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)

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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,

Accepted.com

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!

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

v34

v30

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

Grockit CAT 690

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.

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!