People Taking GMAT at the end of this Month-Motivation+Help!

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MercedesMW: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 35; Joined: Wed Jan 23, 2008 1:45 pm

You've got plenty of time!

by MercedesMW » Wed Mar 26, 2008 7:19 pm

masri wrote:Mercedes, Nimish,

Guys you are just amazing, i dive into GMAT practice questions every night thinking I am the only one in the world who is crazy enough to set for 4 hours right after work just trying to achieve a good score, and then I log in to your thread and get a huge portion of motivation reading your posts before I dive back to the OG !!!

Im setting for the test on April 30th, so I still need your motivation for another month so don't stop posting even if you are done. Don't give up on us guys. Mercedes, Congrats for the 640, that's great. I need a 600 to meet my conditional MBA offer. I have done four tests till now. MG: 620 MG: 570 Pr: 550 and today MG 590. I am really pissed as am confident I can score higher. I have a month to go now. I managed to raise my V from 24 to 34 on average, Q keeps swinging between 34 and 47 !!

I am done with my SC preparation, CR and RC I don't think I will do more, I just need now to adapt my self to the timing of the exam as I do not mind the 34 V score.

Can you advise what to do to raise my Q in the coming month. Nimish you are in need for every minute before u set for the exam, so Mercedes, can you shed light on how your Q preparation were one month before the test. Specially on adapting you self to the timing, I am always left with 5 to 6 questions to guess in the last 1 minutes in the MG tests, and they seem to lower my score as they start giving me 600-700 bin questions for them and then 500-600 since I get them wrong one after one with my bad luck in guessing, I would answer them right I have time...Typical !!! so do you really used to guess or POE the question if takes more than 1.5 minutes to figure out your way, as I spend 4 min some times on 1 question... is this wrong, how wrong!! How about the first 12 questions, do I really need to give them more time, did it prove to be right.

Any tip would be really appreciated.
I've got Kaplan, Kaplan 800, OG, Pr, and MG for SC books, I checked a good portion of the Pr book, but other than that just practice on questions and tests, any particular sections you advise to cover. What did you find as the most useful source (I want to check the flashcards posed on the forum within the coming two days too)

Sorry for the long post, but I'm seriously inspired by your excitement and motivation

THANKS,
Masri

Hi Masri

Welcome! You've got PLENTY of time. I agree with almost everything Nimish said. The only thing I would suggest is to still time everything and focus in on two minutes per question. MAYBE 2 1/2 for DS and 1 1/2 for PS, but not too far off from that. By practicing that way I never had to crash guess for the last few.

In terms of the first 10-12, I do think there is probably something to it. So if you are going to invest more time in questions, do it on the front end. It seems like too many people have said something of this sort, and when I've taken my practice tests it has seemed to make a difference (all my practice tests were on the computer).

Great job on your practice tests! Great discipline. Keep it up - more and more practice tests. And I'd say just keep focusing on those problem areas. I know the flashcards from the site were a huge help, and as I ran into problems I'd create my own additional flashcards.

You're doing great!
Mercedes

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masri: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 23; Joined: Wed Mar 12, 2008 3:37 pm; Thanked: 1 times

Managing My Timing

by masri » Thu Mar 27, 2008 1:09 am

Nimish, Mercedes,

Thanks guys for the great Input, I think this thread is what will keep me on fire till my test date, but please don't be board after you do your test Nimish

, Mercedes: Thanks already !!!!

I came to realize the importance of time management only recently, and following your tips guys I think I will 'manage' my 'time management' within the next three practice tests.

I come from an engineering background, working in business now, where doing mistakes is not allowed, and that is why I keep insisting on getting the questions right and some times spend 3-4 minutes on one question, in addition to the valuable analysis that Nimish gave regarding the importance of the last 7-8 questions I analyzed my test results on both MG and Pr and found that 80% of the questions I spend over 3.00 minutes on I get wrong any way !!!! So why wasting valuable time on questions I will get wrong, investing that time in the last few questions will definitely be of better use.

That said, my next questions might sound so dumb, but your thoughts will really help me get started in this quest of time management:

In order not to spend 2 min on average on questions (some times 1 min, some times 3), I have to give up on a question or two every 6-7 questions, I realize it's hard, I realize two minutes have passed, but deep inside I still think I can solve it if I have 2 more minutes, if I am getting the concept correctly, I have to make an educated guess and MOVE ONNNN. It's really difficult for me to give up on a question, I really feel pissed when I do an educated guess between two potential answers and hit the confirm button.

So please tell me, since you both guys are great in Q, do you really go on and guess 1-2 questions every 5-6 questions, or is it me the dumb one. Is this the way to do it.

Your input will really help me to get over what I suck at the most !!!!

Nimish: Reviewing the SC you got wrong, and going through the OG Ver twice sounds promising, I'm confident you will do and your verbal will be just great as I've seen you doing 200 questions a day before !!!

Sam

Past is: Behind Me---Future is: Secure---Present is: An Aim To Crack The GMAT. So I say lets DO ITTTTT!

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MercedesMW: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 35; Joined: Wed Jan 23, 2008 1:45 pm

Educated guessing

by MercedesMW » Thu Mar 27, 2008 9:08 am

Hi Masri

I never really thought about it the way you've laid it out, yet I suppose that probably is about right. There were definitely a few I "sacrificed" to get to questions I knew and could answer. So yes, I suppose every 7 questions or so I guessed. And I used some of Princeton's Crack the GMAT tips on educated guessing - doing even the basics can at least eliminate some crazy answers.

I totally understand your drive to want to solve. That's totally me! I kept saying, 'If I had 4 minutes I could TOTally solve this." But again, that's not what you're tested on. You're tested on knowing the concepts in two minute intervals. One of the reasons I was able to stand tall in the score I received, despite the 700+ scores I see on this site (way to go, people!!), was because I knew that I could have solved most if not all of the questions had I had more time. I personally didn't like the shortcuts of Princeton because I love rolling up my sleeves and diving into the problems like you'd dip a large spoon into a bowl of vanilla ice cream. I LOVE this stuff. And yet with the time constraints, I know I did the best I could.

I think you're looking at this the right way - what you may need to "give up for the greater good," so to speak.

Best wishes
Mercedes

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masri: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 23; Joined: Wed Mar 12, 2008 3:37 pm; Thanked: 1 times

by masri » Thu Mar 27, 2008 9:26 am

Thanks alot man, I think the last few posts you and Nimish posted on time management on this thread is the best source for people having difficulties managening their time or those who are new to the test and have to realize the importance of the time factor. I will keep you posted as I manage my time day after day !!!

Thanks Always ! I'll CRACK IT MAN ....

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nimish_rulz: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 49; Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 8:40 am; Thanked: 6 times

by nimish_rulz » Thu Mar 27, 2008 2:00 pm

I have been trying to Put all the SC errors in 1 formula so that I don't miss anything and the best 1 I have been able to devise is this:

PIMP S-V-T with 4C's

PIMP stands for Parallelism, Idiom, Modifiers and Pronouns

S-V-T for Subject Verb and Verb Tense

4Cs is for Correctness, Concision, Clarity and another imp C--> Comparison.

Let me know if you can make something even better with this. I am doing it because If I have this formula in mind its highly unlikely I ll struggle to distinguish between the 2 choices I am left with. Also, it doesn't make you miss anything when you are reading through the answer choices.

Past is: Behind Me---Future is: Secure---Present is: An Aim To Crack The GMAT. So I say lets do it!

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masri: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 23; Joined: Wed Mar 12, 2008 3:37 pm; Thanked: 1 times

Four Weeks to Go Strategy

by masri » Sun Mar 30, 2008 12:20 am

Hey,,,

Nimish 7 days to go for you, how is it going ?!

I think I started to manage my time better. Yesterday I was able to time my self for the last 37 DS questions of the OG, got 33 right in 74 minutes. For CR
I managed to solve the last 41 of the OG in 78 minutes, got 34 right.

Being able to get this far in time management, it's time now to put my self in a real exam environment to make sure I perform the same under test pressure, so I will take the Pr CAT II on Tuesday. Today and tomorrow I will time my self for 37 P.S Qs (target 75 min), 41 SC Qs (target: 60 min), and 41 RC Qs (target: 75 min), and then review all of my mistakes before taking my fourth test exam. This time I have to crack the 590 I got in my third practice test.

Sam

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nimish_rulz: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 49; Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 8:40 am; Thanked: 6 times

by nimish_rulz » Sun Mar 30, 2008 6:29 pm

Hello,
Not feeling great about myself.

Today took the GMATPrep1 and scored 660 (Q 49, 7incorrect) and (V 31, 17Incorrect) which sucks. I need more than 700 and its just a week before my real exam so not too happy about it. Quantitative I am happy with my score as the questions I got mostly wrong were bcz of my silly mistakes(assumed y-x for something and had to find the ratio between x and y which i got but solved the question a step further and found the ration for x and y-x) which sucks all the other were similar mistakes except 1 question which I had no clue about. Verbal is what making me loose my points. I got 7 Questions in a row wrong. Started of nicely with 2 incorrect in first 12 Questions and both questions were from RC and from then on nothing went right. Overall very poor in SCs and RCs only thing to take heart from is CR in which I got 2 questions wrong.

Also, In quantitative section found many questions which are not present in any of the OGs. Especially the on with frequency distribution along with class intervals(got 2 questions from it) although the questions were easy I just saw it for the first time.

Still need to practice my essays so 1 day(6-8hrs) will go in that. Will try and work hard to improve my score in verbal section and for maths just going to revise all the mistakes I have made thus far especially the DS.

I just tried to use a score calculator on some other website and found out that even if I get 51 in Q I still need 35 in my Verbal section.
Will try to work as hard as I possibly can to get that Verbal score up.

Will keep you guys updated until then gbye.

Past is: Behind Me---Future is: Secure---Present is: An Aim To Crack The GMAT. So I say lets do it!

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masri: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 23; Joined: Wed Mar 12, 2008 3:37 pm; Thanked: 1 times

by masri » Mon Mar 31, 2008 12:46 pm

Hi Nimish,

I hope you are feeling better by now

Congrats for the great Q score, with more focus in the coming few days on verbal I really hope you can raise it up to 35.

I am not feeling great as well; I had my second Pr CAT today, compared to the last Pr CAT (550, 41Q, 25V) it was better (580, 43Q, 27V) but did not feel good about my verbal at ALLL. I think I will have a verbal boot camp for 5 days before I take an MGMAT new CAT. I am surprised because in may last MGMAT i got 34 in Verbal, I have not analyzed my score to see what went wrong yet. thought of sharing first.
Good Luck with you Verbal ....TOO

Best Improvement: Pacing, I managed to answer all questions in Q, which was really great...thanks to your tips.

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nimish_rulz: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 49; Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 8:40 am; Thanked: 6 times

by nimish_rulz » Mon Mar 31, 2008 1:34 pm

Don't worry you have plenty of time. I am posting some Documents for verbal section. These are great, I am feeling slightly better about it after going through them. Manhattan Sentence Correction is the Bible but whats the point when you are not sure about the meaning of the stuff it talks about so these documents will help you overcome that gap. Explaining certain terms and usage along with some example questions. I am not criticizing Manhattan SC book.

Also, the Information given in the document to attack the RC questions is brilliant. Hope it helps

Attachments

GMAT_Verbal_Notes_By_Sumit.doc: Its not copyrighted and the author said it in its post that that users are free to distribute it.; (355.5 KiB) Downloaded 115 times

Past is: Behind Me---Future is: Secure---Present is: An Aim To Crack The GMAT. So I say lets do it!

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masri: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 23; Joined: Wed Mar 12, 2008 3:37 pm; Thanked: 1 times

by masri » Mon Mar 31, 2008 1:52 pm

It seems good, started printing already !!

I just analyzed my score, got only 5 wrong at Q, but seems because two of them were in the start of the test they affected my score heavily. The good news, though very annoying at the same time, 4/5 were very silly mistakes. I think I can easily get 45+ next times. In Verbal, I got only 1/11 wrong in CR, so I think we share our love for CR. RC 7/14 wrong !!!, I think I need to refine my strategy. SC 4/14 wrong. The verbal boot camp started already !!! Next run for practice tests will be by the end of this week, I won't tolerate getting less than 600 any more, not after two weeks of such intensive preperations.

What were your scores on MGMAT and PR first practice tests ?

Best of Luck !!!
Sam

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nimish_rulz: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 49; Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 8:40 am; Thanked: 6 times

by nimish_rulz » Mon Mar 31, 2008 2:07 pm

I have given only 3 tests thus far:

MGMAT 1 - 600(Q44 V 30)
MGMAT 2- 620(Q46 V30)
GMATPrep1- 660(Q49 V31)

Btw Which country are you from?

Past is: Behind Me---Future is: Secure---Present is: An Aim To Crack The GMAT. So I say lets do it!

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MercedesMW: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 35; Joined: Wed Jan 23, 2008 1:45 pm

Hey Guys!

by MercedesMW » Mon Mar 31, 2008 9:19 pm

I'm sorry it's been a little while - I'm teaching a class tomorrow night and have totally shifted gears!

GREAT WORK on hanging in there - both of you. Nimish, how are you doing, friend? Keep that GMAT mojo up! You're doing great!

Masri, how are you doing? Great work on tightening up your time!

You guys are going to do AWESOME!!!!!! And I know you both are doing the best you can - that's what counts.

Keep it goin'!!
Mercedes

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masri: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 23; Joined: Wed Mar 12, 2008 3:37 pm; Thanked: 1 times

My Strategy with one Month to Go !!!

by masri » Tue Apr 01, 2008 1:44 am

Hey Nimish, Mercides,

Thanks for the support, Im hanging on there....Have to work on my verbal as I am quite satisfied with my latest Q scores. Im not upset with the current verbal scores though, because I have spent the past two weeks mainly on Q and managed to increase my score through pacing and more practice questions, so I assume with the coming verbal boot camp I am having for a round a week I should be able to do the same for verbal. Wish Me Luck. Here is my plan with exactlly one month to go for the test day:

Days 1-3: VERBAL VERBAL VERBAL with focus on RC and SC, Eric's Flashcards and Nimish posted document.

Day 4: PR CAT III - Review PR CAT III mistakes

Days 5-7: VERBAL Again

Day 8-9: Erci's Flashcards + 37 PS Q and 37 DS Q

Day 10: MGMAT CAT V

Day 11-13: Review all mistakes in OG and practice tests.

Day 14: GMATPrep I

Day 15-17: Verbal

Day 18: Focus on Hard Q questions

Day 19: MGMAT CAT VI

Day 20-22: Verbal

Day 23-24: Q

Day 25: Pr Cat IV

Day 26-27: Review Flashcards + mistakes

Day 28: GMAT Prep II

Day 29: Relax, review flashcards

Day 30: The Big Day

Please let me know what do you think of this....

Best,
Sam

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MercedesMW: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 35; Joined: Wed Jan 23, 2008 1:45 pm

Looks great!

by MercedesMW » Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:44 am

Sam

Looks like a great, aggressive plan. I'm glad to see you have relaxing on the day before the test!

You're going to do great!!!!!
Mercedes

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nimish_rulz: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 49; Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 8:40 am; Thanked: 6 times

by nimish_rulz » Thu Apr 03, 2008 4:59 pm

Hola,

I have completely lost it. I can't believe its my final week and I am not able to work any more, feel saturated. Had some plans for this week but not been able to execute any, I try studying and somehow I just can't move forward. Its not that I am not able to answer the questions but I don't feel like solving them.

Just taken 1 Gmat Prep test. Might take another 1 in one of the remaining 3 days. And probably work on AWA section for 1 day. That just leaves me with a day and lot of work to be done in it.

I am loosing confidence in me!

Wanted to get 700 but at this point don't know what to aim for as the highest I have got is 660 so far.

Past is: Behind Me---Future is: Secure---Present is: An Aim To Crack The GMAT. So I say lets do it!

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