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GMAT 720 95%(Q49,V40)(people never fail - they just give up)
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Nelsonjp86
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- Joined: Mon Feb 07, 2011 8:49 pm
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Karlacaire
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Great post, thank you for sharing your story that for sure is inspiring a lot of people! including me
... and what about you... Did you go finally to Harvard?... How was it?
Cheers
... and what about you... Did you go finally to Harvard?... How was it?
Cheers
-
tanishajajoo
- Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
- Posts: 15
- Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2011 12:59 am
WOW...thats epic ! Despite all the hurdles, a score of 720. Thats highly commendable ! Kudos to you and all your hardwork.
Anyways, Hi all, Im a commerce graduate from Mumbai, India and Im looking forward to apply for a Master of science program in marketing for fall 2012. I plan to give my gmat sometime early november this year, for the first time ever.
But before I begin my tryst with GMAT, I was just a little confused over whether I should be studying for it all by myself or opting for professional coaching instead.
If I should go in for self study then what books should I refer to (keeping in mind that i can dedicate around 2 hrs daily and do this for 4 months) ?
and in the event that
If I should opt for coaching/tutors then who should I go to ? There aren't too many good GMAT coachings that im aware of.
My target score is 740+.
Please help.
Regards,
Tanisha Jajoo.
Anyways, Hi all, Im a commerce graduate from Mumbai, India and Im looking forward to apply for a Master of science program in marketing for fall 2012. I plan to give my gmat sometime early november this year, for the first time ever.
But before I begin my tryst with GMAT, I was just a little confused over whether I should be studying for it all by myself or opting for professional coaching instead.
If I should go in for self study then what books should I refer to (keeping in mind that i can dedicate around 2 hrs daily and do this for 4 months) ?
and in the event that
If I should opt for coaching/tutors then who should I go to ? There aren't too many good GMAT coachings that im aware of.
My target score is 740+.
Please help.
Regards,
Tanisha Jajoo.
HI Ngufo,
Congratulations on the achievement.Hope you have better times ahead.
I just had a query ,you wrote GMAT 720 95%(Q49,V40), Can you please explain what does(Q49,V40) meant ?
As I know GMAT have 37 Quant and 41 Verbal questions.
Thanks
Congratulations on the achievement.Hope you have better times ahead.
I just had a query ,you wrote GMAT 720 95%(Q49,V40), Can you please explain what does(Q49,V40) meant ?
As I know GMAT have 37 Quant and 41 Verbal questions.
Thanks
ngufo wrote:Ngufo's Story...
NGUFO = (Never Give Up - Fight On)
I just scored a 720 in my GMat last tuesday. I screamed in the exam center with sheer disbelief and excitement. People may have thought
I am a complete gone case - but I can tell you, I believe I got the best score I possibly can, I couldnt have asked for more. I am writing this blog because I believe that my story can and will help other average people out there, sum up the courage to livetheir deams. If I can do it - ANYONE CAN. I am a very average student, whose only strength is that I am willing to work hard.
I also believe that with the right study plan chalked out, and going with your target with determination - ANYONE can score a 700 and above. The path is not easy, but who said anything is impossible - it just takes that little much longer.
It took me 6 months......
Context:
I am an asian indian female who did her masters in computer science from RPI, who has hatedmaths all her life. Surprisingly my whole life has involved studying maths and sciences since day 1. I have been meaning to write the GMAT for the last three years. But just the thought of Maths, had the motivation peter down... I finally decided to write my GMAT this year - I knew this would be my last chance. I aslo work full time, and have a stressful job in a small startup in the bay area. This was going to be hard...
Someone once told me that whatever happens in life happens two times - once in your mind, once in reality. I started with the dream of acing my GMAT and going to Harvard - "If you can see it, you can be it, if you JUST BELIEVE IT, there is nothing to it.....I believed I was going to Harvard"....
Study Details:
My preparation started May 15th, 2007 - I first came to this web site, and read Eric's blog,then I read Ursula's blog (https://beatthegmat.blocked/2005/08 ... efing.html) ,and I also read "Twinslplitters blog. I felt a little intimidated -these guys sounded sharp smart and well smart again. Then started the most important part of my preparation, the planning. Iknew that I was very weak, both in Maths and Verbal,
and neither came naturally to me. I didnt remember any of the maths forumlas, and even a simple ratio and proportion problem was stumping me - I needed to start bottoms up. By reading the blogs, and asking around I created a very extensive study schedule for me.
Step 1: Understand concepts, and formulas
Time frame: May 15 - July 1st.
A. Princeton Maths (https://www.amazon.com/GMAT-Math-Workout ... 092&sr=8-7)
B. Princeton Verbal (https://www.amazon.com/Verbal-Workout-GM ... 145&sr=1-3 )
C. Princeton GMAT 2005 (the Maths and Verbal book) (https://www.amazon.com/Cracking-Sample-T ... =books&qid)
D. Download the Flash Cards link that Eric has provided -its a big big help.
https://www.beatthegmat.com/download-my- ... s-t32.html
Study pattern: I would put in two hours every day from 5 -7 in the evenings on weekdays, and would put in 4 hours each on a Saturday as well as Sunday over the weekend. Sundays for me were for writing my practice GMATs. Saturday for making sure I completed anythign I may have missed over the weekdays (revising things before my practise test on sunday)
Princeton was the key for me. I read every single line of the book, made notes. I spent all of May 15th, to end of June
ensuring that I had gone thru the Maths and Verbal of princeton, and understood the basics of both. I was so bad in maths
and verbal, that I held off on writing the diagnostic test, until I had read a little from the books.
Diagnostic Test: GMAT Prep 1 (didnt do the essays) - Score 460 (It didnt suprise me, it didnt de-motivate me, I just knew. I had to study harder).
The key part of my studies was making sure of the following:
-That any mistake I made any time, I made sure I would not make it again. I also followed Ursula's recommendation, when you make a mistake, dont read the answer immediately. Try to solve it on your own
how much ever time it takes, only when you are really stumped look at the answer. It will help you more.
- Another thing that helped me is, in all the books read the answer to every question. The author provides cool new ways to answer questions (techniques that can help you solve questions better. Sometimes when you answer a question rigth and dont read the explanation, you can miss some cool techniques that could help you do the question faster
- I timed every question I did. Would have a watch next to me. My goal was to do every maths question within 2 minutes, and every verbal within 1.8 mts. I did this timing for every question in OG. It helped me pace myself.
- Note answering all questiosn on the exam is very very important, even if it means guessing some of the quesitons. By being able to time myself by what I said above, it helped better my speed a lot.
- Make sure for both maths and Verbal you make flash cards earlier on. In maths for the important formulae, in verbal I mostly did it for Sentence Correction for any good question, ofr questions with idiosm, or any question I got wrong. The way I made my verbal flash cards were the following
Sentence Correction
Write the questions
where question came from say Princeton Verbal: Page x: question x: Difficulty (HARD, Very hard, medium okay)
Hint - Idiom, parallel, anything else that helps get answer
Answer
The above format form y flash cards helped me a lot. By the end of my exam prep I had 3 full boxes of flash cards, which I read and went before the exam. I believe flash cards are one part of my prep that made a tremendous difference. The above is a tedious effort, and I would get tired of writing flash cards (considering the number of questiosn I was getting wrong - but really do the best you can, this is important)
Princeton Exams Scores:
Princeton CAT 1 (July 1st, 2007): 640
Princeton CAT 2: (July 15th, 2007): 660
Princeton CAT 3: (Aug 11th, 2007): 670
Note I didnt write essays on either of these exams. I was too overwhelmed and just wanted to focus on the Maths/Verbal.
For Princeton I followed Ursulas recommendation of creating detailed spreadsheets showing what I was weak in, what took more time etc.
I am not sure how much this helped me, because I never got a chance to review these again before the exam. It helped me at that time, as it ensuredthat every quesiton I had done wrong, I had analyzed the same, made flash cards, and could answer them if they came again.
I've attached a sample of what I created, but again not sure how useful
this is.
Step 2: Studies Taken further (Kaplan)
Time Frame: July 1st - August 1st
A. Kaplan GRE & GMAT Math Workbook (https://www.amazon.com/Kaplan-GMAT-Exams ... 286&sr=1-2)
B. Kaplan Verbal (https://www.amazon.com/Kaplan-GMAT-Verba ... 333&sr=1-1)
C. Kaplan GMAT 2005 with CD (https://www.amazon.com/Kaplan-GMAT-2005- ... 366&sr=1-1)
Kaplan Exam Scores:
Kaplan CAT 1: July 29th, 550 (was really devastated).
Kaplan CAT 2: August 15, 560 (devastation continues)
I donthave my Kaplan 3, 4 scores with me right now, but I remember they were all in the 500 range...
Was pretty disappointed with my Kaplan scores. The exams were very tough. I had read that what you get is generally 50-60 points
below your actual score, but that didnt help me much. I was way behind.
Step 3: Gmat Official Guide: Verbal/Maths
Time frame: August 1st - September end.
1. Maths Offical Guide workbook (https://www.amazon.com/Official-Guide-GM ... 21_rsrssi0)
2. Verbal Official Guide workbook (https://www.amazon.com/Official-Guide-GM ... 20_rsrssi0)
Step 4: GMAT Official guide Main book
Time Frame: October 1st - November 26th
1. Official guide 10th Edition (https://www.amazon.com/Official-Guide-GM ... ch_tsr_rtr)
2. Sentence Correction (Manhattan GMAT) -(https://www.amazon.com/Sentence-Correcti ... 436&sr=1-1) really good book, that helped me hone my SC skills. Studied it in between with my OG prep.
3. Kaplan 800 - (https://www.amazon.com/Kaplan-GMAT-800-2 ... 366&sr=1-2)I bought this book (but it was too tough, and given that
I was focusing on finishing my OG, I never got to do this)
While studying from the Official guides I re-took all my Princeton tests again - I wanted to see if I had improved at all. Also I wanted to write all the exams with essays this time to ensure I had the stamina. I didnt prepare for my essays at this point
Princeton Test 1: 09/30/2007 - 720 (my first 700 and above)
Princeton Test 2: 10/07/2007 - 720
Princeton Test 3: 10/14/2007 - 640
princeton Test 4: 10/20/2007 - 640
Note I wrote essays for all the above tests (and the essays were really bull shitty). I hadnt prepared for essays at this time, was just trying to build my stamina.
I just remember being very depressed and down at this time. I was getting erratic results, and couldnt for the life of me figure out whta the hell I was doing wrong. I just decided I didnt have a choice any more. I would focus on my OG, and then write the GMAT CAT 1, 2, Power Prep 1, 2 all four test are available for free - and would give me a final evaluation of what my score woudl be. I was trying my best what more could I do?
Note the Official Guide has a huge number of questions. To be able to complete them, and still build up my stamina I would get up at 5 in the monring, and would do 20 Questions from Problem solving
20- from Data Sufficiency, 20 from RC, 20 from CR adn 20 from SC, every single day. It would take me around 3 hours to get this done every day. I would make sure whenever I got time I go thru my mistakes.
I CANNOT stress how importnat going thru your mistakes and making flash cards is!!! I never left a single question that I had done wrong, unrevised.
Essays Preparation
Book: Arco:GMAT Answers to the Real Essay Questions.
https://www.buy.com/prod/gmat-answers-to ... 81426.html
I started worrying about my essays mid October. I knew I sucked at essays, and hadnt written a single one for the initial tests. I bought the Arco Essay book and read the instructions for Analysis of the Argument/Issue. I followed instructions that helped me outline my essays much better. I just received my AWA scores and it was a 5.5 - all thanks to this book.
Final Exam Prep
Finally the date for the final exam Nov 27th. It was the thanksgiving weekend, Thursday Friday Saturday sunday.
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, and I had been strugglign with finish OG 10th edition 3 hours every day. was tired.
GMAT CAT 1: Nov 22nd (720)
GMAT CAT 2: Nov 23rd (690)
https://www.mba.com/mba/TaketheGMAT/Tool ... ftware.htm
I believe what I got on the above two tests were the best reflection of my capabilities. When I try to see the quant/verbal breakdown
in the GMAT CAT tests now it doesnt show me. But I have always averaged between 38 - 40 in verbal and 47 - 49 in maths.
Power PREP 1: Nov 24rd (750): Q49V44
Power Prep 2: Nov 25th(710): Q48/40
https://www.gorillatestprep.com/gmat_resources.html
I wasnt that excited about the Power prep scores. A lotof the verbal questions were repeats from the OG guide. Hence they were not reflective of my true score I felt.
I also believe that OG is god. Doing maths OG,verbal OG and finally the master of them all OG 10th edition, helped me get better. At the end I had becomevery very good at Data Sufficiency. From a complete duffer to someone who would not make silly mistakes, and do the questions well in time. it really helped me.
Day of the Exam - Drama continues.
I had bled for 6 months on this. It was excruciating. My exam was on Tuesday, on Monday I fell very badly sick. I am not sure if it was psychosomatic, or what the problem was. I had soar throad, cold, cough, and fever. I slept all of monday, got up at 8 in the night feeling like shit, adn very very unhappy wth life in general I could not believe what god was doing to me. How could he - it was so unfair, all this effort, all the determination for what? I called up to see if I could postpone
the exam, they said i was calling too late, I would forfeit the money, unless I could produce medical records. At the back of mind, I jsut wantedto write the damn exam, I wanted to get it over with ......
my husband doubled me up with lots of medicine, and lots of food. I remember crying to my folks about how unfair it was on Monday night. And then something just clicked in my brain. Its happened to me before - when I am beat down, some part of me fight backs. I wasnt going down that easy. I sat down from 8 - 12 in the night, and finished the last few questions from OG data sufficiency and OG Critical reasoning. I wanted to make sure my OG was all doen and complete before I went to the
exam. (I dont recommend this to anyone - a proper night sleep before the exam is essential - unless you have bad luck like me .... )
I went to sleep at 12. I could not sleep the whole bloody night. I was awake - just didnt know how to fall asleep. At 5 with eyes wide open, I just couldnt believe my bad lluck. Got up at 6 in the morning had 2 crocins, a bath. I prayed to god for 5 minutes, asking him to give me strength to go thru whatever comes my way and then went to the exam (it was at eight in the morning). There I find out as I dont have a green card yet, I needed to
get my passport (I had walked in just with my driver's licence - SHIT!!!. My husband went and got me the passport). I entered the room at 8.30.
But at this time with all the stress since the previous night, I was so pissed/frustrated, that I literally started talkign to god telling him that if I didnt get a 700 this time, I would write the exam every single year 3 times for the next n years, until I hit the damn score. I WASNT GIVING UP......
I sat down for the exam, it prompted me to write down which school I wanted my score reported (6 months, crazy effort, fever, soar throat, feeling sick .....) I took a deep breath, took a gulp, and with shaking hands, wrote down Harvard business school. I can tell you this, when the exam started, you could have shot me, and I would hve answered the question with everything I had. Every question had 300% of me when I asnwered. I didnt have time to finish all the maths questions. But I rememberd that answering all was more important - I had to randomly select answers for the last 4 quesitons
4 hours later, when the exam prompted me if I wanted to see my score. I closed my eyes, gave a prayer to god, asked him to help me pull up my score to 700 - and then pressed on the button.
720 showed up on screen - I acutally gave a scream of delight and tears started streaming thru my eyes. It had been so hard, so painful, so WONDERFUL.....
i sit at home today unable to believe I did it. I feel happy, delighted, but apprehensive - there is still a long way between me and my dream, but the first boulder is out of the way. I have applicaitons to write, lot of work to do, but its amazing what you can accomplish once you set your mind to something, and believethat you will go thru with it, not matter what is thrown your way.
I really hope the details I've written above help others get thru this exam too - all the information I read up on this web site and others really helped me get myself ready, I am just trying to reciprocate in kind.
this blog is specially targetted for people, who think they are average, and who are trying to step up their mind/spirit to go after there dreams - I am an example of that. Dont ever every loose faith in yourself ....
As for me right now - HARVARD, LOOK OUT HERE i COME.....
My Inspiration:
Derek Redmond: Its all about giving it your "all" - its all about completing the race.....
Story: https://sports.espn.go.com/espn/espn25/s ... moments/94
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-MRoIDX ... re=related
Amazing lecture by Randy Pausch - Professor from Carnegi Mellon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teoB65BlGis
The attachment called commitment (any time I feel like giving up, I just read it and I am ready to go again)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey thr NGUFO ,thats was quite a story u wrote thr....and u know at ..i actaually didn't notice when u had written this when in the last i found it was way back in 2007...but success never gets old..anyways...thanx for such a wonderul and inspiring story...BTW whr had u got ur admission and whr ru working now after passing out..will be glad to hear from u again...ayan..bye and gud luck..
ngufo wrote:Ngufo's Story...
NGUFO = (Never Give Up - Fight On)
I just scored a 720 in my GMat last tuesday. I screamed in the exam center with sheer disbelief and excitement. People may have thought
I am a complete gone case - but I can tell you, I believe I got the best score I possibly can, I couldnt have asked for more. I am writing this blog because I believe that my story can and will help other average people out there, sum up the courage to livetheir deams. If I can do it - ANYONE CAN. I am a very average student, whose only strength is that I am willing to work hard.
I also believe that with the right study plan chalked out, and going with your target with determination - ANYONE can score a 700 and above. The path is not easy, but who said anything is impossible - it just takes that little much longer.
It took me 6 months......
Context:
I am an asian indian female who did her masters in computer science from RPI, who has hatedmaths all her life. Surprisingly my whole life has involved studying maths and sciences since day 1. I have been meaning to write the GMAT for the last three years. But just the thought of Maths, had the motivation peter down... I finally decided to write my GMAT this year - I knew this would be my last chance. I aslo work full time, and have a stressful job in a small startup in the bay area. This was going to be hard...
Someone once told me that whatever happens in life happens two times - once in your mind, once in reality. I started with the dream of acing my GMAT and going to Harvard - "If you can see it, you can be it, if you JUST BELIEVE IT, there is nothing to it.....I believed I was going to Harvard"....
Study Details:
My preparation started May 15th, 2007 - I first came to this web site, and read Eric's blog,then I read Ursula's blog (https://beatthegmat.blocked/2005/08 ... efing.html) ,and I also read "Twinslplitters blog. I felt a little intimidated -these guys sounded sharp smart and well smart again. Then started the most important part of my preparation, the planning. Iknew that I was very weak, both in Maths and Verbal,
and neither came naturally to me. I didnt remember any of the maths forumlas, and even a simple ratio and proportion problem was stumping me - I needed to start bottoms up. By reading the blogs, and asking around I created a very extensive study schedule for me.
Step 1: Understand concepts, and formulas
Time frame: May 15 - July 1st.
A. Princeton Maths (https://www.amazon.com/GMAT-Math-Workout ... 092&sr=8-7)
B. Princeton Verbal (https://www.amazon.com/Verbal-Workout-GM ... 145&sr=1-3 )
C. Princeton GMAT 2005 (the Maths and Verbal book) (https://www.amazon.com/Cracking-Sample-T ... =books&qid)
D. Download the Flash Cards link that Eric has provided -its a big big help.
https://www.beatthegmat.com/download-my- ... s-t32.html
Study pattern: I would put in two hours every day from 5 -7 in the evenings on weekdays, and would put in 4 hours each on a Saturday as well as Sunday over the weekend. Sundays for me were for writing my practice GMATs. Saturday for making sure I completed anythign I may have missed over the weekdays (revising things before my practise test on sunday)
Princeton was the key for me. I read every single line of the book, made notes. I spent all of May 15th, to end of June
ensuring that I had gone thru the Maths and Verbal of princeton, and understood the basics of both. I was so bad in maths
and verbal, that I held off on writing the diagnostic test, until I had read a little from the books.
Diagnostic Test: GMAT Prep 1 (didnt do the essays) - Score 460 (It didnt suprise me, it didnt de-motivate me, I just knew. I had to study harder).
The key part of my studies was making sure of the following:
-That any mistake I made any time, I made sure I would not make it again. I also followed Ursula's recommendation, when you make a mistake, dont read the answer immediately. Try to solve it on your own
how much ever time it takes, only when you are really stumped look at the answer. It will help you more.
- Another thing that helped me is, in all the books read the answer to every question. The author provides cool new ways to answer questions (techniques that can help you solve questions better. Sometimes when you answer a question rigth and dont read the explanation, you can miss some cool techniques that could help you do the question faster
- I timed every question I did. Would have a watch next to me. My goal was to do every maths question within 2 minutes, and every verbal within 1.8 mts. I did this timing for every question in OG. It helped me pace myself.
- Note answering all questiosn on the exam is very very important, even if it means guessing some of the quesitons. By being able to time myself by what I said above, it helped better my speed a lot.
- Make sure for both maths and Verbal you make flash cards earlier on. In maths for the important formulae, in verbal I mostly did it for Sentence Correction for any good question, ofr questions with idiosm, or any question I got wrong. The way I made my verbal flash cards were the following
Sentence Correction
Write the questions
where question came from say Princeton Verbal: Page x: question x: Difficulty (HARD, Very hard, medium okay)
Hint - Idiom, parallel, anything else that helps get answer
Answer
The above format form y flash cards helped me a lot. By the end of my exam prep I had 3 full boxes of flash cards, which I read and went before the exam. I believe flash cards are one part of my prep that made a tremendous difference. The above is a tedious effort, and I would get tired of writing flash cards (considering the number of questiosn I was getting wrong - but really do the best you can, this is important)
Princeton Exams Scores:
Princeton CAT 1 (July 1st, 2007): 640
Princeton CAT 2: (July 15th, 2007): 660
Princeton CAT 3: (Aug 11th, 2007): 670
Note I didnt write essays on either of these exams. I was too overwhelmed and just wanted to focus on the Maths/Verbal.
For Princeton I followed Ursulas recommendation of creating detailed spreadsheets showing what I was weak in, what took more time etc.
I am not sure how much this helped me, because I never got a chance to review these again before the exam. It helped me at that time, as it ensuredthat every quesiton I had done wrong, I had analyzed the same, made flash cards, and could answer them if they came again.
I've attached a sample of what I created, but again not sure how useful
this is.
Step 2: Studies Taken further (Kaplan)
Time Frame: July 1st - August 1st
A. Kaplan GRE & GMAT Math Workbook (https://www.amazon.com/Kaplan-GMAT-Exams ... 286&sr=1-2)
B. Kaplan Verbal (https://www.amazon.com/Kaplan-GMAT-Verba ... 333&sr=1-1)
C. Kaplan GMAT 2005 with CD (https://www.amazon.com/Kaplan-GMAT-2005- ... 366&sr=1-1)
Kaplan Exam Scores:
Kaplan CAT 1: July 29th, 550 (was really devastated
Kaplan CAT 2: August 15, 560 (devastation continues)
I donthave my Kaplan 3, 4 scores with me right now, but I remember they were all in the 500 range...
Was pretty disappointed with my Kaplan scores. The exams were very tough. I had read that what you get is generally 50-60 points
below your actual score, but that didnt help me much. I was way behind.
Step 3: Gmat Official Guide: Verbal/Maths
Time frame: August 1st - September end.
1. Maths Offical Guide workbook (https://www.amazon.com/Official-Guide-GM ... 21_rsrssi0)
2. Verbal Official Guide workbook (https://www.amazon.com/Official-Guide-GM ... 20_rsrssi0)
Step 4: GMAT Official guide Main book
Time Frame: October 1st - November 26th
1. Official guide 10th Edition (https://www.amazon.com/Official-Guide-GM ... ch_tsr_rtr)
2. Sentence Correction (Manhattan GMAT) -(https://www.amazon.com/Sentence-Correcti ... 436&sr=1-1) really good book, that helped me hone my SC skills. Studied it in between with my OG prep.
3. Kaplan 800 - (https://www.amazon.com/Kaplan-GMAT-800-2 ... 366&sr=1-2)I bought this book (but it was too tough, and given that
I was focusing on finishing my OG, I never got to do this)
While studying from the Official guides I re-took all my Princeton tests again - I wanted to see if I had improved at all. Also I wanted to write all the exams with essays this time to ensure I had the stamina. I didnt prepare for my essays at this point
Princeton Test 1: 09/30/2007 - 720 (my first 700 and above)
Princeton Test 2: 10/07/2007 - 720
Princeton Test 3: 10/14/2007 - 640
princeton Test 4: 10/20/2007 - 640
Note I wrote essays for all the above tests (and the essays were really bull shitty). I hadnt prepared for essays at this time, was just trying to build my stamina.
I just remember being very depressed and down at this time. I was getting erratic results, and couldnt for the life of me figure out whta the hell I was doing wrong. I just decided I didnt have a choice any more. I would focus on my OG, and then write the GMAT CAT 1, 2, Power Prep 1, 2 all four test are available for free - and would give me a final evaluation of what my score woudl be. I was trying my best what more could I do?
Note the Official Guide has a huge number of questions. To be able to complete them, and still build up my stamina I would get up at 5 in the monring, and would do 20 Questions from Problem solving
20- from Data Sufficiency, 20 from RC, 20 from CR adn 20 from SC, every single day. It would take me around 3 hours to get this done every day. I would make sure whenever I got time I go thru my mistakes.
I CANNOT stress how importnat going thru your mistakes and making flash cards is!!! I never left a single question that I had done wrong, unrevised.
Essays Preparation
Book: Arco:GMAT Answers to the Real Essay Questions.
https://www.buy.com/prod/gmat-answers-to ... 81426.html
I started worrying about my essays mid October. I knew I sucked at essays, and hadnt written a single one for the initial tests. I bought the Arco Essay book and read the instructions for Analysis of the Argument/Issue. I followed instructions that helped me outline my essays much better. I just received my AWA scores and it was a 5.5 - all thanks to this book.
Final Exam Prep
Finally the date for the final exam Nov 27th. It was the thanksgiving weekend, Thursday Friday Saturday sunday.
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, and I had been strugglign with finish OG 10th edition 3 hours every day. was tired.
GMAT CAT 1: Nov 22nd (720)
GMAT CAT 2: Nov 23rd (690)
https://www.mba.com/mba/TaketheGMAT/Tool ... ftware.htm
I believe what I got on the above two tests were the best reflection of my capabilities. When I try to see the quant/verbal breakdown
in the GMAT CAT tests now it doesnt show me. But I have always averaged between 38 - 40 in verbal and 47 - 49 in maths.
Power PREP 1: Nov 24rd (750): Q49V44
Power Prep 2: Nov 25th(710): Q48/40
https://www.gorillatestprep.com/gmat_resources.html
I wasnt that excited about the Power prep scores. A lotof the verbal questions were repeats from the OG guide. Hence they were not reflective of my true score I felt.
I also believe that OG is god. Doing maths OG,verbal OG and finally the master of them all OG 10th edition, helped me get better. At the end I had becomevery very good at Data Sufficiency. From a complete duffer to someone who would not make silly mistakes, and do the questions well in time. it really helped me.
Day of the Exam - Drama continues.
I had bled for 6 months on this. It was excruciating. My exam was on Tuesday, on Monday I fell very badly sick. I am not sure if it was psychosomatic, or what the problem was. I had soar throad, cold, cough, and fever. I slept all of monday, got up at 8 in the night feeling like shit, adn very very unhappy wth life in general I could not believe what god was doing to me. How could he - it was so unfair, all this effort, all the determination for what? I called up to see if I could postpone
the exam, they said i was calling too late, I would forfeit the money, unless I could produce medical records. At the back of mind, I jsut wantedto write the damn exam, I wanted to get it over with ......
my husband doubled me up with lots of medicine, and lots of food. I remember crying to my folks about how unfair it was on Monday night. And then something just clicked in my brain. Its happened to me before - when I am beat down, some part of me fight backs. I wasnt going down that easy. I sat down from 8 - 12 in the night, and finished the last few questions from OG data sufficiency and OG Critical reasoning. I wanted to make sure my OG was all doen and complete before I went to the
exam. (I dont recommend this to anyone - a proper night sleep before the exam is essential - unless you have bad luck like me .... )
I went to sleep at 12. I could not sleep the whole bloody night. I was awake - just didnt know how to fall asleep. At 5 with eyes wide open, I just couldnt believe my bad lluck. Got up at 6 in the morning had 2 crocins, a bath. I prayed to god for 5 minutes, asking him to give me strength to go thru whatever comes my way and then went to the exam (it was at eight in the morning). There I find out as I dont have a green card yet, I needed to
get my passport (I had walked in just with my driver's licence - SHIT!!!. My husband went and got me the passport). I entered the room at 8.30.
But at this time with all the stress since the previous night, I was so pissed/frustrated, that I literally started talkign to god telling him that if I didnt get a 700 this time, I would write the exam every single year 3 times for the next n years, until I hit the damn score. I WASNT GIVING UP......
I sat down for the exam, it prompted me to write down which school I wanted my score reported (6 months, crazy effort, fever, soar throat, feeling sick .....) I took a deep breath, took a gulp, and with shaking hands, wrote down Harvard business school. I can tell you this, when the exam started, you could have shot me, and I would hve answered the question with everything I had. Every question had 300% of me when I asnwered. I didnt have time to finish all the maths questions. But I rememberd that answering all was more important - I had to randomly select answers for the last 4 quesitons
4 hours later, when the exam prompted me if I wanted to see my score. I closed my eyes, gave a prayer to god, asked him to help me pull up my score to 700 - and then pressed on the button.
720 showed up on screen - I acutally gave a scream of delight and tears started streaming thru my eyes. It had been so hard, so painful, so WONDERFUL.....
i sit at home today unable to believe I did it. I feel happy, delighted, but apprehensive - there is still a long way between me and my dream, but the first boulder is out of the way. I have applicaitons to write, lot of work to do, but its amazing what you can accomplish once you set your mind to something, and believethat you will go thru with it, not matter what is thrown your way.
I really hope the details I've written above help others get thru this exam too - all the information I read up on this web site and others really helped me get myself ready, I am just trying to reciprocate in kind.
this blog is specially targetted for people, who think they are average, and who are trying to step up their mind/spirit to go after there dreams - I am an example of that. Dont ever every loose faith in yourself ....
As for me right now - HARVARD, LOOK OUT HERE i COME.....
My Inspiration:
Derek Redmond: Its all about giving it your "all" - its all about completing the race.....
Story: https://sports.espn.go.com/espn/espn25/s ... moments/94
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-MRoIDX ... re=related
Amazing lecture by Randy Pausch - Professor from Carnegi Mellon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teoB65BlGis
The attachment called commitment (any time I feel like giving up, I just read it and I am ready to go again)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey thr NGUFO ,thats was quite a story u wrote thr....and u know at ..i actaually didn't notice when u had written this when in the last i found it was way back in 2007...but success never gets old..anyways...thanx for such a wonderul and inspiring story...BTW whr had u got ur admission and whr ru working now after passing out..will be glad to hear from u again...ayan..bye and gud luck..
-
emf_jay
- Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
- Posts: 22
- Joined: Fri Dec 10, 2010 5:48 am
- Location: Bombay, India
- Thanked: 1 times
u r right "people never fail - they just give up".
from ur story i got inspired and i started my preparation again.
btw i got 550 in 1st GMAT trial...
Where u took addimission ??
thanks buddy...
all the best to me..
from ur story i got inspired and i started my preparation again.
btw i got 550 in 1st GMAT trial...
Where u took addimission ??
thanks buddy...
all the best to me..
ready for 750 score .... !!!
hi ngufo,
Going through a lot of posts in this thread suggests that you still keep a tab on it. Since I consider myself not so much different in terms of the problems you faced initially. Be it, work-study balance, not a good scorer initially while preparing for GMAT, etc. I just wrote my GMAT exam today and got a shocking revelation of how weak I still was at Verbal. Though I was constantly scoring good enough score ( 650-700, thanks to Quant though !! ) but then wasn't quite satisfied with my Verbal tally. Still I decided to write GMAT thinking i would atleast get 650. But then just got 580 ( Q49- V20). The Verbal score was disgracing. Please advice me as to what to do next to beat the GMAT-Verbal as a whole.
Whoever else went through a similar situation, please enlighten as well.
thanks
Going through a lot of posts in this thread suggests that you still keep a tab on it. Since I consider myself not so much different in terms of the problems you faced initially. Be it, work-study balance, not a good scorer initially while preparing for GMAT, etc. I just wrote my GMAT exam today and got a shocking revelation of how weak I still was at Verbal. Though I was constantly scoring good enough score ( 650-700, thanks to Quant though !! ) but then wasn't quite satisfied with my Verbal tally. Still I decided to write GMAT thinking i would atleast get 650. But then just got 580 ( Q49- V20). The Verbal score was disgracing. Please advice me as to what to do next to beat the GMAT-Verbal as a whole.
Whoever else went through a similar situation, please enlighten as well.
thanks
In response to these comments-- you really cannot give up. I have a truly inspirational story. I just finished taking the GMAT for the last time ever! compared to others on this board I did not score the highest, but finished with I score I am truly satisfied with (GMAT 680 Q43, V40). I think I might spend the rest of the day fishing!
Here's my background:
24 year old, Male (Washington, DC)
BA Public Policy from a top 50 liberal arts school (3.2 GPA Overall)
Worked 3 years in real estate management (2 big promotions during this time and two company awards)
My story:
(September 2010)
After working in real estate and seeing the qualifications of my successful superiors, I decided that I was going to apply to B-School (Full Time) for this fall. Started to look at GMAT material and did some basic research on the test, some basics and its format.
(October 2010)
Started a month long KAPLAN GMAT prep course. It was a pretty good course, probably could've taught myself most of the material. The key factor was spending around $1k, this forced me to go to every class and kept me on track with the material. I can get lazy at times, so this negated any sorting of "slothing". So if you are very motivated and on top of your stuff, just get the online course, it's cheaper and you get access to a great internet database that KAPLAN has(7-9? practice test, all the classroom material in video form, thousands of practice questions, etc.). It keeps track of what type of questions you get right and wrong, so you can really focus on your weaknesses.
(Late November 2010)
Class is done, took half of my CATs. Did not do very well, but I still felt like I knew the material. Averaged around a 530 for my first 3-4 CATs. I finally set the date of my first exam (12/11/10). I took the two more CATs scored 560 and 580. Kind of depressing, was hoping to do a lot better.
(December 2010)
Took my first actual exam. Was sick the week before and was just really out of it on exam day. Scored a dismal 510 Q34 V26. I was shocked, hit an all time low for a couple of days. I felt like I barely knew the English language and I was on a 5th grade math level. Took a break from the GMAT.
(Late January 2011)
After the holidays and some family encouragement I hit the books again for the GMAT. KAPLAN also extended my online access due to an unsatisfied score (huge help). I signed up for the test again in February (2/24/11). Did a couple 1 more KAPLAN CAT (560) and the free practice exams--scored horrible (490 and 510).
(February 2011)
Took the GMAT-- felt good about it, but scored a 550 (Q38 V26). Still CANNOT believe my verbal was so low. I was never a big math guy, so that did not really bother me, but the verbal made me want to puke.
I was still determined to go to B-School so I applied with my 550. I applied to UCONN, AMERICAN U., Quinnipiac U., GWU. I had very good recs, pretty good GPA, great work experience and what I thought great essays.
(April 2011)
Application all submitted back in March, starting to get interview invitations from schools.
To my surprise all of the schools wanted an Interview. Did very well at all my interviews (definitely a strong point). I ended up getting into all the schools I applied to except for one! (oh well!)
(May 2011)
I iicked the school that worked the best for me and that was close to my family. The only condition on admission was I needed to take a Calc 1 course and retake the GMAT before the fall semester. Seeing that it was the school I really wanted to go to, I took the offer and another round with my best friend, THE GMAT!
(Summer: June- July 2011)
Started to transition out of work and make my move towards my new location for school. I enrolled in a Calculus course and did very well. Around the end of June I decided to sign up for the GMAT again. I picked today (7/28/11) as my final dance.
To be honest, I did not study very much. However I did take a month and a half long Calculus course (which got my brain going on the quantitative side and also forced me to brush up on my algebra, which is an integral part of calc and GMAT.)
As for the verbal portion, I just started reading the WSJ, leisure novels and The Economist). I took one practice official GMAT exam on 7/26/2011--haha, got a 490 or something awful (couldn't concentrate because tons of commotion going on where I live.)
After that horrible score, I decided I just needed to relax and take this test. I was already into B-School and will be starting in 2 and a half weeks. All I need to do is take this test, If I do bad, whatever. I kept telling myself that the pressure is off and I am not as stupid and the GMAT makes me look.
My exam was at 8am. Got a pretty good night sleep the night before (6hrs, great before an exam day). Woke up at around 530am, took a shower, drank some coffee, read the paper. Got into my car and headed to the final battle. I felt really good and alert, I knew the moons were aligned.
Started off with two nice and easy essays (Got a 6 from my previous attempts, so was not worried about those). Took my break, went to the bathroom, ate some chocolate (saw this idea from another blog) and it was ON- Rd.1- Quantitative Vs. Me (it was a decent battle, felt better compared to my other tests, but the Q definitely got in some good punches, but I still held her off from knocking me out). Once I hit #37, I felt OKAY, "Asi-Asi".
I took my second break, this time erased everything from my mind, took some deep breaths, drank a ton of water, went to the bathroom and ate the other half of my chocolate bar. I used almost 7 minutes of the allot ed 8 min break--
RD 2-- I was off to a strong start, took my time with everything and was really zoned in. I was on a roll, jab after jab, after jab. THE GMAT started to tip my way. #41 was there and I had 2 minutes left, finished it with a final blow.
I had some experimental section at the end of this exam that kept me 20 mins from getting to my score. Went through the 12 questions (found them to be really unmoving-- really hope people wont have to sit through those).
Finally got to the score page, I looked in disbelief--- A FREAKING 680!!!!! My eyes went directly to my VERBAL SCORE a BIG FAT V40. I will take that any day, such a great feeling to reaffirm to yourself that your are not as stupid as you might think, in regards to the English Language! And just for kicks my Quantitative went up as well. I did not break the 700 mark, but a 680 compared to my previous scores just really shows you anything is possible. Even though, I was already accepted into B School, this is just a great morale booster and has me feeling confident going into the fall semester.
If there is one thing that you can take away from my ridiculous rambling: Do not knock yourself out over a bad score, no matter how low it is. You are smarter than that low score. Even with a 550 you still can get into a top 50 business school.
Lastly, do not stress yourself out over the GMAT, use it as a tool to help you. I stressed way too much and let it get the best of me. Not Today!
Here's my background:
24 year old, Male (Washington, DC)
BA Public Policy from a top 50 liberal arts school (3.2 GPA Overall)
Worked 3 years in real estate management (2 big promotions during this time and two company awards)
My story:
(September 2010)
After working in real estate and seeing the qualifications of my successful superiors, I decided that I was going to apply to B-School (Full Time) for this fall. Started to look at GMAT material and did some basic research on the test, some basics and its format.
(October 2010)
Started a month long KAPLAN GMAT prep course. It was a pretty good course, probably could've taught myself most of the material. The key factor was spending around $1k, this forced me to go to every class and kept me on track with the material. I can get lazy at times, so this negated any sorting of "slothing". So if you are very motivated and on top of your stuff, just get the online course, it's cheaper and you get access to a great internet database that KAPLAN has(7-9? practice test, all the classroom material in video form, thousands of practice questions, etc.). It keeps track of what type of questions you get right and wrong, so you can really focus on your weaknesses.
(Late November 2010)
Class is done, took half of my CATs. Did not do very well, but I still felt like I knew the material. Averaged around a 530 for my first 3-4 CATs. I finally set the date of my first exam (12/11/10). I took the two more CATs scored 560 and 580. Kind of depressing, was hoping to do a lot better.
(December 2010)
Took my first actual exam. Was sick the week before and was just really out of it on exam day. Scored a dismal 510 Q34 V26. I was shocked, hit an all time low for a couple of days. I felt like I barely knew the English language and I was on a 5th grade math level. Took a break from the GMAT.
(Late January 2011)
After the holidays and some family encouragement I hit the books again for the GMAT. KAPLAN also extended my online access due to an unsatisfied score (huge help). I signed up for the test again in February (2/24/11). Did a couple 1 more KAPLAN CAT (560) and the free practice exams--scored horrible (490 and 510).
(February 2011)
Took the GMAT-- felt good about it, but scored a 550 (Q38 V26). Still CANNOT believe my verbal was so low. I was never a big math guy, so that did not really bother me, but the verbal made me want to puke.
I was still determined to go to B-School so I applied with my 550. I applied to UCONN, AMERICAN U., Quinnipiac U., GWU. I had very good recs, pretty good GPA, great work experience and what I thought great essays.
(April 2011)
Application all submitted back in March, starting to get interview invitations from schools.
To my surprise all of the schools wanted an Interview. Did very well at all my interviews (definitely a strong point). I ended up getting into all the schools I applied to except for one! (oh well!)
(May 2011)
I iicked the school that worked the best for me and that was close to my family. The only condition on admission was I needed to take a Calc 1 course and retake the GMAT before the fall semester. Seeing that it was the school I really wanted to go to, I took the offer and another round with my best friend, THE GMAT!
(Summer: June- July 2011)
Started to transition out of work and make my move towards my new location for school. I enrolled in a Calculus course and did very well. Around the end of June I decided to sign up for the GMAT again. I picked today (7/28/11) as my final dance.
To be honest, I did not study very much. However I did take a month and a half long Calculus course (which got my brain going on the quantitative side and also forced me to brush up on my algebra, which is an integral part of calc and GMAT.)
As for the verbal portion, I just started reading the WSJ, leisure novels and The Economist). I took one practice official GMAT exam on 7/26/2011--haha, got a 490 or something awful (couldn't concentrate because tons of commotion going on where I live.)
After that horrible score, I decided I just needed to relax and take this test. I was already into B-School and will be starting in 2 and a half weeks. All I need to do is take this test, If I do bad, whatever. I kept telling myself that the pressure is off and I am not as stupid and the GMAT makes me look
.My exam was at 8am. Got a pretty good night sleep the night before (6hrs, great before an exam day). Woke up at around 530am, took a shower, drank some coffee, read the paper. Got into my car and headed to the final battle. I felt really good and alert, I knew the moons were aligned.
Started off with two nice and easy essays (Got a 6 from my previous attempts, so was not worried about those). Took my break, went to the bathroom, ate some chocolate (saw this idea from another blog) and it was ON- Rd.1- Quantitative Vs. Me (it was a decent battle, felt better compared to my other tests, but the Q definitely got in some good punches, but I still held her off from knocking me out). Once I hit #37, I felt OKAY, "Asi-Asi".
I took my second break, this time erased everything from my mind, took some deep breaths, drank a ton of water, went to the bathroom and ate the other half of my chocolate bar. I used almost 7 minutes of the allot ed 8 min break--
RD 2-- I was off to a strong start, took my time with everything and was really zoned in. I was on a roll, jab after jab, after jab. THE GMAT started to tip my way. #41 was there and I had 2 minutes left, finished it with a final blow.
I had some experimental section at the end of this exam that kept me 20 mins from getting to my score. Went through the 12 questions (found them to be really unmoving-- really hope people wont have to sit through those).
Finally got to the score page, I looked in disbelief--- A FREAKING 680!!!!! My eyes went directly to my VERBAL SCORE a BIG FAT V40. I will take that any day, such a great feeling to reaffirm to yourself that your are not as stupid as you might think, in regards to the English Language! And just for kicks my Quantitative went up as well. I did not break the 700 mark, but a 680 compared to my previous scores just really shows you anything is possible. Even though, I was already accepted into B School, this is just a great morale booster and has me feeling confident going into the fall semester.
If there is one thing that you can take away from my ridiculous rambling: Do not knock yourself out over a bad score, no matter how low it is. You are smarter than that low score. Even with a 550 you still can get into a top 50 business school.
Lastly, do not stress yourself out over the GMAT, use it as a tool to help you. I stressed way too much and let it get the best of me. Not Today!
