So, i've given my first GMAT CAT. I took the GMATPrep 1 yesterday, I skipped the Essays but did the Quant and Verbal back to back without taking any breaks. And this was the first timed test that i've taken. Contrary to my game plan, which was to take the test untimed, GMATPrep tests cannot be taken untimed. I'm actually happy that i did it this way coz now i know where i should pool-in my efforts..
I scored a dismissive 580 in the test - 36 in Quant and 26 in verbal. I could not complete the 41 questions in verbal in the allotted time. I managed to complete only 38. So i guess the software penalized me for not completing. Quant section was actually easier than i thought. Without the time breathing behind my neck, i would have probably gotten somewhere between 25 to 30 questions correct. Because of the time restriction i had to hurry up which led to some silly mistakes that i commited. There were some questions, maybe 2 or 3, that i stumbled and which i would classify as "no idea" types. But i took a calculated guess and turned out to be right. So the wrong ones were due to my own lack of practice!!! Verbal section was ok. It was a bit tough, and there were times when i failed to eliminate more than 3 answer choices. Also, I think i had difficulty in focussing on the passage for the RC questions.. Obviously i need more preparation on the SC and CR parts, to gain speed and improve my hit rate. I reviewed all the answers in both the sections and i think i'm sure of all the concepts that were asked in the test and the way to approach now.
What did i learn - For starters, i need to time myself during practices. I need to gain speed on questions that are easy. I have downloaded a "GMAT practice grid" file from my fav. beatthegmat forum!! I think this would help me time myself when i'm practicing. Second, I definitely need to solve a lot of problems in DS. When i saw a question in the test, i know that i know the concept and how to solve it, but since i had not solved a similar question, its takes some time to find the right approach.. I would get this skill by more and more practice.
In the verbal section, the issue was with timing. So my strategy would be more timed practice.
Short term goal (This week) - Introduce a mixed workout section. 10 questions each from PS, DS, SC and CR. Use the Practice grid, time the practice and review all answers.
Long term goal (this month) - Complete Kaplan Math Workbook and MGMAT SC guide. Complete atleast 50 questions with review in each section from the OG11.
I hope the approach would provide me with some good practice and help me manage my time better. Now since I'm taking a GMAT CAT every Sunday, I'll be able to gain much insight from my studies.
So this week since i haven't quiet figured out one exact weakness its going to be a mixed workout of my various muscles!!!! Hopefully after this sunday (when i'll be taking the MGMAT 1) i'll be able to pin point on one weakness and be able to focus on that muscle!!!
Monday, March 2, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
What did i learn from the Diagnostic test - Verbal
I know i'm due with this post, but couldn't find time to scribble!!!
Although i was a bit behind my schedule with the the diagnostic test, i managed the verbal test early this week. The preparation was based on the MGMAT SC guide and the CR review from OG. Practice was purely from OG11. Honestly, i invested no time to prepare for RC. I went through my favorite GMAT forum (beatthegmat.com) and read some posts on RC.
The outcome - We'll i dont know if i had expected this, but i was really good with RC with a strike rate of over 70% considering my prep or rather lack of it. I was rated Above Average with only 4 questions wrong. SC was not bad but was not good either; I was rated as Above Average but just barely. I need to put in more hours practicing.. CR was a total disaster!!! I managed to score only 7 correct out of 17 questions - an unacceptable score, considering that i had got better strike rates while practicing. I was rated Average..
What did i learn - Well for most part i think, RC was kind to me with 2 long and 2 short passages. It took me 31 mins to solve 4x4=16 questions. Just under 2 mins. Not bad but had the passages been any longer, i would have crossed the sacred 2 min margin!!!
SC needs more work to be done, but then my MGMAT SC book is a work in progress i think as i go through the book i'll be at a better stand. CR needs some seriously practice.. Since one cannot really make flash cards for this section, i guess only practice will make me perfect or atleast close to perfect. I think I'll mod my study plan to make room for some extra work on the CR section.
So what next - Currently i'm working on 2 books. The Kaplan Math Workbook and the MGMAT SC guide. Almost on alternate days.. This coming sunday would be a big day for me as i'm planning to take my first CAT test - the GMATPrep 1. I'm definitely looking forward for it, and hopefully i'll learn a thing or two about my prep after Sunday!!
Will update after the CAT..
Till then, Study hard and play less!!! :)
Although i was a bit behind my schedule with the the diagnostic test, i managed the verbal test early this week. The preparation was based on the MGMAT SC guide and the CR review from OG. Practice was purely from OG11. Honestly, i invested no time to prepare for RC. I went through my favorite GMAT forum (beatthegmat.com) and read some posts on RC.
The outcome - We'll i dont know if i had expected this, but i was really good with RC with a strike rate of over 70% considering my prep or rather lack of it. I was rated Above Average with only 4 questions wrong. SC was not bad but was not good either; I was rated as Above Average but just barely. I need to put in more hours practicing.. CR was a total disaster!!! I managed to score only 7 correct out of 17 questions - an unacceptable score, considering that i had got better strike rates while practicing. I was rated Average..
What did i learn - Well for most part i think, RC was kind to me with 2 long and 2 short passages. It took me 31 mins to solve 4x4=16 questions. Just under 2 mins. Not bad but had the passages been any longer, i would have crossed the sacred 2 min margin!!!
SC needs more work to be done, but then my MGMAT SC book is a work in progress i think as i go through the book i'll be at a better stand. CR needs some seriously practice.. Since one cannot really make flash cards for this section, i guess only practice will make me perfect or atleast close to perfect. I think I'll mod my study plan to make room for some extra work on the CR section.
So what next - Currently i'm working on 2 books. The Kaplan Math Workbook and the MGMAT SC guide. Almost on alternate days.. This coming sunday would be a big day for me as i'm planning to take my first CAT test - the GMATPrep 1. I'm definitely looking forward for it, and hopefully i'll learn a thing or two about my prep after Sunday!!
Will update after the CAT..
Till then, Study hard and play less!!! :)
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
What did i learn from the Diagnostic test - Quant
So with 1 1/2 weeks of reviewing quant, from OG and Kaplan800 i took my first test - The Diagnostic test (Problem solving and Data Sufficiency) from the OG.
Result - I got an "Above Average" rating according to OG on both the PS and DS sections. I got 7 questions wrong in PS and 8 wrong in DS. Not too bad but certainly not something to shout about!!
What i learnt - "Read the questions carefully". About 75% of the questions that i answered incorrectly were due silly mistakes by not reading the questions correctly. When i reviewed the answers I was telling myself "Come on, that was just stupid". I either didn't notice what actually was asked or I made silly mistakes - one such mistake was when i calculated 8/2 and answered 6!!! ya i know, stupid indeed!! Other times i solved for x and picked the answer when the question was to find the value of x-squared!!!
The other 15% of the mistakes were because i was simply going around the problem and complicating it when the answer was quiet simple. That may be because i'm an Engineer!!! ;) The rest of the 10% of the mistakes that i made was because i simply didn't know how to approach the problem. I was happy about such mistakes (at this point of the preparation) because i got a chance to learn them and I would avoid them in the future.
This week's plan - According to my game plan, this week, its going to be Verbal. I have started with the Manhattan Gmat Sentence Correction Strategy guide and boy am i learning stuff!!! The book is very elaborate and would definitely improve your SC skills. I'm also planning to cover the CR in the next couple of days from OG and then i'll take the Verbal Diagnostic test.
So will be back with my verbal diagnostic test performance and the lessons learnt.
Till then work hard and play harder..
Result - I got an "Above Average" rating according to OG on both the PS and DS sections. I got 7 questions wrong in PS and 8 wrong in DS. Not too bad but certainly not something to shout about!!
What i learnt - "Read the questions carefully". About 75% of the questions that i answered incorrectly were due silly mistakes by not reading the questions correctly. When i reviewed the answers I was telling myself "Come on, that was just stupid". I either didn't notice what actually was asked or I made silly mistakes - one such mistake was when i calculated 8/2 and answered 6!!! ya i know, stupid indeed!! Other times i solved for x and picked the answer when the question was to find the value of x-squared!!!
The other 15% of the mistakes were because i was simply going around the problem and complicating it when the answer was quiet simple. That may be because i'm an Engineer!!! ;) The rest of the 10% of the mistakes that i made was because i simply didn't know how to approach the problem. I was happy about such mistakes (at this point of the preparation) because i got a chance to learn them and I would avoid them in the future.
This week's plan - According to my game plan, this week, its going to be Verbal. I have started with the Manhattan Gmat Sentence Correction Strategy guide and boy am i learning stuff!!! The book is very elaborate and would definitely improve your SC skills. I'm also planning to cover the CR in the next couple of days from OG and then i'll take the Verbal Diagnostic test.
So will be back with my verbal diagnostic test performance and the lessons learnt.
Till then work hard and play harder..
Monday, February 16, 2009
A Welcome Relief - Ski Trip
Hello world,
The second week has gone by and my preparation, i believe, is going good. I managed to put in about 3 hrs of study on an avg. during the week days but I went to a SKI trip with my GF during the week end.
Yup the ski trip was amazing. We went to ELK mountains in Pennsylvania, a very beautiful place to ski. Being the President's day weekend i could see a huge crowd. I, being a beginner, totally loved their beginner trail. Great place to learn to ski. After squeezing out all the energy we had skiing on saturday, we had a nice dinner at Friendly's and went to bed after knocking a couple of Sam Adams!! Sunday was again a beautiful day and we decided to do something on the lighter side and so we agreed on Horse-back riding. Both of us being animal lovers, had no issues with this. We drove to Honesdale, PA where we found this beautiful place called TripleWstables. Wow what a place. It in the middle of woods and we had to drove a mile and a half on dirt road to get there. And believe me the drive was incredible!!! After all the signing-up and formalities, we were assigned Casanova and Golden, two beautiful horses. After an hour and a half of blissful horse riding n' striding through woods, narrow streams and country dirt roads we drove back home to Jersey!!
So that was my amazing weekend. Anyways coming back to my preps, ehhh, well a little behind schedule but not too much, I'm planning to take the Quant Diagnostic test today which was earlier scheduled during the weekend. I'll be starting my verbal review by tomorrow.
How to i feel now? Much more confident than week one. The Kaplan 800 has a lot of great tips and techniques like the backsolving and number picking, which really helped me reduce my time on each question. I definitely feel the improvement over a week. I hope that improvement would continue along the corse of my study.
So thats it from me for week 2. Will update with my Quant diagnostic results.
Till then take it easy.
Peace.
The second week has gone by and my preparation, i believe, is going good. I managed to put in about 3 hrs of study on an avg. during the week days but I went to a SKI trip with my GF during the week end.
Yup the ski trip was amazing. We went to ELK mountains in Pennsylvania, a very beautiful place to ski. Being the President's day weekend i could see a huge crowd. I, being a beginner, totally loved their beginner trail. Great place to learn to ski. After squeezing out all the energy we had skiing on saturday, we had a nice dinner at Friendly's and went to bed after knocking a couple of Sam Adams!! Sunday was again a beautiful day and we decided to do something on the lighter side and so we agreed on Horse-back riding. Both of us being animal lovers, had no issues with this. We drove to Honesdale, PA where we found this beautiful place called TripleWstables. Wow what a place. It in the middle of woods and we had to drove a mile and a half on dirt road to get there. And believe me the drive was incredible!!! After all the signing-up and formalities, we were assigned Casanova and Golden, two beautiful horses. After an hour and a half of blissful horse riding n' striding through woods, narrow streams and country dirt roads we drove back home to Jersey!!
So that was my amazing weekend. Anyways coming back to my preps, ehhh, well a little behind schedule but not too much, I'm planning to take the Quant Diagnostic test today which was earlier scheduled during the weekend. I'll be starting my verbal review by tomorrow.
How to i feel now? Much more confident than week one. The Kaplan 800 has a lot of great tips and techniques like the backsolving and number picking, which really helped me reduce my time on each question. I definitely feel the improvement over a week. I hope that improvement would continue along the corse of my study.
So thats it from me for week 2. Will update with my Quant diagnostic results.
Till then take it easy.
Peace.
Monday, February 9, 2009
First Week - Preparation
My first week started out with developing a game plan for preparing for the GMAT. I would certainly recommend the forum http://www.beatthegmat.com. This forum basically got me started out on what the GMAT is and the resources and info that i got from this forum were simply amazing.
Since i cannot afford any GMAT courses, i developed a self study plan. This plan utilizes the following books/materials
1. The official Guide for GMAT review (amazon link)
2. Kaplan GMAT 800 (amazon link)
3. Kaplan GMAT Math Workbook (amazon link)
4. ManhattanGMAT sentence correction guide (amazon link)
5. Manhattan GMAT Practice exams (Link)
6. GMATPrep (Download from www.mba.com)
7. Flash cards - I highly recommend preparing your own flash cards, a very useful tool for daily review.
My first week also included a complete review of the Quant section of GMAT. I used the OG (hereon refers to the Official Guide for GMAT) to review the maths that i had learnt in my high school. I prepared flash cards for the points that i felt i need to review everyday.
How am i doing - well i think its too early to say but for know i think i'm on track.
For those interested, here is my GMAT game plan that i created - Download
Plan for week 2 -
Practice the quant section - problem solving and data sufficiency. my target is atleast 50 questions on each section and by the end of the week i plan to take my first diagnostic test from the OG to know how good i am at quant.
Thats it for now. Will be back with more updates in a week.
Wish me luck with the practice :)
Chillax
Since i cannot afford any GMAT courses, i developed a self study plan. This plan utilizes the following books/materials
1. The official Guide for GMAT review (amazon link)
2. Kaplan GMAT 800 (amazon link)
3. Kaplan GMAT Math Workbook (amazon link)
4. ManhattanGMAT sentence correction guide (amazon link)
5. Manhattan GMAT Practice exams (Link)
6. GMATPrep (Download from www.mba.com)
7. Flash cards - I highly recommend preparing your own flash cards, a very useful tool for daily review.
My first week also included a complete review of the Quant section of GMAT. I used the OG (hereon refers to the Official Guide for GMAT) to review the maths that i had learnt in my high school. I prepared flash cards for the points that i felt i need to review everyday.
How am i doing - well i think its too early to say but for know i think i'm on track.
For those interested, here is my GMAT game plan that i created - Download
Plan for week 2 -
Practice the quant section - problem solving and data sufficiency. my target is atleast 50 questions on each section and by the end of the week i plan to take my first diagnostic test from the OG to know how good i am at quant.
Thats it for now. Will be back with more updates in a week.
Wish me luck with the practice :)
Chillax
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