verbal expression to algebraic expressions

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Gurpinder: Legendary Member; Posts: 659; Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2009 8:12 amFollowed by: 3 members; Thanked: 32 times

by Gurpinder » Mon Jun 28, 2010 7:49 pm

hey guys,

this is my first post on BTG community. you guys are great!!! keep up the good work!!

i have a question. i have been reviewing math for some time now and I am almost "confident" with all math concepts tested on the gmat however i am scared about something.

even though i understand all the math concepts and have been practicing them, i have difficulty translating verbal expressions to algebraic equations. And i know that the entire GMAT math revolves around word problems.

what can i do to improve my translation skills?

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Source: Beat The GMAT — GMAT Strategy | Mon Jun 28, 2010 7:49 pm

amising6: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 294; Joined: Wed May 05, 2010 4:01 am; Location: india; Thanked: 57 times

by amising6 » Mon Jun 28, 2010 8:10 pm

Gurpinder wrote:hey guys,

this is my first post on BTG community. you guys are great!!! keep up the good work!!

i have a question. i have been reviewing math for some time now and I am almost "confident" with all math concepts tested on the gmat however i am scared about something.

even though i understand all the math concepts and have been practicing them, i have difficulty translating verbal expressions to algebraic equations. And i know that the entire GMAT math revolves around word problems.

what can i do to improve my translation skills?

welcome to BTG c this will improve with practice only
take line by line and whenever you think a variable is needed just assign any variable like x,y etc
point is to take line by line and solve it
anyways if you have any doubtjust post any problem and we will give u step by step solution which will help you
and with time u will realize what gmat guys want to do by giving such a lengthy wordy problem which comes with easiest of solution
all d best

Ideation without execution is delusion

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Gurpinder: Legendary Member; Posts: 659; Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2009 8:12 amFollowed by: 3 members; Thanked: 32 times

by Gurpinder » Mon Jun 28, 2010 9:04 pm

another thing is...i just completed my undergrad in criminology. so its been long since i've done math.

so far i was using McGraw Hill's GMAT Math Prep guide to prepare for the math section. Do you think I should use an alternative guide to prep for math?

I ordered Manhattan's entire Quantitative set. Is there anything else you would reccommend for math prep?

I think since my math background is weak, this might also be part of the reason why I am having difficulty translating verbal exxpressions into algebraic equations.

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amising6: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 294; Joined: Wed May 05, 2010 4:01 am; Location: india; Thanked: 57 times

by amising6 » Mon Jun 28, 2010 9:14 pm

no dude manhattan is more than enough start with number properties and if you stuck anywhere please post here or PM we will sove your doubt as soon as possible

Ideation without execution is delusion

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Gurpinder: Legendary Member; Posts: 659; Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2009 8:12 amFollowed by: 3 members; Thanked: 32 times

by Gurpinder » Tue Jun 29, 2010 4:34 am

alright.

thanks alot.

how long do you think it will take to finish the entire manhattan's quantitative set?

The reason I am asking this is I am writing the GMAT in the first week of september. Do you think I can finish the entire set in a month?

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FutureWorks: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 311; Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2011 4:42 amFollowed by: 18 members; Thanked: 45 times

by FutureWorks » Fri Oct 21, 2011 4:36 am

Hi Gurpinder,

We heartily welcome you to this forum and it is good to hear that you are confident and satisfied with your maths preparation. Keep your confidence up as it will help you in overcoming anxieties which are common during the exam preparation time.

Coming to your translation related query we will suggest you to go for Official GMAT followed by Manhattan and Kaplan respectively. Translation based queries need a lot of concentration on each and every sentence of the question, you should break questions into small parts to translate in algebraic expressions and then try to accumulate the whole question. This mechanism will help you to figure out small tricks/points hidden in the questions. As you have mentioned that you were not in touch with mathematics therefore we will suggest you to spend some more time with numbers and expressions to improve your current level.

Keep practicing as we believe no one is weak and nothing is difficult. If you have any further query then feel free to ask ï�Š

Thanks!
Kavita Singh
FutureWorks Consulting

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Gurpinder: Legendary Member; Posts: 659; Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2009 8:12 amFollowed by: 3 members; Thanked: 32 times

by Gurpinder » Fri Oct 21, 2011 8:37 am

Hi Kavita,

What a coincidence. My last message in this post was about a year back and then I took a break. Yesterday, I was doing word translations again and you messaged!

Thanks for your advice. Currently, I am quite strong in number properties, equations, and FDP problems. However, I am still struggling a bit with word translation problems. The thing is, MGMAT only dedicated few pages towards the subject which I think is not enough; at least for me.

Do you have any other resources in mind? Or does it all boil down to practice. I will try your approach today of breaking down each sentence one at a time.

Thanks

Gurpinder

"Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress."
- Alfred A. Montapert, Philosopher.

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FutureWorks: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 311; Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2011 4:42 amFollowed by: 18 members; Thanked: 45 times

by FutureWorks » Mon Oct 24, 2011 4:01 am

Hi Gurprinder,

Thanks for the reply. First of all start using that breaking down approach and we are sure that you will see the difference after few practice tests ï�Š For your word translation section you can try some more books like The Princeton Review or Kaplan. You can also get a good amount of queries from the online content.

Try to search for some more queries and solve them as you can't rely only on a single book. Further queries? Feel free to ask us ï�Š

Thanks!
Kavita Singh
FutureWorks Consulting

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