u2lover wrote:
hey rhyme... thanks for reading my post! can't wait to see what a pro like you might advice!
Ok here's my two cents.
First, I applaud you for putting forward this kind of effort.
Second, I warn you against doing so. What you have laid out is a ridiculous schedule of non-stop studying. You WILL burn out. You cannot study 400 hours in 50 days. You will just loose steam 20 or 30 days in. Come up with a more realistic schedule.
Some recommendations:
(1) Find a study partner. This has a HUGE benefit. First, if you dont get something, he/she can maybe explain it. Second, if you do problems together, there will be an implicit competition of "who finishes first" or "who keeps getting them right?"... whether the two of you admit or it or not, in the back of your mind you will be noticing who finishes first. It pushes you to stay focused and work quickly - an important skill on the GMAT. Third, if you both agree to "homework" you will have motivation to do it. If you try to do it just by yourself, its far to easy - especially after a couple weeks of the kind of schedule you are talking about - to just say '!@#@! it' and not finish what you had intended to do. If you have someone else doing the problems with you ... well, then you dont want to be the one who was slacking.
(2) Reduce your hours to something more manageable. It just isn't going to work. 4 hours a day is more reasonable. Give up your weekends and find a study partner. If you are unemployed, you'll have plenty of decompression time anyway.
(3) Your approach seems a little hokey. I get the impression you are just throwing darts at everything to see what sticks. There's no reason to do 1000 CR if you don't have a CR problem. You are trying to do it all, but its unfocused. You need to figure out a few things: - (1) Weaker in math or in verbal? (2) If math, what material? (3) If verbal, what material - then tailor the studies to this material, with the rest of it thrown in. Be prepared to accept some topics that you may not be able to improve in.
For example, in my case, I knew I was particularly weak in ratio problems, number properties, and particularly DS. I also knew I was weak in probability and very weak in combinatorics. I therefore forced myself to focus in on these areas first. I knew I was strong in SC, strong in CR, and very strong in RC - but I didnt want these skills to go away, so I forced each of these on myself each week.
(4) OG11, OG11, OG11.
You mention all the 1000 questions - while I don't think they are BAD problems, no one really knows for sure what quality they are and how many incorrect answers exist therein. They also lack explanation!!! So how do you start learning from your mistakes if you dont know what your mistake is???? The
OG guide, and the two supplement books from MBA are your best friends. The Manhttan guides are great too.
(5) Never, ever, ever, go past a problem until you understand why you got it wrong. Get into the habit of forcing yourself to stop and see how each problem was solved.
(6) Just because you got it right, doesn't mean you got it right. Not sure if you got it right, but you did? Did you get it right by doing it correctly, or did you STUMBLE onto the answer? Just cause you checkboxed the "right" answer doesn't mean you get to skip looking at their solution.
(7) Come up with a schedule and stick to it. It's very easy to say "I'm gonna do this for 4 hours !" and then 2 hours into it you find yourself hanging out with a friend who brought over his marijuana smoking monkey and now instead of studying, you are watching a monkey get high. Or whatever you British folk do, assuming you are british, which you may not be.
(8) Related to 7, buy a stopwatch. Set a pace and a schedule. It works very nicely and keeps you motivated. 45 minutes of work, 15 minute break. If you do this, you'll be motivated to keep going when you hit the 40 minute mark, and you'll be motivated to come back to it at the 15 minute mark. Without a stopwatch, its too easy to do an hour and a half, get tired, say you'll take a break, and before you know it, that break became an hour of fudging about on gmatclub.com. Then you dont feel like going back to it.
(9) See attached excel files. They will help you identify where you are weak and where you are strong. They break up the OG11 guide by question type (Geometry, Number Property) PS and DS - they have multiple tabs - they take care of timing for you too, as well as give you estimates to completion. There are more of these files in my thread (see gmatclub main page, its linked off there).
(10) Learn to accept some defeats. I knew that, given enough time and enough energy I could probably get pretty good at combinatorics, but the reality of it was: The odds of getting one of hte problems during the exam was relatively small, the odds of solving it in time was also small, the odds of getting it right was also small, combined, the odds of getting the problem, solving it in 2 minutes, and getting it right were so miniscule that I realized my time was better spent focusing on number properties, ratios, and other weak areas.
(11) Your Rate Problem and Age Problem solution.
For rate problems, set everything up in a table.
For example:
If machine A can make 6 widgets in 3 hours and machine B can make 12 widgets in 4 hours, how many widgets can they both make in 8 hours?
Start with this:
| MACHINE A | MACHINE B | TOGETHER |
R | | | |
T | | | |
W | | | |
Fill in what you know, where R = rate ,T = time, W = work (or distance)
| MACHINE A | MACHINE B | TOGETHER |
R | ? | ? | ? |
T | 3 | 4 | 8 |
W | 6 | 12 | ? |
Now you know RT=W
so: Machine A R(3)=6, so R =2
Machine B: R(4)=12, so R = 3
Together, their combined rates are 5 per hour
So... for teh goether piece:
RT=W
(6)(8)=40
| MACHINE A | MACHINE B | TOGETHER |
R | 2 | 3 | 5 |
T | 3 | 4 | 8 |
W | 6 | 12 | 40 |
This works for anything... for example if they said: How many hours would it take them to make 90 widgets?
| MACHINE A | MACHINE B | TOGETHER |
R | 2 | 3 | 5 |
T | 3 | 4 | ? |
W | 6 | 12 |
90 |
Just solve.
It also works for three machines, or four, or five.
It also works when they dont tell you what W is. For example: Machine A makes X widgets in 3 hours, machine B makes 2X widgets in 4 hours. How long does it take them to make 5X widgets together?
| MACHINE A | MACHINE B | TOGETHER |
R | ? | ? | ? |
T | 3 | 4 | ? |
W | X | 2X | 5X |
Pick any number for X. Doesnt matter what it is.
Ideally pick a number thats a multiple of the other numbers.
So say X was 6...
| MACHINE A | MACHINE B | TOGETHER |
R | ? | ? | ? |
T | 3 | 4 | ? |
W | 6 | 2(6) | 5(6) |
now solve for Rates
| MACHINE A | MACHINE B | TOGETHER |
R | 2 | 3 | 5 |
T | 3 | 4 | ? |
W | 6 | 2(6) | 5(6) |
So whats Together RT=W?
(5)(?) = 5(6)
(5)(?) = 30
? = 6
It would take them 6 hours.
This also works for those problems where they want you to find the rate... For example:
Tommy walks 10 miles in 2 hours on his way home, on the way back he walks there in 4 hours, what was his average MPH?
| ON THE WAY | THE WAY BACK | COMBINED |
R | ? | ? | ? |
T | 2 | 4 |
6 |
W | 10 | 10 | 20 |
Fill out what you know, then combine THE TIMES. Cause all told, it took him 6 hours. Now, just solve 20/6, thats his average rate.
Usually they'll give it to you this way:
Tomy walked to the store 10 miles away at 5 miles per hour, then walked back at 2 miles per hour. What was his average speed?
It takes one more step - you have to find out how long it took him on each path... but its the same basic thing:
| ON THE WAY | THE WAY BACK | COMBINED |
R | 5 | 2 | ? |
T | ? | ? |
? |
W | 10 | 10 | 20 |
Solve the TIME for each way.
On the way 5(?)=10 .... ? = 2
on the way back 2(?) = 10 .... ? = 5
Total time = 7
| ON THE WAY | THE WAY BACK | COMBINED |
R | 5 | 2 | ? |
T | 2 | 5 |
7 |
W | 10 | 10 | 20 |
Solve for the combined rate ... = 20/7
note that its not the same as (5+2)/2 .... you cant average rates like this!
Now for age problems...
the trick is similar.
ALWAYS WRITE DOWN THE VARIABLES.
This means that for a question like: Tommy is now twice as old as janice. In four years janice will be 28 years old, how old will tommy be in 7 years?
make a similar table:
| NOW | NOW + 4 | NOW + 7 |
Tommy | T | T + 4 | T + 7 |
Janice | J | J + 4 | J + 7 |
This is where they get you - getting the variables right.
So, just USE THE VARIABLES IN THE TABLE TO NEVER MESS IT UP.
So first statement: "Tommy is now twice as old as janice"
Look at the "NOW" column.
T = 2J
Second statement: In four years, Janice will be 28 years old. USE VARIABLES FROM THE NOW + 4 COLUMN FOR EVERYTHING.
J + 4 = 28
Third statement: How old is tommy in 7 years? USE VARIABLES FOR THE NOW + 7 COLUMN.
T + 7 = ????
Now solve. J + 4 = 28, so J = 24.
T = 2J so T = 2(24) . So T = 48
T + 7 = ????
48 + 7 = 55
Tommy will be 55 years old in 7 years.
They want to trick you by getting you mixed up on the variables.
A common mistake is writing something like J = 28
More commonly they'll say something like: "In four years, tommy will be twice as old as Janice."
How would you write that based on the table above?
T + 4 = 2(J + 4)
Thats how they get you. They want you to write: T + 4 =2J , BUT THATS WRONG CAUSE CAUSE JANICE IS ALSO FOUR YEARS OLDER!
Hope that helps.
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Updated on: 19 May 2006, 18:42
) I would love to achieve a high score just like anyone else on this forum, but I would not kill myself if I wouldn't get into 700+ (hey, life is too much fun for that and I want to see U2's next album anyways and may be have an intelligent conversation with Bono one day (who knows?!) 
) I also would not think about retaking the test if I get 740 like some others in this forum... I just thought those kind of posts were ridiculous...
I felt like my entire life plans was coming crashing down on me...8| But luckily with a support of my amazing girlfriend, she was able to reassure me that it's not the end of the world and that she was still proud of me... cheezy i know 
as well as documenting some history...
GMAT-Grader-Set2.xls [51.5 KiB] 
, judging from more than 650 views)
)... and forget the yoga and swimming part... I had time to do it once in 1.5 months and stopped, mainly because I don't get rid of the negative energy that way... what I do to achieve that is turn my IPod on (not to brag, U2 Special Edition 
) and hit the track at the nearby high school... really feel better after "elevating" my mood with some physical exercise... I wish I did it more often, but it is so freaking hot that I can't bear it very often...
