Update - 24.12.10

With festive season upon us and my full family around, my study schedule is going a bit off! Still I am able to take out time to solve problems I get in my email and also read Manhattan SC 2003 edition whenever I can.

I solved 36 questions in SC and got 21 right. Need to take it further till the time I am able to score all questions right!

I have also taken the 700 Question Pack(with Video explanations for Answers) from BTG(Beat The GMAT).

More update later!


P.S.  - Wishing my readers a very Merry Christmas!

Diagnostic Test Review : Quants

After doing an in-depth review. This is what I came up with -

PS

DS

As you can see above-

• Many questions I just had no clue and hence couldn't even attempt on solving it. A lot of this would be taken care of as I regularly review the Math concepts.
• From Geometry most of them I couldn't solve as I was not aware of the formulas.
• Probability clearly is my weakest area. 
• Out of remaining either I was able to solve it fully or due to my carelessness couldn't get the right answer.

Diagnostic Test Review : Verbal

Which much excitement and curiosity I reviewed the Verbal section of the Diagnostic Test which I did a few days back. Without doubt I am much more confident with Verbal than with Quants and hence wanted to see where I made the mistakes. In Verbal I scored the most in RC(11/17) followed by SC(10/18) and then CR(7/17).

I have started reading the Manhattan SC Guide and when I went thru the SC review I could easily spot the mistakes. So am confident the next time I take the test, I would fare better in SC.

In many forums many people have emphasized and advised for making an error log to see where we went wrong in answering the problems and to review it further. In-fact this is also an integral part of GMAT Prep as much as Studying, doing practice test, reviewing, etc. 

I followed the advise and below is what mine looks like -

Now onto review of Quants, this one will be long...really long!

Results : Diagnostic Test

I have taken the Diagnostic Test from OG-12. Scores have been a disaster to say the least, specially in the Quants section.

Breakup -

Quants(14)
- PS(6)
- DS(8)


Verbal(28)
-RC(11)
-CR(7)

Quants is a major worry for me. I somehow get totally blank and clueless in this section. Also I am having difficulty applying and relating to concepts to the problems.

In Verbal many answers I thought I got it right, actually came out wrong. Also towards the end I was losing steam and just wanted to get over with the test, which I am sure also played a role in the scores. This was also a good reality check to be over-confident.

I am proceeding ahead with the very crucial and important review and analysis for the Diagnostic Test which should help me to sail my course from here on. I have made my own Error Log in Excel which I have been told is a must and integral part of Gmat Prep.

Will share my review and Error Log in the next post!

Any suggestions/advise is very much welcome!

Thanks!

Strategy : Data Sufficiency Videos from Beat The Gmat!

Data Sufficiency problems are an integral part of GMAT and can get real confusing and at times even deceiving!

Beat The GMAT got hold of Brent Hanneson who is a veteran GMAT Instructor to create a series of Videos, 14 to be precise on Data Sufficiency!

All these videos cover a lot of concepts and are super useful!

Check it out!

http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/gmat-data-sufficiency-videos

Update - 06.12.10

Things did today - 

• Day started off well, with more info gathering on various universities! So far I have covered most(of where I am interested) of Asia, Australia and Europe. Had sent a query mail to Monash, Australia 2 weeks back, no reply yet. Also sent a mail to Nanyang, Singapore, a week back, again no reply!  Tomorrow will start on the big list of UK/US B-Schools!

• Went thru Math Review from OG-12. (Page 106-140). Just 8 pages of Word Problems is left for review. Should have finished this too, but schedule went a bit hay-wire! Not good and no excuses, I messed up! Tomorrow first thing will be to review the concepts for Word Problems!

• Need to solve more problems on a daily basis. Been solving just 2-3 which is unacceptable! 

Things to do for tomorrow - 

1. Word Problems review(OG-12, pages 140-148)
2. Info gathering for UK/US B-Schools.
3. Diagnostic test from OG-12.

Try Out Kaplan 20 Minute Workout

Recently I came across Kaplan 20 Minute Workout, where they ask 16 questions in 20 minutes! Its more of game where they also have 3 lifelines(for the lack of a better word and this reminds me Kaun Banega Crorepati which is the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionare!) - Ask an Expert, 50/50 and Free Pass!

I enjoyed it thoroughly even though I couldn't finish the game as I answered 3 incorrect answers in succession! I scored 5/8, it started with CR where I got all the answers right and was followed by SC where except 1 I got all wrong and hence got evicted! :-(

May be I should have used the lifelines or may be not as in actual GMAT there are NO lifelines!


More about this 20 min workout - 

HOW TO PLAY:

The goal is to answer 16 practice questions and watch 4 instructional videos in less than 20 minutes. Reading the answer explanations does not count toward your 20 minutes.

Your workout ends after 3 incorrect answers. In case you need help, you have several available resources:

ASK AN EXPERT:

Not sure how to solve a problem, ask an expert from Kaplan for a hint.

50/50:

Deciding between two choices? Eliminate possible answer choices by selecting "50/50".

FREE PASS:

Not feeling very lucky? Use your Free Pass to skip the question without penalty.

 You can only use each tool once.

So are you ready to PLAY! 

http://www.kaplanworkout.com/play

Strategy : Prime Factorization

I am a subscriber of GMAT Hacks Question Of The Day where every alternate day of the weekday they email one Quant and one Verbal problem. Its a great way to make sure you are solving problems regularly and as many as possible. Whats also helpful is that they also mention the Answer(opens in a new window) and more importantly the explanation as to why the answer is what it is! You can and I suggest you should subscribe to this!

Today I came across a Quant problem in the subject of Prime Factorization. Though I didnt knew the answer, the explanation provided made sure I will never go wrong with such problems in future. For me it was like letting out a secret!

Since I am benefiting from a lot of blogs, its only fair that I share whatever I can on my blog!

Here it is -

The fastest way to find the number of factors of a large number is to take the exponent of each of the prime factors, raise it by one, and multiply them all together.


Lets take this into context with a problem from GMAT Hacks - 
***********************************************
How many different positive integers are factors of 378 ?
(A) 10
(B) 12
(C) 16
(D) 18
(E) 24

Answer is C.


Explanation - 


Start by finding the prime factorization of 378:
378 = 2(189)
= 2(9)(21)
= 2(3)(3)(3)(7)
= (2^1)(3^3)(7^1) 

In this case, the exponents are 1, 3, and 1. Raise them each by one, and you have 2, 4, and 2. Multiply them all together, and the result is 2(4)(2) = 16, choice (C)
***********************************************


There you go! Isn't it cool and REALLY helpful! 

Update : 1st December 2010

Been a bit busy lately. This is what I have been doing since last 3 days - 

• Got my OG 12, a book which I have been waiting for few days! Yet to start studying thru it! :-(
• Reviewing MATH Concepts from GMAT Prep. Since its been 10 years since I touched Math, just brushing and getting re-acquainted with concepts.
• Once I am done with this, will repeat the Math Review from OG 12, but this time will be making short notes which I can brush up quickly! 
• Probability, Permutations and Combinations is definitely my weakest spot in Quants! Need to study more, practice more problems!
• Have subscribed to few "Quant problem a day/Verbal problem a day" thru sites like "Beat The Gmat" and "GmatHack"! These are fantastic ways to make sure you are solving problems everyday. I recommend subscribing to them regardless of which stage you are in of your Gmat Prep! Also Beat The Gmat has a kick-ass forums where their daily questions are discussed! Very helpful! 
• Jamboree(India) have one new problem everyday on their Facebook group! Again, more problems you solve the better! 
• Researching on Universities is on! Some Uni's answer emails quite promptly, some in 1-2 days. But overall so far every Uni is good with answering our queries! Which is good! 
• Overall I need to speed up my studies! I feel I am lagging a bit! 

Thats all for now!

:-)