The day before I was going t take the GMAT reality hit me and I went into a panic, "I CAN'T TAKE THE TEST AND MAYBE SCORE A 500 THAT LOOKS STUPID!!!!"
I rescheduled for October 29th.
But wait, if you reschedule less than 7 calendar days it costs another $250. Yes. I ate the $300 I already paid and shelled out another $250 to reschedule. I hate life and I hate how GMAT Prep just eats money, but at least I won;t have a 500 on my score report.
My GMAT Prep class starts next month. Instead of taking college algebra and retaking intermediate algebra online, I am just going to take elementary statistics.
I am going to put all my focus into an application to one school : UC Irvine The Paul Merage School of Business. I will apply round 1 for Fall 2011 and if I don't get in I can decide if I want to apply to Pepperdine University's Graziadio Graduate School of Business and Management since their deadline is usually in May. Or I can spend the year strengthening my application by retaking the GMAT and taking business calculus and accounting and applying to UCLA and USC.
The road to an MBA is epic, even before you get into a school!
My algebra class ends in a few weeks. I'm so excited! Working seven days a week and going to school four days a night is exhausting!
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Getting there, but not quite
I took GMAT Prep 1 CAT:
Q29
V31
Total: 510
I mean its a big jump from 460 but the only tests I took before that were Manhattan GMAT CATs.
I'm reading all over the beat the GMAT forum that GMAT Prep is a good indicator on how you will do on the real thing. It's great that I squeaked into the 500s, but I don't have enough time before the actual test to bring it up much higher.
I've already taken the day off work to take the test and I've invested a lot of time and money into it, I may as well still go. It's possible that I can improve another 10-20 points as I learn more and more math concepts, but it it safe to say I should score in the low 500s.
My prep class starts in a month and lasts through the end of September. I should probably take the GMAT again in November and just plan on applying for Fall 2012. It's still a little too early to decide. I'll make that decision after I take the real test.
I try not to focus on the negatives. I work 7 days a week and that is what it is. I have to accept it will take me longer to get a good score because of my work schedule. I will do better!
POSITIVITY!!!!
Q29
V31
Total: 510
I mean its a big jump from 460 but the only tests I took before that were Manhattan GMAT CATs.
I'm reading all over the beat the GMAT forum that GMAT Prep is a good indicator on how you will do on the real thing. It's great that I squeaked into the 500s, but I don't have enough time before the actual test to bring it up much higher.
I've already taken the day off work to take the test and I've invested a lot of time and money into it, I may as well still go. It's possible that I can improve another 10-20 points as I learn more and more math concepts, but it it safe to say I should score in the low 500s.
My prep class starts in a month and lasts through the end of September. I should probably take the GMAT again in November and just plan on applying for Fall 2012. It's still a little too early to decide. I'll make that decision after I take the real test.
I try not to focus on the negatives. I work 7 days a week and that is what it is. I have to accept it will take me longer to get a good score because of my work schedule. I will do better!
POSITIVITY!!!!
Saturday, July 10, 2010
A great place to start
This was the first website I read in my research about applying to business school:
MBA Applicant
It's really out of date. It was the GMAT was $84 two years ago, but the content is really good. It talks about preparing yourself for applying and what the admissions committee looks at.
MBA Applicant
It's really out of date. It was the GMAT was $84 two years ago, but the content is really good. It talks about preparing yourself for applying and what the admissions committee looks at.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
.15x + .20(4) = .17(x+4)
I don't know if I just didn't pay attention enough in high school or these concepts were just never taught to me, but I am learning a lot. I CAN SET UP AND SOLVE A MIXTURE PROBLEM! Little victories like this keep me going.
I opened up my OG Quant book and I can now identify how to set up and solve many of the problem. Back in February or March when I first purchased this book I couldn't do ANY of the problems. I'm sure some people would argue that I could just buy a book and teach myself the basics but I know I learn better when shown a concept first in the classroom then I try on my own to do it multiple times. Plus while taking these math classes I can work my way up to business calculus so I won't be so lost when I get to b-school.
My money from my canceled UCLA Extension class was refunded so I put it toward the UCLA Extension GMAT Prep Class.
I will have the basic skill set to be able to understand what goes on in the prep class and not get lost so easily.
I'm excited!!!
Also I am planning on retaking intermediate algebra which I originally took at a community college in New York. they have the course available online and I can take the final exam when I go home for Christmas.
I plan on taking another practice test tomorrow after work. Since its a holiday I don't have school, which is a great break. Working and going to class four days a week, with three of those days opening the store at 4:30am is EXHAUSTING.
I really feel like things are falling into place. Wheeeeee!
I opened up my OG Quant book and I can now identify how to set up and solve many of the problem. Back in February or March when I first purchased this book I couldn't do ANY of the problems. I'm sure some people would argue that I could just buy a book and teach myself the basics but I know I learn better when shown a concept first in the classroom then I try on my own to do it multiple times. Plus while taking these math classes I can work my way up to business calculus so I won't be so lost when I get to b-school.
My money from my canceled UCLA Extension class was refunded so I put it toward the UCLA Extension GMAT Prep Class.
I will have the basic skill set to be able to understand what goes on in the prep class and not get lost so easily.
I'm excited!!!
Also I am planning on retaking intermediate algebra which I originally took at a community college in New York. they have the course available online and I can take the final exam when I go home for Christmas.
I plan on taking another practice test tomorrow after work. Since its a holiday I don't have school, which is a great break. Working and going to class four days a week, with three of those days opening the store at 4:30am is EXHAUSTING.
I really feel like things are falling into place. Wheeeeee!
Sunday, June 27, 2010
dramafest summer 2010
My Beginning Algebra UCLA extension class got canceled due to low enrollment. I had to scramble to Santa Monica College, which started at the same time to try to get into a beginning algebra class. The teacher said he would add me even though I had missed three days of class and we had a quiz that day. Luckily all that I missed was a review of the math refresher class I just finished and I was able to complete the quiz.
It got worse. I have four days of homework due Monday and a test on Chapters 1 and 2. The bookstore was already closed because its an evening class and it would be closed for inventory on Friday. The bookstore is not open on the weekends.
My search for the book adventure began!
There was someone on campus selling the book through a flyer they left, but they wanted $140 for it used. It cost $155 new at the bookstore. I tried emailing a few people I knew that had attended SMC to see if they or someone they knew had the book, no dice. One person told me there was a bookstore across the street form the school that had it but they were only a few dollars cheaper than the SMC bookstore. This would be my backup. Ordering on amazon would not get me the book until Monday afternoon at the earliest so that wouldn't help either.
I looked at the Los Angeles Public library and other surrounding libraries online. They only had earlier editions of the book. The SMC library has that book but they too are closed on the weekends.
Craigslist listings for the book were old, so the people had already sold it. One person sent my info to his classmate beacuse he wanted to sell his book, but he never contacted me.
I started emailing people on half.com and amazon.com where it said ships from California. In my email I said, I live in Los Angeles, I added this class late. I have homework due and a test on Monday. I will meet you in person to buy this book and pay you cash."
Two people responded from Northern California so this did not work (California is a HUGE state. It takes something like 10 hours to drive from top to bottom).
One girl in Los Angeles was willing to do this! She emailed me back around 11pm Friday night. She called me and she sent her friend to meet me with the book. We met at the 7-11 at Venice and Sepulveda after midnight. It was so sketchy like we were doing a drug deal, but for a textbook! I got the book safely and today I am catching up.
This class is GMAT GOLD! We did a bunch of word problems at Thursday's class and I am still having problems figuring out the wording to set up an algebraic problem. I think this is going to help me a lot. Plus its way cheaper than UCLA extension. Now I can use that money toward the GMAT Prep class that starts in August and I will have the basic skill set for quant that I didn't have before.
All this prep may push my application back for another year, which ideally I do not want to do. If I start in fall 2011 I will be 28; 30 when I graduate. if I start in fall 2012 I will be 29, 31 when I graduate. I want to have myself on a career path earlier rather than later because my biological clock is ticking in the back of my head.
It got worse. I have four days of homework due Monday and a test on Chapters 1 and 2. The bookstore was already closed because its an evening class and it would be closed for inventory on Friday. The bookstore is not open on the weekends.
My search for the book adventure began!
There was someone on campus selling the book through a flyer they left, but they wanted $140 for it used. It cost $155 new at the bookstore. I tried emailing a few people I knew that had attended SMC to see if they or someone they knew had the book, no dice. One person told me there was a bookstore across the street form the school that had it but they were only a few dollars cheaper than the SMC bookstore. This would be my backup. Ordering on amazon would not get me the book until Monday afternoon at the earliest so that wouldn't help either.
I looked at the Los Angeles Public library and other surrounding libraries online. They only had earlier editions of the book. The SMC library has that book but they too are closed on the weekends.
Craigslist listings for the book were old, so the people had already sold it. One person sent my info to his classmate beacuse he wanted to sell his book, but he never contacted me.
I started emailing people on half.com and amazon.com where it said ships from California. In my email I said, I live in Los Angeles, I added this class late. I have homework due and a test on Monday. I will meet you in person to buy this book and pay you cash."
Two people responded from Northern California so this did not work (California is a HUGE state. It takes something like 10 hours to drive from top to bottom).
One girl in Los Angeles was willing to do this! She emailed me back around 11pm Friday night. She called me and she sent her friend to meet me with the book. We met at the 7-11 at Venice and Sepulveda after midnight. It was so sketchy like we were doing a drug deal, but for a textbook! I got the book safely and today I am catching up.
This class is GMAT GOLD! We did a bunch of word problems at Thursday's class and I am still having problems figuring out the wording to set up an algebraic problem. I think this is going to help me a lot. Plus its way cheaper than UCLA extension. Now I can use that money toward the GMAT Prep class that starts in August and I will have the basic skill set for quant that I didn't have before.
All this prep may push my application back for another year, which ideally I do not want to do. If I start in fall 2011 I will be 28; 30 when I graduate. if I start in fall 2012 I will be 29, 31 when I graduate. I want to have myself on a career path earlier rather than later because my biological clock is ticking in the back of my head.
Monday, June 21, 2010
A little something to celebrate
I got an A- in my Math Refresher Class!
90% of the grade was the final exam. Super pressure. But I didn't crack!
My beginning college algebra class starts tomorrow. That means I open on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the coffee shop. I have to be at work at 4:30a. I do not miss that hour AT ALL.
Positive: I will be done with work by 12:30p and my class doesn't start until 6:30p. That leaves plenty of time to work out, take a nap, and study.
My friend is a tutor and offered to help me in verbal. Sentence Correction, here we come!
I take my GMAT in a month!!
I hope everything is going well for those studying.
90% of the grade was the final exam. Super pressure. But I didn't crack!
My beginning college algebra class starts tomorrow. That means I open on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the coffee shop. I have to be at work at 4:30a. I do not miss that hour AT ALL.
Positive: I will be done with work by 12:30p and my class doesn't start until 6:30p. That leaves plenty of time to work out, take a nap, and study.
My friend is a tutor and offered to help me in verbal. Sentence Correction, here we come!
I take my GMAT in a month!!
I hope everything is going well for those studying.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
let's catch up
I've been gone from my blog for a while. I hit burn out last week. The combination of two jobs and homework and studying my brain was fried. I was not absorbing anything. I took a break. I watched some Kaplan videos on Beat the GMAT so I wasn't on a complete and total break.
Saturday I had a day off. I thought I was going to work at my TV job so I took off from the coffee house. Turns out the person I was going to cover for did not take that day off. I drove down to orange country and met up with my cousin. We went to Laguna beach. It was so much prettier than Santa Monica, Venice, or Marina del Rey beaches. It was almost like the ocean was bluer.
I brought my sentence correction book with me, but since it was a holiday weekend there were so many people around. It was hard to concentrate. Usually if I go to the beach to study its on a Tuesday and there's maybe four other people on the sand.
THEN I GOT SICK!
I got a stupid cold because one of my coworkers came to work with a cold and didn't try to get his shift covered. Then I had to do the same thing because I am a shift and we are short one and our manager is on vacation, there was no one to cover me. If I call in sick I get fired. I can't afford to do that. I washed my hands a lot in front of customers to show I was not trying to spread any germs in case they suspected I was sick.
Being sick made it impossible to concentrate on any studying. My head was just filled with snot; so gross. I finished my homework for my math class last night and ad the final exam today. I feel I did really well considering I didn't study at all. I forgot how to figure out a rate of percent increase and I was asked to graph the plane of y=-3/4x. I spent 30 minutes on that last question. I think I made up a solution. We shall see how I did over all.
Before I got sick, on Monday, I took a practice test AND I WENT DOWN. I scored a 450. So I bit the bullet and rescheduled my test. The original date was 6/18, I will now be taking the exam 7/20. It gives me enough time to take it again before application due dates.
Also I am contemplating at this rate I am going now, if I still can't get into the 600s by August, I will have to apply for the Fall 2012 school year. I want to go to UCLA or USC and if I'm not even in the mid 600s it's not worth wasting my time and money to put in an application that will result in a ding.
Math class is over and I am signed up to take Beginning College Algebra in 3 weeks. I think I am going to withdraw from that class and sign up for UCLA Extension's GMAT Prep Course . It's way cheaper than any of the top prep companies, almost half the price.
Now I am off to work. Saturdays are our busiest bean days. Time to grind!
Saturday I had a day off. I thought I was going to work at my TV job so I took off from the coffee house. Turns out the person I was going to cover for did not take that day off. I drove down to orange country and met up with my cousin. We went to Laguna beach. It was so much prettier than Santa Monica, Venice, or Marina del Rey beaches. It was almost like the ocean was bluer.
I brought my sentence correction book with me, but since it was a holiday weekend there were so many people around. It was hard to concentrate. Usually if I go to the beach to study its on a Tuesday and there's maybe four other people on the sand.
THEN I GOT SICK!
I got a stupid cold because one of my coworkers came to work with a cold and didn't try to get his shift covered. Then I had to do the same thing because I am a shift and we are short one and our manager is on vacation, there was no one to cover me. If I call in sick I get fired. I can't afford to do that. I washed my hands a lot in front of customers to show I was not trying to spread any germs in case they suspected I was sick.
Being sick made it impossible to concentrate on any studying. My head was just filled with snot; so gross. I finished my homework for my math class last night and ad the final exam today. I feel I did really well considering I didn't study at all. I forgot how to figure out a rate of percent increase and I was asked to graph the plane of y=-3/4x. I spent 30 minutes on that last question. I think I made up a solution. We shall see how I did over all.
Before I got sick, on Monday, I took a practice test AND I WENT DOWN. I scored a 450. So I bit the bullet and rescheduled my test. The original date was 6/18, I will now be taking the exam 7/20. It gives me enough time to take it again before application due dates.
Also I am contemplating at this rate I am going now, if I still can't get into the 600s by August, I will have to apply for the Fall 2012 school year. I want to go to UCLA or USC and if I'm not even in the mid 600s it's not worth wasting my time and money to put in an application that will result in a ding.
Math class is over and I am signed up to take Beginning College Algebra in 3 weeks. I think I am going to withdraw from that class and sign up for UCLA Extension's GMAT Prep Course . It's way cheaper than any of the top prep companies, almost half the price.
Now I am off to work. Saturdays are our busiest bean days. Time to grind!
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