Last visit was: 25 Apr 2026, 19:27 It is currently 25 Apr 2026, 19:27
Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
User avatar
mrsmarthi
Joined: 30 Nov 2008
Last visit: 09 Nov 2013
Posts: 335
Own Kudos:
1,892
 [2]
Given Kudos: 15
Concentration: Finance, General Management
Schools:Fuqua
Posts: 335
Kudos: 1,892
 [2]
2
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
User avatar
mrsmarthi
Joined: 30 Nov 2008
Last visit: 09 Nov 2013
Posts: 335
Own Kudos:
1,892
 [1]
Given Kudos: 15
Concentration: Finance, General Management
Schools:Fuqua
Posts: 335
Kudos: 1,892
 [1]
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
User avatar
bb
User avatar
Founder
Joined: 04 Dec 2002
Last visit: 25 Apr 2026
Posts: 43,158
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 24,680
Location: United States
GMAT 1: 750 Q49 V42
GPA: 3
Products:
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
GMAT 1: 750 Q49 V42
Posts: 43,158
Kudos: 83,727
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
User avatar
snipertrader
Joined: 26 Apr 2009
Last visit: 12 Aug 2010
Posts: 310
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 41
Affiliations: ACA, CPA
Location: Vagabond
Concentration: Finance, Treasury, Banking
Schools:BC
WE 1: Big4, Audit
WE 2: Banking
Posts: 310
Kudos: 304
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
mrsmarthi

you make a lot of valid points. Have game plan for verbal as that seems to be an area of concern.
User avatar
mrsmarthi
Joined: 30 Nov 2008
Last visit: 09 Nov 2013
Posts: 335
Own Kudos:
1,892
 [1]
Given Kudos: 15
Concentration: Finance, General Management
Schools:Fuqua
Posts: 335
Kudos: 1,892
 [1]
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
bb
Good luck on your second attempt. Do you know when your date will be yet?

My target is to complete the exam before end of November. I don't think I will be having any more patience(both physically and mentally) to fight against the GMAT beyond that.

Thank you for the wishes....I really need them. :)
User avatar
mrsmarthi
Joined: 30 Nov 2008
Last visit: 09 Nov 2013
Posts: 335
Own Kudos:
1,892
 [1]
Given Kudos: 15
Concentration: Finance, General Management
Schools:Fuqua
Posts: 335
Kudos: 1,892
 [1]
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
I am yet to re-analyze my mistakes from last night's MGMAT Free CAT exam. Planning to do that in the morning.

I have changed y verbal strategy slightly for this round of prepartion.

Before even starting on OG12(Fortunately I didn't go thru this book for my first exam) and Verbal Review, I will go thry MGMAT Sc book end to end. The idea here is to first get to understand the topics that will be tested in the GMAT. This book really provides very minuate details - that can easily be ignored if we are not careful. Here is one example that I understand only today after going thru MGMAT Chapter 2 -

Use THAT OF / THOSE OF wisely. Hum what does this mean? Here are two examples -

The GMAT Score I see in my dreams is [THAT OF] 750(THAT OF really sounds crazy in this sentence. But the point to take away here is that 750 itself is a GMAT Score. So THAT OF is NOT NEEDED in this sentence. )

Now consider another example.

The person I met yesterday resembles [THAT OF] a great politician. (Here A great politican is definitely a person. So usage of THAT OF is unnecessary.

See it this way -

The face of a person I met yesterday resembles [THAT OF] a great politician. (Here face of a person CANNOT BE A great politican Instead the face of a person CAN BE the face of (THAT OF) a famous politician. Hence THAT OF is very much needed in this sentence.

Now coming to the plan, I am averaging 1 1/2 day per Chapter. So by Sep 10 I should be able start working on OG 12 - SC. Let me see how this plan works out.

I am planning to have the same approach for RC and CR.
User avatar
snipertrader
Joined: 26 Apr 2009
Last visit: 12 Aug 2010
Posts: 310
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 41
Affiliations: ACA, CPA
Location: Vagabond
Concentration: Finance, Treasury, Banking
Schools:BC
WE 1: Big4, Audit
WE 2: Banking
Posts: 310
Kudos: 304
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
mrsmarthi


I would suggest to do the SC questions in OG 11 in conjunction with the chapters. This helped a lot in putting the theory into practice.
Also, i would urge you to start making your own notes or add on to notes found online

I found that the OG12 SC questions were much tougher than OG11 or OG verbal. Well atleast for me.
My 2 cents... cheers!
User avatar
mrsmarthi
Joined: 30 Nov 2008
Last visit: 09 Nov 2013
Posts: 335
Own Kudos:
1,892
 [1]
Given Kudos: 15
Concentration: Finance, General Management
Schools:Fuqua
Posts: 335
Kudos: 1,892
 [1]
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
snipertrader,

Thank you for the suggestion. I already did OG 11 during my first attempt. So I am afraid I might pick answers correctly probably because I remeber the correct ans choice(yes I believe I have good remembrance power :) ) rather than by knowing the concepts correctly. This way I feel, I will not be able to find my real weakness.

OG 12 is new to me(I assume there are lot many repeats from OG 11) but still, it might judge me where I am. Once I am done with OG12, I might go back to referring OG 11 questions(provided I have that much time)
User avatar
bb
User avatar
Founder
Joined: 04 Dec 2002
Last visit: 25 Apr 2026
Posts: 43,158
Own Kudos:
83,727
 [1]
Given Kudos: 24,680
Location: United States
GMAT 1: 750 Q49 V42
GPA: 3
Products:
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
GMAT 1: 750 Q49 V42
Posts: 43,158
Kudos: 83,727
 [1]
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
mrsmarthi
snipertrader,

Thank you for the suggestion. I already did OG 11 during my first attempt. So I am afraid I might pick answers correctly probably because I remeber the correct ans choice(yes I believe I have good remembrance power :) ) rather than by knowing the concepts correctly. This way I feel, I will not be able to find my real weakness.

OG 12 is new to me(I assume there are lot many repeats from OG 11) but still, it might judge me where I am. Once I am done with OG12, I might go back to referring OG 11 questions(provided I have that much time)

OG 12 has only 30% of new questions. Some but they are sprinkled all over and hard to pick out. Manhattan has a list of all new questions on their site (link from this post: the-official-guide-for-gmat-12-merged-76806.html.

Here is a secret - OG 10 has the least repeats between all of the OG's. You can pick it up pretty cheaply (if you have access to Amazon or similar)

The only weakness of OG 10 is that it has overlaps with PowerPrep (previous version of GMATPrep).
User avatar
mrsmarthi
Joined: 30 Nov 2008
Last visit: 09 Nov 2013
Posts: 335
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 15
Concentration: Finance, General Management
Schools:Fuqua
Posts: 335
Kudos: 1,892
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
BB,

I never looked at OG10th edition. Probably I will see whether I can practice my verbal from this book. Thank you for letting me know.
User avatar
Franklin
User avatar
Current Student
Joined: 16 Jan 2009
Last visit: 04 Jun 2013
Posts: 136
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 62
Location: Ithaca, New York
Schools:Cornell University - The Johnson School
Posts: 136
Kudos: 56
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
bb
mrsmarthi
snipertrader,

Thank you for the suggestion. I already did OG 11 during my first attempt. So I am afraid I might pick answers correctly probably because I remeber the correct ans choice(yes I believe I have good remembrance power :) ) rather than by knowing the concepts correctly. This way I feel, I will not be able to find my real weakness.

OG 12 is new to me(I assume there are lot many repeats from OG 11) but still, it might judge me where I am. Once I am done with OG12, I might go back to referring OG 11 questions(provided I have that much time)

OG 12 has only 30% of new questions. Some but they are sprinkled all over and hard to pick out. Manhattan has a list of all new questions on their site (link from this post: the-official-guide-for-gmat-12-merged-76806.html.

Here is a secret - OG 10 has the least repeats between all of the OG's. You can pick it up pretty cheaply (if you have access to Amazon or similar)

The only weakness of OG 10 is that it has overlaps with PowerPrep (previous version of GMATPrep).

I used the OG10 and found that I liked it much more than the OG11. mrsmarthi, if you decide to get a copy there is a spreadsheet floating around that sorts the questions in to categories of easy, medium and hard. I focused solely on the hard questions. In addition, I think the OG10 has better explanations.

I have attached the spreadsheet just in case you decide to get the OG10.
Attachments
User avatar
mrsmarthi
Joined: 30 Nov 2008
Last visit: 09 Nov 2013
Posts: 335
Own Kudos:
1,892
 [1]
Given Kudos: 15
Concentration: Finance, General Management
Schools:Fuqua
Posts: 335
Kudos: 1,892
 [1]
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Franklin,

Thank you for the attachment. After I did some googling, I realised that OG 10 is worth to add to my investment of GMAT Prep books. So I ordered the book. Hope your attachment will definitely help me understand the Verbal concepts.

I am not too worried about Quant because I am quite confident I can pull my Quant score to atleast 49 even if I have to fight the GMAT today. What ever help / preparation I am needing now is ONLY for verbal.

I need to improve from lower 20's to atleast upper 30's. How nice to have some magic spell for this. :wink:
User avatar
nitya34
Joined: 04 Jan 2008
Last visit: 06 Mar 2014
Posts: 510
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 17
Posts: 510
Kudos: 4,487
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
I got the same score during Aug 2008 :oops: when I was dreaming for PGPX

Never Mind!I am coming back stronger.

try the following(if you need more advice) for Verbal

also take as many FLTs as possible (I have nt taken one since Feb 2009..)

MGMAT SC book--hard copy-read and revise yr own notes-3rd edn onwards the book is having 200+ pages
If SC is not the weakness then go for PowerScore Bible(CR)
MGMAT CAT 1-6-->take all the Tests and Analyse each Qs(Its Must for Verbal)

I am also thinking of ending my long GMAT saga by Nov/Dec(Hopefully!)


Ya Quants, even i can get 49,easily :wink:

I feel V34/V36 can be scored if one can hold his/her nerves! thats 690-710!
User avatar
mrsmarthi
Joined: 30 Nov 2008
Last visit: 09 Nov 2013
Posts: 335
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 15
Concentration: Finance, General Management
Schools:Fuqua
Posts: 335
Kudos: 1,892
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Nitya34,

When I was planning my GMAT(first attempt), I was targetting in in one of IIM's or ISB starting april 2010. But after the score, all my dreams were shattered......(I know that I was weak in verbal. But was hoping for some luck on the D-Day. Isn't it the foolish act on a person to think so? )

Then I lost my interest in GMAT Preparation.To add to that, it is even more challenge for a a working mother with a 2 year old. Hardly can concentrate on my preparation until very late in the night. (Thinking that GMAT is not my cup of tea.) If I have to do MBA, with a 590 score also I can do. But that's not what I wanted. So almost dropped my idea of retaking the exam.

After April, very rarely I was peeking thru GMAT Forums.....But to be frank after reading Bipolarbear debrief and his continuous improvement led me to think, why not I also start a topic of my preparation and religiously layout a plan and record the actuals and see how the ending is going to be. (Thank you BipolarBear for providing the inspiration). I just started my preparation only from last weekend. I am targetting to take the exam in Oct or at the max November. Definitely not beyond that.

So let me see how the ride will be for this time.....

BTW, what are FLTs? I never heard of them.....
User avatar
bipolarbear
Joined: 11 Dec 2008
Last visit: 16 Sep 2013
Posts: 352
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 12
Location: United States
GMAT 1: 760 Q49 V44
GPA: 3.9
GMAT 1: 760 Q49 V44
Posts: 352
Kudos: 739
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
mrsmarthi, i definitely encourage you to retake the gmat especially since you know that you can do much better than 590. I too found it very difficult to study and thus I procrastinated for a good two months before I really started focusing and I definitely think that keeping an online log, blog, or simply sharing your study journal is tremendously helpful. Not only will it keep you motivated and allow you to record your goals but the community support is great and it's a lot easier to know that you're not the only one going through it.

in regards to your materials, sterny's gmatprep document has official questions and explanations taken from gmatprep and can be found here:
750-q49-v44-68657.html . going through that will definitely teach you to narrow down your SCs in a methodological way. remember to avoid shaky materials like kaplan 800 (honestly the first page of its SC section contained errors of SANAM (some any all none most) pronouns...

a helpful method for me was to colloborate with a couple of gmatclub members who were taking the test around the same time as myself. In my case, I monitored the progress of avenusaur and gmanjesh closely and they also provided me with many helpful tips. avenusaur ended up taking his test two weeks before me and got a 770 which really inspired me to crank it up. gmanjesh is taking the test soon and i wish him all the best. studying for the gmat isn't the most interesting experience but at least it doesn't have to be lonely.
User avatar
Economist
Joined: 01 Apr 2008
Last visit: 24 Dec 2018
Posts: 383
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 18
Name: Ronak Amin
Schools: IIM Lucknow (IPMX) - Class of 2014
Schools: IIM Lucknow (IPMX) - Class of 2014
Posts: 383
Kudos: 4,504
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Hi mrsmarthi,
welcome back to the forum..The best part is not letting go and coming back with a bang ! If GMAT is a deadly beast one has to kill it so that it doesn't haunt you...there is no way out...:) Take your time and get back to basics. Since it is your second time, I don't think you will take much time on basics except refreshing the concepts....

Good luck. Keep the spirit going..
User avatar
mrsmarthi
Joined: 30 Nov 2008
Last visit: 09 Nov 2013
Posts: 335
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 15
Concentration: Finance, General Management
Schools:Fuqua
Posts: 335
Kudos: 1,892
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Thankyou Economist.

Now coming back to my preparation, today I have completed one unfinished MGAMT CAT Free exam. I started this off on 4/19/2009(couple of days after my failed attempt) to start afresh. But unfortunately never was able to complete it. So I picked some random ans for Quant to start on Verbal. But never came to the point where I could complet the exam.

Again today is my day for that unfinished exam. Fortunately when I resumed the exam, I am pointed to the first question in the Verbal. This is exactly what I wanted. I did complete my exam. I am least bothered about my quant score. Reason - I picked random ans just to get thru to the Verbal. So here is breakup.

8/26/2009 - Total 420 (Q - 17, V - 30)...... :wink: 420

The good thing about this exercise, is that my verbal score's tens digit is in 3's. Hurray..... :banana

At a high level, here is my breakdown in verbal -

SC - 8(wrong) - 7(Correct) = 50 %
CR - 7(wrong) - 7(Correct) = 50 %
RC - 6(wrong) - 6(Correct) = 50 %

So as of today, my stand on Verbal is around 50%. I need to bring this to atleast 90% + in SC and CR, and close to 80% in RC.

Categories where there are most incorrect answers are -

SC - Verbs, parallelism, pronouns and Modifiers. (Hum I thought I was strong in Parllels but obviusly not. )
RC - Specific detail, Inferrence and Main Idea
CR - Weaken, Assumption, Boldface.

Let me see how many of them are careless mistakes once I complete my self review. I cannot afford to have careless mistakes in Verbal because it costs me a lot. (Oh I forgot to mention - this test was not under a timined condition. But still my verbal shows an upward trend - self boosting factor.)
User avatar
mrsmarthi
Joined: 30 Nov 2008
Last visit: 09 Nov 2013
Posts: 335
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 15
Concentration: Finance, General Management
Schools:Fuqua
Posts: 335
Kudos: 1,892
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Can anyone suggest me a god book(s) / link(s)for RC for Tips / Strategies / different types of RC questions ? RC really is killing my verbal score - in one way I am only 50% correct and in another way it is consuming too much of my time that is impacting my SC and CR. :wall
User avatar
mrsmarthi
Joined: 30 Nov 2008
Last visit: 09 Nov 2013
Posts: 335
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 15
Concentration: Finance, General Management
Schools:Fuqua
Posts: 335
Kudos: 1,892
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Today not much of the studying happened. So far, completed Concise, Subject-Verb Agreement, and Parallelism chapters of MGMAT SC. I am yet to do the exercises. Intial plan was to complete Pronouns strategy also. But lagging behind.

I definitely want to dedicate one complete day each for going thru the chapters on Modifiers, Verbs, Comparisions. These are my weakest topics in SC. So this time I don't want to brush thru the pages but rather understand the concept behind them. Hopefully I will complete going thru these chapters by end of this month. So that I can plan for taking up the exercises from all chapters whole of next week. Even these contain lot more valuable information. They do not merely test what you learnt.

Oh, planning to take my first MGMAT CAT # 1 this weekend. Before that I need to atleast understand how to tackle RC's.
User avatar
snipertrader
Joined: 26 Apr 2009
Last visit: 12 Aug 2010
Posts: 310
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 41
Affiliations: ACA, CPA
Location: Vagabond
Concentration: Finance, Treasury, Banking
Schools:BC
WE 1: Big4, Audit
WE 2: Banking
Posts: 310
Kudos: 304
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
mrsmarthi
Can anyone suggest me a god book(s) / link(s)for RC for Tips / Strategies / different types of RC questions ? RC really is killing my verbal score - in one way I am only 50% correct and in another way it is consuming too much of my time that is impacting my SC and CR. :wall


I am by no means an expert in RC...but i generally do the following -

1. Read the question first before reading the para (applies to the 1st RC question)
2. While reading, anticipate what the writer would write next. This will help you "engage" with the writer
3. Create timelines if the para has dates/years
4. Read the last few lines of the para VERY carefully. Sometimes, those lines give a definitive shape to the structure of the para.
5. Look for key words / idioms (this comes with practice). These tend to be the basis of certain questions.
6. Do not assume anything....look for answers within the para itself. If you dont find it, try to look for similar sentences/meanings
7. Last but not least - try to read fast (easier said than done - comes with practice)

Most of the RC para's are dry and hence one's interest level drops. I generally look forward to reading dry para's now as i always feel, i learn something new. Once you feel interested, you will see a dramatic increase in the accuracy in RC

I am sure others can contribute much more valuable tips on RC

Hope this helps
 1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   
Moderator:
Founder
43158 posts