I'm taking the GMAT tomorrow at 2pm!!!!  Lord, you are my only hope.  Last year  I know I rushed myself into taking the official GMAT by watching lectures online from Manhattan GMAT, and not studying everyday or practicing all the problems.

This time I moved past watching lectures, especially since I no longer have access to them (that's how I long I've been "studying" for the GMAT), and this time I focused a lot more time on Verbal and even completed all the questions on the Official Guide and watched all the video explanations. I'm hoping that the 630 on the MGMAT test and 660 on the Official GMAT Prep software will land me a score in the 660 range.  But I can only get this score with God as my strength.  I can't say I'm done with this process until I know my score, but I've learned so much about myself through this journey.  I've learned that I need to exercise my brain like I exercise my body, and as I do I'll get stronger and stronger.  Now that I am running almost 4 days a week I notice I can run a lot faster for a longer period of time.  I know that if I keep studying and learning new things, I can become a wiser and smarter man than I was in college.

I finished my practice test and scored a 660!  Granted, I recognize some of the reading comprehension I'm really proud of this score.  Quant:  46 (71 percentile) and Verbal: 35 (81 percentile)

Today I take my last practice exam before I take the official gmat in 5 days.  Even though I know I need more time to study, practice and and get help I feel as if this is going to be the last time I take the GMAT.  I'm going to allow myself one more try by end of Summer in case I don't get the score I want, but now seems like the best time to get this test over with.

This has been a humbling experience.  Getting a good score is not easy for me, even though I've spent so many hours prating problems over the years.  It's humbling to apply and interview to business schools where they'll accept or reject me.  

I've been trying to work out and sleep more so that my mind can be as sharp as possible.  And just like the little muscle I've gained, I realize how the brain is a muscle that continually needs to be strengthened by giving myself mental challenges everyday like studying the GMAT or learning something new through a book or business article.  I feel like studying for the GMAT has helped jump start my brain to start thinking academically again and become more of a critical thinker.  I think that's what the GMAT is really testing.  They want to know if David Synn can keep up studies as he reenters a learning institution, all while managing a full time job and taking care of his family, who by the way is only comprised of two people at the moment. I know I can do this, and hope to get at least a 650 on the test.  I'm giving myself a number, and to prove I can do it I need to get a 650 on this practice test, where I expect to seem some repeat questions from when I took these practice exams last year. 

I end in a prayer to my Lord, Savior, Helper,  Creator, Master, and friend.  Lord, you know how weak I am and how little I can be.  God help me now and on Thursday to do well on this test. Only you can make my mind work and only you can make me click the right buttons.  I'm just part of your never ending love story, so please use me to overcome this obstacle, because I know I can't do this by myself.  May my efforts be pleasing to you as I put all my hope in you.  Thank you that no matter what happens, you love me the same and will one day come to take me to spend eternity with you.  How can I not be happy while I live out my time on earth, in preparation for eternal life with you.   Thank you for Joann, please always keep her by your side as you continue to form her path to you.  She a is lovely doe and I thank you for joining our paths on earth to follow you, even though our paths are a little bit different.  I know that this only makes sense to you, and I'm so glad how omniscient you are.  

I'm officially taking the official GMAT in one week. Next Thursday as a matter of fact.

For now, I'm working on neutralizing my weaknesses.

Today the lesson is for sentence correction. 

1) Identify subject verb agreement
2) prounouns - correct verbs?  clear antecedent?
3) comparisons - parallel markers
4) modifiers
5) meaning

I took a practice test last Sunday and I got a 630 (42 Quant 57% /  34 Verbal 69%), which is a somewhat decent improvement after my streak of getting 580 in different CAT exams AND the official exam.

Kind of bummed because I wanted to get at least a 650 and then sign up to take the GMAT in two weeks from Saturday 4/13.  I simply ran out of time during both the Quant and Verbal sections.

I need to guage my internal 2 minute clock, because I spent 4 and 5 minutes on certain Quant questions!  That really killed my score, because I couldn't even answer the last question.  NO WHEN TO GUESS AND MOVE ON DAVID!!!!  

I realize that I need to study more around number properties, square roots, combinatorics, and so on.

On the flip side, I think the 34 on Verbal or 69% percentile was the best I've scored so far.  If I can maintain and improve on Verbal and raise my Quant score, I should really be able to get a 650 on the official exam.   

On Data Sufficiency, the graphs are drawn to scale.  Use the graph paper to estimate lengths.  I spent 4 minutes on a problem, because I just couldn't give up.   MOVE ON!!!


For any set of consecutive integers with an odd number of terms, the sum of the integers is always a multiple of the number of terms. For example, the sum of 1, 2, and 3 (three consecutives -- an odd number) is 6, which is a multiple of 3. For any set of consecutive integers with an even number of terms, the sum of the integers is never a multiple of the number of terms. For example, the sum of 1, 2, 3, and 4 (four consecutives -- an even number) is 10, which is not a multiple of 4.

I finished all the data sufficiency and problem solving questions yesterday, which marks my completion of all the practice problem in the Official Guide.  This is the first time practicing all the questions, verbal and math, and I hope this will help improve my score, since my verbal score on the official gmat test was particularly bad.

Lord, I need you now and forever.  I'm putting myself out there to take this test again in hopes for a good score to get into a good school and provide for my family, and be an example for my kids.  I want them that it's always good to challenge yourself throughout your entire life, and that age is not a factor.  I feel late getting to this point of really wanting to go to business school, but I know the Lord can use me and this time for good. 

DS 142

Work on sentence correction during spare time.


Problem Solving is complete.  Slow down, be careful, attention to detail, mastery of algebra and exponents are crucial. 

Trying to finish up Quant so that I can take a practice test, having gone through all the questions in the review guide.   I already finished verbal, so hoping to finish quant really soon.

Quant:
I'm making the same stupid mistakes again.  I NEED TO ANSWER THE RIGHT QUESTION!!!!!!  Stop taking useless shortcuts, and take the extra seconds to write the units of measure to make sure I'm organized.   WRITE DOWN THE UOM that the question is asking for.

For long work (w = r x t) problems, its probably going to be easier to plug in the answer choices.   Use this strategy for Quant for the actual GMAT.

For long word problems, read the problem twice:
1) Try to get the gist of the problem and not read the math.  Pay attention to the words/situation.
-organize and make a table or chart

2) go back and investigate the math



PS 157, DS 140

Reading Comprehension:

For the "primary purpose of the passage" questions, don't default to pick answers that sound like "present evidence that resolves a contradiction.  more likely the answer will be challenge a widely accepted explanation.   The notes should be sufficient to answer the question.

If the question says "explicitly" that means the answer is in the passage.

Completed: ALL RC, ALL CR,  PS 125, DS 130

Reading Comprehension:

Skim the passage, but write notes for each paragraph.  Get the just and write down key words and trigger words.   Know where the detail is, but don't read them too carefully.

The first sentence and last sentence of a paragraph are probably the most important.

Critical Reasoning:  Boldfaced sentence questions:  Determine if both sentences are positive and negative.  Look at both of the bold parts, ignoring everything in between, an access their relationship that way. 


Completed: RC 133

Reading Comprehension:  Find a way to stay organized for passages that are long, boring, and complex.

- Take good notes.

Critical Reasoning:  Use more abbreviations and less words for deconstructing.

Completed: RC 119, CR 115,  DS 120,

Completed: DS 111, PS 108, CR 110, and did some more sentence correction work on Pronouns.


"remember that PRONOUN AMBIGUITY IS NOT AN ABSOLUTE RULE"