Thanks Guys for your good wishes. I am going through the even more difficult stage of writing essays and believe me its tough !!! Meanwhile please post your specific doubts and questions and I shall do my best to answer them.
Thanks
Hi razind, Congratulations on your awesome performance. It's inspriring. I do not have any GMAT aspirant friend to share the cost of buying all the material . And then, I am moving to Tokyo in November for long term. I was wondering if some/any of these materials are available for downloading on the net (esnips.com or similar places). If you have some pointers, would you please let me know? Anant.
Sorry for the late response Ananta. If you create a profile somewhere in esnip or something I could upload the material I have. SO far I am responding to individual requests and sending them whatever I have. I anybody else has any suggestions, do let me know.
Excellent post man. Thanks a lot for the guide. I have a question how did you prepare for the AWA's and what exactly are the LSATs? I am very much inspired by your detailed post and let us know how you are doing with your applications and where do you plan to get in and take and what are the essays (do you mean statement of purposes?)
I got a document which had a list of all essays which can come and sample essays for each of them. If you want I can send them to you. LSAT papers are for LSAT exam in US, which is for law and has similar pattern. The questions are of much higher standard and prepares you well for GMAT.
that would be really cool, do you have msn/gtalk can you get on that too? my emai id is pm'ed to you so you can send me a reply there if it's not too much a trouble. I would also like to know what you did regarding your recommendations, most universities ask for 2. I would like to know if there are any formats regarding the same.
I read your story today...and I can't tell you how much relieved I felt!! i share a similar story dude!! I have done my engg. from IIT Delhi and Graduated last year. I took CAT two times and failed miserably. Both the times I screwed up the DI section. It's just not my cup of tea. I scored well in maths and english sections.
I was devastated...seeing all my batchmates go to IIMs and some to big companies like McKinsey, BCG, ML was doing me no good. I felt like a loser. It was not that my prep for CAT was not gud enuf...but some things are just meant to happen in a certain way...
I can't express in words how miserable I felt when I had to leave IIT with a mediocre IT job. I did some introspection and got some advice from my sister who's in US...she told me something which now I totally believe..."everything happens for a reason". May be I didn't clear CAT because I have somethin better. She told me to prepare for GMAT and meanwhile get the feel of the industry. That's what i did. I didn't look for switching my job. I came to Pune and since then I am here...
I didn't expect my prep to start right away...so I waited and it was only in june when I started thinking about GMAT. I took out my Kaplan 2004 guide..which I bought in IIT but never read. Initailly the prep didn get kick started. The reason was that I didn't have a test date.
Lesson learned till now: Forget about past failures. Look forward...try options and always have a positive attitude. Have a dream and be passionate about it. Lastly get a test date...keep urself on the toes and focussed!!
I took a test date...on 30 Oct..I can never forget that date...I also took a date for TOEFL on 1 Oct.
My actual preparation started in Aug when I took a date. I started looking for resources on the net. I started looking at the posts in PG, beat the GMAT, score top...I downloaded some stuff from eSnips.
Strategising was not a problem for me...I know how to study to make the most out of it...the trick is simple...I don't think/do anything when I study...and the other thing I do is kinda strange but works for me....I make a comittment to myself and all the time I think about how bad I wud feel if i didn't keep that. So I thought I would score a 720 in my GMAT. That was an honest goal for me.
In a month I knew what all I lack...what are the areas where I need to push myself more...I was lacking the accuracy..I was making silly mistakes...and If I could cut down my silly mistakes and brush up some old CAT concepts, a 750 is not impossible for me.
I took Gmat prep for the first time and scored 710...I was happy to see the 700 figure...and happiness is gud..especially if u've been depressed all the time!!
It gave confidence and I made a master plan for me. The plan was for Sep and Oct...two months....I made a big chart....its basically a calendar with big blocks for each day.... I collected all the Materials....1000 sc, 1000 cr, OG, Kaplan guide, Kaplan 800, Kaplan verbal, Manhatan, all the tests...kaplan, gmat prep, and IMS Cds.
I made a schedule...and fitted all of it in those two months. each day I would come after office and without food started my study sessions...at the end I would cross out the date...like an executioner....The crosses gave me confidence and a sense of satisfaction. It felt gud to see that the days were not just passing by but I was progressing and getting nearer to my goal.
I stuck post-its all over my place with quotes and motivational stuff...each day when I woke up I would know that I would finish this thing today...I knew that GMAT was the only way to redeem myself...I took TOEFL...which helped me get a feel of the computer test...also I learnt a lesson that always reach your centres early.
I was inline with my schedule...and some days I would not keep up with the schedule...which I wud make up on weekends...I had scheduled my sessions takin the possibility of over times...
Two weeks before the test I started my practise test Marathon. I had 12 ims tests. 4 kaplan tests, 1 gmat test. I finished all of them in those two weeks. My sequence was...12 ims tests. were not so good. CR was no way GMAT type...maths was good. helped me with time management in maths but totally wcrewed up in english...cuz crs were very short....unlike actaual gmat where it takes time just to read the CR.
Anyways I moved to Kaplan...I was aware of the notorious reputation of Kaplna tests...but Keya's (another Pagli here) post helped me a lot. I knew if I managed a 650 average on all 4 tests....I was gud...and i did...
I had kept the GMAT prep for the last...cuz I knew its the fairest approximation...so i took it two days before...i got a 740. I was sure i wud get 740-750 on gmat....
last two days I prepared for AWA. and revised my SC tips, cr pointers and did some reading...random stuff...
Lesson learnt: keep the GMAT prep test 2 for last day....and yess memorise the format...its exactly the same....even the colors...that is blue...everything is ditto...except the questions :)
On the final day:
I went to mumbai a day before....went to my fellow iitian friend's place...had light chit chat....talked bout good old days when all we had to do was play quake and gossip at nescafe....
woke up early...reached the centre early...the guard didnt allow me in before time...finaly the hour arrived...went in...did some formalities...and entered the test room.....
I know why..but I was totally realxed...I thot to myself, "Mukul this is your chance buddy...U had taken so many tests and scored well...no reason why u wud screw up today...U r goin to make it big" and then I thot of my parents and how happy they wud be...and started off...
paced thru the usual yada lada...and arrived at the awa section...was gud...ten there was the optional break after one hr of awa...which I didnt take!! should have taken tho...but I was too excited...
I started gettin tuff problems after 5-6 question..meant i was doing good...got stuck in a question....my iitian ego was not letting me let go off the question...but after some ime i had to guess and move forward..
lesson learnt...let go off the question after an intelligent guess..
Overall i felt my quant section was gud...more than 50 i thot...
then took a break....verbal....bold face CR in the 6th quesn...was happy...okkk i am doing gud..now time to concentrate and get this one rite at any cost...I guess i did it correctly....after that I dont know why...but I thot questions were easy...i got sad...but didnt let myself be bothered...I finished the verbal well before time....
and thennnnnnnnnnnnnnn..................i was so excited...i just paced thru the screens...atleast 10 screens....then it said...show scores???
Hell yesssssss!! I expected a 740 to be honest....
it said 770 !! I raised my hands and literally jumped up....I came out of the room...and te invigilator looked at my score sheet and gave a big smile...
I was ecstatic....guys I am so much more relieved and confident now... I learnt a lot from my preparations....and I thought I wud write all of it to help you guys....
I have given a detailed description of section wise prepping in my blog....u can go thru it...hope it helps....
ATB...if I can do it...so can you...
Razind hows ur apping goin on dude?? I can surely get ur help on that...i lack experience and maturity and so am findin the apping part very tuff..
catch ya guys...
And yes I am awaiting my thanks and lotsa vistors to my blog too !! hehe (wicked)
Huge! truely inspiring post Mukul! worth posting on your own GMAT thread. damn! you didnt create your own thread. you posted on Keya's thread yeah! i remember your first post :)
all the best for preping. Razind, all the best to you too Razind 😃
worth posting on your own GMAT thread. damn! you didnt create your own thread. you posted on Keya's thread yeah! i remember your first post :)
I saw that this post was bein read by like a million ppl...so i thot why not add to this post and save some precious time for all of us...jumpin from one thread to another may be a pain.....after all we are all here to share!! In fact I think there shud be jus one thread for keya razind and other top scorers!!
What I like abt your posts is not the normal strategy stuff, sure that helps but what helps more is description of git and inner strength you've showed.
To some , this might appear to be an insignificant thing, but mates having gone through similar experiences through out my career, I know the importance of these little but so important events.
All the best to you all!!!
I am a very ordinary and a mortal being (Mucool, you though had your own reason to be down, but you graduated from IIT-D, which in itself is something to cheer about!!!). I would just share my piece of learning, there are a lot of times when things just don't happen despite your best efforts, that's the time to be patient.
Probabaly, God is testing your endurance. And as mucool rightly mentioned, even failed efforts have a lot to tell.
Atleast for me, whenever I have made honest efforts, I have been rewarded, even if not for the task on which I was working, but on something else which again brought smiles on my face.
And yes, every sucess and every interaction opens up thousand opportunities!!!
I will stop, you all might be thinking enough of gyan, but could not stop thinking about this after reading mucool's post. Was wondering, how true is it for me also!!!!
I have a bigger challenge to face probably. Not only, will I have to score very good in GMAT,but also ensure that I have a very strong reason to apply to those coveted B-schools as am already an MBA.
In case any of you feels let down, just read the below words again and again, I'm sure they'll do wonders to your confidence (atleast it works in my case)
ARISE AWAKE AND STOP NOT UNTIL THE GOAL IS REACHED........... By Swami Vivekananda
Great to see that my thread has become a forum for all people who have gone through struggles in life and have a tremendous thirst for success. Though I am still in the process, I must tell you that this process of deciding your schools and applying makes you think a lot about your priorities and what your end golas in life are.
I hope to use my thread to describe the process of eliminations I went through while deciding my schools, my visits to these schools and all my experiences which finally helped shaped my perspective.
When I started my apping, I got a lot of perspectives from lots of people, contradictory on occassions, but eventually you can see through all of them and develop your own individual perspective.
Regards Raj
PS- If the moderators think I should not use this thread for this purpose please let me know so that I can start a new one in the relevant section. My purpose here is nothing more than to help people make up their minds, and avoid a lot of confusion I myself had to go through, and seeing that a lot of people visit this thread, I feel that this is the best place as opposed to the other section which is comprised of people who have already made up their minds. I do not know where I am going to end up but certainly my experiences good or bad is likely to be educative to others.
My purpose here is nothing more than to help people make up their minds, and avoid a lot of confusion I myself had to go through, and seeing that a lot of people visit this thread, I feel that this is the best place as opposed to the other section which is comprised of people who have already made up their minds.
Amen to that! Please provide your experiences; i am sure this would be very helpful for everyone who's planning to apply.
Razind and Mukul, your story is truly inspiring. I think am gonna drag my lazy ar$e and try giving GMAT this year (Before June 2007,Good!!Am Already setting goals :D).
I am another unsuccessful CAT 2006 Aspirant and have no accomplishments to write home about, but the least I could do is learn from you guys and atleast for once in my life live upto my true potential.
God Bless you guys, may you get admits in the B-Schools you desire :).
