Friday, December 19, 2008

Some motivational Thoughts from various people

Logitech BTG : USE YOUR TIME and HIT HARD in the BEGINNING and FINISH STRONG and keep moving...GMAT places some tough questions just to tip you off the balance and demoralize you and steal your time. Don't fall into it. Just smile and say WHATEVER and move on...that's okay! And try not to get hit in a row..just like a computer game...Keep that LIFE BAR green Very Happy 

What a way to put it...

(1) Immediately write down the topic and scope after reading the first paragraph of a given passage. Doing so will help you think about questions relating to the main point or main purpose. 

(2) Try to go into an RC passage with an attitude that you are excited to learn about the information it contains. It takes some practice, but this strategy helps you maintain your focus while you read.

(3) Read linearly. That is, try not to read sentences or parts of passages over and over again. Doing so wil slow you down dramatically and actually confuse you because the ideas in the passage are not being read in logical order.

(4) Do not skim, but read quickly. This is a personal strategy. I find that I digest information better when I don't gloss over too much detail.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Psychology of the exam

I think I messed up owing to following reasons.
(1) loosing my cool during the math section, and guessing on too many questions due to lack of time.
(2) Doing really good on SC, but doing blunders in the initial sections of the test on Critical reasoning questions, and doing pathetically on Reading comprehension questions, not being attentive enough to focuss throughout the verbal question, for verbal I need to be extremely alert in order to succeed.

Only a few weeks to go before my 4'th Attempt at GMAT, I am doing timed practise, you can't shy away from yes/no DS, and inequalities, along with absolute value questions. If you do them well, you can be assured of a 48 in Math... which is all you need really, and in order to get a verbal above 40, you need to be extremely fresh, not tired, and extremely focussed, and practise better techniques on tough CR, where you falter, and practise more RC, under timed conditions. Give GMAT PREP couple of more times. My timetable is under preparation.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Shall I start with RC?

Time to take some RC in hand... let's see how I do on RC and CR, will try to complete OG11 RC at least 3 hours today. Will keep you guys posted on the status. Only difference will be the approach will be timed, and will be coherent with Stacey Koprince's tips on BTG.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Maverick's re-engaging

Never Say Die...

Loosing is not a defeat unless you let go. Thanks to experiences of many people who have tamed the beast, I have following comments about my last test day.

(1) Verbal on actual GMAT is way tougher than any of the practise tests.
(2) I was sweating, and my timing completely messed up in GMAT QUANT owing to some really tough questions and my ego of not letting them go, also the test center had a lot of distractions like the AC was not working, they had to turn it off and ON adjust temperature all while my exam was going on, I feel like demanding my money back, I am going to launch a complaint. But I don't think that was a good reason for failure, cause most problems were during Quant, and I did not do really bad on it.
(3) I had all the symptoms of "Anxiety" viz. Sweaty palms, shorter attention span, distorted sense of passing time, panic, reduced concentration. Need to control these, mostly they caused all the havoc. There was nothing wrong in my preparations, I am confident that I am 700+ material. My english is not bad enough to fetch me a 28 in GMAT Verbal.
(4) I fell in traps during the verbal, and I did not apply the techniques I learnt. I was never pressed for time. Need to practise RC, and need to be even better at SC, and CR.
(5) First few questions _ my notions about these made me lose a lot of time on these questions.


Strategies to Re-engage.

(1) The anxiety I experienced was not "Stress" it was panic, it is normal during an exam, have to understand that it is the essential adrenaline rush, which is needed to do well on the exam.
(2) Believe in your abilities, have good level of confidence, and do not worry about the result, because your next attempt is going to be just for yourself. Not anyone else.
(3) Have to study the traps on the GMAT very carefully especially on the Verbal.
(4) Try to get things first time right. Re-reading questions and passages I waste a lot of time.
(5) Have a solid strategy, considering a real life GMAT scenario. What kind of questions will you skip totally. What kind of questions you will skip if you are hard pressed for time, decide how you will react to particular type of questions?


and, No matter how many attempts it takes, I am going to screw the GMAT! I have 1 more year, and I can take the GMAT 10 times at least If I need to. Hey GMAT, guess what, maverick's re-engaging you!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Sorry guys

Sorry Guys, I did not make it. My Verbal was 28. And I have nothing more to say at this moment.

Abhinandan

Monday, December 1, 2008

Continuously taking GMATPREPs

Have been continuously taking GMATPREPS for last 5 days, and I have been happy so far, with the preparation levels, I have made myself a certain set of guidelines by which I will try to write the wednesday's exams.

Just thought should put up a word here. Will come back with the detailed de-brief of my affair with the GMAT.

Towards the end, Let me tell you, that GMAT is smart, and you should give it due respect. Hope everything turns out to be well.

Peace,
Abhi

Friday, November 28, 2008

D day is four day away... My last attempt at GMAT

Progress so far. Not very exciting. All I am doing is taking a test every morning at 10-2 which is my official timing this Wednesday for the test, and I am analyzing my results for the rest of the day. The only difference on Wednesday would be that I won't get to analyze. My feat so far? Not so great...

GMATPREP Test2_first attempt = 590 Q44 V28 ; Something terribly messed up.
GMATPREP Test1_first attempt = 690 Q48 V37 ; Things improved overall.

First test, weakest area was speed, I was not doing well on time, also, I was getting all worked up so making mistakes, second day it improved, and I was doing better in Math, firs time verbal messed up bad due to RC, my only problem seems to be I get a little emotional, and panicky. I think in reading comprehension and CR questions, you should not let your "ear" fool you, many a times the answers given by your gut feeling are in fact most of the times wrong!

Also, during the second test, something else that helped me was for RC questions checking if options I chose were out of scope. You won't believe I made only 1 mistake in RC in today's test. And only 3 in CR, all other 10 were in SC, that too probably because I did not realize most of them were parallelism errors.

I am not going to cram in these last 4 days, I am going to take it easy. Let whatever is going to happen, happen. I am prepared for it.

Wish me luck readers...

_Abhinandan_

Monday, November 24, 2008

Princeton CAT 3 Q44 V40 680

Finally, some action. Although it was a steal because I knew at least 3 sentence correction questions, I am a little relieved at my verbal score. I know the next step. In the quest of perfection for Verbal. I need to get every SC and CR right. If I manage to do that, my verbal score will breach 40, and If it does, my chances of reaching 700+ are closer.

So far I have taken the following tests. And the outputs have been as follows.
PCAT 1 = 620
PCAT 2 = 650
PCAT 3 = 680
PCAT 4 = 670
PCAT 5 = 610
MGMAT1 = 710
MGMAT2 = 680
MGMAT3 = 690

Next stop GMATPREP, alongwith killer SC and CR accuracy, and a bit of work on the Number properties, and inequalities. Let's see how it goes fellows. Will keep you posted.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Q43 V31 610 Princeton CAT 5

Dumb day, Dumb headache, and dumb performance. I wasn't too sad with the math part, although it could have been better. I am hurt with such a low verbal. The first time I ever took PCAT i had 600, which was better than this. Reasons are not many, in fact only one. 

(1) I did the first two questions wrong on the verbal.
(2) My sentence correction accuracy was a pain; about 60%. I don't know why that keeps happening.

Tomorrow 10AM another day, another time. Let's hope today was just an aberration.

I am not giving up.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Some of My SC Errors on the latest MGMAT : Could be an interesting read...

Sentence correction errors
==========================

1. The Daughters of the American Revolution, a volunteer service organization, admits as members only women who can prove lineal descent from a patriot of the American Revolution.

I removed word only; which was wrong; because the result sentence is different in meaning than the original one.

Lesson learnt: Make sure meaning doesn't get changed when you choose an answer.


2. Agatha Christie's travels with her archaeologist husband inspired her to write several mystery novels; travelers to Egypt can still stay at the Old Cataract Hotel, the model for the hotel in one of Christie's most famous books.

--> Here Agatha christie is a possessive noun, be alarmed when you see it, because only possessive pronouns can refer back to possessive nouns, object pronoun such as "inspired her to" may not refer to possessive nouns, hence this is incorrect.
Refer to MGMAT SC Page 55

3. The author Herman Melville and the poet Walt Whitman are icons of American literature, greatly beloved by generations past and present.

---> Restrictive and non restrictive modifiers --- the modifiers Herman Melville, and Walt Whitman are restrictive in nature, and they do not need to be set off by a pair of commas

I did a mistake when I instead of original structure, chose a structure as follows : Herman Melville the author and Walt whitman the poet, although this usage is correct, these are non restrictive modifiers and need to be separated with a proper comma in order to be grammatically correct. Need to better understand what the sentence correction question is testing.


Gyan: That Vs Which... That is logically inseparable from the sentence, Which is usually separable logically. Which is usually used for inanimate things. That, Who Whom, used for animate things.
e.g. The team that wins the game will take over first place.

4. The health commissioner said that the government had implemented strict measures to eradicate the contaminated food and, despite "it will try" to prevent the outbreak from recurring in the future.

When the future is indicated from the point of view of the past, conditional is used. In above sentence, "Had implemented" indicates, comissioner is talking about an event which has already occured and ended in past. However, it will try is a simple future tense, which is incorrect. The more correct WOULD should be used. The correct usage will be "that it would try"

5.It was not long after the 1930s commenced that such baritone singers as Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo contributed to the popularization of a type of romantic, soothing singing that came to be called...

Like vs.such as - Like always used for comparisons on the GMAT, Such as always used for giving examples on the GMAT never choose the odd one for the sake of sounding right or wrong, never trust your ear at least for SC questions. The question is trying to test is Like vs. Such as alongwith other rules of grammar, let the 2/3rd split help ya.

6. One study found that although government policy and the industrial sector in which a company operates can influence its productivity and financial strength, management decisions have at least as great an impact on a company’s performance.

The original sentence can be right many times. Also, usage of although always indicates that there should be some part of sentence which should draw comparison. However, I chose, "Decisions by management have a great impact" Here, there is no comparison being drawn,the contrast is not exposed. Also, Decisions by Management instead of Management decisions is pretty wordy.

7. The administration has increased the number of fines for mining safety violations as part of their campaign to protect miners.

I chose Amount of fines instead of Number of fines... I Thought that how can one increase the number of fines, we can increase the amount charged for the fines right? But apparently, this was the silliest mistake, even though my choice was gramatically perfect, it was wrong because the choice clearly said "Amount of fines" whereas talking of fines, they are finite and countable, so it should have been "Number of fines" too bad... Need to spend more time on the Sentence correction questions to try to see what they are testing. But I am happy because all the mistakes I made were in the toughest range.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

MGMAT 3 690 Q48 V36

This was worse than I expected in Verbal. Somehow I couldn't keep my concentration levels high enough in Verbal, and I was rewarded with a low 36. I think I can improve on that one only if I take the test in an ideal setting, which well, doesn't happen at my place on a weekend. Is that too much to ask for? anyway... Frustrations aside, I am still happy to be close to 700. And will not give it too much weightage.

Will let you know how I fare. 3 More MGMAT Tests to go and I plan to finish them as soon as possible. I know what's wrong with verbal. Need to bump up my SC accuracy that too will happen soon. Secret's out. And it's now public. :)

Cheers
Abhinandan

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Current GMAT Weaknesses Identified

CR -
(1) Structure of the argument Questions.
(2) Conclusion/Evaluate the conclusion type of Questions.

RC -
(1) Specific Details Questions, Inference Questions, Passage Tone Questions

SC -
(1) Pronoun Questions
(2) Some unusual Idioms

PS /DS
(1) Inequalities. (Dealing with them currently)
(2) Co-ordinate Geometry Questions ( Mainly related to lines)
(3) Probability & Combinatorics (Will be ignored; as I will skip if I see very difficult question)
(4) Number Properties (Need to brush a lot)

Need to increase overall Math speed. Timed drill on OG would be a lot helpful.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

MGMAT2 - 680 Q47 V35

On a working day. Started at 9PM, and ended at 1AM. Took 30 minutes for Manhattan Math than the 75, because I wanted a good practice. Anyway, by the time I reached verbal, I was pretty exhausted. Just rushed through questions, without enough thought to it.

Q47, V35 ---- Scaled ---- 680 OR 90'th Percentile.

I felt bad considering I was able to break the 40 Mark in Verbal on last couple of tests. But given the verbal section was done from 11.55PM to 1.15 PM, I am not too much worried about the turnout. I am analyzing the test and the questions right now. Will try to give another shot tonight. Math timing revised from 100 Minutes to 85 Minutes. I am taking more time for Math because I feel MGMAT math is unusually tough for 75 Mins.
Wish me luck again!!
Cheers
Abhi

Friday, November 7, 2008

Manhattan GMAT CAT 1

Manhattan GMAT CAT 1 was a horrible experience. It had all the makings of a disaster. Math questions were so difficult I had to think twice whether I was giving GMAT or CAT. Verbal was not easy either. I am sure I did many of them wrong, but I guess that is the way Manhattan tests you. Following were my scores, which I am more than pleased with. Please note that I took more than normal time to complete the sections due to various interruptions that I had during my exams. I haven't prepared any grid as such, but will simply note down my weaknesses which are especially evident at some really hard questions.

I was pretty exhausted so took a brief break, now will merge back into studies. I will review this test tomorrow, for now I will review my SC Grid weaknesses, and then look back into math mistakes I did in OG quant, and also if time permits I will look into my MGMAT math wrongs, afterall I have to take another MGMAT test tomorrow ( Heaven forbid something wrong happens)

I am pretty happy to break 700 for the first time on any major test. Wish me luck folks. I am going to need all of it.

Cheers,
abhinandan

2 days off at work for studies... Progress so far...

Friends, I just read a post on BTG, and there is a guy who scored 710 in his fourth attempt, and last attempt. I am in a similar situation, this is my third attempt, and the last one and I just hope I be as lucky or even more luckier than him! :) 

Anyway, regarding the US presidential elections, I am really happy that a young leader has been chosen, and he is way closer to the ground realities than his competitor was... and an interesting trivia, the date of Birth of Mr Obama is incidentally same as mine! :) 

okay so today was the first day off from work, here is a debrief of today and the plan for next 3 days.

(1) Wanted to take a test today. Couldn't due to power situation in Pune.
(2) Completed the OG11 Sentence correction practise questions and recorded the complete results in the Grid. My hit rate in SC is about 80% and is surprisingly better with the level of concentration I put in.
(3) I am going to practise a little bit of math tomorrow morning, and then start a test at sharp 12 PM if all goes well. I will take MGMAT 1 test.
(4) During the weekend, I will take one of the princeton CATs and one more MGMAT. Rest all the time I will spend on practising OG11, and analyzing my mistakes.
(5) I have digested Manhattan SC completely, and I need to complete the OG10 questions it contains as part of my next level of preparations for SC.
(6) I am going to devise my RC strategy tomorrow based on Stacey Koprince's advise on BTG. 

Hope I wake up on time tomorrow and also hope that I get a good confidence boost in the Verbal tomorrow again! 

Cheers,
Abhinandan

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Unprecedented Princeton CAT

Guess what? today I gave a complete simulated princeton CAT 4. This was at my princeton review coaching center. Following are the details.



I digested almost 80% of manhattan SC after doing a few timed drills on OG yesterday. I did not do the OG 10 questions which manhattan SC asks us to do because I did not have that kind of time, however, was awake till almost 2AM last night taking notes, and going through my other GMAT notes, I have personally made on paper. After reading all the tips I went down to the center at 11 o clock today, and started with the test. I had an option of skipping the essays, but I decided that whatever I do, I have to build my stamina so I decided I will take every DT from now on with the essays. Math started well, I saw a few percents, fractions, percents, some tricky DS, but I was comfortably marching through them, and bang saw one probability question, stumbled on it for almost 5 mins, guessed and moved on, another one! straight 5 questions from Probabilty one after another. I was totally tense. After came another DS, and it started sailing smooth, I was keeping track of time and was making sure I solve the problems within 2 minutes. Finally Maths was over. I knew I did not do well on the probability questions which were probably all lined up from 12-17...

Verbal... My dear verbal was next. I was very much prepared for this one, my fresh Manhattan SC stint had given me enough courage to tackle the first SC, after which flashed a very scientific RC with 3 questions which I managed to digest, then a couple of tough arguments, which I sailed through smoothly and comfortably, I was keeping tab on time, as well as was writing the eliminations on paper, and striking ABCDE off except whichever I felt was the right answer. I did this only for tough questions later on in order to save time. I saw a few familar CRs and one familiar RC, however, the Arguments were surprisingly becoming difficult, and I had to think a lot more than I normally tend to think, but I kept my concentration levels, and decided to run through it.

I was done with the test finally at about 3, and did wait a moment before looking for the score. Flash came the 670. I was so happy to see the breakup more than the average. I knew I had done bad on the math, so Math was just 40, but believe my good stars I had scored 43 in verbal, which is steller as per my own standards, and I knew probability questions were not a big deal as there was no way I would have seen 5 straight probability questions on the actual GMAT. I was happy, and left the center with a little piece of advise from my verbal tutor. She advised me to go through the OG10 questions at least for the sections which I feel are difficult, she felt the verbal score was really good, and if I can improve even a little, I will comfortably sail past 700.

What a run-down. I was extremely happy, I am going to follow her and do the OG10 for the Sentence correction sections of the Manhattan SC. So far, I am just going to dream that I get at least close to 43 in my actual GMAT, I can't be complascent, as I have to go miles before I sleep.

Cheers to all those who are spending time reading my blog. Feel very free to comment and if you have any suggestions.

Cheers
Abhi

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Tuesday Oct 28 2008

Gave the GMAT OG11 DT yesterday, recorded my results in an excel sheet grid. Here's what GMAT has to think of my preparation levels.

PS - Above Average
DS - Above Average
RC - Excellent
CR - Excellent
SC - Above Average

Worst I thin I did was in SC, wherein I got only 11 correct out of 17. I don't know why I keep doing that, I have got myself Manhattan SC guide which I will study for now, and then take an accuracy count again, when I start practising, mind you, before giving this mock, I had not done any preparations on SC, all I did is some Math practise questions.

Will keep ya all posted. BTW a though came into my mind today about top MBA programs, and how I am going to gather finances and work out other situations in my life, and it is a tougher question that GMAT really, but time calls for only one thing to focuss on, and that thing is GMAT, although not fully focussed, I think I am well on my way. Wish me luck friends.

Cheers
Abhinandan

Thursday, October 23, 2008

OG Diagnostic Test begins - Wed 23 Oct 08

I started the OG DT yesterday to know where I am. OG11 DT is not as easy as questions on the GMAT, but is designed to test your concepts thoroughly. I completed 10 PS problems yesterday, and plan to complete the rest of the Quant section today. So far I got one probability question wrong. I plan to concentrate and get as many right as possible... Let's see what OG DT has to tell about my Quantitative abilities.

I will post a detailed analysis later when I complete the test.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Sunday & Monday

New Car. First New car! Despite the uncertainties in market, we have booked a Maruti Suzuki SWIFT Vdi 1.3 Lit. Pearl White color. This lady will come into our family in Late December as there is waiting period for the car. I will give detailed specs later. But this car features one of the most advanced diesel engines in the world, and generates a whopping 75 bhp @ 4000 rpm @ 190 Nm of torque. Surprisingly, for a litre of diesel it gives amazing fuel efficiency. about 18 / 23 kmpl with AC on. isn't that cool? Anyways...
From the GMAT perspective it means that I have wasted 2 working days. But today I am back to basics I know one thing now, nothing in my life will move with my full willingness untill I get GMAT out of the way. So wish me luck!

Monday, October 20, 2008

Saturday

Concepts of Math revisited, ratios and proportions, indices, some of the Geometry concepts also revisited. GMAT notes on SC needs to be printed. Not much preparations needed for Verbal, as reading speed is going to be the deciding factor apart from accuracy in SC and CR. Will keep you updated as I proceed. I am planning a thorough OG Grid of my own too.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Re-Engaging GMAT. G-Day 3'rd December

Hello Folks,

For those missing my posts, I have been catching up with myself, and my new office, i.e. Barclays. One of the largest British banks for those who don't know. All this time has been a rollercoaster ride. My experiences while leaving HSBC were pretty unique in themselves. I will miss all the fun. My memories and experiences are blogged on http://maverickshaw.wordpress.com 

I remember the movie TOP GUN when maverick loses the confidence of flying and aircraft and his wingman is shouting at the back, lets get it man, engage god damn it! come on maverick! engage! but maverick says... "I will engage when I am goddamn ready... You got it?" something of a similar sort happened with me, although this time it is GMAT. After two unsuccessful attempts, I am re-engaging it. There are a few things changed in the game. 

1. I am not hasty about going to B-school.
2. I have completed princeton coaching (Read Math has improved a little)
3. I am more determined, as I know this perhaps is my last attempt for GMAT.

But I feel I am ready, and I know I can do it. I am re-engaging. Wish me luck.

Today I revised the Math concepts except Geometry. Will try to maintain a daily blog. The plan so far is 2 practise tests on Weekend, 2 hours Math in the evening, and 2 hours Verbal in the morning. Let's see how it goes. 

Cheers people!
Abhin

Monday, August 18, 2008

670 Q51 V31 can you believe it...



These princeton CAT's are giving me a run for my money... I don't know what wrong have I done in my verbal preparations they are just taking me for a ride... I hope I do better next time.

as far as researching b schools is concerned, I have decided one thing. First things first. GMAT will be first. when I reach my milestone score, then only I will start thinking about further steps.

I read a very nice quote a while ago... "An MBA should not be a GOAL, it should be a TOOL" which should be used in the best possible way and at the best possible time in your career. And I hope I am walking that tight rope of time and making my decisions wisely...

Wish me luck folks, and I know what I need to do to get my verbal score up. Have deadly accuracy in sentence correction and arguments.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

650 it was...

Diagnostic 2 not upto the mark guys, V34Q47 / Verbal was very bad with intermittent mistakes and a 67% CR. I'm not happy, so was the speed really bad... only good things math, even speed lacked in math... I have got to be kidding myself... :(

Wish me luck fellows...

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

1 Month Down, 1.5 to go...

Hi folks,

1 month of GMAT prep is gone, and I wanna look back... Math, English, there have been descent improvements in the score, and techniques have been easy to follow, so far is so good. But in order to break into 700 club, a score of 45+ in math as well as a score of 40+ in verbal is required. A week later, i.e. coming saturday, will be another princeton DT, In this season of GMAT Prep, my streak of test scores has been like below...

Princeton DT 1 - (fresh without any prep) - V33, Q40 - 600 / 800
GMAT Prep 1 - (after 2 weeks) - V35, Q44 - 640 / 800
Princeton DT 2 is planned (coming weekend) - Target V38, Q46 - 680 / 800

My improvements over the last week - Increased accuracy in SC, CR, upto 85% and above.Better at Math except geometry, better at certain types of DS, and number theory, percentages.

Folks, they say fortune favors the brave, Hello fortune, here I come...
Let Peace be upon U...
_Abhi_

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Tough to Medium-Tough PS, DS

So you want to touch 49+ in math's... What are things you need to do? well here are a few of my own conclusions, please note that they are applicable for me, so there is a possibility that they might apply to you as well.
1) DS Traps are where we usually fall, they are subtle traps, like duplicate statements, or the statement hiding a particular number property, or likewise.
2) Probability, and sums involving permutations and combinations: These are where most of the people will panic and commit silly mistakes, when you see such a question, pat yourself on the back, coz in all likelyhood you have already done well on the exam, so take your time, practise probability, permutations and combinations, don't fret over if you can't solve it move on... Likelyhood of seeing such questions is really low on the GMAT. But nonetheless, be prepared.
3) Sums involving complex geometry, which may be sometimes unheard of, algebra, arithmetic, or plugin types of sums come naturally to us, these don't unless you have practised them well, do practise all the OG geometry questions thoroughly well. Understanding the "Trick" in each one rather than going the longer way.
4) Do Solve at least 15 different sums everyday, you don't want to relax and bask in the glory of your quant prowess, it might prove dangerous, remember, QUANT is where you can be sure to score, verbal can throw some real bad surprises at you, if you do really well in both, well... you're the man then!

ATB,
Abhinandan.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Blogroll

Spending a few minutes on your blog a day will not hurt you much. More so, if you have very suggestive and helpful information on it. I have decided to add blogroll to my layout, here you will find a list of blogs that I frequently read. For instance the first one on right is where you will find lots of GMAT Grammar tips, a few casual glances a day would be very very helpful. Especially for working people like me...
Keep GMATTING... Keep Blogging...
Peace,
Abhin.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Practise GMAT 1 : GMAT PREP


In my revised GMAT Study schedule, I gave my first GMAT Practise CAT today. 10 points less than I had predicted I landed up with a score of 640. Q44 V35.
Following was my analysis of the result.
(1) In Math's I did at least 5 wrong in my first 15, it was patchy, 2 were correct then 1 was incorrect then 3 were correct then 1 was incorrect that way... Mostly I messed up with properties of numbers DS Questions. PS wasn't that bad. However, If i increase my accuracy in the first 15 questions, I think ill surely land up with a good score in Maths at least 46+

(2) Verbal was sheer bad luck. U know why? Because In first 22 questions I got only 1 wrong, and that was the first one!! :( It was a tricky question, i'll try to post its screen print over here when I go home. Imagine even after getting 21 right on the trot, I was presented with 35 verbal score, thanks to a first wrong!... the wrong question was based on "structure of the argument". Well' you'll all know when i'll post it here.

(3) I had to rush in Verbal section after 33'rd question i.e. in about 5 mins I had to attempt 8 questions. It was unreal, I ended up making 7 mistakes.
Anyway... Surprisingly RC, and CR, SC were as good, the mistakes were equally distributed, and I did mess up tricky SC's and CR's. If I do those correctly it would not be unreal to expect score of 680 / 690 next time I take it. And then from there on... Only mantra... work on your weaknesses, move on...
I have about 1.5 months in my hands, and I am feeling that I am going to do it...
All the best with your preps...
Cheers,
Abhinandan.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Comment Reward offer...

PLEASE COMMENT

I'll double my posts if any one you who read my blog comment on it.. otherwise it is more like my personal diary u know! hehe... Just kidding.. I blog for myself, and amusement and information of others who like to read...
Anyway... Let's come to the core of the thoughts on my mind right now. Verbal ? Maths ? yep you got it... Tomorrow is my Practise test... Here are improvements.
1) Verbal - Much better accuracy for SC, Already good in CR, a little better in RC.
2) Maths - Much better with PS, a little better wish DS, PS strategies improved.

Say V36 Q45 or about 650+? My bets on it... Let's see how it goes...

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Golden wait for iphone enthusiasts..



It's Slimmer...
It's Zippier...
It's Smarter...
It's better...
Like everything in today's 2.0 world, welcome to iPhone 2.0, newest offering from Steve Jobs, one of my favourite personalities on the face of this planet. For those who have been waiting for this beauty this has proven to be a golden wait as apple, not really known to slash prices a lot has sliced the price to almost half at 199USD. It will not be a wonder if iPhone becomes the next generation monotony of personal gadgets.
Features... Name it and you have it, right from Location based GPS to faster connectivity and a nice enough camera makes this phone + music supreme device truly unique. Although there are many other smart phones out there with similar technology, the multitouch that apple has offered really needs to be experienced. From my personal iPod touch 8Gb I bought in US, I can tell for sure how much this technology rocks...

So ladies and gentlemen, brace yourselves for iPhone 2.0, trust me it's going to shake the smartphone markets around the world!

P.S. I plan to take a diagnostic this saturday. Reason : I think I have improved a lot on SC, and that should scale my score to at least 35 on verbal. Also some Quant strategies should improve my score on the Quant to 45. The Actual score should be roughly around 78 percentile or 630-640. Let's see where I land up. I think this score is pretty realistic to expect. What say folks? :D

Cheers,
Abhinandan.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Off to Delhi... But in August...

Hey ppl..

Got a chance to work in the NCR or National Capital Region (Delhi)... A new project in which I will get a good exposure. This will be a good on my resume as I will get a good leadership experience. Due to all the anxiety, and my habit of taking things emotionally, I got nervous a week ago, was on the edge of hypertension. Somehow managed to control it and I don't think much about things these days. "Jaan hai to Jahaan hai..." U knw...
Some things are yet to work out, but I am sure they will. I will also get to work out of Hyderabad for a period of say 1 month. The total duration can be anything from 3-5 months, but it will be mostly on and off from Pune. Anyway... You all know that there is only GMAT on my mind right now. So I am going to give it my best shot. I will not take it untill I consistently score above 700 in my practise ones. Wish me luck folks.
Let the peace be upon you...
_Abhi_

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

ISB Information Session

I had a chance to attend ISB information session. A flashy, informative powerpoint presentation, with rich multimedia content is pretty much how I can describe the finesse with which it was presented from one of the members of the Admissions committee. Well for starters here is what it contained.

1. History of ISB being setup.
2. Journey so far.
3. India Story - How India racks up as the world's next upcoming destination.
4. ISB story, Life at ISB, diversity, learning, their various centres of excellence. etc.
5. Admissions - How does it stand in terms of competition. How many applications do they receive etc. How much is the Average GMAT, Why is ISB GMAT takers first choice, what do they see in an applicant, what prospects for lateral shifting people like doctors, army personnell, etc.
6. what to expect, what not to expect in terms of placement, how does years of experience matter, what do employees give weightage to.

The presenter was an extremely impressive personality and he also answered all the questions with a lot of zeal, and wit, he was pretty bold (literally) and still very animated, and he knew what he was talking about.

Here are some important highlights from his presentation which might be useful for the audience of my blog.

1. People with 3-4 years of experience are most likely to get attractive job offers during placement week at ISB
2. Suppose 1000 people apply to ISB, and out of that 400 are from IT, 200 from Arts background, then in a final class of say 100 students, 40 will be from IT, 20 from Arts. The admissions committee tries to create diversity by reaching out more.
3. ISB has been ranked 20'th B-school in Financial Times Global ranking.
4. Due to this fact, as opposed to about 5000 / 7500 applicants last year, they estimate the number of applicants will go up for the co' 2010.
5. "Indian IT junta" who comprise almost 42% of their current class size, is differentiated form one another at the time of admissions on the basis of following factors. (1) Their GMAT (2) The undergraduate institution where they come from.(3)

As of now me keeping busy with work and many decisions I have to ponder about... And most importantly, I have to take those decisions, because a hard lesson I have learnt is, the more complicated you make your own decisions, the more complicated they deal with you in return, think enough, and take simple decisions.

Let the peace be upon you all...

P.S. All logos and images are the copyright of their registered owners.

Cheers,

Abhinandan

Friday, May 30, 2008

Reading Comprehension problems


I have recently discovered that my reading comprehension accuracy is pathetic... I mean on tough passages, I can go wrong upto 60%! Isn't that unbelievable... All this time, we all think that our reading is good and it's better than our speaking sometimes... However that is not true. We learn to read very early, but never try to improve our reading accuracy and efficiency. on GMAT land, you are tested every bit and piece for it.
I went to http://www.readingsoft.com/ to test my skills and I found that I was an average reader, just a little more than a completely hopeless reader. My reading speed was 253WPM and my comprehension accuracy was about 65%. I think I need a lot of improvement from here. I am going to do the following things for this matter.
1) Start reading articles from nytimes, forbes, businessweek, WSJ, etc.
2) Start learning strategies of fast reading and try and get my accuracy of RC up.
3) Hopefully these things will translate into better results.
I don't know where I am heading, but I get a good feeling that I am working on my core weaknesses, and not like my last 2 times on the GMAT, where once I was half prepared, and other I was down with an infection, this time I will go on my G-day only if I am confident enough. And I know I will be.
Shall keep you all posted about ISB information session.
Peace...,
Abhinandan.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Systematic GMAT...

Here are a few new things happening in my life...
1) I'm looking for a change at work... Not really a switch if that's what they call it, I love my company and the brand value it offers, but I'll look for something more challenging.
2) I have joined the Princeton Review's GMAT classroom program, payed an outrageous amount for that, but I hope the Systematic GMAT preperation helps me, and so far I am happy with it. Let's see how I do in about 2 months time after which I plan to take it again.
3) Most of my time now a days is busy, don't get time to meet friends on weekend, but I am doing alright.
4) Many exciting opportunities seem to come, but they never seem to take a real shape, or I am not pushing it hard enough, I don't want to, because I have other priorities right now.
Currently, sentence correction and PS seem to bother me enough. And hey, I am also attending ISB information session on June 1'st at the Taj Blue diamond Pune.
Hope for good times ahead.
Cheers,
Abhinandan.

Friday, May 9, 2008

News, but not so good...

Folks,
SUNY Buffalo it was, where I applied, got an admit, and had accepted it by paying 10,000 INR. Unfortunately, received a feedback from the fellow indian students over there that, the institute was just an average B-school, with no real scope of getting good jobs or internships. A lot of things were at stake... This comparison of things compelled me to take a decision with my family that I will not attend UB SOM. I will give the GMAT Again, aim at a better score, and target the next 3-4 years my best to get into a "Top B-school" which is preferably 1 year. Although things on the personal front are pretty weird too, and from a place where I stand, it seems increasingly difficult to obtain what you call a balance in my schedule and life in general.

I hope everything turnes out to be good. Moreover, I have another chance at the GMAT, where I think chicken-pox infection played a big spoilsport. This time around, I would not like to have any exceptions for a descent score. What B-schools am I targetting now? Nobody knows.

Perhaps, I will decide after I get my GMAT report. Which is the right thing to do I guess. I will keep blogging my journey through all this on a regular basis now.


I am currently on a lookout for GMAT coaching classes, some in question are Veritas (career launcher), IMS Deccan, and Princeton review amongst others. I will take a decision about which one to join by this weekend. Also have a phenomenal startup idea in my mind, which I plan to work on if I get some time.

Ok this is getting quite lengthy and monotonous, so is my work at office... Looking for a change, but I love my company, and will try and stay loyal.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Education Loan Blues...



The struggle has now come up to a point where I have to hunt down on the Educational loan. I thought it would be easy. But turned out to be a nightmare. A few Indian private banks are more than rude when people ask for "arts and social" loans like an educational loan. The major reason being it's not a logically profitable loan for them and risky too. But the government underlines the fact that they are necessary for the betterment of the society.
Although, it is a fight and eventually I may win it... You have to go through lot of undue torture. Here are some of the responses of a few pathetic bank managers...
Bank of Maharashtra - "Loans? Don't ask for them at least for 2 months... Don't you see the pile of files for approval" - and I say "forget it..."
Canara Bank - "Please go to the bank where you have a salary account. Unless you have an account with us for 6 months we cannot give any loan"
HDFC Bank - "We can give it... But with some conditions!" Thankfully they live upto the offer they make, althought they have strict terms, there was an absence of rudeness.

Anyway... We have to fight when the time calls for it...
Hopefully we will see what the fight yields in the next couple of months.
Untill then,
Bye..
Abhinandan.








Thursday, March 6, 2008

Got in!!!!!!!!!

I can't believe I am accepted for the class of 2010! The school name still remains a secret... but....'dah.. most of you already know....

I am very happy.. and equally worried... now start the cumbersome procedures....
Will keep ya posted...

Cheers...

Monday, February 25, 2008

Will know by Feb the 29'th

The interview is scheduled on 29th feb, and is making me more nervous everyday. If they say no, the next 3-4 years change for me completely, as I will have nothing on my mind except my current job. If they indeed say yes to me, then come a whole lot of anticipations and the probability of leaving the job... It is all very much complicated and worrying for me as well as everyone else with me...

But they say only thing permanent in life is Change...
and that is sure going to happen in my life, pretty soon...

More keeps coming...

For everything else there is mastercard

He he

Regards,
Abhi.....

Monday, February 11, 2008

Finally, a decision awaits........

Another 15 days, and I would come to know about the destiny of my career...

Well... That might sound a bit alien to all of you who do not know that there is a B-school I have applied to this year, and my logical choice makes sense with both my dreams as well as my financial capabilities. It is my choice, and my safest bet. The application is complete on February the 1st, and I am supposed to know what is my result on February the 29th..

Meanwhile, I continue to have nightmares in the night, as well as I find it hard to kill time these days, though i try to be focussed at work, I hardly am, but yeah, I do alright... At home, nobody seems to understand the kind of positions that I am in, and continue to make caustic comments which hurt me more than often. But I am determined towards my goal, and I know I am going to make it this time.

On a more personal front, this blog can act as my expression, and will make me feel better as I make my way through the lonely waiting game...

Thanks for taking pains to go through my blog....

Cheers All...
Abhi...........

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Long time no see

Almost been 5 months since i have posted on one of my most favourite places on the net...! my own blog...! Well times been missing out on itself, and I have been spending most of it doing things which I have always on my mind... My international MBA and related musings. But life takes you in a direction where you never want to go... About 30 odd more days and the decision of my fate should be out.....

Meanwhile, lets wait for whatever is to come my way...


Cheers,
Abhinandan