Quest to do my Best - My GMAT Journey Log

Note:
I was pleasantly surprised by the number of 700-800 level questions I encountered :D
Although I got some of them wrong, I learned the knack to reaching these questions

Now it is time to go back to the books

P.S.

Observation for Quant:
The variation in percentile estimate score is the greatest for the first 5 questions (approx +/- 10 percentile). For the next 5 to 8 questions, the variation is approximately +/- 5 percentile. For the remaining questions, the percentile variation is +/- 2.

Implication:
Focus on getting the first 5 correct even if some extra time is required (not more than 30s though)
To get the first 5 right, fundamental concepts must be very strong. Once the first 3 questions are answered correctly, there is a good chance that the majority of questions ahead would be of high difficulty.

Okay... Update:
I've been reading about the whole GMAT scoring algorithm and it seems that the first five questions aren't that big a deal and it seems that the best way around is to treat them all the same!

Anyway... Today I finished reading through Two Books of the Manhattan Series

Inequalities
and
Percentage Fraction decimal

Tomorrow I will finish Word Translation and Geometry :D

Wooooooohooooooooooo!

A brand new day and I got a few things to look forward to:

1. Finishing the Manhattan Geometry Guide
2. Finishing the Manhattan Problem Solving Guide
3. Reading through the Manhattan Critical Reasoning Guide

A Few things I have realized:
1. My math is not as rusty as I thought it was ^_^
2. I am familiar with approximately 95% of the concepts in the basic section of the Manhattan GMAT. However, the info in the Advanced Section enlightened me on many areas and broadened my perspective on many subjects.

Alrighty then

I'm done with all the Manhattan Quant Books ^_^

Started solving questions from the 'Problem Solving' section of the Official Guide. I'm doing them in batches of 37 questions.

I pick questions based on a randomly generated series .e.g. Question Numbers ending with 3 - such as 03, 13, 23, 33, 43 etc.

NOTE: From now on, when I say PS Series 3, I mean:

Questions from the Problem Solving Section (of the Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition) for which the question number ends with 3.
e.g. 03, 13, 23, 33 etc.

That said,
I have completed PS Series 1, 3 & 5 today. That's a total of 69 questions.
Number of Questions Correctly Answered: 68 [There was one mixture problem that did me in]

Update for Today:
Finished half of the PS Questions in the OG and I plan to finish half of the DS Questions by tomorrow afternoon and write a Manhattan Prep test in the evening

nice! Good luck to you!

Good Morning Good People!
:D

It's a brand new day and my plan for the day is as follows:
1. Take the Manhattan CAT#3
Purpose:
a) To check if the time spent in reviewing the 5 Manhattan Quant Guides and Solving Half of the PS questions from the OG has helped! If it boosts my score by a point or two, I would assume that my approach is working. However, if the score remains the same, I need to look deeper to find the cause of the problem.
b) I have done no extra preparation for the verbal part. So I just want to check if my verbal score is still the same!

Yahooooooooooo!

I just finished the Manhattan CAT#3 :D

I'm all smiles... So did I get a +700 score? NO!



Then what is all the excitement about?

Well, I took the test with a certain expectation in my mind. These expectations are outlined in my previous post.
I'm happy because I met all my expectations viz.
1. A 3 point improvement over my previous quant raw score
2. Not much change in the verbal score.

So... The scores are:

Quantitative 47 81 %
Verbal 34 72 %
Total 670 89 %

Problem area:
1. DS taking too much time.
2. Verbal skills have not improved (but they haven't fallen either)

Summary of Manhattan CAT Score:

CAT#1
Quantitative 42 66 %
Verbal 33 69 %
Total 620 76 %

CAT#2
Quantitative 44 73 %
Verbal 35 77 %
Total 650 84 %

CAT#3
Quantitative 47 81 %
Verbal 34 72 %
Total 670 89 %

Where to go from here:
1. Start strengthening the verbal raw score
2. Solve the rest of the questions from the PS & DS sections of the official guide
3. Take the 4th Manhattan CAT on 10th of Feb :D

Damn!
Well, today is a sad day for me
I was hoping to do my MBA from one of the India's Top Ten B-Schools. Although I scored 91 percentile in one of the entrance exams and 95 in another, I did not get any calls from the institutions I applied to. I was hoping to get into one particular institute because they prefer people with work-ex. Today they published their list of candidates shortlisted for interview - my name wasn't in that list!
It's a major crash and burn for me...
So I'm gonna take an hour or two to wallow in the mire... Then, it's business as usual - Back to GMAT prep!

Damn.... I see the resistance building... with negative thoughts taking shape... Can I? Should I? What if?

Aaaaaaaaaaaargh!

Alright! Enough

Time to live up to my motto - "Feel the fear... and do it anyway!"

Hey there, I have added your progress/journey report to the master thread: gmat-journeys-master-thread-109007.html#p868820

Good luck!

Update:
My quant score has saturated at 47. However, I'd compare my verbal skills to a fertile field which is yet to be used for cultivation! Sure, few fruit trees have grown here and there But, it's time to sow the seeds and to reap the harvest.

I've been solving the RC and CR questions without using any particular strategy or technique. I mostly go by the feel of the answer and I've fallen into many traps because of this. So, my first move would be to internalize the RC strategy outlined in Manhattan GMAT. I've read the book three times already and I shall paraphrase it to bullet points (like Whiplash has).

I will post the resultant document here for your review

Tally Ho!

Okay... So now it's official - I got dinged by all the Indian B-schools I applied to this year!
:D
Now my mind is focused like Gildfinger's LAZER beam

It's GMAT all the way!