₦airaland Forum

i intend to write the gmat exam. i hear its a challenging test to
write and people take months to prepare to get a good score.
would like to know how to study to ace this test.
i'm not keen on maths at all ,
what books or resources could deliver a high score , in your opinion.
i'm looking for feedback from those who taken the exam and aced it
or got a good score in it.
subjectively speaking what is the minimal time one can put in to get a
good score. i'm not into that 2 months stuff.
never studied for even a month on any exam so i don't know how i'll
cope with such a long 'year' of book gazing.
i'v bought copies of kaplan gmat and mcgraw hill (2009)
- are they adequate? are they good enough.
if not suggest to me what materials will deliver the learning i need
. i can only take this exam once , dont want to try it a second time.

i intend to write the gmat exam. i hear its a challenging test to
write and people take months to prepare to get a good score.
would like to know how to study to ace this test.
i'm not keen on maths at all ,
what books or resources could deliver a high score , in your opinion.
i'm looking for feedback from those who taken the exam and aced it
or got a good score in it.
subjectively speaking what is the minimal time one can put in to get a
good score. i'm not into that 2 months stuff.
never studied for even a month on any exam so i don't know how i'll
cope with such a long 'year' of book gazing.
i'v bought copies of kaplan gmat and mcgraw hill (2009)
- are they adequate? are they good enough.
if not suggest to me what materials will deliver the learning i need
. i can only take this exam once , dont want to try it a second time.

i'v had some interesting  experiences that could only point to God.
when i was in junior secondary school i had a severe sore throat , my tonsils were swollen and painful. couldnt swallow without wincing.
our househelp told me the best way to remove it was to puncture it with a very sharp stick!!! he really went into the details
and  i got scared. i think i cried myself to sleep ,but i prayed to God that he should deal with it.
hours later i woke up and felt some liquid in my mouth, i spat it out and it was a yellowish stinking substance.it smelt dead.
the sore throat had burst while i slept.I wasnt even born again here.

in university,in my first year , i spent a week or so researching on a term paper only to hear that i have to have my topic approved
before i began the writing. at this stage i was ready to type my paper. i was really exasperated but i asked God to make him approve
the topic i had already written on. so on d day,i submitted my list of topics to him and out of 4 he ticked on the one i had already
written on. i just typed it and submitted it to him - without stress.

I remember when i visited home , i was lying on the bed in the after when i felt a need to get up , well,i roused my self and turned
to look out of the window - behold , was a green snake about to enter in thru a hole in the net. had i not turned then,it could have
dropped on the bed and only God knows what next.
i always get elated when i see this things happen.

@number one
from 1990 to now is about 2 decades . 2 decades is a long time of course inflation will
mark up your investments in real estate for you.
but i think you all drooled on the book - i'm not dying in poverty but
i keep my eyes peeled.

i have bought about 4 of the books in his series and read them - he's a good story teller. his principles are sound - but not novel.

why i say his book is impractical is because it violates economic laws!!!
the law of sowing and reaping . remember kiyosaki started learning at age 9,
went broke at age 38 or so . so he had 31 years of knowledge capital,
it is this capital - not his brokeness - that accumulated so much wealth for him.

much like , the spare part dealer who is a multimillionaire without university education
has years of knowledge capital - his success can't be replicated just cuz you have money or a 4 year degree!!
so for all who go buying this book - in africa - you're being fooled.

then, the cashflow concept.
kiyosaki bought lots of real estate, remember he was broke and poor.
he bought houses, i think 1 in a 100.
now tell me how easy it is for a broke nigerian,remember , no money in home n bank
to achieve this?

na so e easy?? they ship this stuff over here and you guys drool over em.

its a foreign book - i'm not being tribal, but there's more attraction to the foreign.
how about if we had an indigenous success story that was equally REMARKABLE
- we can't cuz there's a whole lot not available for us , and what is not going for you
will make it harder to make money AT THE SAME SPEED kiyosaki makes it over there,
e.g
our natural resistance to competition and innovation is already and impediment,
common indeginous branded computers introduced by zinox generated so much
death threats,
the stock market in the u.s is so capitalized and much larger that huge gains and losses can be made QUICKLY,
here in naija, we're still reading in newspapers of unreceived DIVIDEND warrants,
stock scams,
so when you read of how kiyosaki tells his broker to "short" a stock and uses all
those sophisticated financial techniques and by words your reading from some operating in a far much larger pond , a pond that would swallow the biggest of our
most illustrous entreprenuers . how many open , clean , entreprenuers do we have in
naija? you can count them . by contrasts the richest nations have 10 to 100 times over
why? cuz the means of becoming rich is faster over there.
guys don't let sb fool you - we're so gullible.

stress.

did you do the stress cuz it's cheap?

what about other countries - ukraine,u.s.a,u.k?

read my post carefully.
i said "impractical" not useless , its impractical in the nigerian context and no i wasnt
drunk when i wrote this post.

visit a bookstand - do you buy books a lot? i bet you go for foreign authors?
why?
they are more qualitative in their writing etc.
just one of those colonial indoctrination talking.

i put it here that nigerians have sth wrong with their self perception.

if kiyosaki were a nigerian would so many copies of his book have sold

i'm not being racial. i've read his book and done some thinking.

you buy real estate on the doorstep of a foreclosure - process takes an hour.
what he doesnt directly say is that the american system is so well organized
that a transaction of such nature culd b concluded in so short at time.

that ,i say is not the nigerian context, its the american,japanese,british context.
we read the words but dont see the hints. that economy is super efficient.
and the super efficient legal,accounting,information system CREATES more wealth
for its citizens than could be possible for any one in a languishing system like ours!!!

so while a nigerian may read and drool about how kiyosaki came out of debt in 8 years , sorry guy , in nigeria it may take longer. far longer.

2.) kiyosaki went on a buying spree when the prices of real estate was declining,
have you read his book - he was buying houses like bread.

this was a guy that was homeless and broke not too long ago.

try that in naija.

sorry , it just doesnt fit.

the poster mentioning civil servants - i get your vibes , they say they have houses,
of courses, eventually many people build houses for themselves , they scrapped
a living to build one but i can tell you their houses are typically
what you can build by scraping along.

I don't have a poor mentallity , i just speak the facts -
in a town where sb earns N15 - 50k, on a job. i mean the low earners.
where do you buy land buy house buy up houses in a declining market?
such a fellow picks up kiyosaki's book where the poor earn 10 k dollars.
and the problem with americans is buying a new car every year - guy
that's a different reality.

fact b said, the principles are sound but
its really out of context for all nigerians.
maybe the others on the polar extremes , who are earning well ,say over 100k/year
or 10k dollars / year then they could begin puttin this book into practice.
but for those earning poorly, sorry.

"impract-i-cable" books sold to gullible nigerians day dreaming of hard to see dollars.

i've read some of the books in the series. they make for interesting reading
but from the nigerian perspective , i dont find them too practical.

buy real estate :
how cheap is real estate in nigeria?! .
it takes some people a life saving to afford one property.

the mortgage industry in nigeria doesnt favor the poor.

houses and land are so out of reach here (talking abuja prices)
that majority of the work force of this city reside in the ghetto
areas.
just try to take a bus back home after closing hours- 90% of abuja
lives in mararaba,masaka,nyanya,karu,etc . why?-
because of house rent.


high land prices very poor wages. how do these folks meet up.
and buy land when their salaries are sometimes as low as 10k/month.
or levels of at 18 - 25k/month. this explains why every body wants a bank job or parastal or multinational job.

going by the wage level. capitalism is such a vehicle that dooms many to poverty.
e.g
if you'r stuck on a job and can't change jobs due to obvious factors (age, education, responsibilities), then your salary is the determinant of your level of cashflow . and many many jobs pay way too
low for most folks to be able to beat the rising cost of living .
on the other hand prices of everything is making their take home pay
nonsense.
e.g
transportation , school fees, house rent, clothing, food . u name it all prices are rising to make savings impossible.
how does rich dad poor dads book help out here?
i say , he wrote the book for people in the american economy which is so robust that every body doesnt need to have a college education to
make a good income.
e.g
if a person earning 20K$ / year there is deemed poor.
but a new car can be bought for 25k$ - so he's take home pay is roughly able to get him a new car in 2 years without resorting to
credit loans.
infact one the problems he highlighted in the book as being the
cause of financial hardship for americans is related to their lack
of financial discipline not really the cashflow issue.
e.g somebody going out to buy new car when bored,or buying a new house every 2 years. abuse credit card debts etc.
if nigerians had such opportunities, they wont need anybody to tell
them how to manage.
true, some people in nigeria earn above average but what percentage.
most of the nigerian work force are poor. even N1m/year in salary is
worthless if you've got a family and responsibilities.

in nigeria - the poor - say N300 k / year can't afford a new car (at N4m) in 10 years !!! so see the difference.

In nigeria the policy is for the rich to use the poor.
woe betide you if you end up working in family business or private concern.
the book is not for africans - not by a long margin.

i'm talking of the programmer who thinks of an idea ,programs it and goes around trying to sell his product.
His idea has to rake in the money if he has no side job . And the income
should be as good (maybe in the long run) as if he were working in
somebody else's company.

believe me if you you're the maverick the individualist
who hates being told "how to do it" with time you'll
conform to the trends.
first, you'll be so swamped with work that it would make sense
not to REINVENT THE WHEEL,
when your head has cooled to this extent , you'll be looking
at the libraries that came with your programming language,
rather than rushing to write your own code .

You'll want to not-stand-out too much.
you've heard of this framework,you'll feel left out-
you'll want to in and you'll finally buy the ideas it sells.

with time, yeah,with time -
you'll be so like everybody else.

i've heard so much about it.

this is just an analogy.

lets say your working as a foreman somewhere. you need a hammer to pound some nails thru wood - u reach your hand and grab it.
just like that.
in learning programming its quite different.
your are the foreman and the hammer ,wrapped up in one.
the problem is, as a learner , you don't have a ready made hammer,
you have to CREATE THE hammer FIRST (thru learning)
before you think of pounding nails and making any software.
so why does it take long? hold on .
when you get a book on programming and try learning the syntax,
for a stark new comer, its all jargons to you.
at this stage, you have only rough steel , rough uncut steel.
that's what the hammer head is made off but you can't use the rough steel as it is.
as your learn the language,the syntax seems all so strange,
it seems unfamiliar,it seems hard.
at this stage , the rough steel is in the furnace in your mind,
undergoing melting. it will take time to melt steel down to liquid form. the process is on ,the fire is burning but it will take time.
A lot depends on you - how fast you learn etc but you will not reduce
steel to lava liquid overnight.

next, you understand the syntax, its not so scary anymore,
but you can't write much with it.
you programs are so simplistic.

at this stage the lava has become fully liquid.
but you still don't have a hammer head.
the liquid has to be cooled in a hammer head mould.
how do you cool it- by practising with all the floating concepts you've learned.
this is where practice is most important.
as you practice , your mind or the molten steel begins to take the
shape of the container - it is becoming a hammer head.
not that if you picked up impurities and bad habits they'll set with
the steel too and be hard to shake of later.

then,
after many months/years of practice.
you discover that suddenly its no more guess work beating the air,
fumbling.
you are now writing systems .
at this point the hammer head has set and solidified.
you're using it to pound on wood and drive solutions into problems.
some of your actions occur intuitively.

whichever way,its gonna take time to learn a complex skill like this.

@poster
sth you said caught my attention - "you actually want to do the project yourself"

you're torn between doing it yourself or "outsourcing it" ?

@sweetT

yeah right. third class with good jobs - AND 10 years younger than the poster or 15 years younger.
who'll consider a 33 year old man,
with a third class
which took him double time to get
for a "good job" ?

besides when investing in a candidate for employment ,this high paying
corps aint as foolish as you think to splash money on folks.

its more lik to groom them for the long haul that's why you see some
people with 30 years experience in a particular industry.
such people can easily ascend to CEO at the end of the day.

parry that with a prospective applicant who'se over 30 and you see why
they may not want to consider you - no matter the shine-ness of your degree.

33 or 35/36 after you get the second paper + 30 + 35 years puts you
at 70+

how many ceo today do you see at that age?! (i stand to be corrected)

sorry guy. age counts.

@naija swag

programmers dont need to be at same skill level to mke use
of their skills . e.g java language specification and implementation
was written by programmers who are on different levels from
someone picking up java using java in 21 days book.

u make 100 million /yr. what of those who can programme expertly
but can't do the business side properly.
and the economy dictates your earnings to an extent.
e.g
if you're in an industrialized area its easier than in a rural area.

so you self taught . good.
how long have you been programming or learning to justify your
qualification to teach others?

what apps besides the App in progress have you made that can make student
waive your lack of formal training.

am i sure you follow international and respected standards in writing your code
(gui's can be deceptive- no one sees the codes behind em )
same as one who got his knuckles rapped by his professors in college?

what's your current reading list?
fill me in . solicitor for the ignorant . before they part with their money.

THE word is DEVELOPER -- get it.

a developer is not a programmer strictly per se.

a DEVELOPER can take an idea -- and give life and form to the smokey concept.
he can take facebook from idea to website
and so on.
Developers can go the whole nine yards in the software creation process.
conceive idea ---> design/architect it ---> decide which programming langauge to use --> code it --> debug /test it --->
document the API's ---> etc

A programmer (strict types )

receive schema and diagrams about the concept --> are told what language to use --->
code the system up ---> submit to testers and q and a . --> sign off .

see the difference.
though sometimes the names are used interchangeably.

s t . u . p - i . d answer NOT SILL Y ANSWER .

that's a stupid answer you gave.

computer scientist do ponder about:

operating systems,
compilers
etc.

software engineers
--------
architect and engineers system applying engineering principles to the process
of software development.
software engineers also double as developers.
a developer who has read enough books on software engineering techniques,
e.g design patterns, design methodologies etc.
software engineering is very practical as well as theoretiical
as opposed to pure computer science
some graduates of computer science can't even write simple software
but give them maths problems they'll blow it away for you.
a software engineer worth his salt aint so.
already is acquiring the skin of a software engineer

poverty .

no money to eat nutrishous foods.
no money to treat terminal illnesses
no money to buy a car and other conveniences that reduce the stress of life
no money to hire helpers- leading to overworking the body leading to pre mature death
no money to live in a safer neighbourhood . the poor are so vulnerable
to human abuse and maltreatment
no money to acquire information that could make one more wealthy - seminars, books,
videos, etc. poor man dey work baboon they chop.
when poverty bites - u wont be thinking of heartbreak.
notice that the death rate in POORER countries is lower. LIFE EXPECTANCY IN POORER COUNTRIES IS LOWER.

when did you become an atheist?

please share your story of how you became an
atheist ?

what prompted you to make that decision

do you come from a family of atheists - (no insults meant here)

which religion do you particular find repugnant?

which religion do you find - nearly acceptable if you
wanted to be religious -

what are you views on :

death

pre/post marital sex

stealing

lying

murder

afterlife

many views on the above subjects are influenced by religion.

without religious injunctions the actions become amoral.

if you can't accept a God you can't see you will eventually bow to a god
you can see and feel and that builds schools in zulu land for her kin mates.
oprah says, oprah is deity so some people ,especially mind zapped women.
why is she not um pregnant and with child anyway?
she should be pumping her babies with her philosophies not airing
in public.
when a media personality says rubbish it makes headlines and her fans
call it truth.

@reverend

she happy with the child and the illicit sex
but wants Who to bless her marraige?
who will the pastor be praying to bless the union?
is the God of the bible whose rules for holy matrimony she broke?
or is a god she invented that she can dictate to and still get his blessing?

the sista was unlucky the belle show before the wedin
what those that have been going allnight (tdb)
,multi round sex , time and time again
and yet no belle show.
they got married in style. big smiles lots of praise and fanfare
.
as for the sista and the broda , the issue is not the pre-marital sex
its their hearts - are they really sorry. are they repentant about it
or did they just want not to be found out.

wonderful nairaland - no reply or response to this posting!!!
. it's not funny . God help me o!! and my loved ones.

@jinwetime

your vocalness i boring. quite typical.
sb said atheism is not a religion - but why do you feel so STRONGLY against God.
since you bring up the "atrocities " of God in the OT .
did you read what God -the wicked ,tyranical God went through- to rescue the nation
of Isreal out of egypt?
was it a wicked God that would do that?
biased arguments .
nobody is saying don't be an atheist - it's your free will . use it.
but argue balancedly.
Is a wicked God that would give a 90 year old woman child?
is that wickedness.
we had a dictator in nigeria- abacha.
nigerians lived in fear. but when the children of isreal made it across the red sea the rejoiced.
is rejoicing a feature of a tyrannical rule.
What of the widow who would hav died of starvation - God sent his prophet to her?
and saved her from losing her sons as slaves? is that wicked?
when a human judge sentences a criminal to the electric chair? is such a one shouted down as wicked?
we accept it that the criminal had to b executed.
when a mob lynches a criminal after they've been harrassed by criminals in that locality for a long time- do you campaign for FG to sent troops to sack the area?
in their anger the mob meted out justice?
so how come with man - you understand the brutality of justice but with God you call him a tyrant?
he should have spared injustice right?
in your concept of kind - you mean tolerate and condone what is evil right?
if you have a child you'll spank that child - why? to kill the child? or to make him better?
since you quoted the OT, read proverbs 4 . it says God disciplines those he loves.
the children of isreal however,like many of us, we in love with sin and kept on persistently doing wrong - going after false idols, worshipping idols - sacrificing their children in fire to idols ? children God gave them.
God should fold his hands and clap for them right?
nigeria,is a mess because theives loot the treasury and walk free. law makers cart home so much while other make barely below minimum wage.
so much evil. and it is condoned- what's the end result.
i'm not trying to convince you. but don't baised.
A wicked God won't sew cloths of skin to cover Adam and eve after they sinned,
their original idea was shabby - cloths of leaves.
you're free to be an atheist. fact is - God doesnt take anybody to heaven and God doesnt send anybody to hell.
we choose where we want to end up. The bible says - christ died for the sinner WHILE we were yet in sin and some where else it says everybody has been raised up with Christ - restored in fellowship - because Christ has been raised from the dead.
its up to you and me whether to accept the offer.
like a stadium with free tickets, its up to anyone to pick the ticket and go. its free.
sin is a non-religious issue.
if you believe the OT so much and could see God as a tyrant. have you seen the verse
that says "sin is a reproach" to any nation? (oh , you skip over such)
nigeria - a nation in darkness - ,so much poverty,greed,wickedness - the bible says
the problem is sin . Government says its sth else.
God says sin is in the heart of man- all men are born evil. only the blood of his son
can cleanse it.This is not religion- you and every nigerian is suffering the very manifestation of sin.

i hear of testimonies of healing from nth parties and
it seems when the storms of life hits most christians have to go
the usual way.
well, i was wondering about all the narrated events in the bible where
God's intervention made the difference.
how come they don't happen anymore today?
and if you say they happen - narrate an incident from personal experience possibly
in your life not here say.
the testimonies i here are engineerable - ie. if God wasnt in it , man could have been in it to work it. but when confronted with disease or such - if it gets cured after soliciting
God - then it makes such a difference.

religion is the framework on which we hinge the choices that steer our lives.
you cannot not be religious - simply because you cannot afford not to make a choice in life.
the system of canons that form the bedrock for filtering life may be written or unwritten, but you send conflicting and non conflicting events that confront you in life to this system to give you an answer on how to respond to daily events.
every body has this system, this system is influenced by your religion , education, beliefs.
for a christian, non-religious matters like eating and fun - will be weighed by the system that influences his philosophy the bible, the bible is the Word of God to him,
the God of the christian wants to play a role in his day to day life and influence his
decision making,in day to day affairs. this is not the picture of religion that is left in
the church after a church service.
for a christian, sleeping around, stealing, fighting would be forbidden actions why?
because of his guiding belief system . what's so religious about thinking of stealing
fat sums of money? or fighting your enemies physically? or having extra,pre marital affairs? these choices confront all alike - whether you adhere to a religion or not.
but you have to respond to the choices and make an a decision - your religion influences your decision.
therefore since everybody makes such decisions - EVERY BODY ON EARTH HAS A RELIGION.
you can't make every day choices and not have a religion.its impossible.
and when you change religions - and adhere to it tenets and teachings - it will influence how you make everyday choices. religion is nt sth esoteric locked away in mystique remote halls. religion is life and how you live it.
who you worship shows , eventually.
e.g
some fundamentalists , kill and maim, for their religion. their religion says this is okay.
if you're an atheist, given the choice to loot, philander,etc lie,you'll make a choice?
given an option to retaliate when insulted , you'll make a choice.
you'll follow a system even if your system is undefined.
so your religions is based on 1. ) logic - if it not explainable and graspable by the human intellect - its not true. that's intellectualism ,which is a god.
notice how many highly educated people fall for atheism- its because of the god of intellectualism.
2.) pride - pride here is - the belief that human mind knows all there is to know about
God and so human mind can reveal God - well,
human mind can't even reveal all there is to know about the universe, not to talk
of understanding a subject as had to define as God.
for the christian- God says there is way above logic - its called faith.
its like teaching a kid to fly a plane- the kids brain can't understand in theory how it works so he has to believe that his teacher is right and knows what he is doing,the kid
has to accept the teachers instruction in faith.
God's way is past finding out - meaning- logic is limited. logic is the principal method of
discovering knowledge in the sciences. good for man. but it is not the only way.
there is a higher plane, sorry logic won't work there- you'll never be able to fully
understand God thru your mind.
but atheism is a religion.

could the long hours - developers spend staring at glaring screens,
result in them needing specs?
these breed look at tubes more than couch potatoes.
is it inevitable? like if one does this thing for 20 years ?

ok.this is often overlooked.

i'll be the first to admit- i always fell for that certifier.I still do.
i've been programming for Y years!!! do you know me.
That's cool.
Then the portfolio thing- wow!!! you're cool.
but with the habit so entrenched - you may b doing somthings
so wrong for so long and so blind to it.
- this is the problem with too much confidence in the past.
one could get addictd to old ways and not want to change until
its glaring that he's gotten athritic in his past and cant run
with the newest hottest ideas no more.
Even einstein got it and wouldnt accept new theories in his field
. human nature maybe. but overconfidence in the past could be
a signal the user is um living in his blindspot until his titanic
sinks he may be too far gone in overconfidence land.
what's worse- his reputation sways others to him.
microsoft almost became history - it took living in the blind spot
,too much success , for them to overlook Dell,the young,see there again , YOUNG - [the young are literally too ignorant to know what
the current acceptable blind spot is so they just create the
new trend. its not about age,but what you do not have- the young
don't yet KNOW ANYTHING,INCLUDING THE GARBAGE the MATURE FOLKS HAVE
that is giving them glaucoma . ]
well,it took the young,it always almost takes the young to
see what the old and mature dont see.
- the problem here is not with those who could tell where you
doing things wrong for so long ,like those who allowed flies step
on their food for so long before it was discoverd that those buzzers
were vectors (hehe - a programming term !! ).
- it for those who dont know and can be foold - thats the pity.
it boils down to what one martial arts don said.
when i'm done and dead ,bury me in a white belt!!
X years of training- always reassessing.always relearning - willing
to learn,relearn take anoda view. yeah this is more important.


actually relearning and reassessing is more important than past achievement.
and this is where its so hard to judge objectively.
like, what new information intake has one acquird in his field.
is your passion still high? cooling off?
are you becoming too old to do that? to do almost everything?
have you "passed that level"?
are you an old dog that cn't be taught new tricks?
in the world today- back to school is so hip.its back to school for life.
ever learning.
and its possible cuz they've been companies that have been in existence
for i'd say 2 centuries!!! - they succeeded and still succeed and their still
relevant.