Recommendation woes

It is difficult, however I'm a little appeased when people tell me it only gets easier. I finished my first draft for a school essay. The main one - why MBA, why here. My reviewer gave me some great feedback that included 20% praise and 80% criticism. The good guy that he was, he actually apologized for the censure in the same mail telling me he felt i needed it to get better. The thing is I dont need yes-men at this point, so all his points were welcome.

I thought I'd sit the next day and work on the essay. Come up with brilliant points, colourful writing style, structure. I sat with my fingers literally in knots, my thought process going in circles and (hello!) I consider I'm generally clear headed. So I let that day pass in complete frustration.

One of my recommenders informed me that she wont be available for the rest of the month because of a home move and other personal activities. I had 1 day to come up with the outlines for jogging her memory. Seriously this was a great event. I sat and faced all the questions... 3 strengths, 3 weaknesses, leadership examples, interpersonal skill examples. For some reason I was able to find so many things I had done under her supervision. So it turned out that I took this deadline opportunity and completed my resume (2nd and final draft) and recommender 1 outline. I have however found that there are more questions asked by other schools to recommenders and need to add a little more to the outline for recommender 1. So suddenly this outline exercise has added to my knowledge of myself. I remember multiple things I have done that hopefully adds dimension or atleast offers choice to my essay examples.

It has also raised doubts on my choice of recommenders, especially for one who I know is extremely enthusiastic about recommending me, but given the kind of examples the other recommenders can show I am doubtful if I should use my enthusiastic recommender or not. What complicates this situation is that its difficult to do away with this recommender so easily because (1) she's a international customer (2) she's enthusiastic and uses words like 'brave' to describe me - all this unsolicited. I am still crippled with this question, so maybe as I get through this day and complete more recommendation outlines, I will have a better answer to this question.

I also have to say I'm loving the Accepted.com essays book. Its concise and to the point. I think I have a half mind to do a review on it when I get the time.

Key takeaways from this post

• Creating outlines for your recommenders really helps you remember your work and brings new insight to write essays.
• Recommendations need fantastic examples and not broad bombastic statements like X is brilliant  or X has performed in challenging tasks and under extreme pressure.
• Writing outlines confirms or raises questions in your head, about the wisdom of your choice of recommenders.

PS : If you have reached to the end of this post, I have a few free BTG practice questions premium accounts to offer. If you have not read my review on this fantastic product, here it is What is the Newly launched Beat the GMAT practice questions all about ?. If you are interested do post comments on this post with your mail id.

AWA scores within 2 days!

A routine mailbox check and there was my official score report within 2 days of my taking the test. This time I was a little nervous about my Issue essay. As I mentioned in my earlier post, I was hoping that the argument essay, which I actually practiced writing out during my study, would compensate for the Issue essay. I was pleasantly relieved to see a 5.5 on my AWA (up from 5.0 in my earlier GMAT take). A little off target from the 6.0 score (hence the slightly off target dartboard picture), but the jump from 56th percentile to 77th percentile, made this retake more worth it than it already was.

I've currently picked up on my essay writing. I am also reading the Accepted.com's 'Great Application Essays for Business Schools' book. Hopefully that would give me some perspective to typical fallouts and other strategy ideas. For some reason, I seem more clear in my head about my essays now than I was a couple of months ago. I used to feel lost, wondering what material was suitable and what experiences to draw from. I guess now its time to strike or give a walkover. No more excuses to put it off. Now or never. So when things have got to move, they do. Hope to get my first draft of the essays for school 1 out by this weekend and also update my recommenders with my new score and discuss my recommendations.

I am excited about the BTG new practice questions launch. Its going to be an updated version of the paid product already available on the BTG website. I've been given a reviewer's account and was pleased with some of the changes they have made. My review will be out early next week when the launch happens. Also may have a few premium accounts up for grabs !

What to make out of a 680

Finally after a anxious half day, I finished my GMAT retake with a 680 (Q48,V34). It seems like a more respectable total than my previous take. Still increasing my total by 20 points (only 1 point in verbal made the difference) hopefully makes my $250 investment in the retake worth it in the long run. The score comes close to  the average of many schools like Tepper and Mccombs that I'm targetting. No ISB and Haas though! (sigh). Also the propects of scholarships has me worried.

About the test itself, the quant section was very close to the OG level of difficulty. While I practiced with Grockit and Manhattan, I certainly felt the manhattan level is slightly higher than the actual test for quants. So if you can do Manhattan, you would have a high probability of achieving that score for quants in the real test. I finished with 7 mins to spare, which I could have used in the verbal section, if only it was allowed. The verbal in manhattan however is accurately as tough as the real test. Getting an RC when I had 5 questions left and only 10 mins was no help at all. I was nervous throughout the verbal section, with frequent anxious glances at the timer ticking away. I can guess that a lot of that played on my productivity. But so be it. Its done and dusted.

I hadn't practiced the Analysis of Issue and I wasn't happy with my essay for the Issue section. The Argument essay went well since I had practiced it well. Hopefully the score of one compensates for the other and I get something respectable.

The last week I really stepped up my prep rather than lower my guard. Thanks to Random wok who gave me that piece of advice. I solved all OG, OG verbal guide questions again and went over the Manhattan idiom list. While I think this was good to improve my confidence levels in Math and SC, the CRs unfortunately were not any help since I knew the premise of each argument when I read them again.

Another plus this time was my last GMAT investment of Rs 85 on a can of Red bull. The last time I faced fatigue in my verbal section. I just couldn't wait for the test to end. This time I was alert all through. Maybe it works for some, and doesn't for others. I've never really had a red bull till yesterday, so its not proven to work every time.

A list of what I used as GMAT resources :
OG 11
OG verbal and quant guides
Manhattan SC
Powerscore CR bible
Grockit standard membership practice questions (CATs are buggy, more on that in another post)
Manhattan CAT practice tests
Kaplan free online practice test and CAT CDs
BTG DS strategy overview series

Now, onto to the next chapter. Re-assessing my school choices and getting started with the school essays.
Watch out for my review on the soon to be launched NEW Beat the GMAT practice questions. I also have a few premium accounts up for distribution !

GMAT O.D.

Finally the urgency to finish giving my GMAT got the better of me. I'm not sure what my current mock test trends predict about my real GMAT score. From a read of several 'I Beat the GMAT' forum posts, I've felt there is no real high correlation between the mock tests and the real GMAT test. Several GMAT test takers have scored 700+ on the MGMAT, for example, and scored just a 700 on the real. The converse is also true. Several posters also say that there is no real predictive mock test you can take. The main idea in taking the mocks being to practice, practice, practice, and learn, learn, learn.

Besides now that everyone's officially in or about to be in the R2 deadline zone, its important that I move on! Taking the GMAT test is like answering a question in a timed Overall test. If you spend too long on answering that one question then you are sure to lose out on answering (and scoring better) on the other questions in the big Test.

I'll be posting my review on my experience with the Grockit standard membership and also another on the BTG practice questions product. I also will officially start my applications prep from next weekend, so more posts on that to come soon.

Face the demons - Review All, Round off & other learnings

Click to download my new Math desktop wallpaper

This week I took a Manhattan GMAT CAT. Just prior to my first GMAT test, I had taken the MGMAT free CAT and was unable to finish the quant section. The verbal section was completed in a complete rush, owing to my not having answered 12-15 questions in the quant section. I was so disappointed with the poor score of 580, I had decided that some of the GMAT forum members who say that the score you get in the MGMAT is not as important as the practice, were right.

Now that my studies and mock CATs have resumed I thought it would be useful to give the MGMAT CAT a try again. After buying the paid CATs, I gave my 2nd CAT and again faced the same difficulty. Far too many tough questions coming to me in a row, I couldn't keep pace. Lost out in a similar way by not answering the last 10-12 questions and got a 590. I spoke to a MGMAT user, who eventually went on to get a 760 and he believed that the MGMAT could be completed in time and that should be the aim. I also so a few other fellow bloggers post their MGMAT scores and thought maybe I need to face it fairly.

This week I took the MGMAT CAT 3. I guess owing to a lot more quant practice (remember my GMAT take 1 score of Q48 isn't so bad in itself), I kept a focus not on the timer, but on the questions this time. My aim was solve and move to the next. I have to get it right in the first attempt to solve, else I take my best guess and move on. This time I felt I performed well. I was getting more and more DS problems on number properties. Got a score of 650 (Q 47 , V32). I was glad I even got something with a significant score difference. Faced the demons and now for more to go!

My next aim is to review ALL my verbal questions across all Grockit games and CATs I've taken and write a comprehensive word document on all my points of failure. Most SC questions across tests/exams, tend to repeat with the same mistakes being tested and I'm going for trends. I'm also reviewing a few of the notes from other GMAT takers, ones I've listed in 'GMAT notes/resources' in the Resources Tab. Sometimes the explanations they have amalgamated for my mistakes make things more clear.

For Quants, a friend of mine who has got a 730 with a Q50 has advised me to study my tables uptil 24 and Squares and Cubes until the number 20. I can understand his point when he says you tend to then recognize numbers very quickly, during factorizing or division. Another great tip he gave me was to check if the answer choices are significantly different in value, and if so, try to round of numbers to solve problems quicker. I did try this late last night on a practice game in Grockit and it worked for me. My timings reduced. But I think it should be done with some caution.

Next week, on for more CATs. Hope some of my learnings in this post are helpful to all of you GMAT takers. Good luck!

My CAT - 1,2,3 & Trends

My array of mock tests have started to swell. Unfortunately I'm struggling with quants this time. A friend of mine told me that GMAT retakers tend to focus on their weak areas from the first GMAT and lose out on their strengths and I seem to be well on that way for now.

Veritas prep - (feel good) - 710 Q45,V42
Kaplan free online - 690 Q45 V39 (this is not a adaptive test)
Grockit #1 - 680 Q43 V40


I had taken the Veritas in May, before my first real GMAT test. Although I had got a 620 then, the 710 now probably is a little skewed since I have been exposed to their questions before. I did remember getting some repeats.

My GMAT was Q48, v33 and for my retake I've put a lot of emphasis on verbals. So I am seeing some benefits of that, but unfortunately am struggling with time on quants and that has dipped. I wish I could maintain my earlier quant score and reach these verbal scores, that would be just perfect for me.

My aim is only to get above the 700 mark. I will spend the next 2 days practicing on harder questions on Quant and give another CAT on Thursday and make my decision on when you take my test date. I hope in the next 10 days I should be able to get to my peak (whatever it may be) and hope for the best on the exam day.

I am still wondering if I should give a shot at GMAT prep tests this time around, since I've given them 3 times already in May and I'm sure the scores would be a little skewed if I retake them now. Any thoughts ?

As a footnote, I'd like to leave with a great resource on SC and CR, an abridged version of notes and shortcuts from Manhattan & GMAT takers. Check 'GMAT notes/resources' in the resources page tab on my blog.