Thursday, December 30, 2010

580 (q38 v31) (50%,58%)

I want to remain that it was my third attempt. In first one in May of 2010 I did 540 (q48,v17), in the second one in the October of 2010 I did 610 (q47,v27). So I improved my verbal score (although I want to do better) but math.... I can imagine how can I fail it.   Maybe partly because i've caught a cold.... I've never do math so bad. Furthermore unlike my first or second attempt when I prepared to math very little in this month spending to it a lot of time...

Conclusion: my low gmat properly reflects level of my exhaustion. I've two work in last month, because I had to collect $1500 for applications fee and flights for interviews and in last days I could not do math in time at all, although there were not questions that I could not solve without time limit.

My chances to be admitted to MIT (the only one BS to which i'll apply this year) are very low. (((( but I will apply. In optional essay I'll honestly explain why I fail math in the last attempt. In fact I did all that I could in this year for being admitted...
BUT this awful result in GMAT did not spoil my mood greatly. Thousand of hours and a lot of energy that I spent to preparation will not not disappear but they'll bring into the life another opportunity. For example when I began to prepare to GMAT my English was relay weak, but now I read press and books and speak almost fluently. Therefore I am able to go for a 3 mouth to developing country as volunteer to tech children math. It costs little, I 'll do good deal (and I like to do good deals), and i'll improve my speaking English for free because i'll be able to live among volunteers from USA and another English speaking countries. In addition I can find new experience... In second during preparation I met a lot of interesting people which experience developed me, etc.

In the second part of February I'll go to Nepal as volunteer to teach children computer literacy and math. I'll live in Nepal for a 3 month. Surely, if i've not prepared to GMAT i would not be able to do so. No doubts that my work, not decision of MIT's admission comity makes me better. In addition my goal is not to be admitted to top business school. It is more deep, and more important. And MBA is only tool for achieving this goal. So I will be able to achieve it without admission to MIT this year but after admission to it or atother top BS next year. I am sure that after relaxation I will be able to do in GMAT more better than today. But I hope that this attempt is the last. Nevertheless my chance to be admitted to MIT is weak it exists.

(from Moscow coffee, before train, after failing GMAT)

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Last days before GMAT

I am going to take train to Moscow now. Tomorrow I’ll relax all the day. I plan to visit Tretyakov Gallery and several another museums. Nevertheless I have a lot of friends in Moscow I’ll not meet them, because I want to relax my mind fully. As I wrote earlier I have two jobs and I am very exhausted now. So I need relaxation.  And the day after tomorrow I’ll take GMAT last time. Wish me luck please!
me in Russian McDonalds (wed dec 29 6:47)

Sunday, December 19, 2010

GMATprep 670 (q47,v35)

In Math part I made 18(!) mistakes. I did incorrectly 9 questions among 10 lust ones because i did not have enough time. In Verbal part i did only 11 mistakes. 7 i SC, 2 in RC and 2 in CR. Maybe  I should reread Manhattan SC book. I do not have problem with time in verbal part at all, furthermore i finished it 10 minutes before time  ended.

Tomorrow i'll buy ticets to Moscow, where i'll take exam 30 of December.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

One shot one kill

Today I decided that in this year I'll apply to MIT only. I hope that I'll be admitted very much. But if not it is not problem because i'll definitely enroll to INSEAD or to one of top Spanish BS in which there is program that continue 1,5 yeas and classes will begin in the March of 2012.

In spring of 2011 I plan to participate in volunteer mission in one of poor country and live several month in English speaking environment. After that my English will be really fluent so I will do verbal part of GMAT  better and i'll have better chances for admission.

Nevertheless I wrote all essays for Stanford I hope that admission committee will never read them. (i'll apply to Stanford next year only if i'll not enroll to MIT and after that to European BS) And when i'll be admitted to MIT I publish in this blog my main Stanford essay “What matters most to you and why?

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Manhattan CAT 580 (q43v26) Veritas prep 660 (q47v37)

I did two CAT during weekends. In Sunday i did 580 (q43, v26) in Manhattan CAT and in Sunday I did 660 (q47v37) in Veritas CAT. 

In manhattan math part I did  19 mistakes. In verbal one 21. I did  in Manhattan very bad because in room in which i took  exam were a lot of people, who  turned on the music and i shouted them to turn it off all the time. Therefore I can not concentrate at all. So I am not worry.

Veritas test was more easy.  In Math part of  Veritas CAT i did 7 mistakes, and in verbal part 11 ones. As for me Manhattan test is more better then Veritas, because one half on veritas questions are copied form OG and very little changed. But I recognized them so knew right ansver. In last i can not understand why having (q47v37) i got only 660 not 680?  if you type (q47v37) in google you see 680 or 690. So algorithm in Veritas test is questionable. But its software is more better then that in Manhattan one.

It is fine than i've already do not have problem with time in verbal part of test. I finished V part of Manhetten test as well as that of Veritas ~10 minutes before time've been over.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

PowerScore GMAT Critical Reasoning Bible

PowerScore GMAT Critical Reasoning Bible sharply improved my performance. It is really great book in which structure of CR explained better than in Kaplan 800 and another books. I search so effective book about RC strategies now.

Monday, November 22, 2010

GMAT cheating

What is interesting, the main search requests by virtue of which new users find my blog are GMAT Cheat sheet, gmat cheating, how to cheat on gmat, and so. (Users do not go to my blog typing in google “GMAT live questions”). All this people left my blog disappointed because I did not write really useful articles for cheaters. I wrote only this small post, that can help cheat nobody. So in this post I will write my thoughts about cheating on GMAT.

Warning: I’ve never cheated on GMAT, and I will never do so. And I am not recommend to do so anybody.

Chess cheating

In my opinion it is possible to use in GMAT only one type of cheat method that i name chess cheating. This method used my acquaintance during Ukrainian Chess Championship, and it helped him to became International Master of chess. There are a few people now who can win chess computer software. Therefore he bought headphone of such type. And his accomplice with powerful laptop tell him right chess moves.

This method is fullу useless in verbal part of GMAT, but can be helpful for solving arithmetic problems and in some situations for solving inequalities and equalities.

Maybe it is only one avealible method for cheating on GMAT now.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Renovation of my blog

I've just registered new domain name of my blog. All my readers will be redirected from waytotopbs.blogspot.com to mbaaim.com. (I hope you like this name!)

In addition I want to change content of this blog. I am going to write not only posts about my way to MBA but also actual articles about GMAT preparation and MBA admission. Information for these articles I'll take from experts.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

new GMAT day

I've just scheduled new GMAT date. I'll have GMAT 30 of December in Moscow.

Critical Reasoning Bible

I am reading PowerScore Critical Reasoning Bible now. It is really great book!

***
Several days ago left my email and resume there and got several letters from consultants about my chances to be admitted to MIT with current GMAT:

Caroline Clough
 (Clear Admit, LLC)

First off, your nationality is a positive, as relatively fewer applicants from the Ukraine are applying to business schools, which would make adding you to a class appealing to admissions committees always trying to increase their diversity. Also, your background in journalism would also be an interesting element of your profile, as long as you were able to explain how this background synchs with your goals and also has given you access to some business fundamentals. Your education is also slightly non-traditional, which can be problematic unless you try to keep the focus on how what you learned would be applicable to a business context.

On the other hand, your GMAT of 610 is considerably lower than the average at top b-schools (which is closer to 710 or 720). While your nationality and unique perspective would be compelling to the adcom, that GMAT score will give them serious pause. My recommendation would be for you to continue to study and prepare for a second sitting for the exam, with the goal of raising your score a minimum of 40 points, though the closer you can get to 700, the better. It should be noted, however, that it's best that you take the GMAT no more than three times. Also, keep in mind that you should be aiming for a TOEFL score of around 110. Your quant score on the GMAT is solid, if a little below the preferred 80th percentile...it seems that your language skills are the main issue. You might also consider enrolling in an English language course and gaining a high grade, as this could be an alternative way to present your ability to handle a rigorous all-English curriculum

Jennifer Bloom,

Hi, Nick. If you can prove that you walk on water (and lead others across it as well), if you invented the iphone, or if you have been selected by BCG for a full MBA scholarship, then you may be able to get into MIT with a 610. If you are human, it is not likely. Retaking the GMAT is the smartest route. A 650 is better but still not likely to get into MIT. I've seen MIT be a little flexible about score when they really are impressed with someone. You can certainly work on the essays in the meantime and apply with whatever score you earn in December. "..."

So. I am moving in right direction!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

manhattan CAT#4 640

it is so uninteresting to write about GMAT... i hope this blog will be more interesting soon, when i'll beat it

Friday, November 5, 2010

new optimism

V 27 is definitely not my verbal score. I can do better. i've just done V36 in Manhattan verbal part of test . I did exam without math part, and several times stopped it (not studying during this breaks). But in another side i began it after work being very existed. I hate GMAT, but i'll exactly beat it. In next week i'll schedule new date.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

News from the battle

1. breakthrough in listening section.
I've just noticed that i can understand English broadcasts more better then earlier. Furthermore listening of them does not tire me. Sometimes i forget that they are in alien language. May be it occur because i've recently bought smartphon in which i watch English broadcasts everywhere.

2. I've just solved all 100 opened for my verbal questions from Beat the GMAT practice questions. this is my result:

verbal - 70% correctly
SC - 79%
CR - 71%
RC - 57%
average time - 1m 43s

i believe that i am capable to do at least v35 before new year, because applying to MIT with 610 (q47 v27) is a little bit self-confidently. Ьy main probem in preparation is lack of practicing material. I've exhaust all open and inexpensive questions (like BTG Question, Grockit, OG, Official verbal review, Kaplan 800 etc) and another courses are very expensive for my country. Perhaps i'll buy one of courses but i do not know which.

Ellipsing My Way...to Business School: Message from my GMAT Tutor

Ellipsing My Way...to Business School: Message from my GMAT Tutor: "You guys have heard so much about me referencing my tutor that I thought I would have him write a post about me!  Here you go... How to fr..."

Monday, November 1, 2010

New Beat the GMAT Practice questions = alternative online Official Guide

Eric Bahn, the founder of Beat the GMAT gave me free access to New Beat the GMAT Practice questions and ask to write true review of them. So there you can read this review.

What is BTG Practice Questions?

This is service that provide opportunity to solve approximately 700 GMAT questions of all types. OG contains not more bigger number of questions. So for me product with name BTG PC resembles to OG. But due to it is Internet based, it provides more opportunity for users.

Good sides of BTG PC

+ You can customize practice in great degree. You can choose not only type of questions (Reading comprehension, Critical Reasoning , Sentence Corrections, Data Sufficiently etc.) as in OG but also more narrow topics. For example you can choose questions that test knowledge of idiom, test your ability to weaken argument, arithmetic questions etc. In addition you can choose level of difficulty of questions. If you choose adaptive mode, software will give you questions according your ability to answer correctely, as do that in real test.

+ There is in BTG PQ concise written and video explanation to every questions.

+ Software create detailed error log automatically, in that you can not only see number of questions in which you made a mistake, but also analyze in which type of questions you make a mistake more frequently. In next practice session due to opportunity to customize practice in great degree you can solve only the most challenged questions for you therefore preparation will be more efficient. In addition you can flag exact questions (for example the most difficult for you questions) and do only them, solve only questions in that you made a mistake, or only new ones etc. In sum level of customizations of practicing in BTG PC is very deep and this makes preparation efficient and interesting.

Drawbacks

There are few ones now. I would write about them If i noticed . Yesterday at the night i pointed several drawbacks in software but today i do not see them so i've delete their description from this post. And i do not konw now if they were fixed, or i was very slippy, during writing rewiev. Maybe main drawbacks is that BTG PC contains only 700 questions.

Conclusion
BTG practice questions is useful product for preparation to GMAT, for all test takers, especially for people who prepare for exam a lot of time and need a ''fresh questions'.

In addition I want to say that when I saw renewed version of BTG PC I was wondering because I did not see all drawbacks that were present in previous version. (this is my review of previous version). This fact says that BTG team works a lot for improving this product.

Wishes

1. Create, please, additional version of interface of BTG PC in which all fonts colors and contrast are just the same as in real exam. In fact person's speed of reading strongly correlate with fonts. Two years ago when I administrated news site I did experiments, in which I recorded time of reading of long articles of all readers. And this experiments shows that the speed of reading the same article written with different fonts and coefficient of people who do not finished to read article are different. Because experiment recorded date of thousands readers, result was very precise.

If time of reading of article with font Century Schoolbook is 100%, the time of that with Time New Roman is 114%, Georgia – 104, Arial – 136, Vranda 129, Tahoma – 128, Century Gothic – 137.

In second, according to experiments the speed of reading sharply differed from width of column. Optimal width of column is ~5 words. In BTG Questions width of column in SC and CR are narrowed then that is real test so speed of reading of question is higher. So in lust stages of studying, solving questions that look like real will be good experience.

2. What me and another applicant want to get from service for preparing to GMAT? Maybe it is not a questions but exact plan of studying after accomplishing which person will definitively achieve required score.

So It would be excellent to implement “virtual teacher”, the fixture that can create personal plan of studying. In first before practicing every member will have a very detailed test after which system not only show to which type of questions one answered better and to which worse but give provide information how many hours he or she should spend and haw many questions or each type he or she should solve for achieving required result in each section.

Every time when person will attend site for studying not one will choose way for studying but virtual teacher. According to persons performance, remaining time for achieving required goal will change. In this situation students will save a lot of energy that they spend to creating study plan and use all time and energy definitely to preparation.

In my opinion to create such “virtual teacher” that would make study plans is possible, and it can do better study plans then real teachers. BTG PQ use a lot of people, and track of performance of everyone is recorded in archive. There are evidence in this archive how often every person studied, what time one spend to different types of questions, how frequent one took break in studying, etc, and how one improved performance. Detailed evaluation of this information can light a lot of curious trends that will allow virtual tether work adequately.

TOEFL performance

After TWO days of practicing my TOEFL performance increase shapely! i've just done two passages without mistakes at all!! I can not imagine that this exam so easier then GMAT!!! May be i'll be able to pass it prior to 2 deadline scoring 100+!

Friday, October 29, 2010

English proficiency

Yesterday i had an interview in Toefl courses, in which i had a mini test. In reading part i did only 9 out of 13 answers correctly and in Listening i did 8 out of 11 correctly. ..

Consultant said that it is impossible with such result to get 100+ in TOEFL prior to New Year? but will reach this result without problem after February. And may be it is true.

So I decide to apply to majority of business school in third deadline. I will apply in second one only to MIT that do not require TOEFL. In essay i'll write true, that my English is still not fluent, but prior to September of 2011 i'll definitely will not have problem with language.

GOOD NEWS

several days ago i've gotten letter from one of the best Korea BS, with suggestion to study there free, and with scholarship for leaving. In letter were written that this program is available only for Ukrainian who've gotten at least 650 in GMAT. So i've wrote that my result is only 610. Admission comity asked me to send them CV, and maybe they invite me even with my current result.. I did this but have not gotten answer yet.

But am glad that i received this letter because it lift up my firmness that all'll the best! Nevertheless my last posts are not optimistic i feel myself excellent!

and today i have 25!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

5 free premium accounts for the new Beat the GMAT Practice Questions

Good news for people who preparing to GMAT
Eric Bahn, the Founder of Beat The GMAT gave me 5 premium accounts to the new Beat the GMAT Practice Questions. Each of these accounts costs $99. I want to distribute them among readers of my blog for free.

Now 0 accounts are available.

Everyone can receive account except people from USA and EU, because I want to give free accounts to ones who relay need them, and to ones for whom $100 is big amount of money. If in US MBA applicant earn in average ~$100 per day in another countries they earn $100 per week or even less... Thanks for understanding.

For getting account fill out and send me small application form:

1. Your first and second name
2. Your age
3. Your country and town
4. Your current job
5. BS to which you plan to apply
6. Your current (if exists) and target GMAT score
6. ONE sentence. Why do you want to get MBA?
7.Your photo

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

AWA 3.0

in first attempt I've gotten 2,5. 3.0 is bad result too. Maybe i did a lot of grammar mistakes. My English is still poor.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

AWA score

I have not received AWA score yet. I had exam 12 of October. Is it OK?

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Current

At the weekends I:

1. wrote 3 essays for Stanford and wrote plan of 4-th one.

2. decided to enroll to TOEFL cources. Tell the true I decided to do so not only for studying but also for meeting people who are going to study abroad. If in lust spring, i guessed that these meetings are stupid because i had a lot of friends but did not have time for seeing them. But now i change this notion, because almost all of my current acquaintance know nothing about MBA and GMAT and I can not speak with them about this.

3. I first time degustated grappa. It is excellent spirit. But i should reduce amount of alcohol that i drink, because my mind should be clear. It'll be better to cease to drink spirits at all but drink only wines. Nevertheless now i wrote not only about marketing in alcohol industry now, but also about market of vodka, brandy, cognac and another spirits. And wines is not my topic.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

My decision after failing GMAT

Only today i understood as awful my result is nevertheless I did test better then 67% of all test takers. But unfortunately this result is adequate because in test i was really very concentrated! I thought that i did first half of verbal part very well. In that part i properly understood 2 RC texts and did not have problems with SC and CR. But in the middle of exam I bumped into very sophisticated text that i did not understand after reading at all. So i reriad it several times, but level of understanding was bаd. In sum i spent on this a lot of time and probably did almost all questions incorrectly. After that I had lack of time so i could not understand CR properly. So i did verbal part so bad because did strategic mistake. I hadn't to answer to questions for this text at all. my main problem now is that for understanding difficult text i have to read it several times although i familiar with all words in it. I am sure that this drawback will pass off, but it is exist now. And for working for this drawback i have to not do gmat questions but read difficult English texts.

So i decided:

1. i will retake test in December. (before the second deadlines that will occur before 10 of January)
2. i will not study in this month at all.
3. I will scheduled toefl after business trip that will occur in 15-16 of October on the end of November.
4. I will apply to Stanford even with GMAT 610, and write in essay my true story.
5. apart from Stanford i'll apply to MIT, UCLA and several not top BS.

in sum, never give up...but where to find energy for essays, two works, preparation of another parts of admission packages, gmat and toefl.... i do not know but definitely find.

PS. i see that this blog transforms from blog to blog about my life )))

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

610 (Q47 V27)

I am very disappointed. I guessed if I scored not 700+ but 680 it would have not been big problem because admission committee would have seen progress after 540. But + 70 is not big progress .... I do not want to write why i fail this attempt... It is only my own problem that i began to study English seriously only 2.5 years ago....

During several days i'll decide what i'll do during next 2 month, and to which school i'll be apply. I am very glad now that nobody among snobbish people from my real life knows about this blog. It is impossible to find it typing my first and second name in Google. Therefore I did not give them matter for gloat.

...anyhow i am sure that my goals will be accomplished. but i do not know in which way.

Monday, October 11, 2010

GMAT tomorrow!

Several hours ago i've returned form Kishinev. In business trip i did the most important part of my work, took an interview form Minister of Agriculture, in the morning of first day, and after that i let my mind to have rest. at the other time i degustate wines and divines (Moldavian cognac) met with wine makers and so.

Before business trip i understood that it was bad idea to take CAT in the hotel so i did it in the morning before train. for taking test i got up at 4-00 AM. I cannot concentrate at all and scored only 610 (q42 v31). as i saw after test quantitative part was so low because i did a lot of mistakes in first 15 questions, therefore level of remained questions was low. In verbal part did a lot of mistakes in all parts. But this result did not spoil my mood, because in that morning i did not have time even to do a coffee so i was very sleepy.

In the train i resolved all ~110 SC questions from Official verbal review, making ~90% of them correctly. Excellent SC is my main and exclusive trump in verbal part!

Today i will not study, but will relax. I've just bought i bottle of Californian wine that my co-worker and i will drink after GMAT. As i promised to my boss we will drink wine after GMAT irrespective of result. We will drink exactly a Californian wine because majority of business schools to which i'll apply situated in California.

Unlike my lust attempt today i reаlly ready to GMAT and capable to reach 700+. Now i need only luck! If you are regular reader of my blog wish me luck please!

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

today's studying

Bad news:
1. my performance in RC fell from 75% yesterday to 51%, and speed of reading fell from 10 min for passage to 13-14. May be it occurred because lust questions in the book are more difficult.
2. After GMAT i will not fly to Lev Golitsin Sparkling Wine Competition that will occur from 13-17 of October, but go to business trip to small winery that situated in village with very bad service. So i will not relax properly after exam.

good news:

I solved problem with practice of speaking English and money for flights to USA to interviews. (As i wrote earlier i have lack listening and speaking skills because i studied language reading books and magazines.) So I enrolled to the second job in which i'll be participate in advertising campaign of one of the biggest France producer of cognac and during 3 weeks i will visit a lot of invents in which i will speak with English speaking person and after that write articles for glossy magazines and Facebook community.

I do not know is it good or bad news...

Director just called me and told that in weekend i have to flight to business trip to Kishinev (Moldova). I rely like international business trips because I like to meet new people, degustate new wines or another alcohol drinks and see new places. Such business trips make me very energetic. But in weekends i planned to do 2 official CATs... So this CATs i will have to do in the mornings in hotel before invents, end will review them in the night. I am sure than all'll be Ok.

So today will accomplish lust 70 (148 as i just seen :)) math questions from BTG, and review all ones in which i will do mistake. And in this week i'll resolve and after that review all ~340 SC questions in which i did mistakes. today i'll be study drinking Georgian wine. I do not know why, but after wine my math performance does not fell! Sometimes it even increases.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Current

Today i did RC. In sum i read 15 passages from OG, and answered to 84 questions making 21 mistakes. It is very good result for me. I can say that i do RC more confidently now that early. And if before my first attempt i liked physic or astronomic passages but hated historic ones, especially about women that fought for their right or why their wages were lower than men's ones, today i understood all texts without problem and spent for each (including answering to questions) exactly 10 minutes. Now i hate only biological passages, in which written about inquisitive scholars that goof on rats injecting them different chemicals and looking what will occur, or doing another experiments. This is quote from passage:

"Some experimental evidence tends to show that alcohol reduces fear in the approach-avoidance situation. Conger trained one group of rats to approach a food goal and, using aversion conditioning, trained another group to avoid electric shock. After an injection of alcohol the pull away from the shock was measurable weaker, while the pull toward the food was unchanged."

in addition to RC i did math question with which i have problem, and retook SC is which i did mistakes earlier today. Maybe i will begin to prepare to AWA tomorrow.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Manhattan CAT 720 (Q51, V37)


as for me it is excellent result, regarding that in May I did in real exam 540 (Q48,V17). It is the first CAT in which i overcome 700 brier. In math part i had problem with time. So a lot of questions i did not solve but guessed what answer is correct knowing that result have to be multiple of 3, in its denominator should be pi or so. It is interesting that in official CAT i always had enough time .

In verbal part i spend a lot of time to RC and CR. I have not been able to use method of quickly reading reading English text yet. Unlike in Russian or Ukrainian, in English the order of words in sentences is very important. So I can not to look to paragraph whole during 5-10 seconds and understand it's content but have to read every sentence separately.

I dream to repeat current result in real exam that will occur 12 of October. I am very nervous now because I've spent for preparation to exam and studying English awesome amount of time. I've spent so much energy to none deal in life. but result will be depend on a lot of factors... My day to day performance is not permanent, so in real exam i can do 800 as well as 620. But if i am honest with admission comity, i should not be nervous at all. As a wrote in my Stanford essay (that surely i'll rewrite several times) "I am believe that energy spent on long way will never disappear, but bring into the life another wonderful things. Christopher Columbus opened the America in the way to the India, and cure for cancer can be developed during preparation of expedition to the Mars. Therefore if I go to my dream with inspiration and treat a defeat at finish, it is not bad. It’s matter that I will get another even greater opportunity..." therefore i go to review CAT and will try to be not nervous.

PS. After review:
in verbal sections i did:
SC 1 out of 15 incorrectly
CR 6 out of 14 incorrectly
RC 6 out of 12 incorrectly

texts in RC was quite simple for me but questions for them was very tricky.
i did bad in CR because i could not understand some arguments properly. So i should practice CR during next week. But I've solved all open GMAT CR questions several times. Recommend me pleas free additional sources of CR.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Grockit CAT 680 (q37, v41)


in my opinion verbal result is higher then my real because i was familiar with majority of questions, but i can not understand why i got so low result in math??
during CAT i did not drink any caffeine and felt lack of time in math as well as in verbal parts.
PS. after reviewing math part i see that result is so low because i did a lot of silly mistakes in first 10 questions, so CAT became to give me the hardest questions only in the second part of test. I should be more careful!

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Cause for optimism

I make a progress in SC. I've just found a site www.gmatonlinetest.com and solving one SC quiz that contains 15 SC from it I did 14 out of 15 questions correctly. Seeing SC question I notice typical mistakes in wrong variants at once.

I do great progress in CR too. Tell the true I can make a mistake in CR question only if I do not understand argument or question. I do correctly ~70% of LSAT RC questions, but my performance in GMAT RC fare worse.

My main problem in math and in verbal part is lack of time. But I hope caffeine helps me do all test in time in upcoming exam. In real exam that I had in May due to caffeine finished math part 5 minutes before time ended.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

my disease

10 days ago i caught an severe angina. i studied very little, because it is impossible to do something effectively with favor 39C. I've restored to health so will continue to solve GMAT questions. I'll have GMAT 14 of October. I am going to remember math in this week, begin to practice AWA and read a lot of RC passages, because RC is my weakest side...

as it uninteresting to write about tuition))))

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Fluctuation of performance

It's my yesterday's result:

It's my today's result:

I don't know why, but in some days I feel that my IQ as high as Indian guy's, but in another days it is very low. But it is not bad, because just in "bad" days I come across new thought and new ideas.

So today I'll not study but will write essays.

BTG Practice Questions for people who want to gain 700+ not for beginners

I’ll get a free access to BTG practice questions, so write true review of them.

Questions
BTG practice questions are in average harder then those in OG or in Grockit and written in more challenging language. If almost all CR and SC questions from Grockit are modify ones from OG and their essence is just the same but changed name of companies, persons, branches of economy in witch companies engaged, etc, majority of BTG CR and SC questions resemble to those in OG not so strong. They more alike to Kaplan’s ones. Unlike those in OG some of BTG CR questions have math basis, and a lot of them test parallel logic as LSAT questions do.

So the fact that questions are difficult is good for applicants familiar with GMAT or with level higher than 600. But beginners (especially nonnative speaker) should in first solve easier questions, after that do harder ones. Stacey Koprince wrote there is a “layering” of DS questions but in my opinion such layering exists in questions of another types too, and by virtue of this fact the probability that person who solves easy questions excellent but doesn’t fully understand written English answer to hard question could be less than 20% so even very lucky person with real level 550 cannot get in real exam 700+. And practicing only hard questions can astray person in real exam during solving easy ones.

Compared to LSAT ones BTG reading comprehension passages are easy, but questions to them fare more difficult. But as for me this feature is inherent to RC sections from all sources. During lust several month I solved only LSAT RC passages and was unhappily surprised that question in GMAT harder.

Math questions from BTG like verbal ones in average are more difficult then those from OG. Math questions from all sources including OG and BTG as well as from real GMAT are very resemble to each other.

fiches of site:

advantages:

+ site creates log of mistakes automatically.
+ questions do not repeat,
+ you can see percentile of correct answers to every questions, so it’s possible to estimate their level of difficulty
+ excellent and concise explanation in written and video format
+ big quantity hard questions

drawbacks:
- you can not customize studying in great degree. You can choose among Verbal and Quatative, or among SC RC, CR, but you can not solve only geometry questions, or SC that test you knowledge of idiom. In addition you can not choose difficulty level of questions.
- inconvenient small window in which you can read RC passages
- the page with result works not clear, and renewed very slowly in my work's comp with Widows FireFox and broadband Internet and as well as in laptop with Ubuntu (Linux), browser FireFox and 3G Internet. (I am situated in Ukraine.). But it is not very severe problem.

Conclusions:
BTG practice questions answer are helpful for people who familiar with GMAT format and solve at least all questions from OG, or accomplished gmat course and find additional practice.

Wishes:
Add please to page with results column with date and time (as i drew) . As for me it’ll be good idea to add to site fiches that enable to analyse results, create graphics of improving results and so. Although these fiches will be especially useful when the number of practice questions will grow to 1000-1500 ones.

Friday, September 3, 2010

BTG Practice Questions

Several days ago CEO of Beat the GMAT David Park offered me free access to BTG practice questions. Thanks him for this! I am solving this questions now. It is excellent to have sufficient quantity of GMAT questions for preparation! But during several days i’ll do all of them so will be find another sources.

There is in picture my current result. Is it good or bad? Percent of right answers is not high, but questions in BTG are harder then those in OG

What is interesting, when i begun solving this questions result was very bed but now it improved.

Today or tomorrow i’ll write detailed review of this new product of BTG.
In addition i want to write that BTG lunched free B-School Essay workshops. I guess it will be useful not only for me but also for other applicants.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Correlation between GMAT performance and biorhythms

A lot of scientist regard biorhythms as pseudoscience. But I downloaded software for calculating biorhythms several days ago and saw very strong correlation between LSAT performance and curve of intellectual activity. Therefore it works for me. And everyone can calculate such correlation for oneself, and if is works you can lift GMAT score scheduling exam to date when intellectual level is the best.

In graphic upper curve there is my performance in LR questions of LSAT. Downstairs graphic reflects my biorhythms. Blue curve in it reflects my intellectual ability. For better demonstration i draw it in upper graphic by my hand.



not pressed downstairs graphic:

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Current

The temperature in Kyiv now as well as during lust several weeks is 35-38C. So it is not easy to study, but I try to do so every day for several hours.

In consequence of solving a lot of lsat tests I do more better in RC and CR then earlier. But my SC performance is still low. In 1000 SC I solve correctly approximately 60% of questions. Ive studied all rules and idiom but often I cannot notice them in questions.

Today I begin to work upon math sections. My weak side in math is inequalities. In exam I hope gain 50-51 in math section and 35-37 in verbal and in sum gain 700-720. may be soon I will begin to practice AWA.

Month ago ive begun to write essays and make arrangement with my current and former employers about recommendation letter.

But listening section of toefl disturb me the most. I watch every day 1 or 2 series of serial, but my listening skills are still weak.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Recommend me a serial about university life

Recommend me please or give link for downloading to interesting a serial about university or collage life. I should watch it for improving my listening skills that are required for TOEFL exam. it will be excellent if serial is with subtitles.
Thanks.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

New GMAT day

Today I’ve scheduled GMAT on 14 of October. I decided to apply in second deadline, so it is not late. i will schedule TOEFL on the middle of November, so i will have one attempt to retake it.

Now i am convinced that i will pass GMAT on 700+. I see a great progress in solving LSAT questions. in LR sections i solve 60-80% questions correctly, and in RC - 60-70%. But i have a problem with listening and speaking section of TOEFL. I’ve just took a practice of TOEFL listening section and made a lot of mistake answering on question about dialogs of two students and students and teacher, but did only one in listening of classes. this result is did not surprised me, because i listened a lot of English podcasts and lectures but very few real conversations.

Today i copied topics of essay from business school and wrote plans of essay. I plan to write essay during this month and August, after that i will only edit them.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Kaneisha’s webinar

Nevertheless webinar began at 3-15 to 4-30 It was very interesting for me. So in this post you can read Kaneisha’s recommendations for odd people who apply for MBA.

1. About GMAT:
Do not take GMAT more then 3 times.
Before next attempt give yourselves at lest 2 month to preparation
take the best course that you can afford

2. if you don’t have traditional for MBA experience take a finance, accounting, economic, or math class. Thus BS will be sure that you can ability to study these topics.

3. Start write your essay right now(!).
Review essay several times
Use an essay coach, especially if you have odd background or low GMAT

Believe that it is possible to be admitted with very low GMAT or/and with absolutely unusual background.

Kaneisha offers two type of coaching one-on-on and group coaching. more information you can find in her site http://theartofapplying.com

In sum webinar was very interesting, and in my opinion Kaneisha is talented coach.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

GMATprep 650 (Q49, V31)

I’ve taken the second GMATprep test in April, but today I did not recognize any questions. During test I was very concentrated. I am very happy to see this result, especially after getting 510 a week ago in Knewton CAT. May be it was unsuccessful day or that test inadequate reflected my score

Now I will analyze mistakes and in the evening or tomorrow schedule GMAT day on September. I guess that it will not problem for me to improve score to 700+ during 2 month.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Top MBA for people with low GMAT

A free webinar by Kaneisha Grayson “B-School Despite the Odds” will occur on Thursday, July 8 at 5:15 pm Pacific Time.

Kaneisha Grayson has graduated from Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School. She has recently received a $10,000 grant from Harvard to found a coaching business. She specialize in working with “interesting people,” applicants who have ambitious goals for where they want to attend school but whose grades, test scores, and/or work experience do not accurately reflect their best abilities. She helps people tell their story so that schools can look past the numbers and see how phenomenal of a person and student the applicant will be.

As Kaneisha writes she is a writer, storyteller, and coach rather than just an “admissions consultant”. Her priority is to be as helpful and relevant as she can be in aiding people in achieving their educational and professional goals.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Knewton CAT 510 (q37 / 49% v24 / 32% )

It is awful result. I am very disappointed because I’ve never taken prep tests so bad. Although I felt that result would be low because a lot of things diverted my attention and I had a headache.

In math part I made 10 mistakes, two of them in first 10 questions, and 4 of them in last 10 ones. Usually having 10 mistakes I got higher score in math…
In verbal part I did bad especially in reading comprehension.
Tomorrow I will take a Kaplan or Princeton CAT for determination my real level due to i am not sure that Knewton reflect my score adequately. In addition now I guess that I should practice math too, because in real exam I want to get in math 50 or 51.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

I am a new Grockit verbal leader



I’ve just noticed that I’ve become a new verbal leader in Grockit. In fact it means only that during the weak or two I’ve solved more hard verbal questions in this site than other members correctly. Since Saturday I’ve solved in this site 429 questions and vast majority of them were hard.


In next Saturday I will take a prep test, and after that will schedule new GMAT day

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Georgia


Several days ago I returned from 33rd World Congress of Vine and Wine that was in Georgia. It were wonderful 4 days and I wish the congress continued longer. In first I have very interesting time, visiting a lot of Georgian winery, testing a score of perfect Georgian wine, and learning ancient Georgian culture. Georgia is very interesting and beautiful country and you should visit it. I will obviously visit it soon as a tourist. In second I got a contacts of a lot of wine makers and wine experts from all the world. All this contacts are treasure for me and another journalists in our editorial staff because comments from this people help us to improve quality of articles for wine magazine. (now I write to two magazines. First one is about trends in Ukrainian alcohol industry and the second one is about quality wine)

But this blog about studying so i will write about that. Surely being in business trip it was impossible to spend a lot of time on preparation to gmat. In first night at hotel I could not get asleep so I solved 30 LSAT questions, making in them 13 mistakes. In next nights I could not get asleep a lot of hours too but I was not able to concentrate on LSAT questions. Being in that conditions, it was better to practice using Grockit but I had bad internet connection, and could not do so. Hence all nights I was not studying but reading the magazines or doing void deals.

Nevertheless congress was very useful for improving my communication skills because it was my first international event. During congress I speak to everyone about anything. Actually I calculated 55 business card in my business card holder, and I can remember every person who gave me a business card and topics about which we spoke. I have a few problems with conversation, but sometimes could not understand some sentences. It was hard for me to understand numbers and it was not easy to understand French people and woman from South Africa. French people speak with terrible accent, and woman from South Africa used a lot of sophisticate words.

Now I tried to return for studying. After relaxing it is not easy to concentrate so I answer to questions very slowly, but result is quite high. Today and tomorrow I will practice grockit questions, and in next days I will do lsat ones.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Veritas Practice Test 590

I’ve just took a Veritas practise test and gained 590 (Q45 V27) (in real exam that i took a month ago I gained 540 (Q48 V17) )

My math score fall because i did not practice it after real test at all and during practice test did several silly mistakes. But it is not a problem. I know my problem topics in math and in real exam will do better.

In verbal part i made a lot of mistakes in RC, but very few in another sections. Among first 10 questions i solved very challenged passage in which gave no one right answers. So RC is my the weakest side now.

In my opinion overall result is not bad. I move in the right direction.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Listening

Perhabs listening skills are my main problem now. Several days ago a got a call from business school (I am not remember it’s name) that locate in London and I did not understand first sentence at all. So i ask girl to repeat it, and to speak slowly. After that I understood all that she said. Girl ask me if i interested in MBA and in which year I am going to apply. I answered that i will apply next year, and i am going to begin studying in September 2011. But they found person who want to begin studying this year. Tell the trues I will not be able to study on MBA efficiently if i begin studying this year. So it is not matter, what this girl think about me. But if i get a call from Haas or Stanford in the fall and I do not understand first sentence, it will be lust call from one of this great business schools.

Thus this conversation lets me know that I ought to improve my listening skills. Unfortunately i will not be able to visit English speaking country this year. But 20 of June i will fly to Georgia to 33rd World Congress of Vine and Wine, that will be continue until 25 or 27. And main language of this congress will be English. So i hope visiting congress will become useful experience for improving my listening skills. Main drawback is that all people in Georgia know Russian and majority of journalists in congress will communicate in it. But I will try to communicate in first with English speaking people.

Nevertheless highly topical programme I will try to continue studying during congress. I hope I will live in hotel with wi-fi, and Grockit course will be available.

About studying
I can not estimate my level, and determinate whether i have a progress or not, because my score fluctuates all time. I could solve 10 LSAT questions without mistake, and after that make a mistake in each questions from next 10 ones. It is individualities of my mind. when i was junior journalist I’ve never write average coverage but i wrote excellent or very bad (uninteresting with a numerous mistakes, with awful stile ect ) ones, nevertheless I endeavored to to made every coverage excellent. And after several month my coverage becomes excellent or average. So with GMAT will be the same situation.

Renewal plan

As I did earlier i will be solve LSAT questions and read Kaplans explanation in the morning, but in the evening i will study using Grockit online course.

UPD
About reading

I finished The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, and bought Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw. I have never read English plays before, and reading of first act was very hard so for understanding I often returned but reading of second one is more easier. Perhaps in next I will read Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Correlation between Grockit and LSAT question

Today I purchased Grockit membership (that costs $80 and for me only $50 because I applied for scholarship from BTG), and took diagnostic test. Its result made me wonder and happy. In math section i gain 85th percentile, and in verbal gain 60th percentile. I want to believe that this result reflects my real skills, nevertheless in real exam that I took 12th May I gain only 540 (Q83% V12%). New result can be true, because since my first attempt I studying every day and very hard.

Analyzing error log of LSAT questions I can not do any conclusion about my progress, because my it looks very strange. For example my lust test was the worst among lust 4 tests..

so, this is my result in Grockit:

Verbal review:

error logs of 4 lust LSAT
LR = logical reasoning ~ critical reasoning
RC = RC :)

So, being optimistic I will take a vacation from GMAT till Monday, due to in holiday I am going to visit my parents in D n i p r o p e t r o v s k and friend in D n i p r o d z e r g i n s k .

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

about Beat the GMAT, and LSAT questions

As for mе great value of Beat the GMAT is not only useful information, but also amusing people who visit this site. Failing my first attempt in GMAT, I left in forum post about this. Tell the trues I left that post not because I believed that people recommended me something new method of preparation, only one way to improve my score is to study, study and study, but because I want to share my emotion with another people.

After this post I receive 2 private messages and 3 email from people who propose their help and advise in preparation. Surely they become my new virtual (still) friend. And from them I receive relay useful advice, and aspiration.

about my study:

Solving LSAT questions definitely improves my verbal skills, especially reading comprehension. Yesterday I solved 3 texts and made in them only 3 mistake. In one of the texts I did not do any mistake! But my score in logical reasoning became worse. When I began to use LSAT, I solved right 50% of questions, but today I did right only 44%. May be it occurs because I am very exhausted now.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Quickly typing

I’ve just downloaded Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing Deluxe and begun to learn quickly typing. (Richard Battle-Baxter recommended me this software) I was very surprised as easy English keyboard is. Definitely it is due to compare to Ukrainian or Russian ones that contain 33 letters, English keyboard contains only 26 letters. I think learning typing take me no more than 1-2 weeks. I will study at the work during the breaks.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Corrected study plan

Unfortunately my former study plan occurs not clear enough. I do not have time to do as much as I planed. Solving one LSAT test takes me 3 hours. Learning explanation from Kaplan takes 2,5 hours. In sum one LSAT test takes me 5,5 hours. in addition according my current plan i have to spend 40 min on listening to the bbc broadcast. and one hour on reading. So according this plan I should spend on studying every week 39.16 h.

Every day I can learn 2.5 hours in the morning (from 5-00 AM till 7-30) and after work may be 2.5-3 hours. But after work I less concentrated. In average in one day every week i delay at work on 3-4 h so i can not study in this day. In average in 1-2 days I delay on 1 hour. And in one day i meet with friends. In Saturday and Sunday in average i can study during 4 h. In another time i will relax. Every day except Sunday and Saturday I can read in subway during 40 min.

In sum every week i can study 28-31 hours. So every week i will solve only 4 LSAT test and Kaplan’s explanations for them. Remaining time will be spend on listening bbc podcast. And i will read only in subway.

upd.

In my opinion critical reasoning (logical reasoning in LSAT) is the interestest part in test. Sometimes I really enjoy solving this question. Main drawback of CR is difficult language. But texts in RC became interestingvery reraly. Especially texts about women's rights, etc.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Working class and MBA

It is trivial fact that people who study on MBA have different background. But have you ever seen person who before enrolling has experience of work as a mine worker, concrete worker, refueling operator, lader, cashier in the supermarket etc? May be I will be the first one. Surely I was a journalist, and it was my work to get a such job, and after that write a reportage about my journey to newspaper. (My employers did not know that I was an journalist.) But biggest part of time I spent not in office but in the factories and another places where I worked.

For example on this photo I work as, concrete worker in small factory.

It is the factory

I had to fill this form by concrete

It is my co-worker. He earned more money than me, because his work was very dangerous. He had to immerse hand to cement-mixer and extract stones from it. Sometimes cement-mixer turned on oneself, so workers lost their hands. It was a terrible working conditions. When article with this photo was published authority obliged owners of this factory to buy a new cement-mixer, that was more safe

I had done my work


It is me after work

On this photo I work as refueling operator

On this photo I am a mine worker. Surely before shift, because after shift mine worker’s faces have another color.


Mine is very interesting place



In this photo I am a cashier in supermarket,


my co-workers:


Drinking alcohol is the best way to relax during working shift that longs during 11 hours.

Maybe it was one of the most interesting period of my career, because in all new professions I met very different people with different values, problems, life goals, wages etc. and in Every new place I had ought to build good relationship with another workers and bosses. In short it is very interesting to communicate with different people.

And one of reasons (not main) why I want to apply for MBA is that I like to communicate with people from different countries with different background. And MBA will give me a possibility to do so. mykola tymoshenko

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Plan for improving my verbal skills

gmat_perfect from Beat the GMAT recommended me to practice LSAT questions and I think is really effective way for preparation.

Firstly, from 22.05 to 7.07 I will solve all 40 LSAT tests and read answers from Kaplan. Every week I will take 5 LSAT tests and read explanations for them.

Secondary, I will spend every day 40 minutes on listening to the radio broadcast from BBC, because I will take not only GMAT, but also TOEFL. And listening section is my weak side.

Thirdly, I will read English fiction every day during a hour. I always read books in subway, while going to work. (now I read Oscar Wild’s novel Picture of Dorian Gray. It is wonderful book. Before it I read Ernest Hemingway’s novel a Farewell to Arms. Tell the true I can not understand why this book is such well-known. This novel could be named as a Farewell to Boose. If woman drinks every day during pregnancy, she will definitely have problem during childbearing. In my opinion the best Hemingway’s novella is The Old Man and the Sea that i read in Russian. )

Fourthly I will write two essays every week. After 7.07 I will check my verbal skills and write new plan of preparation.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

AWA

Today got my AWA score. Unfortunately I got only 2.5. definitely my score occurs so bad due to I did not understand topic of argument essay. Furthermore I tried to understand it during 10-15 minutes, but could not. Thus my argument essay was very short, no longer than 150 words, and was more resemble not on essay, but on nonsensical array of sentences. Issue essay I did better, but in it I definitely made a lot of grammar mistakes. And it was very short, no longer than 220 words too, because I type on English keyboard very slowly. My rate of typing on Ukrainian and Russian keyboard is more than 300 symbols per minute and I can type without seeing on keyboard. But my rate of typing on English kb is not faster than 70-80. Tomorrow, for instance, I type 2 essays for scholarship during 4 hours.

In future I plan to improve rate of typing English and learn to type without seeing on kb by using a special software. It will take me several days.

By the way it is not a shame to have a lack skills. It is a shame to not pay attention on limited skills and do nothing for improving them. Definitely next AWA as well as verbal score will be more better.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Cheat sheet on GMAT

I've heard funny story, about guy, who tried to use cheat sheet on GMAT. Following habits from university, he wrote all math formulas on his hand. GMAT assistant might would not notice a cheat sheet but before exam he had to put his hand on sensor that record pattern formed by a person’s palm veins. And sensor recorded not only unique pattern …

Perhaps next time he will create more sophisticated cheat sheet. For instance such as this:

Friday, May 14, 2010

GMAT, first attempt

The day before yesterday I took GMAT first time, and get 540 (Q48,V17). It is an awful result. I had not problem with math, furthermore, I finished this section earlier, but did in verbal par very bad. In GMATPrem my verbal score always was above 20, and one time even 31, quantitative - between 45 and 51. Total score fluctuated between 550 and 640. So I hoped to get in Quantitative section 51 and in verbal 33-35. Thus my total score would be above 700. But I was not so lucky. Before exam I took a vacation and prepared every day but it was not help my to do better.

Now I plan to appoint new attempt on September, not later because I hope to apply to several business schools in first deadline. And before next attempt I plan to pass TOEFL exam. Tomorrow I am going to check my score. Now my reading skills are not so bad, but writing listening and speaking may be below average.

For preparation I will use LANGMaster computer course.

About author

One of aims of this blog is to improve my writing skills. Thus If you find in my posts grammar or stylistic mistake, I will be appreciative if you show me it. Nevertheless, I hope this blog will be interesting for people who interested in similar topics.

Main topics of blog
preparation to GMAT
preparation to TOEFL
my thought about MBA

Contacts: