I just Beat The GMAT!

ngufo wrote:Hi vgmat2,
SC: Dude dont try to figure out the solution before reading the answers . That will kill you - I know because that killed 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 killed 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....

Having said all the above vgmat2 I will surely add the following. I feel your pain .. - you are going thru the same struggle I went thru.... The struggle to improve, the struggle to not loose faith in one self, the faith that I am good enough, and that its only a matter of time, that if I keep trying to find a way out - god will definitely show me the way to improve. That if I dont try at all - there is no hope. That always got me going - I knew that if I didnt keep reading books for new techniques, trying new ways, , looking, asking for help, doing whatever it took to keep finding ways out, then the only other option for me was to be stuck where I was currently... Trying, hoping, practising, gives you the option to get better - not trying, kills any hope (what is life without hope?)..........

I dont know what the GMAT supplement is? I just used the OG 10th edition (fat book with crazy amount of questions - would do 100 a day - 20 (CR, RC, SC) 20 (Problem solving, Ds). every day in the morning from 5-8 am. (Everything timed - really think that helped me a crazy lot). Its painful but helped me build my stamina, time myself, and feel much more confident. If you arent doing the GMAT 10th, edtion or 11th edition please do so. It is the most important.

I really hope the above helped. Your email gives me a lot of faith that you will succeed. I see the same fire in you, the same burn to crack the GMAT . The same desire to succeed against all odds, the same will to not take NO for an answer no matter what.... just some voice inside that says, that if I give everything I have to this endeavour, how is it not possible that I will not succeed .... I see the same fire in you .....

God helped me achieve my goal - I shiver sometimes just thinking how much against the odds I was able to achieve that score. The 4 years it took me to make up my mind, and do it. Probably thats the part which helps me help people out in a similar position - I feel the pain ....

Dont you dare give up buddy - you are on the right track. Put everything into your try for GMAT. I am very very sure that you will succeed.....

Wish you all the best,
-ngufo

vgmat2 wrote:Hey Ajay,

Can you please send PR stuff regarding SC to

[email protected]

Hope your prep is going well. I am slowly getting there...

thanks again
V-