just took GMAT monday july 14th - weird experience

Question

i took the test today and was completely surprised. i had taken probably 10 practice tests and never really had any trouble with the math section. the math on the real test today was definitely much harder than any practice test i had ever seen. it really threw me off because normally on most practice tests i was able to focus more of my efforts on the verbal. there were a few questions on the math section that i couldn't even do if you gave me 3 hours to finish it - i simply had no idea where the problem was coming from. 

 when i had finished the math section and began the verbal, i was kinda surprised to see that questions 2-5 and 6-8 on the verbal were reading comp. the people at kaplan said that reading comp wouldn't kick in until maybe question 7 or 8. although this threw me off, i think (obviously i am not sure) that these passages were not very difficult. there were several times when i felt like throwing in the towel because i assumed that i had blown the math section, and my verbal was always worse than the math, but i just kept with it. when i got my score i was shocked to find that i was able to pull of a 650. normally i would be just satisfied with the results, but considering how hard the math was i was estatic. i really think that no review could have prepared me for some of the questions that were asked on the math.

i am wondering if anyone else feels the same. please respond.

Curly05 · Answer

Tell us everything:) 

 On math, I hear **** of story on how hard it is but everyone comes out fine. You can only miss about 10 to get above 70 percentile I think. It was hard because you've never seen the questions before!

 Tell us more.

Curly05 · Answer

What are your raw scores ?

 If you taken all GMAT Powerprep, the reading comp comes first then a marathon starts between CR and some hard SC.

 VT

JP · Answer

Was the math ever straightforward (e.g., first couple questions) or was it a struggle from the beginning?

Shail · Answer

Hi there,
 Did u find the quest in actual test tougher than the toughest ones in Kaplan CD...were the quest after first 10 equally tough?..a post in this forum says that easy quest start coming after first 10-20 quest.whats yr opinion?what were yr Kaplan CD quant scaled scores??

SERGEI · Answer

I had just the same feeling about 3 weeks ago when I finished my GMAT with the score of 640. I had been totally thrown off by math and as a result didn't put enough effort in the verbal. As a result (46,31), I do not think this result fits my desired one but I'm a little bit uncertain about whether I can do it better next time in August.

jcohen76 · Answer

Goldsjo,

Congrats on the 650 - that's still a great score. Can you offer more insight into why the math was so hard? Was it a specific category of questions (e.g. perm/combinations, stats), new content or just difficult wording?

I'm taking my GMAT on Saturday and would appreciate any insight you may have!

Thanks
Jess

goldsjo · Answer

does anyone else find that pop up thing to be extremely annoying. i've been on this site for less than 10 minutes now, and i've got almost 30 of those pop up windows. why don't they get rid of that?

Curly05 · Answer

Welcome OnBoard! :-D

I do find what you remember from probability not so accurate. If Joe were to sit in a seat, the seats are all different. That is sitting in AB is different from sitting in BA. Did it feel like the PowerPrep- remember we did see some difficult questions there too. DS should be from what I heard. VT

Curly05 · Answer

Remember, it is similar to your OG problems and the GRE has plenty like that to. It often involves seeing what goes into the number, etc. Testing some logic here that's all Hope that helps

arun · Answer

has anyone tried the probability question:

 i got 24 ways as answer.

boarderlee · Answer

Goldsjo,

I had a similar experience and same type of questions on the GMAT that I took (7-3). On math #3, I have the same combination problem. I spent too much time on it. I figured it out later after the test what the answer should be-24 (but not sure if that was one of the answers). There were a few long problems that I think have wording problems. It seemed there wasnt' any solution. I ran out of time during Math and did poorly on Verbal. Same sequence on RC for my verbal. I think it started with a SC, and then #3 was RC. 

I am taking it again in August. It seems like the test format is similar. We should all share our experience and help each other fight this test! Good job on your 650! Are you taking it again?? 

boarderlee

Dmitry · Answer

Do not agree that the answer is 24.
Answer is 60 = 3! x (1+2+3+4)

Dmitry · Answer

see my previous post

Joe have to be in front of Mary doesn't mean that they have to be close to each other it is ok if:

x J x M x or J X X X M


Agree?

mciatto · Answer

I agree with Dmitry above.

The way I thought about it was there are 3! possible arrangements for every acceptable arrangement of J and M. There are 10 (4+3+2+1) acceptable arrangements of J and M, so 3! x 10 = 60

AkamaiBrah · Answer

Yes, the answer is 60, but there is a much faster way to solve this problem if you think logically. There are 5! = 120 ways to arrange 5 people. Since there is no difference between Joe and Mary, by symmetry, each must be in front of the other the same amount of times. So, just divide it in half and you get 60.

pmarkgabe · Answer

Yes you guys are correct. I did not take into account that there are 10 ways not four ways for Joe to be in front of Mary. You see, not only will nervousness get you on the GMAT but carelessness will also.

s007r · Answer

I agree that the correct answer is 60

boarderlee · Answer

If I recall correctly, 60 was one of the answers. I think the choices were like:120, 90, 60, 30, (15)

No wonder I don't remember 24 being one of them. Man, I am still careless after the test but I think I guessed 60 on the test!

Lucky

Curly05 · Answer

Where the god hell did you go godsjo, everyone is relying on your face.

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just took GMAT monday july 14th - weird experience

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