Engr2012 wrote:
chetan2u wrote:
dabral wrote:
Exam Pack 2 consists of two additional computer adaptive tests(CAT) that can be added to the official GMATPrep software. I have taken the Exam Pack 2 test multiple times and in this article I summarize my experience with Exam Pack 2. My comments are restricted to the quantitative section of the Exam Pack 2 only.
Database size: The database of quantitative questions in the Exam Pack 2 is around 220 questions. This is close to the 200 in Exam Pack 1 database.
Repetition: When I took Exam 5 once followed by Exam 6, I encountered one repeat question. This needs to be fixed because the whole idea of each test is to administer unique questions in the first attempt, and repetition of a question reduces the reliability of the test score. I understand that subsequent attempts will likely lead to repetition of the questions, but GMAC needs to ensure that there is no repetition between Exam 5 and Exam 6 on the first attempt.
Difficulty: Exam 5 quantitative section is significantly harder than Exam 6. This means the average difficulty of the questions I faced was much higher in Exam 5 vs Exam 6. For example, I had 12 minutes left at the end of Exam 5 compared to 20 minutes in the case of Exam 6. GMAT does have differences in difficulty level from test to test, however the difficulty level of an exam is normalized against other students, and the overall score of a particular student will be the same. The only difference is the actual test experience of the students, for example in Exam 5, I was under a lot of pressure and stress, whereas in Exam 6 I was fairly relaxed. That difference can impact students differently and can throw off the pacing during the exam. I personally would like to see GMAT test difficulty to be more or less the same for a given student that is performing at a given level.
Error:One question was written poorly and can be misinterpreted. I have attached the screenshot of that question. The numerator can be interpreted as cube of 2 multiplied by square root of 3, or 2 multiplied by cube root of 3. The test writers need to use a parentheses to clarify this.
Having pointed out some of the drawbacks of Exam Pack 2, I still like these two new tests and fully endorse these tests and urge students to make Exam Pack 2 an integral part of their GMAT preparation. With the release of Exam Pack 2, students now have six full length official practice tests at their disposal.
Hi dabral,
just a comment on the Ambiguous fraction..I think it is clearly the second case-- 2 multiplied by cube root of 3..
the 3 is above the root and clearly responds to the root..
the two way it can be written is
\((2\sqrt[3]{3})^3\) and\((2^3\sqrt{3})^3\)
Clearly the Q is what first case is and exactly what it means..
There is always a difference of placement of 3 in both cases,,
chetan2u ,
dabral has a good point. To me as well the way the question is written, it is ambiguous. But then after spending 5-10 seconds, I can see if it is 2^3 then cubing this values will lead you to 2^9 and none of the options have that big of a number as the option. So it can not be that.
FYI, it is not as "clear" as you are making it out to be. The extra 5-10 seconds that I spent on figuring out the correct question may be the difference when I sit down for my GMAT.
GMAT has always been known to remove any sort of ambiguity be it technical or just representational.
Hi,
I think there is no ambigouity, unless we are making one for ourselves..
You have to understand that if 3 is part of 2^3 3 will lie between 2 and the root sign..
If 3 is on top of root sign, it is part of the root and it is upto us to make it complicated and spend time on it..
This is a Mathematical formula and 3 cannot shift from being power of 2 to top of root sign
write the two forms you are confused with and you will realize both are different when written...
and to save 5-10 seconds in actual GMAT would be to know how each mathematical formula looks like, rather than leaving it to interpretations..
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