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.

Day 4

1:32 am.

The day was busy. Still I managed to complete 35 questions from OG on SC. I got an accuracy of 80%. I am happy. I think the techniques are going in me and I can answer the questions confidently now. The process of elimination is really helpful. I got 28 correct out of the 35 questions.

In QA, I am very much confident in PS. I just need to maintain my cool and read the questions carefully before starting on the answer. There are very similar answers and there are chances where by silly mistake, wrong answer is ticked.

I am not able to find any date beyond May 9 for GMAT. I will check and see if no other date is available, I wil take that date.

Soon, I will be creating my complete schedule on the preparation for GMAT.

Day 3

Today I did attend the Maths Class. It was very interesting. I enjoyed the class and my lost love for Mathematics rose again inside me. I could answer 5 questions out of 10 given at the beginning of the class.

Tips for Maths:

• Interpret the questions correctly. Do not start answering in vain.
• Devote some time atleast for the questions which come in the beginning of GMAT as they almost decide the score.
• Be patient and relaxed. Do not assume anything. e.g AX=BX => A=B (X can be 0) or number of factors of 12 is 10 and not 5 ( -ve factors also included)
• Practice and do not be overconfident. Maintain your cool.

Preparing for Mathematics should not be a tough job as I love Mathematics.

After coming from the class, I started searching about Harvard and reading about it. I am targetting a score of 780 or above. I also read a lot about IIM A PGPX. I am aiming for IIMA PGPX. It would be an enriching experience going to IIM A. It will be fun.

Soon, I will be creating a strategic plan to crack GMAT. I will be updating my progress on GMAT daily. Writing blog is a very good technique to keep myself update as well as revise the learnings and reinforce my goal. This is also a mean to check where I stand.

The most important part in preparation for GMAT is solving OG 12 atleast twice. I will do that. Before Monday, I need to solve 140 SC questions. Also, by next Wednesday, I will complete solving Nova to come to pace in Mathematics.

I will practice the techniques taught by the English teacher to solve SC questions. So, daily target is 35 questions from tomorrow for OG SC.

I will be setting up my daily goals based on this. I need to keep some time before actual GMAT for mock tests too. I would give all the mock test provided.

I really am enjoying the journey of preparation for GMAT. I know everything happens for good. I am very enthusiastic and very much positive about GMAT. I need to be consistent in my effort.

I was looking for the GMAT date but I was not getting date in May end. I will look again after some days and see which date am I getting.

Day 2

1:25 am:
I am writing this post at night. And as I am writing, I am beckoning the 1st day of Second month, which is February. Today or should I say yesterday was an exciting day. I learnt so many tips about sentence correction. I am enjoying the journey of GMAT. This is great.

Few tips about GMAT

• GMAT is simple. Do not make it complex. The questions are on a definite pattern.
• Choose the process of elimination rather than the process of selection.
• Try to solve the questions within 1 minute.
• Relax. (This tip I got from PMP exam which can be applied anywhere)

The fun is in journey and not in destination. I am enjoying each and every bit of my journey. I need to take the date for GMAT.

Tips for sentence correction:

1. ing : ing is noun, modifier or continuous action.

         e.g. Writing poetry. Here writing is noun
                Smiling people. Here smiling is modifier.

• She is writing. Here writing is continuous action.
• She is irritating. Here irritating is modifier.

    2. If you write info about specific name, coma comes. If you write info about non specific coma doesnot come.
        e.g. Joe, irritating everyone stood there.
               He irritating everyone stood there.

 3. If ing is not preceeded by is/are/am/was/were, the ing is not a continous action.
     e.g. Writing is my passion. Here writing is not continuous action.
             I like writing. Here writing is not continuous action.

 4. The important part in the sentence is subject. The not important part in the sentence is modifier or information.

5. When you can use number just before the noun, the noun is countable. When you need to use another word between the number and noun, the noun is un countable.
e.g. 3 stars, 3 pieces of ice

6. Pronoun     Singular / Plural          F / PR / PAST
       it / they         has                               has
                            have                             had

7. Subject:
    Tom's wallet (wallet is subject, after apostrophy)
     Wallet of Tom (Wallet is subject, before preposition)
     one of my friends from schooldays (one is subject ---- before 1st preposition)
    
8. John with his family members is coming to the party       
             as well as his family is coming to the party
     John and Maria are .....
9. Not only                                  But also
    Either                                      Or
    Neither                                    Nor
  
    The is / are (singularity / plurality) is decided on the basis of subject with (But also, or and Nor)

10. My old car keys. Here Keys is subject.
      (Last part is subject)

11. Usage of only:
       Speak just English  
       I need only Rs 500.
       I need to only talk to you.
12. due to is correct where it can be easily replaced by caused by
13. Two sentences can be connected by that ; and.
       That carries related information or used as connector.
14. Just like ------- wrong words.
15. Comparative ( Like, unlike, as, just as, than, as xyz as, same as, similar as)
      Main subject and the word after comparative should be similar.
16. -----------------and ---------------------and------------
      The parts of sentences in between and should be parallel... or should be structured in the same way.