GMAT - A teacher in itself

Yes, you read it right. GMAT itself is a teacher. If you study seriously with passion for GMAT, you learn a lot. It requires a complete mindset change, regularity, will power and dedication. There is a thought process change which will happen. For example, earlier you used to think of correct solution out of 5 option, now you will eliminate all the wrong options which you think are wrong. In life, if you know a path is wrong, you can straightaway eliminate and not take that path. At least you know that knowingly you are not in the wrong path. The process of GMAT preparation inculcates the habit of reasoning. In life too, subconsciously you will start reasoning why are you taking certain decision.

This takes you to an important question. Why are you taking GMAT ? For getting into MBA ? But why MBA ? So, see the preparation itself is making you ready to dwell into the question of Why MBA ?, which will help you when you start writing the essay for B-school. If you start thinking on why are you doing something in every aspect of your life, you will grow, you will know more about yourself. And, GMAT is about getting ahead of yourself, changing yourself and learning new things, which will help you in the long run. Even if you do not join any MBA program, you will realize that there are many changes which have already happened in your life, like contextual reading, comprehending, finding the logic behind anything etc.

If you see the bigger picture of GMAT, you may sense the concept behind this adaptive test, what is it it want to take out from you. Suddenly you will start to think from the test creator perspective. These thoughts will start coming in why this question is made, what is to be tested from this question. You will find the purpose, or at-least move towards the purpose. Once you will realize this, the GMAT preparation will be fun. There will be no pressure, if you feel that what is there to loose, you are learning something new which will help you in the long run.

GMAT - The beginning

Last week I went to Jamboree in Pune, Pimpli Gurav centre. I enquired about the course and fee. Today, I went to the centre and before enrolling for the course I attended the class. The class was very exciting. The session taken by Rohit Ghosh, the Verbal faculty was simply superb. He was full of energy and just listening to him gave me lot of motivation. He explained the pattern of GMAT and what GMAT looks in the candidate very well. He said that one need to focus on how a question is tackled rather than answering the question.

Rohit was a consultant in the industry and later started teaching in Jamboree. He has given GMAT for 12-13 times. His explanation about anything was backed by data. As per him, MBA is not a means to earn more salary or get 20-30% hike. 20-30% hike can be achieved just by changing a job.  GMAT is a mean to do some transformation within one self. So, I see I can transform myself, especially from my thought perspective by preparing for GMAT. It all depends on how one is handling a problem. GMAT is a game of concentration.

Currently, I have prepared a plan to touch all the section everyday. Do some questions and analyse the questions which I did. It will be for 40 minute for each of the section. 20 minute for solving questions and 20 minutes to analyze.

The current plan is

Wake up	3:30 AM
Meditation	3:30 am to 4 am
1st	4 am to 4:40 am
2nd	4:40 am to 5:20 am
3rd	5:20 am to 6:00 am
Running and Exercise	6:00 am to 8:00 am
4th	9:00 pm to 9:40 pm
5th	9:40 pm to 10:10 pm

I will update the plan if Jamboree asks for a different plan, else I will stick to this. 

First Day

Now it is exactly 100 days left for the GMAT test. The countdown starts.
Feb : 16 Days
Mar: 31 Days
Apr: 30 Days
May: 23 Days

I think I am better equipped now. The classes have given me the base and the pace. I will be devoting some time for each section each day. I have created an excel sheet where I will be putting the daily progress on the GMAT preparation. From Monday to Thursday, I will be expending around 4 hours a day, on Friday around 6 hours and on Sat & Sun around 8 hours. So, in total, it will be around 30 hours a week ( 8 hours for Maths and 22 Hours for English).

I am so excited about this whole journey of GMAT preparation. I will try to use some new words which I learn from anywhere in this blog. This will help me in articulating my thoughts. Nothing is impossible.

I will post more in this same post "First Day" as the day has just started. It is 1:24 am 14th Feb (Valentine's day)

Day 8 (Booked the GMAT date)

It is one week since I joined the class. I am seeing the improvement in SC now. I have attempted all the 140 questions from OG once. I could get a score of 63.5 %. Today I attempted questions no. 26 to 50 again and I scored 68%. My SC is improving and I am happy about that.

I would have to revise the concepts again and again. I am sure to score with 80% accuracy in SC.
I would be attempting Q no. 51 to 75 tomorrow morning as I think I should develop a habit of waking up early at 5. This will keep me fresh also.

I am enjoying the journey of GMAT preparation. It is fun.

1:56 am Date 7 Feb 2012 : Booked my GMAT date for 24th May at 9:00 am. So, I have enough time to prepare myself for the grand day and I am aiming for the GMAT score of more than 780.

Day 7

Today was an amazing day. I did try 35 questions from OG sentence correction. Now I have completed all the 140 questions from OG.

I could score 19 out of 35 which is just above 50 %. I think the difficulty level was also more in the later half of the questions. But after seeing the explanation of the answers I am convinced and I think I could get the answers right. I need to improve on the time to solve these questions.

So, overall I could answer 89 questions corectly from 140 questions which is 63%. I know I will be able to improve the score with more focus and practice.

I will be going for the class tomorrow. I am again going to join the 5 am group from tomorrow. Pretty excited and confident.

Day 6

Preparing for the GMAT has given me my scope of improvement. I attempted 35 questions from OG 12 today (from 71 to 105). I got 19 correct out of 35 questions. I read the explanations of my wrong answers and I am convinced. I know it will take some time to assimilate the learning. But I am pretty confident on improving my SC score. I am enjoying solving these SC questions.

Some tips for SC questions:

• I need to be a bit fast in solving these SC questions. I solved 35 questions in 1 hour 14 min.
• Need to remember various idioms.
• Relax and find the intent of the clue sentence.

Day 5

4:30 am

I solved the next 35 questions from OG for Sentence correction. Q no. 36 to 70. I did attempt these questions at night. I could answer 23 out of 35 correctly, which is around 66%.

I will study and analyze the answers again. I am learning the concepts and applying tricks to eliminate wrong answers. I will be looking for some tips / tricks which will eliminate more wrong answers.

Another noticeable thing was that I spent too much time in solving these questions. I spent 2 hours in solving 35 questions. Ideally, the target should be to solve 1 question in a minute.

The official guide is good. It has varied questions and all type of questions are covered in OG.

Overall, I am becoming more confident on Sentence correction and I know I will do wonder. I would be targetting more than 80% accuracy.