Share your GMAT - LIFE balance story

Hi ppl,

I am working for one of the big 4 consultancy firms. I have to do a lot of travelling and get time to prepare only on weekends. My scores in the prep test look OK till now. ( 670, 700, 730..... have increased them after practising a lot). However, I am sacred as to how the real thing might be. But colleagues say that if one scores above 700 in the preps, a good score in the real thing is assured. I will be giving the real thing in 4-5 weeks.

One piece of advice, though I am not a GMAT guru, "practice makes perfect". Just practice and rest would follow.

Cheers
big4guy

https://www.big4guy.com

Guys i have been practicing for almost 20 days and took my first Princeton test. Got only 500.Am really depressed. During preparation when i was giving small tests, i seemed like hitting 80% accuracy in Quant and 70% in Verbal but this full length just shattered me.
Got 42 in Quant and 21 in Verbal. Any suggestions r most welcome.
Thanks,

Practice tests are exactly that: practice. Don't base too much on the scores you receive. They're wildly inaccurate. Questions that don't reflect the true depth of the test bank, testing conditions that don't reflect the real thing, scoring patterns that don't match... the whole nine yards. The closest practice CATs to the "real thing" are those on the PowerPrep software, and even those aren't exactly right.

So use the CATs to build stamina and endurance, to practice under simulated test conditions, and to identify areas of weakness or areas requiring further study. Make an error log and go over all the questions and explainations - of the ones you got wrong AND the ones you got right - until you understand the "why" inside-out and backwards. Time yourself. Practice pacing and answer confirming. Look at the different question types and see which ones give you the most trouble. Make a study attack plan.

But DON'T get demoralized because of low practice scores. After all, the only score that counts is the one on test day.

I finally got my test done today after nearly 3 months of preparation. I have a software engineer / lead job that is very demanding, a nice husband and a house to maintain.

I excercise regularly but it was a challenge during the last 3 months. I gave up more core work(yoga and pilates) that I must do to keep my lower hip in check. I did not have any time to call my family or friends. I am also trying to have kids and that put extra pressure on me. No wonder, there are fewer women in high tech management.

It is easy to say somehow balance life - in practise, it is pretty hard especially if you are woman of child bearing age. If you are nuts enough (like me) to have a demanding job and still want to take GMAT, may the force be with you!

Now that I am done (at least with this round. With a 680 score I am not sure if I am done yet), I will go for a swim at the pool and make good use of the rest of my "day off".

Dear Everyone,
I am one of gmat aspirants and planning to start gmat prep studies, very soon. I have gathered some study materials although not sure if that is sufficient or if I need to get something more.

I appeared for gmat (real test) last year with few hours of study. I got 470 in total & I am targetting 700+ before even sending applications to B-School. I am targetting MBA sessions starting in 2007 (Spring or Fall). As my work routine was very hectic I could not find any time and energy for studies. So, with my employer's co-operation, I recently changed my work routine to part-time every day until August 2006. So, on a weekly basis (May 2006-August 2006) I can devote 2 hours every weekday and 4+ hours on weekends.

Study Materials that I have at present:
Princeton Review - GMAT 2004
Barrons 12th Edition
Kaplan GMAT RAP
Kaplan GMAT Lesson Book
Kaplan GMAT Verbal Workbook
Kaplan GMAT 800
GMAT Review - OG - 11th Edition
Arco - 30 days to GMAT CAT
Practice tests from Princeton

Can anyone please help me in making a practical study plan for gmat, deciding tentative timelines when I should apply to B-School and when I should apply for scholarships. I am Sorry if it seems to be asking too much but I have spent countless hours in past 2 years in research, thinking and planning while struggling with my hectic job routine. All I got is a confused mind with sleeplessness at nights. A month ago, for the first time I posted my doubts in gmat club on whether to pursue my mba dream or I should give up. Thanks to all those, who boosted my spirits with their own bitter (but fruitful later) experiences and encouraged me not-to give up. Maybe, its that spirit that kept my motivation high and provides me the necessary drive. So, I would highly appreciate your advice or tips or suggestions if you have over anything. I would be very grateful to your inputs. I am definitely very eager to begin my study routine and share my experiences as I proceed ahead.
Thank you very much for your kind attention to read my story.

I am 26 - I live with my GF and I am a manager for the corporation i work for.

The balance is tough - I try to close my door at work and study, sometimes I can squeeze an hour in - if I am lucky I can get 2 hours. But I work in the same space as my clients and they are demanding so interuptions happen on a regular basis.

At home I DVR my fav television shows from 8-10:00 and I try to study until from 8-9 or 9:30. Then I catch up on my tv.

I take one day off a week and sometimes 2 if something comes up or I feel burned out.

Overall its not THAT bad, but I would love to get my life back.

This topic is a real inspiration. I am reading and inspiring, as, dispite of my strong desire to re-prepare, I still in a deep depression after my failiers and is nore ready morally...

I heard about "What the bleep do we know"... does it really worth waching? I read various reviews about it... I guess I should judge it after watching it.

Hey guys & gals, I wanted to share my experience to hopefully give you some confort.

GMAT score: 710 (Q46 V42). I took the test only once (2 weeks ago) and I won't re-take it as I'm confortable with the result.
1) Background information.
Undergrad studies: Industrial Engineering.
Native Language: Spanish, though fluent in English (scored around 270 in CBT TOEFL about a year before starting with GMAT course).

2) Preparation:
I attended a GMAT prep course here in Argentina. The Verbal teacher has a translator degree and the Quant teacher is a maths major. They have 7 and 2 years experience with GMAT preparation respectively. They are very well rated in their field (based on other people's recommendations and my own experience). Their course is proprietory (i.e.: they created the contents, partially based on several sources and bibliographies and partially based on experience).

3) GMAT / Life balance: the group courses (6 students) are taught 3 times a week on weekdays from 8pm to 10.30pm. My job demands that I be at the office from 9am to 7pm almost everyday and I work around 50hs week (none on weekends). I did not travel out of town throughout the course, although I took a couple of weeks off around mid course due to personal reasons.

Started course: May 29th, 2006.
Finished course: Sept 11th, 2006. (although it should have lasted 3 months, some classes were re-scheduled towards the end to allow enough time for studying).

Breakdown of time spent on GMAT:
Attended 18/18 verbal classes and 15/18 quantitative classes. That's about 7.5 hs / week. On top of that I studied by myself. Here's a breakdown on my studying patterns:

4) Study time breakdown (excluding classes).
Studied at least 3 – 5 hs per week 20% of the time.
Studied around 6 – 10 hs per week 70% of the time.
Studied more than 10 hs a week 10% of the time (excluding last week)

Studying patterns (excluding classes)
Studied 2 days in a row a few times.
Studied 3 days in a row once or twice (except for last 4 days).
Studied 2 or 3 times a week most weeks.
Studied at least once a week throughout the course.

5) Main reasons behind my score (self opinion):

a) I had a reasonable chance of getting this score prior to starting the course. How do I know this: Before starting the course, I had to take a diagnostic test to check if my English level was good enough. The prep - academy has some statistics (gathered over the years) to correlate diagnostic levels to actual results after the course. If I had not had this chance, I would have still been able to get this score, although it would have taken me much longer to do so (with private tutoring). I've heard of a lawyer who started the course with a projected 500 (mainly due to math limitations) and 8 months later got above 700 and got into Harvard.

b) The course was very good for various reasons: There were only 6 of us at the classes. No student was holding back the others with the easy stuff (part of this is related to the diagnostic mentioned above and part is related to the teachers' management of the classes).

c) I studied a reasonable amount of time without burning out or becoming obsessed.

d) I spent as much time studying course theory and learning from mistakes as I did attacking new exercises. After a certain point, the n+1 exercise won't teach you much.

e) When I was getting close to exhaustion I picked up a date and registered for the Exam. The tutor said I would not score my best but was reasonably ready to take the exam.

f) I was physically and mentally prepared for the exam. I slept well the night before, had a good breakfast, drank plenty of fluids, took a banana and water for the breaks, etc. And I toned down my anxiousness by realizing that I could sit again for the exam if needed and still have time to apply by 1st round. Or not, I did not make it much of an issue internally.

6) And finally: GMAT vs life balance

For me the main issue was not time constraints but motivation constraints. Look at the following estimated breakdown:

Week hours (total @ 24hs/day) 168
Sleep hours (@ 8hs/day) 56
Vital functions hours (@ 2hs/day) 14
Work hours 50
Course classes 7.5
Self - study 10

Hours left / week 30.5
Avg hours left / day 4.4

I've still got 30 hours left every week! That's about the entire awake hours of Saturday AND Sunday! or 4 hours daily to exercise, play with your kids and or spend with your spouse, watering your Bonzais, playing PS2 or whatever.

The main issues are:

- As you miss social activities your motivation goes down. The questions: " Why am I doing this? Do I really wanna go to this particular school hard enough to miss entirely 3 or 4 months of my life?" hit almost daily.

- Your study time becomes unproductive as you are de-motivativated.

- If you are not studying right the time you spend becomes worthless.

7) Advice (note: it worked for me and others but is not necessarily applicable to all):

- Get a private assessment on your particular needs. Taylor your study or courses based on that.

- Know thyself. If you are stuck, take a day or two off. Or a week. Miss some social events but keep in touch with reality. Cherry - pick a few events a month to maintain sanity and skip the others (but spend about 10 or 20 minutes after a missed event e-mailing, messaging or calling friends to share experiences). Do not miss events that are really important to you.

- Eliminate waste from your schedule. For eg: if you like TV, have a target time to watch TV like 1 hour / day. You will learn to choose shows or movies that interest you (in my case: Sunday sports and "24" every week) but you will avoid 2 daily hours of numb zapping. Record the programs and watch them "offline". Same applies to several other distractions, hobbies or interests.

Hope it helps.
L.

Thanks for sharing guys. I got a 520 just today and have been bummed.

I'm working 50 hours a week, plus, am in a relationship and had burnt out trying to balance this all with my social life (which I eventually gave up for 2 2/1 months), and became quite demotivated as a result.

In hindsight, I would reapproach this by not completely cutting away from my friends - if you burn out - no matter how many hours you sit in front of the books - you're not going to learn!

Also, I'd try and study 2 hours at a time to build mental stamina.

It was very helpful to read this - please keep the inspirational stories coming - gives me hope that my goal of 630 is possible!

Thanks,
Celestia

it depends on how much time you have. As far as I'm concerned, I'm married with a really demanding job, and it is difficult to find time... The more I can do is 2 hours per day and 10 hours in the week end..

I am finishing my undergrad in 2 weeks. I had been taking a GMAT prep class and spending a few hours each week to study and practice. I am planning to spend the next month working part time and study GMAT intensely. With school out of the way, I am ready to focus on GMAT.