by Rich Cohen, Rich.C@empowergmat.com \u00a0www.EMPOWERgmat.com<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Scheduling Your Official GMAT at the Perfect Time<\/strong> I took my first gmat exam at 8 am, and I honestly do not think that a morning exam is best for me. While surfing through the mba.com site, I saw that the GMAT is offered at several different times throughout the test day, 8 am, 1pm and 4pm. Should I take my practice exams at 1 pm and 4pm (different days) to see which time works best for me?<\/p>\n Corinne<\/p>\n Hi Corinne,<\/p>\n The general advice is that most people do their best word \"early in the week and early in the day.\" Depending on the schedule that you maintain, your \"perfect\" day\/time may vary. For people who work Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm, they would probably perform best on a Monday morning. However, 8am might be too early, so the opportunity to sleep in a bit and not have to deal with morning traffic makes a noon\/1pm test a bit more appealing. My suspicion would be that a 4pm Test start would be too late in the day and that you'd find your performance lagging as the evening went on.<\/p>\n Questionable Plans With 5 Weeks Remaining<\/strong> I wanted to know what you thought about my plan for attack for these last 5 weeks of study. For about the first 2 weeks, I will spend all my time doing the OG quant and verbal problems over and over until I am sick. Then for about the next 2 weeks, it's all CAT tests. The weekend before I am off that Friday and will spend 72 hours polishing any weak areas. Any suggestions to this plan based on my time frame would be helpful.<\/p>\n Dumond<\/p>\n Hi Dumond,<\/p>\n With about 5 weeks to go, it's important to see what your current ability level actually is, so I'd highly recommend that you take a full length practice CAT and report back with your results. As to the rest of your plan, here are a few suggestions:<\/p>\n 1) Re-doing previous questions over and over until \"you're sick\" is not a good idea. Review is good, and redoing old questions can be beneficial, but the point of review is that you are supposed to hone your skills and then try NEW questions to test yourself.<\/p>\n 2) Two weeks of lots of practice CATs is NOT a good idea. Taking a full CAT is a grueling experience and it requires time to review and do some serious practice before taking another. Plan on taking 1 CAT\/week - it's a far better way to gauge your progress and improve. You'll also be able to focus on small issues as they occur, instead of trying to deal with them all in the last 2+ weeks of study.<\/p>\n 3) Doing too much in the last weekend before your actual GMAT can be counter-productive. A bit of light review is fine, but don't plan on taking any CATs and don't burn yourself out.<\/p>\n Tougher Interest Rate Questions<\/strong> I know how to handle standard questions that ask about interest rates, but how do you do the math when you\u2019re calculating interest at some other rate than once a year?<\/p>\n Eamon<\/p>\n Hi Eamon,<\/p>\n The standard formula for Compound Interest is\u2026<\/p>\n (Principle) x (1 + R)^T; R is the yearly interest rate and T is the number of years.<\/p>\n So, if you invest $10,000 at 12% interest for 2 years, then the total value of the account + interest =<\/p>\n 10,000 x (1.12)^2 = 10,000 x (1.44) = $14,400<\/p>\n Now, if you calculate interest every 6 months, you have to adjust the math. Over the course of 2 years, you would have 4 periods of interest; since you're doubling the value of T, the math rule dictates that you cut the interest rate in half. Under these conditions, your calculation would be:<\/p>\n 10,000 x (1.06)^4<\/p>\n The GMAT won't ask you to physically calculate that type of result though.<\/p>\n If you're calculating once every MONTH, then you multiply T by 12 and divide the interest rate by 12:<\/p>\n 10,000 x (1.01)^24<\/p>\n While these are rare situations on the GMAT, the basic rules aren't hard to learn and remember.<\/p>\n GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made, by Rich Cohen, Rich.C@empowergmat.com \u00a0www.EMPOWERgmat.com This series of emails and PMs focuses on situations that many Test Takers face during their studies. 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\nHi Rich,<\/p>\n
\nRich,<\/p>\n
\nDear Rich,<\/p>\n
\nRich<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"