Advise about Second attempt GMAT

Question

Hi there,

It has been long time I haven't started a thread. Not for the sake of starting this thread that I am writing. Honestly, I need advise on my next attempt for GMAT.

First Attempt: Mar-2013 and you can see the score on my profile : 630(Q47,V29)

It took me 6 months to appear for the exam.

I got engaged in July -2013, so was busy with other activities and then got married in the month of November -2013.
Right now honeymooning in South Africa. It is not that I would be a bad manager post MBA since I unable to decide when to take next attempt, it is the fact that the leader also at times takes advises from the team for some issues.

Coming to the matter if I want to apply for Indian- Executive MBA's such as XLRI,IIM's,SP Jain, and ISB what should be the deadline by which I should take my next attempt?

And do I need to report these schools for these programmes through GMAC, or a separate application would suffice?

Please also advise me which colleges I should apply for 'General Management/Strategy Roles' - Preferred location - Asia .

Thanks in Advance !

Rgds,
TGC!

GeneralEducation · Answer

Hi,

You definitely need to better your GMAT score. Prepare well and try getting the scores by July-August.
This will give you ample time to decide on the schools to apply and also concentrate on your applications. You have the option for sending the scores to the schools while taking your GMAT, however you can submit them with your applications too. To shortlist the schools, its necessary to know more about your profile and goals.

Hope this helps.

Neha

TGC · Answer

Appreciate your suggestions.

I have 4 years of work experience in an I.T. firm with roles as developer,application support manager,production manager.I have exposure to capital markets of Greece and South Africa and have been working here in Johannesburg since July-2012.

The reason for my MBA is:

(1). Although I am engineer by profession, I don't like technical line.I am here not by choice but by chance.

(2). Being a sportsperson, I always wanted to lead a team, designing strategies to overcome a disaster in the company, providing solutions to the organisations for some of their internal and external issues. That is I am interested in general management.And MBA is a path to the general management role.

(3). By Dec-2014 I will complete 5 years in my organisation, and I want to target Ex-MBA's offered by IIM's,SPJain, and XLRI and ISB's 1 -Year MBA.

The point here is considering the application requirement of these institutes for Ex-MBA's are such as 'minimum 5 years of work experience' etc, I want to ask whether I would be a border line case as far as work experience in considered.However, I have seen class profiles of these institutes , they do have people with just 5 years of work experience and some international experience which coincides with my profile.

Please suggest

Rgds,
TGC!

TGC · Answer

Folks,

Further to the discussion, I need few pointers on the below.

(1). My last GMAT attempt was in the month of March last year. However, I was in touch with the material and GMAT thingy till November -2013.I got married in Nov-2013 and from then till now I am out of touch with the GMAT material.
Q:The reason I am gave the background is that I need advise as to what material I should start with?

(2). I have been through MGMAT guides,though not advance guides, many times.And the moment I pick them I feel bored since it presents the same exercise questions that I have seen many times. 
Q: So, which material I should start with?

(3). I have been through Veritas Prep Online course also, but I am yet to finish the CR/RC and advanced verbal material in the course.
Q: Since I started with the Veritas Prep course in Oct-2013 , shall I continue the same?

(4). When I was single , I just had three tasks at hand

(a). Office
(b). Making food
(c). Studying

Now I am married I have many tasks at hand and I rarely find any motivation to study.

Q:Can anyone help how to motivate myself in this scenario?

Suggestions invited !

Rgds,
TGC!

bb · Answer

Welcome back! :-)

Your married life must be treating you very nicely.... or perhaps she is a slave driver. Either way, you should discuss your plans with your significant other and figure out a dedicated time for you to prep and study. Getting an MBA is an expensive and potentially very lucrative undertaking but it involves costs, risks, and rewards and you should discuss those together. My suggestion would be to wake up early - be the first one up (which can be hard if your wife is like mine and stays up)... but it is possible and I do it 5 days a week. I would also suggest to break the monstrosity of the GMAT into small sections and have as many small victories as you can. Final word of advice, don't stretch it out much - plan to take the GMAT within 2-3 months.... I could also suggest this post I put together a few days ago: how-to-analyze-your-mistakes-167118.html

OptimusPrep · Answer

Optimus Prep's unique approach is designed to achieve 700+ GMAT scores by studying 2-3 hours REGUALARY for 2-3 months. If you are serious about the GMAT this is what you have to do. If you can't you should not take the GMAT at all as the results will be bad most likely.

You have the highest level of concentration in the morning after the breakfast. Take your time and study efficiently and optimally with the support of an expert and you will score much better than 630!

We would love to help you with our admissions consulting and GMAT prep options!

OPTIMUS PREP

TGC · Answer

Well that was a nice way to market a company. However, to throw some light upon the matter, I have already done big research on the test prep companies in Aug-2013.On the other hand, I have given 2-3 hours daily and 6 hours on weekends for 6-7 months.So, it is not the amount of time the candidate gives it is how badly he wants to crack the GMAT is what matters.

Rgds,
TGC!

KarishmaB · Answer

I agree with bb. You will need to sit and talk with your significant other and make a plan. What is it that you guys want 2 yrs from now, 5 yrs from now etc. Are you both on the same page as far as your MBA and future plans are concerned? 
According to the plan, chalk out the timelines - starting with, for example, GMAT in 3 months to Algebra book review in the next two days - plan out your entire 3 months with some leeway here and there - say no study on the 3 day trip in March etc.
Then try to stick to the plan on a weekly basis i.e. if you do lag behind, ensure that you get it done over the weekend.

Also, it is not about how badly you want to crack the GMAT but about how badly you want to understand the basics of concepts tested so that you really know them. GMAT is not the only test for which you need these basics. You will need them during your MBA too - while studying finance, there will be many formulas which you will be able to break down as 'just weighted averages' even though they will look monstrous. If you understand the numbers well, studying for MBA will become much easier. If you develop your reasoning skills and know how to write correctly, you will be better able to understand cases and express your solutions. You will gain much more out of your education if you have strong concepts.

And yes, if you have already started with the Veritas course, you must finish it. Revisit what you have already done and go through all the advanced concepts too.

OptimusPrep · Answer

@TGC

It is not about how badly you want it or how many hours you spend for it but HOW EFFICIENTLY YOU LEARN!!!! The time you spent might have been enough if you had professional support because it is a completely different story to learn alone or with a private tutor. Both ways are possible - alone or with experts - however the second way saves you a lot of time and frustration...

You must decide for yourself if it is worth it. However, please keep in mind that it is at the end less than 5% of your total education cost

OPTIMUS PREP

TGC · Answer

I agree with your thoughts and inputs.

I have started with VP in November. And I am left with only 1-2 lessons.Meanwhile , I will complete them and then start with mocks.

Rgds,
TGC!

clearmountain · Answer

Hi TGC,

Clearly the verbal side is to be focused on. with a 47 in math, improvement comes down to refining your focus and precision. Yet with a 29 in verbal it's clear that you need some guidance for your path to improvement.

The problem with GMAT studying for many is many students often bang their heads against the wall just doing more and more practice questions. That helps when you're already at 47 but not at 29. Particularly for RC and CR you need to focus on more fundamental skills of summarizing and translating information. Go over your old practice tests and start summarzing the passages, using only 1/3 the number of words the text does.

I hope this helps somewhat.

feel free to follow up with me.

thanks,

Clearmountain

www.clearmountianprep.com

TGC · Answer

Hi there,

I clearly agree with your suggestions. And for the same reason I have registered myself with New York times and now a days I am reading the articles as though I am reading RC's and CR's. But I don't know how this activity would help me in the REAL thing.

Rgds,
TGC!

clearmountain · Answer

I clearly agree with your suggestions. And for the same reason I have registered myself with New York times and now a days I am reading the articles as though I am reading RC's and CR's. But I don't know how this activity would help me in the REAL thing.

well, then here's the 2nd step:

after summarizing the articles ( and here the main key is distinguishing between GLOBAL/logical dynamics points and LOCAL details. THEN, create similar questions to be answered. what does the passage say and what does the passage not say.

another idea since you are subscribing to things.. buy an issue of Penny Saver Logic Puzzle magazine. they really hone your sense to knowing what something says and what it does NOT say.

the key to RC, not to mention CR is to learn to severely restrict your assumptions. you must think like a very annoying lawyer writing a contract who is completely suspicious of the other person.

if you like check out my site, I am in the midst of rebuilding it so it's currently quite sparse with resource materials but I do offer a free 20 minute video conference session where we can do a passage.

cheers,

Clearmountain

www.clearmountainprep.com

TGC · Answer

Hi folks,

I want to crack GMAT ASAP and since I have Q47 already I want to concentrate and start my prep with verbal.

Q1. Contrary to my opinion experts are giving me advise that you should work on fundamentals on verbal. But knowing the time crunch and other things I want to finish of GMAT by May-2014. But experts say that you should have a reading habit....blah blah.....

So coming to question what should be my focus whether to devote more time reading articles and practicing CR/RC with the articles or directly solve questions relevant to GMAT or perhaps LSAT.

Q2. In my last mock I had an accuracy of 90% in SC, so would it be better to start of with CR or RC?

Q3. This can be called as an extension of Q1 since I want to ask that whether or not can I score 700+ without that reading activity mentioned in Q1.

Since my target score is anything 700+ , I can aim a split of Q50,V36+ , can this score be achieved without the reading activity that I mentioned in Q1.

Q4. I started of with Veritas Prep OD course before my marriage, in Nov-2013, and I finished most of the lessons , the only ones pending are CR and RC?

So, Should I start preparing for my next attempt with continuing the course or should I start of MGMAT Guides and Powerscore CR bible.

Q5. I have exhausted most of the prep material such as OG-12,OG-13, and Verbal review-1 and Verbal Review-2, MGMAT guides and MGMAT mocks, GMAT Prep mocks.

So, What material I should start practicing such that I don't get repeated questions since that would not give good return on my practice.

Q6. How to go with the timing thing?

For instance , if I am practicing OG, which timer I should use, 
The GMAT timer on GC is what you would suggest?

Q7. How should I start my preparation in Verbal for this attempt?

Should I start straight away with my mocks or should I revise the MGMAT strategy guides and then start with the mocks?

Q8. How to prepare for RC?

Straight away start practicing with Aristotle RC-99 since I have already done passages from OG's?

Please suggest on the above

Thanks
TGC!

KarishmaB · Answer

TGC · Answer

Hi Karishma,

As per your suggestions, I started my journey for second attempt last Wednesday.

I revised CR concepts from OD and practiced CR on the student account, but don't know if those were difficult ones since I got only 11 wrong out of 50. I don't have that much accuracy in CR.

Then I went through RC from OD and honestly speaking I loved the way Brian taught and the strategies are spectacular.

Furthermore, I gave a VP mock today and since VP has not been listed on the GMAT score calculator @GC, I would like you to please advise as to what score VP maps to the real thing.

My score is as follows:

Total: 700 (90 Percentile)
Quants: 49 (83 Percentile)
Verbal: 37 (81 Percentile)

Please suggest !

Rgds,
TGC!

KarishmaB · Answer

Hey TGC,

Good to know about your progress. I am glad OD is helping you out. As you develop comfort with the various question types, your accuracy will get better. Don't beat yourself up for no reason!
It's unreasonable to try to map mock scores to actual scores. GMAT's dynamic nature and the involvement of human factor ensure that the mocks cannot predict actual scores without some margin of error. From my side, I can assure you that we try our best to capture the very essence of GMAT by updating our tests continually in line with the subtle changes GMAT undergoes from month to month. Hence we have found our tests to be good predictors of actual GMAT scores. Whether the actual score will go up or down is hard to say - some people fumble under pressure and others perform better. Depending on what kind of a person you are and your physical and mental state of mind on test day, your score could vary a little. Though overall, I would expect you to score around 700 at current level.

TGC · Answer

Thanks for the reply Karishma.

I have planned to give mocks as I would do on the REAL thing. Implicitly, I gave full mock consisting of 4 sections AWA,IR,Quants, and Verbal.

I took 6 minute break in both the breaks.

So, I tried to replicate actual settings for me since I don't want to ditch myself in preparation of the exam.

Rgds,
TGC!

TGC · Answer

Experts,

I have exploited following sections.

(1). CR (OG13 and Verbal review 2)

(2). SC (OG13 and Verbal review 2)

(3). RC99 (Going on)

Since most of the questions in OLD OG's are similar to OG13, can anyone suggest prep material for SC and CR other than stated above?

Rgds,
TGC!

TGC · Answer

Hi folks, After many delays, finally I am up to GMAT and booking the date of 14th July 2014 to be the G-Day or rather the J-Day(Judgement day). I cannot assure that this would be my last attempt unless I score 700+ 8-)

, but will try to make it my last attempt. The delays are justified by my personal schedules of engagement and then marriage. However, since the deadlines for my target b-schools and programs are about to come, I have planned to meet GMAT. From now on GMAT is a game in which computer, throwing the questions, is my enemy and I have to beat it, no matter what it takes. Advises and suggestions are welcome. I may have made the grammatical mistakes in the above content and would be happy if someone points out those. Rgds, TGC!

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