StartupAddict's GMAT Journal

Hey Startup... what was your hit rate for the Brutal SCs collection? I am just curious about how Gods do for brutal SCs, so I can have a benchmark to compare against.

BTW this may sound strange coming from an Indian, especially an engineer... but I HATE maths. I used to think that verbal was my weakness but I find verbal soothing for my nerves now-a-days. I would rather give the LSAT verbal than crappy mathematics.

I might end up getting more points for maths than verbal... but I still wouldnt like maths.

your continued persistence is motivating. a high score is inevitable for you. when are you planning to take the test?

Hey, where can I get the brutal SC's? I'm just working off of SC1000's, I try to do 40-50 a day. I disagree with a few sometimes but it's good practise none the less. I saw some brutal SC's in the verbal forum but I don't know where to get the questions themselves.

Yah I hate math too. You're not alone there. I studied math for 5 years in undergrad (combinatorics & optimization, and CS). All I did was graph theory, game theory, calculus, analysis, optimization, algorithms, etc. I'm so sickkkk of math. I can sit there and work on a problem for a while, but doing it under time constraints is so stupid, it's like those retarded math high school contests. I think the key to doing well on math is just to train ourselves like robots, we see a question, but what we really see is a type of question for which we already have a framework and we just plug in the numbers and boom move on to the next question, all the while minimizing mental exhaustion. that's how i'm preparing for it at least. what f*cks me usually is when I get a question I haven't done before and I think about it soooooo hard but I waste time + mental energy. the goal is not to waste any mental energy anywhere in math, it should be straight forward.

yah i hear you on the verbal. i like verbal better than math. hah. i used to suck at SC now im pretty good, and they're not hard at all (just some simple pattern recognition). RC is blah, i don't even bother studying those too much, either you can read english or you can't. its still good to practise stamina though, because reading rapes you. and CR is OK.

anyways i think the key is just to prepare yourself mentally. what im doing now is when i do some questions i do the same mix of questions, and math first, then verbal immediately after, without break. that way my brain gets used to doing math questions then verbal..... you have to simulate the test conditions as much as possible! and im also trying to practise so i can do math and verbal in 60 mins each, so i'll pace myself nicely on the real test

thanks. I plan on writing it soon... perhaps next weekend. I need to work on mental stamina

Did a mini-GMAT(C) today

11 PS (OG10 401+)
8 DS (OG10 217+)
7 CR (OG10 197+)
8 SC (SC1000 736+)
7 RC (OG10 160+)

49 mins total
Got 1 wrong on CR, 2 wrong on SC, 1 wrong on PS, 4 wrong total - 37/41.
the RC paragraph was brutal (#48 in OG10 - try it, ow!)

verbal i got 19/22 - 86%, 71s/q. (i'd probably get 45-46V with this)

math i got 18/19 - 95%, 72s/q (questions weren't super hard - probably 49-50Q still. want to get to 50-51Q)

50/45 would be nice, that's 770 i think

have to start doing 2 hour mini-gmats, 50 mins is too short. i might start writing an essay before it as well.

my goal is to write the 2 essays in 20 mins, sit on my ass for 15 mins, and just relax, then do math "in the zone" without raping myself too bad mentally, then destroying verbal

im going to do some more verbal tonight - might try to do 37q & 41v.

Did a homemade GMAT:

22 PS (OG10 412+) - 21/22, 43s/q
15 DS (OG10 246+) - 10/15 (wtf - I got distracted), 24 mins, 96s/q
16 SC (SC1000 744+) - 13/16, 45s/q
13 CR (RC1000 test3 #1-13) - 10/13, 101s/q
12 RC (OG10 passage #8 & #47) - 10/12, 80s/q

33/41 on verbal - ~45-46V
31/37 on math - 49q or so I'd guess

but i did everything straight - no breaks, 90 mins straight, not bad for 78 questions. saw perhaps 3 repeats total. if i took more time definately could

im going to do one practise gmat like this a day, it rapes your brain, my brain feels like someone took a hatchet to the middle of it

alright that's enough gmat for one day (120 q's today in 2.5 hours).

until tomorrow

did another GMAT, did 40 math and 43 verbal, upped it by 3 & 2 respectively, time taken was 95 mins. I also did 10 PS, 10 DS, 10 PS, 10 DS, 6 SC, 6 CR, 1 RC, 10 SC, 2 RC, 8 CR (mixed them up to simulate the GMAT and to train the brain to switch between question types).

PS - 20/20, 100%, about 57s/q
DS - 20/20, 100%, about 55s/q

These weren't terribly hard. I'd probably score a 50-51Q; I need to find more difficult PS/DS. I'm getting better at DS though - shaved time from 90s/q to 55s/q. Saw one repeat on all of math.

SC - 14/16, 88%, 64s/q. Took a bit more time than last time, but saw much more difficult questions.

CR - 7/14 - 50%, 81s/q. Shaved off some time, but I looked over the answers. I did Test D from the CR1000 file, I'm going to stop using this file; it's a hunk of crap. 2 of the questions I got wrong make 0 sense, and the other 5 I disagree with. I feel that the CR1000 file is just a bunch of random questions assorted from books or made up ones, not OG. They don't have any tricks to them, and some are flat out wrong. THat's the problem with questions that people make up-- they don't know how to make a proper CR, and use flawed logic to come up with the "right" answer. On OG questions I always average over 80%, sometimes 90-95%, so I'm not too worried for CR. But thinking in 'CR' mode is good practise none the less.

RC - (from OG) - did 3 paragraphs, 13 questions, got 11 right. One of the ones I got wrong was based on a passage that was incomplete, in the PDF they didn't scan it in properly. So really I got 11/12 - very happy with this

Overall speed - 83 q's in 95 mins (GMAT is 78 in 150). My brain is still ok, stamina is definately going up!

I'm going to do another one tomorrow - start it off with 1 essay, 20 mins, then do 45 math (20 PS & 25 DS), then 51 verbal (16 CR, 20SC, 15 RC). Aiming for < 100 mins for questions, 20 mins for essay.

Also I didn't take any breaks. My brain is mildly buzzed right now.

Going to work up to 60 math in 75 mins and then 70 verbal in 75 mins. If I can get to that level within a week and maintain good percentages I'm going to go write the beast and slaughter it.

until next time

Hats off man!!!

Need to learn a lot from guys like u..............

I follow a hectic wrok schedule + try to study + aspire to score high .....seems tough though!!!

amit, just set aside 3 hours a day of nonstop studying. Give it a few weeks and you'll get there!!



Did some Kaplan 800 stuff yesterday - I stopped doing it though, their methodology is stupid. Kaplan instructs you to "think beyond the question" when you see a hard DS, and to philosophize about it, etc. Sorry, when you get a hard DS, you think for about 20 seconds then start working on it, usually straight to math. They say avoid math at all costs. Yahhh... needless to say Kaplan is useless.

Then I did some more grammar rules, including reviewing the tenses and so forth. Then I did some SC, 20 questions, from OG11, and despite me only attaining 80-90% on SC1000, I got 20/20 on OG, in about 30 seconds a question, too. So yeah, if you're working with those shady ass SC1000/RC1000/RC1000 files, be wary........... a lot of the answers are wrong or formulated by idiots who don't know how to eliminate subjectivity.

Good news - I think I'm in 820 territory hah.

Did a GMAT today, my own. Did 60 math then 73 verbal, in 110 mins (43m math and 69m verb). All OG (f*ck the kaplan & 1000 ****). I knew I was getting more right in SC & CR etc but the 1000 answers are wrong.

Math - 56/60 - 93%, 31s/q (not very challenging), but I was doing a lot of questions to tire myself out for verbal.

CR - 16/16, 101s/q, 100%.

RC - 15/16, 48s/q, 94%.

SC - 39/40, 33s/q, 98%.

I estimate I'd get a 50Q (maybe 51), I still get lazy with DS sometimes and forget to look at the facts alternatively.

Verbal I destroyed, I'm thinking at least 47-49V, probably 48/49V

I think 50/48 is 780 50/49 is 790

I wasn't tired either, I was in the zone. So I bumped the number of Q's from 80-85 to 133 and I'm not getting tired... this is good. I'm going to do repeat this another 2-3 times and brush up on some math concepts then go write the beast this weekend...

Here's to 820

Here is the Brutal SC document. I have edited (colored some questions green for correct answers, red for wrong answers, etc) it a little bit when I solved a few of these. Sorry about that.

Thanks man! You have raised the bar little high.....let's see whther i can touch it???

40 PS & 30 DS yesterday in about 30 mins (total)

3 wrong, and for sloppy mistakes.

About to go study but I have no freaking math questions left ARGH

OG10, OG11, not doing Kaplan ****...

Did 144 Q's in 103 mins

72 math, 30 PS, 42 DS

72 verbal, 8 CR, 27 RC, 37 SC


Got 29/30 PS, DS 36/42 (got sloppy - was going without double checking at all)

And 8/8 CR, 18/27 RC (I did the RC1000 file, and 2 passages I got everything right, but then I got everything wrong in one... and I checked the answers, their answers for passage 2 are wrong), SC 34/37 - again going too fast.

Anyways so math about 90%+ at 45s/q (if I bump this to 121s/q pretty close to 100%, enough for a 50Q+)

SC well into the 90's, RC well into the 90's, CR almost always 100%

Plus stamina is there (can do 144 q's in 103 mins)

I'm going to study another few days, review some minor concepts, do some cats and rest then go write it.

Hopefully I can get my 820

At this rate you could give it tommorrow and get a 780... no sweat. I took 20 points off for silly mistakes

I am taking my test 20 days from now.........i tryin focsuing my energies on OG, MGMAT & 1000 Verbal series rather than Kaplan CATs, they are really a misrepresentation of real GMAT

Does anyone know, what happened to the GMATClub's old links with lessons on mathematics and score converter?