GMAT done..oh! not yet..

I messed up my date with gmat on the d/g-day. Scored in 600's. I failed to finish both quant and verbal in time. (can't get any worse!)
My experience in detail
I brushed up all my flashcards on the day before gmat and completed everything before noon. Watched a movie and in the evening i went for a swim just to cool my nerves. My appointment is in the afternoon. I went to the gmat center armed with chocolates, bananas and fruit juice. I reached there one hour before the scheduled time. The friendly receptionist there asked me for passport and took my finger print. I was given a locker to put my belongings including watch and wallet. There was a seperate room where i can put my eatables. Now she said that i can go ahead and take the exam. I didnt know that i can take the exam before the scheduled time. I even brought reader's digest with me to kill some time in the test center. They even provide a piece of paper to write down the five school names. I don't need this since i know the school names by heart.

Everything in the gmat is exactly similar to what we saw in gmatprep. The good old blue screen. It really relieved me of some tension. Before starting the exam we have to enter all five school names. Soon i started with AWA. I practiced to write only one arguement and issue before the exam. Even then it didnt troubled me. I thought for a while and started typing according to my own template. Finished in 28 minutes. It is the same with issue. Very easy topic. Finished this in 25 minutes. But i didn't click on next. Just waited for the clock to show 29 minutes. I used this time to adjust myself and prepare mentally for the quant.

I opted for 10 minutes break. But i returned after 5 minutes. Math section started with an easy question. I felt the level of difficult is quite equivalent to gmatprep questions. In total i had to guess three questions. i tried to solve them for 3-4 minutes, but couldn't arrive at the answer. I knew that if i spent more time on them i could solve. But i followed the sages advice. clicked some answer which i thought is an intelligent guess and moved on. Among these three questions. One is from probability. I encountered only one question from probability and nothing from permutations and combinations. And the rest two are from geometry. As i spent more time on these i was left with only 4 minutes for the last 4 questions. Fortunately i got all easy questions. May be it is because i committed some error in the previous question. I solved the last question but didn't click on next. I was doing a double-check on my answer in those last seconds. Suddenly time-expired message popped up. Even then, I thought, i did well.

Again opted for 10 minutes break. Had some juice and came back in 6 minutes. We have to give our finger prints while coming and leaving the exam hall. Started verbal with SC. Then CR, then SC and finally my 7th question is an RC. I got 4 RC's. 3 smaller ones and one big one (jumbo). two RC's are easy. The bigger one took lot of time. and the last one which is smaller looks easy when i read the passage but the questions are real tricky. I wanted to spend more time on the first 15 questions and speedup on the last ones. This created some problems to me as i didnt pace the test well. For the last 15 questions i was left with only 15 minutes. I got little panicked. Did some breathing exercise and resumed the final quater hour of the battle. Adding to my woes i got RC. For the last 4 questions i was left with 1 minute. i randomly clicked answers for three questions. So final question and the last 30 seconds. It was SC. Pretty easy one. I clicked on C. but still looking at other options. Out of no where a message popped up saying time-expired. This means i failed to finish Verbal in/on time.

Being an optimist, i patiently gone through all the eight screens answering some of the questions. The moment has arrived for which i am waiting for the last couple of months. When the score came, It was in 600's. Not at all what i expected. I was utterly disappointed at that very moment, nevertheless managed to put a smiling face to the receptionist who gave a printed copy of my scoresheet. I looked at it for few minutes waiting for 6 to become 7. Apparently it didnt happen. I came back to my place and spent some excruciating hopeless moments. I even thought that i should put my mba plans on the back burner and continue with my present job. Such is the pain when we get a score that we didnt desire for. I prepared decently for the exam. Got scores of 700+ in practice tests. But in the final exam i faltered.

Evidently, I can't live with my present score and i need to retake. But for now i will take a break for couple of weeks from gmat preparation.I want to congratulate all those who scored 700+ in their first take for their competence and genius. But i want to salute those who took gmat for the second time and achieved their desired score. It needs guts to accept the reality and move on. It really needs lots of energy and enthusiasm to go through the whole process again.
More thoughts in my next post.

All the best for Preet and Curlybee.

Into the last week

Finally, i am into the last week of my preparation. The d-day is six days away. A little apprehensive, a little excited and a little anxious. Too many questions sprinkled with occasional if's and but's are popping up every now and then. Nevertheless, i am reasonably confident of doing well. I learnt one thing for sure in this whole process. The fear of failure is the hardest thing to overcome with.

I visited my test center yesterday. Its a fourty minute drive from my place. The only problem is the parking. The place is little congested, its better to go early and find some place to park. I asked the receptionist about the id requirements that i need to carry, just to ensure in case..Its just the passport and the printed copy of the letter/receipt. I still have to get that printed. I already decided on the five schools. The only thing pending is to make a note of school name, code and the program.
I still didn't pratice AWA. Not even once. But the good thing is that i am ready with the template for issue and arguement. I want to practice two or three essays before the exam.

I didn't practice any RC's except for the one's i encountered in mock tests. So i want to do atleast four RC's per day for the coming five days, just to make myself comfortable with them. I love to start my verbal with SC. What if my verbal starts with RC? OMG..this really is not a confidence booster, but i have to prepare for the worst.

I am planning to take one full length test on saturday simulating the test environment. I think i am prepared okay for the exam. Lets see how it goes..

How many mistakes can i afford to make - need help

The scoring pattern in GMAT is slightly confusing me. I am trying various ways to find this out, but couldn't reach any plausible explanation. Ok. My questions are...
1. If i want to score 49-50 in quant, how many mistakes can i afford to make?
2. If i want a score of above 40 (or even above 38) how many mistakes (in terms of number of questions) can i afford to make?
I know that the score depends on the level of difficulty of the question and it is hard to tell the weightage. I heard that in verbal, SC carries more weightage than other questions. Is it true?

Quant:
In my practice tests i am making 8 mistakes consistently. Most of them are from DS. But again this is not because i don't the concepts. It is because of my sheer negligence and carelessness. With more practice i believe i can reduce this number to 3. I want to know how much i can score in quant with 3 mistakes. If anyone has a pattern or a mechanism to explain this, please go ahead and help me. I am targeting a score of 50 in quant. (49 in the worst case scenario).

Verbal:
Can you believe that i made 15 mistakes in my last practice test. Sounds demotivating, but that is reality for me. 7 mistakes in SC, 4 in RC and 3 in CR. As i am targeting a score of 40+ in verbal, i need to improve. Gotta practice...

Lets see if i can reduce the number of mistakes in my next practice test. Aloha!!!

The art of juggling

I am off to blogging for sometime. So here are the updates. I am slightly busy with gmat preparation. I am out-of-town for few days and was forced away from my prep. Now i am back, refreshed. There are only three things going on in my life right now. GMAT, Work and body toning. Since gmat is only five weeks away i need to step up my prep. Updates on where i stand on various sections..
SC - Almost done with this.
CR - Need more practice.
RC - Not able to concentrate and in the middle of RC (though it is 300-400 words) my mind starts wandering at some unknown places. I need to make better progress in this section.
Quant - Doing reasonably well in this. Solving some of the tough quant questions. I cannot afford to score less in this.

Work on the other hand is going fine. I am just managing to complete my task and not able to spending too much time on it. Also i am sweating for atleast one and half hour in gym daily. Most of my days are filled with these activities. It is becoming very tedious to concentrate on all the things and do every activity with enthusiasm. Definately juggling is a hard task and its a pain in the wrong place. But it has to be mastered.
At times i feel ultra-motivated and at times i feel utterly bored and hopeless.
At times i feel happy and at times i feel sad.
I call these the effects of gmat. This is just the starting step in the process and there is a lot ahead. Also i want to finish off the one i am currently reading and also start new novels, but there is no time. I have to wait till i finish my gmat to entertain all these whims.

I have a theme song for these pre-gmat days by nine inch nails...Every day is exactly the same...

I believe I can see the future
Because I repeat the same routine
I think I used to have a purpose
Then again, that might have been a dream
I think I used to have a voice
Now I never make a sound
I just do what I have been told
I really don't want them to come around
Oh, no.
Every day is exactly the same
Every day is exactly the same
There is no love here and there is no pain
Every day is exactly the same
I can feel their eyes are watching
In case I lose myself again
Sometimes I think I'm happy here
Sometimes, yeah, I still pretend
I can't remember how this got started
But I can tell you exactly how it will end.
Every day is exactly the same
Every day is exactly the same
There is no love here and there is no pain
Every day is exactly the same
I'm writing on a little piece of paper
I'm hoping someday you might find
Well, I'll hide it behind something
They won't look behind
I am still inside here
A little bit comes bleeding through
I wish this could have been any other way
But I just don't know, I don't know,
What else I can do
Every day is exactly the same
Every day is exactly the same
There is no love here and there is no pain
Every day is exactly the same

Splitups

The goal is to conquer the gmat and a good plan is required to do it. A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow. I am scouting through various blogs and scoretop to get a collection of gmat scores. Here goes the list.
Score (Quant, Verbal)
780 (50, 47)
780 (51, 47)
770 (51, 42)
770[99%] (50, 45)
770 (51, 42)
770 (50, 44)
770 (51, 44)
760 (47, 47)
760 (48, 48)
760[99%] (49[90%], 45[98%])
750 (47[82%],46[99%])
750 (49, 42)
750 (50, 41)
750 (50, 42)
750 (50[96%],41[93%])
740 (50,40)
740 (48, 42)
740 (51, 38)
730[97%] (50[95%],38[86%])
730 (49[90%], 41[94%])
720[97%] (50, 38)
720 (51, 35)
720 (48, 40)
720 (45, 44)
710 (47, 40)
710 (50, 35)
700 (47, 39)
700 (45, 41)
700 (44, 41)
700 (51, 33)
670 (42, 40)
So the target is to get 50 in quant and try my best to get atleast 40 in Verbal. If i scored less in quant there is no one to blame except me. I can get 50 in quant, but sometimes i make obvious mistakes which is worrying me. But 40 in verbal is gonna be a daunting task for me and without sincere efforts this will remain as my pipe dream.

Blessing in disguise

My presence might be required in US in the months of sept or oct for a duration of 3-4 months. Though i am looking forward to it, I am in a situation where i can't decide how to go a head. Lemme go throught the pros and cons...
Rewards:
-I can get a feel of the enviornment, culture and other things of US before starting my school.
-I can go for school visits. (This i never thought is possible)
-I can meet current students and attend some classes to get the first hand experience of the classes and the whole bschool environment.
-If i am still in US for interviews (if i can get any), there might be a possibilty that i can request them to conduct interview in the school itself. (There might be some advantages of having an interview in the school rather than in other country, but i am not sure of this. experts please comment).
-I can save money and this will help to some extent to finance my mba. (well this should be the first point in the list. it relieves the financial burden to a certain extent)
-Definately adds to my international experience which is lacking in my resume.
-May be i can find some plan B. Infact there is no plan B as of now, but when if everything goes topsy-turvy, It is always good to have a plan B.
-I might get a chance to meet my kith and kin there.

Disadvantages:
-Sept & Oct is the peak time where every applicant is engaged in writing, rewriting essays, submitting recommendations and finally filling the applicaitons and sending them before deadlines. As everyone knows, this arduous task is time consuming and one cannot do this in haste. Every one knows the amount of work pressure one faces when placed on the client side. It becomes very difficult to sneak out (read: time management) and spend time on our essays and apps.
-Difficult to reach my recommenders and to have a tête-à-tête chat explaining my goals to them.(I identified three recommenders, one recommender already knows my plans, but for the other two i will let them know only in mid-august or september. I think they will have enough time to finish their recommendations).
-I might have to put a full stop to the list of activities i am planning to pursue post gmat. (But this is the least of my worries).

The cons look disheartening, but at the same time the pros look appealing.Is it a kind of catch-22 situation i am in..well i donn't know!!! Its time to wear by thinking cap..

Derailed..Back on track

"There's nothing really difficult if you only begin - some people contemplate a task until it looms so big, it seems impossible, but I just begin and it gets done somehow. There would be no coral islands if the first bug sat down and began to wonder how the job was to be done."
Because of the vagaries in the last month i was coerced to take vital decisions that burnt a hole in my pocket. Yeah!!! i belong to those 'some peple who contemplate a task until it looms so big'. I proudly declare that i have re-scheduled my gmat. There are few reasons. I have to go out-of-town and my presance is required there. This has happened three weeks before my gmat schedule date, more over my preparation is moving at snails pace. My scores in the pratice tests is not at all appealing. All these factors enforced me to re-schedule gmat for a later date which is two months away. I started my preparation slowly and planning to rise the intensity with time. Hope i am back on track.
I am doing a great deal of thinking on 'did i make a mistake by booking the date early'. Well i booked my date two months in advance and i still belive that it was enough for me to give a good shot. There is no point in beating a dead horse and absolutely no point in pondering over something that was over and anything which i cannot change. Still my mind hovers to that every now and then.

I almost decided on the list of schools for which i want to send my scorecard to based on the basic program structure, class size, loan & fin-aid options, location, placements and finally their importance for international applicants. I think i did enough research on this part and atleast for the next two months i want to take my mind off the schools so that i can concentrate on preparation.
Of late i am thinking of the list of activities that i want to pursue post gmat. Well i am doing this pretty early, but there is nothing that i lose my planning something in advance.
1. Take a break for a week and visit my parents. (irrespective of the score and if i didnt get my desired score, prepare for a month and give it again in the last week of july).
2. Start research on my post mba career. (I never did this and it will help me in defining my short term goals).
3. Explore opportunities in europe. (atleast on the job front).
4. Explore more on fin-aid and loan options. (This is very important for me)
5. Improve my writing skills. (I always thought that my writing skills are good, but blogging taught me that there is a huge room for improvement)
6. Reach-out to alumni, current students of few schools of my interest.
7. Do an indepth analysis of the various mba programs.
8. Resume my community service activites. (i have achievements in the work place and leadeship roles that i think are worth mentioning. To be upfront my role in community activities sucks. i am involved with couple of ngo's but i never did something which i felt is great. Anyhow i have to improve significantly on this).
9. Spend only 1/2 hour in bw forms. (rightnow i am only reading all blogs in hellas list).
10. Start french and german classes. (don't know how feasible this would be. But i will try my best to get proficient in atleast one of these languages before going back to school)
11. Get back to strumming. (yeah!! almost forgot everything i learnt).
12. Improve my excel programming skills (Maybe attend a two-day training)
13. Continue my workouts..(try for a six-pack....no joking.. i am hell bent on this)
If at all something comes to my mind, i will update this list.

Winter has past
Spring has gone
Summer is here
And the song that I meant to sing
Is still unsung
I have spent my days whining and dining....
aloha!!!