post2ashish

Congratulations man... Great achievement.. SO which schools are you applying in now

You really need to work on it. Develope a habit of typing emails without looking into the keypad... Hope it will help :yuck: similar mistake that i made in verbal in my previous attempt. Never spend more than 2 mins on a quant problem. Just accept the fact that this problem is not made for you and there are several others waiting for you. I'm sure you won't make this mistake next time. Again time and stress management. I found that taking as many GMATPREPs as possible helps one understand how to manage the two. See if helps you as well. One more thing: On 30th Dec, Don't take the test because 2 months back (that is now) you had planned to take the test on 30th Dec. Instead take the test when you feel you have overcome your weaknesses even if that means spending an additional $50 to reschedule. Also, in the mean time keep working on the colleges you would be filling in and start working on their apps as well. So even if you take the test around R2 deadlines, you would still be able to submit the apps in time. All the best :2cents:

Hey Chatru, Sorry to hear about your bad performance on the GDay. I personally feel that you have the potential to be in the 700 club. I have earlier wrote u a lengthier note but cud not send it due to bad network connection. :( Here's my take: 1. Develop a habit to provide detailed analysis and not mere statements. With that i mean, provide a more detailed post on how u felt on the dday, what made u not finish the test on time, how you prepared, etc. Unless, you provide these details, no one could help you in the real sense. Take a cue from how i posted my experiences when i scored 630 in my first attempt. 2. Take as many GMATPREP mock tests as possible. I used to take them every alternate week and that's what helped me to understand how to manage time. Keep a record of how you felt during the exam, what improvements can help you increase the exam. 3. You have an incredible high # of posts which make me feel that TM was a major part of your prep. Nothing wrong about it but overdependence on TM and judging your potential based on TM could be disastrous. Do participate in discussions but limit it to 10-20% of your overall prep efforts. 4. Go thru posts of all those who scored low in the first attempt and then improved their performance by 60-70 points in the next take. Try to find how they did it and if you have problems similar to them. Finally, All the Best. I'm sure you will nail it.

Sorry to hear about this... Take as many GMATPREPs as you can take...

Received my AWA score today - 4.5 - 55%ile :( I was targetting in the range of 5 - 6... seems my incomplete issue (AI) lowered my score

My understanding yes it wud still be adaptive... try this on gmatprep .. how adaptive it wud be, wud depend on how u accurately u answer those 20 Qs [& probably how much time u took to answer those Qs but i'm not sure on this - just what i observed during practise tests] Nope... The overall score may be same but there sectional %iles wud defintely be different.. It also depends on where u made the mistakes.. in the initial part or the later part of the exam... Another things to consider is - Have the 2 guys taken the exam at approx the same time.... Pearson, keep changing (i think once a yr) the %iles depending on scoring pattern of the exam takers... Disclaimer: There are all my views based on what i have read & observed so far.

Thanks CTG ... i really appreciate the hard work ur putting in for ur MBA & it inspires me at times... awaiting for ur post..

Thanks geeky All the best to u. I would suggest apply to atleast 1 skool. It will give u good exposure to the overall process & help u next year. I'm looking at skools which can help me expand my 'global awareness' - with that i mean, skools which have a diversified student community & also a global brand name... At this point, i'm thinking of 1. Lets take a chance skools - MIT (will try for R1), Stanford (will try for R1), LBS (R2), INSEAD 2. Believe that i stand a strong chance here - ISB (R2), Oxford (R2), IESE (R2) Any extra info on these skools & their culture would be highly apprecited :) byw where r u located in india...

Thanks dyoh... thts a very good advise... How can i showcase the same in Qs like - What are your values? what do u value in life ?

I think u've a good profile & the only thing to worry abt is ur Q score, which is below average i guess .. Try practicing MJJs for 2-3 weeks, take it once more & apply in R2...

thanks man... wish to know more about u buddy...

Thanks gagan... as of now 07 (baaki rab ki marzi hai.. ) NGO - sure... (i'm already a consultant ... :D ) Mumbai has a lot of NGOs but the one i preferred to work with was NASEOH (www.naseoh.org) primarily because i found a grp of like minded people who also wanted to give back to society.. talk to sudha madam over there.. u may give my reference (ashish from patni - working with NASOEH till last year)... A couple of young volunteers like u n me go there every sunday/saturday to teach disabled children & help the NGO in other activites.. 1 very honest advise: don't go overthere ONLY for the sake of writing it in ur apps... go there if u really feel that u have been fortunate enuf & owe something to the community u live in... All the Best

i too thought the same but found that almost all top US skools don't need a TOEFL except Kellogg (& a few european skools - IESE, spain) provided one has undergrad education in english... let me know if this is not correct... TOEFL prep just need one or 2 days... cool.. tht gives me some confidence... probably wud take it sometime in mid december... till thn researching skools & writing apps... Wish u take ur GMAT asap & thn we will start working on apps ... :)

Hey geeky, good to cya here... i'm also trying to get hold of the books... incase, i get any info i'll update u .. Which schools are u planning to apply to ?

Hi everyone, Would appreciate if you could help me out... i thought that i would apply to kellogg with such a beautiful score but found out that i cannot apply to kellogg without a TOEFL score... i have no idea how much time wud it take to prepare for TOEFL :rolleyes: Would appreciate if someone who has already done a good reserach on US/European B schools can share his/her knowledge with me Thanks

I'm no authority but my advise to u wud be to use college specific form. There is a reason why a college has put in efforts & came up with a form. Some of reasons i can relate to are: 1. Each college assesses the application differently & want to know specific aspects. A standard form won't capture it. Answer this : would u like to submit a standard essay to all the colleges OR would u like to answer college specific essays 2. IF each applicant starts sending a 'STANDARD' recommendation form, there would not be any standard platform/basis left for the college against which to evaluate each application. HTH

Just wanted to let everyone know that on the Gday, i got 2 Qs in qunats which were very similiar to Qs i saw in GMATPREP...

Guys, i'm sorry to disappoint you but i don't have enuf time to write u a long debrief... I plan to spend 45 - 60 mins on this post & then get busy with my work.. Ok.. here i go (11:38 PM) I started my prep 2 yrs ago, a time when spidey (aka rohit) used to post queries, ursula used to enlighten us with her strategies & erin used to explain SC structures in detail. However, i joined TM quite late & spent less than 3 weeks on TM before taking GMAT [Overall i had spent some 5 weeks preparing for the exam].. & scored 630, which was way below my target score. I posted my debrief / experiences to get feedback & understand why i scored low on GMAT, though i scored 680+ on PowerPrep. Ursula helped me understand that the real issue was time mgmt & lack of concentration during the exam & assured me that i'll definitely score better if i take it the next time.. Sdanquah was benevolent enough to share gmatplus (1000SCs), which were not very easily available at that time, with me. These Qs really helped me when i prepared700 again (Thank u dear friend) I wanted to take the test again & apply to ISB but somehow managed to get an interview call from one of the top10 indian MBA skools & left the prep in the middle. Unfortunately, i could not convert it & decided to re-focus on my job, which i had been ignoring for almost a year but it was already late. I had messed up things &had no option than to switch to get a salary comparable to what my peers were getting in the industry... For the next couple of months, i worked from 9 - 9 to proove myself in the new job/company but it was a nice experience, one which i will always cherish. Ok! enuf of background Sometime in June, i decided to take GMAT again & apply in 2007... for 2-3 weeks, i kept wondering if i should take the exam again or take the easier route of focussing on a long term onsite opportunity (UK/US/Japan/Singapore... kuch bhi bas onsite hona chahiye).. Finally decided to try my luck with GMAT once more & started peeping into old favs testmagic & 64168 (now scoretop)... How i shaped my prep: 1. I started with reading posts on TM to figure out the current pattern & discovered that GMAC has authorised Pearson to administer the exam & also that CRs & RCs are now easier but SCs & Quants are tougher than before... (courtesy CTG) 2. started working on OG10... used to wake up at 6 in the morning & do 10 SCs, 10 CRs & 2 RCs. I knew improper time management is one of the issues so i used to sit with a watch & simply recorded the time i'm taking in attempting the Qs... I don't remem the initial figures but i started with ~ 3 min per Qs which late rimproved to 1.5 min per Q in SC.. At one point i remem doing 25 SCs in 33 mins.. In the night i'll spend another 1 hr & review all my Qs that i attempted in the morning... I kept working this way for almost 3-4 weeks.. 3. After OG was done, i started working on 1000SCs... however work schedules got hectic & i was not able to spend more that 15 hrs per week but i made sure that i spend atlease some time daily on my prep... 4. After a couple of weeks (approx 8) of practising, i got bored with the prep & wanted a break.. suddenly it dawned to me that I have a television at home & i have not seen movies for quite sometime, nor i have analysed the performance of my stock portfolio. My mind got deviated & 2-3 weeks later, when i took the GMATPrep my scores dipped from ~700 to ~650. My SC accuracy dipped from ~85% (20+ correct out of 25) to ~60% (less than 15 correct out of 25). I realized my mistake & took an oath not to watch the TV until i'm done with GMAT (& i kept my promise). However, the 2-3 week of CNBC/Movie watching costed me $50 as i had to reschedule my exam. Another reason i re-schduled my exam was because i observed that the qs i'm getting wrong 2 weeks before exam had been earlier asked on TM by people, who scored 700+ (amitg, geekybiz, etc), 5-6 weeks before they took GMAT. So i concluded that if i want to score 700+, i'm definitely not ready to take the GMAT. 5. i had heard a lot about scoretop & thought why not try JJs as well. I purchased a VIP membership (costed another $30) but to my dismay, i found that JJs are only good for quants & not for verbal. And as i don't have any probs in quants, i did not find any real use of JJs. With JJs came GMATSETS 1-31 but i did not find them worth attempting as almost 20% of their answers would be wrong... so either one would assume that what he marked is wrong OR spend a lot of time on forums & would later find that the GMATSET answer is incorrect... i stopped doing them after attempting 7-8 sets.. However, i would still say that if u r week in quants, solving MJJs would be helpful for you & MJJs are quite close to actual quant GMAT 6. In the last 3-4 weeks, i often visited TM & either posted my queries OR would try to solve the ones already posted. Also, i got hold of OG11 & started practicing the Qs (10-15 daily.. i never did 50 Qs in one day but only 10-20 Qs everyday) 7. Last 10 days.. I stopped practising verbal & would only solve Qs posted on TM... In hindsight, i think it was a wrong strategy & i realized it 3 days before the exam & found that i'm forgetting basic concepts (eg. usage of sunjunctive). I decided to revise my SCs.. All this while i had been maintaining a word doc where i would copy paste all those Qs that i got wrong in the last 3 months alongwith nice explanation by others (TMians)..i realized that the time has come to go thru the doc atleast once. Unfortunately, i deleted 75% of the doc (don't ask me how... i firmly believe that MS can make anything possible ;) MS word mein kuch bhi ho sakta hai...).. I revised the reamining 25% & than moved on to go thru Manhattan SC & notes by amitg, spidey, psahil... 8. On the morning of the D day, i attempted last 20 Qs from OG 11 (got 18 correct), analyzed them all ... went out for bfast, came back & reviewd the AWA templates, slept for another 1 hr, woke up & requested god to give me the energy to perform at my best level & then i was all set to take the exam 9. My Prep Scores: See the attached Doc TEST Experience Marker & writng pad > absolutely no issues but make sure to get 2 markers fromt he guy before sitting for the exam.. The young chap gave me only one & i had to specifically request him to give me one more... Ear plugs > The young chap did not offer me one but as i had taken the exam previously & knew the critical role earplugs play in cutting the background nosie (keystrokes, mobile rings, etc), i asked for them... To my amazement, none of the other 5 testtakers were using earplugs (i'm sure they were unaware that they were supposed to get earplugs) Monitor > 17 inch LCD .. (i was quite worried as i knew that my eyes would start bleeding if i sit in front of a CRT for 4 hrs continuously) AWA > Both AA & AI topics were easy & i could see 3 clear loop holes in both of them. I wrote all the points on the scriblle pad for the first 10 mins & then started typing them. However, i could not review AA within the time & before i could press 'Next', i got a popup "time expired". I hope my answer was recoreded. Could someone confirm if s/he faced the same issue & later got a 5+ score? I checked with the ceter head & she was not sure. Similar thing happened with AI, i was so busy in providing detailed examples that i lost track of time & could not write the conclusion. So, though i wrote good essays & expect a 5+ rating, i could not finish the 2 sections in time. Quants > Started very easy. in general, i did not feel the toughness level. All i could obsevre is that GMAT was giving me problems from a different area every time... on 23rd Q i got a weird geometric problem, i checked the watch & had 37 mins left.. i decided to spend 4-6 mins on the problem & get the amswer (BIG Mistake).. i struggled but cud not solve the problem even after spending 6-7 mins... i guessed & went ahead... & felt that the toughness level of the questions has started increasing & it took me time to solve the remaining 13 Qs.. Finally i had only 20 secs left when i came to the 37th Q. Marked it randomly & took the 10 min break... Verbal > started with a SC.. as usual i could narrow down to 2 choices but took a total of 3 mins to decide the option. Next came another SC, then a CR, then 2 more SC & than came a RC.. i read the initial few lines but could not make anyting of it... clsoed my eyes for 8-10 secs (reminded myself of the importance of concentration & time mgmt) & re-read it again... the RC was very simple & i attempted the next 4 Qs in 1 min each... the 3 kept coming in various permutations & combinations & i kept solving them... i was feeling uneasy & was not sure of the SCs i was marking... i think i was confused while marking almost all the SCs except 3-4... RCs & CRs were easy (easier than Qs in GMATPREP).. Finally i was on 40 Q (which was a CR) with approx 1 min left.. decided to mark it randomly & next cam an SC ... read the sentence & identified the mistake.. glanced thru other options & marked B as the answer.. but before i cud confirm the answer, the 'time expired' window popped up again.. :rolleyes: So, there i was, who could not complete even one section within the given time, sitting before the test terminal & thinking abt the score that would popup ..... memories of my previous attempt revived & i was praying.. 'no not 650 something'.. another second later i saw *40 something... re-read it again & wowowow i got a 740 :tup: ... thanked god again & left the room... In the end, i would like to convey my sincere thanks to for taking their time out & solving my Qs & answering my doubts esp the AWA CTG > your initial posts helped me plan my strategies & your AWA templetes helped a lot. All the best Philospher57 >> I think i have a lot to learn from u.. plz be around & all the best for 13th skarya >> don't worry man, u'll nail it amitg_ind, kk_del, geekybiz, gagan83 > guys, u & ur posts gave me the confidence that i too can score 700+. thanks for the booster dose. 800bob, Erin > ur posts helped a lot & saved a lot of my time & everyone else on TM who helped me directly or indirectly 1. Time Management 2. Regular Practice 3. Taking GMATPREP test for a couple of times before i took the real one 4. GOD's grace All the best buddy.. i'm hopeful that u would achieve ur dream GMAT score... all the best 1. Don't take any section lightly 2. Use both POE & knowledge of grammar rules to strike off the options. This helps in reducing time per Q 3. I used to draw a grid (think of an excel sheet) before starting the verbal with row 1 as A|B|C|D|E & column 1 as Q # 1-41. I would strike the cell respective cell as soon as i find an issue in the option... this would help me narrow down to 1 or 2 probable choices & avoid time wastage. This strategy really helped me in CRs (& i employed it during the exam as well) 4. Don't spend more than 2.5 mins on any Q. if u cannot solve it in 2.5 mins after weeks of prep, i think it's not worth spending more time on it. Select randomly & move ahead. Already explained above but i don't think that is a very good startegy ******** i mismanaged my time again :( (it's 1:39 AM) I need an advice from you guys: Which colleges do u think i should apply... i never thought of achieving more than 720 & was targetting only ISB & a few other 1 year european programs.. i'm a typical IT male guy from a reputed engineering college with 4+ Yr workex ... have worked with a an NGO for almost a year on voluntary basis.. had taken a few initiatives in my previous company.. nothing much to boast about in my present job except the satisfacton that i get by working in the domain i always wanted to work... Please advise & wish me all the best. I wish that soon we would all be done with our GMAT exam & would collaborate to work on apps & interviews...

I took the test couple of mins ago & scored 740 - 98%ile wowowowow :tup: :tup: The overall experience was good (ofcourse with a 740 how can it be bad now :D ).. the staff was friendly & extremely professional in approach. Currently i'm in a cybercafe & the keyboard is not supporting me to write a detailed mail (jammed keys :( ). Debrief of my earlier attempt is posted here : http://www.www.urch.com/forums/just-finished-my-gmat/12603-630-q-50-v-25-factors-affected-my-score.html?highlight=post2ashish Hope this would help people understand how to avoid getting a 630 Let me know if u have any specific queries & i'll try to address them in my debrief later... Till then ... Keep Practising

Hey, i'm still unable to understand how presence of 'by' necessiates 'is'. Kindly enlighten X is better than Y OR X is better than is Y ?? i think former maintains ||ism Could you elaborate / provide examples on the usage of latter ? Added Later >> i think i got it... i remember reading that the follwoing 3 structures are correct & convey the same meaning X is better than Y (is) == X is better than Y == X is better than is Y Please correct me if this incorrect. However, i'm still don't understand how presence of 'by' necessiates 'is'

Hey surya... i think u can easily score 700+... keep practicing the verbal & pay more attention to Quants ... take rest for a week or two & retake it after 4-5 weeks... Will await for ur debrief...

My Pick C Already discussed here - http://www.www.urch.com/forums/gmat-sentence-correction/1102-1929-relatively-small-declines-market-ru.html Is this GMATSETS ?

Shud be A assumptions cud be - 1. serious discussions need attention 2. what is mentioned in A B > this is not true because the author mentions that the word has been used before & the usage captured attention C > Just opposite of what the argument is all about. D > Fine.. but this is not in scope E > out of scope

Thanks ... i ignored that.. use of subjunctive requires infinitive form of the verb (without the word 'to')

yes SC1000 is a must if u want to score 30+ in verbal... get manhattan SC as well do 20-25 qs daily & search TM for all those u got wrong.. in less than 4 weeks u'll see significant improvement in ur verbal score...