My two month journey to beating the GMAT!

[luvaduva]

The following is my modest attempt at creating a blog for the next two months until I ‘beat the GMAT’ on Monday, June 2, 2008. Hopefully, my experiences can provide something meaningful to others. Before I begin, I want to thank all of those that have contributed to this site and given me direction in my task.


A little bit about me:

I am currently 32 years old. I graduated High School in 1993 and went into the military afterwards. After the military I went to college and barely graduated in August 2001 with my B.S. in Genetics. Needless to say, I was very distracted in college and not a very good student. I didn’t find college difficult, but I never went to class and my grades suffered from it. My GPA was well below a 3.0. Since college I have been working in a Research lab in my field performing DNA sequencing, Data Analysis, and Bioinformatics work. I left research for a year and worked for a biotech company as a service engineer, but the excessive travel got the best of me and I ended up back in my old lab where things are comfortable.

I am currently at the age where I need to make a move soon towards the career that I want. My current field is rewarding in nearly every way except financially. It seems like every year finances get tighter and savings gets smaller. I have been doing IT stuff for the last 7 years and not getting paid for it, so about six months ago I decided that I should go to graduate school and give myself some more options.

So, if all goes well I hope to start graduate school this coming fall in pursuit of an IT Management degree.

Two months ago I started preparing very loosely for the GMAT. I bought the Princeton Review, ‘Cracking the GMAT’ book at a bookstore and lightly read through it over a period of a couple weeks.

I stumbled across this website and discovered that the PR wasn’t going to cut it. So, I went on amazon.com and increased my library to contain the following:

Kaplan 800
Kaplan 2008 Premier Program
Manhattan GMAT Critical Reasoning
Manhattan GMAT Sentence correction
OG 11th Review
OG 11th Verbal
OG 11th Quantitative
Princeton Review-Cracking the GMAT 2008 Edition

I also downloaded the flashcards.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

I took my first CAT this evening on the Manhattan GMAT website to get a baseline of where I am.

Q41/V34-620

Quantitative:

1 WRONG Prob Solv 600 - 700 Fractions
2 RIGHT Prob Solv 300 - 500 Coordinate Plane
3 RIGHT Data Suff 600 - 700 Inequalities
4 WRONG Data Suff 700 - 800 Positives and Negatives
5 WRONG Data Suff 600 - 700 Statistics
6 WRONG Prob Solv 500 - 600 Non-Standard Word Prob
7 RIGHT Prob Solv 500 - 600 Variables in Choices (VIC)
Basic Equations
8 RIGHT Data Suff 500 - 600 Digits
9 WRONG Prob Solv 600 - 700 Statistics
10 WRONG Prob Solv 600 - 700 Lines and Angles
11 RIGHT Data Suff 500 - 600 Quadratic Equations
12 WRONG Prob Solv 500 - 600 Basic Equations
13 WRONG Prob Solv 500 - 600 Divisibility and Primes
14 RIGHT Prob Solv 300 - 500 Decimals
15 RIGHT Prob Solv 300 - 500 Ratios
16 WRONG Prob Solv 600 - 700 Rates & Work
17 WRONG Data Suff 300 - 500 Divisibility and Primes

18 RIGHT Data Suff 300 - 500 Rates & Work
19 RIGHT Data Suff 500 - 600 Percents
20 WRONG Prob Solv 500 - 600 Variables in Choices (VIC)
Percents
21 RIGHT Prob Solv 300 - 500 Lines and Angles
22 WRONG Prob Solv 500 - 600 Divisibility and Primes
23 RIGHT Prob Solv 500 - 600 Formulas
24 WRONG Data Suff 500 - 600 Ratios
25 RIGHT Prob Solv 600 - 700 Probability
26 RIGHT Data Suff 600 - 700 Polygons
27 RIGHT Prob Solv 300 - 500 Circles and Cylinders
28 RIGHT Prob Solv 600 - 700 Algebraic Translations
29 RIGHT Data Suff 600 - 700 Exponents and Roots
30 WRONG Prob Solv 600 - 700 FDP Connections
31 RIGHT Data Suff 500 - 600 Odds and Evens
32 WRONG Prob Solv 600 - 700 Exponential Equations
33 WRONG Data Suff 500 - 600 Exponential Equations
34 RIGHT Prob Solv 500 - 600 Percents
35 WRONG Data Suff 500 - 600 Overlapping Sets
36 RIGHT Prob Solv 600 - 700 Basic Equations
Divisibility and Primes
37 RIGHT Data Suff 600 - 700 Triangles and Diagonals

Verbal:

1 WRONG Read Comp 600 - 700 Specific Detail
2 RIGHT Read Comp 300 - 500 Specific Detail
3 RIGHT Read Comp 500 - 600 Inference
4 RIGHT Crit Reas 700 - 800 Weaken Conclusion
5 WRONG Crit Reas 700 - 800 Draw a Conclusion
6 WRONG Sent Corr 700 - 800 Idioms
Clarity of Meaning
Comparisons
7 RIGHT Read Comp 600 - 700 Passage Structure
8 RIGHT Read Comp 500 - 600 Specific Detail
9 WRONG Read Comp 700 - 800 Specific Detail
10 RIGHT Crit Reas 700 - 800 Strengthen Conclusion
11 WRONG Crit Reas 600 - 700 Find the Assumption
12 WRONG Sent Corr 600 - 700 Modifiers
Pronouns
13 RIGHT Crit Reas 600 - 700 Make an Inference about Premises
14 RIGHT Crit Reas 600 - 700 Analyze Arg Structure
15 WRONG Sent Corr 700 - 800 Concision
16 WRONG Crit Reas 700 - 800 Draw a Conclusion
17 RIGHT Read Comp 700 - 800 Specific Detail
18 WRONG Read Comp 700 - 800 Inference
19 WRONG Read Comp 600 - 700 Inference
20 RIGHT Sent Corr 500 - 600 Parallelism
Verbs
21 RIGHT Sent Corr 600 - 700 Verbs
Clarity of Meaning
Modifiers
22 RIGHT Sent Corr 600 - 700 Subject Verb Agreement
Verbs
23 WRONG Sent Corr 600 - 700 Connecting Punctuation
Clarity of Meaning
24 WRONG Crit Reas 600 - 700 Analyze Arg Structure

25 RIGHT Crit Reas 300 - 500 Find the Assumption
26 WRONG Sent Corr 600 - 700 Comparisons
Pronouns
27 RIGHT Crit Reas 500 - 600 Strengthen Conclusion
28 WRONG Sent Corr 600 - 700 Modifiers
Clarity of Meaning
Subject Verb Agreement
29 RIGHT Sent Corr 600 - 700 Pronouns
Idioms
30 WRONG Crit Reas 700 - 800 Draw a Conclusion
31 RIGHT Crit Reas 500 - 600 Explain A Situation
32 RIGHT Sent Corr 600 - 700 Quantity Expressions
Idioms
Subject Verb Agreement
33 WRONG Read Comp 600 - 700 Inference
34 RIGHT Read Comp 500 - 600 Main Idea
35 RIGHT Read Comp 600 - 700 Specific Detail
36 RIGHT Crit Reas 700 - 800 Evaluate A Conclusion
37 WRONG Sent Corr 700 - 800 Parallelism
Verbs
38 RIGHT Sent Corr 600 - 700 Comparisons
Pronouns
39 WRONG Crit Reas 700 - 800 Find the Assumption

40 WRONG Sent Corr 600 - 700 Pronouns
Comparisons
Verbs
41 RIGHT Sent Corr 700 - 800 Clarity of Meaning
Modifiers
Verbs


I decided to remove the time since I already knew that this would be an issue. Instead I wanted to focus on the questions and not worry about having to rush. I had a very difficult time on this test. I wasn’t used to taking a test on a computer and felt very out of touch with what I was doing. I didn't check any of my answers and, to be honest, wasn't sure if I got anything correct, hehe.

The first section was Quantitative.

I couldn’t focus or concentrate and don’t remember most of the questions. I got the first question wrong. It was a simple fraction problem.

About 20 questions in and I was already feeling mentally fatigued. By the time I hit question 30 I seriously began to question whether or not graduate school was even an option.

Most of the questions didn’t seem out of my ability, but I couldn’t put my thoughts together to set them up correctly.

I figured if I had that hard of a time in the Quant section I was going to get slaughtered in the Verbal. I missed the first question on this section also.

I just read through the problems and went with what seemed *right* to me. I haven’t studied this section yet so I didn’t really know how to approach the questions.

I believe my score on this test is inflated.

Tomorrow I plan on working through the problems.

[Prasanna]

I think you have made a great start. You will definitely beat the exam, if you stay on this course. My thoughts:

a) It is a good practice to focus on accuracy rather than time at the start of your prep.

b) Taking prep tests on a regular basis will help build the stamina you need to endure the tests. Most of us would find it difficult to concentrate for 4 hrs on a test like GMAT. You are not an exception! Practice will fix this issue for you.

c) Having a baseline score is good. Make out a plan with your target score in mind.

Wish you good luck

[luvaduva]

Thanks Prasanna!

I am currently correcting my mistakes on my first MGMAT CAT.

Here is a mistake I made on one of the questions. Perhaps it will serve myself and others well...

DS

What is x?

(1) |x| < 2
(2) |x| = 3x - 2

Solution:
(1) x < 2 and -x <2> x > -2, so -2 < x <2> -2x = -2-> x = 1
Also, for x less than 0, you must consider -x = 3x -2-> -4x = -2 -> x = 1/2. BUT, since you assumed x < 0, x= 1/2 cannot be a solution to this and x = 1.Sufficient

Answer is B.

[Stacey Koprince]

This test is hard for everyone - don't let it get you down! (I'm referring to your comment about seriously wondering whether you should go to grad school ) And you have a good starting point!

In future, though, do take the tests timed (and don't be surprised if your next test score stays the same or goes down because now you'll have to figure out how to deal with the time pressure). Timing is a HUGE component of the test and you need to start dealing with the timing constraints right away. You will ALWAYS feel pressed for time, no matter how good you get, because the questions will just keep getting harder. There's a lot of good data and discussion around this site to help you with timing, but don't put off dealing with this issue.

Keep up the good work!

[ritz]

Thanks Prasanna!

I am currently correcting my mistakes on my first MGMAT CAT.

Here is a mistake I made on one of the questions. Perhaps it will serve myself and others well...

DS

What is x?

(1) |x| < 2
(2) |x| = 3x - 2

Solution:
(1) x < 2 and -x <2> x > -2, so -2 < x <2> -2x = -2-> x = 1
Also, for x less than 0, you must consider -x = 3x -2-> -4x = -2 -> x = 1/2. BUT, since you assumed x < 0, x= 1/2 cannot be a solution to this and x = 1.Sufficient

Answer is B.

I dont quite agree with this solution.

Lets take statement 1.
|x| <2 means
x < 2 OR -x<2. So
-2<X<2 (x will be anything between -2 & 2)

statement 2
|x| = 3x - 2 means
X = 3x -2 OR -x = -3x-2 (x is negative, so the other side X should also be negative. The solution that you gave did not do this)
X = 1 OR x = -1
so even by combining you dont get the exact value of X. so E.
isnt this solution better? If i am making a mistake here, then please let me know.
thanks
Ritz

[Stacey Koprince]

Not quite - first, if you are going to make a side negative, you have to place the entire contents of that side in parentheses, so that the negative gets distributed to everything.

So instead of -x = -3x-2 you'd have -x = -(3x-2).

If you solve this, you'll see that you have exactly the same formula as the positive version, x=3x-2. In other words, when you try the negative option, you only change one side of the equation. If you change both, you're just right back where you started from (it's equivalent to multiplying both sides by -1, so you could just divide out that -1 and be back at your starting point).

So, only make ONE side negative when you're trying the negative option.