A Fitness mat, some Music, few books and The GMAT. [[My BLOG]]

Question

Welcome to my Blog, fellow GMAT enthusiasts.

I am sure by now most of you have realized in order to score a decent 700+, the first thing that is required is COMMITMENT and the second thing is SELF-BELIEF.
In my opinion, both of them are actually interrelated. How? you ask.

Well, Commitment means "the state or quality of being dedicated to a cause, activity, etc." I assume if you are reading this journal or blog of mine and have paid close attention to how I have addressed you all, in the beginning, i.e, fellow GMAT enthusiasts, you are pretty much aware of what I mean to say.
If you spend too much time here in GMATCLUB (like me) practicing, looking out for new questions and notes that you rarely check Facebook or any other social sites, then my friend, you are one of the Enthusiasts. But my aim here is to use it my advantage.

I firmly believe I would rather spend my six months thinking solely about GMAT than not being sure about what I want to do and spend two years planning about my MBA and taking half-baked shots at the exam.

"Commit yourself to think about GMAT all the time. Commit yourself to creating your own success story."

Self-belief or self-confidence are thought to be the way that you feel about your skills, abilities, and behaviors. A person who has high confidence levels may learn things quickly. Personally, I consider myself a very optimistic person. The reason being I have not yet taken the exam or fully prepared for it, but here I am ranting about it. You see, I am an Engineer who left his field and went and did some Creative writing and Copywriting, only because I wanted to be in a field that is a little creative. Now that I help my family in our family business, I guess I have quite some time in my hands to look ahead in my career by taking the GMAT and getting into a Business school.
I believe if we COMMIT fully to something it will undoubtedly help us take our Self-Belief to a much higher level.
And hence, this is my approach to the GMAT. I don't know how much I will score but the fear of not getting a high score should not stop me from giving my best shot.

I am very much like most of the guys out here. I want to get a 700+ score in my GMAT.
I plan on applying in ROUND 2 this year. Haven't really selected any programs yet. But I want to clear my GMAT by October first week at least.
(I don't have enough information on how to really search for MBA programs and judge them accordingly.) So it is my second-priority task for next 2 months to understand the complete journey of how to select a suitable MBA program, first being, obviously, cracking the GMAT with 700+.

And as Brian from Veritas often refers to someone's quote that goes something like " Don’t mistake activity for achievement.”
This is the reason why I am here writing this blog and sharing my feelings and my study and fun schedule with everyone. Like-minded people aiming for the same thing are more than welcome to join me here. Would love to follow you/ your diary or blog if you have any.

I firmly believe in creating small goals and smashing them. Hence, my Blog reads "A Fitness mat, some Music, few books and The GMAT. "

Fitness Mat --> I have a vision. It's been so long that I have given any test that I have to go with this slightly absurd or weird approach. I am an existentialist so absurdism is something that I passionately follow, apart from searching for the meaning of life, which in itself is absurd af :twisted:

.
I want to enter the exam center in the best shape I have ever been in my life. The main reason is to avoid stress and fell much better and lighter.
Hence, Fitness Mat is my companion in this journey.

PS -- There's a reason why most test prep companies ask you to be stress-free and more confident in your approach when you enter the exam hall. I am just trying to take it all in and feel the love for my GMAT from the start.

Music --> I thought of adding it here because I am sure I will end up mentioning the playlist I will be using during my workout and even during long sessions of Quant practice. I prefer good Post-Rock or Instrumental or Shoe-gaze during quant practice sessions. It helps me sit my bum down for 2-3 hours straight.

Books --> There are a few fiction and non-fiction books I plan on reading during this time of my preparation. I believe some of them will directly or indirectly help me improve my reading habits and increase my comprehension. I actually like reading. But time is always a constraint.
Ps -- If you don't know about this website called GOODREADS, please check it out. It's THE website for readers.

The GMAT ----> I need not mention anything about it now here in my first post because most of my blog posts will only deal with it. I plan on writing a post every 2-3 days with the updates on what and how I am learning. I will try to update my Mock results also here just so that I keep on track and take as many mocks as required. I will mention all the RESOURCES I will be using along with some details in the next post.

This is supposed to be a personal blog. But I welcome any and everyone who feel they have same goals as mine and would like to join and form a team and demystify the GMAT together.

I will cya soon.
Till then. Stay safe. And KEEP GRINDING.

. I want to enter the exam center in the best shape I have ever been in my life. The main reason is to avoid stress and fell much better and lighter. Hence, Fitness Mat is my companion in this journey. PS -- There's a reason why most test prep companies ask you to be stress-free and more confident in your approach when you enter the exam hall. I am just trying to take it all in and feel the love for my GMAT from the start. Music --> I thought of adding it here because I am sure I will end up mentioning the playlist I will be using during my workout and even during long sessions of Quant practice. I prefer good Post-Rock or Instrumental or Shoe-gaze during quant practice sessions. It helps me sit my bum down for 2-3 hours straight. Books --> There are a few fiction and non-fiction books I plan on reading during this time of my preparation. I believe some of them will directly or indirectly help me improve my reading habits and increase my comprehension. I actually like reading. But time is always a constraint. Ps -- If you don't know about this website called GOODREADS, please check it out. It's THE website for readers. The GMAT ----> I need not mention anything about it now here in my first post because most of my blog posts will only deal with it. I plan on writing a post every 2-3 days with the updates on what and how I am learning. I will try to update my Mock results also here just so that I keep on track and take as many mocks as required. I will mention all the RESOURCES I will be using along with some details in the next post. This is supposed to be a personal blog. But I welcome any and everyone who feel they have same goals as mine and would like to join and form a team and demystify the GMAT together. I will cya soon. Till then. Stay safe. And KEEP GRINDING.

Inten21 · Answer

My Arsenal
 =======

1.  Official Guide.  (I have saved it for later use.) I end up solving some OG questions when I practice here in Gmatclub

2.  E-gmat's SC . (I have recently started it. But I am taking my time with it. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED as well.)

3.  Manhattan GMAT  Quant 3 books and Manhattan SC

4. The  PowerScore   GMAT   Critical Reasoning Bible

5. Manhattan  MATH and VERBAL Foundation

6.  Aristotle SC Grail

7. GMATPREPNOW ---> Brent is the guy behind this project. He is such an awesome guy and has a great way of teaching. People used to go gaga over this website when it was free. Now very few people talk about it. I don't have a subscription but I had saved a few lessons on SC and some QUANT when it used to be free. I can't recommend this website enough especially if you are just starting out.
I recommend downloading the slides he has created based on his complete course both Quant and Verbal.

8. GMATclub free MATH Book.

9. GMATclub Question Inventory to practice a few questions here and there.

10. I plan on getting GMAT TOOLKIT for my phone by next month and GMATclub tests around September sometime.

There are a few other non-fictions I plan on reading. I will update them as and when I read them.

Feel free to contact me about anything. I will happily guide you to the best of my knowledge.

PS -- If any of my posts in my blog help you, please leave a  KUDO , you won't realize it but it will be of much help to me.

KEEP GRINDING, my friends.
And Don't forget to be Awesome. :D

Blackbox · Answer

Thank you! I look forward to interacting with you.

Inten21 · Answer

Hello, Blackbox. :-)

It's nice to know that your blog is being read. Although it is temporary, I must stay focused and active. I haven't recently posted anything here, but I will be back in a day or two. I have been studying a little bit here and there. Mostly I have been working on my quant, trying to get into a comfortable GMAT level. I aim to go much deeper and intense from next month for sure. Please, tell me about yourself and your GMAT journey. Do you have a blog here too? Inten.

Blackbox · Answer

Hello, Inten Nice to meet you

I do not have a blog on here but I am mostly a silent lurker. I have not been active on this forum until a couple of months ago when I decided to sit the GMAT test. Just like you, I don't have any schools shortlisted as yet but my first aim is to cross the 700 barrier. I think that is my redemption. I used to be a full time professional until recently and have attempted to work-study several times in the past few years (at least from 2013 on). I don't want to speak for others but for me, it has been very challenging (read: not motivated and hence zero birds given) to come home after a trying day and go thru the obnoxiousness of Critical Reasoning. So, I resigned from my more-than-decently-paying-job in hopes of the 700 unicorn (again, it is a metaphor that mostly applies to me). Besides the fact that I still abhor Critical Reasoning, I am pulling a decent 6 hour study day everyday. Being from South India, where it is expected of every baby to be "amazing" at Mathematics, my Math is beyond rusty and I started out with a scanty 30 points on my first diagnostic test. I am severely investing my time on reading MGMAT "free" books and working on 500-600 level questions from this forum to build my confidence - I am working on EVERY single question from the 500 category. Data Sufficiency questions still haunt me in my sleep, so for now, I have put them on the back burner . A friend of mine on this forum recommended that I concentrate mostly on 500, 600 leveled Quant questions rather than 700 and that is what I am doing at the moment. I feel that I am reasonably strong in SC and Reading Comp. But, I'd like to improve my reading accuracy and timing. I'd appreciate if you have any tips for me in that avenue. Anyways, that is about me so far!

Inten21 · Answer

It is my pleasure to meet you here, Blackbox. On improving Reading accuracy and timing, I guess you should try READ THEORY. I have recently started practicing there. They have passages divided in different Lexile scores and they take your standard of reading up slowly. I don't know how much it will benefit. But I kinda liked it. Give it a try is what I will suggest. I would recommend PowerScore CR if you don't have it already. I plan on finishing that book this month (at least a good thorough one-time serious read). But I plan a lot of things.

No. **** that. I will do it One suggestion: START ENJOYING GMAT, bro. I actually enjoying preparing. I like how GMAT tries to inculcate us with the importance of CRITICAL THINKING, REASONING, WRITING, CRITICAL READiNG and actually IMPORTANT TRICKY QUANT. We can only get through this if we enjoy this and if we really want this. So CR and DS is what you think will give you problem. I kinda feel the same about DS and some tough questions of CR. SC is okay for me now. I heavily underestimated the MGMAT books. It's like you hear people talking about something so much that you kind of end up taking it less seriously than it should be. Only two days ago, I started with MGMAT books. And I am actually falling in love with QUANT all over again. The thing that haunts me now is I haven't taken a MOCK yet. I just want to go through all topics of QUANT (at least 70%) before taking a mock. Have only studied a few types of CR questions basics. Not touched RC yet. Familiar with around 60 % of SC rules. I kind of like SC. I know I will do really good with some practice. When are you planning to take the GMAT? What's your strategy? And how are you planning to go about with researching schools?

Inten21 · Answer

To all the friends and fellow GMAT enthusiasts,

If you haven't already, and if you are planning to give GMAT anytime soon, I recommend taking benefit of this beautiful opportunity to practice on EXPERT'S GLOBAL mocks.
I have read some decent reviews here plus I think it might help someone who can't spend a lot of moolah on mocks.
Or maybe save that for MOCK3 and 4 from GMAC. Plus it's free.

Here is the link:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/15-gmat-prac ... l#p1908367

KEEP GRINDING.
And Don't forget to be Awesome. :D

HakunaMatata15 · Answer

Thank you so much, Inten21. 
That is such a great help.

Happy Learning.

Inten21 · Answer

I am glad my post helped you.

Happy Learning to you too.

Inten21 · Answer

Quant Game needs to change, BRO.
=========================

I am starting to feel I need to change my game to prepare for GMAT MATH. Until now, (in High School and College), it was all about learning a certain type of questions and strategies and solving a lot of problems to familiarize yourself with the strategy.

Solving a decent number of questions here in Gmatclub (not a lot though, I like solving verbal here more) is also not giving me a boost of confidence which I think everyone needs at least when it comes to MATH. I haven't read complete MGMAT page to page yet but I have covered some of my fav topics. But learning some concepts will not ensure that I crack every question thrown at me (YEAH! I know I am not supposed to crack every ques. but "MOST" number of questions I can to score decently.) People who score really good also get a decent share of wrong answers but the GAME lies in getting a tough one wrong and a simple problem wrong.

So starting today, I swear on my neighbor's mother, ::Coz I don't have any neighbors as such::, how ever much I feel the urge to jump around topics and concepts, I will TRY to stick to my game. After all, I have planned this **** just for this month. The aim is to choose certain MATH topics, say 2 or 3, and spend a decent two/three day studying and thinking about them.

I have realized THINKING about them is more important in GMAT than studying a lot from different sources. All these notes and flashcards ain't helping me after all.

So for 19-20-21 AUGUST, I have selected three topics which I will post below.
I might mix it up a little bit here and there with some SC and RC. Since I am not studying them religiously this month, I will only post my MATH GAME here. One of the main reason to post here is that I actually want to be done with GMAT by OCTOBER sometime. For that, I need to be serious (as if I have a choice.) [Inner me: and watch a lot of Rick and Morty, follow Conor/Mayweather drama, watch MESSI score some amazing goals this La Liga and wait for all the awesome UFC fights to come.]

PS -- I keep coming across some really good Coursera courses and other books and comics and they take up my time too.
Guess this is the main reason I will update all this in a 2/3 days gap here so that at least by the end of this month, I may be able to complete (Think about and Analyze) at least 70-80% of all CONCEPTS tested in GMAT MATH. THAT IS THE GOAL.

I wish you guys all the best in your journey.

My Tip: And I strongly urge to come up with your own strategy, make your own notes and solve questions you want to solve from whatever source you want, but just make sure to understand and learn the things GMAT expects you to know in MATH. Reading Success stories is one thing, writing your own is another.

If I'm going to Talk the Talk, I have got to Walk the Walk, right? :clap:

Oh! That reminds me of my Fitness mat. :shifty:

HAHA! Just kidding, My fitness routine is going okay. It's not like I am aiming for a 6 pack after all. :think:

19-20-21 AUGUST
=============

1. Arithmetic
2. Counting
3. Power and Roots

I am using GMATPREPNOW's website to organize my math studies this month.
My aim is not to solve MGMAT completely or complete some online tutor's question bank. The aim this month is to learn and think about TOPICS. I really want to finish all the topics this month, but let's see how it works out for me. But I don't mind leaving a couple for next month.

Edit -- I replaced INTEGER PROPERTIES here with ARITHMETIC because I feel Integer Properties is such an important topic that it needs two days separately.

Oh! That reminds me of my Fitness mat. :shifty:

HAHA! Just kidding, My fitness routine is going okay. It's not like I am aiming for a 6 pack after all. :think:

19-20-21 AUGUST ============= 1. Arithmetic 2. Counting 3. Power and Roots I am using GMATPREPNOW's website to organize my math studies this month. My aim is not to solve MGMAT completely or complete some online tutor's question bank. The aim this month is to learn and think about TOPICS. I really want to finish all the topics this month, but let's see how it works out for me. But I don't mind leaving a couple for next month. Edit -- I replaced INTEGER PROPERTIES here with ARITHMETIC because I feel Integer Properties is such an important topic that it needs two days separately.

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A Fitness mat, some Music, few books and The GMAT. [[My BLOG]]

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