4 months have been by and…

my life is pretty much in the same position as it was one year ago, studying for the GMAT… This exam came directly from hell to delay my ambitions… I sometimes feel bad for putting us behind. BV(my husband) has waited for me since we want to make the MBA together.

In my pharmaceutical degree, I have learned the definition of insanity. In general terms, insanity is when you repeat the same actions for a period of time and expect different results. Face to this , I had to change something about my study approach. I decided to take classes.

I hope this will work. Not only because they are expensive (half of my salary for 8 classes…) but also because I have tried every studying methods.

Darn GMAT!

SA

After thinking a while…

…I decided that put my hands back on the GMAT was the best to do. Only I now how hard was for me to get back to the study, a step that I thought I had finalized. Sometimes I find myself wondering why I wasn’t good enough to attend in INSEAD. While I was on vacations, this subject crossed my mind a few times. I tried to overcome the same old feelling that every only child, like myself, has: good or bad, I had something to do with it. But then I asked myself: Isn’t this true? Isn’t my job to influence, not controlling, the step I want to take? And, in my perpective, not having a 70% on both sections of the GMAT was a strong reason for not being accepted. Havind this diagnostic, I must improve my grade even more by showing a balaced GMAT.

 SA

After the ding from INSEAD…

… I read the email a dozen of times. My aspirations to transform 2008 in the best year ever disappeared at 13h30 (in Portugal). At the time I was having lunch with some clients. By the time Bruno called me, I picked up and I just remembered hear : ” Can you talk? It isn’t very good news…” I felt my heart stopping and I answered : ” It’s ok, I call you later.”

When I arrived home, I read the final decision from INSEAD. INSEAD didn’t point out a specific aspect for me to improve. I guess that it wasn’t the right time for me.

 It’s time to reorganize and adjust. And, of course, to go on vacations.

SA 

Nothing yet…

It is the final day of the interview invitation and I didn’t receive nothing yet… I confess that my confidence is about to go under water. I am checking my e-mail constantly in order to receive anything, whether  good or bad news. I can’t concentrate on my job neither on my schedule.

This day never ends…

SA

Hermes House Band – Que Sera Sera

“Your Application Is Currently Under Evaluation”

This means that, as we read this, someone at INSEAD might be looking over my application in order to discover who I am. I am a little anxious to get this over with… My biggest anxiety comes from the fact that I have no connection with the Admissions Commitee. As I already mencioned, my work/life is about talking with people, see their reaction and read their body language. In here, I am in a dark room with no visibility or predictability.

As my mom always told me: “que será, será “…

Thriller – Michael Jackson, 1983

I am in the first final stage of the Pharmaceutical Industry. Currently I am stuck with work up to my eye balls. The end of the first semester is approaching and it is important to achieve the sales budget.

Meanwhile INSEAD has informed me that my apllication is complete and it will be evaluated for the round 2 of the January Intake. I am confident that the result will be positive and 2008 will be the best of my life.

Fingers crossed…

Until then, I leave you with the best music clip ever. I sometimes feel this way.

SA

Radiohead – Fake Plastic Trees

Second Attempt

I am writing live from Azores! It’s part of my job to travel to Azores once a month. For the ones who do not know, Azores is a nine islands Portuguese archipelago in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. I am now in Pico island, where the highest portuguese montain is.

Back to the GMAT. For my second attempt I had to improve my studying methods in order to achieve a grade that would allow me to apply to the MBA. So, I put behind the Kaplan and I order some new materials:

• GMAT review – the official guide, Math, verbal and general.

These books are from the GMAC (Graduate Management Admission Council) so they are very good

• Manhanttan gmat

You can train on-line its exercises and tests. It is harder than most of the questions that appear on the GMAT but it gives you some hard training.

• 800 score

I bought this because I had some troubles in managing my time. This site has a “pacemaker” so you can do a good management of your exam time.

Although these studying materials have helped me, the most substantial  improvement was simulating the exam day. These modifications have made my grade increase by 100 points. But, still, I was not relaxed. So, I made a third and final attempt. Until then.

SA

First Attempt

My first fight against the GMAT began when I was searching for information. As most of you do, I started to be curious about all kind of net information, such as personnal blogs, Gmat tips and mba sites. I was confronted with tons of opinions, advices and studying materials and I didn’t possess any knowledge to select which one was the most accurate.

So, I decided to take the GMAT in order to see what this net fuss was all about. To this first attempt I bought only the Kaplan because it was the only GMAT book available in Portugal. My feeling after read the Kaplan was that the GMAT was all about tricks and not knowledge.

 Be carefull about this book and its software: First, the book is too much simple in explaining how to do the math section, it is not all about tricks; second, the english section its not real compared with that from the GMAT exam, although there are a few exercises from past GMATs; third, their algorithm its too harsh so you might feel frustated by doing the Kaplan exams.

There are two advantages in the Kaplan: The introduction to the GMAT and the AWA section is very very good.

Off course, in my first attempt I got a grade too embarrasing to put it in here. But, as I mentioned before, my first attempt was not about the grade. Some things which seem unrelevant but are important in the GMAT day:

1. When you first arrive, you will sign a responsibility term and you talk about GMAT rules with the person who is watching the GMAT.
2. You put your things in a locker
3. You will do the GMAT with other people around you.
4. You will be asked to put a sound protecter in your hears
5. You will be writing in a plastic paper and with a specific pen.
6. You will be watched every single minute by a surveillance camera.
7. If you need any help, raise your hand.

All this situation around the GMAT exam could affect your concentration. The more you prepare yourself for this day, the more you will be focused in getting a good grade. If possible, buy plastic paper, specific pen, hear plugs so you can imagine what that day will be like.

Next, what I did in order to improve my grade by 100 points. Until then.

SA

The GMAT monster

First of all, an encourgement word for the portuguese people who are beginning to study for the GMAT: we are not ready for this, we do not have a similar test in your educational sistem (nós não estamos preparados para isto, nós não temos um teste como este no nosso sistema de educação). Admitting this is the first step for the studying involvement because, boy, you need a lot of studying…

For the ones who did not know, the Gmat begins with two essays (AWA-Analytical Writting Assessment) with 30 minutes to complete each one.

The first one is about analysing an argument. Mostly, the argument is about a business point of view or marketing strategy. The most important think to do is to identify the flaws and write them in to structurize your argumentative AWA. To begin writing, practice on standard introductional phrases like : “The writer concludes that… (put the conclusion here). However, the author relies on assumptions for which there is no clear evidence. First, a author assumes that…The argument would be strengthened if the writer provided evidence that…”. For me, this was the most easy AWA because your argument will be evalueted by a computer, so all you have to do is avoid the mistakes and get it well structured.

The second AWA is about analyzing an issue. Usually it is one or two generic phrases like : “The best education is involving students and teachers in a classroom discussion”. Again, the best thing is structurizing your AWA by writing things down. This issue AWA requires a knowledge and domain of your ability to express your thoughts. I practiced this at home by doing an overall of 10 essays.

And now you can relax for 10 minutes… which seem like 5… From my experience, I tryed to switch off the AWAs (sometimes you continue to think what you should have written) and switch on the math.

Here it comes, 75 minutes for 37 questions… This part has always been my best one because the problems are really challenging. To better illustrate this part, I give you an example: What is the value of x when… 

• x=2? Too much easy, right, let’s move on
• x=square root of 2? Still, to much easy…
• xsquare-4x+4=0? All right, this will be equal to (x-2)(x-2) so, x=2. Let’s do it a bit more hard!
• x^y=y^x, when x and y are primes? Sweet!!

x = 2 because it is the only possible solution. Get it? The concepts are the basics but Gmat twists the questions to make them harder. So, make notes about areas, perimeters, quadratic equations and do a lot of trainning. A well management of your time is the key.

And another break of 10 minutes…at this point, you might feel that it’s time to call the day off…Bring a chocolate and switch your mind to the verbal. Keep it going.

The final stage is 75 minutes to 41 questions of verbal. As with math, the trick is practice. You may feel that Critical Reasoning and Sentence Correction are the hardest ones. But, as with math, they twist things around. Example of sentence correction, with the same mistake (subject-verb agreement)

• The dog are friendly.  This does not take too much effort…Move on.
• The dog, which was one of two puppies rescued from the fire, are friendly.   The mistake is harder to see..
• Two puppies were rescued from the fire but neither of them are friendly.  “Neither of them “is singular and are is plural.

As you can see, beating the time is harder than beating the difficulty of the exam. And this is the true monster. 

Next, my first attempt experience. Until then.

SA