Section scores are on a scale of 0 to 60, and are based on the difficulty level of the questions you answered as well as how many you got right. Short version: it's complicated, and a 45 is really just shorthand for a certain percentile. It's a fools errand to spend too much time trying to figure ou...

Don't bother with the compound interest formula. The GMAT will never give you a question that requires you to compound more than 2 or 3 times. But, in general terms, you need to adjust both r and n. If you're compounding semi-annually at an annual rate of 8%, that's an interest rate (per compounding...

An isosceles right triangle has sides of x, x, and x(root2). So, the perimeter is 2x + x(root2). To solve for x: 2x + x(root2) = 16 + 16(root2) x(2+root2) = 16+16(root2) x = (16+16(root2)) / (2+root2) (yes, I know the math gets hairy here) Multiply top and bottom by (2-root2): = (32 + 32(root2) - 16...

Yes, that's enough. I generally recommend 8-10 weeks to my students, and that's the timetable that most prep classes operate on, as well.

I wrote a longer explanation of this here:

http://www.gmathacks.com/study-tips/how ... ively.html

curve

Also, GMAT scores are curved based on the population of test-takers at that time in that general geographic area. The curve doesn't make too much of a difference -- the same Q and V scores aren't going to be off by more than 10 or 20 points most of the time -- but there can be slight differences, ev...

tests

There are a few good ones, and a LOT of not-so-good ones. The best, most reliable tests are the GMATPrep ones you can download from mba.com. There are only two, which is not as many as most people seem to want. But I have my students limit themselves to those two, and they are usually successful. I ...

yep

Yeah, it's definitely brutal. There are a handful of questions in the diag, especially on PS, that are: a) tougher than almost any other question in the book, and b) not at all representative of common question types. I tell my students not to bother with the diag at all until after they have done e...

Comments

Yeah...I've found on my other blogs that when people post comments, they expect (quite reasonably) that I'll read them. I'd love to promise that I'd be able to do that, but I'd be lying. My compromise, then, is to make my e-mail address very accessible (so that people can contact me with suggestions...