My blog is going to be long. But I promise it is going to be interesting.
Firstly! 'Beat the GMAT' has been a God send for me:
It's more like 'When the student is ready, the teacher will appear...........(I read this line in APJ Abdul Kalam's book Wings of Fire'. (teacher=Beat the GMAT)'.
Why do I say so?
I had been preparing for GMAT since Oct 2008. My exam was scheduled on 19-Jan-2009. (So I had 3months)
My diagnostic score was 530 (Q 44, V 20~). Around Dec'08 I took some prep-tests. I always scored around 580-600 (Q~48, V~24).
I didn't know what to do. I used to completely go haywire in Verbal. No strategies.... nothing...
Somehow I thought of Pareto's principle..80% of the problems are due to 20% of the reasons.
Basically I started believing that there are only 2-3 things that I need to inculcate in order to move the needle towards that 700 mark.
At that time I started googling and found this 'Beat the GMAT'. It kind of became a daily habit from then on..(':)')
Quick things that I learnt on the blog and practiced...
- Noting down the minutes left at the beginning of every question....
- Timing every question even during practice...(This helped me improve my CR scores a little..although I still had serious problems with CR).
- Taking sets of 15-20 questions (timed) from every section every day. If not anything else, I kept doing this for SC questions...(this helped me drastically reduce time spent on SC questions..less than 40sec per sc qn).
I gave myself 10 days time to do all these...
I took a prep-test on 31-Dec-2008. I got a 690. There were several repeat questions...Still I never got to a 690 before even under similar circumstances.
The point is I felt I was in control all thru the test, which was never the case before. I knew exactly how I was going to tackle each qn type. I knew how much time I was spending on each question. I skipped questions that took more than 2min.
Secondly! 'My score and preparation'.
I wrote a test in the first week of Jan'09. It was a completely new set. I got a 650. I was dejected..didn't know what to do..
In the corner of my mind I felt this is what I am worth at that point..do I reschedule my exam? What else do I do? These were the questions that started occupying my mind. With loads of work in the office, a 10month old kid at home and being a lazy ass by birth made my situation very difficult. I decided I will take the test. And then I will use the rest of the days to identify a couple of more things to improvise...And then in retrospect I think I was banking on some luck factor to support me on that day...
I took my GMAT on 19-Jan-2009. Got a 650 (Q47. V34).
My first reaction was...'see...this is what I was worth'...Although I was a little disappointed, I felt happy about the fact that my preparation was reliable and predictable. With what I am worth, if I practiced a couple of more things, I would certainly hit the 700 mark is what I felt.
Also...the way I took the test was a lot different on that day. Really really not sure why...But I literally started rechecking the answers for each question in Quant. This meant doing every question twice..I really felt the questions were very easy. That made me feel I might be doing silly mistakes...Towards the end I was not left with enough time and I skipped almost 4 to 5 questions...I am damn damn sure that would have pulled me back from 49 to 47.
Also in Verbal I started well...Was timing every question...But then there was an RC that ended up being the decider...I remember spending 4 to 5 min on a question...Why the hell do I get into such soup....God! I don't know...then CRs started appearing very very lengthy...remember I said I wasn't comfortable with CRs even during my prep. Anyways...the reality is I got a 650. And this exam is what it is.
Thirdly! My background..
I have 10+ years of experience in IT Industry. I worked for 4 years in Infy (Bangalore) and 6+ years in GE (Bangalore).
Last 3+ years have been on Process quality. I am a certified PMP and also a certified Sixsigma Blackbelt.
Very active on extracurricular. I am regular to community service, fun/cultural events at work and have very good organizational skills.
I am very confident of good recommendations from my immediate managers (1 from my ex manager who is an alumni of Darden) and the other from my immediate manager on the current job.
I hail from a small town in Southern India. Been introspecting a lot over the last couple of years. Started reading a lot of autobiographies. SLowly all this culminated into a desire to accomplish my dreams. One of the reasons to start thinking of an MBA and then preparing for GMAT and finally taking it is that desire.
Fianally! My Aim and question to you all friends...
My aim is to pursue an MBA in Finance or Entrepreneurship in one of the top 20 Bschools in the world.
I am considering retaking the test...But a little hesitant because I have a lot of work in office already...and then afraid of the possibility of getting lesser or the same score.
With my background, score and other details I mentioned, please suggest if I can still make it to the top 20 B schools.
Do I retake the test or not? Suggestions pls!
Let's say i score a 690 or even 700! Does that put me in a much better position than a 650 with all other things remaining the same?
