I hate tv

World cup football, kolangal, Wimbeldon 2001 final........
What else do u want to keep me away from books?
Yeh!! morning time is there. What to do? I didn't wake up since my brother didn't wake me up.
Studying 12th std, i thought he wud definetly wakeup early.

TV is really spoiling me. I don't know what anti-dote i need for this particular venom.

Weekend

I took princenton test 1.
The score was 550 M40 V26. I was greatly disappointed by the maths score. Since, i didn't read the verbal section's rules, i didn't even review the verbal section.
Each and every PS that went wrong was due to only one reason. Not reading the question properly.
Just giving a thought to those great souls who guessed that idiots like me would not read the questions properly and they gave options accordingly. Otherwise, PS was a cake-walk. PS didn't require any of the things that are given in the text book. But, there was one problem which i didn't understand completely. Hence, even the plug-in technique didn't work.
This question is the excellent example of how people will suffer if they didn't read the question properly. This particular question i read the statement "1/2 of the handmade ornaments are antiques" as "1/2 of the ornaments are antiques" and treated antiques and ornaments as different entities and failed miserably.

Mysoon collects glass ornaments. Ten more than 1/6 of the ornaments in her collection are handmade and 1/2 of the handmade ornaments are antiques. If 1/9 of the ornaments in her collection are handmade antiques, how many ornaments are in her collection?
Correct answer is 180

9 Total Wrong
5 PS
4 DS

Given are the four DS i made mistakes. Unlike PS mistakes, the DS mistakes are genuine in the sense, mistake because of wrong logic.

What is the value of y?
1. When y is multiplied by 6, the result is between 40 and 45.
2. When y is multiplied by 3, the result is between 19 and 23.

My answer statement 2 is alone sufficient
Correct answer both are not sufficient

Mistake reason : I assumed y to be an integer.

What is the value of x?
1. (x+2)(x+3)=0
2. x^2+5x+6=0

My answer each statement alone is sufficient
Correct answer both are not sufficient

Mistake reason : I really didn't understand their reasoning here. I thought x=-2 or -3.

* + # = @
In addition problem above, * and # are single-digit numbers. * and # are +ve odd numbers and *>#. What is the value of *?
1. @ = 6
2. # = 1

My answer Both statements together
Correct answer statement 1 is sufficient

Mistake reason : Clean bowled in the logic.

What is the value of p?
1. 5p - 20 = 5
2. (p - 10)^2 = p^2

My answer statement 1 is sufficient
Correct answer each statement alone is sufficient

Mistake reason : How would you solve the second equation? I took sqrt on both sides and got the equation p - 10 = p which is non-sense equation. I should have expanded the equation for solving. Again mistake in the logic.

Lesson I learnt : Read the question properly even if takes longer time.


Score

Data Sufficiency 11 4
Problem Solving 7 5
Critical Reasoning 9 3
Sentence Correction 9 6
Reading Comprehension 10 4

Q6

6. There are three secretaries who work for four departments. If each of the four departments has one report to be typed out, and the reports are randomly assigned to a secretary, what is the probability that all three secretaries are assigned at least one report?

Q5

5. In Rwanda, the chance for rain on any given day is 50%. What is the probability that it rains on 4 out of 7 consecutive days in Rwanda?

a) 4/7
b) 3/7
c) 35/128
d) 4/28
e) 28/135

Q4

4. John wrote a phone number on a note that was later lost. John can remember that the number had 7 digits, the digit 1 appeared in the last three places and 0 did not appear at all. What is the probability that the phone number contains at least two prime digits?

a) 15/16
b) 11/16
c) 11/12
d) ½
e) 5/8

Q3

3. Jerome wrote each of the integers 1 through 20, inclusive, on a separate index card. He placed the cards in a box, and then drew cards one at a time randomly from the box, without returning the cards he had already drawn to the box. In order to ensure that the sum of all cards he drew was even, how many cards did Jerome have to draw?

Q2

2. How many odd numbers less than 1000 can be formed by using digits 0, 3, 5, 7 when repetition of digits are not allowed?

Q1

1. How many numbers are there between 500 & 1000 which have exactly one of their digits a 8?

Afterall they were right.......

In earlier post, i had mentioned i am not convinced about the usage of plug-in methods. Seems like someone overheard this.

If a sequence of consecutive integers of increasing value has a sum of 63 and a first term of 6, how many integers are in the sequence?
11
10
9
8
7
As i forgot the sum on n terms formula in AP i found this difficult to solve. The key didn't involve AP formulae. Instead they found out by working out the sum themselves starting from 6.

In a jar there are 3 red balls and 2 blue balls. What is the probability of drawing at least one red ball when drawing two consecutive balls randomly?

a) 9/10
b) 16/20
c) 2/5
d) 3/5
e) ½
I read about a type of probability problem where atleast one is used. I forgot what was the trick involved there and i cudn't think more into the problem also. i was stuck. (During the morning trip in the van i tried this) I know for sure this problem wud involve 5 and 4 in denominator and the numerator involved 3. Hence, a shud be the answer. Bingo!!! the guess is right. Though i understood the problem later, i now fully convinced that guessing and plug-in r effecient methods especially if u r stuck with the problem.

Math - Verbal

Many a times what we say becomes what we are. You keep on saying "Dai naan romba weak da.". someday u will really become one. In any competitive exam, there wud b 2 section to contend with - Math et verbal. We tend to take Math more seriously and verbal too lightly. Reason we don't want our egos to get hurt. machi, maths o.k da verbal thaan idikithu.
In the case of GMAT again, getting high math score and less verbal score doesn't bother us much. But the truth cud b little difficult. This article provides excellent insight about how scoring well in verbal gives u an edge over others. Anyway, the article claims that most of the B-schools apply 80/80 rule. Turn your arclights to Verbal!!!!! Atleast now.

To plug-in or not to plug-in

Yesterday i was just skimming through the algebra section in PR. There was a concept called plug-in which is nothing but trial-and-error method in our language. Various types of problems were discussed for which the method to plug-in was discussed.
I was not convinced to use this method for two reasons.
1. Solving thru' algebra equations gives me confidence.
2. I do it quickly with equations itself than substituting and finding out.
Anyway it is a good technique especially for questions involving fractions and set theory.
Ex - 1/2 were boys 1/3 were both boy and girl how many girls were there.
If we assume there are 6 as total ppl, it is easy to solve. 6 is selected because it is the LCM of the denominator of the fractions

Booked

No, not for any offence.
The GMAT day, G-day as people would fondly call it, in my case falls on September 6 2006 at the stroke of nine.
Miles to go before i sleep
Miles to go before i sleep
:)

Not so great start

No updates for the last 5 days. that says it all. The weekend went by without any significant effort from my side for GMAT. I planned to give a test. But never did.
I started reading Quants section in Princenton yesterday at 9PM. Slept at 10PM. Got up at 5:30AM. Before you open ur mouth for any WOW kind of sounds let me tell i was fighting my sleep and pushing the limit from 9 to 10 PM. Morning times, reading newspaper and doing my backbone exercises took much of the time. Need to adjust the newspaper reading time during the office hours.:) I am targeting to complete quants section both kaplan 2006 and give a test on weekend.
Difficult ask. isn't it?
But, that is what i am targeting. The computer is giving me headaches as it has some boot problems.

Day two

Lots of confusion yesterday regarding how to plan for the test. But, it was heartening to note that for the given time the plan i had in mind almost coincides with the one in GMAT Tutor site.
My target for the weekend.
1. Nail the plan.
2. Complete collecting the materials.
3. Complete all the preliminary tests in vyom s/w and assess yourself.
4. Book date. Do i have the credit card? No. Why fear when I is there? So, no worry on this front.
I took the second test. Part of it yesterday and part of it today morning. Not much difference in scores. I scored 515. Expected isn't it. After all it is the same me in the first test and the second test without any knowledge updation. The weaknesses are apparent by now. Suggest need to strongly confirm it by taking another 3 tests.
Field Correct Wrong
Data Sufficiency 8 7
Problem Solving 17 5
Critical Reasoning 9 4
Sentence Correction 7 8
Reading Comprehension 9 4

DS down
PS up
CR up
SC down
RC up
This up and down trend surprisingly is by one question going the other way.

Again the positives out of the test.
1. Concentration level is good. Hey i can sit through the test without uneasyness.
2. There is no looking back. I am into GMAT thoroughly.

To be taken care:
I am finishing the test very quickly without giving a second thought for an answer. I had 18 and 26 minutes to spare for Quants and Verbal respectively. It could have been utilised to analyze more the q&a.

Day one

Atlast, i have come to a conclusion. CAT or GMAT? GMAT. Still, unclear of the B schools i would apply. Another important question is - where does all the money for the education come from? I am not bothering about it much at present. Yesterday, a friend briefed me that the reason many internation schools prefer international students is not the diversity but the fees which is double for foreign students. If that is the reason, it would be hard to get financial aid no matter how well is your application. So, it is safe not to depend on financial aid while planning for finance. Safe ??? safe in what sense :) As i said i am not going to bother about this at present.

I took a test yesterday. Score 435.
Field Correct Wrong
Data Sufficiency 9 6
Problem Solving 16 6
Critical Reasoning 4 8
Sentence Correction 8 7
Reading Comprehension 9 5

Good start isn't it? :) There are many positives in the test.
1. I was able to sit for the whole test.
2. The test suggested i was thinking my strengths and weakness's in the just opposite way.
3. Usually i had to fantacize to get my sleep. This time it was not required. meaning i am ready for the game with focus.
4. I am not afraid of the failure. Be it 640 or 800. I would try to give my best shot.

Road ahead... for this week.
1. Need to book slots in Sep first week. Sep 1, 2 or 3.
2. Narrow down the schools as far as possible.
3.. Need to chart out a good plan with the help of GMAT guide Iday. I am ready to call him mentor. Only that it would increase his age. thats why guide Iday. nice term isn't it?