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17 Jul 2014, 11:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: School Profile: Dreams Come True at the University of Michigan |
 Perhaps the most unusual fun fact about the University of Michigan, ranked #45 among schools on the Veritas Prep Elite College Rankings, is that it was founded in 1817, twenty years before Michigan was even a state. The beautiful campus, located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is home to more than 42,000 students; over 27,000 of those are undergraduates who are enrolled in 13 schools that offer 250 degree programs. Undergraduates can choose from nationally ranked schools of literature, science, and the arts; architecture and urban planning; art and design; business; dentistry; education; engineering; kinesiology; music, dance, and theatre; nursing; pharmacy; public policy; and information. The most popular majors by enrollment are economics, experimental psychology, political science, business administration, and English. Special academic opportunities include collaborative specialized studies in First-Year Seminars, or independent and fully supported research in the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program. Michigan students can research health care in Bangladesh, study language in Peru, learn about Central European politics in Poland, or participate in any one of over 100 international programs through the Center for Global and Intercultural Study. Michigan is ranked #15 in the world among the Times Higher Education world reputation rankings. The opportunities at this school are unbounded. The University also boasts Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning faculty, in addition to Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellows, Carnegie and Fulbright scholars, Emmy winners, and more. A full 97% of the faculty teach undergraduates. Famous alumni include actress Lucy Liu; the co-founder of Google, Larry Page; and former U.S. President Gerald Ford. Dreams really do come true at the University of Michigan. Freshmen are guaranteed housing in one of the 18 dorms or apartments on campus. The entire campus is smoke-free indoors and out, and 28% of student housing is substance free. Gender inclusive housing for students who identify as transgender or gender non-conforming is available upon request. The University of Michigan has over 60 Greek fraternities and sororities and involves 17% of undergraduate students. University Unions offer study spaces, computer access, billiards and games, galleries and music, restaurants and cafes, and venues for student events. Students can make an impact on or off campus by joining one of over 1000 student-run organizations, or giving back through volunteering at the Ginsberg Center. The University of Michigan has 13 men’s and 14 women’s NCAA Division I sports teams competing in the Big Ten Conference. An athletic powerhouse, Michigan athletic teams have amassed a whopping 56 national championships in 12 sports since winning their first national football title in 1901. They’ve produced 307 individual national champions in 13 sports, three of which were in the 2013-14 school year. During the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, of the three American Olympic ice dancing teams, 5 members were from the University of Michigan; one pair, Michigan students Meryl Davis and Charlie White became the first Americans to take home the gold. Michigan not only draws top intellectual talent, but top athletic talent to the school, who are wildly supported by an enthusiastic Ann Arbor community. Michigan has a plethora of traditions, some of which revolve around football. Each year when Michigan plays Michigan State, the rivalry involves the protection of the Paul Bunyan Trophy from the opposing team’s graffiti. The Michigan vs. Minnesota rivalry is played for the Little Brown Jug, which is the oldest in the Big Ten, has a comical origin between the two schools. The granddaddy of all football rivalries is with Ohio State, called “the greatest sports rivalry of the 20th century” by ESPN. Among the many game day traditions, one of the longest and most interesting is that for every home game, Michigan reserves a stadium seat in an undisclosed location for their former head coach, Fritz Crisler; when attendance is announced, the number is always +1 in his honor. The Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house creates a mud pit each Homecoming on Saturday afternoon where rival fraternities play full contact mud football. Other school traditions include painting the rock at the corner of Washtenaw and Hill Streets and kissing under the Engine Arch at midnight. Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan are an integrated community. The urban school is fully embraced and supported by the business community and the community at large. On football Saturdays, the energy and sense of community in the city is palpable; they love their Wolverines. Ann Arbor also has a thriving arts and cultural scene, an incredible variety of great restaurants along restaurant row downtown, and a passion for the outdoors. There are over 156 parks in the city, many along the Huron River, which offer all kinds of outdoor activities year round. The city of 115,000 has a wholesome, down-to-earth vibe mixed with the high energy of people who are passionate about innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship. They warmly embrace an intellectual exchange with University students and offer abundant opportunities to work together. If you’re looking for a vibrant, urban school where you’ll feel welcomed and at home, as well as challenged and inspired, the University of Michigan should be on your short list. Still need to take the SAT? We run a free online SAT prep seminar every few weeks. And, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! Also, take a look at our profiles for The University of Chicago, Pomona College, and Amherst College, and more to see if those schools are a good fit for you. By Colleen Hill |
17 Jul 2014, 13:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: Increase Your Speed on Reading Comprehension GMAT Questions |
 One common complaint that people have when finishing the GMAT is that they are mentally exhausted. Indeed the exam is a marathon that tests your overall endurance, but also your time management skills. You have about two minutes per question in the math section, and slightly less than that on the verbal part. Since timing is such an integral part of the exam, it’s important not to lose too much time on any specific question type on the exam. It’s perfectly natural to be more at ease with certain question types and thus process them faster than others, but you don’t want to have entire categories of questions you’re trying to avoid (or at least, not too many of them). Last week, I discussed timing issues on a quantitative question, and many of the concepts covered are applicable to the verbal section as well. Maintaining a good pace and avoiding spending undue time on perplexing questions are fundamental elements of a good GMAT score. However, I wanted to delve further into a particular type of question that often causes timing issues on the exam. Particularly when exhausted near the end of the test, students often dread coming across protracted Reading Comprehension passages. Reading Comprehension (or RC for friends and family) poses a unique challenge on the GMAT. Every quantitative question and every other type of verbal question is entirely self-contained. A question will ask you about something, and then the following problem will be a completely different question about a completely different topic. Reading Comprehension questions ask you three, four and even five questions about the same prompt, and the prompts can be dozens of lines. Indeed, the first question on Reading Comprehension expects you to read through the entire passage, creating an inherent timing concern. Surely you can’t be expected to read through the entire passage in 2 minutes? (You are expected to do so, and don’t call me Shirley.) Indeed, you can read through the passage in about two minutes, but you’re unlikely to be able to both read the passage and answer the (first) question posed during that span. For RC questions, I often find the best strategy is to separate the passage from the questions. If you read the question first, you risk skewing the analysis of the passage towards the question you have in mind, so it’s best to read the passage first without reading the question on the opposite side of the screen. The goal of this initial reading is to be able to identify the main idea of each paragraph and the primary purpose of the passage as a whole. You can read the passage in about 2 minutes and then spend about 1.5 minutes on each question, yielding a total of 8 minutes for 4 questions, roughly what you’d expect to spend holistically. Let’s try this approach on a GMAT Reading Comprehension passage. At the end of each paragraph, try to summarize the main idea in about 3-5 words. You can even write these words down if you want, but it should be sufficient to think about the ideas. Biologists have advanced two theories to explain why schooling of fish occurs in so many fish species. Because schooling is particularly widespread among species of small fish, both theories assume that schooling offers the advantage of some protection from predators. Proponents of theory A dispute the assumption that a school of thousands of fish is highly visible. Experiments have shown that any fish can be seen, even in very clear water, only within a sphere of 200 meters in diameter. When fish are in a compact group, the spheres of visibility overlap. Thus the chance of a predator finding the school is only slightly greater than the chance of the predator finding a single fish swimming alone. Schooling is advantageous to the individual fish because a predator’s chance of finding any particular fish swimming in the school is much smaller than its chance of finding at least one of the same group of fish if the fish were dispersed throughout an area. However, critics of theory A point out that some fish form schools even in areas where predators are abundant and thus little possibility of escaping detection exists. They argue that the school continues to be of value to its members even after detection. They advocate theory B, the “confusion effect,” which can be explained in two different ways. Sometimes, proponents argue, predators simply cannot decide which fish to attack. This indecision supposedly results from a predator’s preference for striking prey that is distinct from the rest of the school in appearance. In many schools the fish are almost identical in appearance, making it difficult for a predator to select one. The second explanation for the “confusion effect” has to do with the sensory confusion caused by a large number of prey moving around the predator. Even if the predator makes the decision to attack a particular fish, the movement of other prey in the school can be distracting. The predator’s difficulty can be compared to that of a tennis player trying to hit a tennis ball when two are approaching simultaneously. According to one explanation of the “confusion effect,” a fish that swims in a school will have greater advantages for survival if it (A) tends to be visible for no more than 200 meters. (B) stays near either the front or the rear of a school. (C) is part of a small school rather than a large school. (D) is very similar in appearance to the other fish in the school. (E) is medium-sized. This passage only has two main paragraphs, and really each one is mostly about a theory as to why fish form schools (theory C: to get business degrees). We can summarize the first paragraph as the evasion theory and the second paragraph as the confusion theory. Overall the passage is primarily concerned with differing theories as to why fish tend to regroup in many disparate situations. Looking over the question, it is specifically concerned with the “confusion effect”, which was theory B in the second paragraph. We can now focus our attention on the second paragraph to answer the question about survival. Rereading the passage, nothing was mentioned about the front or back of a school, as well as the size of the school, which eliminates answer choices B and C. Answer choice E similarly makes decisions based on the size of the fish, which was only discussed in terms of small fish. We can fairly quickly eliminate this choice as being a medium sized fish was never even mentioned. Only answer choices A and D remain. Answer choice A is mentioned in the general sense for all fish in schools, and so would be a dubious choice as a great advantage since it applies to all fish in a given school. This is equivalent to saying we should promote Bob because he breathes oxygen. Answer choice D offers a logical choice, which is almost verbatim in the middle of the second paragraph “In many schools the fish are almost identical in appearance, making it difficult for a predator to select one.” This answer lines up with the text and we’ve eliminated the other four choices, making D an easy selection (also possibly recalling memorable moments from Disney’s Finding Nemo). The questions on Reading Comprehension tend to be somewhat less tricky than the other verbal sections (Sentence Correction and Critical Reasoning). This difference is somewhat due to the fact that reading through passages takes time and inherently contributes to the difficulty of the question. The trouble isn’t just finding the right answer, it’s reading through 300 words of drivel without falling asleep and then isolating the important aspect to answer the given question. Especially since the verbal section is the last section of this test, it’s important not to waste too much time and get mentally fatigued. A good timing strategy is crucial to getting the best possible result on your GMAT. Plan on taking the GMAT soon? We have GMAT prep courses starting all the time. And, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! Ron Awad is a GMAT instructor for Veritas Prep based in Montreal, bringing you weekly advice for success on your exam. After graduating from McGill and receiving his MBA from Concordia, Ron started teaching GMAT prep and his Veritas Prep students have given him rave reviews ever since. |
18 Jul 2014, 10:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: Would You Pass the Very First SAT? |
 In Spring 2016, College Board will yet again roll out a revised version of the SAT Test. It is reported to mirror the coursework a student would encounter in high school and will return to a 1600 scale and an optional essay. The test has been redesigned, revised, and reworked continuously for decades. Let’s explore the history of the SAT and pose the question, “What was the first SAT like?” At the turn of the 20th century, a group of northeastern colleges convened at Columbia University in an effort to set standards for secondary school education and to create an examinations for college-bound students in a variety of subjects. The result? The College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB), a company that has lasted over a century and exists today as the College Board. Originally, all the college examinations were subject tests, ranging from Botany to Latin, similar to the SAT Subject Tests that are administered today. However, instead of multiple choice questions and an 800-point scale, the tests consisted entirely of essay questions and were scored on a scale from “excellent” to “very poor” in a fashion similar to the modern AP exams. The CEEB’s model, however, morphed slightly in 1926 when the very first SAT (back then, an acronym for Scholastic Aptitude Test) was created by a Princeton psychologist named Carl Brigham, who had previously aided the US Army in rewriting the examinations for officer candidates. On June 23, 1926, just over eight thousand students took the test. For the most part, the 1926 SAT bore a closer resemblance to an IQ test than to the more familiar math, reading, and writing questions of today’s SAT. It included nine “sub-tests,” each of which examined a different skill set; logical inferences, analogies, and identifying patterns in number series. There were no “bubbles” to fill in or essay section. Most questions could be answered with a number, word, or brief phrase. Additionally, there was a section that tested students’ ability to learn vocabulary and grammatical rules…in a made-up language. Students were asked to translate a series of sentences in an artificial language into English. In another subtest, students were provided with definitions from a variety of subjects with a corresponding number of words in alphabetical order. They were instructed to match each definition with the correct term in the list of words. The biggest difference, however, was the race against the clock. Compared with today’s test of 3 hours and 45 minutes, the SAT in 1926 allowed only 97 minutes to answer 315 questions. This requires a rate of 3 questions per minute, which is unthinkable given the amount of time spent just to read the directions for each subtest. So whether you’ve just recently taken the SAT or you’re about to join the millions who have, just remember you’re not the first to wrestle through the long lists of vocabulary words and math problems in the hopes earning a ticket to your dream college. If anything, the test today is more manageable than it was some 88 years ago! Still need to take the SAT? We run a free online SAT prep seminar every few weeks. And, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! Michael Rothberg is a Veritas Prep SAT instructor. He began tutoring his freshman year of college and is excited to help students conquer the SAT by unlocking their academic potential. Currently a rising sophomore at Harvard University, he is a Cognitive Neuroscience and Evolutionary Psychology major and Staff Reporter at the Harvard Crimson. |
18 Jul 2014, 12:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: GMAT Tip of the Week: 5 Questions To Ask When Preparing For Your GMAT Retake |
 If you’re taking the GMAT with the intent of applying to a top-tier business school, there’s a relatively fair chance that you’ll end up having/wanting to retake the GMAT. Which may sound horrible, but it’s true – in fact, several top schools note that their average students take the test more than twice, so if you see a frustrating score pop up during your first, second, or even third attempt don’t let yourself get too down. Rest assured that: -Schools only care about your highest score -A frustrating GMAT performance can be a fantastic teaching tool to help you maximize the score on your applications They key to bouncing back from a poor performance is to analyze it soon after you took the exam, and to do so in a way that helps you address all the items that contributed to a rough outing. To do that, you should ask yourself these five questions within a few days of having taken the test: 1) Did you have any pacing issues? And to follow up more closely: Did you have to rush/guess/not-finish? Did you end with more time left than you thought you would? In either case, you didn’t pace yourself optimally, and you can learn from that. If you felt rushed the entire time, ask yourself why – did you spend far too much time on any one question? Were you just sluggish from the beginning and can’t account for the time? Did you make mistakes and have to go back to restart problems? Whatever the reason for a pacing problem, you now know what you need to address. If you need to get quicker, try timing yourself on practice sets to both get used to working more quickly and learn which mistakes you make when you’re rushing, so that you can avoid them. If you wasted too much time on just a couple questions, note their setup/content (involved-diagram geometry? long-winded word problem? multiple roots that you just couldn’t eliminate?) so that you can try to get more familiar with the content in practice, and so that, failing that, you can know when you may just need to guess on test day. Or if you had too much time at the end, you now know that too – which types of problems would you get right if you only had 15-20 extra seconds to slow down or check your work? Now you have that time to spare. 2) Did any question or two get you down, waste your time, shake your confidence? Many who experience a frustrating test can just about pinpoint “It all seemed like it was going well, but then I saw ______________ and it all went downhill from there.” If you have a similar experience, you can learn from that – why did that problem get you down? How can you identify a “time-suck” problem and know when to guess and live to fight another day? If your confidence was shaken, why? Knowing the types of problems that you need to face a little more confidently or time-effectively – or just guess since no one ANSWER will ruin your day but one QUESTION can certainly do so if you let it – can help you avoid that pitfall on your next attempt. 3) Did you see anything that you felt unprepared for? Any question types or content areas that you saw way too much of (and that you were kind of hoping you wouldn’t see much of)? Many students go into the GMAT feeling prepared, but then see questions that seem like they’re completely out of nowhere. Why is this so frequent? Because often they’re studying from a limited pool of questions (maybe those in the Official Guide for GMAT Review) and after seeing the same questions a few times each they’ve mastered the *study* questions but not necessarily the thought processes required for new questions. Or perhaps they’ve focused on certain content areas and forgot/avoided others, or studied content in a way disproportionate to what the GMAT actually tests (this happens frequently with Sentence Correction – people study tons of idioms, which aren’t often if ever tested, and don’t do nearly enough work on logical meaning). Either way, if you see concepts tested on your official exam and know you weren’t as prepared as you needed to be, now you have a blueprint for what you need to emphasize before you take it again. 4) The night before your test as you struggled to relax and fall asleep, which 2-3 things were on your mind? Similarly, it’s not uncommon to cut a few corners when studying, doing one more set of number properties problems, for example, when we know we really should be focusing on geometry. That night before the test tends to be quite truthful…what you knew you should have studied but justified to yourself that you’d get to later, or what you could talk yourself into thinking you’d do well but really didn’t understand as well as you should – those things probably came to light as you laid down with your thoughts the night before the test. And now you have a new chance to address those. 5) Given your test day experience, what do you wish you had studied more (or less)? What do you wish you had done differently? This catchall question should speak for itself – now that you’ve faced the real test under real conditions, you should have a better understanding of what you need to do. Practice tests and study sessions are extremely helpful, but there’s nothing like the experience of knowing that “this time it counts” to really teach you how you’re going to perform under pressure with the full experience. Many examinees fail to live up to their expectations when they’re first in that situation; those who end up at the schools of their dreams, though, learn everything they can from that experience and then add that to their study regimen to make the second (or third) time the charm. Are you studying for the GMAT? We have free online GMAT seminars running all the time. And, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! By Brian Galvin |
21 Jul 2014, 09:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: How to Go From a 48 to 51 in GMAT Quant - Part II |
 This post is continuation of last week’s post which you can check here. Another method of saving time on simple questions – use data given in one statement to examine the other! Now you might think we have lost it! After all, you know very well that in Data Sufficiency questions of GMAT, you must examine each statement independently. You CANNOT use data from one to analyze the other – absolutely correct. So you should ignore the other statement completely while examining one – hmm, not necessarily! Sometimes, one statement could give us ideas about the next one such that we could save time while examining it. Needless to say, we need to be very careful but it certainly is a useful strategy. Also, it could help us verify that our calculations are correct. Here is why… When we say DS question, think of a puzzle. The question stem gives you the statement of a puzzle ending with something like “What is the value of x?” or “Is x 7?” etc. You have to answer the question asked in the puzzle. Think of the two statements that come with the question as clues to the puzzle. So the puzzlemaster gives you the first clue (statement 1) and asks you: can you answer the question now? If you are able to, your answer is either (A) or (D). Then he tells you to ignore the first clue and gives you another clue (statement 2). Again he asks you: can you answer the question now? Again, you may or may not able to. If you are able to, your answer will be (B) or (D) depending on how you fared in statement 1. If you are unable to answer the question, he tells you to consider both statements together and then try to answer. If you are able to, your answer is (C). The point to note here is that both clues lead you to answer the same puzzle. Say if the puzzle is: What is x? If clue 1 tells you that x is 6, clue 2 cannot tell you that x is 9. They both must lead you to the same value of x. Clue 1 could tell you that x is either 6 or 8 and clue 2 could tell you that x is either 8 or 9. In this case, when we use both clues together, we find that x must be 8 to satisfy both. Hence the statements never contradict each other. This means, if we get possible values of x from statement 1, we know that statement 2 will also give us at least one of those values. This is how one statement could give us a starting point for the next one. Now that you understand the “why”, let’s go on to “how”, using a question. Question: If K is a positive integer less than 10 and N = 4,321 + K, what is the value of K? Statement 1: N is divisible by 3 Statement 2: N is divisible by 7 Solution: Given: N = 4321 + K 1 <= K <= 10 So N could range from 4322 (when K = 1) to 4331 (when K = 10). To find the value of K, we need to find the unique value of N. Statement 1 tells us that N is divisible by 3. 4321 is not divisible by 3 since the sum of its digits is 4+3+2+1 = 10. It is 1 more than a multiple of 3. So the next multiple of 3 will be 4323. Hence N could be 4323. But there are some other multiples of 3 which could be the value of N. After 4323, 4326 and 4329 could also be the values of N since they are multiples of 3 too. We know this because if A is a multiple of 3, A+3, A+6, A+9, A-3, A-6 etc are also multiples of 3. So since 4323 is a multiple of 3, 4326 and 4329 will also be multiples of 3. We did not get a unique value for N so statement 1 alone is not sufficient. Now let’s go on to statement 2. This tells us that N must be a multiple of 7. In 10 consecutive numbers, there will be either one multiple of 7 or two multiples of 7. If there is only one multiple of 7 in the range 4322 to 4331, statement 2 alone will be sufficient to give us the value of N. If there are two multiples of 7 in this range, then statement 2 alone will not be sufficient. Recall that from statement 1, we already know that N will take one of three values: 4323, 4326 or 4329. Let’s check for 4326 because it is in the middle. If 4326 is divisible by 7, there will be no other multiple of 7 in the range 4322 to 4331 because the closest multiples of 7 to 4326 will be 4326 – 7 and 4326 + 7. When we divide 4326 by 7, we find that it is divisible. This means that statement 2 gives us a single value of N. Hence statement 2 alone is sufficient. Hypothetically, what if we had found that 4326 is not divisible by 7? Then we would have known that either 4323 or 4329 must be a multiple of 7. In both cases, statement 2 would have given us 2 multiples of 7 because both 4330 (7 more than 4323) and 4322 (7 less than 4329) are in the possible range. Then we would have known that the answer will be (C) i.e. we will need both statements to answer the question since the possible values from the two statements will have only one overlap in either case. Note that what we gleaned from statement 1 helped us quickly examine statement 2 and get to the answer right away. But this is an advanced technique and you should use it only if you understand it very well. Else, it is best to stick to completely ignoring one statement while working on the other. Karishma, a Computer Engineer with a keen interest in alternative Mathematical approaches, has mentored students in the continents of Asia, Europe and North America. She teaches the GMAT for Veritas Prep and regularly participates in content development projects such as this blog! |
21 Jul 2014, 16:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: 5 Things You Need to Know About the ACT |
 Of all of the decisions facing hopeful college applicants, the choice between admissions tests can be one of the most confusing. Should you take the SAT or the ACT? Do you need to take the ACT Writing Test? Will colleges think less of you if you submit scores from one test or the other? This quick guide provides an overview to understand the ACT. 1. What is the ACT? The ACT is a college admissions exam that tests material typically learned in high school. It includes five tests: English, Math, Reading, Science, and an optional Writing test. Most colleges often recommend or require applicants to submit ACT scores with the Writing test. 2. What does the ACT “test”? The English test assesses students’ ability to correct grammatical errors in 5 passages. The math test presents students with 60 math problems in algebra, geometry, and trigonometry. On the reading section, students read and answer questions about four passages: prose fiction, social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences. The science portion consists of 7 passages that present a scientific concept or experiment about which students answer questions (the science test deals mainly with reading comprehension and data analysis and does not test specific scientific knowledge). The optional writing test gives students an essay prompt about a controversial issue, generally dealing with high school or teenagers. Students have 30 minutes to take a position on the prompt and write an essay supporting their position. The ACT (with Writing) takes about 3.5 hours to complete. 3. How does the ACT differ from the SAT? The SAT consists of ten sections in three major subjects (math, critical reading, and writing) and is scored on a scale of 600-2400. The ACT consists of five tests and is scored on a scale of 1-36. The writing (essay) score is reported separately on a scale of 2-12, so that composite ACT scores can be compared between students who took the writing portion and those who didn’t. In general, the SAT requires more logical reasoning and “tricks” than the ACT does, and the ACT is often described as a more “straightforward” test. However, students are given less time per question on the ACT. For example, SAT math gives students about 18 seconds more per question than ACT math. The ACT also includes a science test, which focuses on data analysis, and a few more difficult math concepts that don’t appear on the SAT. The SAT focuses much more heavily on obscure vocabulary words than the ACT. Students can greatly improve their performance on either test by diligently reviewing content and learning and applying appropriate test-taking strategies. 4. Which test should I take? The short answer: take the test you believe you will perform your best on. Fortunately, by using practice tests, you can take the guesswork out of that choice. There are official practice tests available for both tests, which means that students can do timed practice runs of each exam, and then compare scores using the official concordance table. The College Board (SAT) and ACT, Inc. work together to create a table that allows you to roughly convert scores between the two tests. This table is available on the websites of each organization. Because the SAT includes the essay in its composite score (2400) and the ACT doesn’t, the concordance table compares the sum of a student’s SAT critical reading and math scores with his or her ACT composite score. For example, if a student scores 28 on the ACT and 600 Math / 610 Critical Reading on the SAT, she would want to submit her ACT score, because the concordance tables state that a 28 ACT is roughly equivalent to a 1250-1280 SAT. 5. What’s a “good” score on the ACT? The idea of a “good” score varies depending on the schools you apply to. Colleges provide the composite ACT scores of the middle 50% of their incoming classes. This information is helpful in goal setting for test prep. For example, if a student wanted to apply to Duke University, she could look up ACT score data and find that first-year students at Duke typically have composite scores between 30 and 34, and set her goal accordingly. For more tips on acing the ACT and getting into the most competitive universities in the nation, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! Emma Chomin is a Veritas Prep ACT/SAT instructor and recent graduate of Ohio State University in Columbus. She earned her Bachelor’s in linguistics and gender studies in less than two years while working on multiple research projects and taking graduate courses. Emma has tutored dozens of students in strategies for success on the ACT and SAT! |
22 Jul 2014, 10:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: Balance Your MBA Applications by Conveying Qualitative and Quantitative Impact |
 When it comes to conveying your marketing message to the admissions committees at top business schools, it is important to relate your various profile characteristics in a meaningful way. Often, applicants are naturally very good at doing this in either a quantitative or qualitative way, but it’s actually important to do both. Providing a quantitative view of your impact at an organization can be tedious, but it allows the admissions committee to gain true perspective on what you have done by giving them the ability to compare in a very tactile way the results you have achieved to those of other applicants. Even the most seemingly insignificant detail can provide this perspective. For example, if you say you worked on a team, tell the admissions committee how many others were on the team as well. So, don’t just say you “led a team,” but rather say you “led a team of six professionals.” If you “successfully completed a project,” tell them how big the budget was or the percentage increase of profits generated. The scope and size of projects or deals is what enables someone to gauge your level of responsibility and also see how much you understand about how a business runs. If you are allowed to work on a project with a half million dollar budget, you will be perceived not only as responsible, but also as someone who has grasped the bigger picture vs. someone who has no idea about the numbers behind the project. Show them you are not a mere participant in the workplace, but the kind of person who digs deeper and can analyze the top and bottom line. If you are someone who has no idea about these numbers, it’s never too late to befriend someone in your accounting department, or even your supervisor, to extract the data necessary to quantify your resume and application. Measurable impact is a great way to demonstrate readiness for b-school in two ways: it shows them you have achieved something tangible, and it shows them you know exactly what it was. Conveying the qualitative impact of your work experience is just as important, and while usually not difficult for applicants, it bears going over some tips. Describing your impact using the classic interrogatives: who, what, where, when, why and how will get to the real meat of the story. Perhaps one of the most overlooked of these is the why—in fact, it’s so important to answer why you did something that I will devote an entire blog to that one question. Use descriptive words to narrate your story, but don’t over-dramatize. Your overall mission is to describe your work in a way which demonstrates leadership, influence, and an overall perspective on the landscape in your job that goes beyond the typical, average employee. Remember, you are looking to rise in the ranks and lead others with the MBA degree, so showing them you have logged the kind of quality work experience worthy of such a business leader is paramount. How you altered the fabric of your firm’s or company’s culture or outlook through your input and performance is going to be of keen interest to any top school. Whether large or small, your influence and what you did to have that influence on others at your company is important to detail in your application. Craft a balanced application! Call us at 1-800-925-7737 and speak with an MBA admissions expert today. Click here to take our Free MBA Admissions Profile Evaluation! As always, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! Scott Bryant has over 25 years of professional post undergraduate experience in the entertainment industry as well as on Wall Street with Goldman Sachs. He served on the admissions committee at the Fuqua School of Business where he received his MBA and now works part time in retirement for a top tier business school. He has been consulting with Veritas Prep clients for the past six admissions seasons. See more of his articles here. |
22 Jul 2014, 13:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: 4 Steps to Improve Your Essay Writing for the SAT and College Applications |
 Introduction, body paragraph, body paragraph, body paragraph, conclusion. Once you’ve mastered the basic five-paragraph format for short essays, it quickly begins to feel tiresome and overly basic. Fortunately, though the main themes of the five-paragraph essay are important to nearly all levels of academic or professional writing beyond high school. The five-paragraph essay itself becomes less and less relevant to school and work after graduation. However, there are plenty of things you can do to make simple five-paragraph essays (like the one assigned by the SAT) more impressive, interesting, and intricate. Here are a few. 1 .Become a grammar nut. This goes beyond distinguishing between your, you’re, their, there, and they’re. Learn about the Oxford comma, the difference between who and whom, and how to use “effect” as a verb. Scroll through Grammar Girl articles, actually read through the grammatical corrections your English teacher marks on your papers, and note and correct the grammatical errors you most frequently commit. Good grammar is key to achieving strong academic or professional tone and subtle good-grammar habits, when recognized by graders, always leave a good impression. 2 .Write each body paragraph like its own essay. In other words, be organized within each body paragraph, instead of listing details in an arbitrary order after the topic sentence. Think of each body paragraph as a tiny essay; the topic sentence is its mini-introduction, and the details are its mini-body. Organize the details within each body paragraph in a logical order, so that each logical and/or causal chain is constructed in an intuitive and easy-to-follow way. Sentence by sentence and link by link, build up to a mini-conclusion; end each body paragraph with one sentence that emphasizes the paragraph’s most important take-away idea. Use transitions between the ideas within paragraphs, not just between paragraphs. 3. Use vocabulary correctly, not just extensively. Big words can be impressive, but correct usage is just as important as correct meaning, if not more so. Even if your definitions are correct, misusing impressive vocabulary words will make you seem inexperienced, inattentive, and desperate to impress. Sound authoritative and professional, not overeager. 4. Be concise; make every sentence as substantive as possible. The primary function of words, including advanced ones, is to convey meaning, not to make you sound smarter. Treat each word, phrase, sentence, and paragraph as a tool, not as an end in itself. Before you write something, ask yourself: Do these words contribute something important to the main idea of my paper?If the answer is no, don’t write it. Before you write an advanced vocabulary word, ask yourself: Is there a simple word that would express my point better? If the answer is yes, write the simpler word instead. Treat each advanced vocabulary word as an opportunity to express more complex ideas in fewer words, not as a bonus point on a scoreboard. Being efficient with your language will make your paper cleaner, more straightforward, less wordy, and easier to follow. Advanced vocabulary will strengthen your understanding of each word, adding depth to your arguments as well as developing your written voice. If you understand structural and grammatical basics, it’s easy to write a good essay. It is considerably more difficult, however, to produce a great one. Strong structure, tone, and word usage are essential building blocks for great writing at any level and allow high school writers to add an extra dimension of quality to papers. Still need to take the SAT? We run a free online SAT prep seminar every few weeks. And, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! Courtney Tran is a student at UC Berkeley, studying Political Economy and Rhetoric. In high school, she was named a National Merit Finalist and National AP Scholar, and she represented her district two years in a row in Public Forum Debate at the National Forensics League National Tournament. |
23 Jul 2014, 09:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: SAT Tip of the Week: 6 Steps to Rock the Reading Section |
 When approaching a reading passage on the SAT, it can feel overwhelming to go through all of the information in the passage and extract the little tidbits that are truly useful in answering questions. While it is wonderful to read in a more lackadaisical way when sitting at the beach with a tale of vampire love affairs, this method of reading is more about following plot and big picture than about gleaning important details. If you feel like you have trouble wading through the information and finding what is important, fear not! There are a few strategies that may help you to navigate the reading section more effectively. 1. Read the question (not the answers) so you know what you are looking for 2. Read and answer questions as you go 3. Find the answer in the lines referenced (when applicable) 4. Find the section that answers the question (when lines are not given) 5. Ask what the passage is doing or accomplishing 6. Formulate your own answer then look at the answer choices Let’s try to apply some of these strategies with an example question. Generally, a sample piece of text would be the next thing we would look at, but instead we are going to invoke rule one and look at the first question before we approach the text. In lines 1- 4 “invokes..more complex” the author states the images invoked by sweatshops to accomplish which of the following. Before we look at the passage or the answers, let’s take stock of what we know. We know the answer we are looking for is going to be in the first few lines of the passage. We also know that the author is going to use images to DO something, that is to say, to accomplish some literary or rhetorical goal. Good! Now we can read the lines referenced, and a little before and after, to figure out what the author is doing. “The mere word ‘sweatshop’ invokes images of poor and destitute people, mostly children, working in the worst possible conditions for next to no compensation, but is this an accurate portrayal of those who work in what are referred to as ‘sweatshops’ or is the reality of these workers, and the places in which they work, slightly more complex?” Before we look at the answer choices lets look at what the passage is doing. It lists all these terrible things people think about when they think of sweatshops, but there is a “but” right after this description! What follows implies that there is some incongruence between this perception and the reality of a sweatshop. This feels like a pretty good answer for what the passage is doing: it is showing that there may be a difference between what people think about sweatshops and what might actually be the reality of sweatshops. With this knowledge, let’s look at the answer choices and start eliminating answers. A) Demonstrate the awful working conditions of sweatshop workers B) Call into question the ethics of employing children C) Show an opposing viewpoint to that of the “globalization economy” D) Exemplify a misguided perception E) Invoke pity for those who must endure such difficult work Because we know that the passage is showing a contrast between reality and perception, any answer choice that simply says that the section is showing the harsh working conditions of sweatshops can be removed, which eliminates (A), (B), and (E). We are left with (C) and (D) which both indicate some kind of opposition of views, but (C) breaks the cardinal rule of the reading sections, which is “The answer is in the passage.” We may see “globalization economy” mentioned later, but so far, this topic is altogether absent from the passage which leaves us with (D), an answer choice that almost exactly matches our derived answer choice. The reading section can be very challenging, but by using these steps to read for what is truly important, you can become a master of parsing out the information that will help you rock the SAT. Happy Studying! Plan on taking the SAT soon? We run a free online SAT prep seminar every few weeks. And, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! David Greenslade is a Veritas Prep SAT instructor based in New York. His passion for education began while tutoring students in underrepresented areas during his time at the University of North Carolina. After receiving a degree in Biology, he studied language in China and then moved to New York where he teaches SAT prep and participates in improv comedy. Read more of his articles here, including How I Scored in the 99th Percentile and How to Effectively Study for the SAT. |
23 Jul 2014, 14:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: 5 Errors to Look For in Sentence Correction Questions on the GMAT |
 I recently received the following question from a student. “I often get into trouble with ambiguous pronouns. If it is not clear what “they” or “it” refers to I eliminate the answer choice. I like to do this because it seems easy, but I keep getting burned using this technique. So my question is, if it is not clear what a pronoun refers to is that answer choice wrong?” I replied to the student by discussing the Process Pyramid for Sentence Correction. Here is what the pyramid looks like. Brevity Clarity Specificity Logic Grammar Logic and Grammar Come First You can see that the bottom level – the foundation of sentence correction – is logic and grammar, (including proper comparisons and parallelism). This is where your analysis should begin. If the answer choice has a flaw in grammar, such as subject-verb agreement or an error in logic, such as an illogical modifier then that answer choice should be eliminated. This type of error is less subjective than something like an ambiguous modifier. That is why you should begin with logic and grammar, these errors are not a matter of judgment and the rules are easier to master. In particular students get a tremendous return on investment from mastering the rules of the common modifiers, including participial phrases, prepositions, appositives, and relative clauses. Next Clarity and Specificity The initial level of analysis should eliminate most answer choices based on flaws in grammar and logic. However, sometimes there will be more than one answer choice that has (or seems to have) no errors in grammar or logic. At this point you can move to clarity and specificity as a way to distinguish between answers. This is when it is appropriate to eliminate answer choices that have pronouns that are not clearly matched to antecedents. The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 13th Edition (written by the people who make the GMAT exam) states that a correct answer should avoid being “awkward, wordy, redundant, imprecise, or unclear” and that an answer that is any of these things can be eliminated even if it is “free of grammatical errors.” This group of secondary errors is referred to as problems with “rhetorical construction.” The following answer choice is from question #44 of the sentence correction portion of the Official Guide 13th Edition: “The plot of the Bostonians centers on the active feminist, Olive Chancellor, and the rivalry with the charming and cynical cousin Basil Ransom, when they find themselves drawn to the same radiant young woman whose talent for public speaking has won her an ardent following.” This answer choice is eliminated not for a grammatical flaw, but because it is lacks clarity and specificity. It is unclear in this particular answer choice that “Olive Chancellor is a party to the rivalry” with Basil Ransom. Finally, Brevity At the top of the Process Pyramid is Brevity. Most sentence correction questions do not require you to climb so high on the pyramid. It is only when two or more answers are logically and grammatically acceptable AND are each clear and specific that you need to bring brevity into the equation. However, the Official Guide describes many answer choices as “unnecessarily wordy.” So if you do find that you have two or more answer choices that satisfy the first two levels of the process pyramid only then do you eliminate the one that is “wordy.” Looking for an error such as an ambiguous pronoun is fine; just make sure that you do so at the proper time. Use the process pyramid to organize errors and address those errors in the proper order: Grammar and logic, clarity and specificity, and finally, brevity. Plan on taking the GMAT soon? We have GMAT prep courses starting all the time. And, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! David Newland has been teaching for Veritas Prep since 2006, and he won the Veritas Prep Instructor of the Year award in 2008. Students’ friends often call in asking when he will be teaching next because he really is a Veritas Prep and a GMAT rock star! Read more of his articles here. |
24 Jul 2014, 09:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: Kellogg Application Essays and Deadlines for 2014-2015 |
 Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management has released its MBA admissions essays and deadlines for the Class of 2017. While most top MBA programs have mostly been making nips and tucks to their admissions essays this year, Kellogg has made a lot of changes. And, like other business schools, Kellogg has dropped a required essay, going from three to two required essays for applicants to its traditional MBA program. The video response, which Kellogg introduced last year, remains. Without further ado, here are the Kellogg essays and deadlines for the 2014-2015 admissions season, followed by our comments in italics: Kellogg Admissions Deadlines Round 1: September 24, 2014 Round 2: January 7, 2015 Round 3: April 1, 2015 Kellogg has moved its Round 1 application WAY up, by more than three weeks. If you plan on applying to Kellogg in Round 1, this means you should get started no later than early August. Note that applying in Round 1 means that you will get your decision by mid-December, which should give you enough time to complete your Round 2 applications for other programs, if you don’t get good news from Kellogg. The school’s Round 2 and Round 3 deadlines are virtually unchanged since last year. Kellogg Admissions Essays Note that we don’t include Kellogg’s essays for dual-degree applicants or re-applicants here. You can find those essay prompts on the Kellogg admissions website.
If you hope to get into Kellogg, download our Essential Guide to Kellogg, one of our 14 guides to the world’s top business schools. If you’re ready to start building your own application for Kellogg and other top-ranked MBA programs, fill out a free profile evaluation and get an in-depth evaluation from an MBA admissions expert. And, as always, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! By Scott Shrum |
24 Jul 2014, 16:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: Distract Yourself during Your GMAT Studies with This Question |
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In life, it’s important to have a hobby or pastime that you find interesting. Sometimes, when the daily grind of work, school, family, social responsibilities, (updating Facebook) and preparing for the GMAT just seems like too much to handle, it’s good to take a step back. Diving into a hobby helps take your mind off things by pausing everything else and concentrating on something personal and somewhat intimate to you. One of my favorite diversions is watching movies and immersing myself in the fictional world created on screen. Surprisingly, this same distraction can be applicable to GMAT studying as well. Within the confines of the GMAT, the expectations for students are well known. You will be faced with 37 math and 41 verbal questions, have to select from five multiple choice answers, and complete each section within 75 minutes. However, sometimes certain questions will set up arbitrary rules within this game. An obvious example is data sufficiency: a question type that always provides two statements and asks whether a certain question can be answered using these statements. Why are there not three statements? Or four statements? The official answer will be to standardize the questions and allow for easier preparation, but the truthful answer is something most parents have had to utter countless times: “Because I said so”. The only reason these rules apply is because they were established by the GMAC to test logical thinking. However, other rules could have been set up and test takers would have had to adhere to them. In fact, any question can set up arbitrary rules and then require you to analyze the situation and provide insight. Within the game that is the GMAT, a sub-game is created with each new question, and some of these questions have very specific rules (GMAT Inception). The difficulty with some of the arbitrary question-specific rules is that the situation is only applicable to the exact question, meaning that you don’t have long to acclimate to the circumstances. Usually, the question will provide rules that are indispensible to solving the query, so we must adhere to them or risk falling into a trap. Let’s look at an example that highlights the sub-game nature of certain GMAT questions: An exam consists of 8 true/false questions. Brian forgets to study, so he must guess blindly on each question. If any score above 70% is a passing grade, what is the probability that Brian passes? (A) 1/16 (B) 37/256 (C) 5/32 (D) 219/256 (E) 15/16 As always, let’s begin by paraphrasing the question. A student is blindly guessing on a True/False question, and thus will likely get half the questions right by default. It is conceivable that he could get 0% or 100% as well, meaning this is likely a probability question of sorts. However it’s a probability question within a probability question. Once we have accepted the premise that this exam will take place, we can only analyze the possible results of the student taking this test (the irony of which is enormous). Another excellent trick is to look at the answer choices for easily removable options. If Brian did not study a single line of text, then the expected value of his blind guesses is 50%. This means it is possible that he can pass this test if he gets lucky, but he is not expected to do well. As such, any probability above 50% can be eliminated. We will need to do the calculations to determine exactly which answer is correct, but we already know it cannot be D or E as they are both too high. Picking among the next three choices, each with a different denominator and fairly close values would be tricky. Statistically speaking, this question is identical to a coin flip question, where True is Heads and False is Tails (or vice versa if you prefer). The chances of getting all 8 correct, just as 8 straight Heads, would be (½)^8 or 1/2^8 or 1/256. This would yield a result of 100% on the exam. Brian would undoubtedly be surprised by such a result, but it is possible for him to pass the test without getting every question right. Since there are 8 questions, each question is worth 1/8 of the final score or 12.5%. Thus Brian could miss 1 question and still manage an 87.5%. He could even squeak by with 2 errors, giving him a result of 75% on the test. Anything lower would put him below the failure threshold. There are three ways to calculate the remaining options, so let’s look at a more likely scenario: the possibility of getting 7 correct answers on the test. This result could be achieved if Brian missed the first question and got the next 7 right, or missed the last question after getting the first 7 right, or any other such breakdown. Logically, you can deduce that there are 8 different spots where the error could be, and the remaining 7 spots are all correct. Thus if each combination of answers has a 1/28 possibility of occurring, we should end up with 8/28 or 23/28 (cancelling to) 20/25 or 1/32. We can also use the combination formula for selecting 7 elements out of 8 where the order doesn’t matter. The formula would be n!/k!(n-k)!, where n is the total (8) and k is the number of choices (7). This would yield 8!/1!*7!, which simplifies to 8. This means there are 8 possible choices to select 7 correct answers. The final step is to divide by the total number of possibilities, which still stands at 28. The last option is to determine the numerator with the repeating elements formula n!/t!f!, where t and f are the number of repeating True and False answers. The result will still be 8!/1!7!, so 8 possibilities out of the same 256 options. Using the same strategies on 6 correct answers and 2 false answers, we can get 8!/2!6!, which is 8*7/2 or 28 possibilities. The denominator won’t change for any of these, so the probability of getting exactly 6 correct answers is 28/256 (a little less than 11%). While I’m on the subject, I’ll simply draw attention to the fact that picking two correct answers and six incorrect answers on a binary test such as this one will yield the same results as picking two incorrect answers and six correct answers. The nature of the exercise (and the formulas) makes it so symmetry is guaranteed. This may be helpful at some point on the GMAT or in life, so try to ensure you can shortcut some calculations in this manner. Putting together our three results, the chances of passing this exam are 1/256 + 8/256 + 28/256. This sum gives exactly answer choice B: 37/256. Although it seems unlikely that going into an exam with absolutely no preparation could yield a 15% chance of passing, those are the rules stipulated on this question. The entire GMAT exam has fixed rules, so it’s important to know how to approach each question on the exam. Moreover, it’s also important to understand the adjunct rules on particular questions in order to correctly solve the problem. As Jigsaw would rhetorically ask in any Saw movie: “Would you like to play a game?” Plan on taking the GMAT soon? We have GMAT prep courses starting all the time. And, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! Ron Awad is a GMAT instructor for Veritas Prep based in Montreal, bringing you weekly advice for success on your exam. After graduating from McGill and receiving his MBA from Concordia, Ron started teaching GMAT prep and his Veritas Prep students have given him rave reviews ever since. |
24 Jul 2014, 20:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: Distract Yourself During Your GMAT Studies with This Question |
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In life, it’s important to have a hobby or pastime that you find interesting. Sometimes, when the daily grind of work, school, family, social responsibilities, (updating Facebook) and preparing for the GMAT just seems like too much to handle, it’s good to take a step back. Diving into a hobby helps take your mind off things by pausing everything else and concentrating on something personal and somewhat intimate to you. One of my favorite diversions is watching movies and immersing myself in the fictional world created on screen. Surprisingly, this same distraction can be applicable to GMAT studying as well. Within the confines of the GMAT, the expectations for students are well known. You will be faced with 37 math and 41 verbal questions, have to select from five multiple choice answers, and complete each section within 75 minutes. However, sometimes certain questions will set up arbitrary rules within this game. An obvious example is data sufficiency: a question type that always provides two statements and asks whether a certain question can be answered using these statements. Why are there not three statements? Or four statements? The official answer will be to standardize the questions and allow for easier preparation, but the truthful answer is something most parents have had to utter countless times: “Because I said so”. The only reason these rules apply is because they were established by the GMAC to test logical thinking. However, other rules could have been set up and test takers would have had to adhere to them. In fact, any question can set up arbitrary rules and then require you to analyze the situation and provide insight. Within the game that is the GMAT, a sub-game is created with each new question, and some of these questions have very specific rules (GMAT Inception). The difficulty with some of the arbitrary question-specific rules is that the situation is only applicable to the exact question, meaning that you don’t have long to acclimate to the circumstances. Usually, the question will provide rules that are indispensible to solving the query, so we must adhere to them or risk falling into a trap. Let’s look at an example that highlights the sub-game nature of certain GMAT questions: An exam consists of 8 true/false questions. Brian forgets to study, so he must guess blindly on each question. If any score above 70% is a passing grade, what is the probability that Brian passes? (A) 1/16 (B) 37/256 (C) 5/32 (D) 219/256 (E) 15/16 As always, let’s begin by paraphrasing the question. A student is blindly guessing on a True/False question, and thus will likely get half the questions right by default. It is conceivable that he could get 0% or 100% as well, meaning this is likely a probability question of sorts. However it’s a probability question within a probability question. Once we have accepted the premise that this exam will take place, we can only analyze the possible results of the student taking this test (the irony of which is enormous). Another excellent trick is to look at the answer choices for easily removable options. If Brian did not study a single line of text, then the expected value of his blind guesses is 50%. This means it is possible that he can pass this test if he gets lucky, but he is not expected to do well. As such, any probability above 50% can be eliminated. We will need to do the calculations to determine exactly which answer is correct, but we already know it cannot be D or E as they are both too high. Picking among the next three choices, each with a different denominator and fairly close values would be tricky. Statistically speaking, this question is identical to a coin flip question, where True is Heads and False is Tails (or vice versa if you prefer). The chances of getting all 8 correct, just as 8 straight Heads, would be (½)^8 or 1/2^8 or 1/256. This would yield a result of 100% on the exam. Brian would undoubtedly be surprised by such a result, but it is possible for him to pass the test without getting every question right. Since there are 8 questions, each question is worth 1/8 of the final score or 12.5%. Thus Brian could miss 1 question and still manage an 87.5%. He could even squeak by with 2 errors, giving him a result of 75% on the test. Anything lower would put him below the failure threshold. There are three ways to calculate the remaining options, so let’s look at a more likely scenario: the possibility of getting 7 correct answers on the test. This result could be achieved if Brian missed the first question and got the next 7 right, or missed the last question after getting the first 7 right, or any other such breakdown. Logically, you can deduce that there are 8 different spots where the error could be, and the remaining 7 spots are all correct. Thus if each combination of answers has a 1/28 possibility of occurring, we should end up with 8/28 or 23/28 (cancelling to) 20/25 or 1/32. We can also use the combination formula for selecting 7 elements out of 8 where the order doesn’t matter. The formula would be n!/k!(n-k)!, where n is the total (8) and k is the number of choices (7). This would yield 8!/1!*7!, which simplifies to 8. This means there are 8 possible choices to select 7 correct answers. The final step is to divide by the total number of possibilities, which still stands at 28. The last option is to determine the numerator with the repeating elements formula n!/t!f!, where t and f are the number of repeating True and False answers. The result will still be 8!/1!7!, so 8 possibilities out of the same 256 options. Using the same strategies on 6 correct answers and 2 false answers, we can get 8!/2!6!, which is 8*7/2 or 28 possibilities. The denominator won’t change for any of these, so the probability of getting exactly 6 correct answers is 28/256 (a little less than 11%). While I’m on the subject, I’ll simply draw attention to the fact that picking two correct answers and six incorrect answers on a binary test such as this one will yield the same results as picking two incorrect answers and six correct answers. The nature of the exercise (and the formulas) makes it so symmetry is guaranteed. This may be helpful at some point on the GMAT or in life, so try to ensure you can shortcut some calculations in this manner. Putting together our three results, the chances of passing this exam are 1/256 + 8/256 + 28/256. This sum gives exactly answer choice B: 37/256. Although it seems unlikely that going into an exam with absolutely no preparation could yield a 15% chance of passing, those are the rules stipulated on this question. The entire GMAT exam has fixed rules, so it’s important to know how to approach each question on the exam. Moreover, it’s also important to understand the adjunct rules on particular questions in order to correctly solve the problem. As Jigsaw would rhetorically ask in any Saw movie: “Would you like to play a game?” Plan on taking the GMAT soon? We have GMAT prep courses starting all the time. And, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! Ron Awad is a GMAT instructor for Veritas Prep based in Montreal, bringing you weekly advice for success on your exam. After graduating from McGill and receiving his MBA from Concordia, Ron started teaching GMAT prep and his Veritas Prep students have given him rave reviews ever since. |
25 Jul 2014, 08:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: Get Creative on Your College Essay: Part 1 |
 Unlike the essay prompt that resides at the start of the SAT Reasoning Test, the “personal statement” essay you will write for college admissions require a considerable amount of creativity. The template-based, mechanically structured essay that impresses SAT graders won’t fare so well in the eyes of an admissions committee, particularly at more selective colleges. Forget the SAT. Forget the classroom. A truly remarkable college essay benefits from a few extra ingredients, namely a healthy dose of creativity and a distinctive writing style. Unfortunately, most high schools don’t teach these skills when it comes to writing. Teachers tend to focus exclusively on the expository or analytical essay. This type of essay is immeasurably important in college and beyond, but provides poor framework from which to craft a college essay. The structure of analytical essays tends to follow this pattern: a specific and provable thesis, pieces of supporting evidence with explanations, and a reiterative (if not outright redundant) conclusion. This works well for discussing literature or proving an argument. However, in the college essay, the subject matter is more dynamic—you are writing about yourself, your experiences, where you come from, perhaps where you hope to end up, and anything that has significantly impacted your life and the way you view the world. By confining yourself to the analytical structure, you are also ignoring the near-infinite number of ways to tell a story. If that didn’t convince you to let go of your expository ways, consider this: The people who review your essay on a college admissions committee, potentially the gatekeepers to the institution of your dreams, read countless essays each day. Admissions counselors pore over dozens of folders filled with essays, grades, and scores. An unnecessarily verbose, intellectually formal, elaborately highbrow essay is unlikely to leave a good impression. A creative, perhaps even unconventionally structured piece of writing is certainly a better approach. When form fits function. How then, after years of writing academic essays, can you transition to creative writing? On a basic level, you need to match the structure to the story you are trying to tell. There’s a fundamental idea in biology that form fits function. In other words, the way in which an organism is structured has been tailored to be ideal for a particular function or activity. Similarly, the way your essay is structured should be the one most suitable to the story you are telling. Once you have this basic skeleton, you can start crafting your essay. Nonetheless, if some of your content or ideas morph over time, remember, even structure is flexible! To be continued… Happy Writing! Still need to take the SAT? We run a free online SAT prep seminar every few weeks. And, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! Michael Rothberg is a Veritas Prep SAT instructor. He began tutoring his freshman year of college and is excited to help students conquer the SAT by unlocking their academic potential. Currently a rising sophomore at Harvard University, he is a Cognitive Neuroscience and Evolutionary Psychology major and Staff Reporter at the Harvard Crimson. |
28 Jul 2014, 12:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: Determine Which Type of GMAT Question This Is: Assumption or Inference? |
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We will continue our Quant 48 to 51 journey in the coming weeks but today, we need to discuss an important distinction between assumptions and inferences. Most of you will be able to explain the difference between an assumption and an inference but some questions will still surprise you. After all, both assumptions and inferences deal with the same elements in the argument. The way they are worded makes all the difference. In simple words, when you have enough data given and you can infer something from it without doubt, it is called an inference/conclusion. When you have author’s opinion (conclusion of the argument) and you need something to be true for the opinion to hold, that is an assumption. Let us explain with a simple example. All A are B. All B are C. You can conclude that: All A are C. This must be true. It is a conclusion. If you conclude that ‘All C are A’ (your opinion, not necessarily a fact), you are assuming that A, B and C overlap i.e. they all have exactly the same elements. Look again: Argument 1: Premises: All A are B. All B are C. Conclusion: All A are C. Argument 2: Premises: All A are B. All B are C. Conclusion: All C are A. Assumption: A, B and C overlap. The conclusion of argument 2 will not hold if the assumption is negated. If you are wondering why we are emphasizing it again and again even though it looks really simple, here is an official question that might help you understand the reasons for our misgivings. We will give you the argument but not the question stem. We will also give you the correct answer. You will need to decide whether the question stem asks for a conclusion or an assumption. Question: Among the more effective kinds of publicity that publishers can get for a new book is to have excerpts of it published in a high-circulation magazine soon before the book is published. The benefits of such excerption include not only a sure increase in sales but also a fee paid by the magazine to the book’s publisher. (A) The number of people for whom seeing an excerpt of a book in a magazine provides an adequate substitute for reading the whole book is smaller than the number for whom the excerpt stimulates a desire to read the book. (B) Because the financial advantage of excerpting a new book in a magazine usually accrues to the book’s publisher, magazine editors are unwilling to publish excerpts from new books. (C) In calculating the total number of copies that a book has sold, publishers include sales of copies of magazines that featured an excerpt of the book. (D) The effectiveness of having excerpts of a book published in a magazine, measured in terms of increased sales of a book, is proportional to the circulation of the magazine in which the excerpts are published. (E) Books that are suitable for excerpting in high-circulation magazines sell more copies than book that are not suitable for excerpting. The correct answer is (A). What is the question? Karishma, a Computer Engineer with a keen interest in alternative Mathematical approaches, has mentored students in the continents of Asia, Europe and North America. She teaches the GMAT for Veritas Prep and regularly participates in content development projects such as this blog! |
28 Jul 2014, 14:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: The 25 Minute Time Limit: How to Conquer the SAT Writing Section |
 The 25 minute limit on the SAT essay is understandably intimidating. After all, 25 minutes is about the time it would take to watch a single episode of How I Met Your Mother. The first time I took the SAT, I was barely able to complete two paragraphs. Nearly every student I’ve taught has cited this time limit as the primary obstacle in the SAT Writing section. Fortunately, like any other part of the SAT, the time limit can be conquered by practice, dedication, and good test-taking strategies. Here are a few… 1. Understand what is expected of you. It is unlikely that any high school class will ask you to write an essay within a time limit as short as 25 minutes. The types of essays you are generally expected to produce are far more complex. SAT prompts are in the form of simple yes-no questions because they are designed to be answerable in a simple 25-minute essay. To get a good idea of the kind of essay you should write (and to be reassured that it is completely doable within 25 minutes), check out the scored sample essays on the College Board website. This is no excuse not to write a good essay. It just means that you don’t need to write a complex one. 2. Be prepared. Now that you know what kind of essay to write, prepare some examples that you can draw on to support whatever stance you take on the essay prompt. Read classic works of literature (To Kill a Mockingbird, Hamlet, The Scarlet Letter—anything that your English teacher might assign to you) and note major details like the full names of the main characters, the author, and the setting. Follow some current events, major actors, and developments. Pay attention in history class. These will all support you in preparing for the essay prompt. 3. Don’t second-guess yourself. You’ll write more quickly if you stop hesitating. Overcome perfectionist instincts by keeping in mind that you are turning out a short and relatively simple piece of writing. Your essay will be just one of more than 1.5 million essays that College Board essay graders must work through; it will be nearly impossible for you to write anything that the graders have not seen before. If it is grammatically correct and supports your thesis, just write it. Provided that you have practiced diligently, you can be reasonably sure that your writing will be effective. 4. Practice writing timed SAT essays. This is by far the best way to build confidence and improve your writing. In the context of the SAT, it comes with two additional benefits. First, you will become more comfortable with the “feel” of the time limit. 25 minutes feels very different depending on the situation: whether you’re waiting for a late bus, chatting with a good friend, or writing an essay that will influence your college admissions. The only way to really understand how it feels to write a SAT essay in 25 minutes is to actually sit down and do it—preferably many times over. Second, you can develop essay templates, which are specific phrases and structures that you will reuse in each essay. Since all SAT essays are based on a simple yes-no prompt, you should always have an introduction, a body, and a conclusion template that you can apply to different essay prompts. Templates allow you to write quickly since they reduce the need to come up with new phrasing while under the pressure of the clock. The SAT essay time limit is only as scary as you allow it to be. 25 minutes may not be a lot of time, but with some practice and planning, you’ll be ready to conquer the writing section! Still need to take the SAT? We run a free online SAT prep seminar every few weeks. And, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! Courtney Tran is a student at UC Berkeley, studying Political Economy and Rhetoric. In high school, she was named a National Merit Finalist and National AP Scholar, and she represented her district two years in a row in Public Forum Debate at the National Forensics League National Tournament. |
29 Jul 2014, 11:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: Become a Leader in Your Community and Strengthen Your MBA Applications |
 One of the most stressful moments in an applicant’s trek through the business school due diligence process is when they realize they have done very little engaging with anyone or anything outside of work. Let’s face it—life gets busy, and while you may have been in every club and organization you could get your hands on in college, once out in the real world, you may have found it very easy to simply go to work and come home at night without doing much else. Needless to say, this is not the kind of “next generation of leadership” the top schools are seeking to fill their seats. Business schools desire to build a body of students who are able to make an impact both at work and in their community. In fact, it’s not even really enough to be a volunteer anymore. Business schools ideally will see strategic leadership outside of your day job where you have demonstrated a high level of impact and a lasting mark on someone, something or someplace. This doesn’t necessarily mean you must be Chairman of the Board in a local non-profit, or a city councilman, although those things can sometimes give you an edge, by proving that you not only take the time, but are also recognized by others in the community as a leader. Schools know it’s all too easy to run out and volunteer at a soup kitchen or hand out cups of water in the local 5K race. What they are looking for is your being involved, deeply involved in some area you care about and in the process, have influenced or impacted an organization. If you think about it, it’s actually easier sometimes to do this than it is to lead in the workplace. Volunteer or community organizations are hungry for people who are willing to devote time, energy and ideas. If you do this, you will likely find yourself quickly rising and perhaps even being given an actual leadership role. At work, promotions are fewer and farther between. If you find yourself in a place in your career where you have not been engaged in anything but the job, you need to work quickly to plug in somewhere. Perhaps you should spend some time reflecting on what you really care about and see if there are any opportunities to engage locally. If you get stuck, you can always think back to things you did in college as a volunteer and see if you can reinvent or re-engage the same or similar activities now. This has the added benefit of appearing more like a long-term commitment or passion than something you ran out and did for application purposes. In the end, business schools want to be bringing in future business leaders of tomorrow—people who are passionate, engaging and care about their broader community. Sometimes even postponing your application window is necessary to make sure you can do enough soul-searching to ensure you are the kind of person who will give back. But it’s never too soon to start doing so. Craft a balanced application! Call us at 1-800-925-7737 and speak with an MBA admissions expert today. Click here to take our Free MBA Admissions Profile Evaluation! As always, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! Scott Bryant has over 25 years of professional post undergraduate experience in the entertainment industry as well as on Wall Street with Goldman Sachs. He served on the admissions committee at the Fuqua School of Business where he received his MBA and now works part time in retirement for a top tier business school. He has been consulting with Veritas Prep clients for the past six admissions seasons. See more of his articles here. |
29 Jul 2014, 17:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: Veritas Prep Consultant Spotlight: Get to Know Heidy, Stanford MBA |
 Applying to the world’s most elite business schools requires much more than a high GMAT score and strong resume. Self refection, creating your personal brand, understanding school fit, addressing profile weaknesses and capitalizing on your unique strengths are all essential in crafting a successful application. Don’t go at this alone – we can help! Veritas Prep has the most stellar MBA admissions consulting team in the industry and we can help you achieve your MBA goals! At Veritas Prep, you have the opportunity to work with the ideal consultant for your needs. We have the most diverse and experienced MBA admissions consulting team ever assembled. Get to know one right now: Heidy: Head Consultant, Stanford MBA Specialties Include:
“GMAT (standardized test scores) and GPA (school grades) can be such limiting mental barriers for most clients and sometimes prevent them from putting together a great application. I often hear clients beating themselves down over their lower than average scores or being overly confident (and thus, not putting much effort on the rest of the application) over their high scores. Both of those groups oversee the fact that a successful application goes beyond quantitative measurements. The application should be a well-rounded package that makes sense, is consistent and well put-together.” What cuisine is best in the bay area? “Being a Mexico-born Chinese living in California for over a decade, I enjoyed all types of cuisines from Asian to Latin to Mediterranean. What is common among all these cuisines is freshness and accessibility, thanks to the happy produce that grows in the local, sunny lands. From world-class wineries to organic artisan bakers and cheese makers to multi-cultural influences, California is a paradise for the most exquisite of palates.” What fictional character (movie, book, TV, etc…) do you think best embodies the attitude of students at Stanford GSB? “Probably Eliza Doolittle from the old classic movie My Fair Lady (Pygmalion), hehe! The GSB was such a major life-changing experience in my life, I now can think in much more well-rounded ways, aware of my unique abilities and able to use my new set of skills.” What do you find most rewarding about helping others apply to business school? “Doing an account of school, career and personal accomplishments, some people actually find the application some sort of a self-discovery process, which is essential to those interested in leadership positions in their careers. I enjoy working hard to get over that bump into those “a-ha” moments when my clients finally understand themselves and the process they are in. That’s when the creative juices kick in, and their stories and in turn, their application, become much more compelling and attractive.” Want to work with Heidy? Learn more about her here, or find the expert who’s right for you here! Visit our Team page today. Want to craft a strong application? Call us at 1-800-925-7737 and speak with an MBA admissions expert today. Click here to take our Free MBA Admissions Profile Evaluation! As always, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! |
30 Jul 2014, 10:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: SAT Tip of the Week: 3 Simple Changes to Improve Your Score |
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The SAT, like so much in this big beautiful world, is a complex assemblage of pieces. It is, therefore, a complex task to improve one’s score on the SAT as it involves an understanding of the different parts of the test. There are, however, a few simple steps that can help start the process of improving one’s score that many people may not even realize are necessary. Here are three simple changes that can help to significantly improve your score and can, with the aid of other strategies, help you to rock the SAT. 1. Use real SAT questions to practice. Though this may seem like a relatively obvious point, it may surprise many people to know that the vast majority of books do not use real SAT questions in their practice sections. The SAT is a product of College Board and this makes all the questions that they write proprietary information. They will license out this product, but many companies that write books about how to succeed on the SAT are not allowed to use these questions as practice problems. This may not seem like a big deal, but the College Board has a very specific style for the questions that they write. Most SAT books will write their problems to practice certain skills, as opposed to writing them to emulate the style of the SAT. As a result, many students find that their practice problems ask for these skills to be used in very different ways. Imagine learning to drive on wide desert roads, and then being asked to take a driving test in downtown Manhattan. The basic skills are the same, but you would be much more likely to succeed if you learned to drive on the same streets where the test would be administered. 2. Read and answer reading questions as you go. This technique is so powerful, because it is so simple. Many students still attempt to read the entire passage and then answer all the questions afterward. This is how I learned to take the reading section of the SAT, but I was always worried about running out of time. The strategy of answering questions as you read is so effective because it saves tons of time (sometimes 5-10 minutes!) and it helps to answer questions more effectively. The essence of the technique is to look at the first question and read the passage until the line is referenced. After reading the section, form your own answer WITHOUT looking at the answers choices. Finally, check out the answer choices and eliminate all answer choices that are not supported by the passage then pick which one matches your answer. Repeat this process with the next line specific question, reading all text between where you left off from the first question to a little past the lines referenced in the next question. Finally, answer the big picture questions after you’ve read the whole passage. This technique alone can mean a lot more time and a lot more points. 3. Plug in real numbers for math problems that don’t use them. The most common problems of this sort look something like this: “If x < y which of the following is true…” “Some even integer is divided by 7…” In these set ups, the variables are given parameters, but are not specifically defined by real numbers. These problems are best solved by plugging in real numbers that fit these parameters and solving the problems. Let’s look at the first problem: A one digit even integer greater than zero is divided by 7. Which of the following must be true? A) the remainder must be even B) the remainder must be odd C) If the remainder is an even, the remainder of 6 more than the integer will be odd D) If the remainder is odd, the remainder of 8 more than the integer will be even E) There is no way to determine if the remainder is even or odd The parameters of this are so clear we can just start listing real one digit numbers greater than zero and dividing them by seven to see what we have. 2/7: remainder 2, 4/7: remainder 4, 6/7: remainder 6. 8/7: remainder 1 There are both even and odd remainders represented, so A and B are out, and the only integer that gives an odd remainder would give an even remainder if 8 was added to it 8+8 = 16 16/7: remainder 2 If we test answer choice C we see that 2+6 = 8, 4+6 = 10 6+6 = 12 and all of these if divided by seven give and odd remainder. We have our answer. These three changes are simple but can produce big results. By mixing these techniques with some section specific strategies, you will be acing the SAT in no time! Plan on taking the SAT soon? We run a free online SAT prep seminar every few weeks. And, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! David Greenslade is a Veritas Prep SAT instructor based in New York. His passion for education began while tutoring students in underrepresented areas during his time at the University of North Carolina. After receiving a degree in Biology, he studied language in China and then moved to New York where he teaches SAT prep and participates in improv comedy. Read more of his articles here, including How I Scored in the 99th Percentile and How to Effectively Study for the SAT. |
30 Jul 2014, 12:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: Find Out How Algebra Could Be Your Key to Success on the GMAT Quant Section |
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If you want to bring your “A Game” on the Quant section you need to be very comfortable with Algebra. There is one mathematical discipline that dominates the Quant section of the GMAT: Algebra. The majority of the math questions that you will see on test day involve algebra. Many questions involve pure algebra, such as expressions and equations involving variables, roots, and exponents. Another large group of questions is word problems, most of which are best addressed using algebraic equations. Geometry is another significant subject on the GMAT; and geometry is simply a delivery mechanism for algebra. Even things like ratios can often best be addressed by using equations with “x” as the multiplier. It seems that the “A” in “A Game” really does stand for Algebra! It’s a good thing that there are topics, such as statistics, that involve real numbers instead of algebra. Yet even these questions can often best be solved using Algebra. Here is a statistics question that can be addressed several ways. Try to solve this question using algebra. “The average of the five numbers is 6.8. If one of the numbers is multiplied by 3, the average of the numbers increases to 9.2. Which of the five numbers is multiplied by 3? (A) 1.5 (B) 3.0 (C) 3.9 (D) 4.0 (E) 6.0 You can do this problem in a few different ways, but perhaps the best way is Algebra! No matter how you choose the address the question you will need to determine the magnitude of the increase. Since “sum (total) = average * # of terms” You can take the average of 6.8 times the five terms and get a beginning total of 34. The new total is 9.2 times 5 which equals 46. So the increase is 12. In order to create an equation you need to ask yourself “what happened to cause that increase of 12?” The question stem tells you that one of the numbers was multiplied by 3. So when one of the numbers (we can call that number “x”) was multiplied by 3 the total increased by 12. The equation formed from this information is simply “3x = x + 12.” The “3x” is because the number is multiplied by 3 and the “x + 12” is because you had the x to start with (there were five numbers right? and x was one of them) and you added 12 because of the increase to the sum. So if “3x = x + 12” then x = 6. So the correct answer is E. This question can be done based on knowledge of number properties and can even be done by working directly with the answer choices. However, neither of these methods is as reliable for most students as the algebra is. I have worked with the question for years and I can tell you that more people choose D than choose the correct answer. Yet very few of the people who get this wrong used algebra. Those who use algebra generally seem to get this question right. Make sure that you are very comfortable with algebra, after all, bringing your “A Game” is essential to your success on the Quant section! Plan on taking the GMAT soon? We have GMAT prep courses starting all the time. And, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! David Newland has been teaching for Veritas Prep since 2006, and he won the Veritas Prep Instructor of the Year award in 2008. Students’ friends often call in asking when he will be teaching next because he really is a Veritas Prep and a GMAT rock star! Read more of his articles here. |
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