Tag Archives: beatthegmat

GMAT forum, ScoreTop banned by GMAC (?)

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Well that was about to happen!

Though the news came bit late (than expected) and eventually it came when I was away from the GMAT world. (I mean, you can guess I was away as I was not blogging about GMAT and preparation stuff.) And therefore I couldn’t post an article about it. I think I dont have a valid source now to back this article. Anyways lets hope that the question mark in the title of the post will keep me safe. 😀

ScoreTop is GMAT preparation company which owns a forum ( I have mentioned about the forums on my blog on several occasions). ScoreTop give (used to give) question bank, known as GMAT sets to its ^VIP members^. The “GMAT sets” arguably used to contain contemporary questions that would most likely to come in real GMAT test.
They had high hit rate and perhaps thats why they are still famous in GMAT preparation industry eventhough they are no longer being published.

Some things better keep unsaid…. anyways but it was suspecious. and eventually it happened. At least thats what I heard from some other GMAT strategy forum.

I’m back to GMAT world and kicking!

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Lot of things happened during this break/phase.
Actually I had asked by my parents to stay in my native place as they were going out of town for vacation. That caused me two months of separation from net world :p I was desperately waiting to get back here. for beating GMAT and beyond (heeheee) But when I came back, a tragedy occurred. I lost my connecting device and a CELL phone. 😥
And then it was again one more month without internet. 🙁
It’s been five days since I’m back to GMAT world and already kicking. 😀
Soon I’ll add some post to this blog. Meanwhile I just changed the signature of my posts of the forums where I’m most active.
I have added the link of my other blog: “Do you Aim-WSC ? ” , which I think I am going to make more happening in near future. (I’ve merged all my blogs in one place now.)
Not that I am going to apply this year.
As you know I have yet to take the real test. oh Yeah! GMAT I mean. I am yet to take the GMAT test and I’m not thinking of it until next February.
So there’s no question of applying this year.
Well You’ll find all these answers about why I’m delaying this application process and hence MBA program / course on the above mention blog ( http://jc-4mba.blogspot.com ).
In GMAT front:
I’ve again joined all my favourite forums, BeatThe GMAT, PagalGuy and Test Magic and started contributing there.
I’ll be back within ten days and bring some food / special gifts for all you reader 😀
as I promised earlier.
Thank you for patience!

My biggest nightmare

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Heroes are losers!

Yeah! That’s my observation… Not all of them though. 😉 I have been on world wide web for quite a while and I know who are the heroes out here.
(Well! I am talking about the GMAT industry here.)

They’re active, they inspire, and they have great deal of experience in this field; they sometimes do analysis of the trends, keep track on the latest news and inform other people. They posses vast knowledge of this area and always try to help rookies in the industry. (GMAT prep industry 😉 ) And therefore they are termed as “experts” ; they are heroes for many.

YEAH! Words they speak (oops I mean, articles/ posts they write) and publish online become a reference material for many; become note of inspiration for many. Yes! Many regard them as heroes because of their commitment and constant zest to help and inspire other newbies.

They are heroes for many.
So whats wrong in that?

Well! Nothing’s wrong there. Even I had these heroes shape my prep and choose proper path in GMAT and MBA application process.

But one thing I observed in most of these heroes: They are losers in their own life.

am not pointing on anybody, specifically in this article but if you are well ol’ here you might guess about whom I am talking…

(Now don’t go and check my “tributary article for my heroes”. None of them has mentioned here or anywhere… they are different not mentioned anywhere in my blog.)

Although they write very inspirational posts or know many killing strategies, in their own journey to beat the GMAT they had failed to succeed. I feel sorry for them.

And guess what’s my biggest nightmare?

Yeah! I fear to become the loser. Being the loser just like them!

Well! I am no near to them! They are, perhaps, the world class. And I don’t regard myself in ^Hero^ category. I’d be happy to be a tiny person … but you cant ignore the fact… fact that I’m one of the top posters in America’s most popular GMAT related forum! And with this Annual PagalGuy Forum Awards I am getting some clear signs about people’s perception about my articles/ posts.

Oh yeah! They take them quite seriously 😉 😆 I feel really honored. I am pleased at the same time I feel it as a burden.
But then they say Great Power comes with Great responsibility!!! ( Damn I am yet to see Spiderman III… will watch it soon 🙂 ) I know my potential and I’ll damn achieve my ultimate goal. But this GMAT along with the aim-wsc, does it comes in my ultimate goal?

Perhaps yes but it’s in the path and I CAN/COULD choose alternative path for my ultimate goal(????)

I have been thinking of this for a quite while to b’ or not to b’… OK so I might not even apply to any b-schools.
But what about GMAT thingie? What about this blog? What about those award winning posts of mine? What about the brand aim-wsc?

I wont let my followers disappoint… I know many people out here want to see my ‘real marathon article about my own GMAT experience’.

So I WILL take the GMAT no matter what… I don’t want to turn them down.

This is strange; now I fear of being loser 😆 Isn’t it ironic!
You post something about how to beat the anxiety and nervousness and now YOU are nervous!! You suggest hundreds of strategies to rookies for their specific circumstances and now if you need help you cant ask about it because you already know the answers. Haahaa isn’t it a tragedy!

Sigh!

Well! Lets keep it away for time being … I’ll write some more articles about which I mentioned in my last post. Just wanted to vent that’s it.

Thanks for patience and thanks for reading!

Scholarship Beat The GMAT

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“Never Before Mega scholarship for GMAT studies on cyberspace.”
…that’s my new signature in one of the GMAT and MBA related forums.
But now I think I have to modify it a bit. Scholarships are not just limited to GMAT aspirants. Thanks to generous Stacy Blackman Co It has something to offer for beyond GMAT test too.
I salute generous Forum site who’s launching this Scholarship. ( And also the sponsors Manhattan GMAT and Stacy Consulting Co. )
Well! the name is none other than Beat the GMAT. As you must have known by now by reading earlier parts [Part-I] and [Part-II] of this article, about the site and its community involvement.
To-day, I am really feel proud of being part of it.
This year’s annual BeattheGMAT scholarship is, as I said earlier, gonna be bigger and wider than before. I call it Mega Scholarship.
Here’s a sneek peek of What scholarship comprises of this year.

  • The competition is running from April1- May 7.

Gosh! its gonna be huge!
( Total price money is going to exceed $8000!! )

  • First Price:

GMAT registration
One full Manhattan GMAT course
4-hour consultation with Stacy Blackman Co.

  • Second Price:

GMAT registration subsidy ($150)
One full Manhattan GMAT course
1-hour consultation with Stacy Blackman Co.

  • Third Price:

GMAT registration subsidy ($50)
One full Manhattan GMAT course
1-hour consultation with Stacy Blackman Co.

  • Fourth Price:

GMAT registration subsidy ($50)
One full Manhattan GMAT course

  • Fifth Price:

One full Manhattan GMAT course.
[PS] Beat The GMAT and sponsors might change some details @ scholarship so please refer to the link provided at the title.
Check for updates here: http://www.beatthegmat.com/scholarship/
Thank you.

Tribute to my PhD blog list and other bloggers.

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[PS in the beginning]: [I had written this article couple of months back sometime before the Christmas but couldn’t post it.]

Earlier, I had kept a list of the blogs I had read first, and I used to call it my PhD blog list. Or to be precise “the blog I have done PhD in”. I removed the list some time back. Therefore this is a tributary article for other bloggers and the bloggers of my PhD bloglist.

I have been a silent observer. I like reading blogs. And I can claim that I have read around hundred blogs thouroughly. Yes you heard it right!
You name it & I know it.
Haa haa! I lived vicarious life. I enjoyed reading others blogs celebrated with their joy and felt sorry in their grief. But I rarely posted a comment anywhere. I never sort of did marketing of my blog as of now ( I think I ll start doing it from now 😉

Though not any of these I have listed below met me personally, I find them very close to my heart. Some of them are my good online buddies and some of them don’t even know me. But they are inspiration. They are my Heroes.

Eric’s Beat the GMAT

The ultimate blog I read was Beat the GMAT.

I learned from Eric how the concept of blogging can be so helpful and yet friutful.

As you might be knowing that my (this) blog is an inspiration from his blog.

Eric had meticulously studied and beated the beast called GMAT. He kept his daily journal about his GMAT preparation and made a blog simultaneously. (You will find his day to day progress report their.) He was the first blogger who made a mark. Believe me, I Read Eric’s blog once & I never asked a single query on any online forums.

I don’t have to tell you that it’s the superhit blog in GMAT industry. Also the blog was the foundation of the beat the GMAT Forums website which is also quite popular in the industry.

Sawmya’s Simba Rulez

Secondly I followed Sowmya’s blog. Her blog especially her marathon series about the International MBA [ a six parts article related to applying to US MBA colleges ] was real eye opener for me. I had many myths related to the procedure and the way application goes her articles not only cleared the myths but also gave me a gift. A wonderful gift, pagalguy.com 🙂 I started visiting the site because the articles belong to pagalguy.com. I discovered the bulletin forum is huge. Not that I was not aware of the site but I knew it was about Indian MBA.

Simplifying Insanity Now new location in the thread format

Thirdly Of course pagalguy himself; Name is All-win Agnel. When I started visiting the forums I instantly fall in love with it. and someday I encounter his posts on the forum. ///words of wisdom with some naughty flavour///. I was mesmorised when I read his signature.

CREATE LIKE GOD || WORK LIKE SLAVE || COMMAND LIKE KING.

I have some of his truly inspirational posts that I actually had taken the print outs of. Posts are sticked on my bill board. He has really cool articles in his blog; he’s not a great blogger though he inspires many. Oh by the way did I tell you people call him an angel.

He now shifted his blogging business to a thread called Life at Wharton: Pagalguy Reports. No wonder I am regular reader there.

———————————————————————————————-

It was when I was at the peak of “blogs reading mania” and I found urge to start my own blog. This blog is the product of the same. I got a blog now what? I took inspiration from many bloggers. The first blog was of BritChick MBA. It’s all comprehensive blog content with two-three years of struggle of making into to ranked b-school. It’s a sleek ride reading all archives how ol’ lady made it to big W. My reason for subscribing her blog was I wanted to ask her a stupid question whether writing in British English in AWA section of GMAT is OK. which I never asked 😀 Helen taught me many things indirectly. all these fancy add-ons which are and were on blog was an inspiration. Oh yeah! haloscan, ad sense, counter, right column links and everything. She indirectly taught me how to do blogging. Introduced to me new concepts like bloglines dilicious etc.

These guys deserve at least one exclusive article in my blog; don’t you think?

Iday’s etc & etc.

Interesting thing about this person and his blog is I added him in my PhD list before actually doing PhD on his blog. Yeah I was damn sure about this fellow. I followed him via his comments on other’s blogs and on MBA forums. they were straight smart sometimes humorous. We most of the times share similar views. And many times it happened that I couldn’t post a reply to certain topic on the forums since he already replied the same.

His blog has become very popular now. And the best part is he updates it regularly. I think his blog is the only active blog in my list.

One article for them tsk tsk but I am not sure whether any of these people visit my blog. or ever visited my blog.

Yeah but you gotta keep on walkin’.

How to Approach the GMAT

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A beginner’s guide to GMAT Materials:

The first thing any MBA aspirant should do is visit official MBA/GMAT site …spend some 2-3 hours there. (or even 2-3 days!) & read as much as you can. The information published there is unbiased, genuine, authentic, eye-opener & myth-breaker.

Then you should download a sim CAT GMAT test available there: name is GMAT Prep; it’s of ~25MB size.

The site mba.com will help you understand: what’s GMAT in general terms, its significance, its structure and the way company conducts the test worldwide.

(I will not go into GMAT structure in detail since that’s not the purpose of this article. Let’s focus on resources/study materials for GMAT! )

You’ll obviously need some books to prepare for GMAT. GMAC, the organisation that sets GMAT test, published three books recently, known as official guides.

They are:  (Follow the link to read reviews about these books)

  1. The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 11th Edition
  2. The Official Guide for GMAT Verbal Review
  3. The Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review

they are nicknamed as orange, purple and green guides respectively. (Note that the article first published in early 2007/late 2006; today OG 12th edition & 2nd edition of Verbal & Math guides are available You can check the detailed review in my GMAT books review page.)
Official guide 11th edition is THE book you should start with and end your preparation.

You should trust these guides along with GMATPrep software (mentioned in 2nd para).

Although these guides and a simulation software for CAT (computer adaptive test) are fantastic for the practice problems, they don’t provide study strategies…

In short: when it comes to problems solving in practice sessions, nothing beats above mentioned materials. But for strategies and tactics (read shortcuts! ) you need to look for some extra materials.

Other books I would recommend:

(I’ll write an article exclusively for recommended books some time soon.) By the way, these books offer good strategies to attack GMAT; they’ll show you how to approach each section and each problem individually.

But then for taking the test in one go you need to have a patience, faith and stamina. & for that, you need to take as many GMAT simulation tests/ CATs as possible.

[Note: Do not rush and sign up for just any sim CATs available on would wide web.]

Following are the GMAT prep companies you should trust: Reason : they have done enough research to come near to the real GMAT test… (still they are not as near as GMAT Prep or POWER Prep)

[Note that I am not talking about GMAT coaching institutes but the online resources for practice tests ]

  • mba.com (nearest possible)
  • manhattangmat.com (?near? quant tough)
  • 800score.com (easier)
  • kaptest.com (tough)
  • pricetonreview.com (neutral)

They offer good Sim GMAT tests.

Note that I have not mentioned about other books or other sites for practice tests which simplymeans they are NOT worth your time & money. Caution: This has exception of Veritas Prep. I haven’t had chance to review their products.

Now let’s have some non-brand materials,

Materials those are freely available on cyberspace and have no copyright issues.

BeattheGMAT’s flashcard (best flashcards you could get )

Grammar Notes:

Sahil’s Grammar Notes
Spidey’s Sentence Correction Notes & some more docs such as Rajat-nda’s notes.

You will get above documents anywhere online, just search around on GMAT related forums. The reason why I am so selective in mentioning about the resources is, people just take any darn test or soft copies of books available on internet just to end up in pracitsing non-GMAT questions.

Therefore I am with trusted and reputable resources. I insist…

DONT WASTE YOUR TIME IN STUDYING AND PRACTISING WRONG SETS OF PROBLEMS.

…still if you want more practice problems then download thousand series by scoretop

  • 1000 SC
  • 1000 CR
  • 3000 RC

Again, these documents are available freely everywhere on internet. Note that documents do not have explanations to the problems. You will have to join some GMAT realated online forums to discuss those problems. I am not pro-1000 series doc as such but I feel these documents are one of a kind. You’ll never get such a great no. of questions compiled in a single document and that too absolutely free!

[OK! After some time getting into GMAT prepeparation/studying environment, you should start realising the easy methods to solve the problems, you should be able to discover some shortcuts. Key is you should examine the strategies that are discussed in prep books and use them according to your needs & study-style.] If you see these signs you know that you’re going in the right direction. All the best 🙂

Post GMAT course for getting admission into MBA programs

While prepping for GMAT you should also be aware of the b-schools you want to apply. You must have a long term plan & You should do some research on the b-schools that suits your long term goal.

For such informations you have b-schools’ own web-sites which give all information about MBA programs you desire/along with plenty of other good sites:

Dave’s MBA Journey

Hjort’s b-school corner from GMAT Club Forums :

There are MBA admission consultants, ready to give you free advice & assessment. Check them out!

Accepted.com

ClearAdmit

Stacy Blackman Co. blog

Above blogs update several times a week; keep tab on all these site & be informed. I think that’s enough for now. Feel free to comment. & yes, subscribe, spread the word! for world peace!
PS: If you like this article, you might like to take a look at this one too: GMAT in a month: strategy.

BeatTheGMAT! [part II] the donations

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[from part I]
Please note that I do not represent beattheGMAT. I am NOT on the board there (…not an admin nor one of the moderators)
I am merely a member of the site and a well wisher. 🙂

Eric, has been very generous, full of positive energy and very enthusiastic about the GMAT in all. More than a year ago he started his GMAT preparation and kept a journal during his preparation. The blog he published is about beating the GMAT in eighty days. After his blogs success, last year he declared two scholarships to GMAT aspirants from the money he earned through his blog.

To-day he runs GMAT forums called beattheGMAT! He’s raising the donation for the scholarship his site offer (check part One) . And this year the scholarships are going to be much bigger and wider. The donation you make would help fund monthly mini scholarships along with the two mega annual scholarships (that are happening in spring) .

Now you all lazy bumbs out there stop reading and start moving. Go to your paypal account and make a donation. Every penny you donate, be it $10 or $1,000 makes difference.

Thankyou.

Lets beat the GMAT!

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This is post is just let you know I have started my GMAT preparation. Unlike Eric I wont publish my day to day log here on my blog; I know nothing can beat his blog whn it comes to GMAT study and strategy. ( though I might start GMAT lessons or something like that here on blog….) But I have started a thread called ‘lets beat the GMAT‘ on http://www.beatthegmat.com forums. There I would post my day to day study plan and my progress. …might help you if you want to see how a plan could work.

If you want a specific plan for yourself just hit the thread and tell me your requirement I will try to make one for you too.

When I started this blog I was not preparing for GMAT and I been saying this from my first post that I would be taking the test in Feb 2007. Last year before starting this blog I was almost finished with my preparation just to realise that I needed a passport to take the test.

I applied for one and today its in my pocket. I am all ready to prepare and take the test.

Lets beat the GMAT!

BeatTheGMAT! [part I] the scholarships

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There are so many GMAT preparation websites. Most of them provide quality content. And then threes are some fake websites. Lets not talk about those sites. Lets assume all renowned GMAT preparation sites and forums are genuine and provide quality content.

Among them,

· there are some sites who charge $$ to their prospective clients/ students/ GMAT aspirants/ members for the so called premium content they provide.

· Then, there are some semi-free websites who provide mediocre content to their general members and premium quality content to their ^VIP^ members.

· Then, there are some sites that are absolutely free. They share everything; all content / material with their members.

· And finally, there are some sites who provide not only all content/ material free of cost but they also offer $$ to their members.

Wait wait wait!. Does this fourth category really exist?

If yes then I am in!!

Yeah! Dig more and you’ll find that there are no such sites present on the world wide web except one…the name is beattheGMAT!

Yeah! You heard it right. Its www.beattheGMAT.com

BeattheGMAT! Offers monthly $mini-scholarship$$ and two mega yearly scholarships to GMAT aspirants who are members of the site.

So register now!

TO BE CONTINUE…

I am back!

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some changes in the blog.
I think My blog has come to the (st)age where I should provide a search option.
so I am removing bussiness week online search to my blog search.
this would help you finding archives and many other key words you look for.
Also I upgrade my blog to beta(?) (is it still beta?)… blogger from google.
I was afraid that I’ ll have to do all html work once again so i bit-of postponing this unavoidable upgrade.
now I could safely upgrade it.
Just wanna make sure that rss feed code is the same or changed….
I ll use the new beta-features in this blog
the labels i can think of right now are:
My reaserch den
refernece posts
Editors choice
…..
& many more i wont reveal… yes
there’s lots of interesting stuff coming your way in coming months so stay tuned.
Now about some GMAT>>
I think I wont take a break from studying…. will finish with my GMAT once & for all.
right now I have not planned anything specific….
I might start solving 1000SC problems and publish the solutions here
at http://thousandsc.blogspot.com/
by the way there’s one more blogger , also started solving 1000SC. He has published a new blog now
so you guys can have a look.
OK.
time to go & check more resource.
bbye.