The last week, I didn't do much as far as the MBA preparation goes. But I am determined to give my 100% this week. I will be following the daily schedule to pump up my preparation for GMAT. While writing this blog I felt that I get short of proper words. I have to improve my vocabulary.
Anyway the plan is:
10 Question from one section
5 Questions each from all other 4 sections.
This way I will be attempting 30 questions in a day. After answering the questions, I have to analyze the answers given in OG.
The enthusiasm should not vanish.
One good news to cheer about is that I booked a house in Crossing Republik. This kept me busy the whole week.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
RC - 7/8 - whoopy......
After going home, completing the practicing session for DS in office, I started with RC. I attempted few questions from OG12. I tried my luck and brain in the first two passages. The first passage had 3 questions and the next passage had 5 question. My observation is that I take more time in RC than in any other section.
I have also read the RC strategy. But to get the strategy absorbed in my mind will take some time. For the first passage, my accuracy was 2 out of 3 which is around 66.6%. But I am pleasantly surprised to see that my accuracy in the second passage is 100%. I have emerged as more confident about RC after this performance. The area of improvement is to reduce the time which I take to solve these questions in RC. I will come up with a strategy to reduce the time, so that my time is evenly distributexd in the actual GMAT test.
Another mantra to succeed in the RC is to read, read and read. Read anything and everything that comes your way. I will be following this mantra. Yesterday I stumbled upon a website on swaminomics. I will be reading that regulary to make myself comfortable about the business jargons and financial world. This will be fun.
I have also read the RC strategy. But to get the strategy absorbed in my mind will take some time. For the first passage, my accuracy was 2 out of 3 which is around 66.6%. But I am pleasantly surprised to see that my accuracy in the second passage is 100%. I have emerged as more confident about RC after this performance. The area of improvement is to reduce the time which I take to solve these questions in RC. I will come up with a strategy to reduce the time, so that my time is evenly distributexd in the actual GMAT test.
Another mantra to succeed in the RC is to read, read and read. Read anything and everything that comes your way. I will be following this mantra. Yesterday I stumbled upon a website on swaminomics. I will be reading that regulary to make myself comfortable about the business jargons and financial world. This will be fun.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Why MBA?
Some of the reasons why I want to do MBA
1. I want to be involved in the business of an organization. I want to understand how business decisions affect an organization and I want to be part of that. Being in the current role, it is difficult to gain the experience to this level. If I change company, I will be again put in the technical role. I will be managing team technically giving advise to them. I will not be able to gain the first hand experience about the business deals, strategy taken by an organization. I want to get the holistic view of the organization. I dont say being technical is bad, my view is that I have had enough of technical stuff. Now I want to grow and gain some business knowledge by being the part of the group who is involved in taking business decisions.
If I consider my career path, the options for me are:
a. Change the organization and apply for BA role - Why would an organization take me as BA if they already have many BA in market coming from MBA colleges. Moreover I dont have the experience of BA. To my support there are few points, one of them is my international experience and the interaction with business from client side. But an organization will always prefer a person with BA experience to hire as BA. This leaves a bleak chance to achieve my goal.
b. Look for the role of BA in my current organization: There is not much scope for BA in my organization.
c. Do MBA from an elite institute - This is the way I am following. I have to follow this path.
2. Need growth and challenges: My current profile is monotonous and I want to grow. There is not much scope of growth left if I follow the current growth path. Even if I move to another organization, my role will be team lead and then to Project Manager in a typical IT company. I am keen to be in position where I see business happening and taking part in that.
3. Looking for career change : I have had enough of this software. I might go for a career in finance. Or even if I join a software company I would love to try sales in software
1. I want to be involved in the business of an organization. I want to understand how business decisions affect an organization and I want to be part of that. Being in the current role, it is difficult to gain the experience to this level. If I change company, I will be again put in the technical role. I will be managing team technically giving advise to them. I will not be able to gain the first hand experience about the business deals, strategy taken by an organization. I want to get the holistic view of the organization. I dont say being technical is bad, my view is that I have had enough of technical stuff. Now I want to grow and gain some business knowledge by being the part of the group who is involved in taking business decisions.
If I consider my career path, the options for me are:
a. Change the organization and apply for BA role - Why would an organization take me as BA if they already have many BA in market coming from MBA colleges. Moreover I dont have the experience of BA. To my support there are few points, one of them is my international experience and the interaction with business from client side. But an organization will always prefer a person with BA experience to hire as BA. This leaves a bleak chance to achieve my goal.
b. Look for the role of BA in my current organization: There is not much scope for BA in my organization.
c. Do MBA from an elite institute - This is the way I am following. I have to follow this path.
2. Need growth and challenges: My current profile is monotonous and I want to grow. There is not much scope of growth left if I follow the current growth path. Even if I move to another organization, my role will be team lead and then to Project Manager in a typical IT company. I am keen to be in position where I see business happening and taking part in that.
3. Looking for career change : I have had enough of this software. I might go for a career in finance. Or even if I join a software company I would love to try sales in software
DS section 29/30.
I practiced the DS section from OG11. The DS seems to be very easy. I am quite confident in the DS.
I stumbled upon a technique to eliminate choices in DS.
1. If you are sure statement 1 alone can answer the question, the choices can be either A or D.
2. Look for the second statement. If it can be answered by 2, choice should be D else A.
I got 29/30.
I made a simple silly mistake just by not reading the question carefully.
Now I have got the confidence and I think without completely solving the question I can answer the DS question to a good accuracy.
I will be putting the daily progress worksheet in an excel sheet.
I stumbled upon a technique to eliminate choices in DS.
1. If you are sure statement 1 alone can answer the question, the choices can be either A or D.
2. Look for the second statement. If it can be answered by 2, choice should be D else A.
I got 29/30.
I made a simple silly mistake just by not reading the question carefully.
Now I have got the confidence and I think without completely solving the question I can answer the DS question to a good accuracy.
I will be putting the daily progress worksheet in an excel sheet.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
New strategy
I am reviving the preparation for GMAT. For many days there was a lull in the preparation. I am aiming for 780 in GMAT. To get 780 in GMAT, I have to live, eat and speak GMAT.
The schedule which I have prepared for the preparation:
Monday : 2 hours SC - Attempt the questions from OG.
Tuesday: 2 hours DS - Attempt the questions from OG.
Wednesday: 2 hours RC - Attempt the questions from OG.
Thursday: 2 hours PS - Attempt the questions from OG.
Friday: 2 hours CR - Attempt the questions from OG.
Saturday: Give full fledged GMAT test. Analyse and prepare the strategy for the next week.
Sunday: 0.5 hours of each topics continued till Sunday is over.
The schedule which I have prepared for the preparation:
Monday : 2 hours SC - Attempt the questions from OG.
Tuesday: 2 hours DS - Attempt the questions from OG.
Wednesday: 2 hours RC - Attempt the questions from OG.
Thursday: 2 hours PS - Attempt the questions from OG.
Friday: 2 hours CR - Attempt the questions from OG.
Saturday: Give full fledged GMAT test. Analyse and prepare the strategy for the next week.
Sunday: 0.5 hours of each topics continued till Sunday is over.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Sentence Correction - 5/5
Hurray....I tried 5 questions from the OG12 sample questions and got all of them correct. I am very excited about the result. Actually I analyzed all the questions and then first answered without looking into the choices. Then I looked into the choices and marked the answer as the closest to what I thought. In most of the cases it worked fine. In one of the case, without looking at the choice, my understanding was the sentence is already correct. But after looking at the choices, I found a sentence more correct than the original.Or rather it was more elegant, good to speak, no awkwardness.
I got my initial strategy for the SC:
1. Read the question fully and carefully. Do not see the choices.
2. Try to find out what is the flaw in the sentence. Note down your corrections and any major flaw which you are sure of.
3. See the choices now. Look for the choice closest to what you thought of. See the choice which doesnt have the flaw which you found.
4. If it boils down to two choices, select the choice which is more elegant, less awkward, simple and meaningful.
5. Look for tenses, present, past, future. There should be no contradiction.
6. If you are confused or do not have time, eliminate the answer which you surely think is wrong. Make a guess from the choices which you think is correct.
7. If the original sentence itself seems to be correct, then also look for the answers and see if any shorter, sweeter, less awkward sentence can replace the
original. The idea is to get the most well dressed and correct sentence out of the list.
This was a good start. I am very elated and confident. Now I can crack the Sentence correction question with more confidence.
I am writing my analysis of the questions which I solved. I am recording my thought process in the excel sheet, so that I know of why I made that choice at
that time. I am looking for more tips and tricks.
I am also planning to read the spidey SC notes.
I will look into the explanations provided by OG on these 5 questions. Should I just solve 5 questions per day for SC or more. I need to find an answer.
This took too much time. Almost 2 hours....But I was analyzing and writing in excel sheet. The answer was found much earlier. It was only the analysis which
took time.
PS - I got only 5 out of 16 questions correct in the prep test.
I got my initial strategy for the SC:
1. Read the question fully and carefully. Do not see the choices.
2. Try to find out what is the flaw in the sentence. Note down your corrections and any major flaw which you are sure of.
3. See the choices now. Look for the choice closest to what you thought of. See the choice which doesnt have the flaw which you found.
4. If it boils down to two choices, select the choice which is more elegant, less awkward, simple and meaningful.
5. Look for tenses, present, past, future. There should be no contradiction.
6. If you are confused or do not have time, eliminate the answer which you surely think is wrong. Make a guess from the choices which you think is correct.
7. If the original sentence itself seems to be correct, then also look for the answers and see if any shorter, sweeter, less awkward sentence can replace the
original. The idea is to get the most well dressed and correct sentence out of the list.
This was a good start. I am very elated and confident. Now I can crack the Sentence correction question with more confidence.
I am writing my analysis of the questions which I solved. I am recording my thought process in the excel sheet, so that I know of why I made that choice at
that time. I am looking for more tips and tricks.
I am also planning to read the spidey SC notes.
I will look into the explanations provided by OG on these 5 questions. Should I just solve 5 questions per day for SC or more. I need to find an answer.
This took too much time. Almost 2 hours....But I was analyzing and writing in excel sheet. The answer was found much earlier. It was only the analysis which
took time.
PS - I got only 5 out of 16 questions correct in the prep test.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Full Fledged preparation
I am starting the full fledged preparation from today. I need to start it and be inspired. If I dont do the preparation regularly, then the spark will vanish. I dont want that to happen.
I have made an excel sheet which I have uploaded on the googledocs, so that it becomes handy to use.
I will start the preparation with the official guide 12th edition. I have bought the OG 12th edition and the OG review for quant. I have got a repository for the documents. I will be using those document as and when needed as per my strategy.
Once I analyze the practice test given, then only I will start the preparation depending on my analysis. And then the preparation will be started to improve upon the areas needed.
Today's agenda:
1. Complete the analysis of the test. This need to be done today positively.
Analyze each and every question. Write everything you can on that question. What made you to choose the alternative you have chosen. What was the logic for selecting the choice. Etc. The more you analyze, the better your preparation be.
2. Prepare a plan for the next week once you complete the analysis.
I have made an excel sheet which I have uploaded on the googledocs, so that it becomes handy to use.
I will start the preparation with the official guide 12th edition. I have bought the OG 12th edition and the OG review for quant. I have got a repository for the documents. I will be using those document as and when needed as per my strategy.
Once I analyze the practice test given, then only I will start the preparation depending on my analysis. And then the preparation will be started to improve upon the areas needed.
Today's agenda:
1. Complete the analysis of the test. This need to be done today positively.
Analyze each and every question. Write everything you can on that question. What made you to choose the alternative you have chosen. What was the logic for selecting the choice. Etc. The more you analyze, the better your preparation be.
2. Prepare a plan for the next week once you complete the analysis.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
100 best blogs for MBA students
While surfing and searching for the GMAT related things, I tumbled upon this website.
http://www.graduatedegree.org/blog/2009/03/100-best-blogs-for-mba-students/. Hopefully this will have much food for thoughts.
I have to analyze my prep tests. I am going to do that soon. I am on my way to be enthused for the GMAT. I am becoming confident and this journey to go into ISB is becoming interesting.
My gameplan:
1. Prepare a time table for investing atleast 2 hours daily on weekdays and 5 hours on weekend.
2. Daily think for atleast 15 minutes and write on why MBA?
3. Develop a strategy on how to do the preparation for GMAT.
Things to do:
1. Write atleast one blog daily so that I am in the flow.
2. Think, walk, talk, dream about ISB.
3. Be regular in PG.
Let me write what I think now on why I want to do MBA
1. I want to understand the business. I want to understand the full life cycle of a requirement in an organization since the inception of the idea till the implementation of that idea. Currently I am just a doer of a part of the design. I want to understand why in the first place the requirement came. Who got that idea? What will be the benefit to the organization if we implement that idea. I want to be in that place where I can initiate an idea in an organization. I want to take strategic decision in an organization. I want to see my idea and thinking being manifested.
2. I need challenges in my life. I want to do exciting things. I want to come out of the monotonousity of the role which I am performing. There are many things which I think should have been changed which I cannot change under my current capacity. I want to be in that role where I can work in challenging environment and take decisions.
I will be writing more in this blog in the coming days...................
http://www.graduatedegree.org/blog/2009/03/100-best-blogs-for-mba-students/. Hopefully this will have much food for thoughts.
I have to analyze my prep tests. I am going to do that soon. I am on my way to be enthused for the GMAT. I am becoming confident and this journey to go into ISB is becoming interesting.
My gameplan:
1. Prepare a time table for investing atleast 2 hours daily on weekdays and 5 hours on weekend.
2. Daily think for atleast 15 minutes and write on why MBA?
3. Develop a strategy on how to do the preparation for GMAT.
Things to do:
1. Write atleast one blog daily so that I am in the flow.
2. Think, walk, talk, dream about ISB.
3. Be regular in PG.
Let me write what I think now on why I want to do MBA
1. I want to understand the business. I want to understand the full life cycle of a requirement in an organization since the inception of the idea till the implementation of that idea. Currently I am just a doer of a part of the design. I want to understand why in the first place the requirement came. Who got that idea? What will be the benefit to the organization if we implement that idea. I want to be in that place where I can initiate an idea in an organization. I want to take strategic decision in an organization. I want to see my idea and thinking being manifested.
2. I need challenges in my life. I want to do exciting things. I want to come out of the monotonousity of the role which I am performing. There are many things which I think should have been changed which I cannot change under my current capacity. I want to be in that role where I can work in challenging environment and take decisions.
I will be writing more in this blog in the coming days...................
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Gave the first GMAT prep test
Finally I gathered all the courage and time to appear for the GMAT preparatory test. The experience was really good. This test was to know how much in water I am. I got to know where do I stand. Now I have to analyze myself and see what are the improvement area.
Let me first share the result first:
QA - 45 ( 37 Questions - 15 Incorrect)
VA - 20 ( 41 Questions - 19 Incorrect)
Score - 540.
In both the sections QA and VA, I got 22 questions correctly answered.
This was a full GMAT like test. I wrote the AWA section also.
The AWA section was quite soothing. I just wrote what I was getting in my mind. The first topic was about an argument on motor X which is more popular in America because of the noise it makes.
The other topic was "the best teacher is that who discusses more in his class". This was a nice topic. I wrote couple of paragraphs on this topic.
Then came the real GMAT with QA section. I started the test with confidence. I was very confident initially and first 4 questions were correct. But on the fourth question, I guess I spent more time may be 5 minutes, which was unnecessary. Probably the answer also came to be wrong. Need to check during review. The tension was building up. Then some easy questions started appearing. I managed to solve those. One thing which I need to improve is I didn't use the law of elimination in any of the questions. I solved the questions till the end. Probably the law of elimination would have saved some time. It took time in calculation as I lost touch in mathematics. I need to hone up simple math skills. The main problem in QA was on data sufficiency. I took so much time in data sufficiency and also did them wrongly. I need to analyze it question by question.
The next section was Verbal. This is the section in which people from engineering background generally dont do well. I was not an exception. But contrary to my belief I did well in RC compared to other sections viz sentence correction. I have hardly made any right answer in sentence correction. I need to practice the sentence correction a lot. Critical reasoning also went fine. Overall I scored 20 in verbal. Lets see what I get after analysis.
I will be analyzing the score tomorrow and will put in an excel sheet. I remember seeing somekind of analysis excel sheet in PG. I will be posting my score in PG and will ask for the feedback.
Let me first share the result first:
QA - 45 ( 37 Questions - 15 Incorrect)
VA - 20 ( 41 Questions - 19 Incorrect)
Score - 540.
In both the sections QA and VA, I got 22 questions correctly answered.
This was a full GMAT like test. I wrote the AWA section also.
The AWA section was quite soothing. I just wrote what I was getting in my mind. The first topic was about an argument on motor X which is more popular in America because of the noise it makes.
The other topic was "the best teacher is that who discusses more in his class". This was a nice topic. I wrote couple of paragraphs on this topic.
Then came the real GMAT with QA section. I started the test with confidence. I was very confident initially and first 4 questions were correct. But on the fourth question, I guess I spent more time may be 5 minutes, which was unnecessary. Probably the answer also came to be wrong. Need to check during review. The tension was building up. Then some easy questions started appearing. I managed to solve those. One thing which I need to improve is I didn't use the law of elimination in any of the questions. I solved the questions till the end. Probably the law of elimination would have saved some time. It took time in calculation as I lost touch in mathematics. I need to hone up simple math skills. The main problem in QA was on data sufficiency. I took so much time in data sufficiency and also did them wrongly. I need to analyze it question by question.
The next section was Verbal. This is the section in which people from engineering background generally dont do well. I was not an exception. But contrary to my belief I did well in RC compared to other sections viz sentence correction. I have hardly made any right answer in sentence correction. I need to practice the sentence correction a lot. Critical reasoning also went fine. Overall I scored 20 in verbal. Lets see what I get after analysis.
I will be analyzing the score tomorrow and will put in an excel sheet. I remember seeing somekind of analysis excel sheet in PG. I will be posting my score in PG and will ask for the feedback.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
1st day
What could be more better than 1st of a month to start something new. For few years I have a thought of doing MBA. This year I have decided to appear for GMAT. Today I bought OG 12th edition. I wrote a post in PG. I am building up the tempo for the GMAT preparation.
What:
MBA from a good institute.
Where: Target is ISB.
Other institutes to consider: IIM,
Probably will apply for some US university, but will join only if given the schol
Why:
1. Career growth
2. Career switch. Will look for finance or marketing.
3. Hone up entrepreneur skills. Build up network.
When:
Targetting 2010. Executive MBA for the class of 2011.
All the best to me in this endevour.
What:
MBA from a good institute.
Where: Target is ISB.
Other institutes to consider: IIM,
Probably will apply for some US university, but will join only if given the schol
Why:
1. Career growth
2. Career switch. Will look for finance or marketing.
3. Hone up entrepreneur skills. Build up network.
When:
Targetting 2010. Executive MBA for the class of 2011.
All the best to me in this endevour.
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