GMAT Practice Test, Take 1

After about 3 weeks of studying, I finally got my self to take a practice GMAT yesterday. I did one of the online Kaplan tests that came with my book. It didn’t have the essays, but I wasn’t planning on doing those yesterday anyway.

The test wasn’t too bad. The whole computer adaptive thing makes me kind of nervous, like when I got a few really easy questions later in the quant section and I thought I was doing badly. I also finished each section about 20 minutes early. Now that I know I can definitely finish in time, I need to work on pacing myself better. Anyway, I won’t reveal my exact score, but lets just say I surprised myself in a good way. I was VERY happy. And I haven’t even finished my Kaplan book. I just need to study a few more months, get through all my books, and then I think I’ll be good to go around November/December.

An exciting start to my day

Despite what I said in my last post, not everything about the radio is bad…

This morning on the way to work I was listening to a show and they were talking about how important it is for girls to play sports because of the friendships and teamwork it builds. I’ve never called in to a radio station before but I had such a strong opinion on this topic that I decided to call. I talked to the guy who was screening the calls and told him my point about how theatre is just as beneficial for girls (or anyone) as playing sports, and he said, “That’s a great point that no one’s made, I’ll put you on hold.” They were on a commercial break at that point and and I wasn’t sure how many people would be ahead of me, but then they came back and suddenly they were saying my name and I was on the radio!

I made my point and we had a nice little conversation about how I did theatre and competed in that in high school instead of sports. It was so exhilarating! If you’re ever listening to the radio and you have something to say, CALL IN! It’s a great feeling having your opinion heard.

On overplayed songs

There aren’t many things in this world that I hate more than hearing the same few songs played OVER and OVER again on the radio.  I actually liked “California Girls” the first time I heard it a few months ago. And the second time. And even a few times after that. But by now I’ve probably heard it about 364593284 times and I want to kill myself whenever it comes on.

Once in a blue moon you finally hear a new song (which I just did in my car) and you get so excited that the first few times you’re THRILLED to hear something different. But before you know it THAT’S the new overplayed song. It’s a vicious cycle. I should stop listening to Top 40 radio.

Educated but Unqualified: The Liberal Arts Dilemma

I have a love-hate relationship with my liberal arts education.

On one hand, I think it’s a genius idea. Why should you have to know what you want to do with your life at age 18? General requirements provide a great opportunity, as annoying as it can be to figure out what to take and when to take them. We may be “adults,” but a lot of us need to be forced out of our comfort zone for the sake of expanding our minds and becoming well rounded, informed citizens. College teaches us to think for ourselves, live on our own, take on challenges, figure out what we want to do rather than just make a huge life decision while we’re still teenagers.

But at the same time, it kills me that in two years I will enter the real world with no legitimate skills. Tom Friedman wrote a great column a few weeks ago called A Gift for Grads: Start-Ups. He talked about how recent grads who are having a hard time finding jobs should just start their own companies. And I completely agree. Young, innovative minds are what we need to boost the economy and fix society’s endless problems. I would LOVE to start my own company when I graduate. I’d do it now if I could.

The problem is, I can’t. Sure, I come up with ideas all the time. Websites, services, products – I dream up all sorts of stuff when I’m bored at work. But I can’t program software, build a website, design a sustainable building, or physically create something I’ve invented in my mind. Yes, some liberal arts majors can do these things. Unfortunately I am not one of those people who thought to major in computer science or physics. Nope, I’m way over in social sciences, studying economics and psychology. Will I be able to apply some of the things I’ve learned in my future career? Probably. Have I gained the concrete skills necessary to create the kind of company Friedman is talking about? No siree. You’d think the econ would help in business, but the psych screwed me over by convincing me that all that supply-and-demand nonsense they teach us doesn’t apply in the real world, where people are irrational.

If I had to go back and do it again, or even if I could transfer now to major in business or engineering or whatever, I wouldn’t. In fact, I would probably drop one of my majors so I could take MORE useless classes in random departments. I think of these years in college as mainly a time to explore and mature. I just hope my “explorations” and internships amount to something in 2 years when I have to get a real job.

Reevaluating

I’ve been thinking a lot about this blog this week: why I started it, who it’s for, what I should write about. Originally I created it because my friends were sick of hearing me talk about the GMAT and my business aspirations, so I didn’t give them (or anyone I know) the link. But I’ve figured out that 1) not many people are reading this, and 2) there are a lot of things I want to write about besides my life. After all, this is a blog, not a livejournal.

Therefore, I have decided to mix things up a little bit in terms of content and actually let people I know read this. I have a list of things I want to write about, so stayed tuned for new posts!

Summer internship: the good and the bad

I contemplated writing a “day in the life” entry about my internship, but that would be really boring. You don’t want to hear about everything I do all day, trust me. So here’s an overview:

Pros:

• GREAT experience for my resume – both my accomplishments/skills I’ve gained and just the company name itself
• My boss is really nice and always tells me how good of a job I’m doing. I know she’ll write an awesome recommendation for me.
• Two words: pay day
• COFFEE. Gotta love that free Keurig machine.
• Other free stuff I’ve gotten: t-shirt, travel mug, and baseball cap with the company name + logo
• I have my own cubicle, laptop, phone, etc
• I went on a business trip a few weeks ago. It wasn’t a very exciting location, but I got to stay in a HUGE hotel suite for 4 nights and have everything paid for by the company.
• There are lots of other interns, and even though none of them are in my department, we have lunch together every day.
• Speaking of lunch, the cafeteria food is better than the food at school.

Cons:

• The work is BORING. Most important thing I’ve learned: this is NOT what I want to do with my life.
• Sometimes I don’t have enough work to do, especially lately. I read the news a lot.
• I get lonely in my cubicle. I really only talk to one person near me, since I don’t work with most of the people on my floor.
• I’m not having much of a summer. During the week I go to the gym and study for the GMAT after work, and then I go to bed pretty early since I have to get up early. So that just leaves weekends. I do try to make the most of those, though.

And that’s my internship! Overall it’s been a good experience. It’s also gone by really quickly – I only have 3 weeks left. I’m already looking for possible internships for this fall…

An essential business skill

Ten weeks into my internship, I finally mastered the art of ironing pants.

What? It’s really hard to get that crease down the middle of the pant leg!

Start-Up Nation: a must-read for all

I just finished reading Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in business/entrepreneurship OR Israel. It’s about the small country’s entrepreneurial culture, but it’s not just an analysis of Israel’s most successful start-ups, which is what I was expecting. The authors, Dan Senor and Saul Singer, also talk a lot about the IDF, which instills in its soldiers the drive to find innovative solutions to problems and the audacity to challenge their superiors. Israel’s companies, such as its branch of Intel, have sustained themselves through countless wars and threats from surrounding nations. This is an insightful book that’s also a quick, easy read. You should read it, and let me know what you think!

A little Sunday morning GMAT prep

I just took the Kaplan online diagnostic quiz that came with my book. I got 29/38 right…76%, not too bad for my first practice quiz, I think. I got a couple wrong in each section except sentence correction – I’m a grammar beast. 🙂 I made some stupid mistakes, and I really need to sloooow dooooown. I finished in 50 minutes, which averages out to a little over a minute for each question. Also, I’m pretty sure the questions were much easier than real GMAT questions, probably because it’s just a diagnostic quiz. So we’ll see how I do when I actually attempt a CAT (which won’t be for a while, since I want to go through the Kaplan book first).

Ok, that’s enough GMAT for today. Now on to my next challenge of the day…going to the gym!

Step 1: Conquer the GMAT

My GMAT preparation has officially begun! I know, junior year of college seems pretty early to be taking the GMAT, especially since I won’t start b-school until 2014 or 2015, if all goes according to plan. But I figured I might as well take it before I forget all that high school math and while I’m still in a test-taking mindset. So here’s my GMAT study plan:

1) Kaplan Premier 2011 – I started going through the math yesterday. When I get finish that, I’ll do the verbal and start taking the Kaplan CAT tests online. Right now my biggest problem is staying focused while studying. It’s been a few years since I’ve taken a standardized test, so it might take some time to get used to again. I’ll try to study from this book for about an hour every night, maybe more on weekends.

2) Manhattan GMAT – I’ve read so many good things about these books on Beat the GMAT and GMAT Club (the 2 forums I visit frequently). My plan is to figure out the areas I need the most work on and get the MGMAT books for them. Plus, these come with more online CATs.

3) Official Guide – From what I’ve read, it seems like a good idea to wait until the end of my studying to use the OG, since it’s the best source of practice questions.

4) Last but not least, I’ll take the GMAT Prep tests, the 2 tests the GMAC has online. These seems to be the most representative of the real GMAT and the score you’ll get on it.

I still don’t know exactly when I’ll take the test. I’m going abroad in the spring, so I need to take it before I leave in January. If I’m ready, I might take it in November or December. It will depend a lot on my schedule, so we’ll see.

Here goes!!!