My Study Update- 09/20/2010

I set out to complete Math 2 books from Manhattan GMAT, in which I could complete only 1 and other one is still going. I also set out to complete GRockit RC by 25th of this month, which Is going on fine but I doubt I could complete by that date. My work is getting hectic besides family responsibility (We are expecting our baby sometime this december). Juggling is going tough these days but I am just trying to take sometime to study. The weekends are crucial as I was busy w/t friends and some household chores. I unnecessarily wasted 4-6 hours in weekend watching 2 movies, I thought to use em, but was tired. Anyways I am going to control two things moving ahead, one watching TV and another browing(gonna check emails only 2 times a day) and not going to browse other than economist and newyorker.

Today I feel tired after a hectic day at work, motivation towards GMAT is slowly going down, but this blog and my practice GMAT during free time are keeping me motivated. One of my friend called me for a business start up. I like to venture into something like that, but I got so many things on my mind that I told him after December; Since for me Family is 1st then work and then GMAT. I got to complete one-by-one than keeping my feet into everything. Lest, coming to my upcoming goals:

Math: I gotta complete FDP by end of Sunday (Wanted to complete early, but got office work)
RC: Doing good, still need to practice more- I need to read 2 articles a day- do it
SC: Hung up, just completed Modifiers, need to go for atleast 2 chapters by end of sunday
CR: Going on and off, need to consistently practice 20 a day.

Things to do ahead:
1. I tried waking up at 4:00 am last week and it worked, gotta do it this week also. Once I wake up, I am going to do RC(4), then CR(20) and then run for 30 mins and then jump to work
2. Lunch time I am going to work on Math
3. Evening I will spend time on SC.
4. This week I need to complete FDP, and 1 more chapter in SC and RC (20 RC), 100 CR; Attached a snapshot of verbal performance in GRockit.

Good night and happy gmatting..

My RC Approach

I am going to divide Reading Comprehension approach into two categories, each of which I need to master

1. Reading the main passage
2. Answering the questions.

1. Reading the main passage

This is a tentative approach I am planning to adopt, I will modify accordingly as I practice

1. Read the para 1, trying to find out why the author is writing out this passage- mainly to weed out the key idea he is trying to represent. If para 1 doesn't mention such, I will flag para 1 as back ground info and move ahead trying to find out the main idea of the passage.

2. Once I find out the main idea of the passage, I will register it in my brain and will ask a question of what will come a head, such as present more details or contrast it or deny it etc.,

3. I will quickly glance through the rest of the details and will remember what each para contains, and will not focus on any one detail or get bogged down on any keywords etc., At the end of each para, I would paraphrase very little what that paragraph contains.

4. Once I am done with the passage; I will look at each para and will say to myself, first para is back ground info, second para gives the main idea about, and what is that main idea, third para contains details about the main idea. Also, I will note the topic/Scope of the passage and tone of the author.

Practice Final Goals:
Shorter Passage : 2 minutes
Longer Passage: 3 minutes

Other Points:
1. Imagine while you read
2. Will try to predict what will come next

2. Answering the questions.

We can classify RC questions into two categories

1. General Questions (Main idea, tone, structure, in order to, whats in para 2 etc.,)
2. Detailed Questions (Specific point, Inference)

1. General Questions: Based on the paraphrase I have on reading the main passage most of these questions can be answered, with out going back to the passage.
Approach: Main Idea
1. Find Key verbs in the choice
2. Eliminate those which dont match
3. In the rest account each word whether its defined directly in the passage, else remove
4. Select the one which closely matches your paraphrase.
Approach: Structure of the passage
1. Paraphrase whats in each paragraph and go through each choice
2. Account for each word in the choice
3. Select the one which falls in
4. Your choice should match closely with Topic + Scope+ Primary Purpose of the passage
Approach: Tone
1. Once you read the passage, you know how the authors tone is in general
2. Donot select answers which are too negative or too positive, unless the author is so strongly condemning(rarely i see). Usually the author stays in the middle of negative or positive.
General Questions Timing: 1 minute

2.Detailed Questions: My approach would be

1. Find what the question is asking
2. Find which paragraph it belongs to
3. Read that paragraph and paraphrase your answer
4. Eliminate and Select
5. Avoid Answers which are not mentioned in the passage.
6. Every word in the answer choice should be accounted for, else remove that choice with no concern
7. Timing: 1.5 mins - 2 mins


Practicing : At this point of time below are some material I have:

1. OG 10/11/12; Verbal Reviews (Completed in my previous attempt)
2. GRockit (20% completed - Easy-Middle difficulty level)
3. BeatTheGMAT Practice Questions (Haven't looked at, but assuming Medium level)
4. LSAT 30 Tests (Completed 5-10 tests, definitely hard and time taking)

I think since I am done practicing RC with OG10/11/12, there is no point keeping time for it now. I will keep them for end. I will probably start with GRockit and then move to BTG PQ and finally to LSAT. My focus would not be on quantity but will be on sharpening my approach on reading the passage and answering the questions and reducing time. I will practice 1 RC, go through it on how did I approach the passage and how did I approach'd the questions. I will try to find any other better ways I could have improved. This would be my focus.

My goal is to attempt atleast 2 passages a day on weekdays and 4 on weekends. I will write down whatever I learnt or mistakes I have done in a microsoft word document and will review it before I start my next day prep.

Goals Until November 1st for RC:

1. Complete GRockit - 15 days ( 9/25/2010) - Has around 30-40 passages in total
2. Complete BTG Practice Q - 15 days (10/10/2010) - Assuming around 30 passages in total
3. Complete LSAT - 10 days (20/10/2010) - Will practice only for 10 days
4. Complete OG - 10 days (1/11/2010) - Will go aggressive here.

Some topics I want to complete this week

This is something I want to work this week, lets see if I can..
(09/09/2010 - 09/16/2010)

Math:

Math Foundations	Foundations of GMAT Math Strategy Supplement	Week 1
FDP	Fractions, Decimals, & Percents Strategy Guide	Week 1

CR (Topic/Weak Area/Week) - 5 questions on a topic per day..

* CR: Assumption Yes Week 1
* CR: Inference Yes Week 1
* CR: Strengthen No Week 1
* CR: Weaken No Week 1

RC
- (2-4) RC /day
- How to approach Main Idea Questions
- How to approach Structure of the passage questions



SC: (Topic/Weak Area/Week)

* SC: Logical Predication/Modification	Yes	Week 1
* SC: Mass/count words	No	Week 1

* SC: Agreement	No	Week 1
* SC: Among/Between, As/Like	No	Week 1

* SC: Correlative Constructions

No

Week 1

Like a rabbit, I start again :)

Like a rabbit moves slowly towards her destination, am also preparing slowly towards GMAT. I try to keep some time every day for GMAT, may be not a hour but atleast 20 mins here and there. My focus these days especially has been on GRockitt, an excellent online tool for sharpening any topic-subtopic. I have completed around 150 questions, with 80% accuracy in Verbal. I havent started math yet, but slowly I will.

I want to complete some basics in Math before I hit onto practice sessions. My "sweet" wife got me a book from India for Math, its from a GRE training center in India, VISU. The book provides necessary formulae in a small section for each topic and then provides 10 different kinds of problems on each topic. My wife used this book to score a 780 in Math GRE. I am thinking to select one topic for example., Geometry, and go through this book and GMAT Club Notes and Manhattan GMAT Geometry book and make my notes (only the points I dont know), and then practice problems behind each text book. I will keep around 3/5 problems to work on Geometry when I move onto the next topic (Inequalities etc.,)

Coming to Verbal Practice, I am going to just use GRockitt to complete 10-20 CR, 4 RC, 10-20 SC and review the wrong ones. My goal for the month of september will be to focus on weak areas in each section and strenthen them.

Goals for September Month:
Verbal Goal:

• My goal is to get good at SC- Comparison - Modifier - Parallelism by end of this month.
• CR Goal is to identify Conclusion, Premises and paraphrase the assumption and confidently go into answers. Mainly I need to strategize my approach..I am not going to go into answers with out a paraphrase--I need to try my best to come up with an assumption or a paraphrase of the answer before I move in
• RC Goal-- Make an approach for each question. For Main theme- paraphrase and go; For inference/detail - Go back to passage.

Math September Goal:

• Probability/Combinations
• Inequalities (Optional)
• Geometry

My GMAT Times would be

1. RC - Lunch time( 12 pm -1 pm)
2. SC - Evening (45 mins)
3. CR - Need to decide, I need around 45 mins
4. Math - Need to decide - Probably around 1.5 hours (Early Morning/Late evening)

Labor day weekend is coming, not sure whether I should keep time to study or just go out and chill, I really want to keep books aside really far..as far as possible :) and just go out and enjoy, but that would ruin my confidence after labor day weekend. I need to manage my time so that I keep some for study and some for taking my wife out. I thought about starting applications, but I havent taken a decision on that -- since there are so many things on my plate to juggle (work, my wife delivery in Dec, house search, GMAT, car search etc.,)--Literally its packed :). But I'm loving the juggle..

Finally, an article about SMILE and its benefits below, I liked it and have been practicing it at work and it has good results..:)

Smile and its benefits: http://www.thercg.org/youth/articles/0101-s.html

Adios...good luck

Try one more time.

This week was one of my toughest weeks in my life. I was asking constantly a question what I want to do in life. It's a question that came up when I started my MBA journey but not with so much conviction as I have now. What I want to become in 5 years from now, what kind of life I want to lead, what ‘makes me happy- All these questions came up one by one. I had no clue whom to ask and answers for them. Finally, I called my mom, and spoke my mind to her and told her what ever that has happened. She felt bad that after preparing so hard this has happened, but she maintained and believed that I can do this. (I had a similar situation like 10 years before when I got a rank of 10232 out of 500,000 people in a engineering entrance exam, with such a rank you wont get admission into the college I dreamt of -- JNTU College of Engineering--, so I prepared for 6 months and got a rank of 757 out of 500-600k odd people- My mom was very proud of the achievement) and my mom reminded me of the same, and told not to give up.

I also spoke to my Sister, dad, and a close friend of mine who is in ISB. Some told me that may be god didn't want you to go through this route and may be he has something else for you, some told to not give up- as my mom. I believe in god, but I believe that your belief in something supersedes the destiny. Destiny is created by you and by your whole hearted efforts and passion towards certain things. If Edison had quit inventing the bulb after 2nd or third time and if Gandhi had quit thinking about freedom after he was asked to get down from train because he was sitting in a compartment reserved for elite and If Obama had quit after knowing that there was no African American as president before then we wouldn't have seen the hope that these people have brought to our lives. I don’t know whether I will be successful or not next time, but the only thing I am going to do is to "Try one more time".

Most of the part time MBA schools I am interested have deadlines from February 1st till May 1st. I am interested only in top 10 schools and I am thinking to spend 1hr for application and around 2 hrs for GMAT so that by January I should be ready with around 80% of my app done and GMAT score in my belt. Lets see, I will keep the effort needed and see how it goes. Anyways, based on my brainstorming last 1 week , below is a tentative analysis of what I need to do for my next attempt: [Please do comment if you see something is missing or I am going wrong]

Math/Verbal

In math: I've pinpointed my issues are with probability (I got 2 of them in first 5 in GMAT) , chart questions, advanced geometry, sequences (How to predict the sequence based on some numbers), Inequalities, advanced number properties (word problems), fractions (-ve side, squared, less than -greater than)
To do this time: Basics, Formulae collection, GMAT CLub tests, MGMAT Archive, forum questions.

In Verbal:
CR: I got more than 4 CR Under lined questions; I need to know how to answer those effectively. Don’t know what materials to do for CR, but I am going to review all the basics again from powerscore, and then might pick up GRockitt to do some more problems.
To do this time: Grockitt, LSAT

SC: I need to revise Modifiers (I got lot of them)
To do this time: OG 10,11,12, GMATFIX, GRockitt

RC: I don’t see any issue- I really knocked all the RC passages in exam, I will just continue the same practicing 4 RC's per day.
To do this time: LSAT, GRockitt.

What I am not going to do this time:
Will not focus on quantity
If I see a question, I would not leave it until I understand it completely
Not going to join any course
Study not more than 3 hours a day, including weekends.
Wont take more than 2 practice exams a month
Wont Neglect Strengths

What I am going to do this time
Take it easy
Revise often things I learnt
Basics first then practice
Fix exam date only after I am very comfortable with exam and scores reflect the same
Document into one doc everything I learnt as Verbal/Math than on flash cards (they do take time for me to write)

Other miscellaneous things I want to do:
Join Yoga
Read Wall Street Journal daily
Help others

Not upto my mark

Got Q:44, V:31. Not upto my mark. ..In abyss of disappointment...

Good Perm -Combs Formulae & Questions

Perms/Combs Triangles/Circles Concepts:
1. If there are n number of straight lines , They intersect each other in nc2 ways
2. If there are m number of circles , They intersect each other in
2*(mc2) ways = m (m-1)= 2p2 ways
3. When n straight lines and m circles intersect each other , they intersect in
at most 2 * m * n = 2* ( no. of circles ) * ( no.of straight lines)
4. When n parallel lines intersect m straight lines , Then no. of parallelograms possible = nc2 * mc2= mn (m-1) (n-1)/4
5. There is one case when collinear and non- collinear points are given , and asked how many triangles it can formed=>
The funda for this - ( Triangles that can be formed with all points ) – ( Triangles formed with collinear points )
6. To form a Straight line from n no. of points , out of which n1 are collinear and n2 are non – collinear ,
The total no. of straight lines can be formed
=>( Total no. of lines formed with total n points ) – ( total no. of lines that formed with n1 collinear points ) + 1 ( One line can be formed with n1 collinear points)
=> nc2- n1c2 +1
7 .The same is case with circles to be formed with n collinear points and m non- collinear points
=> (m+n)c3- nc3 + 1 ( This 1 circle can be drawn with n collinear points , if points are on circle )
Same is the case with triangles
8 . When there are n points taken on m intersecting lines , intersecting each other at only one point o , then
The possible triangles from these points
( Triangles formed with 0 and n points on one straight line ) * no. of straight lines + ( Triangles formed with total points except 0 ) – ( Triangles formed with n collinear points of m no. of straight lines )
=> Let us modify for n points taken on 2 lines intersecting each other at point 0
=> Thus total no. of points = 2*n+1
=> Point o can formed n triangles with each line = n*n
=> 2nc3-nc3-cn3 + n *n
9 . One standard formula for n no. of straight lines drawn in a plane out of which no. two lines are parallel and no. three lines are concurrent . The number of parts into which these lines divide the plane =
1+ Σ r to n (r)
Let take with 8 straight lines = 1+ 9*8 /2 = 37

Some more days to go...

I have been staying away from browsing, checking emails and BTG for a while as I don't want to get distracted (I'm easily dis-tractable, a reason is this post itself :) )

I had a 5% thought on July 27th to postpone GMAT, was not sure, but felt, may be I can work more hard for a month and can do well in the GMAT, but that thought subsided when I thought that, what if for the next attempt I am not so healthy and prepared as I am now. I also prayed god that day when I heard a feeble voice not too-- so dropped the plans of any postponement.

Coming to my concerns, below are some:

1. CR is taking around 2 mins 30 secs for questions ranging 600-800 level range in GMATPREP. (I have been using GMATFIX software)- Need to develop a strategy
2. SC, I want to revise all OG 12 Questions and Verbal supplement by 3rd, I am on track-- but still gotta do like 150 of them. I wanted to do GMATFIX SC's but I dont think I have time. So will focus only on OG SC.
3. RC- When I do practice I really do well- 95% in 6 mins max. But when it comes to attempting the same in exam, my accuracy is around 75%. I think its the nerves that catching - I need to find a way to fix it.
4. Math - I am going through my GMATPREP exams and figuring out topics I am still weak at; There are some topics still remaining which I want to complete. Also, I wanted to revise Math every day- I made good notes on CO-ORD Geometry, Remainders, Absolute Problems- Which I need to go through. (Probability and Combinations are the two topics I do know well before , but I havent touched the basics yet- gotta do those)
5. Flash Cards - I have around 50-60 flash cards, which I want to review every day.
6. AWA - Havent touched yet, but in 2 mock exams I wrote AWA. Will write down my templates soon.

I need to focus on these, which will be my focus for the next couple of days beside writing exams. Hope to carry that tempo and a little luck along the way :)

Coming Exams:
07/29 - Kaplan 8
07/30 - Kaplan 7
08/01 - 08/03 - GMATPREP
08/05 - MainExam

P.S: I will try to stay away from blogging again..already took 20 mins to type this blog :(

07/24 GMAT Update

Its been a week I have posted an update on my prep; Below are some updates:

• Took Kaplan 5 Exam, scored a 650 (Q: 64%; V: 94%); Reviewed mistakes in Math and Verbal.

SC

• Started Reviewing OG Verbal Supplement for SC - Doing 25 q a day and reviewing to see if I can do the question in 1 minute and what are the potential pitfalls in each question.

• Completed Reviewing the first 2 chapters in MGMAT SC book
  

CR

• Completed OG 12 CR review (2nd)

• Made CR notes.
  

RC

• Every day doing 6 RC; Mostly from OG 12

Math

• Completed Sequences, Absolute Value problems from GMAT CLUB

To Do:

• Math: Review Word Problems in MGMAT and practice problems from OG 12
• SC: Review MGMAT SC 1 Chapter & practice 25 questions
• CR: Review your CR notes and work on 20 Questions from OG 10 OR 12
• RC: 6-8 Passages- Also review your notes.

Exams

• 07/26 -GMAT PREP 2

Donot Think, Just Work.

This is the Mantra I am going to use for my GMAT. I am not going to think anything-- I will just work and apply techniques like a robot. That's it.

Today's Update:

SC: 40 Questions
CR: 35 Questions
RC: 5 Passages (Focus on Structure..Its improving accuracy and Timing)
Math: Onto Inequalities;

Tomorrow's Goals:
For each topic
1. Basics
2. Review Top 5 Strategies for each type
3. Practice

SC: Basics (MGMAT Rules) + What are the 5 Strategies to use+ 20 Questions (1.5 hour) + Parallelism (OG 12, OG 10)
CR: Basics (My Notes) + 40 Questions ( 2 hour) + OG 10 -20 Questions Review.
RC: Basics (My Notes) +Wrong One Review + >5 Passages (Focus on structure)
Math: Basics (5 Topics) + Inequalities( 1 hour)

07/17 GMAT Update

Have been working on GMAT for the last 2 days, relatively focused. Still back of the mind I am thinking whether I should focus on quantity or whether I need to focus on quality. I have been reaffirming myself that right now I am on revision mode until 18th and from 19th I will be on doing more questions.

Also, I have thought to read fewer debriefs of other people than I was doing everyday (around 2-5), because even though it does help me with tips and confidence, it leads me to think whether I should do new questions from various other sources- and accordingly it might affect my plans. So I am limiting myself reading less debriefs. Now onto plans and goals, below are some goals set and achieved:

07/15 - 07/17
SC: Completed comparison questions (Quantitative comparisons) - Made a notes of all questions collected and how to approach. I couldnt complete SC notes revision and OG 12. I have thought to first fix the major weak points and then revise. Now I am confident about Comparisons, and will move to Parallelism slowly. Plan is around 25th I want to complete all the major topics in SC with Solid revision.

CR: All weaken and Strengthen questions in OG 12(Reviewd Power Score chapters). Made some notes of tips/traps and how to approach. My approach involves carefully reading premise/conclusion, write down the premise/concl- short hand- predict and then remember whats the conclusion and attack each answer choice - will take me around 2 - 2.5 mins

RC: Completed around 10 passages in OG with speed timer. Did some LSAT passages on 15th. But I thought no reason to go to LSAT before I fix my timing. So focussing only on OG 10 + 12 with timer. Goal is to complete each passage in around 6 mins. Now i average around 8.

Math: Completed Rate Problems and Quadratic Eqns; Made a list of all tough questions, concepts in a doc.

I will be working more on Verbal parts CR/RC for the next up coming days. I will just review concepts in Math for about 1 -1.5 hour each day and SC I will do like 20 questions (weak points) and the rest of the time I will focus on CR/RC.

Todays Goals
1. CR: Review Assumptions/Conclusions/Evaluate Questions [Update: Done - Made Notes]
2. RC: 5 -10 passages [ Update: 7:30 - 10:00pm]
3. SC : 20 Questions
4. Math: Review Notes + Inequalities.

My Scores:
06/08/2010 Kaplan : 600 (Q:59% V: 53%)
06/28/2010 Kaplan 2 : 650 (Q: 77% V: 64%)
07/03/2010 Kaplan 3 : (Q:99% ) - Exam Ended After Quant
07/07/2010 GMATPREP 1 : 730 (Q50, V39)
07/10/2010 MGMAT3 : 590
07/15/2010 KAPLAN 4 : 660 (Q:92% V:40%)
07/22/2010 Kaplan 5

Yes I can!!

It was a complete chaos day for me in terms of studying for GMAT. There are so many thoughts coming in and making me nervous about this exam. I have decided not to think about them and just bend my head into the OG and just practice and just say I can do this. Its mental battle for me as I have written this exam before and I have a very bad experience- I have decided to fight it and get into a college I dream everyday. Hope I can by god's grace. Let me not falter in the steps I take, Let me not lose the hope and Let me not fear the GMAT. Lets face it, Let me Work Hard and Stay calm to get over this with a happy score.

-Madhu
===================================================
Completed Today:
1. OG 12 RC Inferences/Detail in OG 12 (around 50% of passages)
2. SC Questions (Around 15)
3. Kaplan Stress Management Workshop (Completed
- Do Exercise
- Breathe Well
- Relax yourself in exam
- When you talk, do not speak -ve about exam to yourself or w/t others
- Practice the attitude while practicing and writing exams

4. Personal Power - By Anthony Robbins (Started Listening)
- People dream, but people who act on it and continuously work on it get it.

5. Speed Reading (4 th chapter 20% complete)


Tomorrow Goals:
1. Kaplan Exam at 8:00 AM at Center
2. OG 12 CR - Review (Need to complete this by 17th, as I have BTG CR doc to start)
3. Math - Rate Problems
4. SC - 10 Questions
5. RC - 4 passages

Up Coming Goals:

July 15- July 18th (Math +CR Focus)
SC Goal: Notes Revision 1 time; OG 12 Revision 1 time.
CR Goal: OG 12 every question thorough review 1 time.
RC Goal: Just 4 passages per day (Focus on structure and try to apply the patterns).
Math Goal: Eliminate most of the weak points you have written in excel sheet.
3-day Main Goal: To complete OG 12 CR-Math Weak points - Revise SC notes
Timing: Complete 4 RC first thing in the morning, then move onto revision and CR

July 19th -July21 (CR Focus)
CR: Do 3 sets of 25 questions from BTG doc.
RC: Just 4 passages
SC: 20 questions/day; Revise Notes
Math: Do 50 questions/day; Revise Notes
3-Day Main Goal: Fix CR & Build confidence
Timing: Complete 4 RC first thing in the morning, then move onto revision and CR

July 21 - July 24th
AWA: Template finalization and application to exam
CR : 2 sets of 25.
RC : 4 Passages per day
SC: Complete in 1 min each question in OG 12 (2 hrs)
Math: 50 questions.

July 25 - Aug 3rd
Revision and Exams
Timing: 12 pm exam everyday w/t awa.

Practice Selection

Math : Learn concepts, Formulae, short cuts really well. Focus only on GMAT related problems- Official problems.
SC: Only OG12 + Verbal Prep + GMAT Prep (Don't touch anything else)
CR: OG 12 + Verbal Prep + 300 BTG + GMAT PREP
RC: OG 12 + OG 10 + GMATPREP

Yes I can!!

07/14 GMAT Update

Today's update:

Math - Completed Remainder Problems Theory and some remainder problems posted in BTG.
Check this thread, awesome
http://gmatclub.com/forum/compilation-of-tips-and-tricks-to-deal-with-remainders-86714.html#p651942

SC- Did around 20 SC questions, have started writing down my reasoning now of why each choice is wrong/correct, this is helping a lot.

CR - Did 10 Q - I need to work on proportions/percentages questions in CR, still my weakpoint.
Downloaded 300 tough question doc from BTG, gotta set time for them

RC - Did only 1 tough passage.

Major amount of time today I spent for analyzing some tough SC questions and CR questions. I also spent some time looking at deadlines for Wharton (Around Feb for Exec MBA).

Tomorrow I need to work on Math - Rate Problems, SC, CR - Some questions, and RC - Primary Purpose + Inference. I need to complete 4 articles in science daily and economist also. Anyways..too late..gotta sleep..

Happy Gmating!!

7/13 GMAT Update

Today was a little productive day in terms of Math. I reviewed the wrong questions in MGMAT and worked on Work Problems and Population Increase problems. I have collected and worked on some tough Word problem questions from BTG and MGMAT website , I feel its a good notes moving a head. In Verbal, I did 10 CR from OG, reviewing why each answer is wrong and In SC did around 5 questions- started documenting in powerpoint the wrong ones with explanation ( For like vs as comparison - Like cannot be used with prepositional phrases, ex:- In hungary, like much of Greece ... - Is incorrect; Use "as"). I didnt do RC Today, tomorrow first thing will be RC. Will focus on Inference questions in RC- Goal is to complete all RC- Inferences tomorrow.
I have noted some of the weakpoints and Todo's which I need to address soon:

Math
1. Inequalities
2. Absolute Value Questions
3. Mixture (Still some doubts)
4. Probability- Combinations.
5. Remainder Problems (07/13)
6. Rate Problems (07/13)
CR
1. Math related questions (Proportions - Percentages based Questions asking for S/W/A)
2. Underlined Questions, with twist at the end (07/13)
3. Bold Faced Questions.
RC
1. Inference (How to do them faster and with vgood accuracy) (07/13)
SC
1. Which vs Ing usage
2. Comparison (700 level questions)
3. Modifiers
4. Parallelism
5. Review Notes. (07/13)

I have to complete most of these by July 24th, from then I am planning to hit more on exams.

All OG12 Primary Purpose Questions Summary

I went through all the passages in OG12 for questions based on primary purpose and made a gist of what I learnt. One interesting thing I found is, I was able to answer all the questions, except one, correct. I have learnt that, after you read a paragraph, you got to jot down what does it say in 1 line, do the same for the rest and then summarize using 2-3 words what the passage is like, the passage explains/challenges/discuss etc., I have made a list of how each passage is laid out structurally and what are the most often key words used and wrong key words used in the an excel. Will review it often. Below is a summary of my learning.

Most often used wrong word: Methodology (Means method, principles). The passage explains a theory, but a answer choice is there which says methodology is explained. A theory and methodology are not same.

Some more wrong words used: Alternate explanation, Recent (Make sure a word such as new, current, today are used for recent, and specifically an alternate is proposed)

Most often used pattern structure: Explain/Discuss - out of 24 passages, 23 passages explained or discussed about something, only one challenged.

Other: When you see recent word - wrong answer would used "past" word and vice versa. If a date is mentioned, like In 1889, then wrong answer would say recently.

Thats it for today..Gotta do some CR and review math and then sleep :)

MGMAT Exam Review

Had chance to review MGMAT exam -Verbal part. These are the findings I had

Exam Thoughts

1. I need to improve my concentration levels, should focus on maintaining good focus through out the exam with goal on applying strategies and making sure I am taking the proper time needed for each question, and not look at timer all the time

2. I need to be serious, very serious about the exam when I am in exam mode. I cannot get distracted nor I cannot think about anything else, I just need to be focussed in the exam while writing the exam. Its an important exam for me and I cannot be lackluster while attempting a question, I need to give my best for each question, by applying all the methods, techniques strategies I have learnt.

3. First 10 questions I need to double check and be careful. Say to yourself before the exam, the first 10 questions i need to double check and apply the strategies and I cant be careless or less focussed.

3. Verbal Part

1. RC: I did fine, but main idea question, tone questions were the problem. I took more time for main idea Qs and selected wrong answers. I will focus on fixing the main idea questions for my next exam.
2. CR: Paraphrase, Paraphrase, Paraphrase- Don't go to answer choices with out paraphrase. This technique I need to employ for my next exam. Don't care too much about the score/time, just apply the technnique.
3. SC: Dont select an answer on a vague reason, or a hunch. Need to bolster with a strong S-V, VERB, Modifier, Comparison, Parallelism reasoning. I will revise my SC notes and will do modifiers/parallelism/comparison from OG 10 OR 12 for my next exam.

So that's about Verbal. I need to look into Math part soon. I have my next exam on July 13th, as mentioned above, I want to fix the above issues by then and try one more exam. Today I will work on doing main idea questions from OG, 2 LSAT RC (If time permits), 20 CR- Use paraphrase technique, SC- Notes Revision, Math - Reviewing MGMAT Cat Questions. That's it.

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Chanting Narayana Narayana wholeheartedly would free you from all problems.

Low score on MGMAT...What's next>>

Very much down after my MGMAT exam, I got a 590 in it. Well, its already 1:00 AM, so I have to see what went wrong in my exam tommorrow. But pretty disappointing performance. I have to see what I need to improve. Feeling bad about the test now :(

Manhattan GMAT Exam Today@ 9 PM- Target 670+

I got a MGMAT mock exam today evening at 9 PM. Preparing for it- doing some notes revision from Critical Reasoning and will be doing 1 LSAT RC and 1 LSAT CR and review some OG questions.

I have realized that I need to fix timing in RC and CR, Below are some approaches I am taking

- decrease my inner vocalization, regression and focusing on a posture that would keep me in top concentration,
- read 4 articles from sciencedaily, and economist
- Keep strict timer deadlines while practicing passages in OG and LSAT (3.5 Mins for reading 65 liner passage)

Gotta keep going, GMAT is becoming little burn out for me, but I am not going to give up on this, as this my last attempt and I will push myself to the best. Now back to studying..Need to get at least a 670 above in the mock exam.

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Food for brain ->
Eat Blue berries
Take a Omega 3 supplement
Drink lots of water
Eat Almonds and Walnuts.

28 days more to go

I got only 28 days before I write the main exam. I am preparing not bad except I spent the whole weekend with out studying and was enjoying with friends (back of the mind i didnt even think about GMAT:)
Anyway, I took the courage yesterday to write my first GMAT Prep exam. I got a 730 on it, with Q50, V39, but I got 4 CR which I already know, so I feel that my verbal score is inflated by 20-30 points. One thing I felt good was that I got only 1 RC wrong. I applied the timing deadlines to verbal and math sections and followed them rigorously.

For Math, I kept a pacing strategy of 7 questions for every 15 mins, and for verbal 8 questions for every 15 mins. Except some questions overall math I could perform well. I did silly mistakes in 2 questions and on some hard questions, I did know there was no information to support choice C, but I selected E. (I have this weird feeling when I do a hard question that may be I dont know the concept so thats why the answer is C. But it turned out that 3 of such questions which I have answered C turned out to be E, the correct answer which I predicted while doing the question- next time I will select what I deduce and just move on).

Coming to verbal, I am losing grip in CR. I have almost worked on atleast 700-800 LSAT CR questions and at one point of time my accuracy was very good, but when I moved to OG from LSAT, I started doing less number of questions and especially harder ones and now after some time I get harder ones wrong. I should have continued doing LSAT instead of switching to OG completely. Anyways, yesterday I worked on like 50 CR questions from KAPLAN, GMATFIX and my accuracy went down. Kaplan answers are weird though, so I stopped doing them. GMAT FIX was also not so ok too, as I faced some trouble answering even easy CR's.

Coming to Verbal from GMATPREP exam, I think I need to still improve, I got 4 cr, which gave me around 8 mins of free time and 4 correct answers which skewed my score to 39. I should have waited for 2 mins for each of those questions and then answered. Anyways, I am ramping up my prep from tommorrow onwards.

I was searching online to read some debriefs of people who excelled from low scores to high scores and I found these two links, both these guys had an amazing improvement from previous scores, key was speed reading combined with LSAT CR and LSAT RC.

http://www.beatthegmat.com/770-q50-v45-from-uzbekistan-t31620.html
http://www.beatthegmat.com/760-q51-v42-from-uzbekistan-t55430.html#240574

So I have thought to keep working on LSAT CR/RC until the end of the exam. Based on that I have made the below schedule for tommorrow.

Morning 5:30 AM - 1 PM (7.5 Hours)
RC - LSAT 1 (1.5 hour)
CR - LSAT 1 (1.5 hour)
MATH - 50 Questions (2 hour)
SC - 1 Hour

4:30pm - 6:00pm Free time

6:00pm - 9:00 PM (3 HRS)
6-7 : CR/OG CR Review
7-8 : RC/OG RC Review
8-9 : SC Notes

Below is What I did today:

1. Completed reviewing GMAT PREP Exam1 (Took around 4 hours)
- Made some notes of wrong ones (I had math 8, verbal 11 incorrect ones)
2. Read some speed reading exercises ( read 2 words instead of 1, dont repeat, keep concentrate while studying -no nail biting or moving legs etc., just focus, Imagine what you are reading. ) Initial WPM was 246, but working on fixation I could move to 350.
3. Did 6 LSAT CR/ 5 OG CR
4. Did 3 OG RC
5. Did around 50 Math questions.


I got only 28 days more to go. I should make sure I follow strategies I have written for each topic and revise notes that I have written.

Below are my upcoming exam schedules:

07/10/2010 MGMAT1;
07/13/2010 MGMAT2;
07/15/2010 KAPLAN 4;
07/18/2010 GMATPREP1;
07/21/2010 MGMAT 5;
07/23/2010 Kaplan 5
07/26/2010 GMAT PREP2;
07/29/2010 Kaplan 6;
07/30/2010 GMATPREP 3;
07/31/2010 Kaplan 7;
08/01/2010 GMATPREP 4;
08/02/2010 Kaplan 8;
08/03/2010 GMAT PREP 5;
08/05/2010 Main Exam

Good night and happy gmatting..

Kaplan Exam Ended Abruptly with Math Section

Hmm., after the math section, the exam ended abruptly. Anyway I scored a 99% on math, from 77% last time. Got two mistakes in math. I need to call Kaplan customer service tomorrow and find what the problem was. [I really wanted to write the Verbal, as I prepped well for Verbal, anyways will wait until 6th]

These are weak points I found from this exam in Math

1. Rate Problems
2. Inequalities, Absolute Values.

My next exam is on July 6th now, gotta wait until then for my next score. Alas, good night and I will be out to VA Beach tomorrow to celebrate my Wife's Birthday. So only little prep (4 RC, 20 CR) tomorrow early morning.

Getting Ready for My Kaplan Exam at 9 PM

Yesterday was a tough day, I could only study from 6 am- 9:30 am, 11:30 am - 2:30 pm, and 8:30 pm - 10:00 pm. Due to daily family activities, I have to spend the rest of the time to do some shopping for home etc., Anyways I could do RC-5, SC -40, CR-15 and no math. I got disappointed with my accuracy in CR/RC, around 70%. Not sure what I need to do, but I could pin point some issues with RC, which I will carefully work today. Couple of things I did last two days was to make a strategy on approaching any RC/CR; I made the strategy based on Kaplan/MGMAT and my experience with practicing the questions. I am applying this strategy whenever I work on a CR/RC. Anyways, I have a kaplan exam due today evening. Here is what I am planning to do

1. Complete Reviewing All Incorrect questions in OG CR (around 15q/33q)
2. Same for RC (15q/50q)
3. Same for SC (15q/34q)

I also made a check list of current weak points I have in Verbal and I will be working on those to fix them. Alas, Let me start working on these as its already 8 AM and I am planning to write exam around 9 PM, evening.

7/1 GMAT Update..33 days more to go!!!

Yesterday, I have worked on the below topics

Comparisons
- All GMAT Prep
- ALL Online Kaplan Questions

Mixtures & Proportions
- All Kaplan Online
- All GMAT Prep

- Completed all Assumption questions in GMATFIX online database.

Today (Thursday):

CR: Assumption, Conclusion, Strengthen Questions and wrote down strategies that I need to apply. Worked on around 30 questions involving those

-Attended Kaplan final class

- Adjusted my study plan to include some questions from Kaplan online database.

- Plan to complete (1000 SC, 900 CR, 200 RC, and 1600 Math Questions); I know a lot, not sure If I got the time to complete so many, but tentatiely, I kept 40 CR, 40SC, 40 RC and 40 Math questions every day for the next 25 days.

Tomorrow (Friday):

CR:
- 15 Questions from OG
- 15 Questions from Kaplan
- Review 10 wrong questions in OG
Time: 9:00 AM - 12 PM

RC: Practise the methodology on Kaplan CR's
- Do 4 from Kaplan
- 4 From OG-P
Time: 6AM - 8:30 AM (try doing some in evening)

SC: Review 20 questions which I got wrong in OG; 20 Practice Questions
Time: 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM

Math: Review notes and work on RATE Problems and Work Problems.
- Do Kaplan 40 Problems Online
Time: 4:30 PM - 7:30 PM

I know I am using the blog more as time management tool, but this is helping me to follow exactly what I write. So lets do it, have a more exciting day tommorrow starting to apply the RC Methodology I learnt in Kaplan to Passages, hope I improve my method to approach. I really want to spend time working on LSAT passages, but I like the online Kaplan RC's since the passages are laid out similar to GMATPREP and the content is more or less similar to OG, so gonna try them. I am planning to complete Kaplan/OG in 10 days from now then I am going to jump on LSAT. Lets see, I need to focus and learn the methods, its not the quantity rather than quality thats important in my preparation. I need to find what my weak points are and then fix them rather than doing what I know always. Time management is also very key, do all problems timed and note why you are taking more time on some and not on others.

I learnt a good point in todays class, learn what to do when you dont know how to answer a question. When you see a question and you dont know, then follow a methodology, for example in CR, if you dont know how to answer a question, find conclusion, paraphrase as best as you can eliminate answer choices and select one, even if you cant do it, strategically eliminate, even if you cant do it, just guess as fast as you can move a head. Dont get stuck!! thats the key between a 650 and 720.

Kaplan Exam and Today (06/30) To Do's

So on 06/28, I took a Kaplan exam and I scored a 650, its 50 points more than my previous diagnostic Kaplan exam. Out of 41 questions in verbal I got 10/13 S.C correct 6/14 C.R correct and 6/14 R.C correct. Somehow I couldn't focus well in the exam especially in CR and RC. While practicing in RC/CR using the OG book I could always score a minimum of 80%. But somehow I see a lapse in concentration while writing the exam.

I believe the lapse might be due to the shift from practicing using a book to using a computer in doing the same problem (Just my assumption). But my assumption could be wrong as in SC my accuracy remained same in both the cases. So it might not be the shift as mentioned above but it may be due to the methodical approach towards a problem. See in SC, i use the MGMAT split method, which always keeps me on toes and active in eliminating answer choices, so my Standard Deviation on most of the SC question lie around the mean time of 1 min in SC. So I think its the approach towards solving CR/RC which might help me to solve the issue mentioned. So I am going to finalize a methodological or strategic approach to CR and RC. I am going to review Kaplan, MGMAT and power score to come up with a Strategic approach while solving CR, same applies to RC. I am going to apply this approach on some questions in OG. Also, I am planning to work on online kaplan questions, since the interface is similar to GMAT Prep and it would help me to get used to screen. So, this what I am going to do next 3-4 days and give one more Kaplan exam

1. Finalize CR/RC Methodology to approaching questions
2. Use that approach in doing some quesitons, which were not previously attempted
3. Do questions from Kaplan Online CR/RC

Also, from kaplan exam analysis I found the below weak points I have in each topic:

Math
1. Number Properties
2. Mixture Problems
3. Digit Problems
4. Percent Problems

Verbal
1. Comparison questions In SC
2. Law Passages

Today's Goals:

1. Find Strategic approach for CR/RC and apply (Evening)
2. Do 10 CR questions in Kaplan/OG (Evening)
3. Do 2 Passages in Kaplan/OG (Evening)
4. Do Mixture Problems from Kaplan online database (Lunch break and free time in office)
5. Get Basics in SC Comparison Questions (Lunch break and free time in office)
6. Order WSJ.

I have taken off from work from tommorrow onwards (only Wed-Fri each week for next 4 weeks), so I will have more time to concentrate for GMAT. So thats it for today. Gotta do lot of Todo's, lets keep on rolling..

6/26 Update and Todays Prep

Had a effective GMAT preparation day yesterday; Completed some CR/RC and some SC questions. Again, I didn't get time to work on math, but today I will start keeping some time for Math. I was contemplating on some of the options I got for GMAT MATH, as I need to pick one for the next 30 days and steadfastly work on it:

1. GMAT CLUB tests
(pro: Reduces errors and familiarity w/t different question types; But are they close to OG level?)

2. Involving in Forums
(Same as above, Can I find OG Level questions)

3. Do advanced problems in OG 12/11/10 and see how can I do them faster?
(Something I like, find all adv problems and work on those, also I have tracked my time on each question, I can go back and see how can i speed each question further up)

4. GMAT Focus
(I might use this at the end of the process)

5. GMAT FIX
(Has GMAT Prep questions with answers; there are around 800 questions, all OG level)

I think choices 3, 4, 5 are closer to OG and I might prefer them, I will think about those and decide one.

Below is yesterday's update:

1. CR - Completed 10 questions, noted some points. Especially CR question 43 of the verbal review guide, when the argument doesnt mention about percentages/proportions or numbers then using "fewer number" or quantity in answer choice is incorrect. Check choice C and D, both use proportion and fewer, you can eliminate them. Read the OG explanation for more details (Accuracy - 90%)
Todays Goal: Complete 44- 54 questions
Time: 1.5 hours

2.RC - Did 4 passages, learnt that the structure is key, just keep structure in mind while reading and you can weed out what are details and what is the main content. While selecting an answer choice, make sure that there is a one line or a group of words that can justify your answer. For questions, which ask why author made a specific quote, paraphrase, why did the author bring in the point, probably to compare, probably to give example or etc., make a note of it, go to answer choices and eliminate accordingly. I need to improve on these questions, in order to.., which I will keep a note while doing RC today. (Accuracy: 82%)
Todays Goal: 4 RC; Before that read how to approach passages with Inorder to questions
Time: 1.5 hours

3. SC - Wrote down why each choice is wrong in Verbal review guide for each question. Did 20 of them. (Accuracy: 80%)
Todays Goal: Review All Notes I made until now. Work on 40 questions with 1 min timer
Time: 1.5 hours

4. Math - Didnt work yesterday
Todays Goal: Complete Reviewing Notes and Work on either probability or work on 40 math questions.
Time: 1.5 hours

and besides these I need to run for 30 mins. Lets do it :)

Hello GMAT

Hi..Everyone..Thought to keep a blog about my preparation for GMAT for a while, finally today my thought took action. I have been preparing for GMAT for about a month or two regularly, but recently had some burnouts which caused my motivation to go down, especially today when I wanted to study for 6-8 hours, but my mind was not allowing me as I was studying until 2 AM yesterday night. So the blog is a motivation for me to follow fellow GMAT bloggers and keep myself motivated. Below is a prep I have been doing for a month or two:

1. SC

Completed OG 12, Verbal Review,
Reviewed MGMAT notes (not thoroughly yet)
Accuracy: 80% out of 220 questions attempted

2. CR
Completed: LSAT All Strengthen, Weaken, Assumptions and some 10 tests
Accuracy in LSAT: Started with 50% moved to 80%.
I have noted that LSAT CR and GMAT CR are way different in terms of answer choices. (LSAT answers are predictable not GMAT)
OG 12 CR : Accuracy around 80%, but taking around 2.5 mins average
Verbal Review CR: Under Progress

3. RC
Completed
- LSAT RC (10 Sets) ; Accuracy around 70%, but timing is horrible around 12-14 minutes.
- OG 12 ; Accuracy around 80%
- Verbal Review: Accuracy around 80%

4. Math
Completed: Around 600 OG 12 Questions, PS Accuracy 92%, DS Accuracy 78%

Courses I am taking: KAPLAN (You can take practice exams at test center, thats main reason why I took this..also they got nice tips for Math)

Books I am referring: MGMAT, OG and LSAT.
=================================================================
So, this was the effort I kept until now, but I have to keep more smart work going a head. I got around 40- 50 days before I go for my main exam. Below is a tentative schedule I am following going a head

Daily:
SC - OG 12, 40 questions with 1 min per question
CR - Verbal Review - 20, Try the T-method in MGMAT, predict answer, find what kind of reasoning the question has and proceed
RC - Daily 4 RC

Math - I am not getting time to work on math, but I want to focus on weak points I have, for example:- probability- Work problems

Besides this I am maintaining notes (hard) for everything I am learning, this tip i got from a beatthegmat post.

Today I am planning to complete

CR
-Verbal Review 33-43 questions. Goal: Standardize the methodology for each question.
RC
- 4 Passages, with focus on Main Idea and Inorder to questions.
SC
- Review 5 questions which you got incorrect in OG 12; Revise Notes
Math
- No time to practice, but will review 10 previous incorrect questions..

Lets do it..