Day 42: Slowly and painfully back into action

Did the following today. I could have done more, but given my last 10 days of almost GMAT study, today looks much better. Need to follow this same flow and slowly get back into full-blown form.

I only have 1 month left.

Accomplisments

• Completed 2 RC passages
• 10 OG CR questions
• 20 OG DS questions
• 10 OG PS questions
• 60 min of quant theory review

Planning on getting up at 7:30 am tomorrow and ensuring I'm at the library by 9 am. (I took a day off work to study so need to make it worthwhile!)

Day 41: 9 days of no study

I'll be honest - since my last post of doing the MGMAT Cat #2 till today, I have done very very minimal studying (more like nothing).

Work was long, and I got sick, and it lasted a while. Had no energy to study.

Anyway, I'm back and need to get into it again. Also, being sick sucks! I am going to start having to really do 15-20 min of stretching or light exercise to keep my body healthy - otherwise, all my studying momentum could be lost again! :S

Hope to have more regular updates soon.

Day 32: Did MGMAT CAT #2

I did a practice test today to see how far I've progressed... but, I did a MGMAT one (which is much harder than GMAT Prep!)

Also, confession, I cheated on the Quant of MGMAT and hit the PAUSE button to try and solve questions. My verbal score is right though, because I did it within the timed limits, no pauses.

So the score is: 630 (Q 44, V 32)

• Math is DEFINITELY inflated. I was so clueless and felt like I was guessing on 60% of these questions.... I don't understand how I scored 44 and will NOT take this as a victory. This test showed me that I am not confident in a lot of my base theories and need to memorize certain question types 
• Verbal... well, Verbal is 32, and that's a real score considering I didn't inflate. I feel I need to get faster and avoid mental fatigue. I need to get verbal up to 38 at least on MGMAT b/c I heard MGMAT verbal is easy!

Going to spend tomorrow reviewing my wrong answers in Quant and Verbal.

Day 30: Quality not quantity strategy

Yesterday was a write off day... I was so exhausted that I pretty much slept for 10 hrs straight.

Today (Day 30), I had off, so I re-thought of my strategy and did the following:

• Went through some previous questions I've gotten wrong from previous attempt's GMAT Prep tests (about 15 questions reviewed through this)
• Identified weaknesses in the following and spent time pounding the concept lessons into my brain:
• Ratio vs numbers
• Gross Profit
• Inequalities
• N - O/ O type problems
• OG 12: Went through all the DS questions from #1-70 that I either got wrong or took longer than 2 minutes to solve
• OG 12: 6 PS questions (#169-174)
• 2 SC

Heading to bed... my brain can't possibly cram in any more info.

Saturday I'm taking my first Practice Test since my last actual GMAT attempt!

Day 28: Recover from Sat's abysmal study day

[Edit: This weekend was a very slow study weekend. I have a day off work on Tuesday and I definitely will need to get myself to a library. Staying at home is making me an unkempt bum and it doesn't help my study habits. The days are ticking down and the stakes are high. Can't waste precious time - note to self!]

Sat was pretty much a waste day. I don't have much of an excuse really. I slept alot during the day because of a late Friday night where I lay awake doing nothing. What a waste.

With hopes of starting Sun refreshed and ready to go, I'm going to head to bed right after this post. Planning out Sunday study day:

Get up at 8 am and be ready to study for 9:30 am:

1. [COMPLETE] PS Review OG 12 solving strategy on the questions I got wrong or went over 2 min per question
2. DS (same as PS review)
3. [COMPLETE --> 8 wrong, spent over 2 min on 10 q's] 25 PS questions
4. [Did 13 questions --> 5 wrong] 25 DS questions
5. Spend 1.5 hrs tackling CR logical reasoning strategies
6. Do 1 RC passage
7. (Not related to study, but I consider this impt so adding it here so that it gets done) Excercise/stretch/or do yoga for 20 min. Keeps me from feeling lethargic

Day 27: Saturday = study day

Firstly, recap on Day 26:

• Met with my tutor for 2 hrs. I didn't find this session as useful as the first one. I've spaced the tutoring days apart by 10 - 14 days per session as I want to use her more as a coach to occasionally touch base with, to get some perspective on, but don't feel I need her regularly.
• 1 thing I learned from the tutor is CR diagramming strategies. She gave good advice: Don't focus on faster timing in CR right now - instead, struggle with the logic behind each question and deeply understand it. Once I get through that hurdle, my timing will improve as I will be able to identify the logic structure immediately.

This leads to.... Day 27 Study Plan [I will update whenever I complete each item, throughout the day]

• [COMPLETE. Spend a while struggling with necessary and sufficient condition theory. Decided to take a break and try this concepts again tomorrow because my head hurts trying to make sense of if X, then Y. Did #1-10 of OG 12 CR and reviewed notes. Small progress but at least tackled verbal today.] CR: Spend 2 hours on understanding an argument's underlying logic 
• eg. What's the structure? Theory? Illustration of a theory? Where's the premise and conclusion? What's the purpose of placing the conclusion and premise in a particular order? How does that impact the argument and flow? Where are there gaps in flow and logic

• [Bad study day today. Only 30% COMPLETE] Quant - QUALITY not quantity focus first: Review all PS and DS probs completed to date with the following analysis points: 
• What theory areas do I need to strengthen?
• (Review those theory areas)
• Read through solutions - is there another method or shortcut than my method to go faster? Study those

• [INCOMPLETE] Do 25 PS questions from OG 12

• [INCOMPLETE] Do 25 DS questions from OG 12

It's definitely an ambitious plan, considering that I'll be starting at 12 noon. But I think it's a good framework for today's study day. I need to crank up the heat, considering that I have just a MONTH to go!

Ready? Set? Go!

Day 25: Long day... but gotta put in the hours, no excuses

Woke up determined to squeeze in whatever study time I could get in today. This week is going to be very long at work, so I know I need to make the most of every minute.

So far....

8:00 am - 8:40 am: OG 12, PS, #127 - #137 (11 questions done)

To do still:

• COMPLETE - 4 more PS q's
• COMPLETE - 10 DS q's (#46-55, OG 12 DS)
• 30 min of Verbal q's
• Start thinking about what I want to achieve with my tutor tomorrow

I'll edit this post when I get home this evening. With good news of reaching study targets. (Fingers crossed) ;)

Day 24

Dead tired, however got the following done:

• OG 12, 30 questions between PS and DS
• Was feeling too exhausted for verbal q's so I read 2 articles in the Scientific American. 

And that's a wrap for today. Need to get verbal into this mix too. Asap!

Day 21: Enjoying studying

Yes... you read that heading correctly. I, GMAT Gal, am enjoying studying. This is BIG. Very bigg - considering that the last 2 times, I treated GMAT studying like an (extremely) odious chore that was killing my social life. A necessary evil to discard away with as quickly as possible.

However, the shock of getting a bad score in what I thought was my last attempt (last month), drove home a few points:

1. I really want to do an MBA. My previous attitude towards the GMAT and MBA was not serious. I know I wanted to do a grad degree, and an MBA was the right choice because of my career goals... but I wasn't so passionate about the MBA. I was reluctant. I didn't think I needed to put much effort and heart and soul into the GMAT. I figured... hey... I went to one of the best business schools in Canada (iBBA at the Schulich School of Business) ... I don't possibly need to study that hard... right? Wrong 
2. That huge desire to want to do the MBA came when I realized that if I couldn't successfully clear the GMAT... I'd never get an MBA and my future career aspirations would be halted. So.. Sept 19th onwards (the day after my exam), I found my attitude changed drastically:
1. Build up my shattered confidence
2. Learn to enjoy studying again vs treating it like a chore
3. Do NOT panic - dealing gracefully with stressful situations is a hallmark of a successful MBA candidate - and - even - a successful life!
4. Do NOT panic (I have to keep reminding myself that)

So, anyway, in the spirit of the Thanksgiving weekend, I was watching a movie that re-iterated to me the things I was thankful for:

1. My wonderful parents for supporting me fully in my educational pursuits
2. My friends - real, funny, warm and reliable
3. My good health
4. Living in a country where I can take advantage of opportunities... simply by wanting something. There are places where wanting something isn't enough. You have to have the money, or the connections, or the right political situation to get it too. In Canada, all I need to do is invest in the effort, and things will flow from there. (I love Canada!)

 So... back to rule #3, 4: Do NOT panic. I have a lot to be thankful for and really... I'm grateful that I have the opportunity to just focus on the GMAT for the next 1.5 months. Ready... set... Go!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! :)

Day 19: Some practice before bed

I was moving really slow today and got a very small amount of studying done this morning (45 min). I could have easily gotten in another good 30 min, but... its a Friday (that's my reason for being a bit more sluggish this morning).

It's the Thanksgiving long weekend over here in Toronto, so Monday is a stat holiday. And, because I need every study day that I can get, I was VERY happy that its a stat holiday because in my mind it equates to a whole other study day.

Came home, unwinded for 2 hrs and was really braindead at 10 pm, but pushed myself to do some questions. I didn't feel like going into in-depth analysis with OG 12, so I did 1 hr 15 min of www.grockit.com  - its a website that allows you to practice GMAT questions. I didn't find the questions all that hard, but I did find that doing something like that and practicing is better than doing nothing.
 ---
 It's interesting.... in my last attempt, I was absolutely miserable to have to study on a Friday night - but this time around - nothing matters but focusing, working hard and getting a good score - I am determined! 

Day 18: Taming the wild horse

I started OG 12 today, after going through MGMAT Strategy Guides #1, 2, 3 and 1/2 of 4. I decided to stop the theory and head right into the mouth of the open beast... OG 12 practice problems.

Theory is important, but so is practice. I plan on reviewing my theory notes, but also, doing 20-30 OG questions per day.

I'm timing myself with this stopwatch. Sometimes I find it discouraging to see how long it takes me to complete a question (eg 4 min), but at least I know how I'm faring. I'm keeping an excel tracker sheet this time of how I go.

Timer I use: http://www.online-stopwatch.com/full-screen-stopwatch/

The GMAT is like an untamed wild horse (analogy courtesy of my GMAT tutor) ... its a friendly beast... you just have to tame it and then it's a fun ride. lol. Well, all I know is staying positive is important, and the wild horse analogy makes me smile... maybe I'll even take a horseriding 1 day lesson after this whole GMAT journey, just for the laughs ;)

Day 14

Completed:

• Spent 20 min reviewing theory notes of previous MGMAT Strat Guides #1-3
• Started MGMAT Strat Guide #4 (Word Translations):
• Read, took theory notes - Chpt 1-3
• Did 45 drill questions from this book
• MGMAT Strat Guide #6 (Critical Reasoning): Did a quick read through all major chpts, and took notes on Chpt 1-4
• Did 3 "Find the assumption" questions and spent 4-10 min per question analyzing what the structure of the argument was, and categorizing each answer choice - even though I knew the answers intuitively, I need to develop an anlytical approach that will help me out on even the hardest questions. Found that the analysis (of the right answers) helped me more than just choosing an answer, getting it right and then moving on.

Also... I found a tutor... I'll be spending 2 hours with her on Wed... I was a bit hesitant about getting a tutor, but got convinced to try one out... let's see if its useful or not this coming Wed (Day 17).

And that's a wrap for a Sunday. Did I mention I also got a good chunk of laundry done? ;)

Day 13: Battle with Advanced strategy inequalities

I feel like I've made little to know progress today, even though I've studied around 4 hours already.

I'm doing MGMAT Strategy Guide #3, and finding that I'm getting all the advanced questions wrong for inequalities. I feel its because I didn't fully internalize the strategies in Chpt 5 (basic inequalities) because I skimmed through it.

The hard thing with learning through MGMAT is that:
1) I know most of the basics - just need to get faster and more comfortable, so when I am reading through the basic chapters, I skim over areas I feel I've already mastered. This however leads to trouble if...
2) MGMAT is teaching a new strategy that would be useful for me to know, but, will take time for me to learn because I've learned another strategy that I'm not that strong at, but find easier to do.

For me this means that I need to take a deep breathe and learn a new strategy.. because if a past strategy isn't something I'm strong in ... then why keep hitting my head against a brick wall? Scrap that and learn a new way of doing it... and doing it faster and getting it right consistently.

Battling with inequalities right now. Don't feel like giving up on it yet, but at the same time, I'm having a rising sense of worry that I only have less than 2 months to go and I need to be mindful of studying strategically.

Overall, I've made the decision to not study MGMAT Strategy Guide #5 (Geometry). Why? Because I don't have the time in my prep, and I know the basic Geo stuff anyway. If I have time later on, I'll go through it, but not now.

Focus on mastering the concepts in Strategy Guide #3 and #4 (Word Translations - something I'm really weak in)!.

Ok... so I'm going to go back to this... I hope I have happier news to report tomorrow instead of another battle with a question type.  :S

Day 12: Slowly revving up again

This week has been a very un-GMAT-esque week with social catch ups that could not be canceled and month end at work (worked a 11 hour day yesterday) :S

Today, I did about 1.5 hours of studying - measly, but better than my Mon - Thurs. What I've accomplished:

- MGMAT Strategy Guide #3, Chpt 12 of 14 chpt in theory review

Plan for Sat Oct 2:
- Finish theory review of Strat Guide #3, and do all the practice questions by the afternoon
- In the afternoon do an hour of English
- Start MGMAT Strategy Guide #4

My overall plan is to make theory notes (especially from MGMAT Advanced Strategy), and work on being able to identify problem types before moving onto doing all the OG 12 practice problems that the MGMAT suggests.

Strat Guide #4 is a harder one (Word Translations) so I expect that will take me a good 1 week to do with all the MGMAT problems, before I can move onto OG 12 questions. I plan on leaving MGMAT Strat Guide #5 out of my study (the Geo section) for now as I really want to finish #4 and start on OG practice problems next week.

I'm going to head to bed now... there's no point in me being half alert and studying. I'd rather get a good nights sleep and start properly tomorrow. Guilt? Yes I feel very guilty about this week, but, I know I can have a good study weekend.

Oops... Blogger software incorrectly filtered spam!

Apologies to those who've commented earlier... I just realized today that some of your comments went into spam for some reason and went in and indicated that it wasn't spam.

I appreciate all your comments and feedback - keep it coming! It keeps me accountable and its also good knowing I'm not the only one going through this journey.

I'll make sure I make it a habit to check Google's high security spam filter to ensure this doesn't happen in future. Apologies again :)

GMAT Gal