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ManishS
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ManishS
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youven
congrats mate, what exactly do u mean by sectional tests in quants?
Thanks :)
I mean that instead of practicing the complete CAT that you may have, attempting only the quant section .The verbal later may be attempted later when you prepare for it. The Gmat Club tests have 20 odd quant tests only. You can give them a try :-)
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congrats Manish! I'm happy for you
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:-D Congrats yaar, you have score better than your practice tests.

Good luck for your application. Keep us updated.
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ManishS
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rid82
congrats Manish! I'm happy for you
Thanks Rid.. You know I was a little nervous. Thanks for your help !! :-)
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ManishS
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gurpreetsingh
:-D Congrats yaar, you have score better than your practice tests.

Good luck for your application. Keep us updated.
Hey Gurpreet !! Thanks !!!!
Nice to see a punjabi in the forum.. Me a punjabi too..
Jo Bole Sonihal... Satshriakaal !!! :)
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Manish, thank you very much for a detailed report and congratulations on your score. I would like to ask you a few questions:

1) Weren't you exhausted taking so many CATs?

2) In what way did taking CATs help you?

3) Could you be more specific on how you used an error log?

4) How did you deal with burnout? Did you try to prevent burnout?

5) Could you describe you daily study routine?

6) How did you deal with fatigue when studying, esp. after work?

7) How did you manage to combine studying with working?

8) Could you please describe your revision strategy?

10) How confident were you after finishing your preparation and what about your confidence on the test day?
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nonameee
Manish, thank you very much for a detailed report and congratulations on your score. I would like to ask you a few questions:
Thanks Nonamee !

Sorry for the late reply.

Quote:
1) Weren't you exhausted taking so many CATs?
I gave one CAT every week during my initial months of preps. However, I started giving 2 cats each week from the 2nd month onwards. I gave one CAT each day in the last week before the Gmat. I didnt give any CATs in the last 2 days.
Yes it is very exhausting. A CAT takes atleast 5 hours (Adding up the CAT + review time ) and its difficult to squeeze in a CAT in your schedule if you are working as well.

Quote:
2) In what way did taking CATs help you?
CATs helped me in the following way:

1. I was so used to giving CATs that the GMAT day felt like another practice CAT. Sitting for 4 hours straight was easy on the day when it mattered the most. Practicing with the GmatPrep in the final few days helps The look and feel of the real exam is so similar to GmatPrep that you may feel that its just a practice test.

2. I was able to manage my time in an efficient manner. I learnt how to used my 75 minutes efficiently. The funda is that GMAT problems are not tough. Any one can solve these questions if allowed to spend 5 minutes on each question. But you've got just 1.5 minutes roughly for each question and this is the time limit in which you are expected to solve them.

I remember that during the early days of my preparation, I would realize that I have some 15 minutes in hand and 13 questions to solve. I would then panic and make a lot of mistakes. But regular practice CATs helped me spread out my time evenly across all the questions. During my final few days of preparation, I would have around 8-10 questions to solve with around 22 minutes in hand and it helped me to relax myself and solve the questions with more concentration.

I've felt that the initial few questions in the Quant are the simple ones. The toughness level rises when you solve them correctly. It means that you can expect the first 5 questions to be of medium difficulty. I would attempt to solve them a little quickly. I would then just use those extra few minutes earned for the tougher questions later !

Quote:
3) Could you be more specific on how you used an error log?
I used a primitive way of maintaining the error log.
Quant:
I kept a notebook with me for the quant preparation. I divided that notebook into sections namely Number System / DS / Geometry / Word Problems / Probability and Premutation/Combination.
I would look out for good questions around and note them down with stepwise solving procedure in the notebook. This way I made a collection of difficult and tricky questions for the Quant section. I would solve the noted down questions many times so that I learn how to stay away from their traps. Every CAT would give me 5 - 10 questions which were tricky. I would jot them down and practice them. I kept it as simple as this .

Quote:
4) How did you deal with burnout? Did you try to prevent burnout?
I felt a burnout during the second month of my preparation. I would feel all this preparation is trash. The CAT scores would bog me down often.
The best solution to this is that you accept that you have a burnout and that you still have to carry on. Don't let it get into your head. Burnouts are a temporary phase where your scores would dip or remain stable. But let that phase pass and you can expect a spike in your results .

The graph above is a demonstration of what I feel about the Burnout. I always saw a spike after the burnout.
Quote:
5) Could you describe you daily study routine?
I generally went to the office in the morning at 10:00 and would return around 6:00 in the evening. Would study for 4 to 5 hours and then off to sleep. In the last few days I took leave from the office and studied 7-10 hours per day. I would like to state that I have my own business and hence had the leverage of taking a leave from office in the last few days.
And must admit that its a very difficult think to manage between work and studies. I was lucky to have had 10 hours to study each day in the last few days .

Quote:
6) How did you deal with fatigue when studying, esp. after work?
Nothing noticeable to mention. I suggest spending time with family helps.

Quote:
7) How did you manage to combine studying with working?
Explained in 5.

Quote:
8) Could you please describe your revision strategy?

As explained earlier I revised all tricky questions in maths regularly. I didnt have a clear cut strategy for english and thats where I faltered. In hindsight I feel that maintaining a copy of all SCs and CRs that I couldnt solve, would have made a good set of questions to revise.


Quote:
10) How confident were you after finishing your preparation and what about your confidence on the test day?

The last few GMATpreps when I scored in excess of 700 made me feel pretty good. I was happy that I could cross 700 consistently albeit only in the last few days. I was a little scared too, that I was marginally crossing the 700 score ( 710. 720 type scores).. But did I have a choice ? I decided to just face whatever would happen on the test day and keep a cool head.

I tried rehearsing the whole exam in my mind before the actual thing happened. I asked people what to expect in the exam . Read other test takers experiences on the forum. It really helped a lot.
I even visited my test centre a day before the test just to make sure I knew the place. I went inside the test centre, reconfirmed my schedule and came back. It is always good to remove all those anxieties about the test centre from your mind.

Cheers. And all the Best !!!!!! :)
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Thank you for your great replies!
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Keep up the good work, thanks for the review.
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Manish, thanks for such detailed answers to my questions. Didn't expect anything like that. It was very informative and useful. Best regards.
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ManishS
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@Nonamee, Robin, BB.

:)
I owe alot to the forum.. :) Its my duty to reply.. :)
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Excellent score and debrief. Your replies are also great!
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Thank you!!! Great !! All the best!
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ManishS
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Hey Bmillon, Phoenixrulzz...

Thanks :-)
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