Suprise surprise : Nominated for Clear Admit Best of Blogging Awards 2010-2011

Wow, this was totally unexpected!

My blog has been nominated for the Clear Admit Best of Blogging Awards 2010-2011 !

A blog which is just 6 months old - and I know that I could do a lot better in terms of blog content - getting nominated makes me so humbled! One very powerful reason for me to start this blog was to try to help other applicants like me navigate the big complex maze of  the process of GMAT and getting into a good B-School.

When I started my journey, I had no clue at all as to whats the process, how to start, where to start, etc. Then after a few Google searches, one road led to another and I came across this sea of information thanks to many BLOGS of real applicants chronically their own endeavors! Immediately I felt a huge relief that I am not alone! And this exactly was my main motivation - to never let another applicant feel alone in their endeavors.

Though clearly there are MUCH better nominations and some one else totally deserves over me, I thank Clear Admit for considering me! This makes me all the more motivated to continue blogging to the best of my ability!

Let me a bask a bit more by showing my Nominee Badge -

:-) 

Study Update - 19.04.11

Been facing a strong force in terms of inertia. Took a break of 2 days and then it was so difficult to get back. Some one said it right that its better to study regularly than study all night and day for sometime and then leave it all together. GMAT Prep is like a marathon, not a sprint!

One reason I was avoiding was Math. My most dreaded topic - Probability/Co-ordinate Geometry was the only thing left to do and I simply desist both the topics.

But today after a LOT of effort, got done with Probability.

In P.S. - scored 2 out of 6 Correct I could have actually scored 4 out of 6 if not for a very stupid careless mistake.

In D.S. - scored 1 out of 2 Correct.

Probability is without no doubt my weakest link in MATH, but surprisingly I was not as clueless as I thought I would be. May be with more practice I should be able to understand this better.

Tomorrow I am going to wrap the remaining Math! 

Study Update : 13 April 2011

I have wrapped up RC from OG-12 by completing the remaining 59 questions out of which I got 39 Correct.

I did in two sets -
First set of 21 questions, I got 19 Correct!
Second set out of 38, I got 20 Correct!

Overall in RC, out of 139 questions, I have managed to get 89 Correct which is  64%.

Observations on RC -

• Focus and concentration is the key.
• Read every statement, every word of the Passage as thoroughly as possibly as a lot of questions will really test as to how closely you have read the passage and the answers can be in any sentence of the passage.
• Some questions the answers are right there in the passage and some will ask you to infer what the passage implies but is not mentioned explicitly. These can be tricky questions. 
• Do a lot of RC questions if you can. But make sure you don't force yourself to do it. Whenever I forced myself my score went down. Now I understand during GMAT, under pressure, under time-constraint you may have to force yourself, but if you practice before, chances are you will be in a better position to tackle. 
• Read a lot of books, magazines, blogs for longer durations at a stretch. This will build your focus, concentration and stamina.

Study update : 9th April 2011

Been a bit distracted and lazy with a good push of procrastination included.

What I did -

• 5 Passages of RC from OG-12. Total 32 questions, managed just 15 Correct. Bad...very bad! 
• BTG Practice questions, got 5 out of 10 Correct. Again bad! 
• 10 GMAT Hack questions, 4 Correct out of 10! Disaster. 

The reason(not an excuse) for the poor performance is plain distraction. I was not concentrating, not focusing and simply rushing through.

May be I need to do less, but do it well.

Will see how it goes from here on!

Stay tuned! 

Study update : 8th April 2011

Yesterday my study schedule went a bit off.

Managed to complete just 5 Passages of RC from OG-12.

Out of 24 questions, got 18 Correct!


P.S. - I need to post on this blog at the end of each day. This "yesterday" post seems a bit weird. 

Study update : 7th April 2011

What I did yesterday -

• 3 Passages of RC(with review) from OG-12, Total 14 questions.
• 5 BTG Practice Questions in RC.
• 5 GMAT Hacks Verbal which get delivered to my email everyday.

In OG-12, out of 14 I got 8 Correct : This performance was surprising for me. The questions I was sure of came out wrong and vice-versa. 

 

BTG Questions, out of 5 I got 4 Correct : I performed well, but need to aim to score 100% correct .

Gmat Hacks, out of 5, got 2 Correct : Mix of SC and CR. 

Today will continue the same way, but need to add 5 BTG Verbal Problems(email delivery) as well.

Adios!

Study update : 6th April 2011

Time flies, April is already here!

Since yesterday I have started doing Reading Comprehension, the last section of Verbal which was left.

What I did yesterday (with review) -

• 3 Paragraphs to a total of 11 questions from OG-12
• 5 Problems from Practice BTG Questions(Video Explanations Review)

From OG-12 out of 11 questions I got 7 Correct.

From Practice BTG, I got 3 out of 5 Correct. I should have got 4, if I hadn't made a very careless mistake by not reading the full passage and answering in haste. I love doing from BTG as it offers the answers with explanations in a video format. So helpful! 

Today will continue to do as many as I can from OG-12, with review which is even more important than just solving problems and also more questions from Practice BTG Questions. 

On the side I am solving BTG Verbal problems which comes directly to my email. Its important to not loose touch in SC and CR also.

Clearly I am neglecting Math...need to get to it ASAP! 

Stay tuned! 

Study Update - 28 March 2011

Am done with Critical Reasoning(CR) from OG-12!

Overall out of 124, I got 81 Correct!

I did in 3 sets -

1. 41/50
2. 28/50
3. 12/24

The first time I really killed it and then onwards I got killed! The only reason my score was not 50-50 - as its normally with Quants - was I did really well in the first set. After that next 2 sets, I guess the questions got difficult, I was not focusing enough, I just couldn't understand the reasoning or I was plain over-confident!

What I learnt from doing CR -

• Concentration is paramount! If you are distracted even for a bit, that will make all the difference between the correct reasoning and the wrong reasoning. So make sure you are as much focused as possible. Guesses even though I did make a few, out of which I got a few correct also, the guess game is quite tricky for CR. The answers are all there in the paragraph and the answer choices. Its all about nailing the correct one! 
• Read as much as possible and I don't mean just the question but reading in general like magazines, newspapers, etc. The topics covered are assorted like Science, Technology, Art, Historical, Business, Economy, etc. So it makes sense to have interest in everything, however dry the subject might be. Personally I didn't do well in topics from Historical-Arts and a bit from Science. The subject was too dry and really had a difficult time to focus and digest what was there. But it needs to be done, whether you and me like it or not! So the more aware and read you are, the less it will be difficult for you! 
• Considering the clock is always ticking, the time allotted for CR can be extremely challenging to finish everything. So if you can develop a habit for fast-reading, this is going to be a very helpful skill! 

Now onto more of reading in the form Reading Comprehension(RC)!

Stay tuned! 

Study Update - 26 March 2011

As Cricket World Cup 2011 is entering its final stages, its keeping me a lot more hooked than usual. Did 50 more problems of CR from OG-12.

Got 28 out of 50 Correct.

Felt the questions were a whole lot tricky than it was last time when I got 41 out of 50 Correct.

24 problems remaining and then CR is done for now!

Study Update : 21st March 2011

I had taken a break from Quant and 60-Day-BTG and moved onto Critical Reasoning(Verbal) for a few days.

Solved first 50 Sample Problems from OG-12 and got 41 Correct!

Needless to say its a huge morale booster!

Now time to get back to Quant and finish the remaining 74 questions of CR also!

P.S. - Sometimes its necessary to get small victories in order to win big ones! 

Study Update : 16.03.11

Quant : Statistics, Day 17 BTG Study Plan

 

 

To Do:

• In the Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition:
• Review the section on Descriptive Statistics (p. 114-116)
  
• In the Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition, tackle the following questions:
• Problem Solving: 5, 14, 27, 57, 69, 93, 99, 132, 180, 184, 199, 201, 207
• Data Sufficiency: 28, 32, 53, 81, 84, 93, 105, 116, 129, 134, 136, 141, 146, 147

Don't Forget To:

• Record your OG12 answers into the Official Guide 12th Edition - Error Tracking Tool

Additional Reinforcement:

• Watch the Knewton video, Mode
• Watch this video, Standard Deviation

In P.S. scored 7 Correct out of 13.

In D.S. scored 8 Correct out of 14.

Study Update : 14th March 2011

Day 15 of 60-Day BTG Study Plan :  

 

To Do:

• In the Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition:
• Review Geometry sections 4.3.1 to 4.3.9 (p. 127-134)
• In the Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition, tackle the following questions:
• Problem Solving: 16, 18, 33, 48, 53, 62, 102, 113, 134, 145, 147, 152, 160, 177, 189, 197, 209, 212
• Data Sufficiency: 18, 20, 29, 34, 42, 56, 74, 91, 96, 109, 114, 117, 122, 132, 135, 140, 144, 148, 157, 160, 173

In P.S. I got 9 out of 18 Correct!

In D.S. I got 11 out of 21 Correct! (First 10, I got 8 right, then remaining 11 I just managed to get 3 more right!)

Study Update : 10.03.11

Today was Day-13 of the 60 Day BTG Study Plan.

Day 13

 

Word problems are a synthesis of multiple math topics, and they are a perennial source of misery for math students from every corner of the world.  Over the next two days, you'll learn important strategies for effectively handling these question types.

 

To Do:

• In the Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition:
• Review the section on Rate Problems (p. 140)
• In the Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition, tackle the following questions:
• Problem Solving: 6, 26, 59, 77, 81, 83, 85, 90, 120, 127, 140, 149, 153, 155, 163, 165, 166, 167, 170, 178, 182, 183, 195, 204, 206, 211, 221, 223
• Data Sufficiency: 4, 10, 14, 23, 25, 39, 40, 50, 59, 61, 62, 70, 77, 85, 87, 92, 101, 102, 103, 104, 113, 118, 120, 123, 124, 126, 127, 138, 145, 152, 155, 158, 174

Additional Reinforcement:

• Watch the Knewton video, Motion

In P.S. it was same as always...15 out of 28 correct. This is getting frustrating...not able to break the pattern and perform better! 

In D.S. it was my worst performance ever...11 out of 33 correct. Interestingly I started brilliantly...first 10 problems I got 8 correct! And then remaining 23 I just managed 3! On review I realized, few questions I didn't read properly and hence messed up...but overall I am still not good at forming a conclusion as to which option will be sufficient or not sufficient! Need it do it more slowly without bothering about the time it takes.

For Verbal, will be starting Critical Reasoning(CR) from OG-10.

Stay tuned!

Paul Bodine (too) Goes to Indian School of Business School(ISB) Tour!

This was expected!

A few days back I posted about Linda Abraham's(Accepted.com) trip to ISB along with several more MBA Admission Consultants.

Paul from Paul Bodine Consulting was one of those several consultants!

Read to see what he has to say about ISB!

Accepted.com Goes to Indian School of Business School Tour!

Linda Abraham (President and Founder of Accepted.com) along with few other admissions consultant were invited by ISB, Hyderabad, India to spread awareness of this top-10 ranked school in the world and to let them know more about the school, its curriculum, structure, etc!

Read the full article!

Study Update : 7th March 2011

Things have been going real slow since past 7-9 days because of guests. But I did manage to study Idioms and Odds & Ends which was left and finished the entire Manhattan Sentence Correction 2003 edition.

Idioms - turned out to be disaster, got 11 out of 27 correct.

Odds & Ends - Not much better with 8 out of 14 correct.

Now its time to get started with other aspects of Verbal such as CR and RC and also resume the 60-day-BTG study plan.

This week I also intend to take another practice test, in-fact looking forward to it! 

Study Update : 26.02.11

Went thru "Comparisons" from Manhattan GMAT and solved problems from OG-10.

Scored 26 correct out of 39. So far my score used to be 50-50, but now this time its 66:33 which is progress however small it might be.

Now have to maintain and more importantly tilt the ratio in my favor even more!

Coming up next is "Idioms". 

Study Update : 22.02.11

I wrapped up Day-11 BTG Inequalities/Equations (Part 1).

To Do:

• In the Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition:
• Review the sections on Equations, Solving Linear Equations with One Unknown, Solving Two Linear Equations with Two Unknowns, Solving Equations by Factoring and Solving Quadratic Equations (p. 121-125)
• Review the section on Inequalities (p. 125-126)
• In the Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition, tackle the following questions:
• Problem Solving: 2, 38, 41, 44, 49, 58, 70, 71, 91, 97, 100, 112, 119, 130, 144, 168, 172, 173, 196, 215, 218, 222, 227
• Data Sufficiency: 8, 13, 15, 30, 35, 49, 51, 54, 60, 71, 72, 88, 97, 112, 131, 137, 154, 156, 162, 165

• Watch this video, Solving Linear Equations I

• Watch this video, Solving Linear Equations II
• Watch this video, Solving Linear Equations III
• Watch this video, Solving Equations with Fractions
• Watch the Knewton video, Solving Simultaneous Equations using Substitution
• Watch this video, Solving Simultaneous Equations by Elimination I
• Watch this video, Solving Simultaneous Equations by Elimination II
• Watch this video, Solving Quadratic Equations
• Watch this video, Equations Involving Absolute Value

• PS I scored much better than I had thought - 15 out of 23 correct! Whatever question I knew was correct was indeed correct. And few remaining 8 which I had guessed didn't work! 
• DS I scored 8 out of 20. I think I am not evaluating the questions properly. DS is not about getting the answer, but instead finding whether the answer is definite and can be calculated. This is where I am slipping every single time!

• In Verbal  - Sentence Correction, I finished Comparisons(Manhattan GMAT). 

Today, Would be solving the problems tackling Comparison, then the all important and time-consuming review along with reading on IDIOMS! Verbal reviews takes a lot of time compared to Quants! So keep in mind and its recommended to solve less questions with review(immediate) than a lot of questions with no review(later on)! 

For Quants would be getting off with Part 2 of Inequalities/Equations! 

Must Read Article : 8 Things for New B-School Applicants

Came across this very useful and insightful article at Poets & Quants !

Great read if you are just starting out for your MBA journey!

Read it ! 

Affiliate Program - BTG Practice Questions

Its been close to 4 weeks since I have bought the BTG Practice Questions. And in my opinion its a must for everyone preparing for GMAT. So many problems and each one comes with answers with Video explanations!!!

And now I am happy to become an affiliate for this fantastic resource and do my bit to help prepare beat their GMAT!

About BTG Practice Questions - 

A message from Beat The GMAT’s founder

Why is it so hard to find high–quality explanations for GMAT practice questions? This is a question I’ve heard by thousands of people on the Beat The GMAT community.

I understand your frustration — that’s why Magoosh decided to design a new set of GMAT practice questions, where every question has a video explanation by a GMAT instructor.

I hope you decide to prep with Beat The GMAT Practice Questions!

More about this - http://practice.beatthegmat.com/

Get yours now! 

P.S. - If you do decide to buy please come back and use the above link as its an affiliate program for me and with each purchase I get an Amazon $10 Gift Certificate which will enable me to satiate my ever growing list of books. So in short with each purchase you are also helping me to build my library. Thank you! 

Prep Update - 19.02.11

I have reached Day-10 of 60-Day BTG Study Guide! 


What I covered today - 

To Do:

• In the Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition:
• Review the section on Simplifying Algebraic Expressions (p. 120-121)
• Review the section on Functions (p. 126-127)
• In the Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition, tackle the following Algebra questions:
• Problem Solving: 68, 84, 117, 137, 148, 150, 208, 213, 230
• Data Sufficiency: 24, 26, 36, 83, 150, 170

Additional Reinforcement:

• Watch the video, Dividing Exponents
• Watch the video, FOIL Method
• Watch the video, Factoring Trinomials (Quadratics) I
• Watch the video, Factoring Trinomials (Quadratics) II
• Watch the video, Factoring Trinomials (Quadratics) III
• Watch the video, Simplifying Rational Expressions

PS I performed horribly...just got 3 out of 9 correct! Could have got 5 if not for careless mistake. But 4 I had no clue whatsoever. Worse part, even after the review I am still not sure whether I would be able to solve if I encounter it again! :(

DS my consistency of 50-50 was maintained. Got 3 out of 6 right!

From next week I want to finish multiple days together in order to really push through! 

Also time to get back doing Verbal!

Stay tuned!

Prep Update - 16.02.11

Today was a day of contentment! I finished everything on my To-do list! These are the small victories which motivates us for bigger victories!

What all I did today in context for my Gmat Prep -

• Day 9 of BTG Study Plan which included - 

1. Pg-114 and Pg-125 from OG-12.(Powers and roots of numbers, Exponents)
2. Solving problems of PS and DS.
3. Review of the solutions.

• Solve 5 problems each of Quants and Verbals from BTG daily emails and then review them.
• Updating this blog! 

Of the problems solved, I scored 10/17 in PS and 2/4 in DS. I am really thinking of focusing on building my skill areas instead of fidgeting over DS which doesn't seem to improve!

Now all the above doesn't amount to much, but coming from a break of 2 weeks, its a great way to get back in the groove! Tomorrow I hope to do much more more than what I did today!

Stay tuned!

Update : February 15, 2011

I am back from a holiday thanks to my cousin's wedding! Was totally detached from the online world and also the world of GMAT/MBA for about 15 days! The former is good way to detox, the latter not quite when I want to take the GMAT sometime in March end/April first week.

Anyhow, it was an unavoidable event and to be frank a break was much needed, I enjoyed to the max my mind, body and soul permitted me to!

Now its time to get back in the groove!

From tomorrow I shall resume my study plan!

Stay tuned!

Day-7, Beat The Gmat Study Plan

7th Day of BTG Study Plan covered : 

• In the Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition:
• Review the section on Ratios (p. 113)
• In the Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition, tackle the following Ratios questions:
• Problem Solving: 20, 21, 31, 34, 52, 55, 61, 63, 66, 76, 80, 86, 96, 103, 109, 118, 162, 169
• Data Sufficiency: 38, 44, 48, 58, 78, 111, 163

• Watch the video, Introduction to Ratios
• Watch the video, Ratio Problems
• Watch the video, Advanced Ratio Problems
• Watch the Knewton video, Work Rates

I am very happy with Day 7 as out of 18 Problems in PS, I got 15 right and in DS out of 7 I got 5 right! 

Though this is just one topic, it surely gave me a much needed boost of condfidence.

GMAT is as much a mind game as it is applying what you know. So do whatever you can to get your mind working in peak positive and confident state!

Prep Update - 27.01.11

I have been following the 60 Day BTG Study Plan. Though I subscribed quiet sometime ago, I have not been following it everyday as I should have.

Today was the 6th day. Things covered :

• In the Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition:
• Review the section on Percents (p. 113-114)
• Review the sections on Mixture Problems, Interest Problems, Discount and Profit, and Sets (p. 142-144)
• In the Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition, tackle the following Percent questions:
• Problem Solving: 8, 10, 13, 17, 19, 47, 60, 64, 78, 92, 94, 111, 115, 123, 124, 128, 131, 139, 151, 156, 187, 193, 200, 202, 220
• Data Sufficiency: 2, 7, 21, 33, 37, 52, 55, 63, 67, 79, 89, 142, 143
• Watch the video, Percent Change
• Watch the video, Finding Percents
• Read this article, Interest and Compound Interest Problems

Though the 60 Day Plan also recommends referring to Kaplan Premier book, I am just following OG-12. 

For the above problems my score was - 

PS - 13 Correct out of 25

DS - 4 Correct out of 13

As you can PS I am still not able to go beyond the 50-50 ratio and DS remains my Achilles heel. :-(

I also did a thorough review and I seem to be making the same careless mistakes every time. :-(  

Any advise? 

Along side I am also studying SC and referring to Manhattan SC which refers to OG-10 Verbal for problems.

For today I went thru Parallelisms (Pg-75-83, Manhattan SC) and then solved around 49 problems from OG-10 Verbal. Scored 25 Correct. Here again I am not able to break through the 50:50 ratio. 

Tomorrow seems to be a busy day with reviewing the 49 SC questions. 

Laters!

Update - 24 January 2011

Firstly wishing you all a very Happy and Joy-filled New Year 2011!


Last month has been totally crazy in a happy way! My sister and 5 yr old niece were here and so it was all fun and frolic all the time. Needless to add, my GMAT study schedule totally went for a toss. Though I did try to practice whatever I could each and everyday, there were more days when I totally didn't do anything and I am not one bit happy about it. :-(

But these things do happen and I gotta take stock now and move on. I didn't want to contemplate this when I was having a good time, then I wouldn't be in either of the place. So I enjoyed when the time was right and now its time to get back on track. Its always good to be present in the moment instead of in the past or in the future.

In between all the good times I also took a second GMAT Practice test. The result was shocking as I dropped down 80 points to 420. The break-up :


Quants - 18 Correct, 19 Incorrect

PS - 12 Correct, 8 Incorrect
DS - 6 Correct, 11 Incorrect


Verbal (21 Correct, 20 Incorrect)

RC - 4 Correct, 9 Incorrect
CR - 7 Correct, 4 Incorrect
SC - 10 Correct, 8 Incorrect


I did the very important extensive review and this is what it looks like -

Quants

Verbal

Some other observations : 

*Overall my score is 50-50 for each section which I urgently need to skew towards Correct ones.

*In Quants DS is clearly my very very weak part. Even while solving Sample Questions from OG-12,   DS I score very less compared to PS.

*Usually RC I do well, but this test RC I totally got butchered and bad.

*SC I should have done a lot better since I have been going thru Manhattan SC.

*Reasons for my poor score(not excuses, I messed up and need to improve, as simple as that) : 

1. Sitting and concentrating thru the test is difficult than I thought. Now instead of every month I am scheduling a test every 15 days to increase my endurance level and getting used to.

2. RC passage was very very dry and hence I was barely concentrating and moving to the next question in a hurry.

3. Not been studying as much I want, been way too distracted at home because of guests.

Now time to get back on track for a week as next week again I will be busy travelling for a week for a family wedding!