26 June 2006

Princeton Test #3

If there was a exaspareated expression it would be less to express my state.

Can you belive it ?
Quant #incorrect - 9 ( 9,21,24,25,26, 34,35,36,37)
Verbal #incorrect -13 ( dont remeber the numbers bu yeah 2,3,11 )
and the scaled scores were 35 and 28 giving me a560 on Princeton #3.
Didnt feel like writing any other test.

I was all confident on the Quant , though bored on the Verbal ( it was tougher than expected). But Man ! 38 rocked me off..

Tell me it is the princeton's screwed up scoring algorithm or Adaptive nature !!

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Posted by Inblue at 12:10 PM | | Comments

21 June 2006

Priceton Test # 1 and 2

Princeton Test 1:
Total score 620 V 32 Q 42
Pros :
Did not get a single incorrect on the first 9 questions on each section ( a must )

Cons :
Poor pacing , left 2 unapptempted on Quant and 4 on verbal
Silly calculation mistakes on Quant and adopted longer methods to reach answers ( time waste)
Poor concentration

Raw statisctics
# incorrect on Quant 10, # unattempted 2
# incorrect on Verbal 12, # unattempted 4

Princeton Test 2: ( appeared in parts )
Total score ~cant guess but should be in the range of 660-670 V 34 Q 40

Pros :
Improved pace : could attempt all questions on both sections
Better focus ( didnt get bored while i wrote the tests)

Cons :
One silly mistake on #2 on quant ( clicked the wrong answer) and a goof up on #3
Poor performance on RC in Verbal ( #2, # 5) affected the score badly
still suffering from focus on RC and CR. ( Get bored reading it at times)


Raw statisctics
# incorrect on Quant 6
# incorrect on Verbal 10

What's changed in between the 2 tests

  • Tried to pace myself better and maintain the interest, which also resulted in messing up some key question in the 1-15 slot.
  • Accuracy hasn't improved a lot, but the number of silly errors on Quant reduced

@MBABlogger and Forrest

Thanks for the coments. I am going to be careful on the test # 3 and # 4 with the 1-20 slot. No messing up the initial questions

Before i take the next tests

The progress so far :Princeton 2006 : done ,Kaplan 2006 : Verbal completed ,1000 SC : 150 down Strike rate ,0% ( still learning the rules) ,1000CR : 100 down Strike rate 55% ( Bad)

  1. Review all errors on the 150 SC and 100 CRs before proceeding to new practice questions. Make notes on these
  2. Take more CR practice tests from 1000 CR and OG11.
  3. Start Kaplan 800 on SC and CR.
  4. Take more RC practice Questions

Take 2 practice tests on the coming weekend ( Princeton test # 3 and Kaplan Test #1 )

All the best to me

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Posted by Inblue at 3:51 PM | | Comments

Verbal sectional test

Now its time for verbal.
Completed Verbal section for Princeton test from yesterday.
The score 34 :(

Time to reflect
Number of incorrect questions : 10
all questions attempted
4 incorrect in the first 15 (Bad ! Bad!)
The 3 question was an RC ( Boring eh !) follwed by amother RC.

Lesson : 34 means you payed for mistakes on the first 15

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Posted by Inblue at 3:18 PM | | Comments

20 June 2006

Quant Sectional Test

Humm !
Took the Princeton Test 2 today. Only the quant section.
Reflections
Aaaah !!! ( consider a damn pissed expression) I clicked the wrong answer on #2. How on earth did I do that ???? Got to be more careful and manage my restlessness.
A silly calculation mistake on a apparently easy #3

How on earth can one expect a good score now ! 40 was the scaled score though I attempted all the 37 questions and got only 6 incorrect on 37. Isn't this a adaptive. Do 2 consecutive incorrect answers in the first 5 cause such a quake !

belief me I was content with my pace and accuracy on this test. The resilience improved and so did the strategy. But the poor scaled score pissed me off.. How can one click on the wrong oval ???

any way ! Good learning.
Accucary, pace and care are the key. A 45+ on Quant is a must ( hell I am an engineer!!)

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Posted by Inblue at 1:38 PM | | Comments

19 June 2006

Princeton Test #1

Finally wrote it !

No great Scores. 620. V 34 Q 42

The Quant experience :

  • Not reading the question properly, fell in a an answer trap.
  • Silly calculation mistake.
  • Pace - could not attempt the Question # 36 and 37.
  • Made wild guesses on #34,35 as well

The Verbal review :

Frankly, GMAT verbal is no joke. It scares life out of you to concentrate for 1hour 15 minutes on verbal content.
  • A dull RC dampened the sprit ( !! eh ! no matter what keep the spirit high)
  • A couple of confusing CRs
  • A couple of Confuging SCs

All in all an ok verbal score in the making. got the first 9 question correct. ( good job ! ) flunked the 10th and then by the time i passed that ultra boring RC to the 23rd question i was exhausted. Got 3 incorrect in a row ( 24,25,26 ) and then the a sinusodal curve follwed on the # 27,28,29,30,31. Got every other Question incorrect. Add to the fluctuation, i was extermely bad at timing the test. could attempt only 36 Q. The 5 questions that i could not attempt beat the already low score.

The take away :

  • Need to time the tests well. Cannot afford to leave questions unanswered
  • Need more reslinence to sit through the test and focus on all questions equally.
  • Need to be more attentive and avoid silly errors.

The next test is due sometime in this week.

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Posted by Inblue at 2:31 PM | | Comments

15 June 2006

School School

When I first started to contemplate MBA as the next carrot, i was just belwildered with the information available on the www about International MBA programes. The whole MBA sphere was full of ranking, glossy brochures ( i ended up reading a whole bunch of them ) and school receptions. The ones i attended in '05 were Wharton and Stanford in Mumbai. Boy! They were just more than marketing acts ( It was an experience in itself though it did not help me get close to the schools, which is what the committe claims it does). After months of going through the rankings and the beautiful websites, i still found myself lost.

Humm ! The first thing i asked myself then is, " why MBA?" ( after all i needed to find the correct anwer to this and present the same (sell rahter) to ad-comm on a A-day). The answer didnt come instantly but finally it did come ( career-switch ) and this one answer helped me a lot in structuring my thought process about shortlisting schools.

First thing i did was ordered the bibles

How to get into the Top MBA Programs
ABC of Getting the MBA Admissions Edge

The first one helped me a lot in comprehension of the rankings and What to look for in schools and where ( I have not adopted the read first approach for Mountak, I am going to use it as refer when needed ).

After reading parts of the Mountak i was back to my investigation ( and talking to friends ) about what schools. Brand name or Program quality ? Location or Money ? Teaching or Placements?

Being an Indian with limited International experience, visiting the schools is tough and reliance on published material increases. How will i get the right fit ??

From all sources, ( exculding visits ) i have come down to

Berkley, Hass
Dartmouth, Tuck
NYU, Stern
UVA, Darden
Chicago GSB
Columbia
Wharton

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Posted by Inblue at 9:50 AM | | Comments

13 June 2006

Golden Crisis Fortnight

After the Princeton week and a little bit of sniffing around the OG11 ( DS, PS) came a gigantic 'work canon' and a vistor called sickness.
What ? Two 65 hour a weeks( yeah! that is what happens when one is 'on-call' and the servers and applications are just not in the mood be being obedient.Every one from the servers to mainframes as well as the applications freaked out ). I was serveraly demoralised with the GMAT prep and way it was shaping up. Except for a bit of forum visits and couple of SC, nothing substantial happened. The weekends were no better. Slept like any animal could ! ( when i should have ideally written a Princeton test)
This week looks better. Have began with some RC and hope it continues.
Not to mention, work and GMAT are indeed a tough combination. And to add to that here are deadlines and a miniscule 'morale thing'. The equation is hard to balance.

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Posted by Inblue at 11:54 AM | | Comments

The GMAT progress....

Finally i did finish the Princeton review yesterday ( Verbal bin 3 was pending since 3 weeks)

Princeton has been a good book. First book any GMATter should touch ( irrespective of the CAT history). There a lot of tricks and trips ( rhymes better than tips) that are essential to the GMAT ( and not revalvent to CAT). A good one week spent with the book will get you nearer to the exam its format and the 'GMAT way of thinking'. The difficultly level is not high.

By and large GMAT verbal is going to be more challenging that GMAT Quant.I scored 98% on the Verbal at CAT 2K4 and an abbysmal 50% on Quant, yet i was more comfortable with Math Bin 4 on Princeton than Verbal Bin 3. ( these are the hardest bins on Princeton).

Some good take aways from Princeton

DS
If you understand Statement 1. Its A, D or B, C, E
If you dont understand Statement 1, Its B, D, E or A, C

Thinking in these subsets have helped a lot at improving the DS timings. Elimitated my confusion and help me move faster.

RC
Humm .. as you read the passage, make a one sentence note of what each paragraph is saying

SC.
The whole lot is of strategy is good but not enough. GMAT tests 'ETC-English' !!! Kaplan 800 is one hellva book.

PS
I havent strategised much except for sovling what looks easy to, eliminating where its tough to solve and plugging when i see lot of calculations. Some Probability is too heavy !!

CR

Ah ! yet to strategise on this front.

Long way to go yet.

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Posted by Inblue at 11:33 AM | | Comments

The GMAT plan was...

Ah ! It sounds too good to write one.Its a pain to execute. I worte a pencil plan a month ago for my GMAT. I'd write the GMAT some where in July and traget a couple of schools in R1 and a few in R2.
After reading some blogs, and GMAT experience i'd decided onBooks
Princeton Review 2006
Kalpan Premier 2006
EditionKaplan 800 2006-2007
The Official GMAT Review 11th Edition
Tests
Princeton
Kaplan
GMATPrep ( Strictly in that order)

Office prep
1000 SC, RC,miscellaneous questions from forums and other softy copy material Now, one month into the busy work schedule,i am through with the princeton review and some SC and DS. Have covered a parts of DS and PS from OG 11.

Oh ! It will be indeed wonder if i am able to stick to this one as i have written

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Posted by Inblue at 11:29 AM | | Comments

Switching !!

I used businesweek earlier.Belive me it was too cumbersome. So finally after a frustrating experience i am switching back to my dear blogger.com for ease. I guess since am relatively free today at office will organise this blog from my previous post on business week.

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Posted by Inblue at 11:26 AM | | Comments