A Love Triangle

Finished Triangles yesterday. :-)

Which translates into, Geometry theory is complete!

This morning, I stared going through my Geo FCs. Want to make sure all the concepts and formulae are drilled into my head. Will practice some geo questions after that, cos it's always fun to be able to answer questions once you know your theory!!!

Yey! Very happy today!!! :-)

My Coordinates are 28° 35' N 77° 12' E

Coordinate Geometry from GMATClub's Math Book is finito! :-)

Polygons

Finished the chapter on Polygons from the GMAT Math Book at GmatClub. :-)

Fundamentally sound

Hi!

Plan for next 1 month: Go through GMAT Math book and other math resources (from GMAT Club forum) to form a complete understanding of concepts and formulae required for GMAT. Make FCs for formulae/concepts I don't already know.

31st July: Take diagnostic test (Math & Verbal) from OG11.

27th June - Circles

28th June - part of polygons

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!).

Speed Math: Multiplying Decimals

Went through the chapter on Multiplying Decimals. The concept is the same as any other multiplication, but one use of it is super-cool.

If you need to multiply 8 x 88, make it 8.0 x 88. Essentially, you're multiplying 80 x 88 and can just add a decimal point at the end of your answer. Super-awesome!

To Do

Hopefully will get to go through the next chapter (Multiplying Using Two Reference Numbers) today itself.

Tables upto 20!

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 #9

MGMAT CP 

Question

Two positive numbers differ by 12 and their reciprocals differ by 4/5. What is their product?

(A) 2/15
(B) 48/5
(C) 15
(D) 42
(E) 60

Solution

Don't be afraid to assign variables even when none are given in the problem. "Two positive numbers differ by 12" can be written as:
x – y = 12
And "their reciprocals differ by 4/5" can be written as:
1/y – 1/x = 4/5
(Note: Here, we've assigned x as the bigger of the two numbers and y as the smaller, so we've intuited that 1/y is the larger reciprocal and 1/x the smaller, and so arranged them in that order to write 1/y – 1/x = 4/5).
Now we have a system of two variables and two equations. Note that it is NOT necessary to solve for x and y, since we are being asked for the product, xy.
First, let's simplify the second equation by finding a common denominator for the terms on the left:
x/(xy) – y/(xy) = 4/5
(x – y)/(xy) = 4/5
Note that the denominator is xy, which is exactly the quantity we want to find.
Since we know from the first equation that x – y = 12, substitute 12:
12/(xy) = 4/5
60 = 4xy
15 = xy
The correct answer is (C) 15.
-------------------------------------------
It was a very simple question. I've highlighted where I made mistakes. Both were such stupid errors. Even if I hadn't figured the 2nd one, I would've solved it by an extremely long method.

Day 31...finally

Today is Day 31. Yes, today. Sorry, been busy with the new job. Still got lots of learning to do, but I've put together a plan for GMAT again. I hope I'll follow it this time.

Day 31:
Went through mainly Geo related self-made FCs.

Yes, that's it. But it's a start. Specially amidst such a chaotic work schedule.