GMAT Strategy

Dear vikram4689,

You're right, this is a difficult convoluted question.

So, Question #2

If the attendee stays in one of the blocked rooms, he/she pays the blocked room fee: that's what the hotel receives. If the attendee employees the ROB strategy, he/she pasy only the fee for the cheapest room in the hotel, but the conference pays 25% of the block room rate for each night --- the hotel receives that sum.

For example, at the Asiawest Center.

Person staying in block pays

2 nights at $190 = $380 (or 2 nights at $195 = $390)

Person employing the RBO strategy pays

(2 nights at $185) + 2*(25% of $190) = way more than $380 (or, way more than $390)

So, the Asiawest Center does not lose revenue if the attendee employees the ROB strategy. Not surprising, because the cost for the block rooms and the ROB are very close. Answer = NO

Now, at the Bard Inn:

Person staying in block pays

2 nights at $125 = $250

Person employing the RBO strategy pays

(2 nights at $125) + 2*(25% of $125) = way more than $250

So, the Bard Inn does not lose revenue if the attendee employees the ROB strategy. Answer = NO

Now, the Hilton. Consider the CC conference.

Person staying in block pays

2 nights at $110 = $220

Person employing the RBO strategy pays

(2 nights at $70) + 2*(25% of $110) = $140 + $55 = $195, which is less than $220.

So, the Hilton loses revenue for at least one conference if the attendee employees the ROB strategy. Answer = YES

Does all this make sense? Let me know if you have any further questions.

Mike

vikram4689 wrote:Any suggestions how to deal with such questions on the D day. I seriously feel that doing 12 ques correctly in 30 minutes is very difficult job

Also, is it confirmed by GMAC that one will have 3 ques. in MSR

vikram4689,

First of all, I responded to your other post at that link. I have some doubts about what you express there.

I will say: for the IR, it's probably best to get out of the mindset of "I must get all 12 correct." First of all, four of them will be experimental, so whether you get those right/wrong has absolutely no bearing on your score. Furthermore, I imagine it's only going to be a few super math/data geniuses who get the IR section perfect --- if John Conway or Stephen Wolfram happen to sit for the GMAT, I'd expect them to get the IR perfect. It's very easy to imagine that there will be some questions that almost no one gets perfect --- especially because there's no partial credit --- and the curve will adjust for that. I think it's better to accept that and choose strategically, rather than continue to pursue unrealistic goals.

It's more a matter of maximizing your performance, getting all the points you can get. Think of it as a competition with yourself, not with every last unbathed math genius out there.

One thing I would recommend --- if you are pressed for time, and you know that you can do TA & GI & 2PA much better than you can do MSR, then it may be that when you get to, say, your fourth MSR question, and it looks like it's going to take an inordinate amount of time, cut your losses by guessing and moving on, so you have maximum time to devote to getting the other kinds of questions correct. Part of success on the IR section is going to be knowing your strengths and allocating your time strategically.

One resource that will help: tomorrow, Magoosh will release its IR ebook. You will find the announcement on the free blog.

I hope that helps. Let me know if you have any more questions.

Mike

AbhiJ wrote:One thing not sure though - GMAC refused to divulge information regarding the no of experimental question in IR in one webinar session. It seems a bit contradictory as to they would pass on information at one place and avoid at the other.

True. They're not perfect. And again, while this is proprietary information, it's not CIA confidential state-secret levels, with implications of life & death, so I can understand if, even for them, the boundary between what they will share and what they won't share is a little blurry.

AbhiJ wrote:Also in that webinar session the GMAC folks repeatedly insisted on finishing the section though accepting at the same time that there is no penalty for leaving questions. I inferred from this that there are going to be less experimental questions @ the END

Well, I think the experimental questions can be anywhere in the section, so it's important to treat every question through the last as if it counted. That's why it's important to finish, to give adequate attention to each question through the twelfth. As far as "no penalty for leaving the question" --- I'm taking that to mean --- there's no additional penalty, beyond simply being wrong. In other words, if I get #5 wrong, or if I skip #5, those two have exactly the same impact on my overall IR score. It can't be that there's no penalty at all for skipping a question: then leaving the question blank would be equivalent to getting it correct, and everyone could get a perfect IR score simply by leaving the entire IR section blank. That makes no sense at all!

Does all this make sense?

Mike

PS

I'll just add: Magoosh has just released a free ebook on the Integrated Reasoning section, available here:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-integ ... ing-ebook/

That has up-to-date information about design & scoring, as well as strategies for the four question types. I hope that's helpful.

Mike