病牛考G流水账 onion 2004

病牛考G流水账
onion 2004-01-23 15:40:22
（史记binneal本记：binneal者，北京海淀中关村一村民也。自幼固执任性，重理轻文。N年以前，被某大学附中看中，编入实验班列为实验品。实验结果92年公布，binneal科举扣分过百，其中语文一半，其余六门一半。此前涉猎竞赛无数，小奖频频，大奖没有。此后移民上海，研习生命科学。97年许，屡次遭ETS羞辱，GRE 2140, TOEFL 613, 617, TSE 4.5. 于是东渡讨之。后弃理从工，淘金于硅谷。）

考G复习历时3月，最后两周半Full-time，资料以OG和ChaseDream的Gemj大全系列为主. OG的SC坐了三遍，到第二遍(three weeks before the exam)还只有85%的正确率。 Reading只有一遍，accuracy 80%。CriticalReasonning略好90%+。 10 Days before exam, 语法附加题还有30错10地记录。 LSAT, 38-45min, 错2-5个。

摩考：every the other day till the day before last (in order of date taken): kaplan cat1 630, princeton cat1 690, pp3 cat1 780, kaplan cat2 660, princeton cat2 740. 其中pp3都是OG的旧题，princeton cat2 和 cat1 的reading有重。值得一提的是 Kaplan cat1 and cat2 的 reading part正确率都小于25%，和瞎选没区别。CR 95%. 考前翻阅CD前辈手记，很多人都有final score = kaplan + 100 的纪录，于是也以此安慰自己。前辈再三教导的是pace,还有“伤十指不如断一指”的比喻，于是牢记在心。

周六早上6：45起床，shower, 带着贤妻的祝福出门上路。忽得想起红楼梦中黛玉送宝玉时的一句词儿：“你这一去，可是蟾宫折桂去了？”不免好笑。入得考场才知道一个屋子里考什么都有，GMAT, GRE, TOEFL, etc。Anyway, sign up, lock up personal belongings, check in, have picture taken. 一步一步的心跳也随之越来越快，深呼吸，环顾左右, were all useless. 都说交谈有利于放松，于是我就对帮我check in的女孩说：\\"A pretty busy morning, ah?\\" 可以一出口也听出自己中气不足，颤颤悠悠. 接着就逼着自己想人生走过的风风雨雨，和今后MBA路上可能的坎坎坷坷，以这些CONTEXT去“小”这个面前的GMAT. After sitting down, I took 5 minutes in front of my computer, doing nothing but relax. 可惜也无济于事，只好硬着头皮上。 (Noticed that if want to cheat on AWA, you can spend the time writing template down on your scratch papers instead.)

AWA都是熟题，其中一道我两天前还计时写过，可手心就是挥汗如雨，十指像得了Pakinson's Syndrome，一个“because”三遍都敲不对，两个30min便这样噩梦一般逝过。至今不敢想AWA会是如何惨烈。考试紧张从生理学上讲是人受到刺激后神经体液的“正常调节”，和先天因素有一定关系，测谎器就是基于这道理。看来真要克服NERVOUSNESS，没有FBI的TRAINING是不大容易。休息之后是数学，虽然对我理应是如履平川，但是有了这个SO CALLED \\"正常调节\\"相助，当然就不是履平川了，改嫦娥奔月了。前三题每道都是先盯着monitor发呆，然后读三四遍才列出方程。过了前15题，大概是神经疲劳加上体液耗尽，慢慢心跳血压恢复正常，于是重回路面，开始乘风破浪。在第30题前后，有一JJ题，问算下来是 1xx24x.x 的数的百位是几，我想都没想就选了2，百位吗，还能得几？confirm之前突然想起“百分位”是小数点后第2位，所以“百位”一定也是小数点前第2位，不免倒吸一口凉气，马上改成4，庆幸自己悬崖勒马，浪子回头。confirm之后，脑子里腾的冒出个中文“个十百千”的说法，百在三，不在二．大叫不好，刀下留人。可惜箭已离弦，回天无力。此后的2分钟，I was sitting there freezed, motionlessly like a mummy. 就真得像人们说的as if the whole world had crashed on me. 所幸的是平日摹考数学也少有满分，想想（630+100）已经有了safe margin，于是打起精神，重回战场，finished the rest of the questions without much surprise。

During the second break, I went out of the building, took a minute to rinse myself in the fresher air to regain some strength. I reminded myself about the original goal of 700 and the average gmat score of 690 for the part-time MBA program I am applying. Feeling revived, I sat down again in front of my creepy monster friend. (It had WAY passed 5 mins, but who cares)

To my suprise, I sailed through the first 20 questions in verbal section easily. Though I had planned for extra time for better accuracy, the questions were just too straitforward to slow me down. The reading articles, totally different from Kaplan's, are clear and well-writen such that I almost need no re-search to locate answers. I was about 3min+ ahead of my schedule by question number 20, something never happened before during my mock exams. 人吧,一得意就容易忘形, 就此把大好形势葬送在两道CR(critical reasoning)里。

CR一向是我自任的强项，打小儿玩儿的就是归纳演绎，论法命题什么的．从来都是在语法阅读落井下石的时候，CR给我自信。这次真是：“成也逻辑，败也逻辑”。第一道是25题前后，从A到E连看两遍，没一个看着像答案。要是按摹考的pace，也就随手一勾转移战场了。However, this time, it was different, for two reasons: 1) I have extra time to spare 2) it is CR, my home-coming question type. 于是把奇长的题干一字一句反复读了两遍，好像最终是有了“Eureka (I found it) !!!”的顿悟, 抬头一望，才发觉大势不妙，优势近失，立马儿CONFIRM继续。到下一个事先算好的时间刻度(30题)，发现已经落后2min。幸好前面做得好，心里也度定，知道宁可最后猜题也不能现在就慌了阵脚，so I proceeded with calm. Fortunately, the fourth reading article was also not tough at all。只是几道问题都是细节定位，好像system知道你慢就故意拖你时间，我一边做一边心中暗骂摩考中Kaplan阅读的毁人不倦. 接着搞定一道SC,就遇到我的Waterloo第二：38题CR, Time remaining: a bit less than 4 min.

I've forgotten the details about the question, but remember vaguely it was asking about weaking the conclusion of A推出B. 选项当中有两个都非常reasonable,孰好孰坏实难定度。左上角的时间在跳，可对于一个totally engrossed的人而言，时间是凝固的。潜意识中有两个声音在斗争：一个是前辈伤十指vs断一指的古训，另一个是誓斩楼兰的固执和\\"hold on, I am almost there\\"的难以割舍。许多同学好友都觉得我更适合做Scientist, 此时此刻，自己追求完美，优柔寡断的人性弱点果然暴露的淋漓尽致（大概Bussiness真的不适合我？）。就在最终痛下决断，\\"NEXT\\", \\"CONFIRM\\"的一刻，屏幕上同时跳出“TIME OVER”的窗口，宛如晴天霹雳，惊醒梦中人。这才意识到38一题已是时间耗尽，39，40，41三题都未曾谋面。想想所有摩考，最坏也是最后一两道胡填个答案，又想起前辈们提到的UNFINISH PENALTY，就知道这次一定是惨不忍睹。

接着是良心未泯的填ETS的survey,却心乱如麻，不过\\"死不CANCEL\\"的决心是毫不动摇。六几几也好五几几也罢，活要见人死要件是。 MOREOVER, 学校不是说好只看最高吗。接着system好像是问了两遍\\"DO YOU WANT THE SCORE？\\" (daxxxed! 又一ETS险恶之处，恨不得大家都频频CANCEL,便可坐收红利). 每次都心一横眼一瞪：YES! 到这儿又想
起中学课文里李大钊临行前的那句：“此处甚好，就在这儿吧！”(视死如归就是这篇课文学得把？)于是屏幕上终于跳出终审判决： Q:50; V:38; FINAL: 730, 97%. 当时目瞪口呆。 On the way home, the only question stuck in my head was: \\"was it a bug in the software?\\"

这份数，NN们自然称之鸡肋，binneal却也欣然纳之。毕竟是跌跌撞撞的骗到这个分数。也算是对贤妻悉心指导，任劳任怨，无微不至，舍己奉“公”的一点回报。也是对百余小时的PTO(Paid Time Off)一个交待，对因此夭折的计划了一年的DEATH VELLEY CAMPING TRIP的一点补偿。 Just like Rachel once said to Ross in \\"Friends\\", \\"That
is, what my friend calls, 'clo..o..sure'!\\"

(完）
====================================================
后记：Some tips for readers who survived my 胡说八道 (《手机》里说北京人讲的是胡语, 就是胡说八道)

1. For those of you who have trouble interpreting the ticking clock in the corner. It is better to calculate in advance the time marks for your pace based on question numbers. For example: No.1(75min), No.11(..), No.21(37min), ... 否则猛一抬头，根本算不出自己是快了还是慢了，是快多少慢多少。

2. 万一时间不够，放逻辑保语法。逻辑给30sec题干都不一定看得完，语法30sec很多时候至少三个答案已经排除了。千万别学我，匹夫之勇。

3. GMAT习题，出于野路的太多，其中以kaplan的阅读为首，语法大全中一些附加题次之。Again, 前者我考前一周的正确率只有less than 30%. ETS的真正风格却是清晰明了，决不会汤汤水水，混淆视听。考试当天的披荆斩棘便是明证。因此，只有OG可奉为经典，其余可以操练，却不要走火入魔，更切忌以此长敌方之锐气，灭我军之威风。

4. 考Ｇ成败，不过是人生一站（有文：病牛废话）

5．另有刘振民语法书一本，可以奉送。SERIOUS GMATer only, please don't just hold it for storage. Send your address to binneal@hotmail.com. If I don't respond in two days, it means it has gone. 邮费原因限美国．用过之后，希望也以同样方式传与下人．注：此书在下以为和OG比不值推荐．一几之间

　

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