Debrief -
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Hi,
Here is the D-Day report =>
DISCLAIMER: This report may be overly dramatized or exaggerated around some corners. I can't help it !
Morning at the office
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Well, part of my work involves Production-Support at a bank backoffice.
Unfortunately we had some technical issues and a version migration got planned on the day I was scheduled to take the test. ( talk about luck)
So, my boss cancelled my "3 month old" "approved" leave "one week ago" and I had to be at work for a couple of hours in the morning. Fortunately my test was schedules at 1:45 afternoon.
So, I got up in the morning - reach office by 8:30 - hang aroung till 10:30 - hate being there!
Midday
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Managed to get out by 10:45 -> then had nowhere to go. I did not have enough time to get home and come back to the city. So, I went to STARBUCKS and browsed some SC notes, some AWA Tips. I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be. However, I was careful not to tire myself. Was trying to conserve as much energy for the test. Then - I took a NAP on the sofa in starbucks!.. he he. Yes, I got a couple of odd looks form the waiters and staff... but the nap sure was worth it. PLUS... they were playing THE DOORS so it was nice and soothing.
I got out of there at about 12:15 => ran to Quicks and and had a burger. Not too heavy, just enough to make me feel good.
Was at the center by 1:00 PM.
The Center
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The staff was very friendly and helpful. The center was very quiet and well administered. I also like the ambience
. Contrary to what I had read in many other de-briefs, almost everyone at the center seemed to be taking the GMAT. No wannabe plumbers and electricians. All for GMAT and GMAT for all.
So, in another 10 mins I was signed in and staring at the familiar GMATPrep like interface.
The beginning
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I get sweaty palms at times like these. I took 3-4 kleenex from the instructor began with chosing schools. It is a search based interface. I found 4 of the schools easily. The fifth ISB did not show up on my search. Tried a couple of combos on the seach parameters... it did not come up. Thought about calling the admin guy... but somehow I felt this search thing was making me nervous, so I just picked INSEAD instead and clicked next. A couple of more next and I got my essay prompt.
I wasted almost 10 seconds staring at the screen - has it really begun ??? - before I could convince myself that it was for real.
Essays
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The argument had something to do with sales and profits of a store.
The issue was something on government regulation of industry.
Both were relatively simple and it was easy to generate ideas to write them.
I had done awfully little prep for the essays. Good I got easy ones, else they tax your stamina.
BUT -< I ran out of time on BOTH essays. Could write but con NOT review completely. For the ISSUE I was in the process of editing a sentence when the clock ran out.
I don't know how I have done, so more on the essays after I get my AWA score.
First break
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Got out, had a NUT bar, water. 2 more girls got out at about the same time => so I had to wait in queue to use the loo. Made in back in 10mins and 10secs.
Quant
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This was just crazy. I got a lot of easy and calculation intensive questions. There were realtively fewer DS than what I usually faced on GMAT Prep. Most questions were pure math with one definite answer. I simply had to calculate the answer. No guesses, no estimates. 5-7 questions down when the pattern kept repeating I started getting tense.. why few DS? why such calc intensive stuff? Am I getting them all wrong? why is the level not going up?
So I took a concious decision to adapt strategy.
1] I did fast apprx calcuation.
2] Looked at the answer choices. Identified the best option.
3] Plugged it back to cross verify the answer.
The cross verification process helped me boost some confidence. But, I still did not feel the questions getting tough and this kept nagging me.
It is kind of irrational when you look at it plainly -> "what kept me worried was the questions seemd easy and I could do them all".
Anyways -> despite doing the most tedious calculations to generate the best answers... I still finished the Quants with a good 18-19 mins to spare !
Quants was through.
At this point I did NOT click the last answer. It was some dumb obvious question and I had 19 mins.
Instead I closed my eyes and sat in upright position trying to sort of meditate and feel peaceful. It did extend my break a lil.
Then I clicked NEXT and was out for the second break.
Second Break
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I had a Red Bull. Half a Nut BAR. No queue at the loo this time. Felt the following quote flow through my body.. again and again...
"THE REAL TEST BEGINS with the VERBAL SECTION !!"
Verbal
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(NOTE: I took GMAT prep several times.One thing I knew was if I did well in Quant, then the first question in Verbal was usually of a higher level and usually a SC problem. But, this is something I have concluded out of own personal experince. I cannot say if it applies in general.)
The first one was a medium level SC. I remember it had a 2-3 split. Was able to hit it with some confidence. (Since it was a fair level question I felt better). Next a CR... this was easier. Then I kept getting what I would call "Upper middle class" SC and CR for the next 4-5 questions. ( Tough but not inconquerable types). Then I hit the first roadblock. Medium sized tough passage .. something about black revolution history. I hate those. I did many similar passages during my prep ... black revolution, womens role and history, etc.. but never really mastered any way of simply beating the hell out of them. So, 4 very unsure answers for this one. Always had a doubt between 2 choices. The questions were NOT really based on passage structure or author perspective. They were more about the content in passage. But because it was so tough ... i felt good
. Then on it was usually 6-7 SC + CR followed by a passage.
I don't remeber much... but CR were realtively easy. Almost all passages were tough. After I got a third tough passage I felt my confidence drop a lil. SC were mixed. Some tough, some not so tough. The tougher ones usually took more time. But there was a clear winner answer that you would eventually see.
I spent the bulk of my prep time on SC. Guys please note -> EVERY BIT WAS WORTH IT. I think that is what made all the difference. Ofcouse I did many passages and CRs. But I used to think ( read eat, sleep, drink ) SC all day. ( This is an exaggeration in many senses but I hope you get the point).
Crack tough SCs on the test ...... WELL its an incredible feeling. During the test I remeber feeling ( aaah... this otta make up for the last RC that went so bad).
Anyways.. finished verbal with about 8 mins to spare. (That is only because I did not ponder over tougher RCs. If I knew that the choice between 2 option was hard... I simply relied on GUT and hoped I got it right. I did not try to re-read the whole passage and try to figure out what I did not get in the first read.)
Phew.... more later ...
Apr 27
Apr 26
Apr 28
07 Jul 2008, 01:12
