dahcrap

Yes I am a first year student at UCLA

Dinged at W. Going to UCLA

News from my end : Dinged at Stanford after waitlist, Dinged at HBS without interview, In at Berkeley and UCLA. Waitlisted at Wharton. If I dont get into Wharton, I will take up UCLA. Thats it for my MBA journey. Though disappointed with the results, I feel this is way too much for me, a guy who had no pedigree to start with

Actually I was pretty busy with my applications. This b-school app process in itself a thorough learning. For now, I havent received any admit yet. I have been waitlisted at Stanford in R1 without interview. I guess I have to give it up as I havent received any word yet. This was truly an enjoyale ride.

I dont understand as to why you need to give up now. You have a great job. Let me explain this. You have no idea as to how much an IB applicant is valued. Being part of the IT industry, I am feeling the pain. I have to go the extra mile(s) to explain myself in my essays. In your case, you are unnnecessarily worrying abt this GMAT. GMAT is the easiest part of the application, atleast for you. Once you hit 650+, you will soon realize that you have the best chance in getting into a BSchool than most of us. Anyway all the best

Believe it or not, I did not buy any books. I downloaded OG 10, SC/CR 1000 from esnips.com. I religiously understood 800Bob's explanation for all the verbal questions. of course participate in TM and GMATclub

Sweet

Good job hasnat. 670 is sufficient for many universities

I dont think so. I need something relevant and sensible to post :-)

I am unable to upload a notes document that I used during my preparation. I guess its because I am low volume poster. To be honest, I believe that you shud prepare your own notes in your own words. Only then you will reap the benefits of 800Bob's posts. If you still want my notes, please tell me a way to upload the doc.

Ahaa the nuisance part of GMAT for many :-) There is one thread in the Math forum (not sure if it is gmatclub or TM) that talks abt a lot of formulae. Its a good start. The trick is to get very comfortable with the formulae and concepts. I call a problem that tests 2 or more concepts/formulae as a multidimensional problem. OG11 has more of 1 dimensional problems. Probably if you see the last 30-50 questions in OG they are atleast 1 dminsenional probelms with some intelligent calculations. Some of them are 2 dimensional. GMATPrep is harder because, you are hit with more 2 dimensional problems. In the actual GMAT test, you will get some 3 dimensional problems if you hover around 700+ range. So knowing the formulae and concepts thoroughly helps you mix and match them while solving multidimensional problems. Remember GMAT math is more abt mixing and matching formulae. It has nothing to do with you being a math genious.

Yes I did use a template. But more than that it is the idea in the templates that matter. Now lets take Analysis of an Argument. 99% of the time, if not 100%, I preferred to disagree with the argument. The reason for that is that the argument will use one scenario and jump to conclusion(s) based on the scenario. Now if you are good in CR, then you know that several external factors can strengthen or weaken a conclusion. Use the same concept here. Bring in points that would weaken the conclusion. Pick out the inherent assumptions in the argument and clearly explain that those assumptions are generic and sweeping. The idea of Analysis of argument, in my opinion, is to gauge how you are able to pick an argument apart and logically prove that the conclusion will not hold if the external factors are considered. Now lets move on Analysis of a Issue. Here you have the flexibility to agree or disagree with the author. Whether you agree or disagree state the reasons for the same. Explain every reason with a good example. Then acknowledge what the critics may say too. After all the critics of your idea also have some valid points to present. Finally conclude saying that even though the critics have some valid points, the benefits arising out of my points far outweigh the benefits arising out of the critics' points. Hope this helps

Precisely !!! The police squad strategy involves a lot of time spent in planning the operation. The operation in itself might be for just a few hours but we would spend more than atleast a month planning the action to ensure that there aren't any collateral damages. This is the kind of planning I used for GMAT. Understand each and every possible idea and then attack the tests. Let me tell you that I am ex-police constable. Currently I am in IT. Pity the world of IT that has to pick up ppl like me to staff its needs :-)

Harvard is too big an ask for a guy like me. I also hear that harvard is not for ppl with 10 yrs of work experience. So its ruled out. All my colleagues are rooting for me to atleast apply to Stanford. They dont want me to waste this score. But again the various forums provide a deluge of information and confuse me. So for now I am just going to take my chances and see what happens

Got a 6 in AWA Yahooooooooooooo !!!!!

This is the style I followed. Remember for me even basic grammar was a problem. 1. learn the basic grammar from some good books like wren and martin 2. Graduate to Manhattan SC book available free on the net. 3. Test whatever you have learnt using the 1000 SC docs. Acutally there is a free website that lets you test your SC skills Free GMAT Verbal Tests - Sentence Correction. Now this site is primitive compared to questions asked on the real GMAT but then for me this in itself was a graduation. 4. As you reach abt 70% on the SC, search for 800Bob's posts on SC. Every post is crystal clear and this will help you in further understanding the patterns of SC. 5. From here on you will be in the 85-90% range and you will be able to solve questions in the forum. Please avoid solving any GMATPrep questions in the forum at this stage. 6. Take the Powerprep tests and see where you are. If you need more practice, 1000 SC is the place to go. 7. Now take the first GMATPrep test. 8. Book your test date based on your comfort level and score. 9. From here on keep taking GMATPRep test I as many times as possible till all the questions repeat. 10. A week before the test take GMATPrep II. After the test solve only GMATPrep questions on the forums. Follow the same strategy for CR and math. Now RC is a different beast. You have to consistently read "Good" boring articles on the net. Also remember that your expertise in CR only will help you solve tough questions in RC. Hope this helps

Hi All, I have received a number of PMs asking for my SC strategy. i shall post them within 24 hrs

I was a simple constable. It takes atleast 15 yrs to become a DSP if you are honest and without recommendations

Thanks for all your good wishes. I would like to give you all a few specific pointers for attacking the GMAT. 1. Never do any lengthy calculations. If you spend more than 30 seconds in calculations in non compund interest problems, then it means you are following the least efficient way to solve a problem. 2. As I said before, solve the problem only one for DS problems 3. In CR questions you need to just mug up the following. a. In Inference questions always the contrapositive is correct. b. In Weaken questions, an external factor affects the conclusion or the cause and effect is reversed. c. In Strengthen questions, an external factor boosts the conclusion, the assumption is stated as true or if cause doesnt happen the result doesnt happen. d. For Assumption questions remember there are 2 types of right answer choices. One is the supportive choice which would link the premise to the conclusion. The second is the defensive choice where any presence of external effects on the conclusion is negated. 4. For RC , read the passage in a critical manner. Understand the passage. Remember its ok to spend upto 4 mins to understand and paraphrase the passage. I paraphased the passage in my native language and then answered the questions. By doing this, I ended spending abt 2 mins a question despite spending 4 mins in just reading and paraphasing the passage. 5. SC is more abt getting an active interest in the fact that English is an irritating language full of exceptions. I can talk more abt SC techniques if you guys want me to.

The score has sunk in and I am now back to earth getting ready to do my essays. But before that, I would like to tell my Gmat preparation story and I hope most of you might benefit from the same. Believe it or not, when I started my GMAT study, I found that I was bad in Math, SC, CR and RC. Trust me I was good at none of these stuff. In real life too, I am just street smart average joe. I am niether the "brainiac" nor the "intelligent" guy. I am just the practical guy. Before the test, I encountered all sorts of problems, some of them personal and some of them healthwise. I was totally sick the whole week before the test and I was in more than half a mind to cancel the test. In addition, my 2 year old son kept me awake the whole night before the test. Still I wanted to take the test and all I wanted to see was what I could score in such hopeless circumstances. Now to my preparation... I attacked Math first. Its been 10 yrs since I have been out of school and as I observed GMAT Math more, I found that it was more of tricks than of any intelligent stuff. Getting a 51 in Math does not mean one is good in Math. All it means is that the guy is alert and observant. So What did I do for math ? Just mugged up the various formulae. Now after mugging up the formulae , I practised using them in each and every problem. I found that most of the PS questions are pure formula substitutions. Also using formulae saved me time in PS. Next fun part was the DS. Trust me, DS is the area where you can actually save time. No need for any calculations and all you have to say is whether you can solve the problem or not. For a person like me, this was the best part in the whole GMAT. Remember in DS questions, solve the info in the stem as much as possible before even looking into the answer choices. Almost in all cases, you will find that you would be left with 2 variables and the choices will relate to the 2 variables. If you solve for each and every stmt in the DS problem, it is like solving the question atleast 3 times and this is where u will lose time. So try following my advice for DS. You will solve the problem only once, get the problem right and most importantly you will be confident about your answer. Now to the most challenging part for me- The verbal section. To truly explain my hopeless situation at the start of my study, you need to understand that I did not start my career as a professional. I started as a low level policeman in a developing country, read India. For me even basic grammar has been a challenge all through my life. Currently I am into IT but for me it is a huge graduation unlike most of the guys in this forum who have started their lives as professionals. For me life has truly been tough partly because I never had a good educational degree. I have survived by being simply street smart.What did I do in Verbal ? Start your prepartion by reading quality articles on the internet. One thing that went my way was that the my first sincere attempt at learning english started with learning GMAT english.So when you guys say that GMAT english is of a higher standard compared to normal english, I didnt feel so as I learnt GMAT english in the 4-5 months without much prior knowledge of normal english. Non Indian readers may find this difficult to comprehend but this is true. Any Indian reader will attest to the english proficiency of a local police constable. Read good articles and always try to enjoy the essence of the article. In every article, I tried to understand the article in full and then critiqued them. Also I ensured that all my emails followed proper GMAT grammar protocols. Moreover I listened critically to all the ads on the radio and this was the way I prepared for CR. In our daily lives we listen to so many arguments, so replay them in your mid and then strengthen or weaken them. In a few months you will be a CR. One material that I enjoyed reading both for its content and its grammar is the powerscore CR bible. I used the techniques mentioned in the bible to bring my CR time to under 2 minutes. So guys let me reiterate. If a low level policeman from a developing country can do it in abt 5 months, you guys can easily do so too. All you need to remember are these 2 facts 1. Be alert in the test. GMAT is all abt tricking you. It is not abt concepts or anything 2. Enjoy the verbal part of GMAT. You can actually use the AWA drills in your essays. How ? Read on... In AWA you are the critique of the arguemnt and the issue. In the MBA essays, the adcom is the critique. Now if you develop a story that is air tight and if the conclusion(s) in the story cannot be waekened then you have a good essay and you are highly likely to receive an interview call. So enjoy the GMAT. I hear people say GMAT is the easiest part in this whole journey. SO PM me if you have any questions. I will try my best to answer you guys. My answers may not be as refined and professional as your answers are, so please bear with me and just take the content of my responses.

I just got back from the test center. Though I have contributed relatively less on this forum, I feel I owe my verbal score to 800Bob. I will post a detailed debrief soon.

Am with E too

A is the best

It is undoutedly E

I feel it is E. That people dont reelect inactive politicians is an example of the first line. It is not a Premise in itself