Thank you MGMAT

by **deepak.rangarajan** Sat Feb 13, 2010 11:15 pm

My profile:

10th standard - 90%
12th standard - 93%
BE - Electronics and Communication Engineering - Passed out in 2006 with 78 %
Work experience - 4 years IT experience as a SQL Server DBA.

Awards - Presented with Microsoft Most Valuable professional award for the year 2008 & 2009.
Leadership - User group president for the Chennai SQL Server User group, works closely with Microsoft
Speaking engagement - Regular speaker once every month in User group meeting and Microsoft events in India

To be honest GMAT is not that difficult as it seems to be. Its just our perception that matters . If we can put some sincere efforts for 3 to 6 months we can easily crack the GMAT. This is evident from my own personal experience. So to all those in the 500's don't ever give up.

If NOT NOW then NEVER !!

My battle with GMAT:
It all started in September 2008. Yes I took my GMAT for the 1st time on September 25th 2008. To be honest I was not very much interested in pursuing an MBA at that time as a result I never really prepared. The same was with my 2nd attempt on June 25th 2009.

Following are my scores in the GMAT (3 attempts):

September 25th 2008 - 530 (Q39, V23)
June 25th 2009 - 530 (Q42, V21)
February 08th 2010 - 660 (Q47, V34)

So what made the difference from my earlier attempts ?? ..

#1. I was more serious to pursue my MBA ambition
#2. Worked diligently, almost spent 4 hrs on every weekdays (woke up early in the morning at 6:00 and studied till 9:30am)
#3. Took regular practice test on every weekends and evaluated my progress
#4. MGMAT materials. I really loved their 6 practice CAT exams
#5. Logging all the mistakes I made and understood each of them thoroughly
#6. Beat the GMAT flash cards
#7. Read few articles every day from economist.com to improve my RC speed
#8. CR Bible for GMAT helped me improving my CR
#9. MGMAT sentence correction is the best for improving SC
#10. How to read better and faster by Norman Lewis helps in increasing your RC speed

MGMAT materials:
I really loved the MGMAT CAT exams. The quantitative portion is extremely tough. But it really helps if you prepare for the worst. GMAT math is pretty much easier than MGMAT. I practiced all their CATs in November and did an entire review on each of their assessment reports in December. By the end of december I could feel the difference in Quants and Verbal.

I suggest all of you not to stop the timer during practice test and rather give your best effort. Initially I too did that mistake for a couple of test. But I realized my mistake soon. The MGMAT verbal is pretty par with that of the GMAT exam. In my opinion GMAT prep software and MGMAT are the best ones that resembles GMAT exam. So whatever score you get in these test should be close to that of the real GMAT exam.

CR Bible for GMAT:
It is the best book for improving your CR scores. Initially I had no idea as to how to approach an Inference question, Assumption question and Evaluate the logic type of questions. But CR Bible provides an in depth explanation for each of those topics. I read this book for a couple of months and practiced.

Improving RC:
One of my weak areas was RC. The best way to improving RC is reading economist articles for just 20 minutes a day refer, http://www.economist.com/
You benefit in two ways, one is that you end up improving your RC speed. Secondly, you get to become knowledgeable of the current world events.

How to read better and faster by Norman Lewis is another excellent addition on improving your reading speed. Unfortunately i couldn't finish reading the book as I was completely engrossed in my office work. For the last 1 month i return to home during late hours as a result I could only take a practice test but not revise any topic. When I started this book my reading speed was 175 wpm (words per minute). Over a period of time I manged to increase my speed to 300 wpm. Moreover when it comes to RC we need to skim the passages rather than looking at unnecessary information. That book teaches exactly what needs to be done.

SC for GMAT:
There is nothing better than Manhattan Sentence correction book. It gives clear examples on all the topics covered. I did practice the 1000 SC questions not all but around 500 questions.

Improving Quans:
I practiced almost all the questions from MGMAT CAT exams. MGMAT Quans is really difficult but do not get dejected rather practice and understand how to approach each of the problem. I had MGMAT books for Geometry, Word translations and FDP.

My practice test scores:

Nov 8th 2009 MGMAT CAT 1 - 600 (Q44, V30)
Nov 15th 2009 MGMAT CAT 2 - 620 (Q46, V30)
Nov 27th 2009 MGMAT CAT 3 - 630 (Q44, V32)
Dec 1st 2009 MGMAT CAT 4 - 590 (Q44, V29)
Dec 8th 2009 MGMAT CAT 5 - 650 (Q46, V33)
Dec 14th 2009 MGMAT CAT 6 - 640 (Q48, V31)

MGMAT 2nd attempt practice test scores:
Jan 17th 2010 MGMAT 1 - 620 (Q48 V28)
Jan 22nd 2010 MGMAT 2 - 680 (Q47 V35)
Jan 24th 2010 MGMAT 3 - 660 (Q47 V33)
Jan 31st 2010 MGMAT 4 - 670 (Q46 V35)
Feb 3rd 2010 MGMAT 5 - 680 (Q47 V36)

During Mid week of Jan I took GMAT prep. The scores are as follows:
GMAT prep 1 - 720
GMAT prep2 - 620

During my Verbal exam yesterday, I was quite worried because I didn't get an inference or assumption question till the 19th one. No bold faced questions at all. Nevertheless the scores were good at the end !!.

I am really thankful to my family members who supported me during this exciting journey. With the blessings of God I am now entering the next phase of applying for the universities. Will keep posting more information on this subject as and when I get make progress.

-Deepak