub forums to get clarity on.

Gave the free Kaplan test this morning on the net. Got a 610 (Q39 V37). Not paying too much attention to the score. Actually found the PS questions very easy, had forgotten how to solve some "types" of questions, which is why I got a few wrong. Not a big deal, will be able to solve those easily by the time the real test arrives. Finished the section with 5 minutes to spare - timing was an issue. There were 2-3 questions of the type where I know how to solve them, just couldn't recall during the test, so I spent too much time on those questions. Finally, I guessed on those questions (which ultimately meant a massive waste of time), and got tensed so I ended up doing the next few questions super fast. But, this test is not typical of the actual test at all. I'm sure of it. A million reasons why. More on that in some other post.
During Verbal, I had to guess on last 2 questions as I ran out of time. Was slow on the section as I was getting easily distracted with the extremely boring content on all the questions. What a lame excuse! :-p A more probable reason is the lack of stamina at the moment, or the fact that I just didn't want to give  a test this morning.

Just putting in my answers in the error log now...later.

Kaplan Diagnostic Quiz & Speed Math

Hi...

Work has kept me quite busy, so had left GMAT studies for sometime. It's time now.

Recap

Took the GMAT Diagnositc Quiz on Kaplan Premier's online companion. Scored 89% - 34 / 38 were correct answers. Got 1 wrong each in DS, PS, RC and CR. It was untimed.

To Do

While reviewing, there is 1 DS question I could not understand - will ask a friend - also, need to put it as a CP.

Another DS question took too long - must review that.

RC Strategy

In RC, writing what the para is talking about as short notes helps me. It's a PR method, but it seems to be working. It doesn't work in those passages where I have literally been unable to comprehend the meaning. To reduce the probability of that happening, I need to start taking out time to read (I used to be a voracious reader till time constrains brought my reading time down to near negligible). I also need to work on my vocab - I have Word Power Made Easy (WPME) by Norman Lewis. Maybe I should revisit it.

Speed Math

Have also been learning calculation shortcuts from Bill Handley's Speed Mathematics. It's actually quite fun and I've done a few chapters.

To Do

Do the chapter on decimal multiplication. Practise calculations.

CP #8

Here is the question I didn't get in my last PR test: 

Q. A man chooses an outfit from 3 different shirts, 2 different pairs of shoes, and 3 different pants. If he randomly selects 1 shirt, 1 pair of shoes, and 1 pair of pants each morning for 3 days, what is the probability that he wears the same pair of shoes each day, but that no other piece of clothing is repeated?

a) (1/3)^6 x (1/2)^3

b) (1/3)^6 x (1/2)

c) (1/3)^4

d) (1/3)^2 x (1/2)

e) (1/3)^2 x 5 

Solution:

I came up with an extremely simplified, but slightly longer solution, mainly because I didn't "get" the solutions posted completely. The method is still the same, but this is my explanation for why it is the way it is:

Suppose the shirts are - Y (yellow), G (green), W (white)

The shoes are - T (teal), V (violet)

And the pants are - R (red), L (lemon), A (aqua)

Yes, the man has a horrible sense of fashion. Let's call him Punk! 

Note: My explanation is based on a simple rule my math tutor taught me in school -- 'and' always translates into 'x' (multiplication) and 'or' always becomes '+' (addition). 

Now, the probability of him picking up a particular shirt, say Y = 1/3

This is the probability of each shirt, and so P(Y) = P(G) = P(W) = 1/3

Same for pants i.e. P(R) = P(L) = P(A) = 1/3
For shoes = P(T) = P(V) = 1/2

Day 1:

Mr. Punk can choose an outfit (Shirt & Shoes & Pants) by combining any of the above items.

P (choosing a shirt) = P(Y) or P(G) or P(W)

Similarly,

P (choosing a pair of shoes) = P(T) or P(V)

P (choosing a pair of pants) = P(R) or P(L) or P(A)

One of each item has to be picked up at the same time, so we will multiply the above. The equation is:

P (1Shirt, 1Shoe, 1Pant) = [ P(Y) + P(G) + P(W) ] x [ P(T) + P(V) ] x [ P(R) + P(L) + P(A) ]

The RHS (right hand side of the equation) can be put in words:

He must have picked either the Y 'or' G 'or' W shirt AND a T 'or' V shoe AND a R 'or' L 'or' A pant. I simply converted the 'or' to + & the AND to x.

P (1Shirt, 1Shoe, 1Pant) = (1/3 + 1/3 + 1/3) x (1/2 + 1/2) x (1/3 + 1/3 + 1/3)

= 3/3 x 2/2 x 3/3

= 1.

Most people can derive this by common sense, since the probability of him choosing n combination of outfits has to be 1, because although the combos may be different, the probability of him choosing 1 piece of clothing from each item is a 100% (he will not walk out half-naked!). Anyway, common sense is not so common, so I needed to explain this to myself.

Day 2:

Let us suppose that Mr. Punk picked out Y shirt, T shoes & R pants.

Here is where I had made a mistake. I had assumed that the items he could choose his day 2 outfits from had reduced. In reality, he once again had the same choice from 3 shirts, 2 shoes & 3 pants (yes, he doesn't send his clothes to the laundry after wearing them just once!)

Now the limitation of him choosing a different shirt & pants, and the same shoes, is what we have to look for i.e. what is the probability of that happening by chance, not by him deliberately choosing only from the remaining 2 shirts, etc.

The equation for day 2 will look like this:

P (1Shirt, 1Shoe, 1Pant) = [ P(G) + P(W) ] x [ P(T) ] x [ P(L) + P(A) ]

(since he's already worn the Y & R, and he has to choose only T again.)

P (1Shirt, 1Shoe, 1Pant) = (1/3 + 1/3) x (1/2) x (1/3 + 1/3)

= 2/3 x 1/2 x 2/3

= 2/9

Day 3:

Mr. Punk wore G shirt, T shoes & L pants on day 2.

For day 3, what is the probability of him wearing W shirt, T shoes & A pants?

P (W Shirt, T Shoe, A Pant) = P(W) x P(T) x P(A)

= 1/3 x 1/2 x 1/3

= 1/18 

Multiplying the final blue equations for days 1 AND 2 AND 3 (remember, AND => multiplication),

P (different shirt, pants, and same shoes, on the 3 days) = 1 x 2/9 x 1/18

= 1/81 or (1/3)^4 

PS. I've kept my earlier thoughts on the question...just in case I need them some day:

I made one MAIN mistake. I was thinking he had to choose a particular outfit, and I calculated the probability of that. That's why I was getting answer B I think. Anyway, after reading a couple of solutions posted on the web, I figured it out. We're looking for the probability of him not repeating that same outfit, and there IS replacement here! I had assumed that once shirt#1 is gone, he's left to choose between any of the remaining 2, when in fact he still has his 3 shirts to choose from, but now he can actually pick any 1 of the 2. This explanation is beginning to suck.

After some thought, I finally understood the solution. The solutions I found on GMAT forums helped.

Day 29-30

Day 29:
Qs. 1-19 from PR VB3. Timed: 1.8 min/qs.

Day 30:
Qs. 20-26 from PR VB3. Timed. Done now.

Review & error log entry coming soon...

Practice test #2 (PR #1)

Hi!!!
My best friend is in town so I spent the better half of my weekend with her. There was no time to study yesterday (Saturday), but I woke up at 6 am today and wrote my second practice test.
Princeton Review's CAT #1: 650 (Q-44, V-37).
Yes, I hadn't studied much as it is in the past few weeks, but I still took it, cos it's time I start taking practice tests every Sunday now.
Yes, my quant score remains the same as the last test. Though I did pace much better and finished the section comfortably. Accuracy was 84%.
Verbal was higher from earlier, which is a good sign. This time I tried to slow down (last time I went too fast), but at some point in the middle I felt like I had lost some time, so did a couple of questions quickly to make up for it. Got 2 wrong in this duration. Eventually, had more than 2 minutes remaining on the last question, an SC. Accuracy was 80%. But, I think I can do so much better in Verbal. This time, there was once again a damned RC in which I got 3/4 questions wrong! And this time I thought I got it, but I actually hadn't got it. Damn it!!! I'm beginning to think now that the RC strategy taught to me by PR may not be working out best for me. Maybe I am the sort of person who will read the passage carefully, and then get all RC questions right. Out of the 8 questions I got wrong on this section, FIVE were RC questions!!! 2 SC (one idiom), and 1 CR. This is so different from my GMATPrep test! CR was my weakness there. Hmmm...!

Anyway, I'll go through the wrong & guessed questions tomorrow. For today, I'm satisfied. I got better, and I'm confident I'm already capable of scoring much more in Verbal. I just need to fine tune my skills. Quant, however, needs a lot more practice. But I'll get there too. I'm confident. :-)

Day 26

Did PR VB2 - timed (with 1.8 min per qs).
Accuracy overall: 70% (19/27)
Most of my CR & RC errors were because I didn't read either the passage, question, or answer options properly. One CR error was due to a subtlety I missed in the question.
2 SC idiom errors, and 1 because of a word placement that changed the meaning of the sentence.

Here's my error log entry:

PR VerbalBin2	CR	SC	RC
Percentage Correct	78%	67%	67%
Average Timing	1.22	1.17	1.55
Avg timing for correct qs	1.20	0.89	1.21
Avg timing for wrong qs	1.29	1.72	2.23
	-0.09	-0.83	-1.02

Day 21 - 25

Day 21
Did questions from PR Math Bin 4 that I got wrong, and then later reviewed the stuff I didn't get with a Math whiz of a friend. :-)

Day 22
Went through BTG's Math FC's and kept aside the ones that require review.


Day 23
So, to improve on my not so great CR accuracy on GMATPrep1, I went back to PR CR section and tried reading it again. Didn't work. Got bored. So I picked up Verbal Bin 1 and solved all CR questions in it. I got all right, obviously. Cos it was Verbal Bin 1. Anyway...

Day 24
This Friday i.e. 27th December, 2009. Went through a couple of questions on GMATHacks. Thus, the barrage of new CPs on the blog.

Day 25
Did a few more questions from the same source.

I know...I'm not doing enough. But I am now.

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!