Monday, June 15, 2009

I'm back!!!!

Sorry people.. I have been missing in action for almost a month now.. told ya earlier.. sometimes office work can be overwhelming..
Anyways, what I did in this one month time period is as follows.. I took a week off to concentrate on verbal... did a lot of practice questions.. solved the 1000SC.. There's a tutor by the name Prachi Pareekh.. her blog is http://gmatsentencecorrection.blogspot.com/ It's really nice.. I would suggest that you visit that blog.. she has very well explained all the answers..

If you have noticed my other blog http://gmattoughies.blogspot.com is now really filled up with too many posts.. I kept on posting as I learnt something new in verbal.. anyone who wants to have a one stop shop for verbal, please do visit my blog.. you'll find it helpful..

Apart from this I have test sets from 800score.com, manhattan gmat and powerprep.. that's all I got.. and that's all I gave in the last few weeks..
It was disappointing to score less on manhattan gmat... I dont know what went wrong.. too many silly mistakes.. maybe I was very tired or something.. it isn't that tough to score above 700 anytime you give a mock test.. but in two of my manhattan gmat tests I scored 680.. was disheartened.. I tried 800score.com test and whoa!!! scored 770 twice.. and just last night I gave my very first gmatprep test.. official one.. scored a 750. My verdict is as follows:
  1. 800Score.com practice tests:
    • Math is way too simple.. most of the times you don't even need a pen and paper... just mind calculations are sufficient.. So really not a true indicator of GMAT
    • Verbal is very good. In fact the RCs are really tough.. at least I found them.. SC is simple.. and RCs are divided into some being simple and some being just toooo convoluted.. you can't figure out how this could be the answer..
  2. Manhattan Practice Tests:
    • Math is really good.. quite time consuming... for every problem you need to think or scratch something on paper.. considering I am an engineer and was always proficient in maths.. I would say this one is really good and fun to solve.. you are always on the edge and its a race against time.. or may be I have become rusted..
    • Similarly verbal is really good too.. On the whole my verdict for manhattan gmat is that these are really tough tests and if you are scoring above 700 in these tests, I am sure you would score 750+ in GMAT.
  3. Kaplan Practice Tests:
    • The only thing I have to say about kaplan is that the tests are inconsistent in terms of difficulty level. Once it took me good 75 mins to complete the math section just in time.. the other day I finished it with 30 mins to spare.. my scores were consistently in the 700+ region.. highest being 770.. I am really not sure if I would like to recommend this to anyone.. just because of its inconsistency..
  4. GMAT powerprep:
    • There's no substitute for powerprep. A must for everyone.. you might see a question here or there that is repeated if you have already solved OG... but on the whole this I would believe is a true indicator.. like most people say..
Having said the above, I have booked my test date for 29th June.. i.e. monday.. Let's see what happens on that day.. my exam is scheduled at 1615 Hrs and so would end by 2015 Hrs.. I am really looking forward to having a chilled beer at exactly 2100 Hrs and relax on the couch and say, "Yes, I did it" :-)

More to come.. take care.. and adios for now..

6 comments:

  1. All the best dude. I am sure you will pass the exams in flying colors. Let me know how it went once you are done with the exam.

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  2. best of luck mate! you will do good, its about 28 hours from now:). Rough guess 710+:) and thats enough, dont say 780 now.

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  3. All the very best. I booked my date on Aug 13th. I just started with my preparation. Have to practice a lot.

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  4. Some unfortunate events at the testing center..
    http://www.beatthegmat.com/red-bull-lax-pearsonvue-staff-and-a-690-dejection-galore-t39845.html?sid=02bafadaae1683ad86472089afe45ad9

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  5. I am really sorry about what happened. But I guess goof ups do happen in life. But we should not let them pull us down. I am glad you are up and energised to tackle the next attempt.

    From my experiences, in tough exams, I guess its very very important to keep performance anxiety levels low. When we are driven by the fact that the test is the ultimate and I need to score the highest, it sometimes makes us more tense. Just stay cool, chilled and relaxed and tell urself that there is always a next time!!!

    Wish you lots of luck for your next attempt.
    Just stay chilled as after all GMAT is not what life is all about!!!

    I am sure in a less strained and no expectation environment you will perform your best.

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  6. Thanks Turbo Jet.. BTW.. I just love the picture that you have as your avatar.. that child with headphones.. very cute..

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