GMAT prep1 Baseline Score : 660 Q 47 V 34

I took GMAT Prep 1 today. This is my Baseline score. 660, Q47, V34.
Quants: 37 Questions,15 incorrect
Verbal : 41 Questions, 13 incorrect, Errors: SC - 7, CR - 5, RC - 1
Target : Improve 100 points
Timeline : 4 months

My New Year Resolutions

Here are my New Year Resolutions / I promise to do list

1. Disciplined Study - GMAT 750, Get Straight As in Extention classes
2. Exercise 5 times a week
3. Lose XX pounds
4. Eat Healthy
5. Holiday in Kerala - God's Own country
6. Get my blogs up and running.
7. Build up my music collection
8. Pray more
9. Date some  more :)

I have no choice but to fulfil my new year's resolutions, now that I have declared it to the whole wide world

 Wishing all of you a very Happy New Year!! May all your GMAT dreams come true.

My Christmas List



My Christmas List



All that I need and more..

I am back to the GMAT way of life after a long 3 month hiatus. My Dad and brother were in a road accident. Dad is fine and back to his normal ways. Cannot say the same about by lil bro though. He seems to have lost feeling in his thumb, index and middle finger. He may need another surgery pretty soon. I on the other hand have been down with an extended bout of sinusitis. The headaches have been worse than ever. I am on the mend and raring to go. (until my next bout of sinusitis that is)

Now back to my preperation. I have the following books / resources put together:

1. OG 11, OG12, OG Quant Review and Verbal Review
2. 8 Manhattan GMAT Strategy Guides
3. Powerscore LSAT LR
4. All the great resources at BeattheGMAT.com, ManhattanGMAT.com, GMATclub.com.
5. e-gmat for Sentence Correction

I had initially planned to take the exam late Feb 2011 but now I intend to postpone the exam to April.

I have taken the GMAT prep 1 and 2 more than a couple of times even before starting on my preperation. I know many of you are shaking your head in horror. I wanted to really get a feel of the test and understand and analyse my response to it. I have an amazing ability of not recollecting the answer to any of the questions. I tend to work on them every time. My score varies from 570 to 700. Q (42 to 49) and V (28 to 35). I am able to score Q 49 if my pacing strategy works. I feel attempting all the questions is the key. In hindsight I felt I encountered a lot of easy questions in the 25 - 32 question number range. As for verbal, I normally finish the paper in 45 mins. I am a quick reader and I go by the ear a 100% for solving SC questions. Naturally the most no of mistakes I make are on the SC. CR comes in a close second followed by RC. I believe that performance in RC really increases the score. RCs are normally a group of 3 to 4 questions. If I can get 3 to 4 questions that come before the RC type, the RC questions(3or 4) and the next 3 questions right, I would have a hot streak of 10 questions answered correctly. This I am hoping will put me in the 700+ zone of questions.

What I need to work on:

Quants
1.Word problems like rates, work, distance, SI, CI, permutations and combinatorics
2. Number properties.
3. Co - ordinate Geometry
2. Timing/ Pacing strategy

Verbal
1. SC - the whole gamut of SC world.
2. CR - strategy for solving every type of question.
3. RC - Improving accuracy to 100%

Ta.. for now. Will be back with my Post Christmas List ( oh yes Santa does work post Christmas too ) and I promise to keep - New Year resolution list.

Happy Holidays Every one..

My Love Story

"This post is featured on the MBA Crystal Ball Blog."

A Broken Engagement, loads of drama, 100 Lindt extra dark chocolates and 30 pounds later, I have decided to chase my MBA dream once again.

Being above 27 and unmarried isnt easy , specially if you are an Indian girl. Even more so if you are surrounded by well meaning, yet ghastly relatives who seem to make it their life's purpose to see you married off to a well settled, well behaved(What the!!), Tee-totaller(Holly Crap!!) IT engineer son/nephew/friend/neighbour just back from the US of A.

On the other hand, I am NOT an IT engineer. I am a very well misbehaved, at times tipsy and definitely not matrimonially inclined (specially the arranged kind) 28 yr old girl. Overall not your quintessential Indian kudi. Yup!! You guessed it right. Another bollywood potboiler in the making.

Inspite of clearly stating my intentions of studying further, my dearest, excessively dramatic Dad convinced me to meet "eligible candidate" on "pseudo dates" with "family included" to decided on a suitable life partner. After quite a few embarassing, bordering on disasterous sessions of serving chai (lessons learnt: Do not spill tea on the groom's mother, doesn't bode well for a long term relationship) and samosas, we (me not withstanding) finally agreed upon a guy. (Yes!! I am straight, in case I got you wondering otherwise) One I would like to call Mr Teetotaller. Mr T and I got an hour to talk and decide if we we could live together peacefully in holy matrimony for the next oh so pianful years. I broke it to him, not so gently, of my intentions of studying further. Surprisingly Mr T nodded his head enthusuiastically, which I assumed was in full support of my intentions. Well !! Thats that. Congratulations were in order. I was soon to become Mrs T. Off course, I was yet to break it to him, of the healthy relationship I shared with Mr Gray Goose ;-) Well !! maybe some other time.

<Bored already, tsk, tsk, tsk !! How will you endure dull GMAT RCs ? Read on.. >

Engagement preperations were in full swing. In the meanwhile I did my research on GMAT and stumbled upon BeattheGMAT.com. I was thrilled and inspired to read GMAT success stories. I hope to be part of this elite group someday.

Back to the engagement. Two days before the bethrotal ceremony, Mr T and his family decided that a little payment was due to them in the form of a dowry, in view of their superior financial status vis a vis our middle class one. Needless to say, I was not comfortable being bartered for a few lakhs of Rupees.The engagement was called off citing financial incompatiability(me rich - you poor syndrome). Or my take on it ( You a Jack A$$ - me better off syndrome) :)

My family was heartbroken, specially my dramatic dad, who was more dramatic then normal. Well, All I can say is good Riddance!!  Now I can begin my love affair with GMAT.

B-School, here I come. Wish Me luck :)