GMAT Journey Log - The GMAT Rollercoaster Ride!

Question

I'm planning to apply in Round 2 and plan to have the GMAT done by end of October, leaving a solid 2 months for the essays and applications. I would be updating this thread as I make progress.

So far I have taken a few practice tests. I'm also using the Quantum CAT by Sarvesh Kumar Verma suggested by Entwistle in this forum. My scores for the practice tests so far are as follows:

1. 14th July - MGMAT 1 - 680 (41Q - 19M, 41V - 12M) - 90 O, 64Q, 93V
2. 27th July - MGMAT 2 - 670 (43Q - 19M, 38V - 15M) - 89 O, 70Q, 85V
3. 28th July - MGMAT 3 - 690 (45Q - 18M, 39V - 14M) - 91 O, 77Q, 89V
4. 2nd Aug - MGMAT 4 - 670 (43Q - 17M, 38V - 14M) - 89 O, 70Q, 85V)
5. 9th Aug - MGMAT 5 - 670 (46Q - 16M, 35V - 16M) - 89 O, 79Q, 77V)
6. 11 Aug - Kaplan F1 - 640 (Q - 15 M, V - 13M) - 76 O, 59Q, 87V)

Plan for the next three months
1. Take down all the notes from the MGMAT guides and do the questions in the MGMAT guides by end of August. Work on the OG questions simultaneously after each guide is done.
2. Do one section from LSAT test + review it every day (27 tests and three sections in each test)
3. Start working on Quantum CAT and complete it by September end
4. Work on the gmat club tests in October. Review errors in October and go through the Kaplan 800 book. 
5. Take one practice test every week

Wish me luck in this rollercoaster ride!

mymbadreamz · Answer

I started with the MGMAT tests and got all the data into an Excel Sheet. My weak areas are in this order.

Geometry - 42%
Word Translations - 45%
Number Properties - 50%
FDPs - 52%
Algebra - 63%

Day 1:

I worked on 15 problems in Percentages and 20 problems in Profit, Loss and Discount from the Quantum CAT book. With that I've officially completed these chapters in the Quantum CAT book. I'll start with Probability in Quantum CAT next, since that is my worst area among all maths topics.

On the MGMAT front, I took notes and worked out the incorrect questions at the end of each chapter from the MGMAT Number Properties guide. I completed 4 chapters this way.

1. Divisibility and Primes
2. Odds and Evens
3. Positives and Negatives
4. Consecutive Integers

When I did the questions that I got incorrect before, to my horror I found that I'm repeating these mistakes again :oops:

Anyone has any suggestions on how not to repeat those mistakes?

DevilDoggNC · Answer

Wow..I'm really impressed with your level of organization and detail. That's definitely an indication that you are going to do really well.

And identifying your mistakes is the major part -- fixing them is not that hard.

Good luck..and again I'm really impressed with your level of organization and attention to details.

mymbadreamz · Answer

Thanks for your encouraging words! lifts up my spirits

mymbadreamz · Answer

Day 2:

Went through the mistakes in the Profit and Loss chapter and completed 30 problems in probability from Quantum CAT.

Took notes from the MGMAT Geometry guide on the following chapters and also did the problems at the end of each chapter.

1. Polygons
2. Triangles and diagonals

mymbadreamz · Answer

Day 3

Took notes on the following chapters from MGMAT Number Properties

Chapter 5: Exponents
Chapter 6: Roots
Chapter 7: Pedmas

Worked on the Official Guide Problem Set (Part 1) for Number Properties. Did around 45 problems in the problem solving section and 36 problems in Data Sufficiency from the Official Guide and OG Quant review, covering the following areas.

1. Divisibility and Primes
2. Exponents and Roots
3. Odds and Evens
4. Positives and Negatives
5. Consecutive Integers

mymbadreamz · Answer

Day 4: 18/8/11

Took notes on the following chapters from MGMAT Number Properties

Chapter 10: Divisibility and Primes - Advanced
Chapter 11: Odds & Evens/Positives and Negatives/Consecutive Integers - Advanced
Chapter 12: Exponents and Roots - Advanced

mymbadreamz · Answer

Day 5: 19/8/11

Took notes on the following chapters from MGMAT Geometry
Chapter 3: Circles and Cylinders
Chapter 4: Lines and Angles

mymbadreamz · Answer

Day 6: 20/8/11

Took notes and worked out the incorrect problems in the following chapters from the MGMAT Geometry guide.
Chapter 5: Coordinate Plane Strategy
Chapter 8: Advanced Geometry Strategy

mymbadreamz · Answer

Day 7: 21/8/11

Worked on the Official Guide Problem Set (Part 2) for Number Properties. Did around 23 problems in the problem solving section and 18 problems in Data Sufficiency from the Official Guide and OG Quant review, covering the following areas. Also went through Chapter 8: Data Sufficiency Strategy from the MGMAT Number Properties guide.

1. Divisibility and Primes
2. Exponents and Roots
3. Odds and Evens
4. Positives and Negatives
5. Consecutive Integers

mymbadreamz · Answer

Day 8: 22/8/11

Took notes and worked out the incorrect problems in the following chapters from the MGMAT Word Translations guide.
Chapter 1: Algebraic Translations
Chapter 2: Rates and Work

Worked on the OG Part 1 and Part 2 problem solving and solved 40 problems from the OG 12 and OG Math Review on the following areas in the MGMAT Geometry guide.

1. Polygons
2. Triangles and Diagonals
3. Circles and Cylinders
4. Lines and Angles
5. Coordinate Plane

mymbadreamz · Answer

I'm delighted to get the Powerscore CR Bible intact from Flipkart. Flipkart does a fabulous job of delivering on time. This is the 2nd book I'm ordering from Flipkart (The first was Quantum CAT by Sarvesh Kumar Verma) and I'm happy with their service.

On the GMAT front, I must add that taking notes and writing down the crucial example problems (to illustrate a concept) was really painful for me, but the dividends are high. I found that the concepts are etched crystal clear in my brain and I don't have to sweat so much while doing word translations.

So anyone out there considering NOT taking notes, please reconsider. It will save you a lot of headache and time later on. My next logical step is to make flash cards of all the incorrect problems. I'll do that once I complete the note taking part.

mymbadreamz · Answer

Day 9: 23/8/11

Worked on the OG Part 1 and Part 2 Data Sufficiency and solved 45 problems from the OG 12 and OG Math Review on the following areas in the MGMAT Geometry guide.

1. Polygons
2. Triangles and Diagonals
3. Circles and Cylinders
4. Lines and Angles
5. Coordinate Plane

mymbadreamz · Answer

Day 10: 24/08/11

Took notes and worked out the incorrect problems in the following chapters from the MGMAT Word Translations guide.
Chapter 3: Ratios
Chapter 4: Combinatorics

mymbadreamz · Answer

Day 11: 25/08/11

Took notes and worked out the incorrect problems in the following chapters from the MGMAT Word Translations guide.
Chapter 5: Probability
Chapter 6: Statistics

mymbadreamz · Answer

Analyzed my performance from the OG so far.

Number Properties 77/111 - 69% 
Easy-Medium PS - 31/44 - 70%
Easy-Medium DS - 29/36 - 80%
Hard PS - 19/23 - 82%
 Hard DS - 8/18 - 44%

Geometry - 51/85 - 60%  
Easy-Medium PS - 19/27 - 70%
Easy-Medium DS - 21/28 - 75%
 Hard PS - 6/13 - 46% 
 Hard DS - 5/17 - 29%

I need to focus more on Data Sufficiency both for Number Properties as well as Geometry. And focus on the harder problems for Problem Solving in Geometry.

mymbadreamz · Answer

Day 12: 26/08/11

Worked out 48 PS problems from Jeff Sackmann's Number Properties Challenge.

Scored 35/48 - 72%

On analyzing my mistakes (13 mistakes), found that 8 were silly mistakes and 5 were mistakes where I actually didn't know how to proceed with the problem). So if I had avoided the silly mistakes, my score would have been 89%. I made mistakes in addition, not reading the problem properly and unimaginable stuff like that. For a couple of days, I plan to complete Sackmann's challenges on Number Properties (DS), and Geometry (PS+DS) and then come back to MGMAT Word Problems.

mymbadreamz · Answer

Day 13: 27/08/11

Worked out 51 DS problems from Jeff Sackmann's Number Properties Challenge.

Scored 30/51 - 58%

mymbadreamz · Answer

Day 14: 31/08/11

Took notes and worked out the incorrect problems in the following chapters from the MGMAT Word Translations guide.
Chapter 7: Overlapping Sets
Chapter 8: Minor Problem Types

mymbadreamz · Answer

Day 15: 1/09/11

Took notes and worked out the incorrect problems in the following chapters from the MGMAT Word Translations guide.
Chapter 11: Rates and Work - Advanced
Chapter 12: Comb/Prob/Stats - Advanced

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