Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Reading Comprehension! Have I finally tamed the beast? Let's wait and watch!

RC has been a dodging me since the time I began my GMAT prep. When I say dodging, I mean that it's been irritating the living daylights out of me (Imagine whatever profanity you'd like to, because I'll bet it fits!). The reason it got especially irritating is because there were times when I would read an especially long, moderately hard passage and get just 1 out of maybe 5 questions wrong. On another day, I would read a similar passage and get one question right! I initially thought it was merely an concentration issue and pressed on. When the matter got worse (that is it never changed even after many a passage), I decided it was time to find a remedy since the GMAT contains roughly 15 to 20 questions spread over 3 or 4 passages throughout the verbal section. This is a considerably large number of questions to not ponder strategy over.

And then one day (today), I found this awesome post on  the GMAT club. A user named Rhyme had posted it about 5 years ago in 2006. A few users have also asked some really insightful questions. From the initial read, it seems like this is my remedy, and Rhyme and co. my saviors. I'm going to give this thing a shot and see what comes off it. Wish me well! Until the next post...

Monday, June 20, 2011

Trying to bring about a method to the madness.. Will I succeed???

So it's the end of May and here is the study plan I've been following although intermittently.

First: I've decided the hell with it, "I do not have a good grasp of my basics and that is what needs to be dealt with".. Start at the beginning they say!
Second: In working on my basics, I've started to use MGMAT's collection of 8 strategy guides. Although Critical Reasoning has a whole lot of strategies, I'm not so sure each one can be applied. Nonetheless, I must admit, it is a good set.
Third: Work and travel have ceased to become excuses. I try and put in at least an hour each day.
Fourth: Until January of this year, I thought I could distance myself from normal living and get that 720. But that doesn't work and the more your social life suffers, the more I think about it. Therefore, I made a decision to strike a balance. I changed my job, took two weeks off for my friend's wedding, etc. and I'm back with the books now.

I took a test in the beginning of May. Since it was a paper based test of the old format of the GMAT, I still don't know my actual score! If any of you out there know how this is done, please respond!