Veritas Prep Folder!

Question

Hey Guys!

I will keep an eye on this folder so if anyone has any specific questions that he/she would like to pose to me, feel free to bring them here.

thxgmatcl · Answer

Hi Karishma,
Veritas Prep

1st : V38 - 14 incorrect - overall 710
2nd : V38 - 14 incorrect - overall 710
3rd : V39 - 11 incorrect- overall 710
4th : V34 - 16 incorrect - overall 680
5th : V38 - 12 incorrect- overall 710

I am worried a little bit with my Verbal score as I am hitting 49/50 in Quants and I want to score low 700.
I just want to know historical data of your verbal accuracy? I saw somewhere that verbal score accuracy is not very good for Veritas and want to know how much verbal score varies?

Regards,
Subhodhi

KarishmaB · Answer

Hey Subhodhi,

For the tests in our system since early 2013, we've been employing "Item Response Theory" scoring and delivery - essentially the same system that underlies the official GMAT. Because our tests are very data driven - and use that data in a manner consistent with how the official test uses its data - we've been able to report quite accurate scores. 
With such a consistent V38/39, I would expect that you will get a similar score in actual GMAT too.

I would like to point out that usually, people see more variation in Verbal than in Quant from one practice test to another. The reason for that is that comfort with the context of the question bumps up the Verbal score substantially. Say, someone has Geology background and she gets a Geology RC passage in a practice test. With the same aptitude, she would score higher in this test. The same is also true for CR passages since a long question stem from a familiar topic will be handled in 10 secs but if it is from a non-so familiar topic, one could end up wasting a minute on it. Practice tests have a mix of topics and your average on the tests should be where you score on the actual test but no one can say what kind of topics you will come across on test day. In Quant, this difference does not exist because it doesn't matter whether you have the price in Dollar or Euro or Rupee and whether it is Mike or Akram or Ravi who buys the product! So the very nature of the Verbal section makes it much harder to pin point the exact score you could expect.

Practice from a variety of topics and keep your fingers crossed!

Achiever123 · Answer

Hi,

I am worried about my Verbal section. Please help me regarding this.

KarishmaB · Answer

You need to give more details. In which question type are you facing problems? What is your current score? How have you prepared till now? Which all resources do you have? What is your your target score? etc.

Achiever123 · Answer

Hi Karishma,

Thanks a lot for the reply. I am currently using Kaplan 800 and OG. I am stuck with sentence correction, I am able to solve but I am not confident of my answers, means at the time of answers elimination, I am not confident why I should choose my answers over the others.

In reading comprehension, I take so much of time and get lost somewhere in the middle. My target is 710.

Please help me in this regard.

KarishmaB · Answer

Strong concepts and lots of practice will bring in the required confidence. There are many posts on our blog which will help you develop strategies that work best for you. Check them out here: https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/?s=sent ... on&x=2&y=6 And here is a post focusing on increasing speed in reading comprehension. https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/2014/07 ... questions/

bagdbmba · Answer

Hi Karishma,
Could you please provide an explanation for  this CR question  ?

I'd like to know why and how option E stands correct...it seems as others are wrong so it comes out as the ONLY option in the lot!

Look forward to hear from you. Thanks!

KarishmaB · Answer

No, it actually fits perfectly into the argument. Check out the explanation here: the-irradiation-of-food-kills-bacteria-and-thus-retards-82933-40.html#p1428000

arronjam · Answer

Hi Karishma

I have taken a couple of Veritas Cats and i have seen so many repeat questions across these two tests in both sections.
I have also serious doubts about the quality of questions both in quant and verbal. They don't look like gmat questions, especially the verbal questions.

I have posted the same to veritas prep page but have not got any response yet.

Can you please help me figure out what is the reason for this?

Regards

Zish

bagdbmba · Answer

Hi Karishma,
Could you please share your thoughts how we can solve  this PS problem  other than plugging in options as given in the solution of the VeritasPrep's ' Statistics and Problem Solving ' book ?

Is there any faster and better way to solve this ?

Look forward to hear from you. Thanks!

bagdbmba · Answer

Hi Karishma - could you please share your analysis/explanation with data for this  DS problem  of Veritas book ?

Qualitatively I'm able to answer this but having some confusion while dealing   quantitatively  .

KarishmaB · Answer

Here: at-a-business-school-conference-with-100-attendees-are-ther-123610.html#p1452495

bagdbmba · Answer

Hi Karishma,
Could you please confirm this -

OA of Qs #2 of your  blog post  should be A (and the total ways would be  7C5*4!  ).

Look forward to your feedback!

nischay · Answer

Hi,
I have taken my first GMAT last week and scored a dismal 530(Q-39,V-23) As reflected in my score I need advice on both Quant and Verbal.I have taken a classroom course last year and also used all MGMAT guides hence,not able to comprehend how should I go about to achieve my target score of 720.I am planning to retake my GMAT not before September this year as I have to improve in almost all areas, more so in Verbal.In SC and CR even after going through MGMAT SC and Powerscore CR my accuracy is about 60%.Even EGMAT online Verbal course could not be a help in improving my verbal score.In Quant I have specific issues with Word Problems and Geometry.

Considering I am a non native does anyone think it is a realistic time frame to improve my score to >700 in 4 months, considering where I am now.Request to throw some light as to what should be my next steps and how should I go about in achieving the same

KarishmaB · Answer

Answer is actually (C)

Two cases:

7 children, 5 chairs in a circle:
Select 5 out of 7 children in 7C5 ways. Arrange 5 children in 5 chairs in a circle in 4! ways.
Total arrangements: 7C5 * 4!

5 children, 7 chairs in a circle:
If you have 7 distinct objects, then you can choose 2 in 7C2 ways. But here, the chairs arranged in a circle are identical initially. Say you choose two chairs to discard. They are right next to each other, how are they any different from any other two chairs right next to each other?

When you have 5 children and 7 chairs in a circle, you place the first child on any chair in 1 way. 
Then you have 4 children and 6 distinct chairs. You can place the 4 children in 6*5*4*3 ways.
Total number of ways of placing 5 children in 7 chairs in a circle = 6*5*4*3

Depending on what is 7 and what is 5, your answer changes.

bagdbmba · Answer

It seems bit confusing to me because if chairs in a row are NOT identical then how they can be considered identical in a circle ? In the 1st problem (Linear arrangement) of your post where there were more chairs than children, we selected 5 chairs from 7 in  7C5  ways, so had the chairs in this case been identical then this selection would have not been valid, I guess!

Re your above reply in  RED  - I couldn't understand how this is possible ? Because I think, from 5 children we'll have to select 1 child in  5C1=5  ways and among 7 chairs in a circle we need to select one chair in  7C1=7  ways. Right ? So, the first child is to placed on one of the 7 chairs in 5*7=35 ways. So, total no. of ways when there are " 5 children, 7 chairs in a circle " would be  35*6P4=35*(6*5*4*3)  ways.

Please let me know where I'm getting it wrong ?

KarishmaB · Answer

In the first problem in my post, the chairs are in a row so they are all distinct (relative to each other). When we make 5 students stand in a row, we can do it in 5! ways because each place is distinct. Leftmost position, second from leftmost etc.

In this problem, the chairs are in a circle. They are not considered distinct relative to each other. When the first person goes and sits on any one chair, it is no different from the first person sitting in any other chair. It is the same case when 5 people are made to sit in a circle in 4! ways (not 5! ways). All 5 chairs are considered identical relative to each other. So when you have to make 5 children sit on 7 chairs in a circle, for the first child, all chairs are the same. For each subsequent child, you have 6, 5, 4 and 3 options.

bagdbmba · Answer

I got your point.
Just a quick clarification required -

So, the first child can sit in any of the 7 chairs in  ONLY 1 way . No issues with this part... But, please tell me as we select the first child from 5 children, shouldn't it be in  5C1=5  ways ?

Or is it like considering the left/right position of any person in the circle, it doesn't matter whom we select first from the 5 children ?

KarishmaB · Answer

So here is the thing - it doesn't matter in which order the children sit - who sits first and who sits last. All we are concerned about is the final arrangement in which they are sitting - who is sitting next to whom. Anyone can sit first. It doesn't change our final arrangement.

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