Managing: The Difference Between Managing and Leading.

Have you ever wondered a question which is familiar to this? Many people try to distinguish the difference between them. Today, I want to express my own opinion regarding the issue.

First of all, leaders, in my point of view, are the brains of a business who set the directions and goals. The leaders also cope with changes and align people. Therefore the significance of leadership means encouraging group or team to come together for a final goal. Leaders usually motivate, console and work with people to keep them bonded and eager to move forward. That means setting a direction, communicating it to everyone who will listen (and probably many who won't) and keeping people psyched when times get tough. Leaders are as for brilliants, but are often lonely.

Secondly, managers are the problem solvers. They cope with complexity, plans, and budgets. They also organize staff, and put into place incentive programs and the stuff like that. They also create the strategies applied for their communities. The act of management then follows the act of leadership. Let me give an example to understand clearly, the manager picks up the ball then looks at the objective established by leader and says to leader that he is ready and he know how to obtain the goal.

Summarizing: Not every leader is a manager and not every manager is leader. Leader does the right things, otherwise, manager does the things right (as Kotter raised). From all shown above, it's tempting to see leaders be stronger than managers.

Duong Minh Tan

GMAT: 770 Experience

Quantitative 49 / Verbal 48 / Total 770

Score progression:

660 McGraw Hill CD
680 McGraw Hill
710 GmatPrep 1
690 McGraw Hill
730 GmatPrep 2
770 GmatPrep Reinstall (I distinctly remember at least 10 old Qs per section)
760 GmatPrep Reinstall (probably even more, 15?)

Materials:
After taking a few practice tests with this and trying to memorize the quadratic formula, I did some research and bough the OG11. I finished the whole book, marking each question which I wasn't sure about, and then later on re-took every single question that I had marked. This whole process took probably 3-4 weeks. My correct rate overall during the first pass was only around 80%, I've heard of far higher here. I always did 31 questions at a time and gave myself 50-55 minutes.

I also bought Kaplan 800 at the recommendation of a friend, but can't say for sure if this helped a lot. The Verbal was particularly confusing and didn't make sense to me, if you are not doing well on Verbal, I would not recommend this book, it will only confuse you. You have to learn 600 level before you can learn 800 level.

Thoughts: By some measures, my math NEVER improved. I consistently got 9-12 questions wrong on every single math section I took. Not very good considering the amount of formulas and tricks I put to memory. And, I NEVER improved my speed, I always ended with about 1-3 minutes left for my last math question, it was extremely challenging to me

That said, something hit me when I got 770 on a GMATprep reinstall. The thing that hit me was that I was still getting the same math scores, but I was getting a huge final score boost by being nearly flawless in verbal, even though the first time I got 770 was boosted by seeing many old questions. Even though my verbal scores were pretty good already, around 41, I decided that taking extra time to make absolutely sure I read the question correctly would give me a 3-4 question boost. I honestly think this is where I made up all the difference between expecting a 720 and getting a 770. I was previously breezing through verbal, finishing with 10-15 extra minutes, and being happy with my 41. It hit me that on these 10 questions I got wrong, what if I spent another 1 minute with each of those? Couldn't I turn 3 or 4 of them right?

Also, as illogical as it is, the scoring is a percentile game. GMAC, according to plain fundamental statistical theory, gives higher composite scores to those with more unusually high verbal scores. Why? Because it's simply rarer. Even though you would think GMAT should weigh Math higher, considering all the math heads taking this test, a high Verbal is what really boosts your composite score. Thoughts on this? Yes, no?

Anyway, final advice:


Are you finishing verbal with time to spare, unless you are getting 48s, my advice is to slow down. getting 3-4 more questions right in verbal was a huge boost to my score.


I think it is impossible to learn the entire "Unified Theory of GMAT Grammar". I would never ever get 100% right, not in a million years, I simply disagree with some of the GMAT's grammar and diction choices, I don't even understand them. But what I did was modifiy my personal grammar rules to match GMATs as closely as I could, without confusing myself by trying to learn wierd grammar rules I didn't agree with.

I don't want to repeat the great advice many others have said, the above regarding Verbal is probably all I can contribute to this.

Also, NEVER EVER CANCEL YOUR SCORE. I estimated to myself that I had bombed my math and done okay on verbal, and in the end was waiting for a 720 to appear on the screen. I would have fully accepted a 670, I would have simply thought my guesses ended up being wrong and I should have studied harder. There was this guy next to me who kept asking the proctor what happens if he cancels, can he see his score first, does he get a refund. NEVER CANCEL.

---------


For RC:

I read the passage fairly quickly. On this first pass I am able to say what the tone of the passage is, and what function each of the paragraphs has. The details themselves are not important but it can be important to remember where certain vocabulary is used so you can find it again easily. But it's not critical, since of course, you can always refer back to the passage itself or reread the whole thing if you have to.

Then I started on the RC questions, basically I answered them straightforwardly, the only thing I looked out for was "... is suggested by the passage..." which indicates you need to infer or extrapolate something NOT directly stated in the passage. Other than that, I answered whatever question was given and did not try to over think it.


For SC:

The main thing I looked out for was verb-subject agreement. I do a lot of mental deletion of sections of sentences to make sure they make sense in a simpler form. Also, of course you have to remember that 20% of SC questions are presented in the correct form already and the answer is A. This took me quite a while to get past during my practice exams. I had been finishing the verbal section with at least a few minutes left on every practice test I took, so it was my strong point to begin with.


Another thing I did throughout my study was to use paper tests (OG11) and mark every single question I wasn't sure of while I was taking the test. This way, you can review even the questions you got right which you weren't sure of.

According to Tarmac's thread.

_____________________________________________________________

Example 1:

Anthony and Michael sit on the six-member board of directors for company X. If the board is to be split up into 2 three-person subcommittees, what percent of all the possible subcommittees that include Michael also include Anthony?

20%
30%
40%
50%
60%

Example 2: Which of the following most logically completes the argument?

United States manufacturers currently produce most of the world's solar-power generators--most of which are exported to Europe. However, European manufacturers are emerging and probably will ultimately capture much of the European market. The United States government is funding initiatives intended to encourage use of solar power within the United States. If these initiatives succeed in increasing the demand for solar-power generators in the United States, United States manufacturers will probably maintain significant production levels, since __________.

(A) some United States manufacturers have been substantially increasing their output over the last several years

(B) the efficiency of solar-power generators in converting energy from the Sun into electric power is not improving as fast as it once did

(C) just as European manufacturers enjoy certain competitive advantages in Europe, so do United States manufacturers in the United States

(D) European governments are currently undertaking initiatives to stimulate the use of solar power within Europe

(E) the current market for solar-power generators in the United States is very limited

TOEFL: Materials

While studying TOEFL, I collected many useful materials for TOEFL learners.


File name File size
Toefl-All-that-You-need-for-TWE.rar 3226595
TOEFL-GRAMMAR.pdf 2063444
Toefl-Academic-Topics-Classified.rar 5518
Toefl-D.A.Herzog-Websters-New -World-Essential-Vocabulary.rar 1476810
Toefl-CBT-TOEFL-Study-Guide.rar 532103
Toefl-AccentReduction.rar 243639
Toefl-paper_based_toefl.rar 497783
Toefl-400MustHaveWordsForTheTOEFL.rar 712988
Toefl-400-Words-Must-Know-For- TOEFL-Test-with-Vietnamese-Meaning.rar 38909
----------------------------------------
TOEFL

TOEFL-GRAMMAR.pdf

Essays:


Writing Topics | TWE guide

TWE templates | Examples of Writing

TWE Tips (Perterson) | TWE Tips (TOEFLCampus)

Essay writing program | Answer to all TOEFL essay

155 Essays (Barron) | 185 topics and sample essays



963 TOEFL essay


Grammar:


27 tructure Test | Grammar exercises 1 | Grammar exercises 2

Structure Analysis | TOEFL Grammar (Manh) |


Vocabulary:

High frequency words | Word list (kem tieng Viet)


Listening


Listening idioms

Reading:

Test 1 | Test 2 | Test 3 | Test 4 | Test 5 | Reading 95-00

Test 6 | Test 7 | Test 8 | Test 9 | Test 10| | Test 11


Software:


Vocabulary Software | TOEFL Reading Software |

Preposition Quiz | Speed Read |

TOEFL Structure


Ebook:


TOEFL iBT Tips | iBT Introduction | TOEFL Secret

1001 Vocab & Spelling question (Learning Express) |

400 Must have words for the TOEFL (McGraw Hill's) |

MBA Center Grammar Review for the TOEFL |

Preparing students 4 CPT |

501 Grammar & Writing Questions (Learning Express) |

TOEFL Computer based book (Cliff) |

Longman Complete course for the TOEFL |

TOEFL Prace Test (Thompson - Peterson) |



CDs:

150 TOEFL Test for beginners | ETS TOEFL iBT CD

Kaplan TOEFL iBT CD 1 | Kaplan TOEFL iBT CD 2

Longman iBT CD 1 | Longman iBT CD 2

Longman TOEFL iBT CD | Longman TOEFL iBT Preparation CD

Acro TOEFL CD | Barron TOEFL Audio CD

ETS TOEFL Test | Kaplan TOEFL Delux 2005

Kaplan Listening Practice 1 | Kaplan Listening Practice 2

TOEFL Powerprep | TOEFL - Grammar Tests CD



Kaplan TOEFL | TOEFL Success CD 1

TOEFL Success CD 2 | TOEFL Success CD 3

Barron TOEFL iBT 11ed - CD1 | Barron TOEFL iBT 11ed - CD2

Barron TOEFL iBT 11ed - CD3 | Barron TOEFL iBT 11ed - CD4

Barron TOEFL iBT 11ed - CD5 | Barron TOEFL iBT 11ed - CD6

Barron TOEFL iBT 11ed - CD7 | Barron TOEFL iBT 11ed - CD8

Barron TOEFL iBT 11ed - CD9 | Barron TOEFL iBT 11ed - CD10

Barron TOEFL iBT 11ed - CD11 |


Kaplan TOEFL Paper and Pencil - CD1 | Kaplan TOEFL Paper and Pencil- CD2

Kaplan TOEFL Paper and Pencil - CD3 |

Kaplan TOEFL Paper and Pencil - Book1| Kaplan TOEFL Paper and Pencil Book2


Longman TOEFL iBT Audio CD1 | Longman TOEFL iBT Audio CD2

Longman TOEFL iBT Audio CD3 | Longman TOEFL iBT Audio CD4

Longman TOEFL iBT Audio CD5 | Longman TOEFL iBT Audio CD6

Longman TOEFL iBT Audio CD7 | Longman TOEFL iBT Audio CD8


TOEFL Delta Key - CD1 | TOEFL Delta Key - CD2

TOEFL Delta Key - CD3 | TOEFL Delta Key - CD4

TOEFL Delta Key - CD5 | TOEFL Delta Key - CD6

TOEFL Delta Key - CD7 | TOEFL Delta Key - CD8

TOEFL Delta Key - CD9 | TOEFL Delta Key - CD10

TOEFL Delta Key - Ebook

TOEFL: Writing Topic 1

Topic: Movies are popular all over the world. Explain why movies are so popular.

When I was a child, my family did not have enough money to purchase one TV. At that time, movies were not popular because there were few movies showed on TV and few attractive films. That was why I used to play traditional games to relax. As time goes by, the development of technology and the increasing of demand on entertainment help movies are popular in the world.

Watching movies is good way for people to relax (Demand on entertainment is increased; people usually choose watching movies for relax). Living in such a developed society makes people work harder and more pressure. They have less time for them to relax and reproduce power. To rest people can choose one kind of ways to relax such as play sport game, shopping or take a nap. However, one of the most ways that people usually do is watching movies. Therefore, many movies are produced to serve demand on entertainment.

The development of technology helps television broadcast have been almost location in the world. Anytime, peoples now can watch TV, which usually shows movie. Consequently, watching movie on TV is the favorite habits. Movies now have also been shown on internet; that means everyone can watch a movie anytime, anywhere as long as there is a ready computer logged on internet.

Another significance of this popularity is the attraction of movie. One good movie includes many factors such as good screenplay, special effect or talent actors and actresses. More and more attractive movies are produced to aims customer's money. So film producer invests a lot of money to build a good movie. Almost of these investments are for actors, production, etc. In addition, lobby or PR is good way to attract audience come to see the movie.

People now watch movies more frequently. They can stay at home or go to cinema that depends on their habit. Moves now become more useful for people to relax. They also help many people have employment. Two-reasons, which affect each other, help moves develop more and more. (Finally, I am a fan of movie.???)

(351 words) 2^nd edition - Duong Minh Tan

GMAT: Reading Comprehension

It's incomprehensible!!

Comprehension [com·pre·hen·sion]

(n.)

1.a. The act or fact of grasping the meaning, nature, or importance of; understanding.

1.b. The knowledge that is acquired in this way.

2. Capacity to include.

3. Logic The sum of meanings and corresponding implications inherent in a term.

Okay...forget all that!! The GMAT guys are well aware that we cannot be astronomers, doctors, environmentalists, engineers, drama critics all at the same time...right?? So it's pretty lame to expect that we would understand every minor details out there in the passages they give us to read. So what does comprehension really mean here? It means how much you have "understood" what the author is trying to convey. Don't expect questions which will ask details beyond the scope of the passage. For that matter you should infact keep your general knowledge in a box! So if you know that pluto is now not a planet anymore....please don't use this bit of information if it's not stated i nthe passage.

There are three phases in your RC section....

1. When you are preparing for RC...like now.

2. When you are actually reading the passage...which you will.

3. And finally when you are solving the questions...which you will have to!!

So for preparing and I assume that you have plenty of time to do so...you should get into the habit of reading...random stuff...from good sources. A good reading speed and a good vocabulary, especially with lots of jargon awareness is worth possessing.

But obviously you don't have much time and you are panicking already, becuase your accuracy leveles are not good. So try this:

1. Don't get bogged down by the details, especially examples cited....skip it!! Skim the passage.

2. While reading look for author's main idea.

3. Try to figure out the purpose of the passage...all GMAT passages have one.

4. Use the scratch paper to quickly write a very very very small summary of each passage. This can work wonders especially in specific details questions and help you locate the portion which can answer the particular question. But this needs practice.

5. Also Kaplan gives you a good technique. Roadmap....works like magic...basically you chart out the structure of the passage. Helps you spot the relevant info quickly and gives you command on the passage...you have bird's view of the passage this way.

6. Don't reread until and unless you have to..,atleast don't re-read the passage because you feel you haven't understood it!! NO!! Don't do it!!

That's pretty much what I can tell you...really there's nothing more I can do here!! Practice, practice and practice. If you could, time permitting, try to take the LSAT stuff...it really prepares you for the toughest questions.

Read all the explanations. You can re-read the explanations/passages any number of times you want to during the analysis session, and not while doing the passages!!

Zaphod Beeblebrox’s Blog

GMAT: Data sufficient

Am I Thinking Sufficiently???

No approach - Low accuracy.

Right approach - 100% accuracy!!

Pointers:

1. DS is not PS. (Most of the times you won't need to get a numerical answer)

2. Get rid of your biases/assumptions. (What's given is what's given and what's not given is not given!!)

3. Memorise the answer options...it's going to be the same on the actual GMAT.

4. When you can't get a definite answer...make an intelligent guess with the help of this:

If 1 is sufficient...answer can be A or D.

If 2 is sufficient, then answer can be B or D

If none is sufficient (alone) then answer can be C or E.

5. Focus on the question stem : Don't loose track of what is being asked.

6. Look at each statement separately. I would suggest you to look at statement 2 first and then statement 1. The reason is that the sequence of the two statements tricks the reader into assuming the info given in 1 and applying it while reading 2. That's wrong!! Most careless errors on DS come when you subconsciously carry over some info from statement 1 to statement 2 (i.e. you're not actually looking at statement 2 on its own).

7. Look at both statements in combination.

8. Use lots of scratch paper. Do it neatly. It'll help.

Given that you follow all the pointers given above...you will start getting most of the DS right now. But I think the most important thing to keep in mind is that tough DS questions will have traps. And you have to be wary if them. Look out for some of these :

1. For example, most people know that if you can set up two linear equations with two unknowns, you can solve for both variables. So the natural instinct when each of the statements can be translated into an equation is to assume that the answer must be C. However, sometimes the two equations may not be independent of each other (e.g. x + 2y = 3 and 2x + 4y = 6, which are just two versions of the same equation).

2. At other times, the question stem may actually ask for a sum (e.g. a+b), and even though there are two variables, a single equation (e.g. 4a + 4b = 20) may be sufficient, since you're only asked to find the sum, not the individual values of a and b.

3. Finally, another common DS trap occurs with Yes/No questions, for example "Is x divisible by 2?". The trick here is that in DS, you are supposed to determine whether the question can be definitively answered based on the given info. So if statement 1 says "X is odd", we can in fact answer the question (in this case, the answer is "no"). So in a Yes/No question, it doesn't matter whether the answer turns out to be Yes or No - all that matters is whether the given info is sufficient to allow you to find the answer.

In addition you would like to pay more attention to the following concepts. These are the toughest concepts, asked on the GMAT.

1. Inequalities...

watch out for points where equality doesnt holds... x > 3 doesnt means x can be 3...

watch out for fractions....higher denominator means lower values....but in negaticve fractions...higher denominator means higher values...

2. Powers...

squaring a fraction devaluates it...cubing..even more..

but a negative fraction on squaring gets bigger....but on cubing lowers....things like that

3. Modulus...

Learn how mod values are dealt with..

How negative cross multiplications are done with inequalities.

4. Logarithms...

Learn properties of bases...fractional bases, negative values of logs.

I do it with help of graphs.

5. Composite and Prime nos...

clubbed with even and odd concepts..

e.g. 2 is the only no. prime and even, etc.

Zaphod Beeblebrox’s Blog

GMAT: Critical Reasoning

Let's have an Argument!!

Hurraah!! Another post :-)

Before starting off...lock your prejudices and biases in a box and open it up only when you've reached the aping stage. CR has no room for prejudices. It's all about what's written in the argument. (Okay now...before starting the CR...make yourself comfy with the jargon...go through the doc which has definitions for bold face CR's). If you are not comfy with the jargon and you confuse between inference and conclusion, you shouldn't be reading this post. I am not going to tell you that!!

Okay so you've done your homework then!! Let's start with the pointers:

1. Familiarize yourself with the concepts tested. Make yourself aware of all the question stems.

2. One very good way to learn about the logical patterns is to go through the AWA guide. Download it and go through the list of fallacies. It's very very helpful. It opened my eyes to new fallacies which earlier went past by unnoticed.

3. Keep your eye out for assumptions, evidences on which the author relies for his conclusion. Don't just buy his words...ask him...hey mister!! How could you say that??

4. Substitue long confusing proper nouns for good old X's and Y's. It's better to counter the quesn this way.

5. Always always make sure you have understood the explanation and content with the logic behind. Kaplan has good CR.

There are many categories in CR. Those are given in Kaplan...I am not going to tell you that. I would like to use this space to tell you something important!! If there's any concept which will help you crack most of the questions, then that has to be SCOPE SHIFTS. You can easily eliminate most of the choices becoz they are outside the "scope". If I say: there are no buyers for these yellow pencils. And you counter me by saying : That's bizarre!! Everyone's buying pencils these days...there are hardly any pencils left in the stores!!

Then you've gone beyond the scope!! Why?? It's easy to miss "yellow" there!! You've shifted the scope. You broadened the scope...shifted it...that's a logical error. The yellow pencils might still be not selling.

Also most of the times the choices sound correct and convincing and are mostly the popular choices as in they wud have something like an universal truth...like Shakespeare was good in prose and poetry both....but this may not be concluded from the argument...don't be tempted...see whether it follows from the argument.

Then there's this causation thingy. Which is basically when you muddle up the cause and effect. Master this!!

Finally I used something which might sound rude but it helped...picking out the logical errors in your friends' arguments....you'll be surprised how many we commit.

Zaphod Beeblebrox’s Blog

GMAT: Problem Solving

Let's Warm up with Numbers!!

Ideally anyone preparing for the GMAT should schedule the study sessions in such a manner as to include atleast three topics a day (i.e. PS+SC+CR or RC+DS+CR or....). This helps you in the tests, simply because you will be better able to switch between question types and also this kind of scheduling helps your 'prepping' not going askew. Obviously while prepping you can't mix question types, but you surely can take up three sessions of 50 questions in three different sections each day...easily. 50 is not a magical figure here...but I feel 50 questions per hour

will attune you to the right speed. The actual speed is lower, no doubt...but remember its an adaptive test, which means you will have to get the earlier questions correctly so as to improve your chances to get a good score. And that means you will have to spend more time on the, let's say, first 10 questions. That will leave you with the later tougher questions with lesser time.

Let's start!!

Pick up the OG. Start your stopwatch and start...

......1 hr passes by.....

Go through your mistakes. Analyze your GRID for mistakes...you will get to know your weak areas. You will know where you made mistakes...was it algebra or was it mensuration. The mistakes I made were mostly the silly ones...here goes the list (may be not the entire list...but look out for them!!)

1. units...feet/inches, miles/kms...I screwed up mostly because I forgot to convert them for my final answer.

2. I didn't read the entire information and wasted my time doing the question over and over again until realizing that hey, it's an equilateral triangle...or this angle is given to be 90...or something else.

3. I solved the problem correctly, but I found something that was not asked. Let's say I found out the number of chocolates Jack initially had, only to realize that I was supposed to find the number of chocolates he is left with. The best way to handle such questions is : take 'x' to be the quantity you have to find, i.e., take 'x' to be the number of remaining chocolates. (Silly sounding tips?? That's cuz they're for silly mistakes)

I think the OG has around 400 problems. It will take you around 9-10 sessions to solve them completely and also go through the explanation. (I have uploaded OG 10. It's in parts and also the OG grid). By the time you're through with the OG PS, you will have a grid, wherein you will have a detailed analysis highlighting your weak areas. Make a note of all the mistakes you did and swear that you won't make the same mistakes again.

Guys I've put up a Formulae sheet. This is very important. You won't find many of these formulae in either OG or Kaplan. I hope you'll find this very useful.

The next step in PS is to start solving Kaplan 800. It's a great book...read it carefully for all the tips it has for the 800 test taker. While doing Kaplan 800 you can include fewer wuestions per session. That's because you need to give more attention to these problems. And your primary goal here is to learn concepts rather than simply solving questions in time bound conditions.

Once you're done with OG and Kaplan 800, start OG and Kaplan 800. :-D Yes!! do it again. But this time you may want to solve only those problems which you screwed up in your first attempt. That you can easily filter out from the grid (that's also there on my google base).

Zaphod Beeblebrox’s Blog

GMAT: Speed-up

There are certain things which you will realise in the actual course of your preparation. But by that time you might have already lost some of your precious time. And that's the precise reason I thought of writing this, so as to keep you guyz from making the same mistakes as I did.

Performance Chart

It can do wonders for your preparation...trust me. It's a simple grid which can have columns for the question number, your answer, right/wrong, a brief description of the concept used (e.g. idioms, modifier, parallelism...for CR it can be Strategy...likewise). I would suggest you to make an excel and get like 50 print-outs with 100 questions per page. You can group them according to section/book. I would prefer a section-wise categorization. Generally you would do 50 questions per session. So at the end of 50 questions you can have an accuracy meter or something. I am sure all of you are creative enough to make such a chart which you can refer back to assess your difficulty areas.

This chart will help you filter out the tougher problems. So in the next round of solving the same problems (Yes!! next round...you have to solve the same questions again till your accuracy level goes up!! Atleast you would like to make sure that you are totally confident in the question types you have in your material).

Take a test date

Yes!! Take it. Without a test date you will never actually start respecting the entire thing. It will keep you focussed and up on your toes. Register yourself on the site. Get a date. I made a big calender for myself and stuck it before my study table. And obviously I highlighted the test date with a horrible colour :-D Also I put up stick-ons all around my place (mirrors, refrigirator, with dates on them) It's not getting psyched about it...but it really helps!!

Books!!

This is very important guys. I mean surely you wouldn't want your preparation to be going on a wrong line. Some books aren't just complete in their content. Some don't give you those "tips" which anyone aiming at a good score would want to have. So it finally boils down to having a set of materials rather than having just one book or one study material. But the question remains...which ones??

1. Official Guide is a must have. GO FOR IT!!

You will realise it isn't enough to satiate your thirst for the "750" figure. That's true, atleast for most of us.

2. Kaplan Guide.

CR & RC stuff, which you will not find anywhere else. Very very good book...I dare say, indispensable.

Trust me guys, these two are the only things on which you will have to spend money. Rest all is out here on the web.

But hey!! You still might ask...what about crossing the 750 mark?? So here's the trick. Get yourself KAPLAN 800 and Manhattan Sentence Correction guide. These are great books. Simply great!! I am sure they will add an extra 30 to your score, and that's a lot!!

Zaphod Beeblebrox’s Blog

GMAT: Experience

Okay, so you're frustrated with your job...you often think about your college days...and how everyone else has landed up in nice univs or high paying jobs...while you're still browsing Monster.com!! And you think that this Java coffee is a bit too bitter for your taste and you need to move ahead...

You then decide to take GMAT. Considering your below average work-ex, you reckon that only a gooooood performance can bail you out. I decided to dedicate this post to all the future Gmatters. I'm sure anyone reading this would not want to move ahead without knowing my performance. :-)

I took it on 30th Oct '06 and got a 770!! Quant-50, VA-45, AWA-5.

Okay so you might be asking, "Why even bother to read this post? There's so much on the web already!!" You are quite right. I, myself had to prepare taking help mostly from the forums and blogs, and I encourage you to do so. But what I would like to add here is that the worst enemy for you is the "confusion" which surrounds the GMAT preparation. And this confusion can only get worse by looking at so much information lying out there. So my mantra is to keep it simple :-)

Let's start...why this confusion. The reason being many, the ones I can think of are :

1. How to start??

2. Which books to follow :-?

3. Too much material (yes!! that's not a good thing sometimes)

4. What to expect on the D-day?

Guyz I feel that the best way to start something is to make a quick plan...a layout which has weekly targets. I would try and make a rough plan which will enable you to make your own. But before that a little introduction of mine would help you understand and relate to this post much better.

I am currently working in IBM India (Pune to be exact). I did my B.Tech from IIT Delhi...rest of the story is more or less told in the first few lines. To sum it up...before starting my prep I had a good level in Quant, as is expected from an IITian. In my verbal portion I was quite comfortable with the RC(Reading Comprehension) portion. But CR(Critical Reasoning) and SC(Sentence Correction) were a total mess at first. Keeping these points I think we are ready to move ahead.

Know the GMAT!!

First things first...What is it? Its a Computer Adaptive Test (CAT), i.e., to say that it adapts itself to your performance. You can get plenty of info on this. I would recommend you to visit the official GMAT site. In short as you keep on getting the questions right, it will throw tougher questions at you, till the time you won't be able to solve the next tougher question, but are able to solve the next lower level.

Before I recommend you to take a diagnostic test, I would like you to spend not more than two days on researching the question types, reading about the test and familiarizing yourself with the GMAT.

Time for a check-up!!

When you are comfortable with the GMAT jargon : CAT, SC, CR, VA, DS, AWA, blah blah blah... its time to test yourself. Do not be afraid of taking a diagnostic. The biggest mistake you can make is not take a diagnostic and channel your efforts in the wrong direction.

There are many diagnostic tests available but I would suggest you to download the official GMAT prep Software and take the test. There are two reasons for taking the GMAT prep test :

1. It's standard...so you can compare your scores with other guys.

2. The other thing is that it's an exact copy of the actual GMAT test which you would see on the test day (obviously I am talking about the looks of the application and not the questions :-D)

3. Make sure you have read all the instructions carefully, as you would certainly not want to waste time on reading instructions that day!! Be prepared...that's the key to success in GMAT.

Shock Therapy??

Ohh!! So you didn't do well in the diagnostic?? You expected something better, didn't you?? You thought the questions were easy and you were gliding through but still ended up getting a not so good score!! That happens...let me tell you why!! GMAT is adaptive...remember?? You were not doing well, and that's why you were getting easier questions :-D

Never mind...you will do much much better in the actual test if you start it from today!! Okay so you want to know how much?? Let's say around 100 more than the actual score...assuming that you took it without preparation. Even if you preapred a bit before taking it, but it was your first test...you can easily hope to score 60 more. I took it after some preparation, but nevertheless it was my first test and I got a 710. After a month of preparation I took the second test on the same CD, and I got a 740. I finally got a 770 on the actual test. Let's not get into the score analysis thing right now. We'll come to that later, when I will give you the list of all my test scores to compare.

Medication Time :-)

It was an eye-opener...right?? It was for me!! Typically one would find that most of the mistakes in Quant section were silly mistakes. Especially the DS section. Most of the time one got mixed up with the two statements. Or the confusion between Yes/No type questions. Yeah it's tricky and that's why you need to work on your quant as much you need to work on the verbal section. Keep one thing in mind here...mistakes in quant cost you more...a score of 50 puts you in the 95%le slot. While even a score of 45 in the verbal section (as with me) puts you right in the 98%le slot. So one should ideally aim for an 100% accuracy in the quant section...and believe me thats doable.

As for the verbal section...SC is very tricky...and I dare say... the easiest. You need to know all the rules and you will see your accuracy climbing up to around 80% in no time. And remember...unlike CR & RC questions, SC questions takes up the least amount of time. We will take up each section one-by-one...but before that an important message!!

Zaphod Beeblebrox’s Blog