Learning Mandarin too? Create a Personal learning log and an Error log

Personal Learning Log

Objectives

Complete > 10 chapters in both Spanish and Chinese.

Complete all four MGMAT books. (RC, EQ, SC and WT).

Task

Update progress table when possible.

Week 1 & 2	Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat
Reading Comprehen
Equations
Sentence Correction
Word Translation
Spanish
中文

Task for each week day:

One chapter from each GMAT book per day (IV).

One chapter from each language book per day (II).

Week 1: Weekend Review

Week 2: Mock exam for GMAT.

Mock listening  and oral Test for Spanish and Chinese.

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TIP 1:

On beatthegmat.com, the general advice is to keep an error log. In their own words:

“Be sure to track your errors. One of the most common mistakes that GMAT test takers make when preparing for the GMAT is that they do not spend time to track their performance on practice problems/tests.  It’s absolutely critical to keep a log of your errors in order to determine your strengths and weaknesses; this will allow you to tailor your GMAT prep to ensure to focus on the specific subjects where you need the most help.”

I have decided to apply this advice to my language learning experience as well as the GMAT preparation.

Do check out:

How To Learn From Your Errors article written by MGMAT. It is good to get the general idea and then apply some of their advice to your language learning approach.

TIP 2: Your success depends on how well you implement necessary changes and maintain those changes.

TIP 3: Don’t dwell on the past, just move on. Somedays you will not do anything, and on other days you will triple your efforts. My experience from revising for the GMAT has taught me that discipline and tracking your errors are key. My experience has also taught me that when working in a team, I thrive when I receive and give feedback. The GMAT and Chinese learning activities are activities that I undertake alone and I will now have to think of ways to say and receive well dones from myself. <— This must sound odd to some but it is something that I discovered and I think that if I can work on this, I will encounter fewer learning obstacles.

 

谢谢

 

 

On writing Chinese… A time consuming journey

Learning to understand Chinese is one thing. Learning to read Chinese is another thing. Writing Chinese is time consuming, I have decided to cut that out of my Chinese learning diet and prioritising RECOGNITION over recalling and writing characters from memory. In a bid to race through this initial process of learning Chinese and getting to a higher level of language I will skip the writing for a good three months at least. 

Nonetheless, I have thought up ways of working on character recognition. One of those ways is simply creating flash cards with words that I know that contain the new character I want to learn. I match a flash card with the new Chinese character to a flash card with a word whose root contains the new Chinese character. I think this is known as making associations. Here I am associating single characters to a group of characters that are a part of a word. 

This seems to work so far. I am advancing in the learning, and not being slowed down by the Chinese character memorising exercise. I wonder what you think about doing this? 

As you can tell, learning is organic. It changes and changes and you really need to keep up with yourself  

 

 

Back to Basics

I had to take a break from Chinese. I continued to watch Chinese films and the CCTV channels regularly while dedicating my soul to GMAT revision. As it turns out, I took the exam and failed miserably. I will therefore be retaking the GMAT in July/August and will go back to my Chinese lessons.

I realise that I have a a wealth of information and a wide range of material to choose from for my Chinese learning. However, I discovered that nothing makes me more confident than starting a book and finishing it. That is what I intend to do with my ‘METHODE 90 Chinois’ for beginners book on learning Chinese for French speakers. There are exactly 90 lessons in this book of which I have finished 15 chapters, but that was over 3 months ago. My task for the month of June is to review all my lessons, and reach chapter 45 by end of July.

That said, my task for this weekend is to draw up a timetable in which I will divide my day among active GMAT studies (Verbal and Quantitative), work, Chinese and I am adding Spanish to the mix. My Spanish book is the ‘METHODE 90 espagnol’ for beginners for French speakers.

My task for the month of June 2012 is to finish:

• all 8 MGMAT books
• go through the forums on GMATCLUB.com <– not exploiting this resource is one of the main reasons for failing.
• 20 chapters in the Chinese book
• > 20 chapters in the Spanish book

My goal is to develop a routine and change my learning method. I opted for a learning method that is similar to Spaced Learning. I must emphasise that the most import aspect in learning anything is keeping to a schedule that has an end and a beginning. There is no point in spending hours learning something, it could prove to be counterproductive. In my case, I know that I spent too many long hours learning and not enough on recalling and then applying. Today, I am doing things differently and the GMATCLUB.com is a very inspiring site.

For those living on the African continent with access to DSTV, we now have eight Chinese speaking channels instead of three. Isn’t that great??? My family though does not appreciate the beauty of the Mandarin language I think it is a form of torture to them… ha!

 

GMAT (Completed sessions 1 and 2) out of 9

I still revising for the GMAT. I am using the KAPLAN GMAT to frame my revision. The book has 9 sessions, of which 8 are lessons and exercises and the 9th is a revision of the prior sessions as well as more advanced exercises. I have officially finished the first two sessions.

The first session

The first session focuses on the Core Competencies basically highlighting the need to thinking critically, recognise patterns, paraphrase the given information before attempting the question and finally paying attention to detail. It seems like a lot, and blimey! it is a lot to do all at once when it does not come naturally.

The Core competencies apply to both the Quantitative and Verbal sections of the GMAT test. After applying or being very aware of the Core Competencies, you now look at the Exercise. Focus on the question first, read the question stem and then Read Strategically at all moments. Reading strategically is important because you save a lot of time and keep your brain power intact and ready for more difficult questions. 

The Second Session

The Second session, helps you to demystify many awkward, mean looking questions. Kaplan introduces you to their method. First of all all Quantitative questions are divided into either Problem Solving questions (PS) or Data Sufficiency questions (DS). 

Each one has its own Kaplan Method.

When faced with a PS question, you first need to Analyse the question, you simplify the whole exercise by rephrasing the data, state the task and then you answer the question and you confirm (double check) your answer before moving on. You always have a choice of 5 answer choices to choose from. They are ordered in ascending order with A being the lowest number and E being the highest. 

Knowing that the answer choices are in ascending order can save you a lot of time because it means that when you are faced with a complex set of calculations and you have your equation all set out with all the variables and the only unkown variable X is one of the five choices. You can start with (B). If after plugging in (B), you find that the result is too low, then plug in (D). If (D) is still too low then you are sure that it must be (E). Before you validate (E) double check that (E) is correct by plugging it in and then you can validate.

The opposite is also true. If After plugging in (B) the result is too high, then you are sure that it is (A). Double check (A) by plugging it in, and then validate your answer. 

How does this strategy help? Well it saves you a lot of time, you end up testing a maximum of 3 choices instead of going through all five choices. Also instead of wasting your brainpower on solving the equation you prepare the equation and you plug in the possible values. You feel less tired. 

 

Weaknesses

Often when faced with a question, I read the question, read the data then start solving without looking at the answer choices. Wrong thing to do! You spend a lot of time calculating and you run out of time simply because you are not using the multiple methods available to you are even exploiting the fact that some answer choices are logically impossible.

My other weakness is that I simply naturally freak out, I am a bad test taker and I am working on undoing this attitude I have towards maths and test taking in general, needs to go away.

Objectives

I am not anywhere near my goal, my GMAT score I think is 500, and I’d like a 650 minimum  Is that too much to ask? I don’t know. I have one more week left to concentrate on the KAPLAN lessons and the weeks after that will be spent just practising day in day out. Maybe, hopefully practise a max of 80 questions per/day and in the afternoon work on the corrections, so that in the evening I ‘retake’ the failed questions. I don’t know. I hate planning what I have to do for the next week because I often do the opposite. I suck at planning, I need to stay in the present and do what I can do. 

Next week, I’ll be back in Paris for 10 days, to change scenery and hopefully optimise my learning abilities and keep my motivation. 

 

GMAT EXAM

I have rescheduled my GMAT exam for the 16th of MAY, but I want to be done with all my lessons by the 18th of April 2012. So that all i concentrate on are the exercises. I think that is possible. I really do hope that the exam will go well and that I will find the maturity and the self confidence not to flip out in front of the computer  

Thanks for reading  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blog Break – GMAT PREP

My thoughts

In an effort to organise my current life, I have taken a break from blogging and active Chinese learning. I just hope I won’t regret it. I am currently working on the GMAT which is the prerequisite for applying to Business school or simply doing a master’s degree. I have been procrastinating for a while but now my exam is down on paper.

On the 26th of April 2012, Inshallah, I will take the exam in PARIS PARIS and say goodbye to procrastination and hello to the beginning of another journey.

I could document this journey for those of you who may be interested . We shall see. I know that if I do document my 25 days to GMAT heaven, I will stay on track (well I sincerely hope so), and if I don’t I should forget about going to B-school.

In the meantime I will be between Paris (place of examination) and Nantes (my current home). Mid way through the month, I’ll move to Paris just to change environment and to stay on track.

All I know is that I can’t wait to get THIS out of the way and then concentrate on Chinese and Japanese while maybe preparing my essays. I don’t think I will make it for the HSK exam grins… I may make it for the december session.

I wish you all a month free of procrastination and a Happy Easter of course.

TOOLS I WILL BE USING:

GMAT CLUB site,

MGMAT books (all 8),

VERITAS PREP (6),

KAPLAN (1),

PRINCETON CD.

 

 

xx