Last minute - thumb rules : General GMAT Questions and Strategies

Last minute - thumb rules

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Last minute - thumb rules [#permalink]

05 Nov 2009, 13:00

Well I am going to take GMAT in less than 72 hours.......And the pressure is slowly building......I have a quick question that I wanted to know opinions.....

I am pretty comfortable in Quant but when answering the DS questions, sometimes, I feel bit a pressure especially when the clues are very tricky and SEEM that both the clues are need to solve the question but I don't know how. In such cases, is it better to go for choice E than Choice C? (Most of the times, when ever I opted C, the correct ans is E in such cases.)

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Re: Last minute - thumb rules [#permalink]

05 Nov 2009, 13:11

mrsmarthi wrote:

I hate to break it to you, but there is no trick here.

Remember, the key with DS is break the problem down as much as possible. Once you break the problem down (i.e. know what the question is really asking), it is much easier to determine if you need one, both or neither answer.
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Re: Last minute - thumb rules [#permalink]

06 Nov 2009, 10:45

There is not really a strategy for a situation like that. If you eliminate one of the answer choices, then it is either C or E, but if you don't - then you have nothing.

I find solving and actually doing work to be the best way of solving and confirming DS questions - at the 700+ level, they get tricky and you don't really know until you solve. That's my best advice - solve and confirm. Fight for every question, and know your timing - not by each question but by section (first 5 questions, next 5, etc, etc).
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Re: Last minute - thumb rules [#permalink]

06 Nov 2009, 15:02

Thanks BB and Mohater,

Solving and confirming on the ans choice is THE BEST. No argument on that. But, what I face is that under time pressure I somehow can bring down the choices to C and E but cannot decide on which one to pick. Obvisouly since time is running fast, I have to pick some.

So my questions is - is it a safe bet to pick C when the clues looks simple and choice E when the numbers looks little off or the clues give NO clue?

Most of the times, the correct ans is E when I am left with options C and E(I am taking abt the DS questions where my only choices are between C and E)

Anyhow, my obs from past couple of GMAT Prep questions says, that when I end in C / E in DS where I cannot decide, I will go with E.

After reading your responses, I felt that my questions is "THE DUMBEST" :-D

Anyhow, thankyou once again for taking time to reply back.

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Re: Last minute - thumb rules [#permalink]

06 Nov 2009, 16:08

if you're under pressure and you can't decide between C and E, the only advice is to guess as quickly as you can and move on. you gain nothing by trying to redo the problem and working on it for 4 mins, when you could have been done with it in 1 min.
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Re: Last minute - thumb rules [#permalink] 06 Nov 2009, 16:08

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Last minute - thumb rules

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