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.

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.

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.

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 .

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.