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I NEED to succeed!

by movinonup » Mon Nov 02, 2009 4:32 pm
Well hello there....

Last month I took the GMAT and to my dismay, I was only able to must up a dull 500 (32Q, 27V). The reason I am so upset with this score (i know it's really low) is because I am graduating next year and in order for my company to pay for me to get my MBA (AT A REALLY GOOD SCHOOL!) I only have to get a 560. The thing that I'm upset about is that I have been studying on and off since last May and the month before I took it, I studied more consistently.

My practice tests were in the mid 500's but I had never gotten a score this low. I am really starting to get nervous because I only have one more time to take the test, and if I don't get my score then I can say bye bye to a free education at a REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY GOOD business school.

The thing that messed me up was my timing. After taking 3 or 4 practice tests, I felt comfortable about my pace, but when I got in the test I sort of froze up and spent way too much time on some quant questions. And on verbal I thought I did better than a 27 because I feel that I have pretty good grasp on SC and RC (still struggling with CR).

I took a few weeks off, but now I'm starting back up, and looking to take the test around thanksgiving. I know this is crunching it, but I need to have my score in by December 1st. I've done the all of the OGs and don't know what else to do. MGMAT practice tests? Any programs? Any help would be appreciated.
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by ogbeni » Mon Nov 02, 2009 7:14 pm
movinonup,

Do you want to move on up in life or do you want to whine? :)

After reading this post, go look your self in the mirror and tell yourself "YES I CAN". You can do it.

Do you care to elaborate on your situation a bit? Are you still in college? Do you have a job offer that is dependent on getting good GMAT scores? You also note that you may have the opportunity to get 'free' education at a 'good business school' - is this a promise from an employer?

Since you have a sweet deal, why not invest in the services of a tutor? That way you can have your improvements closely monitored? Your tutor will also help you stay calm.

Do the best you can to secure that sweet deal. And here's Barack Obama's New Hampshire Primary speech to cheer you up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe751kMBwms

If you are not an Obama fan, here's a clip from the movie Rocky to inspire you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjpKMbt0 ... re=related

YES YOU CAN!!
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by movinonup » Tue Nov 03, 2009 7:33 am
Well right now I am finishing up my undergrad. The company that has already hired me has given me this package: A job, while attending a university for two summers to get my MSA (so i can get my 150 to sit for the CPA exam). It works out so that I go to school in the summer, work for the year, and then the following summer, go back and finish up my masters.

At this point I don't know what will happen if I don't pass the exam. They didn't get into details about what would happen if I didn't obtain the score (seeing as most people they offer this too do in fact pass).

I know that I know all the material (at least enough to get me a reputable score), it's just all comes down to test taking. I usually consider myself a good test taker, but the GMAT is really testing me. I just want you to know that I am a very optimistic person and always have been. THANKS!
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by kartik1979 » Wed Nov 04, 2009 10:45 pm
Hi

as a person who suffered because of CR, RC ,SC, i believe i could help you with a little advice

a lil brief- i started with 8/10 CR wrong initially and now its the other way round

the questions that i am asking might be a lil out of the way but i urge u to be patient

1) how did u study CR eg read og , knew question type and just started solving, ?

2) which question type in Cr are u getting wrong?

3) which books are u referring to?
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by movinonup » Thu Nov 05, 2009 8:04 am
1. In the beginning I would do about 10-15 questions within a reasonable time (~2 minutes each). I did ok, geting about 3-6 wrong each time. And then when I moved to taking tests, it just went downhill. I feel that I have a good grasp of what the question is ( I always read the question before the passage) and what the answer might be, but everytime I would narrow it down to two, I would pick the wrong one. In the beginning i did mostly Kaplan problems, but towards the end I stictly did OG problmes.

2.I think the CR that gets me the most is the weakening questions. Especially the ones that have conflicting arguemnts within the statement that you have to weaken (its hard to exaplain).

3. Mostly OG (all the books). I feel like the more repition I get by doing the problems will help me.

NOTE: I don't really jot down notes on the Verbal section. I know some books say for each sentence to summarize it and put whether its evidence or conclusion, but I feel that that will take up even more time. As it is, I finished the verbal part with abotu 20 seconds to spare.
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hi

by kartik1979 » Thu Nov 05, 2009 2:31 pm
i would first suggest : stop doing any Cr practise now

1)buy a copy of powerscore critical reasoning bible or u can download the soft copy from the net

Manhattan Cr is good but i feel that powerscore is better as per my experience

2)Read through the following chapters mainly

weakening, strengthening,assumption,inference as most questions in Gmat belong to this category

there are some practise questions after every chapter, if you wish u can try them but i would suggest wait till later

Study the chapters for at least 2 days so that u remember the basic points

take Og and start from 1 to last
see how u can apply the principles that u have read in powerscore

Also this will help u in RC as well

Some points to definately understand in CR

what is a fact
what is premise
what is conclusion
what is main conclusion and sub conclusions

if u understand this half your work is already done

also

any question whether it is W/S or assumptions is based on connection between premise and conclusion

if u know what is premise and conclusion :80% of the time u will get the Ans

If you need any material for practise , just write your email add , i will send some matter

I have loads of questions other than OG:)
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by kartik1979 » Thu Nov 05, 2009 2:42 pm
I would also advice u one more thing

DO NOT STUDY THE QUESTION BEFORE THE PASSAGE

it would work very well for easy questions but for hard questions it creates obstacles

this is my personal experience : if i read the question before i read the passage i have created a basic mindset of what i am looking for, in easy questions i would get the ans but in hard questions where the whole passage is little twisted it become difficult . Also if you dont undersatnd the passage , the questions really doesnt matter , you will be going on luck or whats best based on your past experience.

TRY this out - Do not read the question first

read the Para , understand what it is saying and what is conclusion, then jump to question

it might take a lil more time in begining but u will speed up once u get used to it


one more small point : U MIGHT have noticed questions in Gmat actual Exam are much more difficult when u score higher , OG can train u but high level question requires a different practise

Eg if u want to lift 10 Kg , try getting used to lifting 15 kg, and when u try to lift 10 kg - u will enjoy it as its not that difficult

cheers
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by kartik1979 » Fri Nov 06, 2009 1:59 am
would a question like this be a cause of problem?

Nature constantly adjusts the atmospheric carbon level. An increase in the level causes the atmosphere to hold more heat, which causes more water to evaporate from the oceans, which causes increased rain. Rain washes some carbon from the air into the oceans, where it eventually becomes part of the seabed. A decrease in atmospheric carbon causes the atmosphere to hold less heat, which causes decreased evaporation from the oceans, which causes less rain, and thus less carbon is washed into the oceans. Yet some environmentalists worry that burning fossil fuels may raise atmospheric carbon to a dangerous level. It is true that a sustained increase would threaten human life. But the environmentalists should relax-nature will continually adjust the carbon level.
Which one of the following, if true, would most weaken the argument in the passage? (A) Plant life cannot survive without atmospheric carbon.
(B) It is not clear that breathing excess carbon in the atmosphere will have a negative effect
on human life.
(C) Carbon is part of the chemical "blanket" that keeps the Earth warm enough to sustain
human life.
(D) Breathing by animals releases almost 30 times as much carbon as does the burning of
fossil fuels.
(E) The natural adjustment process, which occurs over millions of years, allows wide fluctua-
tions in the carbon level in the short term
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by movinonup » Sun Nov 08, 2009 5:34 pm
Thanks for all the feedback...

This is exactly the type of question that gets me caught up...but I would have to say E?!

This weekend I purchased the MGMAT practice exams cause at this point I feel that being comfortable with my time management is the most important thing. With this said, I took the first one and scored a 600 (32V, 42Q)! This made me feel real good. I felt pretty confident taking the test and although I still made some careless mistakes, I came through pretty well.

Also something I forgot to mention is that I signed up to take the test for next Monday!? I scheduled it for noon (my last test was at 8 am, bad idea). So this week I plan on taking a practice test every other day. I don't want to get too burned out b/c last time I studied ~10 hours each of the last 3 days leading up to the exam and my brain was fried. I know that I know my stuff and I'm ready to DOMINATE.
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