When the going gets tough....

When the going get tough... it stays that way!!!

Until, we really plan to do anything about it. I really have no idea on why I chose to start this post with that line. No clue at all.. Maybe, it's because I had a really long day today.

Anyway, Back to the preparation front. I have finally begun with classroom sessions for CAT'08 (with T.I.M.E). I chose a weekend batch because I am a working professional. The weekend batch suits me then, even if it's more hectic than a weekday option. But that's where I have a problem. I have a six day working week. Yeah..Saturdays too!!!.. but I have convinced my senior to let me have a half-day on Saturday. I don't know how long this will work, but for now this is just fine.

So, last week i had my first session on quant (percentages, profit & loss, stocks and partnerships). It went off well. The one thing I realized within minutes of the session is the importance of quick math. Believe me.. It's imperative that one is thorough with tables (atleast until 20), squares (until 30), cubes (until 12), inverse fractions and their percentages (until 20). This saves so much of our time when it comes to actual problem solving. With just 2 mins per question (assuming all questions answerable), it gives us no time at all to spend on petty calculations.

It is better if we group topics under common sets. For eg: In the quant section, the topics percentages, profit and loss, partnerships and stocks can be grouped together. The concepts, quick math techniques required to solve them are similar across the topics. Moreover, grouping topics under common sets make it easier in revision.

I spent the whole of last week practising problems on the above set. I must say after a week with these topics, they seem quite easy now. Percentages is one of the high-scoring topics if one really has a hang of it. I am done with problems (solved and unsolved) from TIME material. Yet more, when I purchase my copy of Quantitative methods by N.Sinha. By then, my GMAT guides should have reached me too. Hope, the quant part of GMAT prep goes by quicker.


Today, I had my RC- Reading Comprehension. TIME had provided a handout (individual leaflets for practice in classroom) and my entire session was based on it. The prof didn't teach much and one really cannot teach RC. It has to built on by practice. So, we started off by solving 4 passages today. The prof chose the passages carefully such that we get to read text of different styles-philosophical, factual, statistical, narrative, legal etc. From my session today, I deduced that the knack of RC lies in our ability to comprehend it holistically. Any attempts to answer questions based on analysis of individual sentences and the chances are that you may mess it up.
I had very decent scores for a first attempt (3-4/5). I need to practice more. So, it is RC for this week then.