Friday, October 10, 2008

Beat the GMAT ?

Well, I did! :) That's the simple answer to the question. Got 750, extremely commendable, esecially for someone as lazy as me. I probably wasn't even expecting as much. But now that I have such a fabulous score (a fact that everyone I know unanimously agrees with, unless they have never heard of GMAT, in which case I get the good ol' polite smile-and-nod, "Must be a good score, she doesn't look that dumb!"), people keep asking me for advice, study tips and so on. Usually, I end up repeating what I'd read on quite a few blogs, and not exactly what I'd done. And that is because my studying patterns are irregular, hardly effective, and rely heavily on my mood swings. I still remember, it was August, and the rains were on, and most of the days, I'd get back home from office, plan to study, and then end up spending the entire evening on my balcony with a cup of coffee and chips! :)
Anyway, getting back to the point, I think the thing that helped me most during my preparations was remembering the basic rules. I didn't end up doing half of the mock exams that I had collected. For those seriously pressed for time, I'd recommend starting off with reading Kaplan, Princeton and the likes for the very basic steps for approaching SC (Sentence Correction), CR (Critical Reasoning) or RC (Reading Comprehension) and even DS (Data Sufficiency) questions. Also, make a achievable list of the things you plan to finish. Put realistic time lines. Find time to give a few mock exams, even if it means doing only one section at a time.
I don't have much to offer, so "Good Luck" is all that I'm gonna say! :)