GMAT preps timeline

Have got many queries regarding the mock-tests I took and the scores I got on each of them.. Thought this raw time-line will be able to give people an idea on how I went about it.This was supposed to be in paragraph form..But not getting time for the detailed story..

January:First two weeks: Basic research.. Pagalguy success stories: Baba yaga, Psychodementia etc.. Procrastinating the preps (in name of research :-))

Third week:FLT1::crack-the-gmat free test:600 verbal wash-out; maths: rusty
More research; more procrastination
Last week:
FLT 2: GMAT Prep1: 690 ( Don’t remember the break-up)
<< Read somewhere that the tests on GMAT prep have Qs common with those in OG; So had to finish these before starting OG; Later got to know that the guy meant powerprep Don’t do this!! Save GMATPrep for the later stages>>
Bought OG11 .. Took OG diagnostic: Some basic tips from net
February:
Started OG 11 (minus SC) and Manhattan SC guide in parallel.
First three weeks: Finished OG 11 (minus SC) and Manhattan SC
Mid-Feb::
FLT 3: GMAT Prep1: 760 (Q50, V41)
This was a fluke!!! I almost knew nothing about GMAT at this time..
FLT4:: 800score.com test 2: 680 ( Q49, V34)
Last week:: Picked up OG11 SC + Joined some active GMAT forums
March::
Started Kaplan Comprehensive + AWA basics from OG..
First week:: FLT5:: 800score.com test 3: 760 (Q48, V44)
March 20:: FLT6:: Kaptest 1:: 670 (Q50,V37)
March 31:: FLT7:: Kaptest 2:: 630 (Q50,V32)
April::
Started AWA seriously. Started blogging.. Became hyper-active onGMAT groups. Started some misc notes (Spidey’s, Sahil’s)
First week:: FLT8: Powerprep 1: 770 ( Q51,V44)
Second week: Took date for GMAT : May 15.
Third week:: FLT9 Kaptest 3:: 650 (Q50,V34)
Picked up Kaplan 800
Work load increasing.. GMAT preps almost stopped.. Dual deadlines of April 30 and May 30
May ::
Rescheduled GMAT.. New date June 13.
Resumed preps.. Finished Kap800 by mid-May.
FLT 10:: Kaptest 3:: 610 (Q50,V32)
FLT11 : Powerprep 1: 770 ( Q51,V44)
FLT12:: 800score.com test 4: 780 ( Q51, V47)
FLT13:: 800score.com test 5: 770 ( Q51, V44)
Started winding up things.. OG 11 round 2 + continued writing some AWA essays.
Also met the May 30 deadline at office..
June::
Told my boss about it.. => End of all fears and hassles about hiding it + Surety of a reco
Winding up continues.. Manhattan SC + Kap 800 recap (strategies only)
Last week: Took leave from office.. Don’t wanted crashes and bugs to bug me at the most crucial stage.
Took 5 FLTs::
FLT 14: GMAT Prep1 (reinstalled): 780 (Q51, V46)
FLT 15: Manhattan GMAT Test1: 800 (Q51, V51)
FLT 16: Manhattan GMAT Test2: 800 (Q51, V51)
FLT 17: Manhattan GMAT Test3: 720 (Q50, V37)
FLT 18: GMAT Prep2 (reinstalled): 750 (Q50, V40)
Slogged off most of OG 10 in last three days… Knew that no new Qs r to be found… Just wanted to go by the gurus’ advices of sticking to the basics in the last round..
The day before the test:: Almost only AWA and idioms
June 13:: The G-day:: GMAT 770 ( Q51,V44) AWA 5.0 ( Got the score 2 days later)

Must say that I perhaps took too long for my preps.. I strongly believe that once you decide what things to do for ur preps, two and a half months are sufficient for any level of preps..

My G-day Experience-II

I somehow managed to calm down myself and tried to think that what was lieas ahead of me is the major thing.. How manyB-schools really care about the AWA score if u get a stellar GMAT score? ( Some schools do, but anything that could have a cooling effect on me was fine with me at that time ) So now I was for the major thing: the battle of 800…

Quants:: I knew I’ll ace it and I did:
Quants was my stronghold right from the day 1 of the preps. Most of the mistakes I had made in my practice test were the silly ones:: marking the answer value in dollars when it was required to be in cents, marking Jack’s age when Jill’s was asked and similar ones. So I decided to triple-check each of the answers in the first 15.And it paid twice. Once as early as my 4th Q, I had calculated the value of k, when that of 1/k was required. Then, it was perhaps my 8^th or 9^th question. It was a statistics question on standard deviation and I had miscalculated the value. While double-checking, I intuitively felt that this can not be the answer for the given set of values, recalculated it and found that I was indeed wrong in my first attempt.

Perhaps Q20 onwards, Qs started getting really tough. But fortunately I had lots of time on my hand. So I kept enjoying the tough ones, knowing that this is a sign that I’m doing good. These were inter-leaved with some really easy Qs, which I didn’t expect at this level. Some of these were time-consuming, but only because they needed a lot of calculations.. Perhaps these were the experimental ones, but I could not afford to take any risks.

Last 7 minutes:: 3 Qs left. At this juncture, I got a tough DS question. 4 minutes passed and after picking numbers, I was almost sure that it must be (C), but was not confident about it. Time was running out, so I picked (C) and moved ahead. Luckily the last two were relatively simple ones and I was able to finish of my Maths section with 2 minutes to spare.

From my mock tests I had calculated that on my bad day, I’d score 50 and on a good day, a perfect 51. All the double n triple checking ensured that this surely wasn’t my bad-day. I guess 34^th was the only Q that I cud have got wrong.. So I was confident of landing up a 51 in Quants.

I was feeling much better in this break. The AWA debacle had subsided and the maths performance had given me the much needed feel-good factor.

Verbal: My make-or-break section:: This time it made my day::
Scoring a Q50 or Q51 in almost all practice tests, it was verbal alone that had scores swing from 610(Kaptest #4) to 800 (Manhattan GMAT 1 and 2). So I was desperately waiting for this section.

Started with some easy ones, 2 super easy SC Qs, followed by a pretty obvious CR. At the 4^th Q, I got a monstrous RC. I used the well-practiced roadmap technique and took notes in written. I’m not sure how correctly I answered it, but it ate up a lot of my time. By the time I reached my 10^th-11^th Question, it was clear that I was lagging behind the scheduled time. For subsequent RC Qs, I had to resort to mental roadmaps, instead of the written ones. Still, I must say that the Roadmap technique helped me tackle RCs better. In the second half of the sections, I started getting all kind of difficult Qs, not only tough ones, but the time consuming ones as well: Fully underlined SCs, 4-5 lines-long CRs and 5-6 para long RCs. The lines from Keya’s success story were echoing in my mind: “Either my mind has given up, or I must be doing really good to get these Qs.” And I strongly believed that it was latter.

For the last 10 Qs, I had about 17-18 minutes left: just on the borderline. At that time, I was finding it really difficult to focus. Speculations about my score were distracting me from the job at hand. The Qs,which kept getting tougher, did not help my case either. But somehow I kept foing and finally I finished with about a minute to spare.

I’m done; show me the score; not yet!!!
Now here’s the dark shade of me. At times, I like to tease myself by delaying the things I really really want to see or know. (Perhaps this is what Scott Peck calls “Delaying the gratficication” )Even in the mock tests, I used to get up for a glass of water or something before seeing the scores, jsut to make it more pleasurable. It was no different this time. I started filling all the background information, which was mostly optional and I don’t think that even 10% of students care to fill that. I was at the 4th screen of the background info,when the Pearson guy, who was overseeing me, rushed from the other room to let me know that I don’t actually need to fill that and I should better proceed to check my score. At this, I gave up and just proceeded on the last screen, confirmed that I don’t want to cancel the scores, clicked on the show-scores button and closed my eyes in prayers. I was sure that my score is going to be 7X0, where X can be from 4 in the worst case to 8 in the bestest one. I opened my eyes to see 770. It was Q51, V44.I thumped my fist in the air and walked out confidently.. All these months of hard-work had finally paid off. With that score, I can hope to target even the higher-end schools and hope for some schol to come my way as well.. But that comes later. Right now, the best thing is that I again have time for life and for myself..

My G-day Experience-I

“The day” arrives..

Well, after all those months of preps and many mock GMATs, I guess I was ready for my encounter with the beast.. 13^th was the day. And though 13 is an often cursed number, it has never ever proved unlucky for me.. And I hoped that 13 will be good for me this time too..

I had an unusually good sleep the night before.. Normally, I have butterflies in my stomach a day before any crucial exam, but perhaps this time the “Art of Living” exercises helped (I had recalled those back last week and practiced every morning for the last 2-3 days) and I surely was in better control of myself. This did ease my nervousness a bit, but unfortunately just a bit. Woke up at about 6 in the morning.. Had a quick look at my idiom-list.. Another quick look at my essay template.. And then decided not to strain my mind any further.. As usual cud not eat anything due to nervousness..  Left for the center with my cousin about 30 minutes before the scheduled time.

At the test center
So I was at the Pearson center a good 10-15 minutes before time.. Bought some kit-kats for the break and then headed for the examination-center…All the time I was thinking that the only thing that could kill me was nervousness.. So kept on telling myself “Don’t panic!! Don’t panic” and this was creating all the more tension in my mind..

Anyways, I was 8^th of about 10 candidates registered for the 9 AM slot. I was asked to hand-over my passport for verification purposes. Next was the bio-metric scan. Finger-print were taken, my signatures were recorded on a digital pad. Then a digital snap of mine was taken. Later on, I got to know that this snap will be the one that’ll be sent to all the schools which receive my GMAT scores. Boo-hoo!!! Why wasn’t I dressed in my best shirt? Even my hairdo could have been better After all the basic formalities, I was taken to the test room..

Pre-test confusion:: Which schools do I send my scores too?
Before entering the room, the Pearson guy asked me if I want to write down the list of schools or I had them in my mind.. I told them it was latter. But the fact was that even at that time, I had not finalized the names As I sat on the screen, I quickly selected ISB and NUS: the two sureties on my list. Next I selected the two scholarship generous ones Emory and Fisher.. Was confused about my fifth choice.. Should I go with another mid-tier school.. Vanderbilt and Purdue were the names in my mind. Or should I aim higher and go for Berkley or Chicago GSB.. Finally, I settled for Tepper. The Carnegie-Mellon brand name and its MBA(IT) course tilted the scales in its favor… Not surprisingly after the G-day, this is my top-choice out of the five listed (provided that I get a schol)

At this point, the other guys in the room had already started their stuff and the room was really noisy with their keyboards strokes echoing throughout. At this stage, the ear-plugs came handy. I just plugged those in and I was in my own zone.

AWA:: Panic killed me here::
I knew that I have not had much practice for this section.. Most of that little practice was not under timed conditions. But yes, the previous day was almost entirely devoted to this section. No real time practice, but I had a look at the entire list of AWA prompts of both kinds and pondered over each one for some time so that I have at least I have something for each topic. I find this really strange:: If there were no such list, perhaps I would have felt pretty much confident after writing down 9-10 essays and thinking points for 10-15 others, but actually having one such list creates all the more insecurity if you leave out even 3-4 topics. Anyways, coming back to my G-day experiences, I was targeting at 5.5 or 6.0 in the AWA section.

It started with the argument section.. The prompt that I faced didn’t seem familiar. How could that be? I had scanned the entire list just the previous day, but surely this was a new topic. Still I had prepared the argument part well.. And I guess I was able to write a reasonably good essay. Found a number of flaws in the argument, wrote about 5-6 para essay. I was more or less satisfied with this one.. Later I found that my prompt wasn’t in the copy of the official argument list I had.. Perhaps they have expanded the original list and you can find the longer list here..

Next was the issue prompt. Aha.. this was a familiar one. And I had spend some minutes thinking on that just the previous day. I have a lot of points and I’ll surely churn out a 5.5 or 6.0 essay. Or so I thought.. As I started writing, I felt that perhaps I’m missing the more crucial ones.. As I started arranging my half-written points up and down, I realized that I was falling short of time.. As if that was not enough, the guys around me, who had finished their AWA section, started leaving the room. Sure enough they had started before me, but still this had a psychological effect and I was in a state of panic.. I ended up making a mess of my essay. Though I knew, I had put some good points, but I wasn’t satisfied at all with the presentation. In the last 90 seconds, I decided to proofread at the cost of adding more content and that was really a good decision as I caught at least 6-7 spelling errors.

In the break, I kept cursing myself for the blunders in the issue essay. Tried to remain focused, but now all the strong points and relevant examples that I should have put on my issue essay kept cropping up in my mind. Anyhow, nothing could be done now. I paid a quick visit to the rest room, used the famous “splashing water on the face” technique, had my kit-kat, rested for 2-3 minutes and then proceeded for the test room.

<< To be contd……>>

Yipppeee!! 770 (M51,V44)

 

Hi everybody

Wrote my GMAT yesterday….

Scored  770.. (M51, V44)

Started writing the detailed debriefing, but am already feeling sleepy L But I guess after all these long months  of preps, I deserve a sound sleep.. But then this place which has been a record of my GMAT journey doesn’t deserve to be neglected too….

So though of this mini-post for information purposes for the visitors of the blog.. Detailed debriefing to follow soon.

Till then, it’s celebration time for me J

Three tests::three different pictures

The last three tests that I took have presnted a very mixed picture to me..

I took Kaptest #4 with full intentions of seeing a 680-690 on the last one.. Aftre all, I had completed Kap800, the toughest book even by Kaplan standards..

But what I actually scored was a lowly 610 No probs with maths.. It was my 4th 50 in as many kaptests.. But Verbal!! It was hard to believe what I saw.. Just 32.!! :’( And worst part was that I thought that I had done pretty well….

At this time, I needed a morale-booster.. And 610 made it sure that I wont wait for the next weekend for this morale-boosting exercise.. Took up Powerprep #2 after a hectic day in office.. Boo-hooo..the test was a total waste… As was for PP1, all the Qs were from PG.. Moreover, I was so tired n sleepy that I slept for abt 10 minutes midway thru the quants section.. But thanks to the repeating Qs, I finished on time… Finally, I ended up with a decent 740.( Q50,V40) But this didn’t gimme any satisfaction.. as there were almost no new Qs

Finally last weekend, I picked up the sectional tests Maths4 and Verbal4 from 800score.. And yes, this was the confidence booster that I needed.. I got 51 in maths; but the best part was getting a 47 in Verbal.. This is the best that I’ve got so far in any test.. I guess the scoring algo of 800score test is a bit lenient. But I liked the quality of Qs.. particulaly in the Maths section…

So what next? Planning full-length tests now.. (including essays too)

The G-day is not very far.. just abt 3+ weeks to go..

Still left on my agenda ofr G-day::
1) Essays:: Have written just 5-6 of them so far.. Planning to get the arco book..

2) Bold-faces:: Have not faced them much; have messed up on whatver occassions I’ve encountered them..

3) Finalising the school-list for the G-day::
So far ISB and NUS are certainties, Also considering Boston and Fisher..

GMAT Reschedulded :-(

Murphy baba ki jai ho!!!

As always his law holds for my GMAT..  In first half of April, when I was sure the preps are in a gud shape and the rest of the stuff can easily be managed in the next 4-5 weeks.. I decided to take the date for my G-day.. At that time, I was convinced that the work-pressure wont be that much during mid-may.. So it was ideal to take the test at that time.. So on 11th of last month, I picked up 15thMy as my G-day..

But the thingsstarted turning souralmost the very next day.. Stable  builds started giving errors.. Resolved bugs were reopened/bounced.. and meeting the deadline of 30th April started looking impossible..

But this time, I cud not afford the deadline  to be extended.. I was scared at the thot of deadline being extended by another  2 weeks.. (That would have made it coincide with my G-day).. So I decided to slow down the preps a bit and worked like hell to meet the deadline.. The Result:: Late hours on weekdays, working weekends and almost no preps…

Finally I was able to meet the deadline… But the flow of preps was broken.. I was low on confidence on even the well-practiced concepts.. AWA was almost untouched.. Add to this the kiler punch by Kaptest#4 and I knew I was in no position to take it on May 15..

Another 2 weeks cud have been fine.. But this time I did not want to take any risks.. So got it postponed by almost a month.. It’s June 13 now… 13 has been a gud num for me at times.. Hope it continues to be so..

Kaptest #3:: Another Heartbreak…

Well, after having tastes of two Kaplan tests and also after reading the experience of some stalwarts, I didn’t keep my target too high… Assuming a 700+ is almost impossible to touch in a Kaptest, I targeted 680-690 in my Kaptest 3..

Well that was not to be.. If GMAT gurus advise not to take Kaptests too close to ur G-day, it surely carries some meaning.. They can easily bring you down.. Remember the Times job Ad, where the employee’s inflated ego takes a beating after seeing his paycheck.. Similar thing happened to me after I saw my score in this test..

So.. the scores were:: M50 ,V36 ; overall 650.. :’(

Maths is going fine, it was a third 50 in as many Kaptests.. and that too for a silly silly mistake.. Out of 37, I got 1 incorrect. No idea how Kaplan scores.. Should getting just 30^th Q wrong bring the score down to 50.. Even with 7 Qs wrong in my Kaptest #1, I got the same score… Good thing was that I finished with 11 minutes to spare.

Anyways it’s the Verbal that matters more to me…. Remembering my past scores, I started cautiously… Spending more time on each Q… And particularly RC that has been my nemesis for some time now… I made elaborte roadmaps for each passage and that did help in increasing my accuracy level to 60%. And I was more confident as I neared the last 10 Qs that I had done at least okayish this time.. But then I was left with hardly any time for the end Qs.. So had to rush towards the end…And that badly lowered my score..

I got 8 out of last 15 wrong and that included four wrongs in the last four Qs… Heard that GMAT punished you harshly for a series of wrong Qs.. Saw the evidence this time.

Take-aways from the test:

• Maths isn’t a problem… Just need to avoid the silly mistakes… And given that time too does not appear to be a problem.. I guess I can afford to double-check even the simple-appearing ones..
• Roadmap technique is working for RCs. But need to do that fast.. Else the accuracy gained in earlier Qs will be at the cost of Qs in the end.
• Avoid a series of wrong Qs… If I take a guess for one of the Qs, I need to be doubl cautious on the next
• No matter how much u know about the Kaptests being low scoring, they have this ability to take you down.. So will surely give my next Kaptest next weekend.. a safe 3-weeks distance from my G-day.

   

My G-Day:: May 15

Took my GMAT date today…It’ll be May 15,Tuesday.. 9 AM.. Was pretty much confident about my preps. But taking the date is making me weak somewhat.. Confidence depleting Boo-hooo :’(

But I guess this can happen even if I take the date after preparing for another 6 months.. And I believe the confidence must be back after a day or two of practice or after taking a mock-test..

BTW,I guess I’m into my final lap of preparation.. Started with Kap800 2 days back.. Planning to finish it off by 20th.. After that It’ll be mostly OG. Will suely do OG 11 in full. Will be good if I can get an OG10 somehow..

AWA is another weak point.. Have to cover up somehow..

So many things to do!! and just a little over a month to go… Dear visitor, I surely need your wishes…

Powerprep 1::770 ( Q51,V44)

Wrote a powerprep yesterday night….

This was the first full length test in which I also wrote timed essays.

Am pretty excited about the score… But still it’s not that perfect an indicator. In fact that’s quite inflated as some questions were already covered in the OG and the correct answers started shouting in mind even before i saw the options.

Some takeways from the test::

1) Kaptests are for learning what u may get wrong at the toughest level; not for getting any indication of where u stand. It was a such a relief to see a 700+ score again after scoring 670 and 630 in the last 2 kaptests I had written.

( BTW, just to ensure that I don’t carried away with this inflated score, I’ll be writing another kaptest next weekend.)

2) Quants have improved:: This section was never a problem and I had scored 50 even in the 2 kaptests; but every time I made some silly mistakes. This time I double-checked each answer especially the first 15-20.

3) RC still needs practice. Out of the 4 Qs that I got wrong, 2 were RC, 1 CR and 1 SC. That’s not that bad, but then for som of the RC Qs that I got correct, it was a toss-up between 2 choices till the last moment..

4) Am pathetic at AWA as of now. Needs a lot of timed practice. Worse is that u can’t get an evaluation for whatever junk u’ve written. Will be posting my essays unedited after this post. Dear visitor, please do rate it and point out the flaws.

The Story so far….

Summing up quicly, what I’ve done over the last two and a half month.. ( Had started the preps in mid Jan)

Started with a crack-the-gmat free test.. My score there was 600. Quants 46; Verbal somewhere in early 30s. Though wasn’t any excited about the score, but this test was more to give me an idea, what the GMAT is, what all sections are there and most importantly what are my strong and weak areas. I got to know though I was good at PS, DS and RC were kinda ok, but CR was average and SC pathetic. I had just managed to get 6 out of 15 SC Qs correct.

Bought an OG 11, After doing OG diagnostic, when I was confident that I was well-aware of types, I decided to take my first GMATprep test. Score this time was much better: 690. Don’t remember the breakup. Still SC was my weakest point..

So started all sectons from OG; but SC from manhattan SC guide. Mid-way thru OG and with Manhattan finished, I took GMSTPrep test2.Scored 760 this time… Manhattan was showing its effects.. Once OG was done, I took 2 tests from Score800.com , I got 680 and 760 (using their conversion table)

I thot I was cruising along wth my preps.. (except for the AWA.. almost untouched yet)
Then I picked up Kaplan 2007…and followed that up with the two nightmarish Kpalan tests, which showed me where I actually am..

In the first (taken last week) I got 670.. ( Q50; V37) Scared!! But then remembered Kaplan’s reputation of being a low-scoring test.. ( but still in any case a 40 % accuracy in RC is too too low)

A week later m I took Kaptest 2.Huh!! This time it was a lowly 630!!! (Q50, V32)
And RC again just 40%.. CR too dipping 45% ( And I always thot it’s just the SC that’s my weakness)

This time even the Kaplan’s reputation cud not help me maintain my confidence.. I felt devastated!!! And I was seriously considering putting off my G-day test to June start..

At this time, Pagalguy came to my rescue.. If you’ve landed on this page, with some Google search of Kaplan + GMAT + devastated, I’d suggest u to have a look at Keya’s success story BTW,did i mention that my fav pastime over these 3 months has been reading GMAT success stories

One more thing, I’ve also joined a yahoo group prachi_pareekh_gmat@yahoogroups.com. I guess it’s one of the most active mailing lists for this purpose.

I’ve just picked up AWA part. Finding it hard to gain back my lost writing skills