Cracking the GMAT

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.

I’d decided to pursue an MBA.

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 not 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?

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.

The problem is, I’m hopeless 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 www.beatthegmat.com (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.

Thankfully my math is a little bit better. Engineering probably helps there.

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.

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:

GMAT review:

The Official Guide for GMAT Review

GMAT quantitative (math):

GMAT Quantitative Review

Manhattan GMAT Preparation Guide: Number Properties

Manhattan GMAT Preparation Guide: Word Translations

GMAT verbal:

GMAT Verbal Review

Powerscore Critical Reasoning Bible

Veritas Prep GMAT Reading Comprehension

Manhattan GMAT Preparation Guide: Sentence Correction

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.

Wish me luck!

"This Is Anfield" - the sights of Liverpool

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.

Here are the pictures! 

The Beatles! The most famous group of people who weren't footballers to ever emerge from Liverpool

Of course I had to get myself a shirt!

Boy spends Christmas with his dead mother

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.  

Here's a snippet:

"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".

At one point, his grandfather telephoned but the young child calmly told him 'mummy’s asleep’.

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."

Read the whole article here.

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. 

And people ask me why I never read the news. Why on earth would I want to know something like this?

The unforgettable beauty that is Wales

Since I'm not doing that travelogue thing, why don't I just put up some random pictures from my trips? The following are from Wales - Cardiff, Bangor, and Llanberris, which is the home of the wonderful Snowdonia National Park.

Enjoy!

Cardiff Castle

Bangor View

Snowdonia! It's breathtaking-ly gorgeous.

Next time, Liverpool.

Sigh

I haven’t been here in a while. In fact, I have been completely off blogspot. Then why is my profile view count so much more than I can remember? It’s not like a lot of people read this :/

Anyway, I can’t afford to sink into a phase of self pity – especially since I’m already feeling so down. I applied to Microsoft UK for an 11-month placement at the end of my second year of university. It sounds like I’m reaching too far, but I actually got through to the final stage, and I was down in London for my interviews.

Man, were they horrible.

It started out quite alright – I had this group exercise which wasn’t too nerve-wrecking. But then it was on to an interview. I’d already had a telephone interview and passed that one – what more could they have to ask me? Unfortunately my assessor was just too mean. He hardly wrote down anything I said, and then made up his own questions at the end of the interview – awfully hard technical questions to which my response were just “Whaaa…?!”

Let me give you an insight to my competition. There was a guy who was doing a double degree – one from University of Oxford and one from University of Manchester. I mean to say, what!? Luckily the rest were human like me, and were just enrolled with one degree at one university.

Then I had to give a presentation, which was surprisingly not as bad as I expected. We were given a mere 30 minutes to prepare a 10-minute presentation, and there I was, sitting nervously, trying to rack my brains and think of something to say, but to my astonishment, those 10 minutes passed so quickly that I was done with the whole thing before I had time to breathe.

My final interview was horrible as well, by the end my assessor seemed to get bored and started staring at the clock, waiting for the 35 minutes to pass. What am I supposed to make of that? Beats me. Maybe they shouldn’t have three interviews per person. Yea, I blame them.

So, my chances of getting through? I would say less than 20%. Was I bad? Not at all. But I wasn’t good either.  Definitely not as good as Mr. Oxchester anyway.

Sigh.