Tag Archives: forums

New GMAT official guide 12th edtion soon to be released

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Though it may not be the breaking news to all of you who keep up-to-date information about the GMAT and the happenings; the new edition of the famous GMAT guide, the official guide aka the bible of GMAT preparation will soon be out in the stores. Rumours were OG 12 will be available by the end of 2008. & as usuual it was expected to delay the publication by 2/3 months.

Now (?) the releasing date is officially disclosed and confirmed:
The official guide to GMAT review, 12th edition will be released in March 2009 (23rd of March to be precise). The other two official guides of GMAT, verbal and quantitative review will be released -shortly- after the distribution of OG 12th edition begins.

Although it had the press release some 2/3 months ago I somehow missed to write a post about it. Though I must have given some hints in the forums, I forgot to inform our Forums…
So most of you currently preparing for GMAT but have not yet booked the date for the test would wonder as to wait to new books or just to go ahead with earlier official materials…
Yes, thats the geniene question. And answer is not easy for such situation…
The ideal answer to the question: “when should you take the GMAT?” is “when you’re ready”.
If you’re currently in middle of your prep or more (ie. almost over with your preparation)  I presume by the time new edition of OG would come you should be completely ready for GMAT and thus in this scenario it’s not the good idea to wait OG 12. But if you’ve just started googling for GMAT or looking for GMAT study materials haven’t spend too much in books etc, and you don’t have a b-school application deadline coming, you can think of delaying your GMAT plans.
In a way so that you could give justice to new book, say at least a month after you buy 12th edition.
Actually I am so tempted to write more, more about OG & its credibility. But I’d rather direct you to the GMAT forum and ask you to search-n-seek.

B-school buzz e-book Free grabs

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While reading an e-book offline about the survey at b-schools, I realised that Pagalguy.com also offered its members the gold membership at vault.com
You can avail this offer at Vault’s Indian site: http://www.vault.co.in/pagalguy.com
& for those who are completely confused by reading above two line, & for all those lazy bumps who don’t know where to get this e-book: go to the thread & check out the e-book, absolutely free.
Wanna know, What’s it like at a top-20 International B-school? –
Presenting you Vault/Pagalguy business school buzz book!!
It’s a shareware ebook so if you’re not a member of pagalguy, forums don’t worry much! I’ll soon make it available to members of Beat The GMAT forums, which I think has pretty strong base of its prospective readers.
The e-book is an exclusive survey conducted by Vault in association with pagalguy.com.
Tthe survey covers
Admission
Academics
Employment perspective
Quality of life
Social life (beyond b-school)
& answers of the representatives from respective schools.
I think I couldn’t have grabbed so much visiting the schools personally. I don’t discourage visiting the campus but sure this “book” comes handy before you take your final decision about b-schools.
Schools include;
1. Columbia
2. Harvard
3. Stern
4. Kellogg
5. Thunderbird
6. Berkely Haas
7. UCLA Anderson
8. Chicago
9. Wharton
10. USC Marshall
11. Darden
12. Toronto
13. Ivey (Ontario)
14. HEC France
15. INSEAD
16. Cranfield
17. LBS
18. Manchester
19. Oxford (Said)
These are undoubtedly the top b-schools of North America & Europe region.

mayonnai5e’s Errors & GMAT lessons learned:blog in threaded format

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So what I am reading in my spare time these days?

mayonnai5e started his GMAT preparation on Beat the GMAT forums when I was on my Biiiiiiiiiiig-vacation. Therefore I couldn’t track his progress and so the thread, closely. Still I remember, I had put some comments whenever I saw his my blog errors and lessons learned thread. He, very meticulously wrote his GMAT progress “mistakes done n lessons learned” and end up producing some new strategies to attack GMAT test! Like Eric, he too started writing his daily progress about his ‘GMAT studies, tests taken, obstacles faced and new strategies adopted

One of the advantage of writing your GMAT test preparation progress in thread format over the blog is you make it more interactive! You can invite others to share their similar experience or solve your troubles. Mayonnai5e had Eric and Stacey K. with him on his GMAT journey.
Check out the whole thread (especially last few pages) and you’ll find some cool tips and analysis from Stacey K.
Stacey Koprince is one of the eminent GMAT teacher from Manhattan GMAT and resident expert at Beat the GMAT forums. (You can check out the detail profile of Stacey Koprince at manhattan.com)

BusinessWeek Forums made open for public

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I may be quite late in finding this out but at least for me it’s ^the news^.
BusinessWeek Forums is now made open for all.
It’s the “CLASSIC” and one of the oldest & perhaps the largest and reputed online forums for related to MBA preparation and admissions.
Only problem with BusinessWeek Forum compared with other online forums was, it was only for its members. That means no guests were allowed see the content and the topic discussions of the forums. Today when I checked the site after almost an era, I could roam around without logging in!
Yes, that I think is significant move from BusinessWeek. They were actually stopping many of its prospective members by having “members only forum”. Many applicants still rely only on Google, BusinessWeek and of course, Webdesign499 through this site https://www.webdesign499.com/want-to-better-your-website-performance-read-these-top-seo-tips/.
It’s a welcome move from BW online!

Do you Aim-WSC (?)

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Hi there,
Check this out, haahaa
I just changed the title of this blog. (I merged all my blogs now)
Do you Aim-WSC?
It’s the name I chose for myself in some GMAT and MBA related forums couple of years ago and now it’s almost became a synonym for me… though I go by Johny Cage, my identity as aim-wsc is more popular than my name. They’ve nicknamed me as “aim” and now I really check the sentence twice whenever I see that word…Many of my phone calls I answer these days had to attend by aim-wsc and not by Pranav Amrute.
Heck! People actually discussed about my username on “forum trivia” thread!
Aim-wsc has a great potential to grow further in future! (but now I dont endorse that brand)
Watch this space as I’ll be writing more here from now. And make a brand as aim-wsc :mrgreen:
I have been doing research on b-schools since ages; and when I joined these online forums, I had shortlisted MBA programs from three top b-schools: Wharton, Stanford, Columbia. Today, though I have chucked the thought of applying to Stanford, ( as I realised that it’s not my kind of school and I dont fit in that MBA program.) , it is still there in my name.
I am loser yet I am aiming high. Do you too aim higher?
Do you Aim-WSC?
If you do, join the squad!
Check out the Google friends connect in the sidebar, & sign up.

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!

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!