GMAT 700-A debrief

I gave my GMAT today and scored a 700(though I thought I could get a 730+....anyways)

I would contribute my story of GMAT here and so that others can get something to takeaway.

1. Most important thing. Always note whatever new thing you learn. I used to write in hard copy. (have got 5 registers now) These were my indispensable source during revision. I used to note down concepts, idioms, advices or just anything that I used to think could be of help. One can use a word document or excel file to do the same. Actually I now feel that saving in soft copy is better. One can share them and also, it is easy to find keywords in soft copy , when you revise.

2. Whatever posts you make, or read on beatthegmat.com (here referred as BTG) or other forums, just ctrl+S them. Save them in a folder. I had a 'BTG cool posts' named folder where I kept all the good posts.

3. I used to visit Manhattan GMAT forums a lot. Explanations given are great and authentic (that is most important)

4. Books I suggest

OGs: I actually feel that all questions on real test were similar to OG questions. So first thing is finish the OGs (I did 10th and 12th)

The subject wise list is as under

SC: Manhattan SC+OG question’s explanations through internet

CR: I started with Manhattan CR guide. During the last days I read Powerscore CR bible. But I am bit skeptic about Powerscore, whether it helped me or not.

RC: Just do the RC’s that are in the OGs. Apart from this, I got a very good document on RC’s over the internet. That document I have attached in the post. It is named ‘cool tips by Gin’

For idioms, I used the excel sheet available on BTG resources. I have attached that too in the post

For Maths, I had some problem in Number properties and Inequalities. These two topics form most of the hard questions on the test. I bought MGMAT number properties guide and recommend every one to buy.

For AWA I used a template, available on BTG. I Scored a 5.5. And I am telling you, preparation for AWA does not require any thing but to learn that template, a day before actual GMAT. But 1 thing to point out that I used to write essays in all tests. That helps in building stamina. Don't skip essays because then you shall get a rather inflated score, because you will be less tired.

Apart from this I used 300 CR questions and 300 Maths questions available on the BTG website. Also I used to search google/BTG/urch/manhattan forum for specific topics like mixtures/ permutations etc and practice. Answering on forum posts is also a great way to learn.

Also there are some great posts on BTG, written by experts. Go through them and use them

For timing:

For Maths I used the 55-35-15 strategy. That means finish 10th question on 55th minute, 20th on 35th minute and 20th on 15th minute
For English I used 58-38-18 strategy. That means finish 10th question on 58th minute, 20th on 38th minute and 30th on 18th minute

On test day: Administrators were very helpful. If you feel that you are feeling nervous, just think that GMAT wants you to get nervous and if you can avoid nervousness, may be you can score 20 more points. So what do you choose nervousness or 20 more points?

Tests that I used
MGMA T free test (1 month back-score 690)
Kaplan 4 tests (1 month back-never scored more than 630)
Official GMAT test 1st test-710
Official GMAt test 1st test reinstalled-730
Official GMAT test 2nd test-720
Official GMAT test 2st test reinstalled-730

I postponed GMAT once, because I was not confident for 700 and GMAT is so important for future that I didn't wanted to take any chance . So my advice is that you give GMAT only when you have confidence that even on a bad day,
you shall score 700.

P.S I never used any unauthentic resource, question bank or any list of questions that did not have answers or explanations. I think that using these kind of resources can lead you to make wrong concepts. Although I did around 200 questions from the 1000 SC document, but then I left it, because it used to take a lot of time, searching for the authentic explanations. If you do 1000 sc, my advice is that you keep on saving the best explanations at a place or in a document. And after that when you return back to those questions, with the explanations that you have saved, then only you will be able to learn something out of them.

Men vs Women

Today I read a very interesting statistics about women. It says "Women spend 16 months of their lives crying" .............................O Really :o.

"And how many months do men spend crying on reasons related to women" :P.........

Ok cutting the crap and moving onto some serious stuff. (I have to give GMAT soon)

From the study of a Harvard professor it has been stated that though the society may claim to have put an end to all sort of discrimination against women, we all practice it sub consciously, if not consciously. It happens everywhere, be it be office, college or home. Now this topic can be discussed at a large scope relating to harassment of women at all spheres of life. Ill stick to discussion about the new women avatar and discrimination faced at work in the context of an observation from the same study. It states that "at a college placement, while 57% men negotiated for better salaries as low as 7% women did the same".

Why do women don't ask for more, or getting recognized for their work, just as their male counterparts do. Nobody expects women to stand for their point of view or to negotiate when it comes to salaries at office. Is it because they don't have a hard-built like us, or they are not vociferous like us. Or is it just because that their ancestral gender did not stand for their rights. Lets try counting on some reasons.

Women are still personified as soft, kind, not to promote their own interests and to focus instead on the needs of the others. A atypical woman is considered idiosyncratic or bitchy. why...........

The differentiation starts from day1 itself when the doctor informs "congrats, u are a proud "relative" of a girl. The parents, the grand parents, I know are all happy but they are not that happy. To the point of being cynical...I would say "yes there is a difference"

Then it comes to toys. Girls are gifted dolls, teddy s, while the boys play with guns, and He-Man. Now dont tell me that it helps. Have u seen any boy getting motivated and ending up with a HeMan like built after 20 years. Rather most of the Indian guys end up being lithargic with extra fat around their abdomen. Aaah yes but these all guys expect no less than a barbie-like figure girl to be their soul mate. Then it comes to choosing school-the parameters are different for both, and then choosing a career.

At college a pretty girl is supposed to be engaged with a guy or else there is something wrong with her. In contrast most of the boys are never able to get into a relationship, even if they try their best.
If you are a not-so pretty girl its hard to find a dream man even if you have other virtues like being super intelligent (Of course being super rich cant be counted as a negative factor ;)) Now compare this to a geek guy. Every geek guy says "She must have looked for love in my eyes"...........without realizing that even the one he is talking to can't see his eyes as they are veiled behind those thick lens. A women doing out of the box things is considered irrespectful and provoking while a guy can do anything in public......................Yes in India he can pee too....on highways ofcourse :)

Actually my idea to tell you all this is to adduce to the fact that right from the beginning the messages girls receive—from parents, teachers, other children, the media, and society in general—can be so powerful that when they grow up they may not realize that they’ve internalized this behavior, or they may realize it but not understand how it affects their willingness to negotiate. Women tend to assume that they will be recognized and rewarded for working hard and doing a good job. Unlike men, they haven’t been taught that they can ask for more.

Even the women employees at prestigious companies that keep full vigil on employee satisfaction, face discrimination when it comes to bonus or promotions. And most of the time women are just content over the fact that they got a slice of the pie, even if their colleague got the rest of it.

In recent times there has been considerable change in the attitude of the people but the deceit lies in the fact that most of the women are just neither aware nor asking for the change. For them its like saying 'Nice Girls Dont Ask'

Tiger's pawn

Another ‘slumdog millionaire’ plot hit me recently and to no surprise it is again a a bulls eye hit. With so many takers all over the world for Indian success stories ‘The white tiger’ is able to win the ‘Bookers prize ‘apart from all other recognitions from the west. Why these people applaud all these stories that we don’t really want to admit.

What here we have is a story of ‘Balram halwai’ rising from the poverty and darkness of villages of Jharkhand to being a social entrepreneur in Bangalore. The incessant attack on our illusory morality, the fight between being logical and being practical makes mockery of the rich Indian values that we all claim to hold.

The book presents a vivid account of the poverty, the rituals, the darkness that still prevails in the villages of India and the fight of a person to break his consanguinity , a ‘Rooster Coop’ as he describes. Cogitated sub plots present descriptions that one feel incontrovertible. Then there were many new adjectives that I came across like ’Vitiligo lips’, ‘The moongoose’. The narration is full with arguments of which this one I liked the most

‘Do we loathe our masters behind a facade of love or do we love them behind a facade of loathing?’

Overall a good, well layout fast story which I would rate 3.5 out of 5. If I had read it before Q&A I could have of course rated it higher. Now there seems lot of repetitiveness. Though I hope some director must have started out his new venture on the plot because slumdog success is our new mantra and we don’t want to miss it again at the hands of some firangi.

Cracking GATE

this is d eve of 10 of feb nd i hav just given GATE IT in d morning
i dont hav ne idea whether ill b having arank or nt but just thought to tab down all those advices which i nculcated 4 myself during dis busy month
lets write dem down as bullet points
caution--i gave GATE IT which was last that happened in d series so i dont no,whether d ideas wud b helpful for oder aspirants 2,also dese r specifically meant 4 my collg students (becoz i no how we r,what we r,nd our on avg study habits:P)


1.start ur GATE prepration a month b4 .b4 that wud b 2 early nd ull get fatigued,aftr dat u wl always feel u got late(though u r still nt)
2.stratedgy is most important.scan last yr papers nd make out wat u hav to study 4 next 20 days.
3.keep ur last 7 days 4 revision(without revising,u wont gain nething)
4.wen u prepare keep a register wid u,nd jut keep noting in it,various facts,examples,def,formula.its d most helpful tool of d last days.
5.conserve ur energy nd avoid wathing movies in last 7 days(dis i followedbt depends from person 2 person)
6.do last yr gate papers (at least d last 5 yrs,a hell lot of concepts get repeated)


to tel u gys i left computr network nd comp architeture.
so u also dont hav to study evrything
just study smartly.

den goin on per subject scan
discret maths--folow this schaums DM its gud nd its enough
automata--last chapter in shaums discrete,aftr this peter linz.
digital logic design--moris mano nd some parts from malvino
programming--no need to study being a IT student
OS--nothing bttr den Gherke
SE--do from ne bk;only dese topics r to b done--cyclometric complexity,errors,type of models,pert,er,dfd,cohesion coupling,softare testing,verification,validation
algo--usually easy.ne bk u can follow.i used to follow coreman.just do 2 things.know how d algo works nd its complexity
html,xml--1 question each comes
grphs is a imp topic.
data structures --ifollowed schaums.its gud nd sufficient
den take up a TMH MCQ
solve it regularly
in OS seamaphore,paging,scheduling r imp.
Automata shud nt b left
DBMS-i followed korth.do at least relational alg nd queries

i think dis is all i gt to tell u at d moment,and yes "just stick to course,nthing wud be asked from outside" nd stay +ve
WHEN U AIM OF STARS U'LL SURELY REACH D MOON :)

P.S after 1 month I have the result now. All India Rank 284 cracked.