Business School 2007 - My Way

The Final Post

2007-05-23T11:54:00.000-07:00

The 2007 admissions did not materialize for me. My waitlisted applications at Wharton and Stern were eventually rejected. I will be reapplying next year. Thank you very much for your interest in my blog. Wish you all the best!

WAITLISTED @ NYU Stern

2007-02-20T12:24:00.000-08:00

The status update finally happened just about 10minutes ago.

Unlike Wharton, Stern likes you to continue the courtship into the waiting period. It wants to be pampered further, showered on with more accolades and essays. It would like to know, what in the last three months have made me better that the last 31 springs did not. That exactly is what I am going to do too. It is never over till the last bell rings.

If you know anything about handling the Waitlist at NYU, please let me know. Thank you!

A Petition to the Adcoms

2007-02-16T09:54:00.000-08:00

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/ding/index.html

Came across this link in the BW boards - a petition to the adcoms to provide feedback to all dinged candidates. It may seem that it is considerably more work for the Adcom to provide personalized ding feedbacks, I do not agree to that notion. If the application is infact read throughly multiple times, as claimed by each adcoms then adding a 5 line note by each of the reader to an online tracking system will not be too much additional work. The feedback can be part of the online application system itself. It will give a vast majority of applicants some valuable feedback to reevaluate their application. Not sure where this petition will go frm here. It has my vote.

When is no news good news?

2007-02-16T09:20:00.000-08:00

May be when it is the last day of interview invites and you are bracing your clueless self for a DWI!

The email from NYU did not come in the morning; neither by the noon nor by the office close hour of 5PM. Since it was Feb 15th, the last day of interview invites for R1 submits I was thoroughly confused. What does this mean? Do the surprises of this admissions process ever end? So I picked up the phone and called the NYU admissions office. When I told I submitted the application by Dec 1st, she re-confirmed that I submitted a 'COMPLETE' application by Dec 1st. Then I walked her through the boring story of how misfortunate I was that my Essay 3 got lost within the Admissions office maze (of no mistake of theirs, only because of my bad luck! :-)). Did she give an all knowing chuckle then?, or was I becoming paranoidal? Then she told me in a loaded tone that if I do not hear anything back by tomorrow morning (ie. 16th morning) email, the admchair - an email now so familiar to me that I could type it with the pinky of my left hand when blind folded! I did not wait for the sun to rise; I email the respected chair right away. Promptly I received a reply back that the chair will get back to me within three business days. Wow!

What was surprsing to me was that all my mental tensions vanished right then. I did not care about the MBA admit anymore. I realized that I have done all I could do for this year, and now there is no gain to my life to continue to worry about the elusive admit. If it is to happen it should happen with all I have done so far. If it does not, then definitely this MBA race is not something which I am built for. I need it, but I do not think I can have everything that I want or need!

So, I got up shutdown the computer and went home to be with my family.

Dinged @ Columbia

2007-02-12T08:07:00.000-08:00

There was an ominous feeling when I clicked through the links and login to reach my application status page. There, I found, a note starting with 'although' and I knew my campaign for a seat at Columbia was over. My RD application is dinged w/o interview by Columbia.

What all could be the reasons?, Too ambitious goals (some one spells it as u-n-r-e-a-l-i-s-t-i-c), age, not so stellar academics?, Well I might never know for sure. I will try to get a feedback session from Columbia.

It is sad, and I am disappointed. I hope to hear a different result from Stern this week. Then the long 6 weeks wait for March 22nd, the Wharton decision date, will be my next pit stop to know what 2007 is going to be for me.

Greater joys and the tollerable uncertainities

2007-02-02T11:08:00.000-08:00

The greatest joy is that I became a father two weeks backs and that my wife and our son are both doing very well. The uncertainties, which does not even look worth mentionable now are that neither Columbia nor Stern cared to call me for an interview yet.

There are many reasons why I should be genuinely worried. People who submitted around the time I submitted have received their invites or decisions by now. As far as Stern is concerned there are only a few days more till the final bell - Feb 15th. For Columbia, since I submitted way before the Jan 10th deadline it is certain that the first reader of my app did not feel that I should be called for an interview. From what I heard there are couple of reads more, and if any one of those readers feels like he or she wants me to come to uptown I should get an interview call. I do not think my application is so good that Columbia is going to include me in the 20% admitted w/o an interview!

On the brighter side of things, a friend got admitted to Michigan! - Way to go girl!

NYPD Locates the Essay 3

2007-01-10T07:20:00.000-08:00

From: admchair hide details
To: Ravanan date Jan 10, 2007 9:59 AM

Subject Re: Fwd: NYU Stern MBA Application Missing Items: Ravanan

mailed-by stern.nyu.edu

Dear Ravanan,

Thank you for your email and for your patience with the admissions process. We have your Essay 3 and it will be included with your application. Your status will be updated shortly. Thank you again for taking the time to follow up. We truly appreciate it and your interest in NYU Stern.

Best regards,

NYU Stern MBA Admissions

Birthday Wishes

2007-01-09T11:17:00.000-08:00

Today I turned 32. Four years back, when i was 28, a friend from the past (A Ph. D) made a very solid argument backed with historical evidence that, 'Life mein kuch teer marna hai to woh bateez ke pahle hoga'. Translated crisply it reads, "if you were to achieve something great in your life its going be before you turn 32". It stayed with me ever since. So, untold to anyone till now, and now told to a few dozen people in the blogosphere, I was secretly hoping that a Wharton Admit on Dec 21st will be my big deal before my 32nd B-Day.

When I look back, which is a natural thing to do on B'days I am happy. I have professional as well as personal satisfaction. I have been a good employee as well as a loved employer. I have been a caring son, loving brother, dashing boyfriend, responsible husband, loyal friend, devouted student and a taxpaying citizen. I have made a few good impressions on the societies I lived and I also believe that I have tried to help a lot of people. I hope people who like me outnumber those who dislike me by a huge number. I am thankful to thousands of people whom I met over the years and from whom I have learnt invaluable lessons of life. I am especially thankful to my teachers who instilled in me the ability to learn new ideas and skills with an open mind.

2007 is going to be an important year. The rest of my career is going to turn in a different direction one way or other. The excitement of embarking on the unknown is plastering a smile on my face all the time. Though I cannot detail that path here yet, I will be writing about my 2007 here sometime soon.

Downtown or Underworld!

2007-01-08T10:57:00.000-08:00

Friends who are following my humble journey will remember that I submitted the Stern application more than a month back. I made many trips to NYU including a special trip to drop off the creative essay. Last Friday, Stern sent me a mail that my Creative Essay, the infamous Essay 3 of Stern is not to be found!

I am shaken by the inefficiency. While I hope that they will eventually locate my Essay 3 some where and I will be considered for R1, I fail to understand how such a cursory check will not be done for so long on an application that was submitted before Dec 1st, that is before the actual R1 deadline.

Stern applicants know that NYU essays are 'different'. Not only because of the Essay 3, but even the way Essay 2 is structured. An essay dedicated to know what all you have done to reserach the program!!, Come on!, that is not a reasonable use of 500 words in an MBA application.

If my Essay 3 fails to be found, it will be a blow. Rigors of my personal life will not let me work on another Essay 3. We are expecting a baby anytime now, and so naturally my life from now on is going to be much different. This was the primary reason why I finished all my applications by new year. So I will have to use a backup essay that I wrote in place of Essay 3. That is if Stern is ready accept it for Essay 3. I am waiting to hear back from Stern on my email detailing how and when i dropped off Essay 3 at its office, and physical descriptions to locate the same.

In the meantime, I will watch Ebay and Canal St. to see whether my Essay 3 mysteriously turns up for sale. At least I will know the sreet value of Essay 3.

Columbia Submitted

2006-12-27T07:08:00.000-08:00

I submitted the Columbia regular decision application a few minutes back. Compared to the other two applications this was a bit easier to do. The reason is that most of the subjects discussed in the essay are from the beaten track. Now there are only long waits to complete. My interview at Wharton, thorough research on Stern and Columbia and three mock interviews I took so far have adequately prepared me for the interviews from Stern and Columbia. So practically my 2007 application work is over.

Personal and professional life are going to be hectic in 2007. The uncertainties of the admission process are also there. In addition in the last few weeks, partners from my entrepreneurial past are brewing up an interesting concoction of a promising business idea. I am excited about the thought of getting back into the fire in the belly days of scouting for investments, setting up the office, hiring people and most importantly creating something new. Things will be clearing up as the days progress.

This post will mostly be my last for the year. 2006 has been a wonderful year. I rediscovered many of the paths I traveled in my past. I made a bunch of new friends through the application process. Family life was wonderful. Was blessed with a nephew. Most importantly got a chance to reflect on my life so far and clearly define where I want to go and how I want to reach there. A journey that started as a career move to put a rubber stamp validation on my resume took many new dimensions of self discovery. So I want to thank the admissions process of these eminent business schools for forcing thousands of applicants to critically analyze their lives each year. Grueling as it is I can see the value.

Wish each of you a wonderful 2007, Chase your dreams, they will come true!

WAITLISTED @ Wharton

2006-12-21T07:30:00.000-08:00

Wharton Waitlisted me!. If you have ever worried about your darkest fears coming true, you know exactly how I feel now. The Wharton Waiting List was the worst decision I 'expected' from Wharton. And that is exactly what I got.

Yesterday I spent about an hour on the S2S chat with a lot of fellow applicants all travelling the same boat - D-Day wait. Today I learnt the fate of many. The most active ones got rejected. It is a sad feeling.

Wharton released the decisions in batches. People in China, Singapore and other Asian countries got calls first. I frantically tried refreshing the status page till 9:10AM. Then I was convinced that Wharton is going to let people like me, the ones in East Coast of US know the results towards the later part of the day. So I proceeded to do something else, take a friend's mock interview. This friend has an interview scheduled for one of the top business schools tomorrow. We spoke over the phone for 30 minutes. Most of the answers were good. I gave feedbacks on delivery, structure and content, wished luck to each other, and I returned back from the conference room. Out of curiosity I clicked refresh, and there it was, a decision letter link at the bottom of the application page. When I clicked on it I saw, what you can see on the upper left - WAITLIST.

Rationally speaking this is not the worst case scenario. Unlike Harvard where noone is usually picked from the Waitlist, Wharton do select competitive applications from the Waitlist pool during the next round. The aganozing part is the wait. Anyone who is serious on an MBA admission must have at least put in one year till now to make a competent R1 application. I did. Starting from the day I started serious preparation for GMAT till now it is more than an year. Though a blip in the bigger scheme of things a wait for three more months is painful. It pains even more when you know that there may not be a clear decision on March 22nd the next decision date. Adcom will consider the application for its relative strength with respect to the applicants in R2, and then may either Accept, Reject or Waitlist - Continue :-)

There are cases from the past, where R1 Waitlist has extended all the way to Preterm.

The light at the end of this tunnel be worth this bumper to bumper traffic.

I salute all those who got admitted to Wharton. Now I know for sure that you all put in a better application than I did. All the best!

For me, this decision gives an increased vigor to apply all I got to the one application I have left to do - Columbia. In adition, I will explore Stern further (I have setup a meeting with a student for tomorrow morning) to define my interview strategy. Stern is very keen in fit, and a fit I will be able to show only through enough interactions with the school.

A productive 24 Hrs

2006-12-13T11:05:00.000-08:00

From 1 to 5 in 24 Hrs. I completed all my Columbia essays. From my experience I would say they are 85% done. A couple of them are precariously touching the outer limits of acceptable word count bulge of 10%. Once I cut some flab my Columbia Essays will be ready to upload.

On the downside it means I will have more time at hand to brood over what Wharton has in store for me. I was hoping that Columbia apps will keep me occupied till the D-Day. That was not to be.

Shedding all modesty, I feel I have a strong chance to make it to Wharton. While I am on the wiser side of the average student body, my experience and goals should add a unique color to Wharton 2009. Did I sell myself correctly?, that is the million dollar question. I can only hope that the adcom sees things as clearly as I would want it to see.

I also did some serious thinking on what I would REALLY do if none of my admissions come through. I will come back to India earlier than I planned, and will enroll in the 2009 1 yr MBA programs either at ISB or IIMA. Such an education coupled with my experience should help me reach my goals.

One up in the Uptown

2006-12-07T10:03:00.000-08:00

Prof. Michael Morris is a great teacher. The students are exceptional. The school environment was surprisingly casual. And as of now, I could write my 'Why Columbia' just by citing my experiences at the Managerial Negotiations class Prof. Morris took.

Since I am writing the Columbia Essay1, and because I cannot do justice to the 'Why Columbia' without sitting in a class, I shuffled many important parts of my office life to attend a class at Columbia. It was worth the drive, half day off from my work, $36 for parking (no I did not live there for a week, it was for 3hrs), and $5.40 for a slice of pepperoni pizza (No, not the whole pizza!). Though it was the final class of the course, and though the major part of the class was role play simulations, I experienced what each of those admits are capable of - the intellects, clarity of thought, strategic positioning and effective decision making skills. I can see myself becoming a better leader through such a structured educational environment.

In addition, this visit changed some of my preconceived negative perceptions of Columbia as an uptight, fiercely competitive, finance oriented, school. While I would not go anywhere near of rating it as the best collaborative environment (for which the winner is Wharton), there is no question in my mind that there are only exceptionally bright minds in there - students and faculty. How great will it be to know those people for life!

I will submit by columbia RD application later this month.

The countdown to downtown

2006-11-29T06:51:00.000-08:00

'Downtown and down to earth'. That is what Stern stands for. I am all set to submit my R1 Stern application. In fact, I may do it right after I publish this blog. []Update : And Yes, true to my word, I did too. So that is two down and one to go]

Stern application is a lot shorter than Wharton's. There are only three essays to tell your story with, of which one is an odd ball - the creative essay where you can submit anything but food, electronic media and worn T-Shirts. There is no space in the application for your job responsibilities, but of course it requires a resume. Another oddity is that Stern needs your official transcripts , and a copy of the degree certificate.

I went to Stern on Monday afternoon. I carried a rather conspicuous package, my creative essay. After I submitted the essay and the transcript I enquired whether I could attend a class. I knew the class visit schedule was full. Even so they were nice enough to ask me to hang around to see whether there are any open slots. Though I was keen to attend a marketing class, in this situation I took what was available. A class on Global Banking Risks. The class blew me away!

The quality of teaching was way better than what I experienced in Wharton. Again please take this comment with lots of salt. Since, the Wharton classes I attended were the last ones before the midterm. Hence the subject matter was at a much more advanced state. Where as, the Stern class was an independent capsule in itself. The professor was a very respected Wall St. Executive with lots of hands on experience. In addition, I had in depth knowledge on all the cases he discussed in the class - the LTCM collapse, Russian debt defaulting and the Japanese Real Estate decline. So it is quiet possible that my Wharton class visit is not quiet representative to be compared with my Stern class visit.

I will conclude with a line I penned to a friend few minutes back. - So to summarize, my brain likes Stern more where as my heart still beats Whar'..'Ton'...''Whar'..'Ton'...''Whar'..'Ton'...''Whar'..'Ton'...'

The IT Pride

2006-11-27T18:31:00.000-08:00

In the MBA Admissions world, Indian, Engineer, IT (IE-IT) combination apparently is plenty. At least that is what many IE-ITs out there think. A large number of IE-ITs also think they are in a tremendously competitive 'pool'. This thought naturally is extrapolated to a bigger question, How will I differentiate myself from the other 999 clones?. While an important question, in my opinion the roots, progression and manifestation of the question are all wrong.

I am an IE-IT applicant, So my words, thoughts and actions have some credibility. I do not expect everyone to agree. I would love to have a healthy debate In case you differ with my opinions.

In my opinion, a regular IE-IT applicant has tremendous advantage. The advantage is firmly rooted on many unique aspects.

India has 28 states and 7 union territories. Each of those states differ from each other in more than subtle ways. We come from different cultures, talking different languages, experiencing different ideologies and reading different newspapers. Let us not even go near the cuisines; how lame is it that so many restaurants out there call themselves 'Indian'?, Can there ever be an Indian restaurant showcasing at least 28 dishes; one each from each of those states?, How many chefs are going to be there!

Your experiences mould you. And since those experiences are different, how you became who you are is different. Hence I do not see lack of uniqueness in an IE-IT.

Now, let us focus on the IT aspect. My IT experience has made me an expert in certain areas of the following industries; investment banking, pharmaceuticals, food and nutrition. I know aspects of book publishing and assessing personalities in 29-dimensions :-). I know how e-commerce makes money, and I know how to analyze the customer demographics to make informed marketing decisions. How many applicants out there, you think, carry such a huge opportunity to learn so many different businesses? I would say very few. In any year, most of IE-ITs shift across three business segments. You are supposed to learn, master and apply skills in completely new industries overnight. Now, it is easy to get tangled in braces, semicolons and asterisk. But those with business dreams written all over will learn the business of the project they are in. If you do not, please do. While how you comment a line of code may change from project to project, and may at times be an exciting learning opportunity, do not miss the bigger picture and miss the chance to internalize one more new business knowledge. Believe me you the uniqueness will be written all over each of us once we do this internalization.

IE-ITs are exposed to tremendous leadership development opportunities daily! You know what I am talking about, we get to learn from our managers up close, we get to lead teams fairly early in our careers, we get client facing assignments sooner, we interview people...And, if your job is not letting you do all these, you have the option to turn in your papers and walk over to some where across the street where you get what you want.

International experiences are something that sets IE-ITs apart. We do not get to work in 'one' country abroad; we frequent countries. Be in the look out for new cultural experiences. Understand the local customs, the way people do business, underlying philosophies etc. Don't take comfort in the dal and chapati. Experiment. Get to know your neighbors. Learn from every morsel of 'newness' that comes across you.

While IE-ITs have similar opportunities to be unique, the uniqueness of these opportunities make all the difference. So, I believe being IE-IT is nothing but a great advantage when you are trying to set yourself apart.

Ohh, one more thing, stop worrying about that high GMAT. Nobody cares much!

A tough question - That still lingers

2006-11-21T14:22:00.000-08:00

My Wharton interview is over for many days now. As days pass by the vividness of the interview experience is fading. With a busy schedule of NYC schools' admissions looming in the background, distancing from the Wharton experience will help reduce stress. How much ever I try I guess part of my mind will agonize over the criticality of Dec 21st - the decision day!.

The whole admissions process was an introspective experience. Of all the probing questions that my interviewer asked me, the one which caused significant introspection to me was , "How will you define success?". My spontaneous answer which covered some qualitative and quantitative aspects of success was very original, and once again took me through the now so familiar self discovery zone. So, to all the applicants out there, do ask yourself this seemingly innocent question : "How will YOU define success?"

The Wharton interview

2006-11-17T13:02:00.000-08:00

Four hours back, exactly at 11:50PM EST, I finished my very enjoyable 40mnts long interview with a Wharton Graduate Assistant. Everything Mr. Thomas Caleel, preaches is true as far as Wharton's admission process goes - there are no tricks.

Interview started exactly on time, and my interviewer first explained to me what is the format of the interview and what to expect. She then proceeded with the ice breaker of walking through the resume. She followed up with a Question on my leadership style. Then we discussed , Why MBA?, Why Wharton?, Leadership Example, Team work Example, How I'll define success , What will I contribute, How will my classmates remember me by and a few more questions expectable from an MBA admissions interview. Lastly she answered all my three questions to her at length, and escorted me out into the lobby.

She did a wonderful job of showing complete involvment in the interview process. In fact though I was a little nervous in the beginning she made me feel completely at home through her friendly approach.

In short I love Wharton even more now, and will look forward to the decision day, December 21st.

Wharton would like to see my face...

2006-11-07T10:47:00.000-08:00

Today Wharton invited me for an interview. What a wonderful thing to write. It is exciting to know that the endless hours spent writing, editing, fine-tuning the application and the long months spent learning, teaching and dissecting GMAT complexities did not end with no tangible results. Statistically Wharton admits 50% of those interviewed. It is an important milestone, yet no time to rest yet!

The Stern Essays are coming up very well. The Wharton essay experience has sculpted my writing style from raw clay to a beautiful flowing art-form. It definitely was not through self discovery. It was through the numerous feedback sessions from my friends who wore a ruthless critique's cap to dissect my essays. Thank you all. In retrospective, internalizing your teachings has also helped me reduce your critiquing efforts for the later essays. However, you still amaze me with those invaluable suggestions that gives my essays new dimensions.

At some point of time, definitely after all the admissions excitement is over, I'd publish those essays here.

But for now, let it all be Robert Frost , "Miles to before I sleep..."

One down and Many more to Go

2006-10-21T05:29:00.000-07:00

I submitted Wharton R1 application on October 11th, one day before the deadline. I felt relief and pride at achieving an important milestone. The essays took a lot more time than I anticipated. It went through a complete rewrite and then continuous incremental tightening to convey my story in the most concise way I could. My friends helped me all the way. Each critic has contributed invaluable quality to my final version. Finally when I felt each sentence has a purpose, and each word inside each of those sentences are the most accurate one to convey my message I stopped.

Even the final day had enough drama. I feel every applicant may have one black sheep essay - the one perceived as the weak one. I had one too. So in the last two days I decided to pick a new topic for my last essay. I completed the essay, tightened it, whartonised it and finally was left with two glowing essays. I had to fight hard to pick a favorite. Finally, in an anticlimax, I went with my original essay.

Once Wharton applications done, I decided to visit Wharton. It takes close to two hours and $13 for me to reach Wharton. I attended two classes, had lunch with students, and made a few new applicant friends. Looked like I was the only R1 applicant. The students were very impressive. They showed us around and gave us very good information on the application process, curriculum, life @ Wharton and housing options in Philadelphia. I decided to head back after lunch.

Now I have self set deadlines of Nov 20th for Stern and Dec 21st for Columbia. It gives me one month for Stern and two months for Columbia.

The F-Factor in the Applications

2006-09-27T08:05:00.000-07:00

It is ironic that there is no 'F' in the word 'MBA Admission'. I would love to pluggin an 'F' before and after each letter. The 'F' stands for Friends. And where will my essays be without all those friends to help me out.

Do not get me wrong! I still have not reached the bad state where I shamelessly ask my friends to pen the Essays for me. As of now they are my support system. Some are brutal - waiting like a hungry lioness for the fresh essay to popup on their inbox, and some are like parents - 'Why would you do use that word?', and again some are like seasoned editors - with my essays coming back via return mail, neatly commented in the margin with anecdotal suggestions on how to improve. And an unique critique of the lot is my dearest wife. She loves everything I write! After seeing the brutal treatments from other editors she currently is trying very hard to change her outlook and really look for places to change. And she made some wonderful suggestions that tied my essay sets together.

Overall I am in a good shape with my essays. One school's is done. It is a challenge to work with word limits when Essays pretty much want you talk about your whole life. Still, that is one of the main aspect tested; concision in communication.

If this essay set does not win me an interview and an admission, I will be sure that I missed the bus for some other factor - not essays. Still I will sleep well at night with the satisfaction that I gave my best shot.

A Brief Update

2006-08-30T18:54:00.000-07:00

Last two months were very eventful in my personal life. Wonderful things happened. The MBA Admissions train is rolling on smoothly. I have all my schools figured out. For most of the schools the application timeliness and Essay topics are published. Also I have packed my September Calendar with campus Visits and Class Visits. A most important development is that I discussed my MBA plans with my recommenders. They were very supportive. One of my recommenders is my recent manager. Even though he is not my current Manager he knows me very well. He also has an MBA from a top school. The other recommender is someone who knows me for about 8 Years now. He was my Peer for a long time. When I and a group of colleagues founded our new company he was our leader. I believe these two will do a wonderful Job of bringing out my personality to the Adcom in the right perspective. They both are wonderful people whom I respect to the core.

Much ado about nothing much

2006-06-26T15:38:00.000-07:00

Its a 720, Q50,V37
And there ends my 6 month journey with GMAT.

After the long pause

2006-04-26T09:03:00.000-07:00

Long pauses are annoying. Sometimes you do not know the reasons for the pause. Sometimes, even more painful than the former, you do. I had a pause in my GMAT preparations. Now if you are one of the few who have been following my MBA prep, you are bound to be confused. Did this dude, just finish his GMAT, like a month back?. Yes, I sure did. However it fell short of my expectations so as per my plan, I decided to give it another go. So the pause I was chewing on was simple procrastination. Yesterday I broke it and got back on to the tread mill.

Starting off second time is confusing. You kind of have finished one full circle. What is the point in running the same track again?. I think this time around I may get to enjoy the track better. My shoes are run in too.

The areas to concentrate on are well defined. It is Verbal, and no marks for guessing that. 42 is achievable and I must get it this time. The finer areas for improvement are all three SC,RC and CR. The execution should be very careful this time.

Do complete 1000SC, By posting comments on to the blog
Do a complete workout of old LSAT for CR and RC.
Re do OG, OG Verbal, OG Quant.
Practice tests on Princeton Review, GMATPrep and Kaplan. (4 Tests in all)
Write two more sets of AWA.

timeliness are tight, and I need to get a new coffee maker. My old one broke. Critical for early morning starters.

In the mean time, I have started my application with Columbia and Stern. I created the user profiles and went through the essay questions.

Also I have decided to do 4 courses in a near by Community College to beef up my transcript.

I am feeling very good getting back to writing this blog.

Official Score Report : And AWA

2006-04-07T05:33:00.000-07:00

Day before yesterday, a full 8 days after my GMAT, I got an email from VUE Pearson. It said, that my score will be available online in 24 hrs. I tried to access the link provided in the email immediately and it said the score is not yet in. Naturally I only wanted to know the AWA score. Yesterday, I forgot about this all together. So went to sleep a little late. Half an hour into the sleep I remembered that I should be able to access the score by then. Got up and checked the score. AWA turned in a good 5.5/6 score. I am very happy about it.

Analysis of the issue

Going into the test I decided that the Issue analysis should start with a personal experience. However the subject did not let me bring in any personal experience. What do I have to do with art and government support!!. So I decided to go with plan B, ie. To start with a joke. This has worked to my advantage many time in the past. So I started it with a joke involving Michael Angelo, The Pope and the Sistine chapel. The first paragraph touched upon two or three important points without any elaboration. I tried to put down few points on the paper before I start typing, but none were coming along. So started typing any way.

Second Paragraph my position I am taking was stated, and two main points were elaborated. I tried to use the correct pronouns, and cite cite examples as I was moving through. Each paragraph I tried to organize with a simple premises leads to conclusion fashion.

Third Paragraph also I continued the same rant in similar style elaborating two more points. I believe I took an example with Alexander and Homer here.

Fourth Paragraph, was devoted for anticipating some criticism from the critics. The assumptions in my previous two paragraphs were opened for attack from Critics, and then I put in some points to counter those criticism. I tried to sit little bit on the fence here, without getting poked too much on the wrong place.

Fifth paragraph was a nice simple conclusion which said, my point is absolutely correct, even though there may be some critics who disagree with it.

I finished with 5 minutes to spare. I spent the remaining time correcting grammar and spelling.

Analysis of the Argument

In the GMAT, I got the argument analysis first. It was about a newspaper article advocating that a local mall construction should be stopped. My strategy for the argument was to look at it like I would look at a CR question. In general there is no fool proof argument in GMAT. There are some underlying assumptions. So concentrate on those assumptions and ferret them out. Questioning the validity of each assumption is the strategy to go for in the argument analysis. When the assumptions become questionable, the conclusion becomes questionable. Never question the validity of premises. Premises are the only pieces of fact. The way they are interpreted is always questionable.

I spent the first 6 to 7 minutes in preparing my essay outline on the scratch paper.

The first paragraph was devoted to paraphrasing the argument structure. Different argument parts were detailed as premises and conclusion. I did that to make E-raters job a little easier.

Second paragraph was for listing down each of the assumptions the author has made in connecting premises to conclusion. At this point also I did not take any stand.

Third paragraph was a critical evaluation of authors argument style. This was the place I chose to hop on the fence once in a while. I will lean in, land a punch on solar plexus, and immediately sooth out the pain by offering a candy. I hope you get the metaphor. Very gentle but prove your point without directly attacking the author. This went on till I dissected and destroyed every single assumption's validity.

Once done with that Fourth paragraph was for conceding points. Citing additional premises if at all available might help the original argument's cause.

Fifth and last paragraph was for conclusion. In the conclusion my stand was that even though there are many good points cited in the original argument, non availability of data to bridge the assumptions gap make it vulnerable to criticism. There fore further research and additional premises are required to make the argument valid.

I completed the section with 5 mnts to spare. I checked the spelling and grammar, and submitted the essay.

Phase 1 Summary : Day 0 to G-Day

2006-03-31T10:25:00.000-08:00

I took GMAT on 28th March, 2006: Over All 710 a 94th Percentile, With Q49(90th Percentile) and V38 (85th Percentile). This is a rather long post and I am leaving it that way. It mostly is chronicle of events. I am trying not to put unnecessary conclusions. The purpose of my post, and the blog in general is to provide as much information on my methods. It’s up to the reader to draw conclusions, generalizations etc if required. In the grand scheme of things this may help a few in making minor course corrections to his or her benefits.

December:

I started the GMAT preparation in December. I read through many of the blogged experiences of GMAT high scorers. My hypothesis is that in the US if you follow the similar methods you can expect similar results. So if a high scorer has sincerely chronicled his or her study efforts, I could follow the method to get similar results. My starting point was Beat the GMAT Blog, www.beatthegmat.com. From there I spent few hours understanding famous study techniques of Erin, Ursula, TwinSplitter etc. You know what I am refering to. At the end of two days I had a clear idea of which all study materials I should buy. Also I got a good picture of sequence of using these materials, and how much time it is going to take. This estimate was very important to me. That gave a clear idea that I will be able to take GMAT only around February end. Around the same time I took a diagnostic test on Princeton Review website. I got a dismal 570 in that.

Study Material and General Strategy:

I ordered all the study material from Amazon. Amazon took around 2 weeks to deliver those. There were some problems in delivery, but Amazon customer support was excellent. Very much understandably so, since their 1-800 numbers is not advertised. Hence they must be getting very few phone calls. While waiting for the Amazon shipments I started practicing with the practice questions on GMATPrep software. Those Questions, if you have ever attempted them you will know, are simple sets. After I received my Amazon shipments, I started with Princeton Review. I read through Princeton Review completely to get the over all idea of the test and types of questions. Princeton Review - Cracking the GMAT book is a very simple book. It covers subjects in a very superfluous manner. Frankly after the first 1 week I did not even open the Princeton Review book. On an average my weekly schedule was, 2 hours daily in the morning and 6-8 hours in the weekend. I cannot emphasize how much of family support is required to follow such a schedule if you are married. I am very lucky to have a very understanding wife.My Plan for each section was to first study the techniques in Kaplan, then move on to the techniques in Manhattan GMAT. I bought the verbal books of Manhattan GMAT also. After these two are over, I intended to work out the complete OG Section. Also I wanted to keep track of the practice using an Excel Grid I got from one of the GMAT Forums. I did some customization on it to keep track of the time, etc.

Critical Reasoning:

I started with the Critical Reasoning Section. Soon enough found that I had a knack for that section. So was genuinely interested in the subject. First two days I finished the Kaplan chapter, made a set of notes, and moved on to the Manhattan GMAT CR. I did not find the Manhattan GMAT techniques very useful. So decided to stick to the Kaplan way of doing things. CR is very simple in that, once you dissect the argument into Premises and Conclusion and do not lose sight of the scope and the question stem, you can never go wrong. So after the first two days I moved on to OG. Daily load was 40 question sets. Which was not strenuous at all? I could finish 40 questions and its analysis in the morning itself each day. In the worst case, I may finish the analysis part later in the evening. This was my regular schedule. I kept a separate Excel grid for each of my practice sessions. I think it took 4 days for me to finish the CR part of OG. If I am not mistaken I had around 90% accuracy at that time.After this, I moved to the Kaplan 800 , CR Questions. They were really tough. I think I attempted around 10 or so, and decided to go back to it later.

Reading Comprehension:

The next section was RC. Here also I learnt the basic strategy from Kaplan. The strategy is very good and simple. You read and make notes, giving a lot of importance to thinking, why the Author wrote this passage. Also I developed a habit of paraphrasing and summarizing as I was reading. I kept writing notes on the scrap paper for each paragraph. Once the basic strategy was in place, I tried to see what was the strategy advocated by Manhattan GMAT. Their’s was radically different from Kaplan. I do not want to confuse any by going through the nitty grities. I did not find Manhattan GMAT RC technique useful. So for RC also I decided to stick with Kaplan techniques. I first finished the RC passages, which may have taken 2 days or so. Later I moved on to OG passages. I continued to complete around 40 questions a day from OG. I believe I finished the OG, RC section in 4 days or so. A point to note is that, various GMAT Old question papers sold separately by GMAC, carries the same RC passages as the ones in Og 11th edition. This proved a little bit of a dampener later when I started taking old GMAT question papers. So if you have plans of taking the Old question papers later, keep in mind that you may be seeing some repeat questions from OG. No other section seems to be so adversely affected. Once OG was completed, I moved on to Kaplan 800. The passages were visibly tougher. But not as tough as some of the RC passages in the Kaplan CD, practice tests.Around this time, I started practicing with the practice sections of Kaplan CD. Kaplan CD has around 5 , 25mnts crash tests on each of the sections. Apart from those Kaplan has 4 full length tests. The Verbal sections of these Kaplan full length tests are insanely difficult. At least I found those insanely difficult. The quant sections from these practice tests are good. Keep in mind that Kaplan questions are the farthest away from the real GMAT questions. So, you need to analyze and understand what you take away from each of the questions you answer with Kaplan CD. My method was to reduce each question to the barebones fundamental concept being tested, and understand how to solve it. This approach works in any section.

January:

Sentence Correction Round 1

Next I started with the Sentence Correction section (SC). I first read through Kaplan and made notes. Later graduated over to the Manhattan GMAT SC book. This book is the best GMAT literature on GMAT grammar. It is not about the tricks, but all about the fundamental grammar and sentence construction those are tested in GMAT. It has organized the sections into different areas tested in GMAT. Also it has indexed each Chapter with a number of OG Questions. So, as you learn one particular SC area, you have the opportunity to practice real GMAT questions, that test that particular skill. In my first round of study I read through the Manhattan GMAT book, but did not execute the OG questions chapter wise. Soon after I finished the Manhattan GMAT, I attempter to do Kaplan Questions. I came out with around 75% accuracy. This in GMAT world is equivalent to pathetic. The fears were re-confirmed when I started taking OG. In short I sucked in SC. Hacking at it for next few days did not provide any considerable improvements. So I decided to visit SC once I am done with the Quant section.

A Short Break

At this point, My wife and I left for a 10 day trip to Puerto Rico; letting go off all GMAT preparation for a whole 10 days. When I came back after the vacation, recharged as I was, I found myself getting up late, not concentrating much on GMAT etc. Basically there was tremendous resistance to get back to the preparation process. So, if you are weak at heart please do not take a long break from your GMAT preparations. It is best done in one shot. I would attribute a 20 day over all delay caused by my 10 day vacation. Needless to say, we enjoyed the vacation very much.

Problem Solving:

I did not spend any time studying for Quant. Right away I started solving the problems. I started with OG, first 50 questions. All the wrong answers stemmed from silly mistakes. So I decided to be more careful with PS. Data sufficiency was visibly lagging behind PS efficiency. As I was practicing certain areas were identified for intensive revision. In my case they were, o-ordinate geometry, Inequalities, Geometric theorems , Statistics, Probability and Combinations. I learnt that I am very good at number theory, fractions, and different word problems involving speed, work and mixtures. So I spent some time reading through online resources to clear the fundamentals on the first mentioned areas. Those readings were mostly to jog some forgotten areas of high school math. I mostly used resources from some High School Math help websites. Each time I googled on the subject and picked the articles I wanted to read. They were very helpful.With the fundamentals I wanted to clear clear, I started with OG PS. 40 questions a morning, and after working through to Qn 100, I decided to skip over to Question 150 to end. This I did, since the tougher questions in OG are always at the end. To be honest, OG 11th Edition Quant is not tough at all. So if you are aiming for 50 in Quant you will need a lot more practice than what OG provides. Once again, The GMATPrep software has significantly more challenging problems than what OG has. Also, Kaplan 800 has a few tough problems. Kaplan CD practice tests have even tougher ones. But the toughest problems in the block I found in Manhattan GMAT practice tests. I owe it to Manhattan GMAT and GMAT Yahoo Group for my 49 in Quant.Once I was done with OG Practice I finished Kaplan Question in one sitting with around 98% accuracy. So of all the questions available to me for practice, the only ones I missed out would be question 100 to 150 on PS in OG.

February:

Data Sufficiency:

With One section of Quant completed, I started with Data Sufficiency practice. First I finished the Kaplan Questions. The initial accuracy levels were at around 90%. As I did with each of the other sections, I did a thorough analysis with the ones I got wrong. This analysis parts sometimes reveals subtle logical flaws in your reasoning. If you could address it properly the scores go up. I cannot stress on this wrong answer analysis part more. This part of the practice, done properly could contribute the most to a high score in GMAT.I methodically worked through the practice questions in DS from OG. It took 4 days or so to complete OG data sufficiency with all questions answered and all wrong answers analyzed. Over all by the end of it I had a good approach toward Data Sufficiency. Good enough to get 99% correct. Data sufficiency is a tricky area. You need to keep each of the facts separate. Then if required combine the facts and look back at the problem. My Data sufficiency skills were most honed by the barrage of tough questions I got from various discussion groups. The One group I was very active in, was 'GMAT' in Yahoo Groups. There were many clear, bright minds there that helped me correct some of my DS flaws. It is imperative that you at least do all the questions from Official Guide.

Sentence Correction Round 2:

Now with Quant section also completed, I had only my Achilles’ heel to attend to. The Sentence Correction section. I made a detailed plan as to how to about it. I decided to discount out everything except for Manhattan GMAT technique. I followed Manhattan GMAT as a lesson plan. As I worked through each of the sections there, I also completed the practice questions from OG as indexed at the end of each chapter. Manhattan GMAT has the most exquisite method for teaching GMAT grammar. With properly following their techniques, I improved my correct answer rate from 75% to 95%. Also I read a technique mentioned by cali_boy. He suggested writing why each choice is wrong for an SC question. This was a simple but immensely powerful technique. So with one question, you get to practice to identify lot many different wrong answer reasons. In GMAT there is only finite number of ways with which the test writer makes a choice wrong. If you know how a test writers mind works you are almost there in getting everything correct in SC. This technique also helped a lot. So for example when answering a SC question, I may write (A) Wrong Subject-Verb agreement, (B) Wrong , Subject - Verb, Wrong idiom, (C) Correct (D) Wrong idiom, (E) Modifier Problem, Awkward Construction. Another point to remember in all Verbal sections is to read through the Official Guide explanation. It does not matter whether you got a question right or wrong. The Official Guide explanation tells you clearly what reasoning is used by the Question writer in choosing a particular choice as correct. You must develop a skill in thinking like that. I did not develop a good enough skill in this department. I plan to correct it when I retake the GMAT. Mostly this will be my only preparation for GMAT retaking.

The End Game:

In February, before I started the SC, I took two full length practice tests. First I took Power Prep and got a score of 740, and next I took the Paper Test at the end of Kaplan, to get a score of 660. I did not take any more tests till my SC preparations were over.Towards the end of February I decided that it is time for me to lay out the plan for full length tests. At that point I had a number of options for full length tests left. 3 From Manhattan GMAT, 4 from Kaplan, 4 From Princeton Review, 2 From GMAT Prep and 1 From Power Prep. So over all I had a choice of 14 tests. First I fixed my GMAT appointment and time. I wanted a morning section, and I exactly had 4 weekends ahead of me. So I made a clean plan to take 3 full length tests on each of the weekend from then to the test day weekend. Test was on a Tuesday. So on the last weekend I planned to take 1 GMAT Prep, 1 PowerPrep and 1 Kaplan. This plans changed slightly over the course of time. But this was the general idea.

March:

Full Length Tests:

I tried to take at least 1 test each on Saturday and Sunday on each weekend that followed. I stuck to it every weekend. My initials scores were around 720. During the other days I spent learning time by analyzing what I got wrong and why I got wrong. Also I spent time re doing the last 50 questions from each OG section. In addition to this a friend of mine gave my the Verbal Review book for one weekend. I practiced with those as well. This book is also published by GMAC, and carries retired questions. Another opportunity to practice with real GMAT questions I got, when another friend forwarded to me a set of retired question papers. These items formed the basis for my March Practice. The philosophy at this point was to, Eat, Drink and Sleep Official GMAT Questions so that, my approach will be very much aligned to those. I found the Manhattan GMAT full length tests toughest. So spaced them out in such a way that I could complete all three with a week to spare. These tests gave me enough information to understand my weak areas and improve on those. There was a single area in data sufficiency , with absolute values and inequality that I found I could go wrong. So I practiced as much as possible on that. It is very important to know your odds in each of the types of questions. That was you will know how much time you could spend on getting an answer correct. The verbal scores kind of settled around a constant 42 in most of the tests. The Quant scores moved from 45 upward to a maximum of 50. Around this time I was settling down for a score of 720. The Lokesh Khanna , from Yahoo Groups scored a 750 with Q50 and V41. This made me realize that 750 is within reach. So I attempted the last weekend tests with extra energy. In the last 5 full length tests I took I scored, 690, 720, 740, 740 and 750. Last 3 were Paper Test, PowerPrep and GMATPrep. At the end of each test I spent time to understand why I got some wrong. This, I repeat, was the most important exercise in getting my score higher each time. By the end my best performing question types were; PS,RC,CR,DS,SC Listed in the descending order. In the last week I started with Kaplan 800 Quant part. I finished every question in the Quant section. They were pretty good. I got almost all of them correct. I got 2 wrong in the Data Sufficiency section.

General AWA Strategy

I started practice on AWA to wards the middle of March. I must have written 3 Argument analysis and 3 Issue analysis before the final test. I kind of felt that is all that is required. I am not bad in argueing, and I am very good at writing articles. So I did not anticipate any problems in writing 2 very specific issue oriented essays in half an hour. I did not work with any templates for this. I still have not got my AWA score. So will report back later whether this strategy worked.

The Penultimate Day

I took the day off before the test day. I planned to read through OG verbal explanations. That really did not happen. I made a document with details of what to note before going into each section. I practiced some more tough Quant questions, mainly by retaking the GMATPrep. You may want to note that retaking GMATPrep gives you newer questions. The catch is that you should be pushing harder each time. As your score level is elevating the software gives out very varied set of questions.Going into the test, I had a few jitters about the erasable notepad, and making some stupid mistakes in Quant. But that was all I was worried about. I watched some TV in the evening and went to bed early. My test day details are covered in the post below and it is very detailed indeed. So I will not repeat those.

What shall I call it, "A smooth landing?"

2006-03-28T12:32:00.000-08:00

Today was the test day. Slept late till around 6:30am. Unlike the mornings when GMAT preparation, I did not have anything to study. Unlike every other morning, had breakfast at home. Should do it more often. Yeh right !!. Started for the test center at around 7:30. Reached there by 8:15. Sat in the parking lot flipping through some flash cards. Went inside at around 8:30. Signed in and listened to the sermon. She gave me my workstation at 9:00 am. The first was, Argument analysis. I expect a 5 Score on that. The issue analysis did not go very well. I kind of write better when I disagree. This issue I agreed whole heartedly. So was not very passionate. So I expect a 4 score.

I was expecting the breaks to be 5mnts in length. In reality they were 10mnts. So much time. I took the whole 10 mnts to reiterate my Quant strategy. Which, simply put was to go at it very actively. Question 3, a simple one involving three decimal numbers took a hell a lot of time than I anticipated. I did not want to guess so early. So took the hit and solved it. By my first 1/3rd mark when the clock struck 50mnts, I was already 3 questions behind. From then on there was not a single question where I had to spend a lot of time to get to an answer. By the time 2nd 1/3rd was over, ie at 25mnts left on the clocks, I covered the lost ground and was even with the planned number of questions. So I was very relaxed for the last 13 questions. Last question I finished with 30 seconds to spare on the clock. I am very sure that it was experimental question, since that was far too easy.

My reflection on my Quant performance was that I am going to get 45. So I knew the Verbal plan is cut out very vividly. I must go at it with all the energy I got, and score as much as possible. I spent the 10 mnts break flipping through some points I wrote down, like read actively, what to do in CR, what to do in RC, what all errors to expect in SC etc. Also I ate a banana, and my chocolate. The chocolate has been a constant companion through out my test taking. My hypothesis is that if I take a bite of chocolate before every full test section, my brain kind of will know that it has some work ahead. Kind of stupid, but I believe it. Chocolate is known to have some effects on one's mood.

I started the verbal promptly at the end of 10 mnts break. I found the verbal section pretty easy. There were 4 RC passages spread evenly. I got 2 bold face CR and 2 fill the _____, CR. This gave me an indication that I am doing pretty well in Verbal. My definition of pretty good in Verbal is if I am scoring at 42 :-). So I was very happy. I made some cynical calculation that since I am going to be above 90 percentile, no one else in the room has a statistical probability of getting a 90 percentile (Since there were only two other persons in the room taking the GMAT at that time.). Pretty cocky of me. I think I kind of became a little over confident towards the last part of the Verbal and let my guard down. That is in retrospective. I finished verbal with around 1 minute to spare on the clock. Clicked through the screens and waited for the score.

The score report said I scored more than 94% of people who takes GMAT. The overall score was 710, with Quantitative chipping in 49 and Verbal accounting for a miserable 38. I was surprised with both my scores. I was expecting to do a lot better than that on the Verbal. However, the overall score and the balance of the sections should be enough for me to make my case be heard by the admission committees of most of B-Schools. So I am happy with the way GMAT went.

The Phase I is over. I will take a break of one week before I finalize on the rest of the application process. GMAT out of the way is a good thing. I shall just bask in it for a few days, and then get back into action.

GMATPrep Test1

2006-03-26T11:11:00.000-08:00

I already took the test 2 from GMATPrep some time back. So this was my 2nd GMATPrep Test. Over all score was a cool 750 with Q48 and V45. As I was finishing my Quant I realized I am not performing upto my expectations. I badly screwed up with the time and ended up rushing through the last few. I was some what disappointed when I got up for my 5mnts break . Then a question popped in my mind. What am I going to do if the same happens on GMAT?. The answer made it all clear for me. The answer was, "I am going to answer every question in Verbal as if my life depends on it". It paid off well too. I never got 45 in verbal in any of my CAT tests. One paper test I got 50, but I will put it as a fluke. This one, I toiled for it to make up for my weakness in Quant. The morale of the story is, just not accept the obvious. Hack at it with all the energy you got for that 4 hours. Contrary to what many say, it is not just a test if you are expecting a lot from how you perform in it. Give it your 100%.

My last date with PowerPrep

2006-03-25T12:01:00.000-08:00

Today morning, I took my second and last full length test on PowerPrep. The score was 740 with a split of Q49,V41. I felt very good. If this is the indicator of things to come on Tuesday..Wow..

Reflecting on the test, I did not understand the question correctly when Quant at 3 occasions. Not that I miss read the question. I truly felt ambiguous meanings in the question. I got all three wrong.

Verbal was relatively event less. It is my consistent average score and average performance.

In the last few tests, I am taking the time in writing the AWA part. The essays are looking like good reads. For the future test takers, All you need to do is just spend one week in preparing how you are going to write your GMAT essays. Then for the last 3 full length tests, write those essays. Essays are not very important in the overall scheme of things. So do not spend a lot of time preparing for it.

The Crescendo

2006-03-25T03:09:00.000-08:00

This is my last weekend before GMAT. As usual there is plan for this one too. Around 4 more hours of practice left. Kaplan 800 Quant section is almost complete. And Some practice on Manhattan GMAT. Then the all important full length tests. I think I will be very comfortable if I do three more.

The last of the Manhattan GMAT tough full length fetched a dream like 690. It felt very good. I am not seeing weakness in any particular section.

This week I did a paper test of Old GMAT. The score was flooring. 740 with a 50 in Verbal. I am very confident of a good score as of now. All I need from now on is an active mind and the right attitude for those 4 hours. It is going to be just fine.

Towards the last part of practice, I need to read through the OG Verbal. In Verbal, aligning with the GMAC reasoning is the most important thing. The same goes true for AWA as well.

One More Full Length Test Down

2006-03-18T15:23:00.000-08:00

Today it was the day for Princeton Review , Test 3 , 720 (Q49,V41). Over all I did not find the quant section difficult at all. That is a very good sign. Sentence correction still is the drag on Verbal. I had 6 Wrong answers in that section alone. Very well, I will earnestly revise my methods once again. Tomorrow I will take the last of Manhattan GMAT toughies.

Morning started rather lazily. Sleeping till 6:30 and then reading through old notes and Manhattan GMAT Mathc books I got on loan from a good friend. Manhattan GMAT has not done an earnest job of writing good maths books. I went through every section. They are designed for a sub 700 score. I would rate its Strategy series articles, published online, much higher than their Quant books. So my verdict is, Manhattan GMAT has one excellent book on sentence correction and rest all are sub par.

One More Week to Go

2006-03-17T05:54:00.000-08:00

This is the last lap in the GMAT race.

I am very happy with the distance covered and the way the distance was covered. Made lots of new friends, Worked really hard, stuck to a plan, sharpened the weak areas. Going into the last lap these are the points to remember.

Do as many more full length tests as possible. Today morning I started at 4:00 am to finish a Kaplan test. If I could do could more like that I will be able to exhaust out the full length tests.
Make a Revision notebook with quick memory jogger for Quant and Verbal. May be I will just use the Flash Cards, Kim made. (www.beatthegmat.com)
Read through the inequalities and Geometry books of Manhattan GMAT. Especially similar triangle theorems.
Finish off the last 50s set from OG, Also Finish Verbal review which I have on loan from a friend for this weekend.
Do not do anything to change the current style, it is too late to attempt anything drastic.
Sleep well starting from next Friday.

Out of Context: But I just remembered...

2006-03-13T06:49:00.000-08:00

My father taught me Basic maths. He is a great person. I am so proud of him. His life defies the assumption that Ordinary people live ordinary lives. Wait a second; what makes one ordinary any way? Is anybody ordinary?. No one can be ordinary with respect to one's life. Ordinary life must be one of the worst stereotypes created by Culture.

This funny incident used to happen quiet a lot between us. He will give some extremely tough question which needs a considerable time to solve. I will very confidently solve and give the right answer in less than half the required time. He will have no idea how some one could solve it that fast. Beaming with pride, he will then proceed to check my answer. 110% of the time, I must have used some very very very wrong way to solve it, yet get the correct answer. In my later years this has lead some of my favorite Math teachers to believe that, I was trying to fool them in Trigonometry, using the, ' A little consideration will show that : LHS = RHS 'trick. :-)

Funny thing is that, I really am hoping that I get that trait back for GMAT.

After A Long Time

2006-03-12T14:01:00.000-08:00

My Work pressure is preventing my from posting regularly. Last 9 days were very hectic. I was taking full length tests, And practicing the weak areas. At some point you need to accept the realities and move on. 42 is kind of the maximum I am going to fetch in Verbal. Not that it is a bad score, But shy of my original goals. By being extremely alert on CR and RC and taking my much improved chances on SC, My Verbal score will be up there. Quant, I still have space to push. I am kind of Pushing 48 now. Mid 50's is my Realistic aim. This weekend took some really tough tests to ferret out all the possible areas where I could make myself better. I was happy to see a couple of lose ends emerging. Will be working on those during this week to prepare for the dress rehersal next weekend. Two more weekends to go before the final showdown.

My Nemises of Quant

2006-03-02T03:17:00.000-08:00

It is good to know how your mistakes are made. Quantitative practice with the clock cearly brings out the questions where I need to check twice. They are,

Arithmetic Operations : I add and multiply small numbers wrongly : I got 28 x 3 = 78 !! How? !!
I should be careful with questions involving ratios. I have a tendency to go in a wrong direction while solving. I must write down all steps. Skipping steps create problems.
Do not start off solving without a plan.

Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension

2006-02-27T12:48:00.000-08:00

I re-did OG Critical reasoning section. Last 50 questions were tough ones. I decided that doing them will jog the critical reasoning strategy I used to use. It did too. Similar practice I applied to the RC sections from Kaplan CD. I really do not know what I need to do to improve my Quant Score. I, theoretically am capable of getting every math problem correct. However, that is not the reality. May be being more careful with arithmetic, and double checking the Data Sufficiency will yield better results.

My GMAT date is fixed. 28th March. It is a Tuesday, 9:00 AM. So today morning I fixed up my plan for the last 30 days. I will be doing 3 full length tests each weekend. Last weekend, I will do Kaplan 4, Princeton Review 4, and GMATPrep 2.

General status update

2006-02-25T18:29:00.000-08:00

Today I finished my 11 day long Sentence Correction practice. Completed the Manhattan GMAT and OG. I am pretty confident that SC is not going to drag my Verbal average down any more. Today's Kaplan CAT1, showed some encouraging results in Quant. Q50, in Kaplan is a mouth watering score. For the first time, I saw more than one question in Math where I did not have any idea how to solve. I think I will take 2 more Kaplan CAT tests at this point to cement down all the possible tough Math Questions. Also I read up some College Maths basics on inequalities. My fundamentals were a little skewed in Inequalities. Also I brushed up statistical deviation, and other concepts in statistics.

I am starting to see some craters in CR and RC strategy. I am slipping from my comfort zone. A little quick tightening will do the trick and get me back in the game. May be I'll do the LSAT questions, Or may be I will do the Kaplan tests. But this requires immediate attention.

Week So far

2006-02-24T03:40:00.000-08:00

This is week is going very steady. I have been learning sentence correction and revising other areas of the test. Now I am working through the Kaplan CD Practice questions. Also I have the last few sections from Manhattan GMAT SC to cover. Once done I will be ready for my next two Practice tests this weekend. I am observing a strong performance in PS and a weaker than expected performance in DS. I should be very careful with DS questions. Just to see how tough the questions could go, I re took the same Power Prep test again. This time around in match I got more than 75% of questions, brand new. My Q Score came out to be 48 (86%), with 10 wrong answers. Most of them DS. Sentence correction performance is better, but still poorer than my average. Overall score of this test was 720. That just does not mean much since I was re-taking.

An Interesting Presidents Day

2006-02-21T14:49:00.000-08:00

The day started like a normal one. I even made the coffee. Then the phone rang.

Whole morning was all GMAT. Not mine though. My dear friend who was supposed to start his GMAT in 30mnts was on the other side of the phone. He had a downer morning. After, an understandably preparation-ful weekend, and two train rides later, he arrived promptly at Vue Parson in downtown NYC to take the test. He is the type of guy who usually carries 3 spare tires in the trunk. Vue Parson broke the news to him that, his ID was no good. The only ID they deem worthy of their scrutiny is a Passport. Just like so many other things in this country, the imposer hardly ever knows the reason for imposing. And how ever much persuasive the underlying logic and explanations are, still the sufferer ends up the sufferer.

New Jersey, has the toughest, meanest, kick ass rules to deny you a drivers license. There is something called a 6 point check which is performed using a Turbo chraged CT-XRAY-Chromatography-scan machine, installed at every DMV, which once in a blue moon, randomly picks a lotto winner, to hold an NJ license. I have gone with the same person to a far away asylum of a DMV couple of months back, and witnessed live his license application being denied. He is working in the US for the last 6 years. He got his fresh license just last month.

That license, was what, the Vue parson declared unworthy to be considered as a Valid Proof of Identification.

So, he told me of this episode. we did some quick thinking to estimate that there could be a fair possibility of he being able to take the test yesterday itself, if certain stars align and do a jig together. I went to his home, picked up the Passport and drove to the downtown. After a little bit of getting lost he got the Passport in time to take the test.

The burdened he went through clearly reflected on his score.

Morale of the story : Carry your Passport to Vue Parson, If the test is not in your home country.

Tale of Two Tests

2006-02-19T08:07:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I took the PowerPrep Test : 700 (Q48, V38), 9 Wrong in Q, 13 wrong in V
Today morning I took Princeton Review Test 1 : 690(Q44,V41), 4 Wrong in Q, 6 Wrong in V

Verry very very surprising. I need to get out of this rut, and push the score well above 700. What I am going to do is a complete revision, for rest of today. It will freshen up the strategy and, I do have certain areas in PS to refresh.

Statistics, Geometry, Probability.

Sentence Correction Notes : Pronouns

2006-02-18T13:16:00.000-08:00

In GMAT There are three types of pronoun errors to watch out for.

Pronoun Reference
Pronoun Agreement
Pronoun Case

Pronoun Reference

The noun that the the pronoun refers to is the antecedent.

When there are two or more possible antecedents, sentence should be corrected to clear all ambiguity.

Eg.

Since hunting was something Dick loved, he was pissed off pissed off when he criticized him on TV.

Here, Who he? Is a valid question not yet answered.

Since hunting was something Dick loved, he was pissed off pissed off when Larry King criticized him on TV.

Pronoun Agreement

Does the pronoun agree with the antecedent number? [Singular, Plural, Two etc.]

Pronoun Case

Depending on, whether the antecedent is the subject or the Object of the sentence, choice of antecedent differs.

Subject Pronouns will be, I, he, you, she, it, we, they, who etc.

Object Pronouns : me, you, him, her, it, us, them, whom

possessive pronouns: my,mine, your, yours, his, her, hers, its, ours, our,their, theirs, whose

Eg.

Dick and me went hunting together is Wrong, Since pronoun is part of the subject.

The correct form will be, Dick and I went hunting together.

On the other hand,

The hunting was attended by Dick and me, is the correct sentence since 'The hunting' is the subject here.

Who did you shoot, is Wrong.

Whom did you shoot, is correct.

Careful, with possessive Pronouns

When a possessive noun is either the subject or the object in a sentence, and there comes a pronoun to refer back to it, The ONLY correct choice will be possessive Pronoun.

About, Tense (d), Mood(y) and Voice(s)

2006-02-16T09:50:00.000-08:00

Today I learnt the art of using correct tenses. I am starting to appreciate Manhattan's technique. Also, I am seeing amazing improvements by using cali_boy's technique which I mentioned in a previous post. The OG practice I did yesterday evening went very well. I am starting to get a good feeling about the all thing. Now, my notes...

Tense can be used as another great simple pointer in eliminating the wrong answers from answer choices. GMAT, as a convention prefers simple tense where ever possible. Simple Present, Simple past and Simple future. Also the continuous forms of the simple tenses. Present and Past perfect tense is required on specific rules.

If in one sentence there are two actions, both of which happened in the past, one should use past perfect tense for the earlier action, and simple past tense for the more recent action.

For example,

The movie already started before we arrived at the theater, Is grammatically wrong.
The movie had already started before we arrived at the theater, is correct.

According to Manhattan, this sort of errors is a favorite for GMAT question writers.

As far as Present perfect is considered, if an action which started in the past, is continuing to the present one should use Present Perfect tense.

For Example:

The post office has created 10 new jobs till now.

Usage of If...Then Clause:-

Note: The ...'then', is omitted most of the time in this constructed.

If he pays me $100, I will make sure that he gets his ticket.
If [Simple Present]....then [(will/shall/can) + present participle of the verb]

If he paid me $100, I would make sure that he gets his ticket.
If [Simple Past]....then [(would/should/could) + present participle of the verb]

If he had paid me $100, I would have made sure that he gets his ticket.
If [Past Perfect]....then [(would/should/could) + have + past participle of the verb]

Subjunctive Constructs

Subjunctive constructs include sentences where, an Imaginary condition is discusses, or where an urgent, pressing command, request, plea etc. are communicated. I think I can explain them better with a few examples.

Eg.
If I were a millionaire, I would be drinking Champagne every evening.
If the roses were jasmines, this room would be a heaven.

Here, both these examples refer to hypothetical conditions. So, 'were' is the ONLY correct verb to use of the If Clause. Not only that, on the second clause would + infinitive form of the verb ('to' omitted) is the only correct verb form.

A similar nuance is there with the verb 'wish',
I wish she were a chess player, is the correct usage.

Eg.
I request that the bill be passed in this session.
I insist that you give me the job.
She shouted that they not shout at her.

In the above examples, the correct tense form to use is the infinitive with the 'to' omitted for the second clause.

[To be Continued...]

Subject Verb Agreement Notes

2006-02-15T03:34:00.000-08:00

The ability to identify Subject verb agreement errors can be an important skill to carry into GMAT. Another way to eliminate is another way to get to the right answer.

Look for the Obvious disguise using an 'of' construct.

Eg. Houses of that wealthy rich man who made his money by selling dirt are up for auction.

And Vs. Other Additive Constructs.

And, joins the subjects, making a plural verb required. How ever other additive constructs like,

as well as
accompanied by
together with
along with
including

etc. Do not aggregate the subjects. So the required verb form depends on the 'Actual Subject'

Eg. Joe as well as his buddies is going skiing.

Neither...Nor, Either...Or, or

The number of the noun closest to the verb form determines the number of the verb.

Eg. Neither Joe nor his buddies are going skiing.

Collective Nouns

Collective nouns are deemed singular. Examples are; administration, army, orchestra, class, crowd, faculty etc.

Eg. Our army is kicking enemy's ass at the Jammu border.

Indefinite pronouns

They are usually singular. Examples are, Anyone, someone, anybody, anything, no one, nothing. We can generalize it to , ___one, ___thing and ___body are always singular.

Eg. Everybody is eating lunch.

Some, Any, None, All, Many, [SANAM]Could be singular or plural depending on the context.

Eg.

Some money is saved in a CD.

Some of the cars are black.

Each & Every

Each and Every are deemed singular.

Eg. Each of these pretty red roses, handpicked by the iron maiden, is rotten.

Note: This rule applies only if Each or Every comes before the subject. If it comes after the subject, the number of the subject will determine the number of the verb.

Eg. They each are getting a new car.

Numerical Words and Phrases

'The number of' is Singular
'A number of' is Plural.

Eg.

The number of cars involved in that crash is 2.

A number of cars were involved in that crash.

Majority, minority, plurality : Could be deemed singular or plural depending on the context.

Eg.

A minority of the opposing factions are ready for peace talks. But the majority is opposing.

Subject Phrase

Some cases the whole subject may be tangled in a Phrase. Subject phrases are deemed singular.

Eg. Whatever they want to do is fine with the government.

Complexity thou name is SC!!

The direction in which the Earth and the other solid planets-Mercury, Venus, and Mars-spins were determined from collissions with giant celestical bodies in the early solar system.

Here in the tiny section underlined are three major mistakes. Two Subject-Verb agreement problems and one idiom.

The direction is the subject for the verb 'were' , Mistake no 1.

Earth and the other solid planets-Mercury, Venus, and Mars is the subject for verb spins, : Mistake No 2.

determined from collissions : Mistake no 3, Wrong idiom !!!

Back To the Mattress : With Manhattan SC

2006-02-14T09:53:00.000-08:00

Prelude:
No Guns blazing. No schemes to scheme. No blood to spill and no one to kill. Just, I myself and my plan. Back to the Mattress.

Yesterday I chalked out my plan to get my SC performance to something acceptable. I saw an approach written by a person nick named cali_boy in www.sentencecorrection.com. He climbed an Everest of 790, in late 2004.
An inspiring series of posts are at, http://www.sentencecorrection.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1425.
He had a simple method of marking why each answer choice is wrong. I am finding this approach very appealing. This straight away gives you something like n x 5 practice questions to perfect your eye. Without any doubt, noticing the mistake is the primary differentiator to score well in SC or not. Also, of course you need to know your stuff.

So, for the stuff part, I am going back to my Manhattan Prep books. I liked their approach very much. The approach is, to be sticking to the basic GMAT grammar. Today I studied the first chaper on 3 C's of SC. Clarity, Concise and Correctness.

A Correct GMAT SC answer choice will be a clear,concise and grammatically correct sentence.

At the end of each chapter, the book gives a list of OG practice Qn numbers. The first chapter had 14 listed. I was happy to get 11 Correct. Way to go.

Kaplan : Paper Test

2006-02-13T07:57:00.000-08:00

Saturday late night the snow storm started. We did not know that those tiny, shining, drifting snow flakes were determined to topple a 1947 snow storm record. They were.

I woke up as usual at around 5:00 AM. There was a friend sleeping in the guest bedroom. So I did not have access to my PC. I decided to take the Kaplan paper test. This is a Kaplan-GMAT test at the end of the Kaplan book. I finished it comfortably by 8:30AM. Unlike the software counterpart, here you need to compute your score manually. The computation was fairly simple after the GMAT Quant. Every Correct answer fetches 1 point, Every wrong answer takes away 1/4 th. This score is called the 'Raw score'. Quant and Verbal need to be tabulated separately.

My Raw Scores were : Q:37, V:27, From the raw score you get the scaled scores by using a Kaplan table. And by adding the scaled scores and going back to another tackle you get your GMAT Score. Mine came out to 660.

Quant, I got 37/38 Correct. Verbal I got 30/41 Correct. Yes, my sucking in SC continues. Out of the 11 items I got wrong in Verbal 8 belonged to SC. I WILL GET IT RIGHT.

I am pretty satisfied with these results. I am very confident that SC will click for me some time soon. With the kind if steam running on other sections I should be in a good position in GMAT.

And The Score was...

2006-02-11T12:08:00.000-08:00

740 : On Power Prep

Today I am taking the First Full Test

2006-02-11T08:37:00.000-08:00

Yes. Finally the day is here. Litmus test of the preparations till date. Before the preparations my score was at 550.

Things to remember when I take the test (This is a set of notes for myself)

Complete the test.
Keep track of the time at 1/3 of each section. Every 25 mnts I should complete 14. ie, When clock reads 50mnts I should be at least at Qn 15, Clock 25mnts At least at Qn 28.
This is just the first test. So the score will improve from here to test number 13. 13 is the total number of tests I am planning to take.
For Quant, Work out the problem.
For Verbal use elimination.
When CR, first read the Qn. Before reading the stem.
Sentence correction, remember the GMAT grammar.
Reading comprehension, 2 x Total No. of Qns is the time limit for one passage. Take Notes, Write Summary Paragraph.
DO NOT QUIT IN THE MIDDLE.

Down with a fever

2006-02-06T07:30:00.000-08:00

Is it an annual ritual?.

Last may, I had a horrible week. Could not eat, sleep, keep awake, and not do a lot of other things. To add to it, I was misdiagnosed. So to top it all off I had a doctor offered custom designed drug allergy. If I may, let that May may never never happen ever.

Saturday and Sunday I had a fever and a good quality headache. Not bad enough to stop me from making a Lamb Chops, but definitely good enough to keep me away from my remaining OG Practice questions on DS.

So after my excuses : Yes, I did not practice an ounce of GMAT.

Tonight, Or in the worst case tomorrow morning I will finish remaining DS.

My Experiments with Data Sufficiency

2006-02-03T07:16:00.000-08:00

The world of data sufficiency is an interesting maze. Easy to get lost if you stray too far. The correct way is never more than 120 seconds away too!

Like many of the other sections, taking an active interest in the problem at hand is a good strategy in DS also. In verbal sections I would say that attitude will give you a winning edge. However much boring a subject be, if you can fake your mind to like the paragraph for 10 minutes, you can coolly walk away with 5 correct answers from a Reading Comprehension. In my case, I genuinely like, Business, Social, Biology and Physics problems. Critical reasoning will bring out the devils advocate in you. The only section where keeping the meaning a little away from your heart will do any good, is sentence correction. Just remember the GMAT grammar.

Today I sat with OG, DS Set 2. From 51 to 100. They were once again relatively simple. I got 2 of this 50 wrong. Out of the two, one question bowled me clean, since I did not do enough reasoning. The other one was a cleverly disguised word trap.

I am satisfied with the way DS practice is progressing. I could be taking my first full length practice test on Sunday. I am very excited about it. That will be my first pointer of my overall stamina, strategy and alertness. After close to two months preparation that will be the start of the many moments of truths to follow. Am I ready for my 760?

Official Guide Data Sufficiency Practice 1

2006-02-02T03:12:00.000-08:00

Today morning, I started with my first 50 questions of Official Guide DS. I chose to do 1-50, since Kaplan practice results were not so comforting. The first 50 was very simple. If you think you are good at DS, you should never waste time practicing these 1st 50 questions. I got 49 out of 50 correct. One I got wrong was a stupid mistake. 2/5, I evaluated to be 0.2 :-(. The average time per question was 56 seconds. That seems to be well within the available time limits. Then again these were easy questions. Not requiring to read the stem again is the key point once again. Just like it is a key, time management pointer when attacking Critical Reasoning. Read through the stem and, reduce the facts to a simple mathematical equation you need answer for. That could be a working technique for taking on DS head on. Also fundamental principles of checking fact 1 and fact 2 totally independent of each other, and knowing the answer choices cold, are given things.

It is extremely busy at work. So no practice going on, on that side of the day. Mostly tomorrow morning I will take on OG 51-100 Set.

Data Sufficiency : Not Satisfactory

2006-02-01T14:56:00.000-08:00

Well, I started off with the 50 practice questions on Kaplan. 3 Questions out smarted me. Of the 50, I got 45 correct. That was not the correct answer rate I was looking for. Also, Kapan practice tests has been way more easier than the OG Questions in the past. I must say I am disappointed.

I have noted down my weak points. Here the trick is to be extremely systematic. I am sure I will get the proper frequency after a little bit more practice. Also, The Yahoo Group GMAT, is a great help. Some fellows there throws around some very good quality questions.

Kaplan, Hamare Kabze mein Hai...

2006-01-30T15:49:00.000-08:00

Just finished Kaplan practice test from the book. 50 Questions, 49 correct at the first go. Fell to the classic trap of, miss-direction on the stem for 1 question. Of course, got it right on the second look.

Quantitavely speaking

2006-01-28T20:16:00.000-08:00

Today I started practicing PS questions from the official guide. First I did 1-50. I got 48 correct. But those questions were very easy. So I decided to jump to 150-200. That set also I score 96%. Need to catch up on the speed. Technique seems to be working fine. By tomorrow I should be in a good shape to start the data sufficiency in parallel. Problem Solving and data Sufficiency are going to be my race horses. I am depending on them a lot. Sentence correction is still lagging behind. CR and RC at 85% is good enough to go into GMAT, If I could score full on PS and DS. Tough, but doable.

I, at least got my Grove back

2006-01-26T10:53:00.000-08:00

Last two days I am getting up at 4:30am to do OG Questions. In the last two days I finished the First 100 Questions put under the section, Diagnostic Test. 85% is still my correct answer rate. I need to improve that. Reading Comprehension and Problem solving I did very well. Data Sufficiency I have some rough edges to smooth out. Sentence correction is at a paltry 75% correct. What could I do to improve that?. May be more practice is the solutions, and that is what I am going to stick to.

Officially I have not started 'studying' for my Quant section yet. I have to. I know that I need to brush up the statistics and Co-ordinate Geometry. Also, summation of series. A little brushing up in those areas will buy me a few more precious minutes during test taking.

I am happy that I am back on the GMAT trail. Always remember GMAT is the beginning, MBA is the aim.

Back to the thick of it all

2006-01-20T08:26:00.000-08:00

I am back. The trip was very good. Puerto Rico is a diverse country. Geography changes mile to mile from side to side. If you ever be in Puerto Rico do not miss two things, One is the Flamenco beach on Culebra Island. This island is one hours boat ride into the Caribbean Sea from Fahardo. Flamenco is picture perfect with emerald green, slow swaying waves, Green carpeted mountain sides, White soft beach and Coral reefs just a stone throw away into the beach. The second item is the 'Nosh-Pits of Puerto Rico'. They are the road side eateries. In India they may best be called as Tapri, or Dhaba. Those snacks they sell are mind blowing. Delicious all the way. Also I meant the most hospitable hostess ever. Her name is Jasmine. We met her at a small Pardor near the mountainous region of Utuado. The Pardor's name is Casa Grande. She was amazing. The service we received every day at her small restaurant was top class. I will not be surprised at all if we see her next as the Maitre de in a NYC restaurant.

Well travel apart, I am slowly easing into the studies. I could feel the inertia. First excuse was, having lots of work to catch up. Next the golden one, My PC Crashed. Well, I have solutions for both. So back to sentence correction. Way to go baby..

Off to Puerto Rico

2006-01-06T13:43:00.000-08:00

Flying off to Puerto Rico for 10 Full days. That is going tobe FUN. Just checked the Weather. 80F.

It is Official Now : I Suck at Correcting Sentences !!

2006-01-03T19:59:00.000-08:00

My Technique is slow, Error Prone and In-Effective.
Time to buckle up and re-think the SC strategy.

Sentence Correction: The Fundamentals

2006-01-01T10:01:00.000-08:00

According to GMAT, the right answer in sentence will be, Grammatically Correct, Concise in its presentation, Clear in the meaning of the sentence. Hence the 3C’s of correct answers.

So if you are ever tied between two possible right answers look for More Correctness, More Concision and More Clarity.

Concision examples:

Good
The division of work at the factory is a point difference between John and Tom.

Better
John and Tom differ on the work division at the factory.

Good

In the past one year alone price of Gas has increased by 40% upward

Better
Last year alone gas prices increased 40%.

Clarity could be a good yard stick to eliminate wrong answers. If the answer choices alters the original meaning of the sentence even slightly they are wrong.

Example:

All the roses are red.
Vs.
Roses are all red

Even though each of them is grammatically correct the meaning is totally different. Answer choices should not be distorting the original idea of the sentence.

John will come
Vs.
John may come

Grammatical correctness will be discussed in more detail.

Verbal Review RC - First Set.

2006-01-01T05:07:00.000-08:00

I just turned in Questions 1 to 51 from the Verbal review. Quiet satisfied with the results. 48 correct, Above 94% accuracy. That is very comforting. The three wrong answers were primarily due to I, letting the guard down a little. Focus, Critical reading, do not forget these fundamentals when you read a passage. The last set is going to be tougher. I may take it later in the day.

Yesterday I sterted with the Manhattan GMAT Sentence correction. Excellent approach. I will be publishng my notes on sentence correction. So stay tuned.

Wish you a Great 2006

2006-01-01T05:00:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine sent a thought provoking writing on New Years Eve. He characterized the journey of the universe through the new year as another moment in distinguishable from any other moment in the Grand Scheme of things. Well, Thinking from theory of ralativity everything depends on the frame you are on. So agree with him from certain frames. There are minor details likes, the taxes are due etc. to worry about when New Year arrives.

Wish you, your family and friends a Wonderful New Year, Let all your dreams come true.

Official Guide - Verbal Review - Practice Questions

2005-12-31T04:46:00.000-08:00

One of my friends was nice enough to lend me his copy of the The Official Guide for GMAT Verbal Review when he was going away on vacation. He is a very good person, know him for so many years now. One friend whom you can depend on to never ever let you down. So today morning, It was me, my coffee and The Verbal Review, Questions. From my experience now I know for sure that the last 1/3rd of the practice questions are the toughest. So I decided to do the last half of Critical Reasoning Questions (Qn 41 - 82). As expected, the first 15 questions went like a breeze. Then I started to feel the cogs grinding, and neurons in the brain starting to fire rapidly. I did bad with the time. It took me 10mnts more than my self allocated 70 mnts, limit. I ended up with 38 Correct and 4 Wrong. I have not done the analysis yet. May be I will do it once I finish this post. I am quiet satisfied with the results. I am planning to do one set of Reading Comprehension later in the day. Also it is time for me to start on my Sentence correction theory. So that is the rough plan for the weekend. Couple of practice sets from Verbal review, and Sentence Correction theory.

Kaplan CD Questions

2005-12-30T05:48:00.000-08:00

I spent the last two days concentrating on taking tests on the Computer under strict timed condition. It is evident that howmuch ever I try I cannot give complete justice to 16 questions of RC presented by KAplan CD in 25 mnts. I am getting 88% correct. Still the last RC, is more done by intution than by complete comprehension. The CR Section was a breeze. Thiming was not a problem, neither was the well practiced reasoning techniques. I scored close to 90% on CR practice from Kaplan CD. Also I took practice swings at the PowerPrep and GMATPrep software. Performance was not bad at all. CR, 100%, RC 90%. as of now I am feeling very comfortable to move on to the Sentence correction practice. I am going to leave couple of practice sets aside to attack later once I finish sentence correction preparation. The timing issue of RC is not a big concern as of now. My reasoning is that I will have left overs from SC and CR to compensate for RC.

Manhattan GMAT : RC & CR Question Bank : My Opinion

2005-12-28T06:46:00.000-08:00

Today, I took the the Manhattan GMAT Question bank on RC & CR Twice. My performance was laughable. Out of the 25 Questions, I got 14 correct on the first attempt, 16 correct on the second attempt. I was very confused since none of the questions I attempted was particularly difficult. They were no where as taxing as the Kaplan 800 Questions. Still I performed far far below my average.

After the second attempt also failed I decided to look at the answers and explanations. In my opinion the logical reasoning in these questions are far far away from what I learnt using, Kaplan and what I experienced using OG. The answers, and explanations were not convincing for many questions. I have to conclude that, In my opinion these questions are badly written, and badly explained.

I think I will take the CD tests from Kaplan today in the evening. Also I will attempt RC from Kaplan 800.

Christmas Weekend Update

2005-12-27T06:07:00.001-08:00

It was all about practice tests this weekend. Nothing much of theory. I finished the last and final set from OG. In addition to that I did the practice set on RC and CR from PowerPrep. Also I took the monthly test on Kaplan website (30 Questions). Also I did analysis of all the tests. Saturday I spent some 6 hours, Sunday around 2 hours, and Monday which again was a Holiday another 6 hours. RC I have improved very much. I am close to my 90% correct rate. CR, I am exactly where I was before, at Around 86%. Kaplan test, I flunked at 70%. I made some very silly mistakes in DS and CR.

In addition to this, I yesterday tried my hand at the KAplan 800. First RC, I got 3/4 Correct. I was charged up. The second one I got 1/4 correct. I was brought back to reality. I closed the book and called it a day.

Today, my plan was to start at 5:00 am as usual. But I decided to sleep till 6:30, since we slept late. I will be taking the Manhattan GMAT Question bank in the evening. It is on RC and CR.

Third Set of RC From The Official Guide

2005-12-25T04:16:00.000-08:00

A Merry Christmas to Everyone !!.

This set was for Questions, 76 to 110. 35 Questions.

Timing was a little more than 2 mnts per question. That was not very encouraging. My initial feeling at the end of the test was over all I was satisfied, But last passage I felt, I lowered my guard a little.

Final analysis confirmed it. I got 29 out of 35 Correct. Again sticking to the 82%. That was a little disappointing. However a closer look at the wrong answers consoled me a little. None of the wrong answers were due to a technique error, or comprehension error. They were careless mistakes. As I suspected, 3 out of my 6 errors came from the last paragraph. Also, I was able to get all but one of the 6 Questions correct on my second attempt.

Next, The last and final set of OG !!. May be tomorrow early morning. Today, the Christmas day is cramped with Social obligations.

Analysis of First Two Sets - RC

2005-12-24T17:21:00.000-08:00

A Merry Christmas, And Wonderful Holidays to everyone. Enjoy the season with your loved ones, and be ready for the new year !!.

Today I did a thorough analysis to understand my logical flaws in answering RC questions. The conclusion is that, defining the scope of the question is where I am going wrong. I am going to correct it by going back to the passage / Notes One more time to confirm an answer. This could take slightly more time. Since my current timings are very good for RC, and since with more practice speed of answering will increase, I think this new approach will not leave me short of time. Any way, I will start seeing the results, or effects soon. So corrective action, if required could be adopted.

My Analysis method was very simple. From my answer grid first I classified all passages into One of the four sections, Social, Biology, Physics, Business. Then I went to each paragraph and read it once more. After that I attempted the questions I got wrong in that passage. With the logical reasoning fresh in my mind, I went to the OG explanation to understand their reasoning structure. I must say I agreed with every one of their explanations.

I compiled a grid with some statistical data similar to the one I did for CR. I will publish those once I complete all questions in RC.

OG-RC Second Set Finished.

2005-12-23T14:29:00.000-08:00

Today I came back from office a little early. So decided to attempt another set of next 39 questions from OG. Timing was not bad at all. Something like 109 Seconds per Question. That seems to be right on target for the test.

I got 32 out of 39 Correct this time. So the correct percentage is 82%. Now I will take a breather and analyse all the wrong answers. This is an important junction. I need to get the correct answer rate above 90%. Do not know where I am going wrong. Hopefully this analysis will shed some lights.

RC Train Back On Track

2005-12-23T06:42:00.000-08:00

Yes !!.

As I promised myself, I woke up dot at 5:00. Started a pot of coffee. And did the first set of 36 Questions from OG. Initially I felt my speed was not up to the mark. For the first seven questions I took close to 19 mnts. Later I gathered momentum and finished 36 Questions in One Hour. I got 29 Correct. That is a percentage improvement of 4%.

90% of the errors were from the first 50% of the questions. I realized my answering grid need a little modification to the analysis of the answers more effectively. I need to add Two more columns, One With Topic : Subject (Business, Science, Social), And the Length of the passage. That way I will get a clear idea of which type of passages I have problem in comprehending. Over all I was satisfied with the Topic Paraphrasing technique I was using. I am able to remember most of the content of the para without going back to the text.

I will do the detailed analysis of the errors today evening. I will keep a tally of not only my wrong answers, but also the places where I got them wrong. From the initial scanning itself I can see a clear pattern emerging. This analysis, I believe will be to my advantage.

Also, I am keeping up my daily routine of doing 20 Quant questions everyday. Even though the questions are a lot simpler than what I am anticipating for GMAT, I feel this exercise will keep my Quant skills well oiled.

I am taking it TOO Easy

2005-12-22T19:44:00.000-08:00

I am bad. I was watching a DVD whole evening. Now I am sitting next to the OG with all RC Section book marked and everything. I even neatly earmarked the question sets I am supposed to take as part of each session. Basically I divided the OG Questions into approximate batches of 35 Each.

But, I have not started !!.

May be it has something to do with my dismal performance in Kaplan RC. I scored 76% correct. That is a bad rate.

I MUST start my OG-RC Practice tomorrow morning. No snooze button when the alarm rings. Get up, Put the Coffee, Freshen up and attack the session. Procrastination has destroyed one too many good things in my life. Not this one.

The Reading Comprehension Train Rolls On.

2005-12-20T06:14:00.000-08:00

By, Yesterday evening and today morning I finished the Study material from Manhattan GMAT and KAplan on RC. The approach of these two are as different as schools of thought from two religions. Both are trying to achieve, and will achieve the same set of correct answers. But there are some major differences in the way each of them tries to cultivate the quick reading strategy. I think I am going to stick to the Manhattan Technique for reading, and use Answering technique from Kaplan. Not because I want to be a nice person, but because I feel this is best suited for me.

Manhattan GMAT, forces you to read in a carefully careless manner. Also the approach is different for Short Vs. Long Passages.

For Long Passages :-

Read the First 3 sentences of the First Para carefully, Then SKIM through the rest of first Paragraph. After finishing the first paragraph Jolt down up to 3 important points from the first Para by giving core importance to first 3 sentences. This will become your Skull section. Box it up.

Next, Read the first two sentences of each of the remaining paragraph very carefully. And SKIM through the rest of the material. Al the end of each paragraph put down in billeted points what you think is important.

At the end of this exercise you will be left with a Skull section, and 2 Bulletted ideas from each paragraph. According to Manhattan, this is enough for you intelligently approach each question.

For Short Passages:-

You can take a more detailed note taking as you go along as long as the time allotted is not exceeded.

That brings the question of how much time should be spent?

For the timing what they suggest is, You will know in advance by looking at the Question header how many total RC questions are going to be based out of the given Material. For example at the first question, header will read as, Question 21 of 21-24. This will tell you that there are 4 questions. So they advocate using 2 x 4 = 8 min total for attacking this RC. You should use a maximum of little less than half of this time to read and prepare the summary. Something like 3min 30 Secs for 4 Question passage, 2 min 30 Second for 3 Question Passage.

That will leave us about a minute to answer each of the questions. These timings are as always rules of thumb. I will be starting to do practice questions today evening. I will update back as to whether these techniques are working for me or not.

Weekend Update : In-short, nothing GMAT about it

2005-12-19T03:42:00.000-08:00

Yes, Nothing GMAT about it. Well, almost.

We had guests during the most part of this weekend. So my GMAT preparations were confined to doing CR from Kaplan GMAT 800 . Oh, Boy those are some tough questions. There are these 28 questions, which usualy can encountered only at Courtroom drama Movies from Hollywood. I could get only around 60% correct. Neverthless, I reviewd all the mistakes to get an idea of what to expect at the highest strata of GMAT.

Today morning I started with the Reading Comprehension section. First I did a review of Princeton Review : Cracking the GMAT with CD-ROM, 2006 . Then quickly moved on to Critical Reasoning & Reading Comprehension GMAT Preparation Guide (Manhattan Gmat Prep) RC Section. I have a feeling that I am going to stick to the technique Manhattan GMAT is advocating. If it works, which I will know for sure only when I start doing the OG questions, it will be the fastest approach to getting in and out of RC. Attacked with proper technique, RC should be a no sweat section to score high. Time management is key here.

OG - CR Section : Final Analysis of the Errors

2005-12-16T03:24:00.000-08:00

Thinking Critically these numbers alone are not enough to draw a conclusion. An additional data classifying all Questions into different Question type buckets is also necessary to draw any conclusion out. However, I could argue that Practicing , 'Weaken The Argument' Type of questions more, could give me a better success rate in CR Section. Assuming the Questions in OG are representative of the questions I could expect in actual GMAT.

Total Questions : 124, Correct : 107 : Wrong 17.

The Wrong Answers are Distributed like below:

Type of Error	Concept Errors	Careless Errors	Total Errors	Error Type Percentage
Assumption	2	0	2	11.76
Weaken The Argument	9	1	10	58.82
Find The Argument Type	1	0	1	5.88
Find the Conclusion	1	0	1	5.88
Additional Premise	1	1	2	11.76
Strengthen	1	0	1	5.88
Totals			17	100

OG Practice Question on CR All Done.

2005-12-15T20:35:00.000-08:00

Just Now I finished the last set of 44 Questions on the 124 Question CR Section on OG Ed 11th. On the last set I found some tougher questions with double negation in the stem. My score on this set was 36 / 44, Around 82%. For the Whole of CR Section I got 86% correct. I donot have any bench mark to cmpare it against.

These are the Question Numbers I missed:
1,10,18,26,38
48,61,74,77
81,91,94,95,107,109,115,116

I will do a thorough review of each of these questions to understand whether there is any pattern.

Today I did a neat 20 Qn. 30 mnt Quant set at the office. MAin objective was to keep my Quant skills sharp. Happy to note that I got All Correct :-))))).

Foot Note:-
Okay, I got something to bench mark. I took the OG Diagnistic Test results table. There were 17 CR Questions in the test. Diagnostics table states if you get 14-17 Correct, your score is 'Excellent'. Hmm, Reducing 107/124 to a Fraction with 17 as the denominator, My score is equivalent to 14.6/17. That is Consoling.

Some Study Notes on CR Strategy

2005-12-15T16:21:00.000-08:00

These are my basic principles for approaching CR. This is based on a very successful strategy from GMAT 2006, Premier Program (Kaplan Gmat (Book & CD-Rom)) .

Understanding the structure of the argument

Preview The Question.

Paraphrase Author's point.

Judge argument's persuasiveness.

Answer the Question being asked.

Try to Pre-phrase an Answer.

Keep the scope of the argument in mind.

OG - Critical Reasoning Practice Set 2

2005-12-14T19:43:00.000-08:00

Was in the mood for some Critical evaluation. So I sat with OG to complete CR Questions 41 to 80. It was not strictly timed. After 23 Questions I went and watched the show Apprentice on NBC. Finished the remaining 17 after the show. Over all I felt the Questions were a little harder than the first set. May be it is the fatigue from a working day. Final tally was, 36/40 Correct. That will take my CR scoring rate to 90%. Very relieved to know that my skill is improving. Tomorrow morning I will take the last set of 40. Hope to get everything correct on that :-).

While reviewing the wrong answers I realized my mistakes were none from carelessness. All four I got wrong were above my finer critical evaluation skills. For the inquisitive mind any out there, The Questions I got Wrong are,

48,61,74,77 All referring to The Official Guide for GMAT Review Critical Reasoning Section.

Today at the office I got a half an hour to spare. So I dived into some Quant questions. After all my plan is to ace the quant section. So need to keep my Quant skills fresh. Well, I was very disappointed with the results. I got 3 wrong in a 20 Question 30 minute set. That puts my Success rate at a dismal 85%. I really need a reassurance tomorrow to make sure that I am okay with Maths. I will take two more sets tomorrow on Quant.

Cracking the Critical Reasoning OG Practice 1

2005-12-14T06:16:00.000-08:00

Today morning I took a 40 Question , 1 Hr Practice with OG Ed 11. The timing was very good. I finished all 40 from 5:30 am to 6:30 am. I got 35 Correct. That puts the correct percentage at 86.5%. Evening I will be doing a thorough analysis of the Questions I got wrong. Since the scores are kind of consistant, and is moving up I feel it will not be necessary to review the reasoning lines of the ones I got correct. Manhattan GMAT Critical Reasoning I should start today evening. Of The Three books I bought, That one is the most interesting in its approach.

Attacking Critical Reasoning

2005-12-13T18:37:00.000-08:00

So, my first Peak to Climb is Critical Reasoning. Yesterday evening I spent 3 Hrs to Understand Kaplan GMAT Principles on CR. I was alot more impressed than I was with PR, Same section. Any way, Today Morning I started my preparation at around 5:30. My Plan was to finish the 50 Qn Practice test at the end of Kaplan CR. I did 40 of them in the morning. Finished the test after reaching back home in the evening. First Cut, I got 86% Correct. Then sticking to my plan I did a round two on each of the Problems I got wrong answers for. After the second round I had 48/50 Correct. After that I went through the explanations of all Questions I got wrong. It was interesting.

Manhattan CR, I strted to read. I am not able to take it a lot further tonight. Had a very tiring day at work. So my plan is to do 40 Questions of CR from the OG 11th Ed, tomorrow morning.

For now..Good night :-)

Weekend Updates : In short Very Productive

2005-12-12T10:01:00.000-08:00

My estimate was right on the money. I suck at Verbal, Compared to my Math. Not a surprise for a Foreigner, who did all his schooling in Malayalam. In short I am very much at 90% in Math. With a push I can get it to 99%. But I am still at a 75% as far as verbal is concerned. The theory got a confirmation after I took my Kaplan, Practice quiz (It is a not timed, 38 Qn Exam with Math (PD,DS), Verbal (CR, SC, RC)). Approximately 7 Questions per section. A huge surprise was that I got all but one of SC correct. CR & RC I was wrong Twice. Well it is true that I got a few wrong on the DS. I am not very worried about that.

Some Common abbreviations that bowled me first few weeks :-

DS - Data Sufficiency
PS - Problem Solving
CR - Critical Reasoning
RC - Reading Comprehension
SC - Sentence Correction
OG - Official Guide GMAT
PR - Princeton Review
800 - Kaplan 800

Today morning I got up to read. A friend emailed a beautiful interview with Sachin Tendulkar. That got the better of my time. All I did was, I did some serious planning with all the materials I got. Now since I know what is there in each of these books I should chart out the study plan. I will publish my plan in one of the future posts. The Outline is to dedicate first 4 Weeks for Verbal. Each Week I will be attacking one Principal section.

Week 1 : CR

Start With PR, Write Good Notes

Move On to Kaplan, Refine add to the Notes

Move On to Manhattan, Refine add to the Notes

Do 40 Qns, Timed Each Day starting from (Day 4) Taking either From Kaplan or OG

Depending on the performance on 40 Question attacks Move on to CR on Kap-800

Take a 120 Qn Mix on the Corresponding Weekend as a Finale

I am not going to start taking any Full tests till 4th Week of my study. This will be the general approach

Cracking the Princeton Review

2005-12-11T05:28:00.000-08:00

Saturday was very productive. Over Friday Night and Saturday I finished Princeton Review Math and Verbal sections. Still when I took the diagnostic test, I was exactly where I was. Math I got 18/20 correct. Verbal I got 12/20 correct. I think I need to Study PR verbal section. There is no alternative here. I am happy that there is a wide crater in my ability which I could fill up with enough preparations. I am getting confident on the RC part. Sentence correction seems to be the problem child now. Today I will devote to some serious Verbal preparation. Not only that Let this whole week be invested on Verbal preparations. I have Manhattan GMAT books as well. They are more fundamental than Priceton Review's short cut approach. Both works. Lot more to study.

The Books Have Arrived !!

2005-12-09T08:31:00.000-08:00

Finally !!.

I got a partial shipment from Amazon with Everything except for the OG. That is great !!. My wife is very supersticious. She believes, starting anything in Thursday is bad. I respect her point when she is convinced of anything. So I did not open the books till today morning. I woke up at around 5:30am. Enjoyed the snow scape outside the window for some time. As suggested by many a learned GMTees, I sterted with the Princeton Review book.

My first impression is that it is basic. I will have to spend lot more time in the evening today to get full understanding of their philosophy. The concept of imaginary companion, Joe Blogg - 'The Average Test Taker' is childish. I hope they drop that angle after first few pages.

Till 6:45 was all I could spend with the book in the morning before getting out into the snow to dig my Car out. :-)

Looking forward to the strategies in the verbal section.

Three Days Into the Week 2

2005-12-07T11:44:00.000-08:00

I am being un ethical at work. I am doing ONLY GMAT Preparation. Solving Quant quaestions to be precise. On PR site I got my quant score to 48 on the next attempt. Felt better. Today a Good friend of mine forwarded a set of GMAt Quant Questions. I did two sections of them. Good stuff. May be I will put iton the Blog some where. I will work on them till amazon graces me with their shipment.

Talking about Amazon, The tracking says the shipments were delivered to my home. It either is microscopic or it is lost :-(. I did not get them. So I called Amazon.com customer service. One very nice gentleman in Delhi answered the call. He was exceptional. He issued a new 2 day shipment for all my lost books. Very impressive work !!.

Over The Weekend

2005-12-04T21:16:00.000-08:00

Amazon finally decided to package part of y order. Thank god !!. I hope it arrives this week.

This weekend I mainly read through Montauk's guide, How to Get Into Top MBA Programs. This book I bought close to two years back. Finally I am reading that. Also I took a subscription to Business Weeb B-School Insider. It was mainly to go through the rankings. Babson is ranked 1st for Entrepreneur stream. Intersting Carriculum. Their course work is totally different from other schools. May be I will drive up to Mass for a visit next week.

Also I took a Free practice test on Princeton Review website. Score was very pathetic. Math : 36 Verbal 28, Overall 540 :-(. Well this must be the bottom. I reviewed every wrong answer in Math. 3 Were Silly mistakes. I need to read the question carefully and completely. Rest were mistakes. I will not repeat them. I was able to complete the test on time.

Also listened to a stupid webcast from Manhattan GMAT. It was a waste of time. I can't wait to get my Prep material to start of my preparations.

Another Thursday

2005-12-02T06:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was another Thursday. The exception will be.,last Thursday was thanks giving. So we roasted Chicken, and Had some guests at home. I did not miss Donald Trump's show this time. He fired two blondes yesterday. It is pathetic. NBC is so twisting his arm to get over with his Swan Song on TV that he has so far fired two twice and four once. Similar fate is going on for Martha's show too. There definitely is a lifecycle for reality TV shows.

Day before we watched March of the Penguins. It was beautiful. Emperor Penguins are amazing birds. What all they do for their kids !!.

On the GMAT front, I started doing the practice questions on the GMATPrep software. They were very few. 15 in Maths. Except for 1 I could have got each one correct. But I got only 11/15 correct. I reviewd the errors. Got some early pointers on tackling the questions. Still waiting for Amazon to ship me my preparation books. They have not even shipped one of them.

Also I spoke to the lady at the Volunteer work company, NYC. She was sounding very excited to have me signed up. Apart from doing social work, I need to do social work with a leadership angle.

I am finding myself thinking a lot about my application essays. I should get over it for the time being and concentrate only on a good GMAT score. Researching the school and preparing for the essays I should be able to do in a month max.

Day 3: Change of Plans

2005-12-01T11:37:00.000-08:00

After Reading though dozens of Blogged experiences I started to see some holes in my plan. So I am changing my plan to adapt to the realities. Joining columbia on Fall of 2006 looks difficult. I satrted the GMAT preparation late. Completing the application by March is near impractical. Fall 2007 is my new target. I will take the GMAT as planned. Also I signed up for two Volunteering programs to amass some social points. Apart from this I will attend community college in 2006 to get some recent A grades. I am not sure, whether a 64% B.Tech in mechanical engineering is Columbia standards. A good GMAT score is given. Apart from that I will need an excellent application as well. One more Year at work is going to help me pay for the MBA from a firmer footing.

This Blog is going to be Long.

Day 2 : Nov 29th 2005

2005-11-29T20:37:00.000-08:00

Amazon is a little slow in shipping. I will have to wait for the study material.

Today I downloaded the GMATPrep Software (http://www.mba.com/FreeGMATPrepTestPreparationSoftware.htm) From www.mba.com. It is very good. I used the initial orientation sections to understand the types of quesitons to expect. I went through the Maths section today. After walking through, Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry and Word Problems I decided to take a close look at coupld of sections. So I took the easiest, Arithmetic and Algebra. I was surprised to find how simple those sections were. These are the problems which all of us did before class 7 in India. I remember everything vividly. My father taught me all the section I went through today. The exception will be probability and counting methods. I was embarassed to have forgotten the formulae for solving quadratic equations. I did not do any practice tests today. Got an email from Eric from www.beatthegmat.com fame. Very interesting.

Day 1: November 28th 2005

2005-11-29T06:59:00.000-08:00

Today I started my serious preparation for getting into Columbia in Fall 2006. I am pressed with time. March 1st 2006 will be the final date for accepting the applications. I have to finish my GMAT, TOEFL, Application essays, Get Transcripts, Recommendations all rounded up in the next 3 months. In between I and my wife are taking a nice 10 day vacation too !!. It is going to be very hectic.

Prelude:-

I ordered the following books from Amazon,

The Official Guide for GMAT Review

Princeton Review : Cracking the GMAT with CD-ROM, 2006

Kaplan GMAT 800

Sentence Correction GMAT Preparation Guide (Manhattan Gmat Prep)

GMAT 2006, Premier Program (Kaplan Gmat (Book & CD-Rom))

Critical Reasoning & Reading Comprehension GMAT Preparation Guide (Manhattan Gmat Prep)

Total Cost $125

I am waiting for the books now. Also I cleared up my study table , setup my laptop, etc. In the meantime I am reading a lot on www.beatthegmat.com Blog Space. My Plan is taking shape. Surprisingly simple after reading though some very succesful strategies. Staying on track, Identifying the weaker areas, Practice tests are the key.