Author Archive - Knewton
The Speedy Road to Insufficiency
Here’s another quick tip for those of you still struggling with the pitfalls of Data Sufficiency. Let’s take a look at the following Official Guide DS problem: If p and q are positive integers and pq = 24, what is the value of p? (1) q/6 is...
The Idiot’s Guide to GMAT Idioms
You may have heard that the GMAT is no longer testing idioms. You also may have heard that the first 10 questions on the GMAT are the most important. You also may have heard that Lindsey Lohan is great at Data Sufficiency. Why...
Intuition and Common Sense on Geometry DS Questions
This GMAT prep post was written by Rich Zwelling. Who cares?” That should be the operative question on your mind as you tackle Data Sufficiency problems. Here’s what I mean: Suppose I ask you the question “What is x?” I then give you a statement that says...
The AWA Isn’t That Important, So Can I Blow It Off?
I want to take a moment to address some common confusion about the Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) portion of the GMAT exam. As many of you inveterate students know, the AWA portion involves two essays, and you get a maximum of 30...
How to Get In the Zone for the GMAT
As a GMAT teacher and tutor, I am often asked about the best way to “get into the zone” to take the exam. After all, no one can sit for a 3.5 hour exam and not occasionally space out or lose focus. There...
Tips for Comparing Fractions on the GMAT
When discussing fractions, I often find a very interesting area of confusion among students. I’ll ask them to compare, for example, 1/3 and 1/4. Almost everyone correctly answers that 1/4 is smaller. “How do you know?” I’ll ask. And this is where...
MBA Dictionary: How To Talk Like a CEO, Part 2
In the second MBA Dictionary post, we cover 16 more corporate and academic terms you should know if you want to fit in in the boardroom and understand your CEO’s jokes. At the same time, make sure not to overuse them, or you’ll...
Puritans and Parallelism on GMAT SC
Recently, I wrote about how some students place too great an emphasis on memorizing grammar rules. This misplaced emphasis can cause those students to eliminate answer choices that are grammatically and logically correct. Let’s look at a sample problem: Jean-Michel Basquiat, who was...
Application Boot Camp: 7 Profile Weaknesses and How to Correct Them
Going into the admissions season, you might feel that your undergrad GPA, your GMAT quant score or that ten-month resume gap you have from 2008 is an albatross around your neck. Don’t worry – even the most glaring of weaknesses can be...
Filling in Your Chart: A Data Sufficiency Primer
In last week’s post, I gave the following Data Sufficiency problem to be solved using a chart: A certain zoo has 288 mammals, 25 percent of which are female. What percent of the mammals in the zoo were born at the zoo? The number of male mammals...
