I just Beat The GMAT!

Thanks Again ngufo,
I can postpond exam No problem...Actually I'm preparing since Oct 2007 .Earlier my exam was on 26th Jan but postponed till 29 March.As my practice test scores were not good.I'm not going to take the test till I score 700 + in all my tests.

1] Yes,I need to take a closer look at some specific topics from Q e.g Slope of line,Line Eqns.Stats....For V I'm making notes from Manhatton SC
and other books.

2] I'll plan time line for princeton review as well in my study plan

3] "you are not revising enough, and probably thats another area to focus on"
No ,I'm revising each and every question actually even its right or wrong but, still sometimes making similar mistakes again and again....Maths most of times silly mistakes r happening and Verbal ......no comments ....

"Anything more than 2 minutes for maths, and 1.8 for verbal, tells you that you are going to run out of time"

Thats the best way but I never applied.I was giving more time to difficult questions..... in case of Verbal.When the RC questions start I find clock is running very fast .I think 5-8 mins per RC passage should be the target time...But as of now its too short for me ....for one passage I take 10 mins....and then even never get 100 % accuracy ....

In case any further specific questions I'll email you.
Thanks for all ur inputs...Sorry for bugging u all the time....
Ajay

Hi NGUFO,

My own GMAT (and MBA applications!) journey has already ended. It was a whirlwind ride for me that began in end-August, and concluded this past December. If your mantra is NGUFO, mine is probably closer to 'NUTPL'- Never Underestimate the Power of LUCK!

On another note, I see you're well on your way to becoming the next big GMAT consultant here. Good job!

Cheers!

Thats pretty good to know jason . Happy for you buddy - but you are being too modest... Luck may play a part, but there is no substitute for the work you must have put in!

So which school will you be going to and starting when? Wish you all the very best - the hard part is over now, enjoy the ride.... A bunch of us are watching from the distance, hopefully our time too will come

TAke care,
-ngufo

Hi NGUFO,

I will be doing the Wharton/Lauder MBA/MA dual degree programme, starting this May. I posted my experience in the Admissions Success Story section, if you're interested. If you read my post, you may agree that luck had a lot more to do with it than anything else, considering my decision to apply + GMAT + Essays all took less than 2 months from start to finish.

Cheers,
NUTPL

Will definitely read up jason, thats for sure. As for now, congratulations on moving forward onto a brand new phase of life. Hope its everything you want it to be and then some more

Take care,
-ngufo

Thank you for your well wishes. It's my dream programme, and I'm definitely happy. It's not HBS, however. There's a magical mystique attached to Harvard, so your fight is obviously going to be much harder. Good luck! Let us know how it goes.

-NUTPL

Hi Ajay,
I apologize for not responding earlier, this week was a little crazy in terms of getting some key work done at office, I was meaning to reply to you asap. Please take it out of your mind that you are bugging me. You can ask me anything you want any time. Trust me, I was in the same shoes as you an year back, trying to figure out my weaknesses and fix them. I do beleive that going forward with determination, not givign up, adn practicising like crazy, will automatically help you improve. When I was getting nearly 80% of my data sufficiency questions wrong, I just kept trying to make sure I coudl understand what was wrong and how I could fix it. Sounds you have the same problem on the RC front. I think that you need ot work harder there. What might help (helped me), is pick up on earticle every day, from wall stree, cnn, anywhere taht you liek to read. And then after reading the whole article, just try summarizing it in your own words... You will find it very hard. The brain doesn ttend to retain all the stuff you read, it happened to me too. But once you start trying to just summarize the wohle paragraph (do it for 2-3 weeks), you will find a differnece. You will see that your retention power has increased. I found that happening to me too.....

Also first just make sure that you are comfortable when doing RC, SC, and quant. That if there are any areas that you are weak on you are practising that like crazy, adn understanidng how to do it. After that probably timing is very important and thats next.

It would be great if you could postpone your exam, create a study plan fo rthe next few months (identifying yoru mistakes and what you plan to do to practise to hone your skills), Based on that set your exam. When I started preparing in May of last year, my folks thought I was crazy/dum to right it in November (so late), but ajay, if I had written it earlier, I wouldnt have scored well - I wasnt ready.

Bottom line find yoru mistakes, take your time to fix them, and then write the exam - I am very sure, with your dedication, your passion to do well, plus god always helps people woh try their best, you are definitly going to achieve your dream....

Its jsut a matter of time

Please ask me anything you want anytime, you are never bugging me. I was helped by a lot of people in the forum when I was in need, the least I can do is return the favor...

tAke care,
-ngufo

Hi ngufo,
Thanks for your reply.Yesterday I solved RC from Kaplan Verbal.My scores are

1] Practice Set 1 -- 3/18
2] Practice Set 2--- 7/18
2] Practice Set 3--- 9/18

Yes,I'm focusing more on RC these days.Solving RC from all the possible resources.Reading CNN news articles,Some notes/tips on how to improve reading speed etc.....
I have one question.The "GMAT Princeton review" book you was referring is it the below one ?

https://www.amazon.com/Cracking-GMAT-200 ... 475&sr=8-1

I'm bit confused on which is the "GMAT Princeton review" book as I have 2 soft copies which have different contents.

Yes,I'm planning to postpond the exam from 29 March till May but,I really want to finish as soon as possible.So many personal priority things are lined up...

BTW,did u get my mail ?

Thanks,
Ajay

ngufo wrote:Hi Ajay,
I apologize for not responding earlier, this week was a little crazy in terms of getting some key work done at office, I was meaning to reply to you asap. Please take it out of your mind that you are bugging me. You can ask me anything you want any time. Trust me, I was in the same shoes as you an year back, trying to figure out my weaknesses and fix them. I do beleive that going forward with determination, not givign up, adn practicising like crazy, will automatically help you improve. When I was getting nearly 80% of my data sufficiency questions wrong, I just kept trying to make sure I coudl understand what was wrong and how I could fix it. Sounds you have the same problem on the RC front. I think that you need ot work harder there. What might help (helped me), is pick up on earticle every day, from wall stree, cnn, anywhere taht you liek to read. And then after reading the whole article, just try summarizing it in your own words... You will find it very hard. The brain doesn ttend to retain all the stuff you read, it happened to me too. But once you start trying to just summarize the wohle paragraph (do it for 2-3 weeks), you will find a differnece. You will see that your retention power has increased. I found that happening to me too.....

Also first just make sure that you are comfortable when doing RC, SC, and quant. That if there are any areas that you are weak on you are practising that like crazy, adn understanidng how to do it. After that probably timing is very important and thats next.

It would be great if you could postpone your exam, create a study plan fo rthe next few months (identifying yoru mistakes and what you plan to do to practise to hone your skills), Based on that set your exam. When I started preparing in May of last year, my folks thought I was crazy/dum to right it in November (so late), but ajay, if I had written it earlier, I wouldnt have scored well - I wasnt ready.

Bottom line find yoru mistakes, take your time to fix them, and then write the exam - I am very sure, with your dedication, your passion to do well, plus god always helps people woh try their best, you are definitly going to achieve your dream....

Its jsut a matter of time

Please ask me anything you want anytime, you are never bugging me. I was helped by a lot of people in the forum when I was in need, the least I can do is return the favor...

tAke care,
-ngufo

Hi Ajay,
The book I used was different
https://www.amazon.com/Cracking-GMAT-20 ... 551&sr=1-2

That is great news - I am pretty sure that with the amount of work you are putting in, you will definitely hit the bar you set for yourself.

Did you mail me at [email protected]? I havent checked that email. Will look at it after i finish mailing to you.

Take care, and all the best,
-ngufo

Hi ngufo,

Thanks for your quick reply.I think we both are referring to the same book but,different year editions.
I'll just double check and then will buy the latest edition of the PR book.
Will update you about my progress on this thread.

Thanks Again,
Ajay

ngufo wrote:Hi Ajay,
The book I used was different
https://www.amazon.com/Cracking-GMAT-20 ... 551&sr=1-2

That is great news - I am pretty sure that with the amount of work you are putting in, you will definitely hit the bar you set for yourself.

Did you mail me at [email protected]? I havent checked that email. Will look at it after i finish mailing to you.

Take care, and all the best,
-ngufo

from you post, it says..

I wrote my practise prep tests all in that week (my timing was way off), should have writtne them earlier, but there had been
too much of work in the office

what did you mean by saying "I wrote my practise prep test"? Does that mean literally write the questions, premise or reading materials on a piece of paper?

I meant that I finished all the practise tests like GMAT CAT1, GMAT CAT2, Power Prep 1, Power Prep 2. These are computer adaptive tests, that have to be done on the computer (very similar to the final test)

Generally people space the tests out,as they are the final indicators of how you will do in the test, but I ended up doing them in 4 consecutive days itself. I think doing the tests did give me the momentum - i didnt do anything the day before the test though, so that the mind had time to relax....

Wish you all the best,
Regards,
-Ekta

I forgot to mention how inspiring your story was..
i thought about giving it up and settle with my score,
but after reading your post, it makes me feel i want to try one more time.
thank you..

Thanks for the email - it means a lot to me. All my life I knew I was average, I knew I wasnt the smartest person out there .....

What I have learnt over time, is that what smart people take 2 days to do I take 7. I started realizing that if I just put in more effort, I could do anythign I set my mind too. It really doesnt matter how much time it takes you know, at the end of the day, I can equally kick butt, adn the result tastes equally sweet as the guy who got a 720 in 1 week....

Its taken me a while to work around my weaknesses, but I am telling you, its a great feeling to know you can do anything you set your mind to, once you know what your limitations are and how to work around them.....

I took 6 whole months to get ready, it was terrifying for me, every step of the way, but the key is to make sure you are very very organized about your studies, you create a strict study schedule, and consistently analyze your mistakes, and fix your weaknesses. There is no way you will not come close to what your potential is - its happened to me every single time.

I mention it many times in my emails - but finally just having faith in god, that once you put your life and soul into what youare trying to achieve, for him to provide you with the final little push to get you thru the finish line (I always give a prayer before anything big .... its always worked out for me)

I really wish you all the very best, nothing in life is unachievable, you just break every big thing into pieces and then take it one piece at a time. When I looked at the GMAT the first time, I remember being so scared. I remember realizing that I sucked at Maths, Verbal and essays, how the hell would I get by. Just took one thing at a time, learned the maths concepts, and in parallel kept practising the verbal, and at the very end the AWA

Please let me know if i can help you in any way. God has provided me with a lot of help in the form of various people, in various ways - I believe I need to return the faviour in kind at all times. It would be a pleasure to help out.

Take care, god bless, and wish you all the very best!
-ngufo

wow, i have learned so much from you today..
especially the part you mentioned about faith in God.
as a sunday school teacher, i feel a little embarrassed
that i neglected my commitment in church many times to put
more time on this studying...
looking back, i wasn't really studying..I've been distracted and not focused and on the other hand worrying more.
I know that God works in many different ways..
it feels that he is trying to send me some messages by allowing me to
exchange messages with you. once again congratulations of your score and good luck on your admissions and your future..
i do really want to see someone like you become successful in life,
setting a good example for others...

kevin