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T-2 hours and counting...

2007-09-07T11:22:00.000+05:30

Yup. Its the big day. I will be heading off to the test center as soon as I post this.

My prep has been good and I feel confident, yet a little nervous. I have been getting good and bad scores throughout my prep, but I can see that there is improvement in my understanding of concepts today than when I had started off.

This will be the first 'action' step toward achieving my goal of getting an MBA. All the thought and preparation that has gone in will be in action starting today. And I hope it takes off well. Like they say, well begun is half-done.

But I know that its only half-done. And I still will have a long way to go after today. Yet, a good score will be just the right way to start off.

So there you are. I don't think anyone is reading this blog, but I'll be back tonight to report on what happened. It's still worth it.

Ciao!

Swinging between extremes

2007-08-22T21:56:00.000+05:30

That's right. I am swinging between extremes.

I took two tests today. One from Powerprep and another from Cambridge. I scored 720 and 630 respectively. Yes 100 plus point margin in a single day.

I have to admit that the Powerprep had some questions that I had previously answered. In effect my score would be sub-700(sigh). Add insult to injury by getting a 630.

I was reviewing the Cambridge test and I could have gotten atleast 10 more problems right by just reading the question aloud. I am terribly disappointed. I have no words. The cambridge was an easy 48 plus in quant, and I messed up big time.

I have not even looked at the verbal section.

Its really sad that I am not getting any encouraging scores in any of my prep tests. Maybe something is wrong with my prep. I just dont know.

Guess I'll take a break now and get back to my books later. Hope that things go well. I can't imagine getting a lousy score. A lot of things are hanging on that score. A lot of things.

Its a 660 in Cambridge

2007-08-19T18:47:00.000+05:30

Yep. Another test.

Raw scores:

QA: 25/37
VA: 31/41

Scaled Scores:

QA: 46-48
VA: 38-39
Overall: 640 to 660

To be honest the test was tough. Still have to analyse in detail, but its clear that verbal let me down.

Here's where I failed:

PS: 7 wrong
DS: 5 wrong
RC: 5 wrong
CR: 6 wrong
SC: 4 wrong

The overall quant score looks ok, think I'll take that, but the verbal was truly disappointing. On RC screwed me. CR had logical reasoning questions, which I had not expected. Silver Lining - SC had only 4 wrong.

So there it is. Another day. Another test. It would have been so much better it I hit 700. I'll bet on next time :)

More tomorrow. So Long

Its a 720 in PowerPrep

2007-08-18T18:27:00.000+05:30

Not too happy though.

The good news: Didnt mess up in RC

The bad news: PS and SC saw ridiculuous mistakes. Still analysing mistakes in CR.

Not too happy because the test had many questions that I had previously encountered during my prep. So, still a 720 means my real score is below 700. :(

Think I'll take another test tomorrow.

Tiiiiiiired

2007-08-17T20:57:00.000+05:30

Gawd.

I just finished doing PS from OG and boy the session was revealing. For the last few days, I was obsessed with DS and had structured my time table around it. So today, after doing some more DS I decide to take a PS section test.

And I blew it.

Damn. There's another section that needs more attention. Just when I thought that things were falling in place. And only 20 more days to go.

Hell I can't stop time, so might as well make some use of it. I am going to make more time to devote to PS from now on.

What I have realized while prepping is that PS and SC are the only two sections that need some technical grounding in GMAT. You WILL need to know the basics of Arithmetic/Algebra/Geometry and you WILL need to know grammar to crack PS and SC. The other sections - DS, RC and CR are just offshoots of these two core sections.

You chances of working DS better increase with better understanding of basic concepts on which PS is founded. And with a good understanding of sentence construction and LOADS of concentration, you can crack RC and CR.

It's funny how these things strike so late into any game :) but no point cribbing I guess.

I am planning to take a full-length test tomorrow and until then I will be bouncing from PS to SC.

More tomorrow....Ciao!

Phew!

2007-08-16T17:12:00.000+05:30

Its been a long day today. Me is taking a break.

I started off by working on some DS problems and then switched over to OG-RC which turned out to be a good exercise. My accuracy rates when I practice RC are pretty good. But each time I have taken a test, I have messed up. Much of it is due to a lack of concentration.

Strategy-wise I have come to realize that reading the passage thoroughly once, and absorbing it completely works for me. At peak concentration, I can get all questions right without looking back at the passage. So, I have decided to back myself and go with this strategy.

Leaving the prep aside, I spend some time on the web looking a different forums, scanning for useful information on schools and looking through blogs. I have pretty much zeroed in on the schools that I plan to send my GMAT scores after the test. Here goes:

1. Wharton
2. Chigaco-GSB
3. Fuqua
4. ISB
5. Stern

Wharton is really something of a 'reach' school. Much depends on the score too. But the ones that I am really keen on are GSB and Fuqua - both programs that I have come to reallylike. ISB, besides being a real good school, gives me the option of staying back home and Stern is just because of NY :)

I had to leave out Tuck and INSEAD after much thought, but I may still apply depending on my score. And yeah, I sure as hell will apply to HBS/Stanford if I get that super score(read 760+)

As days go by, and especially after my GMAT, I plan to spend more and more time on researching these schools and their programs. As with everyone else, the scholarships will matter most, closely followed by the school location.......all this if I get to the schools I apply to!

Until next time, ciao!

MyGMAT, Vacation et all

2007-08-15T16:30:00.000+05:30

My much anticipated vacation time has finally begun! Yeay!

Its not going to be much of a vacation though. I have three weeks and think its the right amount of time to peak in my GMAT prep.

I started off the vacation in quite an unusual manner. I had completed a sectional test for each of the 5 GMAT sections and just so that I could look at my performances collectively, I put the scores together in a spreadsheet. One thing lead to another, and with my excelmania, I have now come up with my own way of analysing my perrformance and relate that to what I call a 'MyGMAT' score. It's not E=mc2, but hell it's fun. And having fun while preparing for a good fight is not just a ubiquitious truth, its actually cool(ever watched the movie '300'? The Spartans pile up bodies of Persian soldiers as they awaited another huge Persian battalion to show up for the battle. Not to mention, when the Persians did show up, they freaked out!)

Getting back to the arithmetic I was talking about, I found a way to relate all my sectional test scores so that I could scale them up to a mock GMAT score. Here's what I did and you could do too:

1. Choose a section(say Problem Solving) for which you have completed a test. Get the scores.

2. Order the score by Total Questions, Attempted Questions, Correctly Answered and Incorrectly Answered - each becomes a column in the spreadsheet

Eg: T=16, A=13, C=11, I=2

3. Add two more columns to the above. Call them Speed and Accuracy. Get values for them as below(both expressed in percentages)

Speed=Attempts/Total
Accuracy=Correct/Attempts

Eg: From the above scores, S = 13/16 = 81.25% and A=11/13=84.62%

4. Get the cumulative score which is (Speed+Accuracy)/2

Eg: Cumulative score for Problem Solving= (81.25+84.62)/2 = 82.93

5. Repeat the above for the other sections DS, RC, CR and SC

6. Once you have the Cumulative sectional scores, the next step is to get the 'Ability scores', which is quite simple as indicated below:

Quant Ability(QA) Score: (PS+DS)/2
Verbal Ability(VA) Score: (RC+CR+SC)/3

7. To arrive at your GMAT score average out the 'Ability scores' and scale it to 800 as shown below:

MyGMAT = 800*(QA+VA)/2

Once you have a spreadsheet ready with the columns and the formulae, you are ready to score yourself. And since Speed and Accuracy weigh equally on the final score, the MyGMAT will only reach towards the magical 800 score only if you manage to finish both sections with high accuracy.

So here were my individual sectional scores(from each of the 5 tests I have taken)

With my sectionals, it was evident that I sucked in DS and RC, but I was wondering how this would affect my overall score. That can be seen by the Cumulative scores.

DS pulled down my Quant ability score to 75% a and RC did the same to my Verbal score, bringing it down to 87%. And my overall score stood at 649.

The good thing about this is that one can scale up sectional test scores to a overall score without having to take a full length test. It's very useful to track progress on individual sections. You can plug in your latest DS score inplace of your old score and see how your prep has affected your overall score without having to take a complete test.

One can use this when one is running out of study material too. Do 20 problems from each section and plug in the values to see if you are on track.

So, there it is! my two cents to anyone who cares to read.

And I will keep up the Blogging Spirit(or BS, no pun intended ;) ), by regularly posting my scores.

So Long!!

:)

2007-08-13T20:56:00.000+05:30

Yep, that's pretty much my mood. It's neither ecstatic nor dull, but a benign smile. Its the kind of a smile that graces one's face when one looks at himself from the outside and finds what's on the inside appreciable.

I just finished a 25 minute sectional test on DS and of the 20 questions, was able to attempt 13, getting 9 correct. Not exactly great, but I like how its shaping up. I am now more comfortable while checking the answers and of the 4 I got wrong, atleast 2 were due to carelessness. But on the whole I like working on DS now - which is a damn good thing considering that the GMAT is 23 days away.

I aced a 25 minute-22 question SC test yesterday, getting only 3 wrong. And the 3 were quite tricky, I must say. Geez, that's the first time I have used 'aced' in relation to myself ... :)

Today's high: Finding out that DS can be beaten (still have to get to 'I can beat DS')

Today's Low: How India are screwing up in the test match at the Oval. 3 odd hours to go. Hope for the best

Next stop: A sectional test on PS

Ciao!!

Its a 550 :(

2007-08-12T20:32:00.000+05:30

Just completed the Kaplan CAT. Got a 550. Current mood: not too happy, and strangely not too sad either.

I kind of knew that the Kaplan test was going to be tough and on an average it would be safe to add 100 to the Kaplan score to scale it up to the actual GMAT score. So, yes, in a sense I was prepared for a low score. And I have not let that dampen my spirits.

But still there are somethings that I have gotten out of this test.

1. Need to improve my speed in Math. I actually didn't finish the section even after randomly guessing the last 5 questions. I spent an awful amount of time(going upto 6 mins) on some DS questions. I need to speed up in this section.

2. DS is still a pain. Need to work more on it.

3. Messed up RC due to lack of concentration.

4. CR is looking good. SC is looking OK too. Need to keep up the practice so that I don't slip here.

5. Need to start looking into the AWA section.

There it is. So-so in the end. Even if I add the 100, I land up at 650, which is a marginal improvement from the 620 I got in the GMAT prep test a couple of weeks ago. I have three more Kaplan tests to complete and ideally I should cross 650 with the last one - ATLEAST.

So the mantra would be:

1. Focus on Math. Specifically on DS. Get the speed up.

2. Concentrate while doing RC

3. CR and SC are looking good. Keep it going.

4. Next target - 700

Back to work now.

T-30 Days and Counting....

2007-08-07T14:17:00.000+05:30

Yep. That's right. A month more to go.

Prep's not been satisfying. I have not been able to get in as much time as I wanted to but there has been progress since last time.

I did some CR and RC from OG and am comfortable with the results. I have a good accuracy rate in both of these but, pardon the cliche, there is still room for improvement. I still need to work on SC.

DS is still niggling me. There is a pattern emerging though - I screw up the questions around Inqeualities and Number Theory. I need to get my basics right in these areas and that's part of the reason I have started to focus on Math. I am working my way through NOVA's Math and plan to switch over to OG Math and then finally OG DS. I am hoping that the extra hours on Math will boost my DS score in addition to my general Math score.

On the buying front, I have still not managed to get a copy of Kaplan. All bookstores in my city are out of stock! Can you believe that? Gawd, seems like everyone in town is writing GMAT. I did manage to get some Kaplan and Manhnttan questions downloaded from esnips.com, but haven't had the time to go through them.

As I had indicated before, I went out an bought the Mc-Graw Hill GMAT book. I'll use it only for the 6 tests.

All-in-all, things are moving. But not at the pace at which I'd like them to. So, to add some traction to the prep, I'll take a three weeks off from work starting next weekend.

This is my last shot and I'll sure as hell give it everything I've got.

Mighty Pissed

2007-07-22T20:57:00.000+05:30

I am FUMING right now.

Three days since I touched my GMAT books. I finally sit with focus and determination to take the DS section head-on and end up with 11 of 37 questions wrong. Yeah 30 freaking percentatge error. Screw me.

DS has been a pain since I first took the Diagnostic test. I was below average in that. So I've always kind of been wary of DS and so was brushing up on quant fundamentals for the past few days so that I could tackle the problems better.

It did not pay off.

I did feel more comfortable solving the probelms as I hit upon the AD/BCE method but am terribly disappointed and angry with myself that I let 11 damn problems go wrong. I looked at all of them and seems that I was in too much of a hurry or just over-analyzed the problems and ended up getting them wrong. God, I hate myself right now.

Maybe, its the fact that I am wary of DS that I kind of go overboard and screw up. Hell, that cant't be tha case as I pretty much screw up across all the sections. Seems like I need to be more smart to solve these. Need to focus and remain patient while solving the problems, yet have a dose of common-sense ready, so that I do not commit silly mistakes. I cannot afford to get a 30% failure rate in DS. No way. Not in a section where I don't even have to solve the damn problem. No freaking way.

In other news, I looked up the Tata-McGraw Hill GMAT book. It seems a good buy at Rs. 450(it comes with 6 prep tests). There are plenty of tips for each section. Think I'll but that. Atleast for the 6 tests.

Bambi gave me the NOVA's GMAT book. Still need to look at it. Wanted to look at the Kaplan Comprehensive or the Manhattan GMAT. Can't believe the two major book shops didn't have it. Need to locate the two. May be will buy one.

And yeah, I did make a time-table, but not very detailed. But after today's DS debacle, I guess I have to chalk out a detailed plan. 46 days to go and hell there is so much to study.

Will take a break now. Phew!

Current Mood: Calming down.....

PS: I'm sorry Bambi I was rude to you. I was really angry with myself and should not have taken that out on you. I am really sorry :(

Its all about being organized, Stupid

2007-07-17T12:51:00.000+05:30

That's what I keep telling myself. Especially after I got a 620 in GMAT Prep Test 1 last Sunday.

While I have been preparing for the last 4 weeks or so, I was always wary of taking a full length test for two reasons.

1. Didn't want to exhaust my test material
2. Was not sure how the score would affect my prep.

Guess what? I was totally wrong on point 1. I really needed some kind of direction on where I was going with all the prep I was doing so a full-length test was not just much needed, but, as they would call it in tech jargon, was mission-critical. I can alwyas spend a few extra bucks to get more material, but I'll never know if I'm on the right track if I don't evaluate myself- especially in the early stages of my prep.

As for point 2, I got the mother of all doses of reality one could ever get once I saw my score. I was like Huh?And a little 'Obviously' thrown in.

See, I knew all along that my prep was not focussed. I kind of knew my strengths and weaknessess, so to speak, but my prep was not addressing the same. As I blindly covered the concepts in Math and English, I knew I was operating at low concentration levels and that I was not working toward targets. Bambi always told me to get a damn time-table but I always shrugged it off.

Now I know I need one. Desperately. Otherwise I better kiss my dreams goodbye.

So here's the analysis of my first prep test.

1. 12 Wrong in Math. 16 in English. I don't have my notes rite now, but I think it was 38Q and 34V.
2. I suck at DS. Mostly because I do not evaluate all the answer choices independently. Number Theory and Coordinate geometry are the topics I need to work on.
3. I messed up an entire passage in RC. My verbal started off with an RC -which was a tricky passage - and I needed to focus more.
4. I also messed some SC's. I need to get back to some basics here.

Takeaways:
1. Get a damn time table.
2. Get through the concepts quickly and more importantly work as many problems as possible
3. Take a full-length test every week. This is the bare minimum. Do more tests as the magic date nears.
4. CONCENTRATE while doing 2 and 3.

Moral of the story: Get Organized, Stupid.

It’s time

2007-07-16T20:52:00.000+05:30

Yes it is.

I have been wanting for some time now - say around 4 years now - to pursue an MBA. My first attempts were at ‘belling the CAT’ - or as they call it, getting into one of the six famed Indian Institutes of Management or IIMs. I tried thrice, albeit, seriously only once, but failed.

Then work happened. And with it brought plenty if opportunities(read America). So Long, I said to my MBA dreams, but was never quite able to put it away. It lingered and lingered and it is back now. And this blog is its testimony.

Just to lay it out bare - my goal is to obtain an admit in one of the many respected MBA programs by the Fall of 2008. And this blog will be the logbook of my voyage. It will chronicle most of everything I’ll do (some things could turn out to be unprintturn out to be unprintable, so) during this journey.

Everyone has his run to run.