Hi Ngufo,
I would simply like to thank you for your post. It gave me tremendous hope and bolstered my confidence for the test. With over confidence and without reading anything about GMAT strategy, I took the test twice 3 years ago but failed - 580 (Q45 V25 AWA 4.0) and 620 (Q48 V27 AWA 3.5). My verbal score was simply awful.
Thanks to your advice and careful study, I beat the gmat last week- 730 Q49 V40 AWA 5.5. Yes, people never fail, they just give up.
I wish you all the best !
GMAT 720 95%(Q49,V40)(people never fail - they just give up)
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Filibuster
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ngufo
- Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
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- Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2007 3:10 pm
- Thanked: 166 times
- Followed by:58 members
Hi there Fillibuster,
I literally had goosebumps reading your email. I had to contain myself from clapping my hands buddy! When I get email an like the one you sent, I feel so good, so overwhelmed, so HAPPY..... Its amazing to see people reach their potential, and all they needed to know was that
1. They CAN do it
2. Smart studies + hard work gives U everything
I am really really happy for you.
All the best bro, very sure you will do great on all other challenges in your life as well
-ngufo
I literally had goosebumps reading your email. I had to contain myself from clapping my hands buddy! When I get email an like the one you sent, I feel so good, so overwhelmed, so HAPPY..... Its amazing to see people reach their potential, and all they needed to know was that
1. They CAN do it
2. Smart studies + hard work gives U everything
I am really really happy for you.
All the best bro, very sure you will do great on all other challenges in your life as well
-ngufo
People Never Fail ... They just Give Up
one of the best gmat guides I have come across. It has been very helpful to me and I aim to get past the 700 score for gmat.
https://www.winningprep.com
https://www.winningprep.com
-
ngufo
- Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
- Posts: 146
- Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2007 3:10 pm
- Thanked: 166 times
- Followed by:58 members
thanks for sharing Harvey. Will go thru it and forward the link to other people as well. From a brief look it looks very good - wish I had it when I was preparing for the test .
Take care, and all the best for the exam,
-ngufo
.Take care, and all the best for the exam,
-ngufo
People Never Fail ... They just Give Up
Hiya,
Hearty congratulations for your achievement, though am late in wishing , i just joined this portal few days ago.
I went through your posts, they are worth studying and getting inspired from. I will read them again.
However , got a query. You wrote you had to guess few questions at the end because of time shortage. Still you managed good score, is it that you did really well at the start . (1)Does that mean you need to give more time to questions at start, say first 10-15 questions?
Also, 9 questsions in quant and 11 questions in verbal are research questions. That means out of 37 in quant, 28 are real ones that count up to your score.
As we do not know which ones, so we need to give best shot to every question. However, if you do 90% well in exam, i guess that is best shot. Because most of the tougher last 10% may or may not be taken as exam question.
I also watched princeton review cd's where they said first questions if go right then toughness increases and if you do wrong attempts at last, still score will be high. Its relative to wrong questions first and doing right questions at the end.
Secondly,
I have just started with official guide first and pretty comfortable with quant. I need more practice once or twice and i will be fine with it.
Now , coming to reading comprehension and critical reasoning, they are my biggest weakness. (2) can you tell me how to proceed with them? Shall I first start reading how to solve those or shall i start official guide RC & CR ?
My timelines are very tight, just started one week ago. And am appearing in august first week. I am working professional so weekends are main dependencies of preparation and an hour on weekdays.
Thanks for your time. I built up the confidence after seeing your modesty n down to earth approach to help everyone out here.
Thanks.
Hearty congratulations for your achievement, though am late in wishing , i just joined this portal few days ago.
I went through your posts, they are worth studying and getting inspired from. I will read them again.
However , got a query. You wrote you had to guess few questions at the end because of time shortage. Still you managed good score, is it that you did really well at the start . (1)Does that mean you need to give more time to questions at start, say first 10-15 questions?
Also, 9 questsions in quant and 11 questions in verbal are research questions. That means out of 37 in quant, 28 are real ones that count up to your score.
As we do not know which ones, so we need to give best shot to every question. However, if you do 90% well in exam, i guess that is best shot. Because most of the tougher last 10% may or may not be taken as exam question.
I also watched princeton review cd's where they said first questions if go right then toughness increases and if you do wrong attempts at last, still score will be high. Its relative to wrong questions first and doing right questions at the end.
Secondly,
I have just started with official guide first and pretty comfortable with quant. I need more practice once or twice and i will be fine with it.
Now , coming to reading comprehension and critical reasoning, they are my biggest weakness. (2) can you tell me how to proceed with them? Shall I first start reading how to solve those or shall i start official guide RC & CR ?
My timelines are very tight, just started one week ago. And am appearing in august first week. I am working professional so weekends are main dependencies of preparation and an hour on weekdays.
Thanks for your time. I built up the confidence after seeing your modesty n down to earth approach to help everyone out here.
Thanks.
-
ngufo
- Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
- Posts: 146
- Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2007 3:10 pm
- Thanked: 166 times
- Followed by:58 members
Hi Indi,
Sorry for the time taken to reply - this is/was a crazy week.
-----
However , got a query. You wrote you had to guess few questions at the end because of time shortage. Still you managed good score, is it that you did really well at the start . (1)Does that mean you need to give more time to questions at start, say first 10-15 questions?
ngufo: Based on my preparation I got the impression that if you answer the first 10 - 15 question correctly it brings up your score fairly high. I focused a lot on getting the first questions right.
Also, 9 questsions in quant and 11 questions in verbal are research questions. That means out of 37 in quant, 28 are real ones that count up to your score.
As we do not know which ones, so we need to give best shot to every question. However, if you do 90% well in exam, i guess that is best shot. Because most of the tougher last 10% may or may not be taken as exam question.
----
ngufo: Just focus on every question and also the time - itis crticial. You need to know how much time you are spending on each question. It is super important you do not leave any question unanswered.
----
I also watched princeton review cd's where they said first questions if go right then toughness increases and if you do wrong attempts at last, still score will be high. Its relative to wrong questions first and doing right questions at the end.
----
ngufo: Yup - but focus on getting as many questions right without wasting time on quedstions you know you cannot do. I am very bad at probability. In beteween when I came to a probability question read it and knew it was hard (probably 20 question or something), I knew I was short on time, I did just did best guess selection and moved on. but yes it was in the 20's and did not come immediately when i started the test.
---
Secondly,
I have just started with official guide first and pretty comfortable with quant. I need more practice once or twice and i will be fine with it.
Now , coming to reading comprehension and critical reasoning, they are my biggest weakness. (2) can you tell me how to proceed with them? Shall I first start reading how to solve those or shall i start official guide RC & CR ?
----
ngufo: I did not have such tight timelines indi - i started with princeton understood all the concepts, mades *lots of flash cards* specially for the sentence correction. That was super helpful.
I am also attaching a excerpt here, that explains how I was able t tackle the verbal - it was veryhard for me:
----------------------
You make me remember the same pain I went thru when studying for the GMAT. It was excruciating (RC, CR as well as SC) . Let me first start with a very small thing I did which helped me save crazy amount of time - took me some time to figure it out.
Before every question in verbal or quant that I answered I would the following before even reading the question.
7.35
1. A B C D E
7.39
2. A B C D E
The 7.35, 7.39 is the time when I start to answer each question. It would give me a very good idea of how much time I had spent on each question. ( above it shows me that I had spent 4 minutes on question 1). I would know that I had spent a lot of time, and need to pace myself better. The only area I know I could save time was SC, would try to do that, plus it also helped because if I came across a particularly hard question that I knew would take me time, instead of spending another 4 minutes on it (given taht I knew I was running out of time), i would make a best guess on it sooner.
Based on what you have written, it sounds like you are already doing a good job of timing yourself - trust me that is the MOST IMPORTANT THING. Once you get your timing good, I fervently believe that half of the problem for preparing for GMAT is gone. So that is a good first step. The 1 is the question number, and The A B C D E written is the answer choices. Before even reading the question I would write the above down, (it had become a reflex with me). What I would do is that for each answer choice that I was sure is wrong, I would cross the alphabet out (THAT MEANS NO RE-READING THAT ANSWER CHOICE AGAIN). I saved precious time. The ones that had a circle on it, were the ones that could be the potential choices. Wahtever back and forth I did would be between those choices. Once I decided one was out, I would cut that out, adn continue the same process. It really helped me (because beofre, I would end up re-reading all the questions and getting confused
which was better than the other). Writing the time and the alphabets should be come a part of you, before even reading writing it on paper, and then starting!!
Now coming to the CR portion. I tried 300 different techniques . I was so screwed up - nothing seemed to work for me . I tried reading the passage, summarizing it and writing the premise and the conclusion. First reading the question then the passage -EVERYTHING. Just like you I kept asking, trying new things, NEVER GAVE UP. Finally what worked for me literally was PRACTISE. After a lot of practice I realized that "when I read the question, and then read the passage, for some reason after reading the passage I felt the need to re-read the question being asked again". I noticed that consistently at least in me. So I stopped reading the question first. I would read the passage, and keep track of the main flow. Then read teh question - based on that, it was easy to cut out 1-2 straight off the bat (on the alphabets - as I did that it saved me a lot of time). After that yes for the remaining choices, its re-reading the passage and going back and forth. The
funny thing is that over time, when you TIME EVERY CR passage that you do (I timed every question that I did in the Official Maths guide, offical verbal workbook, as well as the Official guide 10th edition). i didnt do a single question without timing it, write the alphabet, and practise cutting things off, and re-reading the remaining options) over time, I just felt I got the hang of it. It was like one day - CR questions didnt feel so painful anymore. I was able to go thru them relatively painlessly - I had my pattern built. "Immediately write the time, write the question number, write the alphabets, Read the passage well (very very focused), read the question - immediately cut the ones that dont make sense), and then go thru the process of re-reading the passage and making decisions. Once you feel comfortable with what you are diong, stick with it. If you are taking 3 minutes, but comfortable with your technique, and getting it right that is GREAT.
Just keep practising and timing. I am very sure, with enough practise, over time, it will get better. In case you are not timing every question in OG make sure you do.
SC: Dude dont try to figure out the solution before reading the answers . That will kill you - I know because that k!IIed me too . I did the exact same for the first 3 months of practise. I HATED SC. i couldnt for the love of god figure out how the hell to get them right. Every damn answer looked good to me!!!!. princeton gave a good technique. See the underlined portion, and then immediately look at the answers (dont even TRY to figure out what should be right). When you see the choices use the 3/2 technique. Based on the answers you will see that 3 questions have similar usage, like " The children have had their dinner and gone to bed". Three choices will show you have and 2 will shwo you has. You immediately no that has is wrong. Cut your alphabets - great now you just have to figure out the remaining three. Now instead of you trying to figure out what is write, compare teh differences between the three ansewrs. Try to see what the author has done
different in those three choices. Often times that helped me figure out what was right (most times what I thought should be there never was - not sure if my english is that bad, or GMAT just sucks ).
finally make a flash card for EVERY sentence correction question you get wrong... I know that sounds crazy, but trust me, that alone helped me get very very good at SC. It was hard to remember all the idioms, all the patterns. I also have a problem of basic informatin retention. I forget things very quickly (had this problem since I was small). Read something then forget . So by making flash cards and swriting it down (I have explained how I made the flash cards), and practising the questions reguarly, I would remember how the sentence patterns were. In 6 months I had 4 big business card boxes of flash cards (used my official business cards as flash cards). I would practise them regularly. Keep in min dthe usage (try to answer without looking at th eanswer. Not by memorizing the anser, but by memorizing what was wroing - like oh there is a parallelis error here, there isan applies and oranges error here so on so forth (I used princeton verbal to learn
the fundamentals. It explains that very easily). By doing that after 6 months of lots of flash cards and lots of revising I started seeing patterns - it became much more easier. It was only then that I got the Manhattan SC book (it would have been too complicated for me earlier). Later on I was able to add on to my base with the book. (I made flash cards, of important concepts from the book too)
RC: Another painful portion for me. Probably the worst. Given my retention problem by the time I would finish reading the passage, I had completely forgotton what the hell the author was talking about . If you talk about crazy frustration and depression - this area k!IIed me. I remember thinking of buying some mental ability tests, to help me fix my retrention issue, to help me focus. I practiced with soem tools on the web -all it helped was giving me a big headache . I tried everything possible - reading all blogs, asking for help, trying to emulate the techniques people mentioned - nothing worked. Finally with a lot of practise and trying new technique I found a way that worked for me. I realized that the first para and the last para, basically control the entire flow of the passage (introduction and summary para). The paras in middle were like e.gs, or details of some specific thing. If I could keep track of what the first and secon para was talking
about, and have a basic understanding of what was in the middle paras, I was able to do a better job of answering my RC. So when I would read, I would read the 1st and last para very carefully. The middle paras, I would skim thru. When flow/passage structure questions were asked (previously I would get them wrong, as I would be reading everything in detail, and forgetting the same after completing the passage). After my new technique I got those questions right. For questions in which they asked a specific question about the passage, it was easy enough to go and re-read a few lines to get the exact answer - BINGO. I was just so excited the day it started working for me. It happened out of the blue - one day nothing was happening the next day it just happend....
-------------------
My timelines are very tight, just started one week ago. And am appearing in august first week. I am working professional so weekends are main dependencies of preparation and an hour on weekdays.
Thanks for your time. I built up the confidence after seeing your modesty n down to earth approach to help everyone out here.
----
ngufo: Not modesty - it is the truth. If I was to write GMAT today, I would e surprised if I got more than 450. Give me another 6 months - I will nail it again. Hard work/smart preparation can get you anything - am sure you will do well as well!!
All the best, hope this helps
------------
Thanks.
Sorry for the time taken to reply - this is/was a crazy week.
-----
However , got a query. You wrote you had to guess few questions at the end because of time shortage. Still you managed good score, is it that you did really well at the start . (1)Does that mean you need to give more time to questions at start, say first 10-15 questions?
ngufo: Based on my preparation I got the impression that if you answer the first 10 - 15 question correctly it brings up your score fairly high. I focused a lot on getting the first questions right.
Also, 9 questsions in quant and 11 questions in verbal are research questions. That means out of 37 in quant, 28 are real ones that count up to your score.
As we do not know which ones, so we need to give best shot to every question. However, if you do 90% well in exam, i guess that is best shot. Because most of the tougher last 10% may or may not be taken as exam question.
----
ngufo: Just focus on every question and also the time - itis crticial. You need to know how much time you are spending on each question. It is super important you do not leave any question unanswered.
----
I also watched princeton review cd's where they said first questions if go right then toughness increases and if you do wrong attempts at last, still score will be high. Its relative to wrong questions first and doing right questions at the end.
----
ngufo: Yup - but focus on getting as many questions right without wasting time on quedstions you know you cannot do. I am very bad at probability. In beteween when I came to a probability question read it and knew it was hard (probably 20 question or something), I knew I was short on time, I did just did best guess selection and moved on. but yes it was in the 20's and did not come immediately when i started the test.
---
Secondly,
I have just started with official guide first and pretty comfortable with quant. I need more practice once or twice and i will be fine with it.
Now , coming to reading comprehension and critical reasoning, they are my biggest weakness. (2) can you tell me how to proceed with them? Shall I first start reading how to solve those or shall i start official guide RC & CR ?
----
ngufo: I did not have such tight timelines indi - i started with princeton understood all the concepts, mades *lots of flash cards* specially for the sentence correction. That was super helpful.
I am also attaching a excerpt here, that explains how I was able t tackle the verbal - it was veryhard for me:
----------------------
You make me remember the same pain I went thru when studying for the GMAT. It was excruciating (RC, CR as well as SC) . Let me first start with a very small thing I did which helped me save crazy amount of time - took me some time to figure it out.
Before every question in verbal or quant that I answered I would the following before even reading the question.
7.35
1. A B C D E
7.39
2. A B C D E
The 7.35, 7.39 is the time when I start to answer each question. It would give me a very good idea of how much time I had spent on each question. ( above it shows me that I had spent 4 minutes on question 1). I would know that I had spent a lot of time, and need to pace myself better. The only area I know I could save time was SC, would try to do that, plus it also helped because if I came across a particularly hard question that I knew would take me time, instead of spending another 4 minutes on it (given taht I knew I was running out of time), i would make a best guess on it sooner.
Based on what you have written, it sounds like you are already doing a good job of timing yourself - trust me that is the MOST IMPORTANT THING. Once you get your timing good, I fervently believe that half of the problem for preparing for GMAT is gone. So that is a good first step. The 1 is the question number, and The A B C D E written is the answer choices. Before even reading the question I would write the above down, (it had become a reflex with me). What I would do is that for each answer choice that I was sure is wrong, I would cross the alphabet out (THAT MEANS NO RE-READING THAT ANSWER CHOICE AGAIN). I saved precious time. The ones that had a circle on it, were the ones that could be the potential choices. Wahtever back and forth I did would be between those choices. Once I decided one was out, I would cut that out, adn continue the same process. It really helped me (because beofre, I would end up re-reading all the questions and getting confused
which was better than the other). Writing the time and the alphabets should be come a part of you, before even reading writing it on paper, and then starting!!
Now coming to the CR portion. I tried 300 different techniques . I was so screwed up - nothing seemed to work for me . I tried reading the passage, summarizing it and writing the premise and the conclusion. First reading the question then the passage -EVERYTHING. Just like you I kept asking, trying new things, NEVER GAVE UP. Finally what worked for me literally was PRACTISE. After a lot of practice I realized that "when I read the question, and then read the passage, for some reason after reading the passage I felt the need to re-read the question being asked again". I noticed that consistently at least in me. So I stopped reading the question first. I would read the passage, and keep track of the main flow. Then read teh question - based on that, it was easy to cut out 1-2 straight off the bat (on the alphabets - as I did that it saved me a lot of time). After that yes for the remaining choices, its re-reading the passage and going back and forth. The
funny thing is that over time, when you TIME EVERY CR passage that you do (I timed every question that I did in the Official Maths guide, offical verbal workbook, as well as the Official guide 10th edition). i didnt do a single question without timing it, write the alphabet, and practise cutting things off, and re-reading the remaining options) over time, I just felt I got the hang of it. It was like one day - CR questions didnt feel so painful anymore. I was able to go thru them relatively painlessly - I had my pattern built. "Immediately write the time, write the question number, write the alphabets, Read the passage well (very very focused), read the question - immediately cut the ones that dont make sense), and then go thru the process of re-reading the passage and making decisions. Once you feel comfortable with what you are diong, stick with it. If you are taking 3 minutes, but comfortable with your technique, and getting it right that is GREAT.
Just keep practising and timing. I am very sure, with enough practise, over time, it will get better. In case you are not timing every question in OG make sure you do.
SC: Dude dont try to figure out the solution before reading the answers . That will kill you - I know because that k!IIed me too . I did the exact same for the first 3 months of practise. I HATED SC. i couldnt for the love of god figure out how the hell to get them right. Every damn answer looked good to me!!!!. princeton gave a good technique. See the underlined portion, and then immediately look at the answers (dont even TRY to figure out what should be right). When you see the choices use the 3/2 technique. Based on the answers you will see that 3 questions have similar usage, like " The children have had their dinner and gone to bed". Three choices will show you have and 2 will shwo you has. You immediately no that has is wrong. Cut your alphabets - great now you just have to figure out the remaining three. Now instead of you trying to figure out what is write, compare teh differences between the three ansewrs. Try to see what the author has done
different in those three choices. Often times that helped me figure out what was right (most times what I thought should be there never was - not sure if my english is that bad, or GMAT just sucks ).
finally make a flash card for EVERY sentence correction question you get wrong... I know that sounds crazy, but trust me, that alone helped me get very very good at SC. It was hard to remember all the idioms, all the patterns. I also have a problem of basic informatin retention. I forget things very quickly (had this problem since I was small). Read something then forget . So by making flash cards and swriting it down (I have explained how I made the flash cards), and practising the questions reguarly, I would remember how the sentence patterns were. In 6 months I had 4 big business card boxes of flash cards (used my official business cards as flash cards). I would practise them regularly. Keep in min dthe usage (try to answer without looking at th eanswer. Not by memorizing the anser, but by memorizing what was wroing - like oh there is a parallelis error here, there isan applies and oranges error here so on so forth (I used princeton verbal to learn
the fundamentals. It explains that very easily). By doing that after 6 months of lots of flash cards and lots of revising I started seeing patterns - it became much more easier. It was only then that I got the Manhattan SC book (it would have been too complicated for me earlier). Later on I was able to add on to my base with the book. (I made flash cards, of important concepts from the book too)
RC: Another painful portion for me. Probably the worst. Given my retention problem by the time I would finish reading the passage, I had completely forgotton what the hell the author was talking about . If you talk about crazy frustration and depression - this area k!IIed me. I remember thinking of buying some mental ability tests, to help me fix my retrention issue, to help me focus. I practiced with soem tools on the web -all it helped was giving me a big headache . I tried everything possible - reading all blogs, asking for help, trying to emulate the techniques people mentioned - nothing worked. Finally with a lot of practise and trying new technique I found a way that worked for me. I realized that the first para and the last para, basically control the entire flow of the passage (introduction and summary para). The paras in middle were like e.gs, or details of some specific thing. If I could keep track of what the first and secon para was talking
about, and have a basic understanding of what was in the middle paras, I was able to do a better job of answering my RC. So when I would read, I would read the 1st and last para very carefully. The middle paras, I would skim thru. When flow/passage structure questions were asked (previously I would get them wrong, as I would be reading everything in detail, and forgetting the same after completing the passage). After my new technique I got those questions right. For questions in which they asked a specific question about the passage, it was easy enough to go and re-read a few lines to get the exact answer - BINGO. I was just so excited the day it started working for me. It happened out of the blue - one day nothing was happening the next day it just happend....
-------------------
My timelines are very tight, just started one week ago. And am appearing in august first week. I am working professional so weekends are main dependencies of preparation and an hour on weekdays.
Thanks for your time. I built up the confidence after seeing your modesty n down to earth approach to help everyone out here.
----
ngufo: Not modesty - it is the truth. If I was to write GMAT today, I would e surprised if I got more than 450. Give me another 6 months - I will nail it again. Hard work/smart preparation can get you anything - am sure you will do well as well!!
All the best, hope this helps
------------
Thanks.
People Never Fail ... They just Give Up
-
sunkissedsnow
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2007 11:07 am
Hi ngufo,
Let me start by congratulating you on your achievement! Your journey is truly inspiring.
My journey has been quite rough to say the least. I am having A LOT of trouble managing my time in math and verbal section. I've read a ton of info about how much time you can spend on a question and that sort of thing, but no one really tells you how to get so fast in answering a question. It takes me 5 mins just to understand a question after reading it again and again 10 times! By the time I answer the question, I realize I have already spent 20 mins on it.
I feel completely hopeless because it takes me so long to understand the questions (and even the answers for the verbal section). English has always been my best subject throughout school and I love to write and read, but obviously I just can't get my crap together when it comes to the GMAT. Does it all basically come down to practice, going over solutions, learning the techniques, and flash cards? Do you have any other suggestions that may help me? I have taken the GMAT twice already and I still need to improve by 50 points. I want to take it again in about 3 weeks. I am not working so I have all the time in the world to practice. However, is there any hope for me in such a short time to improve my score 50 points? What kind of study plan do you advise for me?
I would appreciate any advice you may be able to provide. Thanks!
Let me start by congratulating you on your achievement! Your journey is truly inspiring.
My journey has been quite rough to say the least. I am having A LOT of trouble managing my time in math and verbal section. I've read a ton of info about how much time you can spend on a question and that sort of thing, but no one really tells you how to get so fast in answering a question. It takes me 5 mins just to understand a question after reading it again and again 10 times! By the time I answer the question, I realize I have already spent 20 mins on it.
I feel completely hopeless because it takes me so long to understand the questions (and even the answers for the verbal section). English has always been my best subject throughout school and I love to write and read, but obviously I just can't get my crap together when it comes to the GMAT. Does it all basically come down to practice, going over solutions, learning the techniques, and flash cards? Do you have any other suggestions that may help me? I have taken the GMAT twice already and I still need to improve by 50 points. I want to take it again in about 3 weeks. I am not working so I have all the time in the world to practice. However, is there any hope for me in such a short time to improve my score 50 points? What kind of study plan do you advise for me?
I would appreciate any advice you may be able to provide. Thanks!
-
aimtocrackgmat
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Fri Jul 31, 2009 6:29 am
- Location: Mumbai
hi ngufo,
What a wonderful story, I really inspired by ur sory...I hope now u r already at Harvard..best wishes frm my side...
once again thank u very much for sharing such an awe inspiring story
regds
Vijay
What a wonderful story, I really inspired by ur sory...I hope now u r already at Harvard..best wishes frm my side...
once again thank u very much for sharing such an awe inspiring story
regds
Vijay
-
ayan116
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Sat Aug 01, 2009 9:58 am
- Location: Kolkata
- GMAT Score:710
Did I beat the GMAT? I am not so sure about it - so thought about discussing with you guys.
Well I sat for the test today - full of confidence (although I had a sleepless night). but midway through the Quans section, i just lost it. I guess I panicked. I saw I was running out of time, and that affected my concentration. Note: For future test takers, the most important thing to beat the GMAT is nerve. You may have scored well consistently in the mock tests, sitting at home, having the luxury of knowing that it is just a mock test. But it is such a different ball game when it comes to the actual test. The questions are similar, yet you tend to get distracted. If you can control your nerves, you are more llikely to perform well. So keep this point in mind.
Anyway, I had to guess several questions (without even eliminating few of the qrong choices - 1 out of 5 chance to get it right), which enabled me to finish the section on a strong note. And I think I did well in the first few questions of the section. Also, it may so happen that the questions I gueessed randomly were experimental questions. We wil never know. So let us forget it - but I had to face a time crisis - that is the bottom line. I got distracted - thoughts crept into my mind - what happens if I score 650 or something etc. Future Test takers - make it a point to not think about anything else but the exam. Never worry about any apparent mistakes and move on.
I took the 8 minute break after the Quans section and was so pissed off with my performance that I could have hit somebody. Anyhow, I willed myself that I wont let the debacle affect my verbal performance. I told myself that I have to make up for a bad Quans section with a good verbal section. (Yes - I screwed up the easier section and hoped to even my score by scoring well on the tougher section).
I finished the verbal section with 5 mins to spare. NEXT NEXT NEXT!!! Annoying questions!! Report/Cancel Score!!! Please wait while your score is being generated.
710: Quans - 48, Verbal - 39. I was really relieved and happy, as I thought my performance was the 650 type. But now the question arises, did I beat the GMAT?? What does it mean to actually beat the GMAT??
My goal is to enter a good B-school. And there is still such a long way to go. I am visibly scared. 710 score reflects a 92 percentile. Thus, 8% of all the test takers have scored more than me. That is a huge number when calculated. A 710 score has been obtained by many more guys like me. I am competing with a huge crowd with results similar to mine. The battle is just half won. GPA, Essays , recos, resume, application to right schools,luck - so many factors are involved. My work ex is of 3 years in the IT industry - and thus my work ex lacks the weight. 3 years in the IT world does not give one the opportunity to shine and show one's leadership skills. My application will be scrutinized and considered - and then maybe I get a call from an Uni. For an interview. there you go - another hurdle. Oh ys - forgot to mention - I have to get TOEFL out of my way as well.
Thus, the next couple of months will be hell for me. A lot of money and time have been invested in this - it would be tough if I am not able to convert you know - which is the bottom line. You have to convert. A good GMAT score is a bonus, but that is not the END ALL!!! Did I beat the GMAT?? I guess not!! :roll:
Well I sat for the test today - full of confidence (although I had a sleepless night). but midway through the Quans section, i just lost it. I guess I panicked. I saw I was running out of time, and that affected my concentration. Note: For future test takers, the most important thing to beat the GMAT is nerve. You may have scored well consistently in the mock tests, sitting at home, having the luxury of knowing that it is just a mock test. But it is such a different ball game when it comes to the actual test. The questions are similar, yet you tend to get distracted. If you can control your nerves, you are more llikely to perform well. So keep this point in mind.
Anyway, I had to guess several questions (without even eliminating few of the qrong choices - 1 out of 5 chance to get it right), which enabled me to finish the section on a strong note. And I think I did well in the first few questions of the section. Also, it may so happen that the questions I gueessed randomly were experimental questions. We wil never know. So let us forget it - but I had to face a time crisis - that is the bottom line. I got distracted - thoughts crept into my mind - what happens if I score 650 or something etc. Future Test takers - make it a point to not think about anything else but the exam. Never worry about any apparent mistakes and move on.
I took the 8 minute break after the Quans section and was so pissed off with my performance that I could have hit somebody. Anyhow, I willed myself that I wont let the debacle affect my verbal performance. I told myself that I have to make up for a bad Quans section with a good verbal section. (Yes - I screwed up the easier section and hoped to even my score by scoring well on the tougher section).
I finished the verbal section with 5 mins to spare. NEXT NEXT NEXT!!! Annoying questions!! Report/Cancel Score!!! Please wait while your score is being generated.
710: Quans - 48, Verbal - 39. I was really relieved and happy, as I thought my performance was the 650 type. But now the question arises, did I beat the GMAT?? What does it mean to actually beat the GMAT??
My goal is to enter a good B-school. And there is still such a long way to go. I am visibly scared. 710 score reflects a 92 percentile. Thus, 8% of all the test takers have scored more than me. That is a huge number when calculated. A 710 score has been obtained by many more guys like me. I am competing with a huge crowd with results similar to mine. The battle is just half won. GPA, Essays , recos, resume, application to right schools,luck - so many factors are involved. My work ex is of 3 years in the IT industry - and thus my work ex lacks the weight. 3 years in the IT world does not give one the opportunity to shine and show one's leadership skills. My application will be scrutinized and considered - and then maybe I get a call from an Uni. For an interview. there you go - another hurdle. Oh ys - forgot to mention - I have to get TOEFL out of my way as well.
Thus, the next couple of months will be hell for me. A lot of money and time have been invested in this - it would be tough if I am not able to convert you know - which is the bottom line. You have to convert. A good GMAT score is a bonus, but that is not the END ALL!!! Did I beat the GMAT?? I guess not!! :roll:
A witty saying proves nothing....
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helpme4gmat
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Sat Aug 29, 2009 12:48 pm
CONGRATULATIONSSSS... This story comes as such a big inspiration to average guys like us. You have prepared for 6 long months and now you are enjoying the fruit of your hard work. But, I am not as lucky as you 
I have my exam on Nov 9th and I have just started the preparation. I know I am very late, but circumstances didn't permit. Currently on an onsite project assignment to USA and struggling to make some time. But yes, for now, I will surely spare 4 hours for GMAT in the evenings from now on...
NGUFO and all you friends, can anyone of you suggest me any good methods to tackle this exam in such a limited time?
I heard one of my friends saying, don't ever look at any other books or get swayed by abundant material found on the web. Just make OG your bible and work on it, take practice exams from OG and finally give the GMAT Prep Exam.
This is how I have planned. Its been a long time since I have touched maths. So I am currently going through the Manhattan Series maths, once upon completion will switch to OG. Finally will give my GMAT PREP with 10 days to spare for the finals. Will see if there are any gaps and try to bridge them.
NGUFO and others, please let me know whats your opinion on this. You have to carve the best way out for me to tread. I am in a biiiiig confusion ! Please help !!
Any quick reference, anything that will help me, I request you all to send that to :
helpme4gmat AT gmail.com
Thankyou friends in advance. If I do well, I OWE IT TO YOU ALL... Will keep writing.
I have my exam on Nov 9th and I have just started the preparation. I know I am very late, but circumstances didn't permit. Currently on an onsite project assignment to USA and struggling to make some time. But yes, for now, I will surely spare 4 hours for GMAT in the evenings from now on...NGUFO and all you friends, can anyone of you suggest me any good methods to tackle this exam in such a limited time?
I heard one of my friends saying, don't ever look at any other books or get swayed by abundant material found on the web. Just make OG your bible and work on it, take practice exams from OG and finally give the GMAT Prep Exam.
This is how I have planned. Its been a long time since I have touched maths. So I am currently going through the Manhattan Series maths, once upon completion will switch to OG. Finally will give my GMAT PREP with 10 days to spare for the finals. Will see if there are any gaps and try to bridge them.
NGUFO and others, please let me know whats your opinion on this. You have to carve the best way out for me to tread. I am in a biiiiig confusion ! Please help !!
Any quick reference, anything that will help me, I request you all to send that to :
helpme4gmat AT gmail.com
Thankyou friends in advance. If I do well, I OWE IT TO YOU ALL... Will keep writing.
