Day 10-14

Didn't study much on the weekend. I really hate to do this but just did it like a shitty procrastinator. And my laptop problems added to this. My laptop wouldn't power-up and i lost interest to study. But managed to spend couple of hours reading How to get into Top MBA Programs. Read the first chapter in OG.

Summary

1. Read couple of chapters in How to get into Top MBA Programs. Would definitely recommend this book for people wanting to gain insights about what top schools admission officers expect from applicants.
2. Read OG Introduction chapter: What is GMAT ?
3. Did Princeton Math Practice Test Bin 1: Easier Questions. Could finish 18 questions in 30 mins and all the 26 questions in around 40-42 mins with hit rate of 22/26. Got 3 DS questions wrong. Couple of them careless mistakes. And couldn't solve one probability question. Need to track down my mistakes with the excel sheet.
4. Did Princeton Math Practice Test Bin 2: Medium Questions. Could finish 20 questions in 30 mins and all the 27 questions in around 40-42 mins with hit rate of 18/27. Got many DS questions wrong. Many of them careless mistakes. And couldn't solve one probability question. Need to track down my mistakes with the excel sheet. And i have been just breezing through the questions without even spending optimum time i.e. around 2 mins for the intial questions. I really need to practice a lot.

Need to Do

1. Need to Practice, Practice and also concentrate equally on Verbal
2. Once done with the Verbal warmup and practice tests too, i will take a Powerprep test to see where i stand.

Day-9

I should do something about my laziness and procrastination. I just finished the Writing section in PR. I had planned to go over the verbal section and prepare flash cards. I am good at planning, but when it comes to execution i don't put in 100%. I need to be more intensive in following the study-schedule. But the writing section is just about jotting down your thoughts with a template in your mind.

Summary

1. Finished pages 272-297
2. Need not waste much time on this section in PR
3. But need to make sure that you practice many essays under timed conditions

Day-8

Completed the verbal Review of Princeton. Princeton doesn't cover thoroughly RC strategies. But what i feel that RC can only be improved by practice and your reading capability. Read Scentific magazines, different online articles and force yourself to understand the crux of the passage, but still maintaining your speed in readability. But there is a thorough coverage of the Critical Reasoning question types and decent strategies. My hit rate compared to Sentence Correction was kind of medium here. So i need to focus a lot on the verbal section and practice, practice.......Practice

Summary

1. Completed pages 213-268
2. Doesn't do a decent job in RC
3. Does a decent job in CR
4. RC and CR can be nailed only by practice; doesn't happen overnight
5. Practice as many types and many questions of the same type. Make sure the weaknesses are rectified in the process. Just practicing lot of questions without improving the hit rate doesn't help. Thats the key to a great score.

Need to do tommorrow

1. Need to prepare flashcards for the verbal section of Princeton. These flashcards not the final versions as i will be modifying them or creating newer ones when i refer good materials on forums like Testmagic
2. Need to finish up the Essay section
3. If i have time i will take the verbal warm-up test, otherwise the next day.

Day 6 - 7

Started to read the verbal portion of the Princeton Review. Started with Sentence Correction. The strategies are good to start with and decent. I am not a good evaluator as to how good these strategies are because i am not a native speaker and my hit rates with the sentence correction drills were pretty good. That means that i am kind of ok with with SC's to start with and the questions in Princeton Review are simple. And Princeton clearly mentions that if you are gung-ho about the so many error types being tested, then you need to look somewhere else and practice as many real test questions as possible.

Summary

1. Spent most of my time reading How to get into Top MBA programs book on Day-6 and completed pages 182-196
2. Completed Sentence correction on Day-7 and started RC: Pages 196-214
3. And also went over a online GMAT math overview http://novapress.net/gmat/math.html
4. Clearly as others mentioned Princeton Review is a good diagnostic review book if you wanna get an intro to GMAT. Absolutely not a book for 700+
5. I have to work more harder in order to cover all the material i have planned to read in a systematic manner
6. Need to prepare flashcards for Princeton Review verbal review

Day-5

Comparatively it wasn't a productive day. Wasted lot of time like an idiotic procrastinator. Never take a long break in the study schedule. It should be an intensive self-paced study schedule so that you get the optimum practice to maximize your scores.

Summary

1. Prepared flashcards based on the important info in Princeton Review Math Section
2. Need to fasten my seat-belts as there will be turbulence ahead

Day-4

Completed the Geometry and Data sufficiency chapters. That completes the Princeton Review Crack the Math section. Took the GMAT Math timed warm-up test too. Doesn't cover geometry in detail but is good for starters. Data Sufficiency chapter offers couple of nice strategies to start with. Since i have read in many posts that Data Sufficiency questions represent upto 1/2 of the math questions on real GMAT, that makes them really important part of the test preparation. Prepare and practice as many questions as possible.

Summary and Important info

1. Finished from pages 127-180
2. Took the timed Math warm-up test and got 16/20 correct. Made couple of careless errors and got stuck on couple of them due to time constraint. I went over the time limit. Have to follow some strategies to divide the section in parts to keep track of the time
3. Prepare flash cards for all the formulaes, tips and tricks for Math section
4. Write down all wrong answers and keep track of your weaknesses. Read the correct explanations and have to convert your weanesses into strengths in order to raise your score
5. Absolutely no assumptions in Data sufficiency questions. Treat both the statements independently. If the question says, Oranges are blue, just take it for granted. Don't try to ponder over that.
6. No hurry proportional to Avoid Carelessness and vice versa
7. Its obvious that Carelessness is the biggest obstacle between you and that great, dream score
8. PRACTICE, PRACTICE and PRACTICE

Next plans

Just want to read cover-2-cover the princeton review and then plan to give a diagnostic PowerPrep CAT just to see where i stand. With this score i can guarantee the lower bound of my scores.

Day-3

Covered the chapters on Algebra, Applied Arithmetic and part of Geometry.

Algebra and Applied Arithmetic Chapters

Again Princeton Review doesn't do a good job of discussing medium-hard problems. It discusses high-school level math. Doesn't discuss probability in detail. If you really want to crack the GMAT Math, Practice as many problems as you can in the time you have. Don't ever take a break, as your math becomes rusty again. I was committing countless simple and careless mistakes. All these can be avoided only by PRACTICE

Summary and some important info

1. Read Pages from 88-126
2. Lots of careless mistakes
3. Read the question carefully
4. After you arrive at an answer, don't just confirm the answer as i am pretty sure there will be a choice matching your answer most of the times which might be wrong. So use the technique of plugging in real-values wherever applicable. Plugging real values simplifies the problems and really helps.
5. PRACTICE,PRACTICE and PRACTICE as the Confidence levels can be increased and shown only through that

GMAT Preparation Day 1-2

At last i made up my mind to start the GMAT preparation. Tentatively plan to give my GMAT around 3 months from now. Have been actively reading forums like Testmagic and beatthegmat blogspot.

Started reading Princeton Review: Cracking the GMAT 2006 - Part I: Orientation and How To Crack The Math GMAT chapters.

Orientation Chapter

This chapter tells you about the format and structure of the GMAT exam. Its absolutely not necessary to go through this chapter unless you have plenty of time. But its always a good idea to know about the exam many times and get warmed up before jumping onto real sections.

How to crack the math GMAT Chapter

Princeton tests utter basic high school Math. I am pretty sure that on real GMAT, there will be no such simple Math. But i have decided to read cover-2-cover all the prep books.

Summary

• Finished upto page-87
• Princeton tests high-school math

Very Important

• Carelessness leads you to even falter on basic problems
• Practice is the key to success and to fight the carelessness out
• Set a goal to kill carelessness
• Prepare Flashcards as you go writing down important info and formulaes as its really helpful to extract at a later time all the info at one place

Arise Awake Achieve Stop Not Till Your Goal Is Reached 

My first post

I have been dreaming about Business school past 1 year even before i started my first job here in US. And at last i have started studying for GMAT. I know its going to be a hard, but interesting journey to the MBA!!!!!!