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7-8 month preparation, anybody similar?

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7-8 month preparation, anybody similar?

by gmatplayer » Mon May 25, 2009 11:52 am
This is my first post and would like to be an active member in posting and sharing.

I am taking it slowly and passed about midway for my preparation of total 7-8 months. Just going one by one on my negative factors (mostly SC and trying to get almost everything correct in Q)

I have followed following"

Barron’s (not that great)
Princeton (OK but not too many problems to solve)
OG-12
and planning to have Kaplan 800 at the end.

Since I am lagging in V, I am simultaneously doing OG Verbal (separate book)

Currently about halfway in OG-12 and will be doing it again just because it is really helpful in my case.
With OG I am seeing continuous progress in all areas. In order to be effective I am solving every problem timed and after few of them trying to reduce time till to about 2min.

The reason I am doing this is because of not having too much time because of job. And having slow and steady progress gives me some confidence.

Is anybody doing similar?
Thanks in advance
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by Stacey Koprince » Thu May 28, 2009 11:40 am
It sounds like you've got a great plan going. A lot of people do have to spread their study over a long period of time because of work or other commitments - and I think slow and steady progress is great.

The potential downside to taking 7-8 months is that you risk forgetting some things that you studied a long time ago. So, as your study goes on, you need to take this into account and set aside some time for regular review of material you've already covered.

Also, are you taking practice tests periodically? For the schedule you're keeping, you probably only need to take a practice test about once every 3-4 weeks, but it is important to take these periodically for two reasons. First, your performance on the test can give you great data on your strengths and weaknesses, which helps you to prioritize your study going forward. Second, you do need to build stamina and develop your decision-making abilities (such as: how do I know when to keep working on a problem vs. when to guess and move on?).
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by gmatplayer » Thu May 28, 2009 12:49 pm
Thats is great piece of advice!
I am trying to overcome my weaknesses slowly by analyzing lot of data from my own mistakes. In addition, I have already started to take full periodical test including AWA to keep myself in test pattern and not to get lost in only studying.

One specific CR question for you:
Is there any particular technique to be applied for Argument construction questions? I am getting about 20-25% correct in this category and about 75-80% in rest CR.

Even though sometimes I score OK (about 50%) in Argument construction, it is very shacky performace, worries me.

Thanks for your reply
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by Stacey Koprince » Thu May 28, 2009 12:51 pm
Does Argument Construction mean those ones in which they ask you to say what role a particular sentence plays in the argument, or they ask you to say how one person responds to another person's argument? With generic-sounding answer choices such as "refutes the conclusion by offering a contradictory premise" or something like that? (If you've got a sample problem, go ahead and post it!)
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by gmatplayer » Thu May 28, 2009 2:54 pm
Example:
If the airspace around centrally located airports were restricted to commercial airliners and only those private planes equipped with radar, most of the private-plane traffic would be forced to use outlying airfields. Such a reduction in the amount of private-plane traffic would reduce the risk of midair collision around the centrally located airports.
The conclusion drawn in the first sentense depends on which of the following assumption?

(A) Outlying airfields would be as convenient as centrally located airports for most pilots of private planes.

(B) Most outlying airfields are not equipped to handle commercial-airiline traffic.

(C) Most private planes that use centrally located airports are not equipped with radar.

(D) Commercial airliners are at great risk of becoming involved in midair collisions than are provate planes.

(E) A reduction in the risk of midair collision would eventually lead to increase in commercial airline traffic.

Question that ask to:
-Recongnize basic structure
-Draw conclusion
-Underlying assumption
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by 4score20 » Thu May 28, 2009 3:27 pm
You didn't mention if you have a target score. Kaplan is great for students aiming for 500-650. However, students trying to score higher should consider using a different source of prep such as Manhattan GMAT.
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by gmatplayer » Thu May 28, 2009 4:09 pm
definitely 700+
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by Stacey Koprince » Fri May 29, 2009 8:00 am
Assumption questions ask you to find something that the author MUST believe in order to reach his or her conclusion. The correct answer will have this characteristic; the wrong answers won't. If you take the correct answer and say that the author does NOT believe this assumption is true, then it would hurt the conclusion, usually pretty severely.

The question points us to the conclusion drawn in the first sentence: if we restrict airspace at central airports to two groups (commercial and radar-equipped private planes), then most private planes will have to use outlying airfields instead.

If the claim is that most private planes will have to use outlying airfields, then the author must be assuming that most private planes don't have radar - because the ones with radar would still be allowed to use the central airfields.

If the author believed that most private planes DO have radar, then how could the author draw this same conclusion? The argument wouldn't work anymore, right?

The other answer choices all might be true, but they don't HAVE to be true in order for the author to draw the particular conclusion in question. For example, (A) says that outlying fields would be as convenient as central fields. Even if this is true, the conclusion doesn't claim that private plane operators will agree to the new plan or be happy with the new plan. It just says we should implement this plan, period.

Let's say that outlying fields are NOT as convenient as central fields. Does this alter the author's claim? [If we restrict airspace at central airports to two groups (commercial and radar-equipped private planes), then most private planes will have to use outlying airfields instead.]

So, if you see a question that asks you to find an assumption, remember that the correct answer will be something the author MUST assume to be true in order to draw his conclusion. If the correct answer is negated, or said not to be true, then the author's conclusion will suffer / be less valid.
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