tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91889929156245202952024-03-19T02:56:34.869+08:00An Escape From RealityStudent. Work. Tennis. Football. Music. Movies. MBA. Fashion. The world.MRIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870837282693412150noreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9188992915624520295.post-62112722129271207482012-06-18T03:07:00.005+08:002012-06-18T03:08:33.028+08:00Fit for a King<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Where are all those pictures of me and my father?! I can’t seem to find a single on my laptop. Tons of me alone, several with my mom and I…but dad? It’s a shame – guess we have never relied on my mom to take a decent picture of my dad and me together.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am determined to find a picture of us together.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">HAPPY FATHER’S DAY DADDY!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s hard to sometimes put into words what you’d like to say to your dad. My father and I, we aren’t the expressive kind. We put ‘love’ at the end of emails but don’t generally say it to each other. It’s understood. We talk often – now that I’m done with university and have entered the corporate world, we will even be living under the same roof for the next two years, a big change from the last five where I only visited on alternate weekends.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He’s been a big part of my life. Being an only child, I’m adored, naturally, but its always been more than that. The protection, the advise, the understanding, the sacrifices, the support, the belief, the trust, the pride – a mixed package of both great and not-so-great qualities that I won’t list here. He’s not perfect. No one is. But I wouldn’t want it any other way – thank you daddy. For everything.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some day I will find my Prince, but my father will always be my King.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’ll end this with a few beautiful quotes:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">It is easier for a father to have children than for children to have a real father</em>. - Pope John XXIII</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father’s protection.</em> - Sigmund Freud</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he’s wrong</em>. – Charles Wadsworth</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A truly rich man is one who’s children run into his arms when his hands are empty.</em> – Unknown</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be like my daddy.</em> – Unknown</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The colors of the world may constantly change, but dad’s love remains the same.</em>- Shelly Bauzon</span></div>
</div>MRIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870837282693412150noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9188992915624520295.post-31724184172523498142012-05-26T22:46:00.000+08:002012-05-26T22:50:16.956+08:00The Broad Reality of the Altered Indian Mindset<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Firstly, thank you everyone for reading this blog over the past year and for your constant support! This week I started receiving emails about any help/advice I could offer with respect to each of your individual situations, and I hope my comments helped you out. It feels good knowing that I may have helped some people the way others have helped me.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Moving on, today's blog post addresses an important issue - the Indian mindset. No, this is not GMAT-related, so if that's what you're here for, then this is not the post for you. My dad has a habit of sending me around four to five articles a day from the Times of India, just to learn and keep in touch with whats happening back at home. And a couple of days ago, he sent me <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/Shining-India-swaggering-India/articleshow/13396930.cms?intenttarget=no" target="_blank">this article</a>, titled "Shining India, swaggering India".</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The title of the article as well as the opening sentence - Rage is the dominant emotion in India today - can be perhaps a little misleading. The article doesn't discuss rage and how to overcome it. Rather, the article addresses the Indian mentality of power, and how power is more abused than put to good use - and this is addressed right from the second line.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How many times do we speak of corrupt politicians and other people of authority? The following paragraph is spot on:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is to be noted that abusing power is not restricted to the celebs. Ordinary people abuse waiters, maids, security guards, small shop owners and others with similar professions. There is no civility in everyday conversations. I don't mean this to come off as arrogance, but to give an example, I use 'please' and 'thank you' pretty often. Shop owners and waiters are literally startled when that happens - and it even goes to the extreme where sometimes I am asked to pay more in shops as they think I'm a foreigner. All because I was polite. As the article says:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The really sad thing is that <b>people accept this </b>- people accept the fact that we Indians have different rules of treating people depending on who that is, something even the writer of the article noted:</span></div>
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</div>MRIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870837282693412150noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9188992915624520295.post-853607517999999082012-05-26T00:53:00.001+08:002012-05-26T00:54:24.818+08:00Clear Admit's School Snapshot Review: IESE Business School<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I downloaded Clear Admit's School Snapshot for IESE Business School a couple of days ago, and my initial impression was one regret. I don't know when these were made available, but I do know they weren't available when I was choosing my schools, and I wish they were.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A list of core courses, a brief description on the School's Faculty and Curriculum, as well as a report on the campus, student life, and social clubs. A detailed statistical representation on the admission trends for the School, including class profiles and post-MBA career tracks. Finally, procedures for application and financing the MBA. In short, literally <i>everything</i> you need to know about a School, its stance on business education, facilities offered, and admission and application statistics. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I was gathering information, I had to pour through the IESE website as well as other sites like Beat The GMAT, FT Global MBA Rankings and QS rankings for MBA universities. Clear Admit have just done the work for you in the School Snapshot series. I haven't downloaded any other School Snapshot, but based on this one, (and the fact that it's free, so what are you really losing?) I'd say its worth the download. </span></div>
</div>MRIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870837282693412150noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9188992915624520295.post-22606494707677676052012-05-20T10:16:00.000+08:002012-05-20T10:16:45.081+08:00GMAT Review: Part II - Tips<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Part II of the GMAT Review deals with tips for acing the GMAT - what to do, what not to do, based on what I've learnt and what I've read. See <a href="http://magicalmri.blogspot.com/2012/05/gmat-review-part-i-learning.html" target="_blank">Part I</a> for information on learning and strategy. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The following bits of information are resources and procedures I highly recommend in order to get a good score.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Create a study timeline. This should vary from person to person, as it depends on the areas of weakness or the areas you would like to target. Take a practice test to gauge your level, and go through the answers to find out the areas in which you are lacking. Most people are weaker in Verbal, so start with that. Devote a certain number of weeks for each section of the GMAT. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I suggest devoting approximately two hours a day per weekday and maybe four to five hours a day per weekend - this means that your entire prep should last around 3 months. </span></div>
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<u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Learn first, <i>then</i> attack the questions</span></u></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Read through the concepts presented, as well as the strategies put forward to help you tackle each type of question. Each concept is usually presented with an example. Work through these as you learn, so that you can help understand how they are used. Use the review questions in each strategy book to help you.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can download some free flashcards <a href="http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/free-gmat-prep-flashcards" target="_blank">here</a>. Or you can use Manhattan GMAT's flashcards, available for free with any purchase of MGMAT products. Or (and this is my advice), <i>make your own</i>. There is no better way to instill the concepts in your head than by writing it down. You can also make the flashcards in the format that would suit you the most. I made my 'flashcards' on PowerPoint, and you can find them here:</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bear in mind, however, to not start practicing questions from the Official Guide that address those concepts. Questions on the GMAT are never organised by concept, nor by topic, and practicing them in order will not help you one bit. You need to have all strategies and concepts in your head so that your mind learns how to switch from one to another; you need to learn how to switch from RC to CR, from stats to algebra, from SC to RC. I suggest learning and working through each strategy book, before then devoting all your time on the OGs. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are several available online, but my favorites are the ones found <a href="http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/gmat-error-log" target="_blank">here</a>. I downloaded them and updated them as I was working - yes they do slow you down as you have to update the log after every question, but they do help you in figuring out which areas you need to target and what your strengths and your weaknesses are. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There's no point in taking time off work or studies and concentrating solely on the GMAT for 12 hours a day. The test works to test your understanding and your ability to think, and <i>not</i> your memorization techniques. Try not to exceed 20 hours of GMAT-related study a week, and take one day off per week - one day where you don't even think about the GMAT. Your brain needs that break to work better.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Take one of the free practice tests available from GMAC on www.mba.com as a diagnostic before you start your prep. It will help gauge your level so you know where you stand and just how much you need to improve. Take the same test again after you have gone through the strategy books and worked through the review questions. There should be some sort of improvement - if not, its time to review those concepts. If you have improved, then dive into the OGs. Manhattan GMAT provides 6 full length practice tests, so use those as well; take the first after working with the OG for a couple of weeks. Just a note though - no practice test can be as beneficial to you as the ones provided by GMAC. Use your second practice test a couple of weeks before your real test, so you have the chance to take it more than once if you wish. Aim to take a total of 6-8 full length tests during the course of your study.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The biggest mistake I made was fixing my date before the start of my prep. I am one of those people who need a deadline looming over their heads to get working. Unfortunately, since I was living in a new country for an internship, I just did not have the discipline required to work day in and day out on the GMAT - I wanted to travel, really get to know the city and do all those touristy things, since I didn't know if I would ever make it there. Due to this distraction, I wasn't able to fully complete the OG; in fact I was just halfway through, and didn't even touch the OG Verbal and Quant books. So either book your date in advance and reschedule it if you haven't finished with your material, or else only schedule your test when you are sufficiently prepared and are confident of acing the test. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do not take any practice tests on the week of your real tests. Do not overwork with practice problems either. Ideally you should not work on the GMAT <i>at all</i> on the day before your test. If you are like me and need to have a look at the problems to get your brain ready to tackle the test, then do <i><b>one</b></i> problem in each area on the morning of the test - i.e. <i><b>one</b></i> question each for RC, CR, SC, PS, DS and IR. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To all those giving their tests soon, good luck! Feel free to ask me for anything you need. </span></div>
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</div>MRIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870837282693412150noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9188992915624520295.post-72903884832279547222012-05-17T13:36:00.000+08:002012-05-17T13:36:02.153+08:00GMAT Review: Part I - Learning<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A long overdue post, since I took the GMAT on 14th October 2012. But I was slightly ashamed of my just-acceptable score of 700, which was below the median accepted score for all the six schools I was applying to. Surprisingly, I wasn't the only one in this position, as during the month of October I spotted quite a few posts on BTG about retake stratgies for those already in the 700-800 range. I was annoyed at myself for being able to score upto 750 in practice, and that was probably the reason for the disappointment. Looking back (gotta love hindsight), it was silly of me to be ashamed - 90th percentile is still no easy feat, and I'm proud of myself. Now that I've moved on, I feel more comfortable talking about it, and hence, this blog post.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My advice for retakers, in case you're interested, is don't sweat it. It is true that schools will focus more on GMAT scores when deciding between two candidates or deciding the admission priority of the waitlisted applicants. But it is also true that once you reach a certain score (let's say 680), your GMAT is crossed off the AdCom's checklist and they're on to other aspects of your application. Everyone knows that there's a plus/minus of 30 points, so AdCom members are generally willing to give you the benefit of those extra points. It may also help to note that if they honestly hesistate on accepting you <em>solely</em> on the basis of your GMAT score, <strong>they will contact you</strong> and perhaps request you to retake the exam. In fact, I think one of my schools had a checkbox on the self-reporting scores page, where I had to tick whether I would retake the GMAT if I were asked.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When it comes to taking the GMAT, it's important to understand that you just cannot memorise your way through the test. That's not to say some have unsucceeded in doing so; in fact a fellow BTG forum user who apparently scored a 760 on the GMAT recently posted the following "I am in oil. Please advise schools for me." (He said a lot more, but I was too shocked after reading that first sentence that I didn't somehow want to read the rest). </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I like to believe one has truly only aced the GMAT if one continues to use the concepts learnt in reality. And for that reason, I cannot stress enough on learning <em>before</em> practicing. My strategies are now perfectly in place, and I also used the knowledge I gained and incorporated it into my essays, which I think definitely helped.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Several strategy books exist, and several good ones too. How do you pick? The following </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/store/books" target="_blank">post</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> helped me out. I used that list and several other forums, and after almost two weeks, finally chose the following (see my </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://magicalmri.blogspot.com/2011/06/cracking-gmat.html" target="_blank">blog post</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> on this topic):</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>The Official Guide for GMAT Review:</u><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This book is an absolute must for anyone taking the GMAT. From the makers of the test themselves, this has a zillion practice questions, all of them being genuine past questions, and hence really help you get an idea of the types of questions you will be dealing with on the actual test. This book also has some review, but I suggest skipping it, as it's really not that great.</span></div>
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<u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">GMAT Quantitative Review & GMAT Verbal Review:</span></u></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Again, these are practice books with genuine past questions, and while there are a couple of repetitions, most questions are different from the ones in the OG. Get this <i>only if you need more practice</i> after completing the OG. I made the mistake of ordering these early on, and really did not have the time to attack the questions here. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>Manhattan GMAT Preparation Guide - Number Properties:</u><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Great book. The book includes strategies for attacking problems which you have probably seen in O Levels (or equivalent) and hence just don't remember how to deal with them - that's how basic they are. As an engineering student, I've done math that is way harder than this, and end up using the calculator to perform such problems. Not on the GMAT! Totally worth the buy.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>Manhattan GMAT Preparation Guide - Word Translations:</u><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I found this book useful because it helps you to break down the questions into solvable pieces. Too often you get a question on the GMAT that is longwinded, and by the time you finish reading the question, you panic because you have no idea what you really have to do, or else you calculate the wrong value (which is also an answer choice, as the cheeky people in GMAC anticipate your mistakes). While this may not be a must-buy, it's worth it if you're out of touch with word problems. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>Powerscore Critical Reasoning Bible:</u><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was the first book I started with, and I loved it. It clearly approaches the different types of CR questions that will come up on the test - from an explanation on what the question is looking for, to strategies to find the right answer. Best book I bought, in my opinion. Highly recommended. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>Veritas Prep GMAT Reading Comprehension:</u><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a pretty decent book - the strategies barely made up 20 pages, after which it was practice questions. But one can't blame Veritas Prep for that - how on earth does one teach reading comprehension anyway? They do a pretty decent job of it. 4 stars.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 17px;"><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Manhattan GMAT Preparation Guide - Sentence Correction:</span></u></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This ties with the CR Bible for the best book. I'm looking to sell my GMAT books but I won't sell this one. It has everyone one needs to know about grammar and spotting the errors in a given sentence. Yes its a little longwinded, but how else can one cover all the possible grammatical errors that are tested? 100% recommended. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Part II of my GMAT Review will be out next week, where I'll discuss some tips on how I 'aced' (not really) the GMAT - what I learnt, what I didn't, and how I'd go about it if I were to do it all over again. Check back soon!</span><br />
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</div>MRIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870837282693412150noreply@blogger.com235tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9188992915624520295.post-32390403164516946552012-05-07T21:54:00.001+08:002012-05-07T21:54:54.998+08:00Item of the week: summer pants from MANGO<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f4cccc; font-family: inherit; font-weight: normal;"><i>A weekly fashion-related post, including must-haves, season bestsellers, what looks good, or what I recently purchased.</i></span></h4>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">With summer just around the corner, no one wants to be seen in dark colours, so check out this week's must-haves from MANGO! These summer trousers, <b>available in five sizzling shades</b>, just scream out style. </span></div>
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<a href="http://emilyjanesimkins.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/mango-trousers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://emilyjanesimkins.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/mango-trousers.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">No need to go for full pants - MANGO gives you the option to pick up capris too!</span><br />
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<a href="http://keepthebeat.mango.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/MANGO-PANTS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://keepthebeat.mango.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/MANGO-PANTS.jpg" width="350" /></span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">Cannot wait to finish my exams and pick up the green one. <b>On second thoughts, wouldn't mind that hat too.</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">Images:</span></div>
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</div>MRIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870837282693412150noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9188992915624520295.post-5793027154705895092012-05-07T18:25:00.001+08:002012-05-17T13:36:36.047+08:008 Life Updates<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><span style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">My New Year's Resolution (or my NYR as I like to call it) was
set just a couple of days ago - and that is to be more active on the social
networking front.</span><span style="font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">Silly, you may think. But networking is something I have
overlooked as often being meaningless and only for people with way too much
time on their hands. At least, that's what I think when I keep refreshing my
Facebook page in the hope that something interesting turns up. But over the
past couple of months, I have become more involved in LinkedIn and Twitter, and
I must say I'm enjoying the 'buzz'. </span><span style="font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">Chatting about sports with complete strangers is something I
used to previously wrinkle my nose at, but there's nothing more enjoyable than
sharing your views with people and having them share theirs. And its not just
restricted to football, its tennis, music, movies, engineering, business school,
applications, job hunting, just everything.</span><span style="font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">This NYR also means that my poor neglected blog will get some well-deserved
attention from me pretty soon. In fact, there is a whole list of things I'll
get to do again once I finish my undergraduate studies in LESS THAN A MONTH.
Terrifying times. </span><span style="font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">I’m currently in the midst of my final exams for my engineering
course – there’s a certain ring to it, I must admit. They say time flies when
you’re having fun, but I say time flies whether you’re having fun or not. Where
have the last three years gone?</span><span style="font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">This is not to say I hate my course, but my final year of
studies have been a little too difficult to handle, and there’s a large part of
me that’s thrilled that the ride is finally ending. Academic-wise, of course.
In social terms…well I barely had much of a social life in this final year. But
I will miss some people, my close friends, most of whom have plans to leave
Malaysia soon after graduation.</span><span style="font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">I’m taking a break from the highly strenuous exam preparation to
update my readers on…my life really. Good fortunes, tasks done, mistakes learnt
from – et al. So here you go, in no particular order:</span><span style="font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">1. MBA applications were
completed and submitted by the end of January. I’m not ashamed to admit it –
yes I shot for the moon with some of the schools I aimed for. It’s a tall order
to get into Harvard Business School when your Engineering undergraduate course
is already killing your brain cells one at a time. I applied to six schools,
and at the end, interviewed with and got accepted into IESE Business School,
Barcelona! It’s a Young Talent Program, where accepted students are allowed to
join the MBA course provided they complete a minimum of two years of work
experience. I’m SO thrilled about this – I was resigning myself at one point to
just forget about B-School apps and concentrate on job-hunting. Now I get to do
both!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">2. Job-hunting has been a
little less successful. I applied to a MILLION positions, no joke here, since
the application procedure literally just involves a cover letter, a resume, and
an online application form. I have been fortunate enough to receive interview
invites from Accenture, Bain & Company, Frost & Sullivan, and Theta
Service Partners – I think it’s obvious that I’m heading into consultancy eh?
Accenture and Frost have both put me on hold; Bain is a ding, while I got into
Theta. Still waiting to make a final decision though.</span><span style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">3. Goodbye five-year-old Dell
laptop, and hello Apple!! Yes, my birthday present from my parents arrived
three months late but it was worth it, as I write this post from my
spanking-new Macbook Pro. Still haven’t got the whole hang of it yet, but I’m
lovin’ it so far. If anyone has any software recommendations, bring it!</span><span style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">4. I will officially own a
Bachelors Honours Degree in Electronic & Computer Engineering in July 2012,
and I’ll officially be done with undergraduate academic as of May 31<sup>st</sup>,
2012. Our graduation is set for 7<sup>th</sup> July, and saying I’m looking
forward to it would be a major understatement.</span><span style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">5. Summer 2012 is the first
couple of months where I have no studies and no internship; the first summer in
a long time when I’ll literally have nothing to do. That said, my summer has
somehow turned out to be jam-packed. I head to Bangalore to visit my
grandmother for around three weeks in June; I head back to Kuala Lumpur to
attend my graduation, and straight up fly to Barcelona on the same night to
attend a week-long seminar where I get introduced to the School, the program,
other accepted students, and Spain in general. An added bonus in that I’m
flying Emirates – luxury awaits! Hallelujah!</span><span style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">6. Spent the year as the Public
Relations Officer for the Indian Cultural Society in my University. Good stuff,
I think. Enjoyed it to bits. Ended up strongly disliking a couple of people in
the process, who I’m slightly sorry to say have gone from “close friends” to
“people I used to know.” The strangest bit is that a large part of me doesn’t
care much about this change. If I don’t miss them, then they never should have
been part of my close friends, right?</span><span style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">7. “Shop ‘til you drop” has
been the motto I’ve been living on. I had a ridiculously large shopping spree
before my first semester results came out, and it turned out I was worried for
nothing, as my results were surprisingly great. I don’t expect that to happen
this semester, so I’ve started saving money for my India trip – its time to splurge
again. Zara/Mango/Padini/Vincci/SubZero/FOS, here I come.</span><span style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">8. My Final Year Project has
finally been submitted. My project involves building a job application portal,
which should manage students and staff for the entire Department of Electronic
& Electrical Engineering. Students undergo an optional industrial training
placement during the summer, and the portal is supposed to help them apply for
a job and satisfy all other assessment criteria. My portal is going to be
developed and hosted by IT Support, and is officially going to go live from the
next academic year! I'm so excited - my piece of work being used by all. It's
thrilling really. </span><span style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">Okay so I guess that’s about it. Told you I didn’t have much of
a social life.</span><span style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">In case you’re interested, my upcoming blog posts will most
probably address the following topics:</span><span style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">1. Post-examination bliss</span><span style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">2. A GMAT Review – I have had a
couple of people asking me to sum up my preparation, the resources I used, as
well as any tips or tricks I may have.</span><span style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #e4c6d5; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">Stay tuned!</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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</span></div>MRIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870837282693412150noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9188992915624520295.post-50528686972865605762012-01-10T15:37:00.000+08:002012-01-10T15:37:07.188+08:00Back Soon!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="color: #d9d2e9; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I haven't logged into blogger in ages. Preparing for my exams at the moment, the second last set of exams I will ever take in my undergraduate degree. It's a <b>huuuuge </b>deal.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="color: #d9d2e9; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I'll take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Happy New Year, and I'll be back in a couple of weeks with some real updates.</span></div>MRIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870837282693412150noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9188992915624520295.post-28432602314032584052011-09-30T03:29:00.000+08:002011-09-30T03:29:00.098+08:00BBC Video: Baby Animals<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">I found the following video as I was randomly spending time at work browsing through blogspot. Yes, you might argue that I should spend the time reviewing my GMAT, but there's only so much you can do before you take a break. <a href="http://getlite.blogspot.com/">Get Lite</a> posted this BBC video of baby animals, and it cheered me up to no end. So if you're stressed/depressed/just not having the best of days, check this out:</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
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</span></div></div><object width="640" height="472"><param name="movie" value="http://www.bbc.co.uk/emp/external/player.swf"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><param name="FlashVars" value="playlist=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ebbc%2Eco%2Euk%2Fiplayer%2Fplaylist%2Fp00k4m1z%2Fsuppress%5Fmasterbrand%2Fsuppress%5Frelated%5Fepisodes&config=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ebbc%2Eco%2Euk%2Femp%2Fiplayer%2Foffschedule%2Exml&config_settings_suppressRelatedLinks=true&config_settings_skin=black&config_settings_showFooter=true&"></param><embed src="http://www.bbc.co.uk/emp/external/player.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="472" FlashVars="playlist=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ebbc%2Eco%2Euk%2Fiplayer%2Fplaylist%2Fp00k4m1z%2Fsuppress%5Fmasterbrand%2Fsuppress%5Frelated%5Fepisodes&config=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ebbc%2Eco%2Euk%2Femp%2Fiplayer%2Foffschedule%2Exml&config_settings_suppressRelatedLinks=true&config_settings_skin=black&config_settings_showFooter=true&"></embed></object>MRIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870837282693412150noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9188992915624520295.post-80710659621391299502011-09-25T21:23:00.004+08:002012-05-07T15:23:26.499+08:00Manhattan GMAT Practice CAT 1<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc;">I've been terribly ill since yesterday, having a horrible cough and full body cramps. It sucks. I spent almost the whole day yesterday in bed, hugging my hot water bottle for dear life.</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">This morning, I felt fresh after 12 hours of sleep, and sat down (with my hot water bottle!) to take another GMAT practice test. For those who don't remember, my last two tests scores were as follows:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">GMATPrep 1 (before starting my prep): 600 (Q42,V27). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">VeritasPrep Free Practice Test 1: 620 (Q45,V31).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">And today, I took Manhattan GMAT Practice CAT 1: 690 (Q47,V37).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">So although 690 is well below my target score, I was mighty pleased with my result. I was steadily improving, in fact, my verbal score has drastically improved in the last 2-3 months, and I'm thrilled about that. While not much should be made about scores from companies apart from GMAC, I'm going to take it as a sign that I'm definitely getting better and better, as I try to crack that 700-score barrier.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">One thing I really like about Manhattan GMAT's practice test is the review they provide at the end of the test. From what I briefly saw for each question, they not only provide you with the question type, the topic focus, and the time taken to solve it, but also the difficulty level and the estimated percentage of students who have answered the question correctly. I think this is a great tool to gauge your level - all my mistakes were in questions with a difficulty level of 700 to 800, thereby showing just why I scored a 690.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">Exactly 2 weeks left till the big day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>MRIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870837282693412150noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9188992915624520295.post-22979368565684844902011-09-21T20:44:00.005+08:002012-01-25T20:40:44.516+08:00GMAT Update: I don't even know what week this is anymore<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB">I haven’t been here in a while. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB">It’s ridiculous just how hectic my life is, just when I need as much free time as I can get for the GMAT. I’ve spent the last few weeks visiting Cologne, Siegen, and Switzerland, each time meeting up with high school friends whom I haven’t seen for at least three years. It was amazing to know that the distance didn’t change a thing – no awkward silences, no feelings of let-down, it was all just wonderful and ended far too quickly in my opinion. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB">I was going to post last weekend, but then Liverpool lost to Tottenham in a 4-0 humiliation, and to make matters worse, Novak Djokovic suffered from a partial muscle rupture on his back, and had to retire from his match after writhing on the court in agony. Not a pretty sight. I then managed to break a wineglass in the kitchen, made a chicken curry without a key ingredient as I’d forgotten to buy it, and checked my email to find an unnecessarily rude message from a Professor at University giving me stick about my late arrival. All this gave me a major headache and I just couldn’t do anything else really. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB">This is officially my last week in Berlin. Next week I’m off to Paris, and will spend the weekend there before heading home. Sadly, my European adventures have come to an end. But I’ve had a brilliant 13 months, almost irreplaceable really, and I know I’ve met some people and seen some places that I’ll never forget in the years to come. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB">How can I concentrate on the GMAT when my time in Europe is coming to an end? It’s awful to have such expectations really. But I do try. I have finished all my strategy books, and it’s all OG from now on – practice, practice, and more practice. My scores are alright in the practice problems (as expected, RC being my least scoring section of the test, and SC the highest), but when it comes to taking a full length test, I tend to rush through, subconsciously panicking about the thought that I wont finish the test in time. I therefore end up with some very foolish errors, errors I would have never made had I more time. And I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">do</i> have more time – when I took a test last weekend, I finished the quant section with 20 minutes to spare, and the verbal section with 16 minutes to spare. That’s crazy; ideally I shouldn’t have more than five minutes left at the end of each section.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB">Dad’s coming to visit me this weekend (to take some of my luggage back more than anything else really, I really don’t know how I’ve managed to accumulate so many things over the past year), but I still hope to take another test. This time, I shall treat it as a sequence of practice problems so that I don’t panic. Fingers crossed my scores improve!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #ead1dc;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div></div>MRIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870837282693412150noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9188992915624520295.post-89567214562940805702011-08-19T04:33:00.003+08:002012-01-25T20:41:12.012+08:00GMAT Update: Week 7: Very Unproductive!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">So Novak Djokovic created history and became the only player to win five Masters Tournaments in a single season by winning in Montreal. I have absolutely no expectations from him now for this week’s tournament at Cincinnati. Hope he saves himself for the US Open that starts in a fortnight.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">Liverpool drew with Sunderland. I am bummed – and that’s putting it mildly. The first half was so brilliant, and the second half so awful. It’s only been one game though, 37 more to go!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">As far as the GMAT is concerned, i haven’t been able to do much this week. My mind has unfortunately been occupied by other stressful issues, and I’m sorry to say that I’ve therefore neglected the GMAT. I’ve finished part 1 of the book, which contains general strategies as well as an introduction to Data Sufficiency problems, and I’ve begun part 2, the advanced portion of the book. I’m finding it harder and harder as I progress, which makes sense as I’m now in the advanced bit. There are just so many numbers being thrown about that I find myself taking a deep breath, going back and reading the explanations again. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">I should be done with this by the end of next week at the very latest; I’m spending a three-day weekend in Cologne with one of my high school friends. I’m so looking forward to it. But that obviously means I won’t have time to work on the GMAT. I’m considering packing the book though; perhaps I could read through at the airport? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">Rather short update this week unfortunately!</span><o:p></o:p></span></div></div>MRIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870837282693412150noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9188992915624520295.post-54490271791263158612011-08-13T03:49:00.001+08:002011-08-13T03:50:01.201+08:00GMAT Update: Week 6 - MGMAT Number Properties<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc;">First of all, omigawd, <i>I’m in week 6?!</i> I opened my blog to see what week I was on, so that I would be able to title this post accordingly, and had a mini heart attack when I realized I was on week 6. Six weeks have passed since I began studying the GMAT. To put it another way, it took me six weeks to finish revising verbal strategies.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">I immediately opened the calendar tool on my computer (and waited for an agonizingly long minute before it finally popped up, I seriously need a new laptop) and counted the number of weeks remaining until 14<sup>th</sup> October – my big day. (No, I didn’t use my head to calculate the number of weeks; I physically counted them using the calendar. That’s what panic does to you.) I then breathed a sigh of relief; <i>I still had nine weeks</i>. All was well again.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">So anyway, to recap my sixth week of prep, I’m officially halfway through Manhattan GMAT’s Number Properties. As an engineer (or should I say, as an engineering student), I have done math way more complicated that what is asked on the GMAT, and at this point I haven’t been seriously tested by any information. My PowerPoint on quant contains just three slides so far. And that’s including the title page. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the quant section is going to be a walkover for me. In fact, it’ll be hard for me to get above 45. Not because I don’t know math, but because what is tested is so basic that I don’t know it and don’t bother learning it. (Does that make sense or am I coming off as a douche?) What I’m trying to say is that, the math in the GMAT doesn’t test your ability to work out complicated equations; it tests your ability to <i>analyze</i> the problem and find a solution <i>without too many calculations</i>. There’s a reason why a calculator is not provided – it’s because you’re not meant to need one. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">One thing I feel this book is lacking is a page of all important formulae; for example, a formula to find the area of a triangle that has three unequal sides. I studied this in eighth grade, but just can’t recall anything about such problems (and I don’t particularly want to buy a book on geometry to find out either). So if anyone knows of a website where such important must-know pieces of math knowledge can be found, please do share!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">Plans for the weekend? Plenty of sporting action for me, with Novak Djokovic cruising in Montreal and the start of the EPL. But I’ll do my best to squeeze some work in, perhaps more practice problems. Really got to work on that reading comprehension. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><br />
</span></div></div>MRIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870837282693412150noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9188992915624520295.post-48669914635721513852011-08-07T04:21:00.002+08:002011-08-07T04:22:21.056+08:00GMAT Update: Week 5 - Practice Problems<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc;">Finishing the verbal section was definitely the best thing about this week. I was getting so sick of the MGMAT SC book, and I’m glad that it’s finally done and dusted. The GMAT is far from over though; I started Number Properties, Manhattan GMAT’s first quant guide. It feels so good to finally be getting to the quant section!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">I spent Saturday evening doing 20 problems each for SC and CR, and 15 problems of RC. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">(Yes, this is how my weekends have become; no social life whatsoever. I’m hoping it’ll be worth it in two and a half months’ time. However, I’m totally taking a break and going out tomorrow to see some of Berlin’s lovely sights.)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">On average, one is expected to spend roughly 1 min 45 seconds per question in the verbal section, in order to finish the test on time. My average time per question was as follows:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">CR: 1 min 27 seconds<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">RC: 1 min 57 seconds<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">SC: 50 seconds!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">Clearly I was finding RC a bit of a problem – and I knew this while tackling the problems. My mind would just drift, focusing on other aspects of my life, and it would take a lot of effort (and hence time) to bring the focus back. It doesn’t help that the passages are just so incredibly boring. It’ll definitely be something I will have to work on. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">And as for the answers, I got three wrong for both CR and RC, but my SC was perfectly accurate!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><br />
</span></div></div>MRIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870837282693412150noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9188992915624520295.post-60153842095943899222011-08-01T02:47:00.005+08:002011-08-07T04:22:00.828+08:00Essay Nightmare<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="clear: left; color: #ead1dc; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;">I decided to take a little break from my GMAT today and work on my applications. I will be graduating next year and thought I should get a start on the essays required for both job applications as well as admission into top business schools. The great thing about job applications is that no essays are necessary. Academic records, test records, previous experience, and your CV – these are the documents that do the convincing. And because of this, job applications take a lot less time and energy than a school application.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">I worked on my CV and cover letter in the morning, and after dinner, I sat down to face an school application essay; the first out of seven essays that I must write and complete by beginning of January. And after staring at the blank page for more than 20 minutes without a single idea forming in my head, I realized that January is just not too far away anymore. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">What do I write?!?!? These schools are kind to you, in the sense that they give you the topic as well as a word count, but that’s as far as they are willing to go. There’s just no more information regarding what they’re expecting to see. <i>We want to know the real you</i> – that’s what their website states. Eh? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">The topics themselves aren’t very difficult, which makes my task somewhat harder in a way, as the easier the task, the harder it is for you to stand out. For you to show you’re better than anyone else applying, and for you to convince the admissions committee that you’re worth accepting. You want to impress them. You want to intrigue them. But how do you do that?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">Well I need to figure it out. And fast. Time’s running out.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><br />
</span></div></div>MRIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870837282693412150noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9188992915624520295.post-22082686270000142022011-07-28T17:43:00.001+08:002011-07-28T17:47:31.060+08:00GMAT Update: Week 4 - More MGMAT Sentence Correction<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">There’s been quite a gap between Week 3 and Week 4 of my studies. I’ve finally moved to Germany, and I must say it’s lovely here. I can totally see myself settling down here in the future, and the language is not too hard to learn either; I’ve already started ordering Pepsi and asking for directions in Deutsch! I can't wait to start visiting all the tourist places.</span></div><div style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">So with things getting quite hectic with the moving and travelling, I’ve barely had time to get those books out. All that changed this week though; I’ve unpacked, started work, and settled into my routine for the next two months.</span></div><div style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">I continued where I’d left off, with SC. I’m reaching the end of the book now – I’ve finished part one, the basic strategy bit of the book, and have now progressed to part two, which is the advanced portion of the book. To be very honest though, I’m not too thrilled about this book. Yes, it’s great; yes it contains everything you need to know to ace SC, but it just feels<i> too much</i>. I’m starting to lose patience with it, wondering when on earth I would get to the end. Now that I’ve started work, I’m not able to put in more than an hour of study per day on weekdays (I actually put in an hour and a half, but only an hour of that is useful). So weekends are going to be very important, I’m going to try and stay away from distractions as much as possible. Easier said than done I supposed, given that I’m in a new country.</span></div><div style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">With SC out of the way, I would’ve fully completed the verbal section of the GMAT, which is quite an accomplishment, I feel. Now I just have Quant, which is supposed to be what I’m good at. </span></div><div style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">I’m planning on taking a practice test this weekend, to see if there’s any improvement from my previous test score after studying verbal. Or maybe I should wait and do some problems from the Official Guides first, before tackling a practice test. Or maybe I’ll do <i>both</i>. Yep, I’m over-ambitious sometimes.</span><br />
</div></div>MRIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870837282693412150noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9188992915624520295.post-11156424924702780552011-07-11T04:57:00.001+08:002011-07-11T04:58:13.073+08:00GMAT Update: Week 3 - MGMAT Sentence Correction<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="clear: right; color: #ead1dc; float: right; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img height="212" src="http://onedublin.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/standardized-test-answer-sheet1.jpg" width="320" /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc;">I started off my third week of prep by practicing the aspects of verbal that I’d already learnt. I did around 10-15 questions for RC and CR. But I found it really hard to try and use the strategies I’d read – not because the strategies weren’t good, but because once I saw a question, I just couldn’t remember what I’d learnt about approaching such problems, and went back to my old way of answering questions.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">I got most of my RC questions correct, the ones from the Veritas book. In fact, I think I only made one mistake. But with CR, I made quite a few. That was a huge setback for me, and I realized I needed to go over my notes again and again to get those strategies fixed in my head. I will now start going through my notes for both RC and CR once a week (maybe more often, if I find once a week is not working either).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">I then began MGMAT’s Sentence Correction Guide. At this point, I’ve gotta say, I randomly flipped through the book and had a slight panic attack when I saw just how much information was included in the book. I took a deep breath, and started reading. After going through just the first page, I realized that this was a fantastic book, a SC <i>bible </i>really. Not only that, but I also think it’s an excellent grammar book, teaching you all the rules of standard written English, with correct and incorrect examples included for better understanding of the grammar concepts. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">At the end of the week, I’ve managed to go through about half of the book. I’m not a native English speaker, but living abroad has definitely helped me with my English, so I feel I’m at an advantage compared to a lot of non-native speakers. I didn’t find the book to be very difficult, but it did have a lot of information. I made notes as I went along, for all the little bits I didn’t know. I already have more slides for SC than I do for RC or CR, and I’m only halfway through! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">I don’t know how much I’ll be able to do next week, given that I’m finally moving to Berlin, and I haven’t even started packing. It’s gonna be a busy week for sure.</span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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</span></span></div>MRIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870837282693412150noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9188992915624520295.post-83163001332651735042011-07-05T20:53:00.004+08:002011-07-06T01:24:37.207+08:00GMAT Update: Week 2 - Veritas Prep RC<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><b></b></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: inherit;">My second week of prep started off quite slowly, I must admit. I think the thrill of completing quite a bit in my first week gave me the impression I can afford to slow it down, which caused me to take my prep a little more casually this week. However, I attribute it mostly to Wimbledon – if Djokovic hadn’t made it to the final I doubt I would have had such a lack of concentration!<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: inherit;">Halfway through the week, I finished the CR Bible. I was thrilled about this; I’d go through all the worked problems as I read through the chapters, and I’d gotten around 95% of all problems correct. The flip side to this is that all those problems were quite easy, and were only included in the book in order to properly teach a certain concept/strategy. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: inherit;">I then took some time to create notes from the book; important points that I need to keep reminding me of. Such flashcards are available for download from the BTG website, but I felt I would benefit more if I actually wrote them myself. I used PowerPoint to make my notes, and color coded important words. I’m confident that this will make last minute revision a lot easier for me. Maybe it was a mistake to make notes at the <i>end</i> of the book, but I think this way I was able to identify what was important enough to be noted and what wasn’t. I probably would’ve written a lot more had I started my note making from the start. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: inherit;">The day I finished the book, I didn’t want to start RC, so I went to the BTG forum and answered around 8-10 problems in the CR section. I messed up the first couple of them, but got the rest correct, and took that as a good sign.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: inherit;">The next day I began Veritas Prep Reading Comprehension. My first impression was that the layout of the book was <i>awful</i>. The print was so tiny, and with me already having poor eyes, I was reading the book with my face literally just a hand span away. The book however, does discuss strategies (even if for only around 55 pages), and contains tons of practice problems as well, so I do think it was a good buy. So far, at least. I was able to answer the first 8 questions all correctly, which is a big step for me considering how awful I am when it comes to RC. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;">I then managed to finish this book, in terms of reading their strategies. There's not much you can 'teach' on reading comprehension. I now have to tackle their </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;">remaining</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"> 86 questions, along with the ones in the OG Review and OG Verbal.</span></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: inherit;">Next week’s target: to start sentence correction. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><b><br />
</b></span></span></div></div>MRIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870837282693412150noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9188992915624520295.post-89579360008107378562011-07-02T17:50:00.003+08:002011-07-02T17:52:32.965+08:00Being a Novak Djokovic fan is finally paying off.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">As a rabid tennis fan, there’s no tournament more exclusive than Wimbledon. Maybe because it’s the oldest grand slam, maybe because it’s on grass, or maybe because traditionally all players wear white, Wimbledon just oozes class. Not only that, but the crowd are probably the most well behaved out of all tennis spectators. One can only compare them to the ones at Roland Garros, for example, with the unruly crowd, some half drunk, booing certain players for challenging a line call. *shudders*</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Novak Djokovic Novak Djokovic of Serbia poses with the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on January 31, 2011 in Melbourne, Australia." height="320" src="http://www3.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Novak+Djokovic+Australian+Open+2011+Men+Champion+wjnldBU6UGwl.jpg" width="273" /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">Being a Djokovic fan since he burst into the scene in 2007, I’ve been more inclined towards hard courts, perhaps because that’s his favorite surface. Plus, he never used to be very good on grass – he’s reached a couple of finals in smaller tournaments, but never had much success in Wimbledon. His style of play never suited the grass courts. Until this year, of course.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">Six months into the season, and he’s lost just one match. Yes, he’s won a whopping 47 matches out of 48, his only loss of the year coming in the semifinals of Roland Garros by none other than Roger Federer. Eight tournaments entered, seven won. We all thought this incredible run would end when the grass season began, but that was far from the truth – he’s now in the finals of Wimbledon, and by doing so, has successfully snatched the World #1 ranking from Rafael Nadal. Does it get any better than this?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">Yes it would – if he were to win on Sunday. He would then officially have his first major title as the World #1. A first ever Wimbledon title. Additionally, he would be one of only five or six people to have won their first grass court tournament in Wimbledon. But who stands in his way? Yep, you guessed it. Nadal hasn’t lost in Wimbledon since 2007. And one can’t help but feel that Djokovic has already reached an emotional high after just making the final. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">Except for last year, Wimbledon finals since 2006 have all gone to five sets. But how do you pick between these two? I would say Nadal’s the favorite, but it’s too close to call. All I know is, no matter who wins, it’s going to be a thriller. No matter who wins, I’m not going to have any nails left. No matter who wins, this is a Wimbledon I’ll never forget. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span lang="EN-US">Being a Djokovic fan is finally paying off.</span></span> </span><br />
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</span></div></div>MRIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870837282693412150noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9188992915624520295.post-68388749065961496882011-06-28T01:34:00.003+08:002011-07-04T17:56:20.292+08:00GMAT Update: Week 1 - Powerscore CR Bible<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc;">After the ridiculously unsuccessful attempt at scoring well on the first practice test (you can read about that <a href="http://magicalmri.blogspot.com/2011/06/diagnostic-test-disaster.html">here</a>), I decided not to wait until July, and started on my prep right away. Some might argue here that I have three full months, in fact three and a half really, given my GMAT exam is not until 14<sup>th</sup> October. But from mid July to the end of September, I will be on an internship, and hence this is probably the maximum free time I’ll have to get some reading out of the way. I have absolutely nothing to do until the internship starts (except for watching Wimbledon of course). And in October it will be back to University life.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">The ‘week’ here began on Wednesday, when I opened the Official Guide (hereby OG) Review. I spent my time familiarizing myself with the test, the number of questions in each section, etc. I read through each and every section, what each section consists of, and what you’re expected to do. I then did the same for the OG Quant and the OG Verbal book. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">I next started off with Powerscore’s CR Bible. I read on the BTG forum (the <a href="http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2009/12/06/a-3-month-gmat-prep-plan">3-month study plan</a>) that you should start with your weakest area. CR wasn’t my weakest, RC was. But I dislike that section so much that I decided to start with CR. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">First impression: I LOVE THIS BOOK. As I read page after page, I actually felt that I was gaining a lot of information, a lot of <i>useful</i> information, with every word I was reading, which is not something you can say about every book. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">I took Sunday off, as my concentration was lacking. It was good that I didn’t try and force myself to go on; on Monday I was fresh and managed to cover a lot more. I now know that I need a break every four days or so to recuperate!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">The plan for next week is to finish with the CR Bible and start doing around 5 CR problems every day from the OG Guides. And I guess I’ll start with RC. Sigh. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div></div>MRIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870837282693412150noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9188992915624520295.post-64634888979512788392011-06-26T20:43:00.002+08:002011-06-26T21:35:40.340+08:00Saying Goodbye..<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><img height="239" src="http://hamzanaseem.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/miss-u.jpg" width="320" /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">Saying goodbye is never easy. It’s a definitive; it’s like acknowledging the sad truth that you may never see these people again. It’s different with members of your family though, you know you will meet them somewhere down the line, so you know that the goodbye is purely short term. But your friends, well there is no guarantee, especially when you all meet abroad in a foreign country, and then have to leave to go back to your own.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">Being in the UK on an exchange program no doubt has its benefits; I for one, am extremely glad I took the opportunity to study outside Asia for a year, and I truly believe that this has affected me for the better. I have absolutely no regrets, and I’ve settled in so well here that except for one time in April when my grandfather passed away, I have never felt homesick, lonely or miserable, like so many international students do. And the credit goes to all the lovely people I’ve met here in Nottingham. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">Out of all the people I’ve met, out of all the students whose company I’ve enjoyed this past one year, two people stand out the most. An intelligent, studious and modest girl from Sri Lanka, who also happens to be the best cook I know out of anyone our age, and a highly enthusiastic, entertaining and cheeky young man from Egypt, with a laugh so contagious that it’s impossible not to like him. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">I can’t pinpoint a reason as to why we became so close. Perhaps because they were a direct entry this year, and hence we were all ‘new’ to the University. Perhaps because they had also never been to the UK before, and were therefore ideal travelling companions. Or perhaps because, cheesiness aside, it was meant to be. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">They have another year here, but I don’t. We had a lovely time on our last night together, with some delicious dinner, lots of chit-chatting, lots of Cluedo (they loved this game!), and a lot of laughs mingled here and there with a tinge of sadness. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">My friend and I (okay so it was my friend’s idea, but I was involved too!) prepared the following video, as a sort of parting gift. Our only mistake was perhaps playing it a little early into the night, as it started off a little nostalgia that couldn’t be stopped. Here is it:<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyIn8SV2G4pCff26ijpKR2AbXd3DOgS4qSl9AfEaY07_LkhPgLQJUpiCeFASJt-BWrNHVuFrXejR1izIW47YA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">Plans were made of us meeting up next year. I don’t expect them to actually take place; as students, we don’t have unlimited budgets, especially with all the Zara shopping we do! But if not next year, I’m confident we’ll definitely see each other again – did I mention she will be married in the next couple of years?! A grand event to celebrate, not just her wedding, but our reunion as well. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US">Love you both so much!</span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><br />
</div></div>MRIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870837282693412150noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9188992915624520295.post-47898723339788421312011-06-22T02:59:00.008+08:002011-06-26T17:49:14.600+08:00Diagnostic Test Disaster<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">Everyone’s been saying I should take a practice test, just to gauge my level. To determine my strengths and weaknesses. To know what areas to work on in the coming weeks. So I went ahead and took a test this morning.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">The result was disastrous. I scored a 600.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">I read on the BTG forum numerous threads on people losing track of time and hence rushing in the last few minutes to get all their answers in. Hence I slightly panicked; every time I spent a little too long on a question, I would just give up and select an answer at random, thinking at least the next question would be easier. Looking back, that’s probably the worst approach, given that I finished each section about 20 minutes early, meaning that I finished my test almost 45 minutes before time!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">I reviewed my answers just an hour ago, and I was shocked to see that only a few questions were answered wrongly due to a lack of knowledge. The rest of the questions were incorrect due to nothing more than pure carelessness. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">The bright side? Well, I’ve not started any studying for the test yet, so things can only get better. Plus I have time on my side – the next three months to properly focus and give this a go. I’ve got the resources too, plenty of books that contain plenty of practice questions to keep me going. Additionally, knowing that negligence and inattention to key words is what separates me from a decent score is definitely encouraging. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">Time to start learning then.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7H9W17NIdPepl8eNSNqZOzgWz59Th1TbYkd6g1xcp55peFAiOV4E_d84tFuQX_Ms1yozj8meQMH3GzutJ8JbBj_0D7pw8xtKQ19jxAQW4Fdfui6gTYq21TymJF7iBQQUNVWqiEOhSAoFq/s1600/_ohmygod.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7H9W17NIdPepl8eNSNqZOzgWz59Th1TbYkd6g1xcp55peFAiOV4E_d84tFuQX_Ms1yozj8meQMH3GzutJ8JbBj_0D7pw8xtKQ19jxAQW4Fdfui6gTYq21TymJF7iBQQUNVWqiEOhSAoFq/s200/_ohmygod.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><br />
</span></div></div>MRIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870837282693412150noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9188992915624520295.post-15627335628688791582011-06-08T04:33:00.009+08:002011-06-26T17:48:26.172+08:00Cracking the GMAT<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">Saturday was a very important day for me. I knew I’d taken a big step in my life. A step that is going either take me forward, or make me rue the day I made this decision.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">I’d decided to pursue an MBA.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">I didn’t make this decision on Saturday though; this was decided by my family ages ago. Probably when I was doing my O Levels. But unlike most stories you hear about families deciding their children’s futures, I’m <i>not </i>against it. (Well I’m not against the actual decision, is what I mean. I really should try and be clearer). Not just that, but it’s a prospect that’s actually particularly appealing to me. I’ve always wanted to pursue management – why settle for an MSc when you can have an MBA?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">But I’m getting ahead of myself here. Before I can even dream of starting this new journey (in Harvard maybe? It could happen!) I have to face (and ace) the GMAT. And from past experience (SATs, what else?), I knew that this was not going to be easy. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">The problem is, I’m <i>hopeless </i>when it comes to English. I can speak the language (good enough for people to make sense of what I’m saying anyway), but actual grammar is something I’ve never properly studied. I happened to look at a sample piece of Reading Comprehension (hereby RC) on <a href="http://www.beatthegmat.com/">www.beatthegmat.com</a> (hereby BTG), and I’m a little embarrassed to say that I didn’t even get to the end; my brain just stopped understanding, and hence my mind just stopped reading. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">Thankfully my math is a little bit better. Engineering probably helps there. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">About six months ago though, I took a sample test from an unofficial site, since I was a newbie at this GMAT thing and knew nothing about BTG. I scored a 740. Ever since then, my target has been 750+. Guess I won’t know if that’s a reasonable target until I take a practice test from an official source.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">So why was Saturday important? Well, it was the day my books arrived. My faithful companions for the next three and a half months, as I try my best to master the test (I rhymed! Too bad that isn't going to fetch me a 800). Ordering the books itself required a huge deal of mind work; after reading countless reviews by both students and experts, I finally own the following:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><u>GMAT review:</u><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">The Official Guide for GMAT Review<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><u>GMAT quantitative (math):</u><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">GMAT Quantitative Review<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">Manhattan GMAT Preparation Guide: Number Properties<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">Manhattan GMAT Preparation Guide: Word Translations<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><u>GMAT verbal:</u><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">GMAT Verbal Review<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">Powerscore Critical Reasoning Bible<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">Veritas Prep GMAT Reading Comprehension<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Manhattan GMAT Preparation Guide: Sentence Correction<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">I’m going to take a lovely break and tour Europe for the next 15 days. But when I come back, that’s when it’ll all begin for me. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">Wish me luck!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></span></div></div>MRIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870837282693412150noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9188992915624520295.post-58999789762696691102011-02-27T06:51:00.002+08:002011-06-26T17:48:51.248+08:00"This Is Anfield" - the sights of Liverpool<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">On our way back from Wales, we decided to take a little detour and stay over in Liverpool. With my friends being big fans of Liverpool FC, Anfield was definitely on the agenda. Then it was time for the docks, the pier, and the wonderful city centre. I must say that, of all the places I've seen so far, Liverpool is absolutely the best. The stunning views, the vibrant city, the active nightlife...yep, Liverpool's got it all.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">Here are the pictures! </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGRDNIpqbMXlcMXTdU8atu-8hQ7bwp6vSZ8v03Z0GM_2U5CCOkgSYv8GWBYXQVBsAJtTSUxQ1OtnANjDKY-Zu0VTFA1VyD12j7dA62tVLoM46FjjagSwoqHhocfb2esxEWA7sfb12h5HAS/s1600/DSC05053.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGRDNIpqbMXlcMXTdU8atu-8hQ7bwp6vSZ8v03Z0GM_2U5CCOkgSYv8GWBYXQVBsAJtTSUxQ1OtnANjDKY-Zu0VTFA1VyD12j7dA62tVLoM46FjjagSwoqHhocfb2esxEWA7sfb12h5HAS/s320/DSC05053.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikK1Y-vs47oauRGszJICBXZV5nLiWKLQn9nbOcoCSQBI1tlCbIKUz76nIihHOVlhLzkpI2fjyGep0Q8HP4jRaCzp-aIgk2kF0GvvwqqeQNSzzZda3JX8GFs4lDOCPElBUHNlXzOjAReUhI/s1600/DSC05219.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikK1Y-vs47oauRGszJICBXZV5nLiWKLQn9nbOcoCSQBI1tlCbIKUz76nIihHOVlhLzkpI2fjyGep0Q8HP4jRaCzp-aIgk2kF0GvvwqqeQNSzzZda3JX8GFs4lDOCPElBUHNlXzOjAReUhI/s320/DSC05219.JPG" width="240" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">The Beatles! The most famous group of people who weren't footballers to ever emerge from Liverpool</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M3e-B89DoX0/TV75RkLsJmI/AAAAAAAAAR0/adv6WE6QxKc/s1600/DSC05220.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M3e-B89DoX0/TV75RkLsJmI/AAAAAAAAAR0/adv6WE6QxKc/s320/DSC05220.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid4Z25ZdtiScHvoKqmyYosypY4Y4wQxWs62ZLlXlM77OA4jcgHys_4PLGABvr_ns3Sf7BOZDi1dx5Z7f0QhnSRBw1a5De_3t1rZLAmjyjEkAkkpZ4Db8AH7RHeJeiCHhrszefRC28qe_xF/s1600/DSC05239.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid4Z25ZdtiScHvoKqmyYosypY4Y4wQxWs62ZLlXlM77OA4jcgHys_4PLGABvr_ns3Sf7BOZDi1dx5Z7f0QhnSRBw1a5De_3t1rZLAmjyjEkAkkpZ4Db8AH7RHeJeiCHhrszefRC28qe_xF/s320/DSC05239.JPG" width="240" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">Of course I had to get myself a shirt!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
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</div></div>MRIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870837282693412150noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9188992915624520295.post-14558011779933598632011-02-19T06:49:00.002+08:002011-06-26T17:49:58.967+08:00Boy spends Christmas with his dead mother<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">I came across this God-awful piece of news as I was researching for a presentation topic. A three-year old boy spent the days around Christmas next to the dead body of his mother, whom he believed to be asleep and would wake up any minute. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">Here's a snippet:</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: inherit;">"<i>A three-year-old boy is believed to have spent days over Christmas sitting alone by the dead body of his ‘sleeping’ mother in the hope that she might "wake up".</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: inherit;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: inherit;"><i>At one point, his grandfather telephoned but the young child calmly told him 'mummy’s asleep’.</i></span></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: inherit;"><i><br />
</i></span></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #d5a6bd; font-family: inherit;"><i>Work colleagues in the nearby town of Lens presumed the single mother was off ill and unable to call in. Instead an aneurysm, or weak bulge in an artery wall, had ruptured close to her brain, causing the office worker to die suddenly.</i>"</span></div></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">Read the whole article <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1343948/Boy-3-spends-Christmas-home-dead-mother-thought-sleeping.html?ITO=1490"><b>here</b></a>.</span></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">It's absolutely heart-breaking. There seems to be no father, and no one else in the home. I just hope this poor kid has some place nice to stay, and wont have any more traumatic experiences like this ever again. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;">And people ask me why I never read the news. Why on earth would I want to know something like this?</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #ead1dc; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div></div>MRIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14870837282693412150noreply@blogger.com2