I just Beat The GMAT!

Hello Ekta;
Thanks for your quick response and kindest words. It means lot to me to know that I can count with some words of advice from your side because that is what I actually need. I will be willing to answer any doubt you have that help you better find out the best path I should take.
I will be waiting for your post.

danielbm,
Wrote an email to you, and somehow while posting it lost the content .... Looks like I will be writing the post again . Will provide you the feedback I promised today

-ngufo

Thanks Ngufo: I will be waiting for your post.

Hi danielmb,
Couple of things that I noted while going thru your de-brief were the following:
1. You scores were not consistent
V24, Q 16
V 24, Q 36
V 30 Q 21
2. You mentioned that you would get the same problem wrong multiple times.

Step 1: Learn the concepts
Based on these two key factors I believe one of the key issues with your studying technique might be the following:
1. Before starting to answer the GMAT questions from Kaplan/OG, did you go thru all the key areas in both Maths and Verbal, and make
sure that you understand the concepts very well.

When I started studyign for the GMAT, I spent the first on emonth just clearing concepts. Learning formulas, and making sure I
understood what you mean by "paralleism, apples and oranges" etc in Verbal. Once I understood the basic concepts only then did I move forward.
I used Princeton for clearing my concepts only because it was very very easily explained, adn I was in a position where, I didnt remember anything
in Quant, and wanted to start cleaning my fundamentals from absolute scratch before starting. I kept a book one for Quant and one for verbal.

After reading every chapter (be it %ages, ratio&proportions, real numbers etc), I would write down the chapters name, and write down all the
Key points I had learnt, forumulae extra in the book. This way I remembered all the eky

I will also state that Princeton explains DS beautifully. It helped me change from someone bad in DS problems to a point where in I had become pretty good
at it. Please do make sure you go thru the Princeton maths book in great detail. I will be mailing this to you asap. Also in DS do keep this in mind

1. A number can be something other than an integer (real, or fraction). Most of the question sare trick questions, and make you assume that the number
is a integer
2. Make sure you download Erics flash cards link (it has some cool info on the Quant that I would recommend you reading)

For Princeton Verbal (in case you are in the US), I would sincerely suggest trying libraries, or going to barnes/nobles/borders, to read the book, i fyou dont wnat to buy it
Also try craigslist. I got a lot of the used books from the website. You can buy it for 1/3rd the price. What I love about the book is the simplicity
with which they try to teach you.

Finally Princeton main book (which has all quant/verbal explaination plus excercises). I used the verbal/maths bins at the end, for figuring out what my
weak areas were. I created teh spreadsheet that outlined each of the questions I got wrong and why. Only when you know where you are messing up
can you start focusing and fixing. You can get the spreadsheet form my post. It helped me figure out two things
1. I realized I had serious time managemnet issues
2. I was able to identify specifically in maths, what areas I was weak in
3. I stopped being in a hurry to just answer questions. I was more concerend about learning how to answer them right
4. Once i had gotton confident in my concepts and my abilty to answer questions right, I then focused on my timing.

It is very improtant to be planned and intelligent about your studies. Make sure for every question you get wrong, you can identify what you did wrong
fix it, and if that question was to come again, there should be no earthly way you get it wrong. IN quant its easy, in Verbal its harder. For SC in Verbal,
to fix this problem of forgetting what was right, I started making flash cards. For every quesiton I got wrong in SC I made flash cards. I used to get so many wrong
that my fingers hurt writing on the darn flash cards - but I do believe fervently, that at the end those flash cards are waht helped get better in SC. I used
my office business cards for writing the info. Th format that I used is also given in my post in the forum - do read that.


Step 2:
At the point you have finished revising all the concepts from Princeton, then moving to kaplan makes sense. Kaplan inherently is very hard. They give
hard questions much more tougher than what comes in GMAT. I used it more to revise than anything else. If I could understand and do questions from Kaplan
then there was no way I could not do OG (which is considered to be tough too)

I finished again Kaplan Maths work book/Verbal workbook - I dont think I had time to go thru the Kaplan main book. I went to OG from there (do make sure you do all the
tests of kaplan though - they are extremely tough, but very very good practise. I do believe answering the tough questions there, and understanding how to
solve it when I got it all wrong, helped me solove the tough questions that came on GMAT. Do keep in mind, anything you get wrong, you need to understand
how to do it, so that next time you *have* to get it right.

Step 3
Finally comes OG. After the fundamentals being clear and practise thru Kaplan, this is the final lap. This is to see how yu are doing/preppign for hte final exam
Here the most important thing is timing. You have to focus on yoru timing - every question here has to be time 2 mts for quant and 1.8 I think for verbal.
You should not do a single question without timing. Do the Maths/verbal work book first, and follow the same philosophy of flash cards, making sure
you revise your msitake, and timing ...

Rember in the final exam they dont let you take a watch, you ahve to use the clock on the machine, so make sure you practise with that.

1. Are your fundamentals in maths, and verbal clear? Before I started out doing any of the problems, I first spent a month going
thru all the concepts, for each area of Maths, using the Princeton Maths Workbook.


Even though I followed all the above - I had a terrible time improving - there is one post I put in the forum that I am not sure if you read, I am attaching it with this email
too as it gives a breakdown of how I tried to improve in my probelm areas specifically in verbal, and what ifnally worked for me.

The key immaterial is - dont give up, figure out your weakness and try to fix it - dont just blindly put in effort, it doesnt get the results you want .

I really hope this helps,
Take care,
-ngufo

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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 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 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....


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Hello Ngufo!
First at all thank you so much for this input. I have been working trying to analyze my weaknesses and trying to understand what I did wrong in my last GMAT failed attempts and based on other’s post experiences and your comments I have created the following summary of my current situation which I would like to hear your observations and remarks.
What I think will be the more suitable is that you write your comments in red bold just next to every topic(In the ones you consider necessary)…
Of course if you have something else to point out I am open to hear your comments. Please do not hesitate to highlight and include whatever you consider necessary.
Please take all the time you need to do that. I know I am asking you for too much…. But now; I think that this is the KEY for my next attempt to beat the GMAT. I consider that I have to spend all the necessary time to understand and plan how I should work …….If not I will be doing anything and I’ll finish exactly in the same manner than in my last approaches.

Let me tell you that I have read all your posts in detail and I agree with all your advices and I will do them just as you said. The only point I am not sure is the one regarding to work with Kaplan material …. I am going to validate this, because I already worked a lot with Kaplan material and besides that I do not feel comfortable with Kaplan material I almost wore out all Kaplan sources…. I am going to analyze Manhattan option……comments…??

ANALYZING WEAKNESSES

In General terms

Improving the Basics
I have to work to improve my fundamentals: Reading skill habits as well as Math concepts. Regarding Math; even though I think my math knowledge is not so weak do to my background and what I did study in the previous attempts I definitely think that the best to do is to reinforce my Math’s basics. With respect to verbal I have comprehension&retention problems and due to this I used to read incorrectly a question. When I used to concentrate really hard and put the maximum attention to a question I remember that I performed better. I remember that I forced my self to better concentrate and to pay more attention when I was reading a question and when I did this I performed better.
Plan of action:
• Math:
o Do all the Math Bible - Princeton (Maths and main edition) and Theory from PREPSoft.
o Expend 15 min every day to work in mental math: Eg: doing up to 2 digit *,/ and 4 digit +, - in your head (ex: 27*32 = 864) as quickly and accurately as possible. (Objective: Get faster with greater accuracy.)

Verbal:
• Read 1hr of English every day over at least 2 month:
Pick up on article every day, from wall street journal, American science, cnn, anywhere that I like to read. And then after reading the whole article, just try summarizing it in my own words and write it.... When reading the articles DON'T just read them!! Read them critically! While you are reading you should constantly be asking yourself several things: "Main Idea?", "Scope?" - Why is the author writing? - What is being said? - How does the author accomplish her goal?
You will need to do these with the following goals in mind: Read faster, notice how they write, think of what ideas they are trying to present and why they are valid/invalid in your opinion.
• I did not focus in my weaknesses, is possible that I knew them but I did not try to fix them.
I did not track and follow my progress regarding my weaknesses. I just focus in doing exercises over exercises. I focused more in quantity than in quality. I knew the areas in which I perform poorly, but I did not stop to analyze how to overcome these weakness areas. Likewise I used to fail a same question several times.
Plan of action:
Track of my progress with logfile. Analyze once a week my progress and base on the results reformulate plan of study.

• I did not try different techniques and different ways. I guess I was just expecting to “Get it” without trying new ways; (I expected that just with practice I would improve the different sections of the exams……WRONG boy)
I think that OG and Kaplan were too complicated to work from the beginning and maybe that was a mistake. In the other hand I think that Kaplan strategies do not work for me.
Plan of action:
o To look for my own strategies. To find the way that allow me to answer the question but not imposing me strategies that just do not work for me or with I do not feel comfortable.
o To work now with other books different from Kaplan: Like: Princeton review and Manhattan .
o Keep participating in forum such as “I just beat the GMAT” and ask for what other GMAT takers are doing.




• When I got a question wrong instead or try to do it again I went to see the answer explanation in the book immediately and after that I did not try to do it again.
Plan of action :
o For every single question that I do wrong I will REDO IT AGAIN until I make sure I am comfortable with it. The question is: If someone was to give me the same question from the test that I wrote last week (that I got wrong), Am I 100% sure that I would get it right? If not then I am not revising enough… focus and REDOIT until I understand it.
o Understand the WHY..? Why I get WRONG the answer? Make sure any question I get wrong, I understand how to do it right. Don’t learn the answer, learn how to do it right.

• With respect to the TIMING issue…I timed my self when I did the exercises. I can say that I had this Timing issue always present in my head….However I did not re-do (do again) the exercises that took me more than 2 min again….for which now I think I was not doing anything…….
I usually tend to run out of time in the practice test in the quantitative section as well as in the verbal (Verbal in the last 10 and for Quant in the last 6….in average)
Plan of action:
Time my self in every question and track “times” in the logfile. For every question that I can’t do it in the time allotted (math:2min and verbal: 1.8 min) I will do it again until I mastered. I will start trimming once I feel that I have overcame my fundamentals.

• During the exam and even during the last weeks before the exam nerves won me the battle.
Plan of action:
Work in my nerves form the beginning. Read books, cool my self and take of on Sundays.

• My major weakness is verbal. RC is the one in which I do the poorly followed by CR. Afterwards came DS and I would say that in the same level SC and PS.
Plan of action:
RC: Work in fundamentals: 1hr of lecture daily.
CR: Practice and Practice…Look for my on way and technique.(Work with the critical reasoning Bible)
DS: Practice and Practice; Create flash Cards Look for my on way and technique. (Assure fundamentals: Math-Bible)
SC: Practice and Practice, Create flash Cards and Study the Manhattan GMAT book.
PS: Practice and Practice; Create flash Cards look for my on way and technique. (Assure fundamentals: Math-Bible)

• I used to study more than 4 hr in a row (I usually studied 5 hr) and now I think that the brain can not work and process information after to much time of studying.
Plan of action: Study maximum just 3 hr on weekdays, 4hr on Saturday and take off Sunday. Total time of study not more than 3 month.

• One of the things I can notice is that I have to better concentrate when I read. Usually when I put extra attention and the maximum of my effort in the moment of the reading I did better in RC and CR
Plan of action:
o Read CARREFULLY AND WITH LOT OF CONCENTRATION; Avoid to make a lot of careless errors because of lapses in concentration. This is the big challenge when it comes to CR: staying focused!
o Try to go into a passage with an attitude of excitement to learn about the information it contains. Strategy to help to maintain focus while reading.

Quantitative in General:
I used to make a good number of errors in situations where translation was the most important part of the question. I know I can do the simple algebra behind the question; but I think one of my problems was be able to put the words into algebra. I used to miss questions because I didn't translate them correctly, or maybe I even didn’t translate them at all.
Plan of action: Study and reinforce “translation” topic. Other areas to concentrate in: Rates, Ratios and Probabilities (Remember: “Rates and Ratios Are More Important Than Combinations and Permutations.......economize time study”.

DS: Since the beginning I noticed that in DS I performed the poorly in the quantitative section. I worked really hard in order to improve this section. I think it was the reason of getting a 36% in my may exam)….However this preparation was not maybe enough and I have to keep reinforcing this area….Perhaps that is the reason why I performed poorly in the last exam.
Plan of action:
Practice and Practice; Create flash Cards; Look for my on way and technique. (Assure fundamentals: Math-Bible)

PS
Practice and Practice; Create flash Cards look for my on way and technique. (Assure fundamentals: Math-Bible

Verbal in General:
Since I have Comprehension/Retention problems
I think I can salvage the most points by getting used to working with the denser reading passages and get comfortable extracting the point of technical jargon and abstract ideas.
Plan of action:
Fundamentals: Read 1hr of English every day over 1 month: Pick up on article, reading it critically and try summarizing it in my own words and write it.... When reading the articles DON'T just read them!! Read them critically!

RC:
IN RC either did quite well in a passage, or missed all the questions entirely.
Plan: Worrking with passages that I am not comfortable with and try to get used to muddling through the ones that are more complicated/more technical. On the passages I was comfortable with, my performance was adequate. So that If I can match this on the harder passages, I will be able to gain back a lot of points.
Plan of action: Fundamentals: Read 1hr of English every day over 1 month:

CR:
I am not sure about what happen with me in this section; however what I can point is:
-Was the second area after RC in which I performed the poorly, base on this I have to work hard in order to improve it.
-For some questions (I guess for the ones of easy level) I could find the answer but for others I just could not get it. Sometimes either I did quite well, or could not make them at all.
I noted that when I REALLY CONCENTRATE and tried to understand what the stimulus said I could saw the answer. It is like if sometimes I just read to read but….(Again comprehension and retention problems)
-Definitely Kaplan strategies of how to attack this section did not work for me…… conclusion-evidence-assumption……
Plan of action:
Practice and Practice…Look for my on way and technique.(Work with the critical reasoning Bible)

SC:
I think is the area in which I did it the best. I guess I just need to keep practicing.
Plan of action: Practice and Practice, Create flash Cards and Study the Manhattan GMAT book.

GENERAL STUDY PLAN (The order of the books count….Any suggestions??)

a-Clean up basics and fundamentals by doing all:
1-Math Bible
2-Princeton main edition.
3-Princeton Maths
4-Princeton Verbal

b-Once my basics are done; Get more practice with (NOT SURE) ??????? Please Help
Manhattan SC
The Critical Reasoning Bible

c-Finally when I have practiced enough and I am ready for the main goal - start with:
1-Official Guide 11th edition +Guide of this book from Jeff Sackmann
2-Quant Math Guide + Guide of this book from Jeff Sackmann
3-Verbal Guide.

Hello ngufo

Thanks for posting your message across. It is really inspiring.


Amit

8)

Never Give Up 8)

Hi ngufo,

Thanks . Randy Pausch's "Last Lecture" is really inspiring.The detail 1 hr actual lecture can be viewed at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_Mqic ... re=related

I'm sure you must have listen to it.

Thanks,
Ajay

ngufo wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teoB65BlGis (Amazing lecture by Randy Pausch - Professor from Carnegi Mellon)

Hi ngufo,

You are my inspiration. Thanks for being there. Keep rocking

Amit

tHANK YOU
sO DID YOU GET INTO grad school? Harvard?

Hey Ajay,

Can you please send PR stuff regarding SC to

[email protected]

Am really nervous ..... i think have read too much about the gmat . Am going to dive right in & am look for all the help I can get

thanks again

Cheers
Sharalene

what an amazing and inspiring story... best of luck ngufo

thts very inspiring ...... thanx for sharing ur prep work .... and all the best wid ur harvard business school studies .........

HI ngufo,

thANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THAT POST. ITS EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED. i HOPE YOU DONT MIND IF I E-MAIL YOU AS WELL IF I HAVE ANY QUESTIONS?

No problem success08 - please feel free to email m ewith any questions you may have

-ngufo

First opf all Congratulations!!! That's really a great score.

I am also an indian .I am planning to give GMAT test on octomber 30th 2008.
But the thing is that i am unable to complete the English section in the specified time ie of 75 min.
Can you please tell me the website for the practice of the English test specially the Reading Comprehension.

Anticipating your reply.

Thanks
Natali