The GMAT

-A strange and funny jumping animal.

- Background
- Prep material used
- Prep approach used
- Important takeouts
- Respite
- G-DAY

Background
- 5 years in the Indian telecom revolooshan.
- Arts student. MBA from India.
- Veteran of 7 dogs,1 mynah, 12 rabbits, 2 CATs and the other myriad experiences that are forced on innocent Indian minds.
- Good at Language, Bad at Science, Ugly at Math.

PREP MATERIAL
1. OG 10, OG 11 (Official Guide)
If you are going to choose only one book to prep, choose the OG. With plenty of details and lovely large chunks of questions, this makes for the ideal material for
someone who wants to do really really detailed prep. Considering that one needs to do 40 straight questions at a time in the real GMAT, I used the OG along with the now-famous Ursula excel sheet (this helps you take a check of mistakes very effectively - the version with macros built in is even more fab-available somewhere at www.gmatclub.com).My scores on OG prep software were 690 and 720.

2. KAP 2006 (Kaplan book+software)
Although the KAP comes in with a reputation of ultra difficult questions, I found this kind of prep quite decent...you know what I mean...the "Learn swimming by jumping into the Atlantic on a grey winter morning with nobody around to save you"...ok,ok, so am exaggerating a bit. My personal experience was that the KAPs reputation for difficulty is overrated...the questions do progress from easy to difficult but thats the way prep ought to be. The KAP was possibly the only private vendor's book that comes with questions as difficult as the real GMAT. Book apart, the KAP software is really outstanding-not only does it make out a clear timebound plan with different sections, it also highlights weak areas and gives feedback on topic-wise improvement areas...add to this, 4 tough FLTs (Full Length Tests) and that seals the deal. And besides,its quite a cheap thrill to have animated voices cheer you for the right answer! ;-)

My KAP diagnostic score was 680. Actual FLT scores were 560,640...after that I started focusing on OG and so didnt do the other two tests. The KAP is nowhere a real indicator of your possible score- there is a score estimator in GMATclub.com that combines difficult levels of OG/GMAT/PR to give you a combined score-not for the fainthearted,though!

3. KAP 800 - This is supposedly a book with the toughest possible set of questions...but I found quite a few questions in the OG which were tougher anyday. Where this book can help you is to give you innovative approaches and tingle you with twists and turns, so that nothing fazes you on G-day. Not worth a serious buy, but hey if you are want to be 360 degree in your prep and have plenty of time, go for it.

4. PR 2006(Princeton Review)
The PR is not so useful for most Asian applicants who have done their heavy doses of quant right from primary school to college. However the PR comes in handy for 2
specific reasons:
1. The PR is is the guy whom you can knock-out with one hand tied behind. So if you want a confidence booster after those gruelling KAP exams which leave you eating dust, the PR is your punching bag...kick it, hit it, break it - and come away feeling like Sugar Ray Robinson.
2. The PR has quite a bit of sneaky shortcuts and thinking methods which can help to polish off your edges.esp when a tough cookie of a perm-combo problem leaves you high and dry. Though not enough by itself, the PR is a good starter for novices, that without intimidation, prepares you for the job and for more experienced candidates offers some toppings to kill and bury the evil G-thing.

6. POWERPREP/ GMATPREP software
I was lucky enough to have been in the middle of the changeover from ETS to Pearson Vue and so had both software thingys handy. The ETS s/ware is basic, old fashioned but does the job while the GMATprep is jazzed up and gives better feedback. Use these very carefully because these are the closest indicators of what you will actually score (atleast in my case!). Ideal way is to write a prep test before starting OG and write one again halfway through. Since a lot of questions in this are taken from OG it would not be a wise idea to do this after finishing OG...however you can try it as an exercise in stamina, if nothing else.

PREP APPROACH
I am one of those guys who believe in a huge amount of prep. If nothing else, I gain a tremendous amount of momentum and confidence out of the prep. For eg...for an interview, I check out all kinds of crazy stuff from the company website to friends in the industry to the personal background of the interviewer to facts and figures of competitors to whatnot. At the interview,I step in knowing that I am the candidate whos done the maximum prep for the interview. I followed a similar approach for this...I went through 10s of blogs/websites, trawled all possible forums and also bought about 6K worth of books.

However our hero planned too well and started prep in 2004 for shooting down the GMAT goose in 2005. However the hours dragged by and waylaid by many worldly vices, he lost interest. After a wasted 9 months, decided to cut the "I need time to prepare" crap. Booked the date for 3 months in advance and started prep again.Had to postpone test due to unrelated personal reasons but 3 months was ideal peak time - from 600 scores, I was hitting 700+. Finally on G-day I managed a 700+ score which I considered heaven-send.

TAKEOUTS
The most important takeouts I gleaned over 1.5 years of planning are:
1. AIM FOR R1
1st round of apps start off in Sep - and the commonly held (& probably true) funda is that the selectivity % is highest in this round.

2. PLAN AHEAD
I planned GMAT in Feb - logic was that if I wrote it in Feb and got a low score,I could take a second shot by May-June after extra prep and still be ready for R1 by Sep.

3. BOOK YOUR DATE
Nothing like that sense of impending doom to get you started...so always book the date first. Otherwise you would want to start prep only after you are fully prepared and you never will be. To take the GMAT in Feb, I started prep in Nov - 3 months was what I figured would take me to complete the probs in the OG/Kaps and approx. 6 FLTs.

4. TIMETABLE: I made an Excel sheet which had dates in the corner of each cell. Printed this with dates from prep start to G-day and put it up next to bed.Everyday I ticked off the cell for the day with a tick or a cross or a double cross, depending on how well I had prep for the day. This auto-generation of guilt tremendously helps you to extract time out of nowhere for prep esp if you have an erratic and demanding work schedule.

5. APPROACH: I start work at 9am and end it by 9pm.Am no early riser...so prep was done mostly into late night.
WEEKDAYS: 2 hours daily
On weekdays, I practiced problems in chunks of 40 from the OG/KAP/GMATclub or wherever I could find problems.I used to finish 40 probs and then mark them as right or wrong.I usually took off Friday to review all the wrong problems and redo them again. The Ursula format with macros built in for calculating the time per problem was an absolute lifesaver.
WEEKENDS: approx. 6 hours per day
Usually took two Full Length Tests over the weekend...took them in the morning and reviewed them at leisure in the evening.Not much else one can do over the weekends since the FLTs usually wash you out-so dont plan anything else.However make sure you think of the FLTs as stamina exercises above all, opportunities to identify and correct weak areas next and least of all a score-finder. Pining behind ideal scores leaves you all frustu and bitter about life, your genetic makeup, your 2nd standard math teacher, the illogical bucky-ball filled universe and everything else in between. So beware.

6.PROBLEM REVIEW
Once in 2/3 weeks, take time off to step off this treadmill and analyze your performance - you will realize that you are making specific types of errors in specific areas. Go back to the KAP or PR and try to work out a solution.Unless you do this, its like chopping at wood with a blunt axe...u do a lot of work but you dont know whats going wrong and what results you are likely to end with.

7. USE THE INTERNET
I subscribed to gmat@yahoogroups - however the amount of crap and spam getting circulated there was a toaatal turnoff. So checked out www.gmatclub.com and www.testmagic.com - out of these, I found GMAT club to be very very useful. Yes, the problems are quite intimidatory and so are quite a few of the users - if you are a
novice, it might not be the best idea to start there, however sooner or later one needs to go there for a sip of substance. I started off, working backwards for all
problems posted in the forums and reached about halfway through. I also found Daveformba's prep links to be very helpful in compiling a list of GMAT stories as well as prep tactics. Spideys SC notes and other perm-combo prep stuff in the forums also came in very handy.However the people are the best part of the forums - a whole bunch of fellow camarades help you swing from branch to branch in the giant GMAT jungle. Any toughie, any reference-there are always "CEOs" and "Senior Managers" willing to help you out. After going mad for about 3 days on a problem, I got help within 20 minutes of posting...so there. However as a note of warning, it is easy to get mired in the forums because of the sheer quantity of the problems-so allot a time schedule or fix a limit on no of problems and walk away after that. Again, I used the same mistake-capture format to track my progress on these forums.

Apart from the forums, there are quite a few blogs by fellow applicants that lay out detailed prep stats...from Dave, you can go blog-hopping across half of the world and come away - happier or more fearful, depending on the blogs that you have seen and the level of your prep. Again quite easy to get lost and keep surfing--I have wasted quite a few hours.

8. THINK CAREFULLY ABOUT COACHING CENTRES
I checked out various prep courses and even sat in on a few classes at a particularly famous centre. However my experience was quite sad-the instructor was a college student who taught me like it was a math exam and English was taught by a former college professor who had very little idea of what the real GMAT was like- both of them preferred to go by the even sadder handout that the coaching centre gave (which was light years away from the real thing)...PR and the KAP CD were so much better for an intro...and...not to sound arrogant, but when one goes to such classes one expects people of similar if not better preparedness...working for too long with junior, aiming for a 650+ because they have a rich dad who will sponsor their education doesnt help at all. A quick check of all 3 students there, told me that all of their aspirational scores were at <650 levels - I bailed out! However think about it...if you can spend time out from work and put in effort through classes and yet not compromise on your basic prep (Kap/OG etc) maybe you can try this...another thing I heard is that if one if the procrastinating slightly lazy type,the classes can enforce some kind of discipline. But think thrice...the cost is heavy not only on your wallet but also on your time, effort, energy and enthu levels.

RESPITE
This entire prep thing is likely to burn you out from ...so moderate it with crazy self-induced entertainment at decent intervals...say atleast once a fortnight (my work schedule is a bitch, so I had to - you decide depending on how mad you become!)...try making pasta and russian salad at home, watch The English Patient, go for a long motorcycle drive, wash down beers from the balcony,stare at playing children, pump iron, trawl other blogs etc etc. Another possible suggestion (that really helped me) would be to build up a fan club...people who can support you when you are down. Since anyway r'ships will take a hit during this period, make sure you have one or two solid people who will back you up...I had a friend who periodically reminded me that I shouldnt get stuck to a small cubicle working out spreadsheets all my life. Another woke me up everyday at 5.30am for something like 3 months so that I could review my errors. Other close friends were decent enough to give me space and not get pissed off for not keeping in touch. Build a web that you can fall into and bounce back from, when you are going down. Senti apart, it helps.Believe me.

G-DAY
My centre was at the Rajagiri College at Cochin. I was on the 9am slot; checked out the route on the prev day. Also bought bananas and a Kitkat for the 10 minute break. I started from home at 730 am and reached the centre at 8am. Sat there with my PR book (yeah, am one of those last minute crammers) and did not stare at the
MBA wimmen (am I not thy epitome, oh utter dedication!) At around 845, I was summoned inside and did the usual photo,passport and fingerprint checks.

I was the only candidate in a room filled with 3 ACs, so got the admin guy to turn it down. Started off the test...contrary to general belief, the scribbling sheets were quite comfy and the admin was more than happy to give me extra sheets. Started off with the usual AWA -since I had my templates ready (Check PR for more info on
this), they were a cakewalk. Then the quant started...I was extra careful to spend more time per problem, because during prep I was making quite a few careless mistakes because of the speed. Towards the end, I ran into one perm-combo and also one DS statistical toughie...although these were quite tough, I was happy that I was into the crunch curve-where all probs get difficult.

Then break happened, when an embarassed GMATTer gobbled down a slithery banana and a precious Kitkat in front of befuddled admin and prospective students...also took a long deep look at the pond in the middle of the building. The goldfish stared back.

Then the verbal section happened and this is where I became a bit overconfident... after a few easy RCs,I started going a bit fast...I realized this mistake only about half an hour later...and by that time, I think I had made a few mistakes. where I should have gotten atleast. 41+, I made only 39....sheer stupidity but then, shit happens. And that was that.

There are many ways to approach the GMAT...like a girl to be wooed lovingly with flowers, chocolates, poetry and prayers, like a cockroach to be killed as you walk past, like a battle to be won, like a game to prepare for and to be played hard...check out what worked for you before and see if the same ground-rules apply...if it does, go for it! If not, invent a story...something larger than a stupid exam with 80+ questions...something that can keep you awake in the darkest hour before G-dawn!

PS:
This is the experience of an Indian applicant,an exam-rusty non-engineer and all references are made wrt to the environment here; so please pick and choose analogies/ lessons/ methods relevant to your profile. Will be glad to be of help-mail me.

All the best!