This series of emails and PMs focuses on situations that many Test Takers face during their studies. The names of the original posters have been changed to protect their identities.
Translating Wordy Quant Prompts
Hi Rich,
I'm having a hard time trying to put the following statement together into numbers. Can you explain it to me like I'm five years old? I just want a clear explanation to translating the English into numbers.
“Working alone, Manuel finishes cleaning half the house in a third of the time it takes Nick to clean the entire house alone. Manuel alone cleans the entire house in 6 hours. How many hours will it take Nick and Manuel to clean the entire house if they work together?”
Grieva
Hi Grieva,
GMAT Quant questions sometimes give you information "out of order" to see if you can organize the data efficiently.
In the second sentence, we're told that Manuel can clean an entire house in 6 hours.
We're going to use THAT information to properly translate the PRIOR sentence: "Manuel finishes cleaning half the house in a third of the time it takes Nick to clean the entire house alone."
Since Manuel cleans the whole house in 6 hours, he cleans HALF the house in HALF the time: 3 hours.
So, 3 = (1/3)(N)
9 = N
Nick's time to clean the entire house = 9 hours
With both Manuel's time (6 hours) and Nick's time (9 hours), you can then use the Work Formula to figure out how long it takes the two of them to clean the entire house, when working together:
(6x9)/(6+9) = 54/15 = 18/5 = 3.6 hours
Be prepared to face information that’s out-of-order in the Verbal section too (especially in CR). Your ability to handle that ‘issue’ is something that you will face in Business School and beyond.
General Last Minute Advice CAN ONLY Be General
Rich,
I recently took an official mock exam and got 640 (Q44,V35). This is an improvement over my prior scores, but it's not enough.
I'm sitting the gmat in 4 days and I probably won’t get another chance at it.
What should I do to maximize my chances of reaching the 700 threshold?
Zeta
Hi Zeta,
Since you waited until the last few days to ask for advice, there's not much that anyone can offer you beyond some general perspective:
1) Keep your review light - DO NOT take any practice CATs. Review past questions and note the tactics that worked for you. You can even do some new questions, but don't work on anything too difficult or too spend any time "cramming."
2) Try to get a good night's sleep - while you're going to be excited about Test Day, the right amount of sleep can factor in greatly in your mindset and performance.
3) Try to stay calm - Make sure to sit up and breathe during the exam. Read carefully and take notes. Most GMAT questions are pretty straight-forward, so organize whatever information you're given and do the work that needs to be done.
Quality vs. Quantity During Your Studies
Hi Rich,
Do you know where I can find the following documents - 1000 rc, 1000 sc and
1000 cr? I really want to do lots of verbal practice questions to improve my score.
Ahi
Hi Ahi,
You should be careful NOT to confuse quantity with quality. You don't need to do "as many questions as possible" to crush the GMAT. You need to learn the proper tactics, then do enough practice problems to hone your skills and keep them sharp up to Test Day.
To that end, the most realistic practice materials are the ones offered by GMAC (through the various books and resources offered through the Official website). If you're interested in using free material only, then you shouldn't be surprised if your GMAT score isn't as high as you want it to be. "Free" doesn't necessarily mean "high quality" or "representative" or "up-to-date." Sometimes you have to spend some money to make sure that you're using relevant material and to help make the optimum result occur.
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
