GMAT prep Day 1, 2

This past weekend was very unproductive.  Got sidetracked on Friday night, flirting with the idea of getting a new car (2006 Lexus IS 250, Audi A4, etc) with manual transmission and spent hours on eBay, Carsdirect, etc.  I must’ve been tired to be considering paying that much for a car at this point in time, considering that my WRX with 56k miles is still in good shape and fun to drive. 

Spent part of Sunday and Monday reviewing the Word Translations study guide.  Word Translations (combinatorics, probability & statistics, venn diagrams, etc) is one of the more challenging quantitative subject topics, so I wanted to make sure that I didn’t just skim through it.  Did all the problem sets at the end of the chapters.  However, I still need to do the problem sets for the 11th edition and the Quantitative review book since these are more similar to the GMAT format (the chapter problem sets are more word problems without answer choices that tests mastery of material).  For the questions that I either didn’t get the first time around or that I spent a lot of time on, I circled in the book and also included the problem # in my Word Translation Mindmap (I created the Word Translation Mindmap to summarize the main conceps and alert to the more challenging concepts–sort of like a crib sheet–so I don’t have to read the entire book again). 

I’m banking on the Mindmap strategy to improve my study habits.  One thing I realized is that in the past, I had a tough time picking a book and actually finishing it.  I think the thought of flipping pages or reading many pages at once seemed grueling to me (i must have some form of ADD), so I never get past 100 pages or so.  But with Mindmapping, studying’s now kinda fun (forces me to really know the material and not skim) and when I want to review the material, it’s a huge time saver.  Okay, enough about Mindmapping. 

Did some review of combinatorics and algebraic word translations on Monday morning.  Couldn’t study at night because had to go out for dinner and was too stuffed to do anything afterwards (note to self: eat in moderation and as if you’re going to exercise afterwards).  On Tuesday, listened to the Manhattan class recording (session 6)–which took about 2-3 hours. Also mindmapped the main concepts and included screenshots of the slides (captured using SnagIt 8 program) in the mindmap. 

On Saturday at 9am sharp, I’ll take my first practice (diagnostic) computer-adaptive test at a remote location (best way to simulate the testing conditions).  It’s good to know that I’ve gone through 6 of the 7 study guides (the remaining study guide focuses on Geometry).  I’ll spend the rest of the weekend reviewing all the problems (and creating a mindmap to summarize results and areas that I need to work on).

Wednesday 6/28: 1).  Purchase GMAT-Club Challenges (challenging quantitative problems), 2)  Mindmap Chapters 1-2 in Geometry study guide.  Do problem sets for those chapters. 3) Word Translations Problem Solving and Data Sufficiency in Quantitative Review (timed). 

Thursday 6/29: 2) Mindmap Chapters 3-4 in Geometry study guide.  Do problem sets for those chapters.  3) Review missed problems in Quantitative Review (update mindmap)

Friday 6/30: 1) Review mindmaps for all completed class recordings (1-7) and study guides.  2) Pick a few difficult problems from each subject topic to do as a refresher.  Go to sleep before midnight.