Neo750

Got my AWA score.. 5.0 (74%) Its a improvement from my previous 4.5 (55%). I prepared for three hours in train while going to test center. My suggestion: Have a good template. Have two paragraphs of generic text with good sentences, preferably the first and last. Go through the AWA samples like reading through a story book. It helps you to come up with some good points without thinking very hard in test.

GMAT Bong and others, I am 31 year old. Indian. Male. I have 7 years of experience in IT and 2 years in mechanical field. I have done Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering. My GMAT score 690 (Q49 90%, V35 76%) 91% I have worked in UK and for UK clients all thorugh my 7 years experience in IT. I am currently working as a business analyst and Consultant for utility company. My acads are good with all distinctions. For me major issue is financing my MBA. So I was thinking of doing One year MBA course in ISB, IIMA or a part time course in Software Enterprise Management from IIMB. Please evaluate my chances and let me know in which schools i have better chances of getting admission. Please do give me suggestion as to whether i should join indian schools or schools abroad.

690 (91%) Q49(90) V35 (76) I took GMAT three days back and scored 690. Right now after very long time, i am having a peaceful week end. Well, when i come to think about my score, i have mixed feelings. Score above 700 would have definetely helped my ego. ;) First I should thank Test Magic for i have got a lot from test magic. The forum is just great. Test Magic is the source that kept me motivated over an year to write my exam. I should thank CTG1983 for his debrief. which i read many times to keep myself motivated. Though my score is not stellar, i have learnt many lessons which i thought will help many of you in the forum. I wrote GMAT first last April to receive score 630 (Q47, V30). After that, though i had decided to reappear for the exam, i could start my preparation only in December 2005. I scheduled test on Feb,5. However, I cancelled the test as i went blank in the exam in the middle of verbal section. At the hind sight, i feel i had done lot better in that test than in the current test. Learning: 1) Failures bruise one's confidence, so try to get it right the first time. 2) I cancelled the second test, because i will not take anything less than 730. (how sad?). Be realistic, don't compare yourself to those who have put in more effort than you have, and also those who are born genius. 3) Enjoy the process of preparation for GMAT, after all, you are learning many skills. (I am more confident now in writing long sentences than ever before.) 4) Eat between brakes, starved body wouldn't help brain ;) What was wrong in my first preparation? 1) Did not give enough time. Did not enjoy the process of preparation. Just wanted to get on with GMAT rather than learning the skills to beat GMAT. 2) The preparation did not have the rigor and method that gave confidence to me that i am prepared to face the GMAT. 3) Read OG only for 10 days. 4) Thought GMAT math is below my standard and doesn't require preparation (How wrong?) 5) Did not realize that 50 in math can catapult my score. I am not saying I have done great after all the preparation, but i am sure given the constraints i had, such as demanding work, demanding personal life, confidence at the nadir, 9 years out of college, I have done OK. ):) My Verbal Preperation : At the start of the preparation i realized that i have to improve my RCs and SCs to a great extent. I started my preparation with OG. I decided to complete OG SCs/CRs in two weeks. I did 40 Scs or 40 CRs as a set. I timed each set to finish in 1 hour. I spent 1 more hour reviewing my errors. I used one note book as my answer paper. So, it helped me record all my errors. Whenever i found time, i saw my note book and marked all errors committed in OG. When ever i found time i did error SCs again and again. To my disbelief, after every two weeks when i tried error SCs, i got them wrong again. That showed that i did not understand concept. As some said in forum "Quantity doesn't matter but what matters is quality". After this preparation, i took verbal sets, one every day. I copied all the questions that i got wrong into a separate word document. I glanced through them when ever i got a chance. Went through the test magic. I used search on BOB800 or Erin to find the posts where concepts in SC were discussed. I used to take lots of time in answering RCs and used to make lots of errors. I felt that only one remedy for RCs is practice. I took 1000 RCs and Kept on doing the RCs, till i felt comfortable. I would have solved atleast 100 RC passages in 1000 RCs. I re-did the RCs in some cases, believe me, it helped me seeing the patterns emerging and i started noticing twists in the passages that made good candidates for question (as i knew the questions). Over a period of time, I was amazed as when my hunch told me that a sentence is a candidate for the question, the question appeared. Don't forget that RCs hold some real good knowledge for you. I read about stars, i read how the role of women changed over history, i read about business strategies. I felt more knowledgeable when i started to relate to more programmes on BBC given the introduction i got from RCs. Enjoy the Process guys... My Quants Preperation : Not much of material here. Good news is given Test Magic, no more material is required. Arjman is the guru )..I found a useful technique a week before exam.. i am sure it will help you a lot too.. I did math from OG. as ever marked all the errors i commited. i analysed the errors, never did them wrong again. I was brought back to the reality of GMAT math when i got 30% of last 200 DS questions in OG wrong. Then the best thing happened. Once i couldn't solve one problem with |X|. i searched testmagic for |X|. There listed were all the questions where |X| appeared. I started from the last thread in the result set and moved up till the first solving/reading each one of them. guess What? I never got any |X| absolute value problem wrong again. I continued this technique for all types of questions and i knew i am not going to score anything less than 49 in quant. Practice Tests: One day I felt I do not have any timed tests. so I spent around 30 dollars downloading 800 score tests. believe me, i realised in no time that i wasted money. the questions are substandard and no way reflect GMAT. Then on, i practiced SETs and GMAT prep, which i wrote at least ten times. yes, there were 90% different questions every time I down loaded and installed. thanks to CTG. I scored above 740 in all tests.. Test Day: Test was Scheduled in 1 pm slot. Though i knew i am better in the morning than in the afternoon, i scheduled the test, as other dates were far away and i cannot wait till then. Don't commit this mistake which i committed. You might lose 10 to 20 extra marks as your brain is not working to its best. in practice tests I realized, I scored high in the morning tests. I couldn't prepare for a week before exam (Mistake) because of work pressure and other pressing issues (obviously i cannot tell you). But i knew, i cannot get out of my issues by not getting what i want (GMAT), on the other hand doing well in GMAT will probably give me more hopes to look forward for better things in life. So i postponed all my problems to future, every thing will be attended and will be sorted out after GMAT. :) I told my boss that i have exam next day and that i have to leave early. But i couldn't leave early as i had to attend to a costly consultant on that day, the consultant who otherwise will charge more to comeback. ; ( Lesson : Plan well ahead to take leave before exam I had to travel to Birmingham to write the test. Got up and told my flat mate that I am not well prepared, so I will cancel the exam (again?). He got shock of his life and talked me to get to the exam. As I had decided to cancel the exam, I did not prepare for the AWA (can you believe it?). Now i was on the train. I was going to write GMAT. I shut all voices in my head, which complained that i did not refresh math, SCs, CRs for a week..; (. I started preparing the template in train. I prepared template which was cross between twin splitters template and AWA samples. I reached the test center 2 hours before. The lady asked me to comeback after two hours. I found myself alone in train station while sky showered snow on earth. I started telling myself 650 is enough for me given all the goof ups I committed. It took lots of pressure off me and I started enjoying bad whether (Power of achievable goal?). Went to mac' donalds, had Carrots, and felt relieved and energetic. I felt carrot is the savior for the day. I ordered more carrots so that I could have them in the break. When I opened the package in the test center, there were oily finger chips and no carrots.:) AWA --------------------------------------- Was a breeze, at the end of the AWA session i was feeling more energetic. Probably AWA prepares you for the exam. Quant -------------------------------------- One thing i learnt during practice exam is, never take quants for granted because at the end you might find yourself wanting for more time which GMAT won't give. So, i told myself to pace up and to not be afraid of making guesses when i know i am going to take more time. I finished quant exactly on time as I was about click finish on the last question, the screen disappeared. Quant is of same difficulty level as GMAT Prep.. After quant, i had one banana and one tropicana Orange Juice. I felt refreshed. PLease..Please..Please.. do eat in the break. In my previous venture, on the day i cancelled, my brain went bonkers as my body was starved. Verbal ---------------------------------------- I do not remeber the sequence of questions. RCs are very easy compared to 2005. SCs i got were two three lines and mostly 80 percent of the text underlined. There were SCs that did not fit into OG pattern, i.e they were testing meaning and more of tenses. (my weak area). When I completed 20th question, i had 30 minutes left. so, i calculated that minimum I will reach to 35 question by the end, though my target was to attempt at least 37 questions.(my average in tests). I started speeding up. Last ten minutes, eight questions left and RC appeared, i lost my nerve, then i told myself i will get them right and guess all remaining question. I finsihed four RC questions, having 6 minutes to go. That was my fastest RC effort, I knew I got one question wrong once I clicked ok for the answer;(. Finished the next three scs and one CR in 6 minutes. First time i had finished Verbal on time ; ). But i felt 'could have been better'. Filled up the next queries relaxedly, as I was not interested in seeing bad score. Clicked on report scores, there it was “690”.. felt nothing except that i am tired and need rest.. There goes the description of my brave effort after nine years out of college. What do you guys say? will i get admission to any schools? my back ground Indian, 9 years experience. 7 years in IT and 2 years in mechanical field. No exracarricular activities, good acadamics, all distinctions.. I am interested in doing one year MBA. Suggest me good colleges. Will i get admission to ISB atleast?

Guys any comment on this? zy has two options 1)y is positive: z and x are negative and x > z so |X-Z|+|X| = |Z| can be written as x-z -x=-z - 2)y is negative: z and x are positive and x so |X-Z|+|X| = |Z| can be written as z -x+x = z no need to use the answer stems

bob, can you please comment on this?

A. growing number of people who purchase plane tickets online, airline executives are convinced that, just as one-third of bank customers still prefer human tellers to automatic teller machines, many travelers will -- ?? B. growing number of people who purchase plane tickets online, airline executives are convinced, just as one-third of bank customers still prefer human tellers to automatic teller machines, that many travelers would -- Managers are not cinvinced as third of bank cutomer C. growing number of people purchasing plane tickets online, airline executives are convinced, just as one-third of bank customers still prefer human tellers as compared to automatic teller machines, many travelers will - 'That' should be used D. fact that the number of people purchasing plane tickets online is growing, airline executives are convinced, just as one-third of bank customers still prefer human tellers as compared to automatic teller machines, that many travelers would -- 'Convinced' and 'that' are wrongly seperated E. fact that the number of people who purchase plane tickets online are growing, airline executives are convinced that, just as one-third of bank customers still prefer human tellers compared with automatic teller machines, many travelers would -- "comapred with" is wrong usage IMO : A http://www.www.urch.com/forums/images/buttons/reputation.gif http://www.www.urch.com/forums/images/buttons/report.gif

First discovered more than 30 yrs ago, Lina's sunbird, a four-and-half-a-inch animal > a hummingbird, has shimmering metallic colors on its head; a brilliant orange patch, bordered with red tufts, in the center of its breast; and a red eye a) found in the Philippines and that resembles -- "Found and that" - not parallel b) found in the Philippines and that, resembling -- "Found and that" - not parallel c) found in the Philippines and resembling - "found and resembling - parallel " - ?? d) that is found in the Philippines and it resembles -- "it" is not used correctly e) that is found in the Philippines and that resembling -- "that is found and that resembling" -- ?? Choice is between C and E. I chose "E" can anybody explain why not E?

2) well known as much for having an eccentric personality as for her skillfull wax renderings of public figures -- "As much for having x as for her not parallel" 3) well known as much because of her eccentric personality as she was for her skillfull wax renderings of popular public figures -- not parallel 4) as well known for having an eccentric personality as having skillfully rendered popular public figures in wax -- "as well known for having as having' not parallel 5) as well known for her eccentric personality as for her skillfull wax renderings of popular public figures -- Correct Parallelism

IMO : A A. include the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow to be 30 feet long and is ---- "grow to be" not correct B. include the animal known as the killer whale, growing as big as 30 feet long and -- the subject of previous sentence is species, but killer whale is the one that grows big C. include the animal known as the killer whale, growing up to 30 feet long and being -- same as above D. include the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow as big as 30 feet long and is -- correct, grow as big as 30 feet long and (which) is E. include the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow to be 30 feet long and it is -- "can grow to be 30 feet long" - doesn't sound good

BOB can you check if the answer is correct ? if There must be at least 60+75-100=35 ladies sharing A and B The above is possible to dervie only when, out of 100 ladies, each lady has either umbrella or shoe or both?

the question is not 4^11 * 5^11 =2* 10^n but 4^11 * 5^21 =2* 10^n

the question is not 4^11 + 5^11 =2* 10^n but 4^11 * 5^11 =2* 10^n

some GMAT prep questions.. Can somebody answer these for me?

Question says R i..e Y intercept is beyond circle, but the line passing through this point could still intersect circle in 2 points for example 89 degrees slope.. so should we go with c or E? Can anybody answer this?

Points a,b lie on Line 'l'. Points CDE lie on line 'k'. The points are connected to form lines aC, aD, bD & bE. are lines l and k are parallel? a) Triangles ACD and BDE are equilateral triangles b) triangle ABD is equilateral i go with A. no OA..