1st gmat...Great lessons of patience and humbleness...

What matters in the long run is the attitude................I'm sure this positive attitude of yours will take you places!!!
And you r surely a lucky man to have such a good wife!!!

First of all, thank you guys for the encouragements. Especially Ps 25:4-5, Amen to that... I know that my attitude come from Him and Him alone.
As for my preparations, I have done:

OG11th
Princeton Review
about 1/3 of 1000 SC
about 1/5 of 1000 CR

Since english is my weakness, I bougth Manhattan GMAT SC and CR. I have hear may good things about them. As for the break, I feel that I don't need it. I am not burned out that is for sure. Funny thing is that I look forward to studying at night after work. I am excited because our company is closing for the 3rd and 4th. I am going to try to capitalize on this... Any suggestion will be appreciated.

Buddy, your attitude is the one which will carry long way. I strongly believe positive attitude makes things easier.

I will recommend you to share your detail study strategy so people can comment on that.

I really admired your great and positive attitude, I haven’t taken the GMAT, but I think the same way as you. No score should put you down; always remember that it’s always the beginning and not the end of something (whatever the result is).
Keep going and remember that you are not the only one felling that way.

My best wishes and prayers are with you and don’t let anything keep you down. YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Regards,

I have gone through the OG11 twice for all material. I would have to admit though that I was not 100% for sure on the SC part. The CR was kind of hard to really go back because, it seemed that I have either seen it here on GMAt club or I have seen it on 1000CR, so I was getting most of them right. More memorization I think. As for the RC, after OG11, I started with LSAT RC. (Not sure if this was a good idea though)

During my study times, I would do 20 (DS and PS) and 20 (SC, CR, RC) every weeknight and more on the weekends. This took a long time, and I would have to say that towards the end of my study sessions, I would get really tired and I really did not go back and fully understand why I missed the problems. I guess working +10hrs a day and trying to study till 2am really does not help much.

Pretty much I would have to say that I was more into the quantity instead of the quality. The above strategy is pretty much what I did. I know that compared to some, it is weak in its structure. I have changed the strategy now. I am going to focus more on understanding rather than how many problems I do. Please feel free to express any thoughts/concerns... I really want to change my stratedy this time around. thanks in advance

That is the attitude to have.... The ones who scored 700 and above in the first attempt.. Hats off to you... But believe me.. I have given GMAT 3 times. I have not crossed the 550 barrier. But I know I will cross it and cross it big. I am preparing the 4th time. So carry on those of you who have failed.... Do not give up... My wife has picked me up all the 3 times and all the times she has asked me one question: " Are you planning to give it one more time?"

Nothing is IMPOSSIBLE in this world because even the word IMPOSSIBLE says... I'M POSSIBLE.

Remember this... I am sure we will all be applying to a decent school of our choice and get into our dream program.

That is the attitude to have.... The ones who scored 700 and above in the first attempt.. Hats off to you... But believe me.. I have given GMAT 3 times. I have not crossed the 550 barrier. But I know I will cross it and cross it big. I am preparing the 4th time. So carry on those of you who have failed.... Do not give up... My wife has picked me up all the 3 times and all the times she has asked me one question: " Are you planning to give it one more time?"

Nothing is IMPOSSIBLE in this world because even the word IMPOSSIBLE says... I'M POSSIBLE.

Remember this... I am sure we will all be applying to a decent school of your choice and get into your dream program.

Oh, I love this.... the great attitude, looking back not at a failure, but at an experience and having a goal to reach!!! That is what keeps me going... knowing that others are in the same position, with similar goals!

And even though I am anxious about the magic final number, deep down I know that it is within my reach and it is up to me to get what I want

Life is tough, but the experience is important! And I don't feel like I am wasting my time with GMAT any more... instead I am learning very valueable lessons from many people here!

acfuture,
great story and awesome determination... I salute you!!! As for the strategy, I realized it long ago that this GMAT thing isn't about QUANTITY, but rather QUALITY... very important!!! get down to basics and nail those before you do more and run out of practice problems!!!

Good luck!

I really admire you, acfuture. I can remember, you have PMed me a few times. Well if it helps, next time you write, have a good strategy in place.

In my experience, coming to this site, from the 1st day of preparation, is very intimidating. You keep trying out all the difficult questions posted here for both Verbal and Quant without getting your roots steady.

What I can suggest is, give yourself about two months time atleast.

This is how I spaced myself

1) Verbal: First go thru SC from MGMAT. This takes you through OG. I did this about 3 times, and each time, I was learning something new.
2) For RC, I followed Nandan's tips which is in sticky posted by good old Vivek. Apply that in OG
3) For CR, I best loved the Princeton Strategy. Apply that for OG questions.

Now when you are done with OG, start going through the CR/SC/RC 1000 documents slowly participating in the club now, as you have got a hang of it !! Again, never be happy that you have got a question right. Always reason in your head what was wrong with the others. If you are not able to figure out, get help from the club

Keep doing a few questions everyday even with your Math prep

Now Math: I liked the Princeton strategy for this again. I went thru all the Princeton questions, and then the Og questions. Once that was done, I started participating in the forum for Math.
My Math has not been really bad, so I have not had to struggle with the Basics. But if you have aproblem with your basics, get that sorted out first before venturing out to solve difficult problems.

please let me know if you require any help.

That's the attitude to have! I am so impressed.

I don't think i am really in a position to give you a lot of feedback (since the Club's pros have responded already). English is my second language and the first time I took the practice test, I scored 30. When I finally took the GMAT the score was 39. I found that the easiest section for us non-speakers to do better is the RC. I used the strategy laid out in Kaplan (I found MGMAT's too odd... I am just not used to "skimming" but that's just me) and saw my score go up immediately to 37. From there, I would review the MGMAT SC book once every two weeks or so, which helped greatly. I always had a problem with the CR and for my second attempt, I will be studying from the LSAT, as well.

I tried to have the same attitude as you on my test day. I walked in thinking how it was a beautiful day and that everything will be fine. That I will give the exam my best and I will not let my nerves get to me. When I finally got my score, I knew that I would have to take it again, but I looked at the positives... that taking the test was a good way to ease my nerves when I take it again, and I did figure out what I need to really review before my second attempt...

I know that this is totally off the topic, but have you seen a documentary called "What the Bleep?"? It goes into a scientific explanation about how our attitudes can impact the outcome... while the movie is kind of poorly made, the content is pretty good. The theme of the movie was the first thing I thought of after reading your post.

Good luck. I will be taking it again too, so if you want a study buddy, do let me know.

remgeo
you are back...!!! I hope your apps are going well. yeah, since i last spoke with you, like I have mentioned above, I focused too much on Quantity and not on Quality. The MGMAT SC is supposed to arrive tomorrow. I will take your advice....

Thank you ALL, ALL your suggestions has helped me develope a game plan... starting is half the battle..!!!

I truly admire the persistence embodied by some of you here and i'm sure with such endurance you'll make it sooner or later . God listen to us, he reward those who "dare to fail" and know how to bounce back and learn from each failure. From my experience, I have truly learned that lesson ...
Best wishes to you and may your dream come true...

I want to celebrate you for your sincerity and determination..

Hope, you will achieve your dream score. Don't give up and do your best. I am sure God will always be with you..

Your strategies are now seems in place-- GMAT is not about quantity of work but quality of work.

I would suggest following
1) Divide and concur. Divide each section in subsections for ex Verbal- SC, RC, CR for SC 7-9 types of errors etc. Do Strength and weaknesses analyses and decide where to focus--Remember self realization about where you stand on each of section is half battle won.
2) You are already keeping active log that’s good though keep in mind if you learnt it today and could not remember it on exam day it’s vested efforts so review error log and make effort not to repeat same mistakes.

For CR I using LSAT GMAT is good idea, though some questions are quite tough and may not be relevant still its and excellent tool to improve CR. “The GMAT Critical Reasoning Bibleâ€