Social life? What's that?

I seem to have forgotten the meaning of that phrase! My life is a hopeless tangle of work and GMAT prep, with brief respites provided by the soccer world cup. I spent Friday evening cussing through yet another Kaplan test. It's almost as if I derive masochistic pleasure from it :-) Anyway, I have one more Kaplan test left and I will complete it this weekend. The artificially low scores of the Kaplan tests have served one very important purpose - preventing me from getting too complacent!

I plan to spend some time this weekend analyzing all the mock CATs that I have taken so far. I don't like analyzing tests ( it's like eating leftovers ;-) ) but I do realize that they are very important.

My assessment of my strengths and weaknesses is as follows:

Quant - I have never scored below 50 in any of the mock tests. My comfort level is very high and I rarely get into time trouble. Being an engineer does have its advantages! I find DS to be relatively tough, simply because it takes more time to analyse all the different permutations and combinations. I have decided not to spend any more time preparing for quant (except as a part of mock tests).

CR - I am good at it, but I still need lots more practice. I am usually able to eliminate 3 of the wrong choices easily, but I sometimes get stuck between the 2 remaining choices. I believe that of all the question types, CR requires the most concentration. I tend to make far more mistakes in CR questions towards the end of the test than at the begining. This could be due to my concentration getting affected by a combination of fatigue and the pressure of the clock ticking away. My strategy is to take more practice tests to increase my mental stamina and to review my time management so that I have a larger buffer towards the end.

RC - I don't think practising RC is going to help me, because I already have a strategy that works for me. I do make a few mistakes, but I feel that the law of diminishing returns has kicked in, and that I am better off spending my time on CR and SC.

SC - my bete noire! I am going to spend the bulk of my preparation efforts on this section. I plan to work through the OG bins and the 1000 SC document (you need to register first in order to download the file, but registration is free).

BTW, today's Kaplan 3rd CAT score - 640 (Q 50 (+33, -4), V 34 (+28, -13)). No surprises there.

I just realized that half of the words in this post are acronyms!

GMAT score estimator

My GMAT prep update:

18th June - GMAT prep 1st CAT - 760 (Q 50 (31 correct, 6 wrong) , V 42 (31 correct, 10 wrong))
22nd June - Kaplan 2nd CAT - 660 (Q 50 (32 correct, 5 wrong) , V 36 (29 correct, 12 wrong))

An interesting observtion - I felt that my performances in the two mock tests were more or less identical. But my Kaplan score was exactly 100 less than my GMAT prep score, and the difference was entirely in the verbal section! The Kaplan quant section is probably a wee bit tougher than the GMAT prep, but they were quite similar to each other. The Kaplan quant questions that I got wrong were all because of my mistakes, and I didn't feel cheated (as I felt with the verbal section)! :-)

The explanations given for many of the Kaplan verbal questions are highly specious, and I seriously doubt whether the GMAT would test such questions. The worth of a mock CAT is measured by its similitude to the real GMAT test, and the Kaplan verbal section fails miserably if it's judged on this parameter. I don't want to alter my way of thinking just to improve my Kaplan scores if doing so could potentially affect my performance in the GMAT. I guess I will do what most others do - add a delta score to the Kaplan score to get the "real" estimate, or more likely just ignore the score altogether.

Oh yeah, here is the GMAT score estimator. You might want to take it with a fistful of salt!

I want my instant gratification!

24 hours in a day are just not sufficient. I realize that I sound like a greedy little kid, but I want to pack so much more into my day! I took a sailing lesson yesterday and it was totally awesome! I learnt enough to realize that sailing is (a) great fun, (b) difficult to master and (c) very dangerous for a novice! I am tempted to continue the lessons regularly, but I just won't find enough time for them on a regular basis. I have to defer my gratification (sigh!).

Later on I took a Kaplan full length test and, as expected, found it much tougher than the others. There seems to be a general consensus on this, and so I was not very suprised. I tried to analyse why I found it tough:

Quant:

1. Ambiguities in a couple of questions - for example [spoiler alert!], one of the questions was something like this "What is the smallest possible ------ of two integers which are both greater than X?" It does not clarify whether the two integers are different or whether they may be identical. The answer is different for each of the two preceding cases.

2. Word problems are not perfectly phrased, so you have to make certain assumtions to solve the problem. The "reasonableness" of the assumptions required is questionable.

Verbal:

1. RC passages are ridiculously long and abstruse. This is my only major complaint with the Kaplan test (the other factors are not unsurmountable). There is little that anyone can do about these time sucking passages. The effect of the lengthy passages extends even beyond RC questions because I was forced to spend less time on other parts of the test.

2. Critical reasoning - negative logic questions, that are usually tougher and lengthier, are used often. For example, "If X is not Y, the which of the following must necessarily be FALSE?" This requires you to first rephrase the original statement, and then evaluate each of the 5 choices for the modified statement. Such questions are perfectly valid, but too many of them make life miserable :-)

In spite of my apparent discontent, I am actually very pleased with my performance. My scores were almost identical to my previous ones (740, Q 50, V 41), but I consider my performance to be much improved because this test was so much tougher. The GMAT surely cannot get any tougher than this, so my confidence is soaring! Perhaps the discontinuous learning curve does work (see previous post)!

The discontinuous learning curve

I have often wondered about the best way to acquire new skills, and one of my favorites is the "don't try too hard" approach. This is basically a laissez faire attitude without much intervention from the left half of my brain. Do whatever you feel like doing and whenever you feel like it. This worked great for my tennis skills, and for most other things in life. However when the stakes are higher, this approach might be a bit too risky. I really don't care if I get thrashed 6-0, 6-0 in a game of tennis. But knowing how to turn and stop before skiing down suicide slope can make a big difference - the difference between having a great time and getting aquainted with all the X-ray technicians in the neighborhood :-)

The GMAT is definitely not a "life or death" issue, and I am not so concerned about having a 10 point mega-plan to "beat the GMAT". At the same time, I am investing a lot of time, money and effort into it and I don't like the prospect of having to take it again. I work best with a flexible plan, but I am trying to bring some structure into my preparations. I had made a very ambitious study plan a couple of weeks ago, but I am chucking it out now. I want to be able to stop studying once it gets boring and do something else to refresh myself. I hope that when I get back after a break, I will have undergone the mysterious "learning jump". This has happened many times earlier, and I am sure that most others have recognized the feeling when you suddenly, and for no apparent reason, get much better at something. I don't know whether there is a term for this phenomenon .. if not, I hereby call it "the discontinuous learning curve". So I am going to spend this weekend having fun and gloating over my new found talent for neologism. Let's see how it works out for for my GMAT preparation :-)

Of course, I realize that all this is just a way of rationalizing my decision to spend tomorrow riding and sailing, far away from anything remotely related to an MBA! But who cares? I am having fun tomorrow .. yaaay!!!

Booking the test

1. When do I book the test? Should I fix the date now and prepare under a deadline, or should I book the earliest available date after I feel confident enough to take the test? I am in favor of the second option. I want the flexibility to be able to take the test as soon as I feel ready, and not have to wait in case I finish my preparations much before the G-day. I checked online, and there seems to be about a weeks lead time that is required for available test spots near my location. I also have a hard artificial deadline - July 31st. There is nothing magical about that date, it's just that I want to concentrate on other parts of my app from August.

2. Which day of the week do I take the test? I want to test on a Monday because I can relax and prepare myself mentally during the preceding two days. I don't want any work related issues distracting me. Marina had a different approach and it worked well for her.

3. What time of the day do I take the test? I am not a mornings person, so I will try to book as late in the day as possible. This is not so important for me though, and testing on a Monday will have higher priority.

It's all about marketing

Achtung! This post is not related to MBA, at least not directly.

I observed target marketing in all its glory today at Mac. Have you ever observed a diet conscious overweight person at a fast food joint? She invariably looks at the nutritional information provided on the tray. And guess what product is ideal for advertising on that tray, right below the calories info? Yes .. it's Total Body Makeover endorsed by Oprah, whose audience typically consists of calorie conscious women!! So you have a celebrity endorsed weight reduction book in front of the "target" while she is eating a supersized burger with extra large fries and strawberry shake. The target probably feels guilty enough to stop at Borders on her way back and pick up a copy of that book. Marketing can be so effective, yet so cruel!

I am not fat (not by any stretch of imagination) and have nothing against fat people. But I am sick of the weight loss marketing programs that plague the TV channels and other media. And now they have infected my lunch tray!

school shopping

I have decided to concentrate on only two things for now - school selection and GMAT. I am hopeless at multitasking and would rather concentrate only on finishing up my GMAT. But I also know that a specific list of target schools will motivate me much more than just an amorphous vision of a top B-school. So here's my approach to school selection:

1. Number of schools : 5 - 6. A minimum of 5 because I want to increase my chances of getting into at least one of the schools. More than 6 seems like a lot of application effort, and more worryingly, my recommenders might get tired of eulogizing me :-).

2. Back up (safety) schools? No way! I am not investing all this time, money and effort to get into a 2nd rung school. If not this year, I will try again later, but I won't settle for anything less than the best.

3. Shortlist:

Stanford - my dream school! No matter what happens, I am applying to Stan!
Michigan - geographical proximity makes a strong case for Ross. I have many friends in Ann Arbor, so Ross is a shoo-in.
Tuck - curriculum and school culture seem great, but it also has the smallest class size -> tough to get into. Will definitely consider.
Columbia - 3 words .. location, location, location! I have to check up on the school strengths and curriculum before deciding to apply.
Sloan/Harvard/Kellogg/Wharton - will apply to one or two of these, not finalised yet.
Yale/Stern/Darden - not sure
Chicago - unlikely.
Cornell/Duke/UCLA/Haas - very unlikely.

So I have decided on Stanford and Michigan and these were the easy picks. Choosing schools is probably the most important (yet often neglected) part of the application process. I plan to ride to NYC, Boston and Dartmouth in July to visit the schools located there. Unfortunately there won't be any students around at that time but I guess it's better than not going at all. I might also be able to meet an admissions officer and have my questions answered.

How accurate are test prep scores?

I took another mock CAT today (Peterson's 3rd test), with mixed results. I aced the quant section scoring 60, but got only 38 in verbal, for a total of 730. I was prepared for the law of diminishing returns, but not for negative returns :-). I got hammered in sentence correction, with an accuracy of only 60%. Anyway, I am looking at this positively because SC seems to be the only part of GMAT that I suck at, so I know where to concentrate my efforts.

How accurately do these scores predict the actual GMAT score? Is it possible that my quant scores are inflated or that my verbal scores are understated? I suppose the only way to find out would be to take tests by different vendors and average them out. That should eliminate the possibility that my style of thinking perfectly matches (or perfectly mismatches) that of the test maker. Sentence correction questions are the least objective ones and they should, in theory, show the greatest variance between different tests. The official test software (GMAT prep?) is likely to be the most accurate indicator, so I am saving it for the week before GMAT.

I noticed an unusual pattern in my scores - Q 50 + V 40 totals 740, but Q 60 + V 38 totals 730. This seems a bit strange. Scoring more than 50 in quant does not have any effect on the total score. Can anyone explain how the individual section scores are combined into the total score? Is there a fixed formula? I couldn't find this information on the GMAC website.

GMAT preparations

I decided to apply for my MBA only a couple of weeks ago. Since I plan to apply for R1 at all schools, I am considering taking the test in the last week of July. While this does not leave me with a lot of time to prepare for my GMAT, I don't think I need more than 8 weeks for it.

I started preparing with the Kaplan 800, and I was quite impressed with it. It also gave me a lot of confidence because the questions in that book are supposed to be the toughest possible ones and I was able to answer most of them. I took a couple of mock tests this week (Peterson's CAT):

Test 1 : 6/04/06 : 670 (Q : 50; V : 32) [Got into time trouble in quant]
Test 2 : 6/10/06 : 740 (Q : 50; V : 40) [Better time management; need to improve SC]

I am aiming for a 800. I realize that it is a very difficult score to achieve, but I am confident that I can do it. I took the GRE a few years ago and got perfect 800's in Quant and Verbal sections. GMAT isn't much tougher than the GRE, so I should be able to repeat my performance here :-)

WTF is this all about?

This is a log of my MBA application process. I will try to record the entire admission process here - from "starting to think about applying for an MBA" to (hopefully) joining a school of my choice next year. This is going to be an emotional roller coaster, and I intend to have a blast on this ride!

I am using a nom de plume because this is a public blog. So, in honor of His Noodly Appendage, I christen myself FSM!