GMAT 720 95%(Q49,V40)(people never fail - they just give up)

Find out how Beat The GMAT members tackled GMAT test prep with positive results. Get tips on GMAT test prep materials, online courses, study tips, and more.
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by ngufo » Mon Feb 18, 2008 8:05 am
Hi enjoystar,
Could you give me the email address I need to send the soft copy too? I couldnt access your profile to get that information?

---Please answer the following queries:
1) Well I have got one habit of making notes of the topics which i study. I know its time consuming but it works for me.
Did u ever made any notes while studying. By notes i dont mean Flash cards.
----
I did exactly the same buddy. I would have one empty book for maths, and one for verbal, and one in which I wrote all my exams. For each cahpter that I read in maths or verbal(specifically sentence correction), I would summarize the important formulae/fundamentals in the book. Plus the ones that I thought were very very important I would make flash cards for the same. Before the exam I went thru my maths book, reading all the notes I had written. It came in very handy to me.

---2) Did u studied any wordlist for preparing Verbal section???
I didnt study any word lists for Verbal. But I would make sure whenever I come across words whose meaning I dont know, specially in RC, I try to read the whole sentence to get the context, which would still help me solve the question. Once done, I would make sure I understand the meaning of the word, make a flash card on the same (so that I remember it next time)

You are creatinga very solid work schedule, and putting in tremendous amount of effort. I do believe it is only a matter of time - yuou will definitely do a very very good job on your GMAT.:)

Wish you all the best,
-ngufo
People Never Fail ... They just Give Up

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Congrats!!!

by ecz.ozgeuyanik » Mon Feb 18, 2008 12:53 pm
Hi Ngufo,

First, Congrats for 720... It's A GR8 score...
and
Thanx for such an inspiring debrief!!!

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by ngufo » Mon Feb 18, 2008 6:00 pm
Thank you for having the patience to go thru the blog. Sometimes when I am down and out, I read it and it helps me get my faith back.... It helps me remember that I cant afford to give up, that when you put everything you have into something that matters to you, god helps you get thru the finsih line...

Hope it helped you too, and will look forward to reading your blog, of how you aced the GMAT :)

Take care,
-ngufo
People Never Fail ... They just Give Up

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need PR soft copy

by sangeethai » Tue Feb 19, 2008 5:25 am
Hi Ngufo,
I am not sure if you got my PM. Would it be possible for you to send me the soft copy of the PR to [email protected]. Thanks.

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by ngufo » Tue Feb 19, 2008 7:29 am
Hi Sangeethai,
I just sent you the soft copy, and also replied to your pm. Apoloigze for the delay - somehow I missed seeign the message (could have been because I was travelling the whole of last week).

Please feel free to email me anytime, I am and will continue to check my email more carefully.

Again sorry for the delay,
Take care,
-ngufo
People Never Fail ... They just Give Up

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Motivational...

by Partha » Tue Feb 19, 2008 10:13 am
Hi

Don't have words to express myself, but no doubt a great motivating effort...
I am also a very average student...who struggles with every part of GMAT test be it Quants or Verbal...

Will try and follow the steps shown by you.

All the best for your sting in Harvard...

Regards,
Partha

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by enjoystar » Tue Feb 19, 2008 10:36 am
ngufo wrote:Hi enjoystar,
Could you give me the email address I need to send the soft copy too? I couldnt access your profile to get that information?

---2) Did u studied any wordlist for preparing Verbal section???
I didnt study any word lists for Verbal. But I would make sure whenever I come across words whose meaning I dont know, specially in RC, I try to read the whole sentence to get the context, which would still help me solve the question. Once done, I would make sure I understand the meaning of the word, make a flash card on the same (so that I remember it next time)

Wish you all the best,
-ngufo
Hi ngufo,

1) I have sent my email ID via PM. Please check it.

2) Thats a nice strategy for preparing words after going through RC.
I will add ur strategy for preparing wordlist. I have just planned to study words with the same etymology if possible at work place during free time :).


Thanks and regards,
enjoystar

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by rajmirra » Tue Feb 19, 2008 10:42 am
enjoystar wrote:
ngufo wrote:

1) As i am weak in Maths i have started preparing Maths from R.S Aggrawal (I am sure u must be knowing this book for quant). My plan is before going for any GMAT book make myself good in the quant topics from R.S aggarwal and then start with Kaplan or OG11. I know my plan is time consuming however please comment on it.
Great debrief ngufo. Very inspirational and its amazing to see your efforts for helping people.

Hi Enjoystar,

I have both R.S.Aggarwal and Mc TYRA's Txt book on Quicker Maths. I found they are too vast for GMAT. Those books are targetted for Bank Exams in India and I am not sure how much will them be of help for GMAT. If you have more time, yes you can use R.S.Aggarwal, Else try focusing on GMAT books (PR, KAPLAN or MGMAT). If I were you, I will select topics from the OG Math review and seek additional materials from R.S.Aggarwal. Moreover, R.S.Aggarwal has only practice materials (with limited concepts) and the practice materials wont reflect GMAT question pattern.

This is my opinion. You may have to consult others . Finally, I am yet to give my GMAT and a beginner too :D

Good luck
~R

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by ngufo » Tue Feb 19, 2008 12:36 pm
Hi Partha,
I know exactly what you are talking about. I felt the same last year in may, when I started my studies. Just felt intimidated, scared, and very very insecure about how I would do it.... But then I thought about what my brother told me. he said that if the ship which needs to sail out into the ocean, coudl see the vastness of the ocean, it would never leave the shore, out of sheer terror ... the only reason it not only leaves the port, but conquers the sea, is because instead of looking at the whole ocean, it just focuses at one wave at a time, and overcomes the same..... That is exactly what I did, and that is exactly what you will need to do. Break down this massive challenge into small pieces, adn hit it one piece at a time.

Focus on clearing your fundamentals first, both maths and verbal (I used princeton for the same). Then build on those fundamentals by practising a lot (Used kaplan for the same), and then prepare for the final attack, honing and sharpening your skills (Used Official Guide for the same). Make sure you revise all your mistakes at all times, make sure you time your questions (that is the most important thing to master I believe if you want to do a good job in GMAT), and finally do make as many flash cards as possible ... will help you keep in touch with all the mistakes you've made, on a regular basis...

I still read my blog sometimes and get shaken when I recollect the pain of the 6 months, and the pleasure of that single moment when I saw the 720. It helps me prepare for all the other challenges that lie along the way. I do believe that you will be able to master this challenge adn do a great job with your GMAT. Do let me know if you need any help along the way. A lot of people came forward adn guided me when I needed help, the least I can do is return the favor.

Take care and all the best,
-ngufo
People Never Fail ... They just Give Up

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by Partha » Tue Feb 19, 2008 12:53 pm
Hi Ngufo,

Thanks for the encouraging words.I have started with OG11 for Verbal. Not yet started for Quants, which i will refer from PR. Kindly give your email id as well.

I am also looking forward to have a consistant study plan, can you help me with that. I am working i fail to follow a regular routined plan.

I understand from your blog that you also faced the same problem.

Kindly help.

Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Partha

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by enjoystar » Wed Feb 20, 2008 1:50 am
rajmirra wrote:

Hi Enjoystar,

I have both R.S.Aggarwal and Mc TYRA's Txt book on Quicker Maths. I found they are too vast for GMAT. Those books are targetted for Bank Exams in India and I am not sure how much will them be of help for GMAT. If you have more time, yes you can use R.S.Aggarwal, Else try focusing on GMAT books (PR, KAPLAN or MGMAT). If I were you, I will select topics from the OG Math review and seek additional materials from R.S.Aggarwal. Moreover, R.S.Aggarwal has only practice materials (with limited concepts) and the practice materials wont reflect GMAT question pattern.

This is my opinion. You may have to consult others . Finally, I am yet to give my GMAT and a beginner too :D

Good luck
~R

Hi rajmirra,

Yes I agree with u about the R.S Agarwal and Mc TYRA's Txt book ( :) I also have TYRA's book).

Well I am not planning to cover complete R.S agarwal, I am just picking some topics like ages, partnership,Percentage etc related to PS and studying it from R.S Agarwal and Tyra.

To be frank whenever i see any quant problem i am not able to solve it all, so right now I am looking for the various techniques by which i can solve the problem and if i am able to solve the PS problem with any one technique i apply to all the problems related to that topic. Later incase if i find a shortcut for solving the same problem i use that too.

As RS agarwal provides solution to all the problems i am just using the solution of the R.S agarwal and use my technique to solve the problem, by doing this if i am not able to get answer using my technique i look at the solution from RS agarwal and I get to know where i made the mistake.


At this moment i have just studied Ages and partnership problems still long way to go as currently I am studying SC.

I looked at Kaplan Math workbook. My personal opinion is that they should have categoried all the percentage problems in one chapter and in that they should have subcategorised PS DS problems.
Kaplan provides some short cut too which are too good.

I am planning to use kaplan after going through all the maths topic.

Please provide ur comments on my views or plan.

I have some queries which are directed to u and ngfuo in the next post.

Thanks and regards,
enjoystar

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by enjoystar » Wed Feb 20, 2008 2:07 am
Hi ngufo/rajmirra,

I have following query:

As i am studying SC from MGMAT i liked the approach of that book.

May I know which book you used for CR from the below mentioned books and in what sequence:

1) MGMAT CR
2) OG CR
3) Kaplan CR

I want my CR concepts to be clear so please let me know which book i should start with.

I was thinking to use MGMAT CR to start with.

Thanks and regards,
enjoystar

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HI

by vgmat2 » Wed Feb 20, 2008 2:12 pm
Hi Ngufo,

Congrats on your good score.

Can you please give your insight. My situation is my score is very low in verbal 15,16,19. I read MGMAT SC and done OG11, doesn't seem to improve my SC and RC , I get 40 - 50% correct when I do 10 questions at a time. Can you please help me how to improve on these.

I somehow feel your verbal was very strong and you focused on Math, from your debrief. You were able to finish verbal on time. You know I have never been able to finish verbal on time. I always land up clicking blindly last 7-10 questions. I have time management issues also, Any help on that ascept is also greatly appreciated.

Some days I feel really hopeless, whatever I do my verbal is not improving.

thanks

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by rajmirra » Wed Feb 20, 2008 5:48 pm
enjoystar wrote:Hi ngufo/rajmirra,

I have following query:

As i am studying SC from MGMAT i liked the approach of that book.

May I know which book you used for CR from the below mentioned books and in what sequence:

1) MGMAT CR
2) OG CR
3) Kaplan CR

I want my CR concepts to be clear so please let me know which book i should start with.

I was thinking to use MGMAT CR to start with.

Thanks and regards,
enjoystar
Hi NGUFO please excuse me! :cry: I am kind of diluting this great thread.

Enjoystar I have PMed you. Check your private messages.

~R

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by ngufo » Wed Feb 20, 2008 11:05 pm
Hi rajmirra,
What makes this thread special, is people asking questions, and others taking the time to respond. Your responses are adding more value here : ). What you said is very very relevant, and hopefully will help enjoystar in his GMAT prep.

At any point if I can help you in any way, please feel free to let me know.

Take care,
-ngufo
People Never Fail ... They just Give Up