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24 Feb 2014, 16:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: Should I Apply for My MBA in Round 3 or Wait Until Round 1? |
 Round three is commonly thought of as the most competitive round, where applicants vie for the few remaining seats in coveted programs along with some of the most highly qualified candidates of the season. Because these well qualified candidates know they will be desirable to the adcoms, they often wait until the last possible minute, since there appears to be a correlation between highly successful business achievers and the lack of free time on their schedules to complete applications.These are the people you love to hate: 750 GMAT with no prep and a list of work accomplishments as long as your arm. In fact, round three can be so intimidating, you may even be weighing the decision to wait until August to try for early admit or round one at your target school. With round one applications set to be released in July, it can be tempting to spend the next six months improving your GMAT score or taking that international assignment at work. After all, the chances of admission will go up for round one, and having more work experience can’t hurt, right? There is more to consider here. While yes, having more work experience can indeed be a plus, if you feel you have the perfect amount of preparation, prolonging your application may not help and could actually hurt you. What if you fail to have a successful year? What if the promotion does not materialize or worse, you find yourself passed over or even slipping in your performance? There is definitely a window in which both you and your target schools will likely find you “best positioned” to return to school, and waiting through that window may set you back. One key to a successful application is to convince the adcom that the time is right for you to apply. Will you be able to make that same argument next year? If the answer is dubious, you may want to consider applying in the third round. You can always reapply in round one, just remember the adcom will want to hear what you have done to improve your profile, and with only six months between round three and round one, this may be a challenge to demonstrate. Recognizing the maddening considerations, one strategy may be to divide your target list into parts. Go ahead and apply to a couple of schools in round three, then save a couple more for round one, plus your reapplication. Create a strategy for profile improvement which may include increasing your GMAT score, taking a class or two to prepare for school, or volunteering in your community/leading a group. If you have a plan, you will likely be far less stressed about the process and also less disappointed if you are denied admission in round three. If you want to talk to us about our round 3 guarantee, 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. |
25 Feb 2014, 18:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: School Profile: The Innovation and Diversity of Brown University |
 Brown University is ranked number seventeen on the Veritas Prep College Ranking list. The quaint campus of this research school is located in the middle of the historic town of Providence, Rhode Island. Brown was founded in 1764 making it the seventh oldest school in the U.S; it offers a wide variety of degrees in seventy concentrations. This university is known for having the spirit of openness; they have proven this on more than one occasion, starting with becoming the first school to accept students from all religious backgrounds. Innovation is in their nature from faculty to students; they showcased this in 1970 with the development of a new curriculum plan now known as the Brown curriculum. Attending Brown University will give you a well-rounded education allowing many students to succeed on a global level. At Brown, students are required to take ownership of their own academic career; this was done by eliminating the set core requirements for all Brown students. They are now able to design a curriculum plan that is specific to their goals and aspirations. There are more than forty academic departments that offer about two thousand courses each year, making concentration requirements easy fit in the various student designed academic plans. Brown has an extensive library system that greatly improves the success of their students. With a multitude of services and programs designed for student success from public service to career development, Brown is dedicated to giving their students a plethora of resources to help them prosper. At Brown university global learning is a top priority, and this is shown thorough study abroad programs as well as international collaborations. Brown University is dedicated to giving their students a comfortable and close-knit campus life. All student residence halls are surrounded by plush grassy scenery and well-designed courtyards. There are many different housing options for upperclassmen; they can even choose to house by themselves or with friends in a suite or apartment. First year students are required to room with one other person chosen at random in small fifty to sixty person housing units. Brown also gives their students choices such as housing in single-sex and quiet units as well as houses geared towards specific interests, like technology or art. The town of Providence is a main part of campus life at Brown; rich with historic homes and buildings, it is a visually stunning place to take in when enjoying a long walk or bike ride. Filled with culture, there are many galleries, top notch restaurants, shops, and entertainment for students to enjoy. On campus there are two main dining halls, many snack carts, and almost a dozen eateries. The social life Brown offers is immense, with a large variety of student organizations, events, activities, performances, exhibitions, and so on. On this campus every day is unique, giving students a chance to experience something new that ignites their passions. The athletics at Brown University are spectacular; approximately nine hundred students participate in thirty-seven sports teams. Unlike many other universities, women’s athletics are vast at Brown, with them making up twenty of the varsity sports teams. They’re ranked number one in the nation for their collegiate athletic program for women and fourth in the nation as a whole. Aside from varsity sports there are over fifteen intramural teams to participate in as well as a state-of-the-art fitness center that offers courses in everything from martial arts to yoga. Brown is committed to giving their students the equipment to live happy, healthy, and productive lives. Brown University is a diverse and cultured school located in a historic town that wants to enrich young minds to be great additions to the world. They are committed to giving freedom to each individual student while encouraging them to grow by getting to know each other. This is highlighted by their promotion of interfaith dialogue between students while offering each religion the chance to express themselves openly through resources like the Manning Chapel. This forward thinking university has great traditions combined with a lot of fun while expanding the minds of their students. When you start your education at Brown University, you enter through the Van Wickle Gates located on the Quiet Green. Welcomed by the Brown community, you will be begin your academic journey; just as you came in, you will exit Brown University through those same gates celebrated by friends, family, and alumni. This is a tradition and rite of passage for every Brown student. Just make sure you only pass through at these two times, or it is said you will be cursed with bad luck. During your time at Brown you will experience many long-standing and joyous traditions because Brown is more than a university, it is a close-knit community. 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 to see if those schools are a good fit for you. By Colleen Hill |
26 Feb 2014, 11:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: SAT Tip of the Week: 4 Ways to Score Above 2200 |
 Picture in your mind the kind of person that gets a 2200 or above score on the SAT. You are probably picturing some Harvard bound wunderkind who attended the finest prep schools and excelled at all of them, or perhaps a bookish recluse whose entire life has been spent pursuing academia. Friends, I am not those people, but I still managed to score in the 99th percentile on the SAT. I’m not a genius (ask the neighbors whose mailbox I destroyed because I was in reverse when I thought I was in drive), and I had a relatively normal upbringing in the public schools of North Carolina. I also did not do particularly well on the PSAT, which is generally an indicator of strength on the SAT. So how is it that I scored above a 2200 on the SAT and only took it ONCE? I’m glad you asked (I know you didn’t ask, and I, in fact, asked, but just go with it, OK?) 1. Learn A LOT of Vocabulary My English teacher my sophomore year was a tough cookie. She had us reading multiple books in A WEEK sometimes and assigned us 25 vocabulary words every week that we had to know backwards and forwards. By the end of her class I had memorized something like 750 vocabulary words. At the time I thought she was a demonic monster sent to destroy my young adulthood, but when I sat down to take the SAT I knew EVERY WORD. Many intelligent professionals wouldn’t know every word on the SAT, but I was prepared. I was OVER prepared, but it sure did pay off in the completing the sentence section of the SAT. Vocabulary is also super useful for the reading comprehension section. A lot of the “difficult” passages on the SAT just use hard language. If you can understand the words used, you can understand the passage. 2. Review Math Basics The math on the SAT is sometimes tricky, but it is NEVER complex. You aren’t ever asked to do calculus or geometric proofs. You aren’t even asked to do complicated algebra involving imaginary numbers. All you have to do is basic Algebra, geometry, and a pinch of probability. That’s really it. Many of you are finding derivatives or analyzing distribution curves in statistics, but none of that stuff is really that useful on the SAT, which is why many advanced students feel unprepared for the Math section. My Junior year I was behind the geniuses in math, meaning I was taking a pre-calculus course instead of calculus, but my teacher was extremely thorough in reviewing all the math concepts we would need going forward. We reviewed area and probability. We reviewed graphing linear functions and understanding sets and sequences. We reviewed the stuff on the SAT! We were also forced to do something that I make ALL my students do, which is break down word problems to figure out what they are actually asking. Many students know the skills, but have trouble translating word problems to equations and concepts. This exercise prepared me for just that. Oh, and we weren’t allowed to use a calculator for the entire year. 3. Learn to Work without a Calculator Technically, you do not need a calculator for the SAT. Everything that is asked can be done with paper and pencil. Because of this, the SAT rewards people who can work without a calculator. The biggest place this is evident is working with fractions. Students fear fractions like the plague and have become so used to their calculators that they don’t feel comfortable leaving answers as fractions. The SAT LOVES to leave answers as fractions. It also loves to make problems that can really only be solved by working with the fractions. If you do not consider yourself strong at working without a calculator, now is the time to get strong. Calculators are great for checking arithmetic to make sure you don’t make careless errors (I am the king of this, ask my students), but when first dealing with the problem, DO NOT just try to plug equations into your calculator. The test wants you to work without it and will reward you for being able to. 4. Clearly Identify What a Passage is about and What Pieces of Language are Accomplishing The reading section is all about figuring out what the passage is ABOUT and what the passage is DOING. The vast majority of questions on the reading section ask about why language is used, what its purpose is, and re-contextualizing ideas presented in the passage. All you need to know to be able to do this is what the passage is about and what the individual sections being referenced are doing. This is easier said than done, but the clearest way to answer the first question is to ask what the “pitch-line” of the article is. When a friend asks “What was that movie about?” You have no problem giving a quick answer. If someone asks me what “Star Wars” is about, the “pitch line” is that it is a coming of age story about a boy who has to restore a world controlled by an evil empire. The events of the movie aren’t what it is, they are what happens in it. Similarly the main idea is what the article is, not the individual things it discusses. Does it make an argument in favor or against something? Or tell a story? Or discuss some aspect of a topic? Deciding this will help you to understand the passage as a whole. You can then repeat this process for line specific questions to identify what the individual pieces of language are doing. Just remember, the answer is always in the passage and supported by the piece of language being analyzed. Success on the SAT isn’t just for geniuses. It is a series of skills and information that can be learned and practiced. If I can score above a 2200, so can you! 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. |
26 Feb 2014, 15:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: What is the GMAT? |
 After more than a decade of being in business, Veritas Prep has worked with tens of thousands of people who need to take the GMAT for one reason or another. But few actually take the time to truly understand what the GMAT is all about, or why they’re really taking it (aside from the fact that it’s required for admissions to their desired graduate school). So, first of all, let’s define it. G.M.A.T. stands for the General Management Admissions Test, and was created by the General Management Admissions Council (GMAC) in 1954. The GMAT is the primary entrance exam for business school and a handful of other graduate schools such as masters programs in finance and accounting. Before we delve into the format of the GMAT and the essential techniques and strategies we teach our students to master the test, let’s consider why this exam even exists in the first place. The answer is two-fold: [*]The GMAT is the single best way for schools to predict your potential for success in the classroom…more so than your undergraduate GPA, your prior work experience or any other accomplishments and accolades. In other words, it tests your ability to handle the rigorous workload you should expect in business school (especially on the quantitative side).[/*] [*]Professional recruiters use your GMAT score as a foundation to gauge your mental agility and critical reasoning skills. Especially for students targeting top schools, just getting in isn’t enough. When recruiters come on campus they rank students based on their GMAT scores, and those with the highest marks inevitably get the best jobs.[/*] [/list] Now that we understand the higher level reasoning for why the GMAT exists, let’s think about what the GMAT tests. On paper, there are four sections of the GMAT: [*]The Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) essay[/*] [*]Integrated Reasoning[/*] [*]Quantitative Reasoning[/*] [*]Verbal Reasoning[/*] [/list] We will break each of these sections down in more detail shortly, but before we do, it’s important to make one thing clear: The GMAT is a reasoning test more than it is a content test (hence the word “reasoning” at the end of each section title). Dr. Larry Rudner, Chief Psychomatrician at the GMAC, states it quite well (and we paraphrase); “We made the GMAT about math and grammar because it has to be about something. But we are not testing your ability to memorize rules or factor an equation. The GMAT is really concerned with higher-order thinking skills.” So, what exactly are higher-order thinking skills? They are the top four tiers of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (think of it as the food pyramid for learning):  Most of your middle and high school days were spent building the foundation of your pyramid – memorizing vocabulary words, mathematical formulas, etc. So, business schools expect you to already know the basic content of the test. Thus the GMAT’s true focus is on the higher levels of the pyramid. While those levels rely on some base knowledge (remembering), that knowledge is only the basis for the questions, which will test your understanding, ability to apply, and in most cases, your ability to analyze and create. So while content knowledge is required in order to showcase those abilities, the GMAT is not a content-based exam. Simply memorizing (remembering) information does not guarantee you a high score. In order to succeed, you need to study the higher-order thought processes; you must understand and be able to apply. Simply put, the GMAT is a test of how you think, not what you know. Now that you know why the GMAT exists and what it’s really testing, let’s take a look at how the test is structured:  It is important to note that every test taker receives three official scores from their GMAT. The overall score (ranging from 200-800) is tallied from the Quantitative and Verbal Reasoning sections only. The Integrated Reasoning section has its own score on a scale of 1-8 and the Analytical Writing Assessment is graded on a scale of 0.0-6.0. We commonly hear students proclaim that they need a 700 or higher to get into their dream schools; which is oftentimes true in that their target schools have a median GMAT score in the 700-range, but that is just a snapshot of the entire test. Do not overlook the AWA and Integrated Reasoning sections because they are still an important indicator of your ability to succeed in school. Especially as data behind the Integrated Reasoning section begins to pile up, your IR score will become increasingly more important. So, whether you’re a fresh-faced Noob just starting your GMAT preparation or a seasoned veteran in search for a boost to an existing score, it’s important to take a step back and think about why the GMAT even exists and what it’s really testing. This doesn’t mean you have to stare at the stars and ponder the Galilean concepts. Just listen to what the people who write this test say about it. Then think logically about how you can best apply yourself during your studies to maximize your own score. For deeper insight into the science behind this test, read GMATology. 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! |
26 Feb 2014, 21:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: What Is the GMAT? |
|
After more than a decade of being in business, Veritas Prep has worked with tens of thousands of people who need to take the GMAT for one reason or another. But few actually take the time to truly understand what the GMAT is all about, or why they’re really taking it (aside from the fact that it’s required for admissions to their desired graduate school). So, first of all, let’s define it. G.M.A.T. stands for the General Management Admissions Test, and was created by the General Management Admissions Council (GMAC) in 1954. The GMAT is the primary entrance exam for business school and a handful of other graduate schools such as masters programs in finance and accounting. Before we delve into the format of the GMAT and the essential techniques and strategies we teach our students to master the test, let’s consider why this exam even exists in the first place. The answer is two-fold: [*]The GMAT is the single best way for schools to predict your potential for success in the classroom…more so than your undergraduate GPA, your prior work experience or any other accomplishments and accolades. In other words, it tests your ability to handle the rigorous workload you should expect in business school (especially on the quantitative side).[/*] [*]Professional recruiters use your GMAT score as a foundation to gauge your mental agility and critical reasoning skills. Especially for students targeting top schools, just getting in isn’t enough. When recruiters come on campus they rank students based on their GMAT scores, and those with the highest marks inevitably get the best jobs.[/*] [/list] Now that we understand the higher level reasoning for why the GMAT exists, let’s think about what the GMAT tests. On paper, there are four sections of the GMAT: [*]The Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) essay[/*] [*]Integrated Reasoning[/*] [*]Quantitative Reasoning[/*] [*]Verbal Reasoning[/*] [/list] We will break each of these sections down in more detail shortly, but before we do, it’s important to make one thing clear: The GMAT is a reasoning test more than it is a content test (hence the word “reasoning” at the end of each section title). Dr. Larry Rudner, Chief Psychomatrician at the GMAC, states it quite well (and we paraphrase); “We made the GMAT about math and grammar because it has to be about something. But we are not testing your ability to memorize rules or factor an equation. The GMAT is really concerned with higher-order thinking skills.” So, what exactly are higher-order thinking skills? They are the top four tiers of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (think of it as the food pyramid for learning): Most of your middle and high school days were spent building the foundation of your pyramid – memorizing vocabulary words, mathematical formulas, etc. So, business schools expect you to already know the basic content of the test. Thus the GMAT’s true focus is on the higher levels of the pyramid. While those levels rely on some base knowledge (remembering), that knowledge is only the basis for the questions, which will test your understanding, ability to apply, and in most cases, your ability to analyze and create. So while content knowledge is required in order to showcase those abilities, the GMAT is not a content-based exam. Simply memorizing (remembering) information does not guarantee you a high score. In order to succeed, you need to study the higher-order thought processes; you must understand and be able to apply. Simply put, the GMAT is a test of how you think, not what you know. Now that you know why the GMAT exists and what it’s really testing, let’s take a look at how the test is structured: It is important to note that every test taker receives three official scores from their GMAT. The overall score (ranging from 200-800) is tallied from the Quantitative and Verbal Reasoning sections only. The Integrated Reasoning section has its own score on a scale of 1-8 and the Analytical Writing Assessment is graded on a scale of 0.0-6.0. We commonly hear students proclaim that they need a 700 or higher to get into their dream schools; which is oftentimes true in that their target schools have a median GMAT score in the 700-range, but that is just a snapshot of the entire test. Do not overlook the AWA and Integrated Reasoning sections because they are still an important indicator of your ability to succeed in school. Especially as data behind the Integrated Reasoning section begins to pile up, your IR score will become increasingly more important. So, whether you’re a fresh-faced Noob just starting your GMAT preparation or a seasoned veteran in search for a boost to an existing score, it’s important to take a step back and think about why the GMAT even exists and what it’s really testing. This doesn’t mean you have to stare at the stars and ponder the Galilean concepts. Just listen to what the people who write this test say about it. Then think logically about how you can best apply yourself during your studies to maximize your own score. For deeper insight into the science behind this test, read GMATology. 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! |
27 Feb 2014, 12:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: Is the GMAT Hard? |
 As a GMAT instructor, I get asked a lot of questions about the exam. Most of these questions are about what can be done to prepare for the exam and what to concentrate on, but one of the simplest questions I get asked all the time is simply: “Is the GMAT hard?” Sadly, the answer is not very clean cut for a given prospective student, but I’ve spent enough time thinking about this test that I now have a definite answer that I think captures the heart of what is being tested. My answer is simply this: The GMAT is not hard, the GMAT is tricky. What is the difference between hard and tricky, exactly? (Good question! I’m glad you asked). The material covered on the GMAT is all high school level stuff, from algebra to geometry to using proper grammar. No university-level exposure is assumed or required to score highly on the GMAT. The reason for this is to put students on as even a footing as possible. If student A had spent the last four years studying differential equations while student B was working on a degree in biology, student A would do much better on a differential equations test by virtue of their exposure to the subject. By choosing high school level topics, the playing field is as fair as possible for everyone. However, there is a downside to choosing material from high school: the material is not that difficult. One of my key pieces of advice on the GMAT is to (re-)learn the multiplication table, which you’re exposed to for the first time in the fourth grade at about age 10. Sadly, a lifetime of dependency on calculators and cash registers has ensured that most people don’t usually execute these types of calculations in their everyday lives, and therefore forget the simple concepts they learned many years before (Use or lose it). The GMAT therefore has to offer difficult questions based on material that’s not inherently too difficult. What are some easy ways to make simple material more difficult? The first one is the timing aspect, so you have a limited amount of time to answer the questions, but moreover you feel the pressure of time running out on you constantly. If you had unlimited time to answer the questions, most people would score significantly higher on the GMAT, so managing your time is paramount to getting a top score. Another way to make easy material more difficult is to remove the crutches most people use to avoid having to actually solve the question. That’s why there are no calculators in the quant section of the GMAT, although every conceivable situation in business school will have a calculator within your reach. This opens up a lot of space to make questions more difficult by just dramatically upping the math. Solving 33 + 32 + 31 can easily be done by just replacing the abstract algebra with the actual numbers. Solving 39 + 38 + 37 without a calculator is a decidedly more difficult task. The math is as complicated, but the size of the numbers makes the problem significantly harder to solve. This is the same reason as to why there’s no spell check on the AWA. With a spell check, it’s a lot harder to differentiate between someone who has a mastery of the English language and someone who can just rely on the red underline (or my bane: the green underline). On the IR, a calculator is provided because the goal there is to interpret the data in a speedy way, so the omission of the spell check or the calculator is entirely by design. It also forces you to have to be cleverer in your approach. This is what the GMAT is looking for: an approach less dependent on brute force and more focused on understanding the situation presented. To highlight these elements, let’s look at a very simple question that is nonetheless difficult to solve without a calculator: What is the square root of 239,121? (A) 476 (B) 489 (C) 497 (D) 511 (E) 524 The square root of 239,121 represents the number that, squared, will give you 239,121. With a calculator this problem is plug-and-play, and at most it will take 45 seconds to try all five combinations and see which answer is correct. Without a calculator to do all the heavy lifting, we have to get a little smarter. The brute force approach will still work. Simply multiply 476 by 476 and find the product. If it is not 239,121, we rinse and repeat for all five numbers. This technique does work, but it will take a significant amount of time as it ignores the hints the exam is giving you to solve the question quickly. A great concept to utilize here is the idea of the unit digit. If I multiply any two numbers, the unit digit will simply be the product of the unit digits of the two numbers. This is because there is no carry over from other positions possible. Hence, here we need a number that gives a unit digit of 1 when we multiply it by itself. Going through each option, we can eliminate A (6×6), C (7×7) and E (4×4). This should make a lot of intuitive sense because any even number multiplied by itself will give you another even number, so answers A and E were never in the running. Answer choice C could have worked, but 7×7 must yield a unit digit of 9, so it cannot possibly work. Only two answer choices remain: 489 and 511. Unfortunately, they both give unit digits of 1, so we need a different strategy to determine which answer is correct. This is where the concept of order of magnitude can save us the trouble of actually having to calculate the numbers. It’s worth noting that at this point multiplying one of the numbers will either give the correct answer or the incorrect answer. Either option solves the question, and is a legitimate way of getting the correct answer. However, knowing that 5 x 5 gives 25 means that 500 x 500 must give 25 followed by four 0’s, or 250,000. Since our number is a little below that, we know the answer must be smaller than 500, but not by very much. Answer choice D is thus too big to be the correct answer, and answer choice B must be correct. There are many questions like this one that can be solved without having to do any math whatsoever, simply by knowing how to apply mathematical properties. This is what makes the GMAT tricky. The questions will not ask for very difficult math to be executed, but figuring out the correct way to get the correct answer is never a question of blindly attacking the problem with a brute force approach. This is why there is a timing component on the GMAT: To avoid reliance on brute forcing the answer (also to allow multiple tests to be scheduled in the same day). Focusing your study approach on the how, rather than the what, will help you maximize your score. An apropos comparison is to think of the GMAT as an industrial strength lock. If you try to force your way in, the resistance will be significant. However if you know the combination to the lock, it will open easily. The key (pun intended) is to ascertain how to approach each question and work on the skillful approach instead of the forceful approach. Best of all, inside the safe is a ticket to the business school of your choice. Your job is to find the best way inside the safe. The lock mechanism is designed to keep you out, but like a password that is just “password”, it only appears difficult until you crack the safe. 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. |
27 Feb 2014, 15:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: How My Love of Music Helped Me Get into College |
 Ever since I saw their first concert freshman year, I wanted to join my high school jazz band. I loved the sound and the energy the band had on stage; they looked like they were having a great time. However, I was a classic AP track student with a packed schedule; I managed to squeeze in marching/concert band first period, but for my first two years I just had to watch them play from the balcony where the concert band sat. Then, at the end of my sophomore year, I found out I had a scheduling conflict, and I needed another class 6th period, exactly when jazz band was. Well, I decided it was too good of a chance to pass up, so I told my academic advisor to put me in. His reaction was cautionary. He reminded me of all the other students I would be competing with and how they’d be taking more APs than me. He said to think it over and talk to my parents about it. Well, discouraged, I went home and talked to my parents. They told me to forget about what he said; if I wanted to play jazz, I should. I emailed my advisor and told him to put me in. So I picked up my tenor sax and started practicing and listening, and I absolutely loved it. I had a great time playing with the band, and I still play now. So when it came time to apply to schools, I took this supposed weakness in my application and owned it. At this point, I had done jazz band for a year and a half and had been drum major of my marching band. I conveyed my passion for music in my application; I even wrote my supplementary essay about the dimension of experience jazz music opened for me. I’m now attending Georgetown University, and after I was accepted I received a letter from the dean congratulating me and noting that one of the things that really caught their attention was my involvement in music. So there it is, one of my biggest selling points was a non-academic class that I took because I wanted to, not some AP whatever. One important thing that I have learned about the college application process is that one extra AP class is not necessarily going to make your application. This is not to say that studying isn’t important (I did very well academically), but once you’ve cleared a certain level, top tier schools are really just looking for someone who interests them. My mother once came up with an interesting analogy: it’s kind of like a dinner party. They don’t want to let anyone in who is below a certain standard, but after that look for people who would make the most interesting guests at a dinner party. Well this person invented something, this person studied in Tanzania, etc. So by all means keep up the hard work, but don’t sacrifice things you love to do (they just might come in handy). Find something you are passionate about and stick with it. You can get good grades and have fun at the same 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! Eamon Cagney is a Veritas Prep SAT instructor based in Washington DC. He did a lot of private tutoring and teaching through different organizations in high school, and he was very involved music organizations on his high school campus. Currently, Eamon is studying Computer Science at Georgetown University. |
28 Feb 2014, 10:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: Want the Best in ACT Prep? Now We Offer It! |
 It was just 18 months ago when we shook up the college test prep space by announcing Veritas Prep SAT 2400. Since then, thousands of high school students and their parents have discovered what makes Veritas Prep special when it comes to tackling standardized tests: The best instructors rigorously applying a proven system for success that any student can learn. Now, our march on the college prep space continues with the launch of Veritas Prep ACT 36. Nearly a year ago our work began, and it started with consulting with leading school districts and education leadership programs such as University of Michigan’s Graduate School of Education to design the perfect learning environment for high school students wishing to excel on the ACT. With multiple Master of Education degree holders on our development team, we identified the three things that every student needs to excel on the ACT: Skill, Strategy, and Performance. To keep the energy level high in the classroom, our program is segmented into three sections. First, we cover the essential Skills necessary to navigate the content in every ACT question. Next, we introduce a Veritas Prep ACT 36 strategy to simplify the processing requirements on tougher test questions. Finally, students have a chance to synthesize the skills and strategies they’ve just learned on real ACT sections, which are subsequently reviewed in detail with an instructor who has scored in the 99th percentile on the real ACT. Excelling on the ACT takes work, and you can’t work if you’re not getting enough face time with your instructor. While most leading ACT prep companies offer just 18 hours of classroom time, ACT 36 offers 36 hours of classroom time. This allows us to start at a more elementary level (ensuring that you will indeed master the basic content you need to know, but then also progress to a much more advanced level than what Kaplan, The Princeton Review, and others allow. If you really want an ACT score in the 30s, this is how you do it. Veritas Prep ACT 36 is available as an in-person course, a live online course, and private one-on-one tutoring. Take a look at our ACT prep programs and see how our team can help you on the ACT starting today! By Scott Shrum. |
28 Feb 2014, 14:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: GMAT Tip of the Week: Learning Math from Mathers |
 March has traditionally been “Hip Hop Month” in the GMAT Tip of the Week space, so with March only hours away and winter weather gripping the world, let’s round up to springtime and start Hip Hop March a few hours early, this time borrowing a page from USC-Marshall Mathers. There are plenty of GMAT lessons to learn from Eminem. He’s a master, as are the authors of GMAT Critical Reasoning, of “precision in language“. He flips sentence structures around to create more interesting wordplay, a hallmark of Sentence Correction authors. But what can one of the world’s greatest vocal wordsmiths teach you about quant? On his latest album, Eminem talks about feeling like a “Rap God”. And while that track – 6,077 words in 6 minutes, or about 18 Reading Comprehension passages’ worth of words – is more dense than anything you’ll have to read for the GMAT, it supplies a few nuggets of wisdom that can dramatically increase your score, most notably this lyric in which he mocks other MCs who have accused him of being too mainstream, too pop: “I don’t know how to make songs like that I don’t know what words to use” Let me know when it occurs to you While I’m ripping any one of these verses that versus you Now, while Em is mocking other emcees, he could very well be mimicking the way that the GMAT would mock *you* on certain problems. The GMAT is designed in large part to be a “quantitative reasoning” test as opposed to a “math” test, and leads a lot of students to stare at problems nervously saying, essentially, “I don’t know how to solve problems like that; I don’t know what tools to use”. All the while, the 75-minute section clock ticks down and the GMAT sits back, smirking, thinking “let me know when it occurs to you how to solve this problem that versus you”. In other words, difficult GMAT problems are often difficult because people waste a lot of time sitting scared not knowing how to get started. And in many of those cases, the way to get started is to go much more “mainstream” than you’d think. Consider this example: With # and & each representing different digits in the problem below, the difference between #&& and ## is 667. What is the value of &? #&& -## 667 (A) 3 (B) 4 (C) 5 (D) 8 (E) 9 Now, many would look at this problem and think “I don’t know how to solve problems like that…”, as it’s not a classic “Algebra” problem, but it’s not a straight-up “Subtraction” problem, either. It uses the common GMAT themes of Abstraction and Reverse-Engineering to test you conceptually to see how you think critically to solve problems. And in true Eminem-mocking form, the key to a complicated-looking problem like this is a lot more mainstream than it is advanced. You have to just get started playing with the numbers, testing possibilities for # and & and seeing what you learn from it. When GMAT students lament that “I don’t know what tools to use” to start on a tough problem, they’re often missing this piece of GMAT wisdom – *that’s* the point. You’re supposed to look at this with some trial-and-error like you would in a business meeting, throwing some ideas out and eliminating those that definitely won’t work so that you can spend some more time on the ones that have a good chance. In this case, throw out a couple ideas for #. Could # be 5? If it were, then you’d have a number in the 500s and you’d subtract something from it. There’s no way to get to 667 if you start smaller than that and only subtract, so even with pretty limited information you can guarantee that # has to be 6 or bigger. And by the same logic, try a value like 9 for #. That would give you 900-and-something, and the most that ## could be is 99 (the largest two-digit number), which would mean that your answer would still be greater than 800. You need a number for # that allows you to stay in the 667 range, meaning that # has to be 6 or 7. That means that you’re working with: 6&& – 66 = 667 or 7&& – 77 = 667 And just by playing with numbers, you’ve been able to take a very abstract problem and make it quite a bit more concrete. If you examine the first of those options, keep in mind that the biggest that & can be is 9, and that would leave you with: 699 – 66 = 633, demonstrating that even at the biggest possible value of &, if # = 6 you can’t get a big enough result to equal 667. So, again, by playing with numbers to find minimums and maximums, we’ve proven that the problem has to be: 7&& – 77 = 667, and now you can treat it just like an algebra problem, since the only unknown is now 7&&. Adding 77 to both sides, you get 7&& = 744, so the answer is 4. More important than this problem, however, is the takeaway – GMAT problems are often designed to look abstract and to test math in a different “order” (here you had two unknowns to “start” the problem and were given the “answer”), and the exam does a masterful job of taking common concepts (this was a subtraction problem) and presenting them to look like something you’ve never seen. The most dangerous mindset you can have on the GMAT quant section is “I don’t know how to solve problems like this” or “I’ve never seen this before”, whereas the successful strategy is to take a look at what you’re given and at least try a few possibilities. With symbol problems (like this), sequence problems, numbers-too-large-to-calculate problems, etc., often the biggest key is to go a lot more mainstream than “advanced math” – try a few small numbers to test the relationship in the problem, and use that to narrow the range of possibilities, find a pattern, or learn a little more about the concept in the problem. If your standard mindset on abstract-looking problems is “I don’t know how to solve problems like that”, both Em and the G-Em-A-T are right to chide you a bit mockingly, as that’s often the entire point of the problem, to reward those who are willing to try (the entrepreneurial, self-starter types) and “punish” those who won’t think beyond the process they’ve memorized. Even if you don’t become a GMAT God, if you follow some of Eminem’s lessons you can at least find yourself saying “Hi, my name is…” over and over again at b-school orientation. 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 |
03 Mar 2014, 11:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: Is This GMAT Question Suspect? |
 I came across a discussion on one of our questions where the respondents were split over whether it is a strengthen question or weaken! Mind you, both sides had many supporters but the majority was with the incorrect side. You must have read the write up on ‘support’ in your Veritas Prep CR book where we discuss how question stems having the word ‘support’ could indicate either strengthen or inference questions. I realized that we need a write up on the word ‘suspect’ too so here goes. First let me give you the question stem of that question: Which of the following, if true, supplies the best reason to suspect that the proposed new course will increase interest in the metropolitan cooking academy? So do we have to find a reason which indicates that the new course WILL increase interest in the academy or do we have to find a reason that indicates that the new course WILL NOT increase interest in the academy? That is, is this a type of ‘strengthen’ question or the opposite – a ‘weaken’ question? I would have expected most people to tag it as a strengthen question i.e. we are looking for a reason which indicates that the new course WILL increase interest in the academy but that is not the case. Many people get waylaid by the word ‘suspect’ and incorrectly tag it as a weaken question. Yes, suspect could mean ‘doubtful’ but just because the question stem has it, it doesn’t mean you have a weaken question at hand. Similar to the situation where the word ‘support’ in the question stem doesn’t necessarily imply that you have been given a strengthen question to deal with. Let’s discuss various meanings of the word ‘suspect’ and how they are used (using merriam-webster.com): Suspect can be used as a verb, noun or adjective. In our question stem, it is used as a verb and that’s what we will focus most on but let’s take up the other two briefly first. SUSPECT (- NOUN) – one that is suspected; especially a person suspected of a crime [*]One suspect has been arrested.[/*] [*]She is a possible suspect in connection with the kidnapping.[/*] [/list] SUSPECT (- ADJECTIVE) regarded or deserving to be regarded with suspicion doubtful, questionable [*]The room had a suspect odor.[/*] [*]Since she was carrying no cash or credit cards, her claim to the store’s detectives that she had intended to pay for the items was suspect.[/*] [/list] SUSPECT ( – VERB) – The verb suspect can be used in 3 different ways:
2. to have doubts of: distrust For Example: The fire chief suspects arson. I suspect his intentions. 3. to imagine to exist or be true, likely, or probable For Example: I suspect it will rain. Given a construction “I suspect A will happen”, which meaning will it have? In this case, it has the meaning of ‘imagine to be true’ or ‘think to be true’. There is absolutely no ambiguity here. When I ask “Which option supplies the best reason to suspect that the new course will increase interest in the academy?” you are definitely looking for the option that indicates that the new course WILL increase interest. Let me give you the whole question now. I am sure you will be able to solve it easily. Question: The metropolitan cooking academy surveyed prospective students and found that students wanted a curriculum that focused on today’s healthy dining trends. In order to reverse the trend of declining interest in the school’s programs, administrators propose a series of new courses focused on cooking exotic species of fish, alternative grains such as quinoa, and organically produced vegetables. Which of the following, if true, supplies the best reason to suspect that the proposed new course will increase interest in the metropolitan cooking academy? (A) Cooking fish, grains, and vegetables relies on same culinary fundamentals as does the preparation of other ingredients. (B) In the food and beverage industry, many employers no longer have time to train apprentices and therefore demand basic culinary skills from their new hires. (C) Local producers in the area near the Metropolitan cooking academy are excellent sources of exotic fish and organic vegetables. (D) Many other cooking schools have found a decline in the level of interest in their program. (E) Many advocates of healthy dining stress the importance of including fish, grains and organically produced vegetables in one’s diet. Solution: Let’s break down the argument: Premises: A survey found that students wanted a curriculum that focused on today’s healthy dining trends. Administrators propose a series of new courses focused on cooking fish, alternative grains and organically produced vegetables What will indicate that the new course will increase interest in the academy? If fish, grains and organic vegetables are considered ‘today’s healthy dining trends’, then probably the course will become popular. That is what option (E) says. Hence the answer is (E). I suspect that the word suspect will not waylay any reader of this article anymore. 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! |
03 Mar 2014, 19:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: What Are the SAT Subject Tests and When Should You Take Them? |
 Hey all you Juniors! June 7th, 2014 is probably the best time for you to take SAT Subject Tests on the subjects you are taking this school year. Why wait until the fall, when you will have had all summer to forget the chemistry, biology, US History, or whatever other classes you are taking right now? Besides, taking these exams now will allow you to apply early to schools that require Subject tests. The odds of getting in early decision or early action are often much greater than getting in regular decision. In 2012, the Ivies admitted 22% of early applicants vs. 8% or regular applicants, so it pays to be prepared! So what are the SAT Subject Tests, and when are they administered? These are 1 hour long, content based tests. The subjects tested are: Literature, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, U.S. History, World History, Math Level 1 or 2, French, German, Spanish, Hebrew, Italian, Latin, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Not all language tests are available on all dates.You can take up to three SAT Subject tests on one test date. They are offered on the same dates as the SAT, but you cannot take both the SAT and the SAT Subject Tests on the same day. And what masochist would ever want to do that anyway? Most top-tier colleges require 2 SAT Subject Tests in subjects of your choosing. Most top engineering schools require the Math 2 Subject Test, plus either Physics, Chemistry, or Biology. Check the websites of the schools you are applying to to make sure you are taking the right number and type of test. These tests are very important! They make up roughly a third of the all-important “Academic Index” or AI number that top colleges use to rate you academically. Unless you’re a Rockefeller or Gates, this is the single most important piece of information on your entire college application. All that said, June is a great time to take these tests on subjects you are currently studying. For those of you taking an AP exam in May, see if an SAT Subject Test is offered in that subject. AP tests are much longer and more rigorous than SAT Subject tests. If you spend all year studying hard and preparing for the AP exam, the SAT Subject Test will likely be a breeze, but not if you wait until the Fall and give yourself all Summer to forget! Besides this summer you want to be prepping for the October SAT. AP Tests this year are May 5th-16th. Pick your three best subjects and spend May 17th – June 6th reviewing the material for these SAT Subject Tests. You can find free SAT Subject Tests practice exams on the College Board’s website at: https://sat.collegeboard.org/register/sat-subject-test-dates As is true for learning anything, you are better off studying for one hour per day than for 7 hours one day. That’s just not how human being learn well. There is almost no harm in taking these tests, other than the usual emotional anguish often associated with standardized testing. Using The College Board’s popular “Score Choice” feature, you can choose which test scores to send to which schools – after you see your score. Many schools will just pick your top 2 tests, but strong scores on 6 Subject Tests will leave a better impression than strong scores on 2 tests. Think about it like AP tests – would you rather have 10 AP 5s on your record or 2 AP 5s? Breadth is important! Be aware that some colleges (eg Yale) do NOT accept score choice and will see ALL of your SAT and SAT Subject Tests you ever have taken in your entire life, including that one you took in 8th grade, just for practice…You can read more about Score Choice here: https://professionals.collegeboard.com/testing/sat-reasoning/scores/policy Best of luck, and register for those June SAT Subject Tests right now! 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! By Beau Borrero |
04 Mar 2014, 11:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: What to Avoid and What to Focus on in GMAT Reading Comprehension |
 In this series we return to classic movies to learn fundamental strategies for GMAT Success. “A man and a woman meet aboard a luxury ocean liner. She already has a fiancé, but still the two fall in love. The ship sinks and the woman lives, but the man dies.” So, one of the longest and yet most successful movies in history can be summed up in just three short sentences. Thirty-four words to tell the tale of the 1997 Oscar winner for “Best Picture.” At 3 hours and 14 minutes it was not the longest “best picture” in history; 1939’s “Gone with Wind” was nearly 4 hours. Notice that in my summary above, I do not mention any names, any dates, or any numbers. Basically, I do not mention any of the specifics that people often focus on when reading a passage on the GMAT. This is because the details are easy to look up as you answer questions on reading comprehension. It is the executive summary that you need to be looking for as you read the passage. What to NOT Focus On… Put the movie aside for a moment and imagine that the script for Titanic was a reading comprehension passage. What would be the easy things to notice and to quickly locate if you needed to? Firstly, anything capitalized. Proper names simply jump out at you. You would quickly find the name of the ship, the girl’s name “Rose,” and the boy’s name “Jack.” The fiancé’s name is the very fanciful “Caledon Hockley,” or “Cal” for short, I wonder if you remember that one? The second thing that is easy to look up is any sort of number or date. The ship sailed on April 10, 1912 and struck an iceberg on April 15. The crew and passengers numbered 2224, of which more than 1500 died. The survivors were only in the water for 2 hours before the RMA Carpathia arrived to pick up 705 survivors. Unfortunately, the water temperature was only 28 degrees and maximum survival time was only 30 minutes. In fact only 13 people were pulled into the lifeboats despite the fact that the lifeboats could have held 500 more people. Do you see how easy it is to look back for these numbers? Don’t try to memorize them! The third thing to not get caught up in is scientific terms and unfamiliar vocabulary. Now, the Titanic story does not involve lots of scientific terms, but even if it did you would not focus on those. They are not important to the executive summary and they are easy to spot. It is easy to spot capitalization, numbers, and “big words.” These are things that are best left for you to go back to find if a specific question asks about them. What You Should Focus On… So what should you focus on when reading? What should make up your executive summary? If it is a scientific passage you have to make sure that you understand the theory. You need to be able to state the theory in simple terms. If there are two different ideas or authors make sure that you understand the differences and the similarities. In every case make sure that you can state the “plot” of the passage in a few words – as I did for the Titanic above. Part of the Veritas Prep STOP technique is stopping at the end of each paragraph to make sure that you know what the main idea of that paragraph is. At the end of the entire passage you can run through the full STOP: S (scope) T (tone) O (organization) and P (purpose) The Movie… And here is what you have been waiting for. Admit it, you know this scene and you love it! If you 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. |
04 Mar 2014, 16:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: School Profile: Traditions of Bowdoin College |
 Bowdoin College, located in the coastal town of Brusnwick, Maine, is a small liberal arts college ranked #14 on the Veritas Prep Elite College Rankings.The exclusive school boasts famous alumni such as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Nathaniel Hawthorne. More recently, current assistant professor of computer science, Daniela Oliveira was awarded the prestigious Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers by the White House for her research in computer security. This is an extraordinary honor for a small liberal arts college competing against large research universities. Bowdoin was an all men’s college until 1971, and today offers the co-ed student body over 30 majors and eight interdisciplinary majors. The college’s philosophy is pushing students and faculty to take academic risks. Students are encouraged to make their educations a meaningful experience for themselves by integrating knowledge from disparate subjects and analyzing their connections. The focus is always forward-thinking and encouraging the individual to prepare to positively contribute to the world. When you hear about the “living rooms” on campus, know they are referring to the eight houses that make up a portion of student campus residences. Incoming freshmen are all assigned to a house according to their floor in dormitories, a.k.a. the “bricks.” Houses offer freshmen outreach throughout the school year with small events like study breaks and dinners. They also sponsor film-screenings and other campus-wide activities. There is a selection process students must participate in to live in the houses that requires a commitment to the goals of the house. Off campus, students can go to Thomas Point Beach for an afternoon of frisbee or volleyball when the weather permits. As the weather turns cooler, a drive up the coast to check out the famed Maine lighthouses is a nice break from studies. During winter, bowling and ice skating are popular student activities. Bowdoin is an NCAA Division III athletic program that plays in the New England Small College Athletic Conference. Within the conference, the real rivalry for Bowdoin is in football with Colby College and Bates College. The three colleges have played each other since the 1870s, which puts them among the ten oldest Division III college football rivalries in the nation. In 1965, they formed the CBB Championship. Playing each other one time during season, the team that beats the other two wins the championship. Although there have been a handful of three-way ties and one two-way tie, the Bowdoin Polar Bears are the winningest team in the CBB. The Polar Bears, named after alumnus Robert Peary who was the first man to reach the North Pole, have another long-standing and arguably more intense rivalry with Colby College in hockey. This makes sense, since Maine is hockey country. The rivalry, which began in 1922, is so intense that it is listed among their college traditions, has been featured in a New York Times blog, and dictates what Bowdoin food services serve on game days to keep it from being thrown on the ice – no fish, for example. On the women’s side of Polar Bear athletics, the women’s field hockey team are repeat national champions. By 2013, the team had claimed their fourth NCAA Division III title in seven years. Not only are they the winningest field hockey team in the New England Small College Athletic Conference, but they also boast a string of consecutive wins against non-conference teams that dates back to 2007. Female field hockey athletes looking for a great Division III liberal arts college will want to put Bowdoin at the top of their list. Bowdoin College traditions are perhaps less spectacular and frequent than at some other colleges, but no less quirky. Ivies weekend began as Ivy Day in 1875 with the tradition of planting ivy accompanied by wacky student awards, music, and dancing. By 1975 all but the music and dancing had disappeared. During homecoming week, the social houses hold a wooden chair building competition where chairs are judged and a single winner is chosen; the losing chairs are thrown into a community bonfire. Senior Seven takes place during Senior Week and matches secret crushes anonymously on a website designed as the last chance to hook up with a fellow classmate before graduation. Bowdoin offers a great experience for those who favor a personalized approach in a small-town setting. 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 |
05 Mar 2014, 12:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: What It Means to Be on the Waitlist for MBA Admission |
 This time of year, many applicants find themselves stuck in the waitlist process at one or more schools, which can be a very slow and painful waiting period. Not only are you competing for fewer and fewer seats, you are doing so against everyone on the waitlist all the way back from round one as well as any fresh, new applicants from the final rounds. One thing applicants often want to know is how many people are on the waitlist at their particular school. Unfortunately, this is a black box and schools do not generally disclose an exact number of people who are waitlisted. Candidates on the waitlist may be admitted at any time, which makes the wait particularly painful, since unlike regular round admissions where there is a decision date or notification date, the waitlist candidates struggle with every day or week potentially being the day or week the phone will ring with an admission offer or a release from the waitlist. In addition to being stressful for the waitlisted candidate, this also makes the number on the list fluctuate and difficult to track even for the schools themselves. When the pressure is too great, or when other offers are made from competing schools (or plans change), candidates and sometimes choose to remove their name from the waitlist at any point in the process. Therefore, the actual number of candidates on the waitlist can literally vary from day to day. Most top schools’ Admissions Committees make a conscious decision to limit the number of applicants who are extended a place on the waitlist, so know that if you are on a waitlist, you are in good company with a relatively small number of fellow applicants, so it’s highly advisable to remain on the list if you are still interested in eventually being offered admission. Know that this offer can sometimes be extended very close to the start of the academic year. Because of yield fluctuations and changing plans of admitted students (particularly those who get offers from “better schools” at the last minute), there have been cases of admission being offered to waitlisted candidates as late as the day before classes begin. Every year there is a last minute shuffle of the deck, as students jump ship for their dream school who comes calling at the 11th hour, which obviously opens up a slot wherever they had already accepted. Sure, they lose deposit money, but the chance to go where they really want makes it worth it. In my next post, I will discuss some things you can do while you sit it out on a waitlist. If you want to talk to us about our round 3 guarantee, 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. |
05 Mar 2014, 15:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: New SAT Coming in 2016: What Will Change? |
 Today the College Board, the organization behind the SAT, announced sweeping changes to the standardized exam that will launch in the spring of 2016. As College Board president David Coleman promised last year when he announced that a new SAT was coming, the changes are meant to make the SAT less “coachable” and to make it more relevant to what is taught in high school classrooms. The changes also make the SAT much more like the ACT (the SAT’s chief competitor), although you won’t see any mention of that in the College Board’s publicity announcements for the new SAT. In the College Board’s own words, “The redesigned SAT will focus on the knowledge and skills that current research shows are most essential for college and career readiness and success. The exam will reflect the best of classroom work.” The changes coming to the new SAT include:
Keep on coming back for more news about the new SAT… You can be sure our team of curriculum developers will be studying this one closely! By Scott Shrum, who took the SAT back when it was originally on a 1,600-point scale. |
06 Mar 2014, 11:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: 11 Tips for Success on SAT Test Day |
 One of the most common (and frustrating) questions SAT instructors hear from their enthusiastic but sometimes misguided students is this: is there a secret to dominating the SAT? As nice as it would be if there were some long guarded secret word or ritual that a student could invoke to dominate this test, there simply is no single secret. The SAT is a skills test and requires students to practice the skills it values. There are, however, a few tools that are useful on all tests which take the form of the SAT and use it to gain advantage. Here are 11 tips to help you on test day. 1. Don’t Eat/Drink Too Much Before the Test This should be self explanatory, but the long and the short of it is that the SAT is a three and a half hour long test and as important as it is to stay nourished and hydrated (it is HIGHLY recommended to bring a snack like almonds or granola and some water) students should not be chugging and gorging before the test unless they want to spend the test sluggish or squirming until the next bathroom break. 2. Stay Positive It is a cliché, but there are numerous studies that show that a student’s mindset affects the way he or she performs. If things get frustrating, take a deep breath and remember how intelligent you are. It will keep you in the mindset to attack the SAT, which is the mindset that is most effective. 3. Underline Words Like “NOT” or “EXCEPT” Be aware of any words that change the meaning of a question to its opposite. It is very easy to misread a question and look for all the ways an author advises readers to be approached by strangers, instead of the ways the author advises to NOT be approached by stranger (which is likely more useful advice). Something simple like underlining or circling acts as a good reminder of what is being changed. 4. Circle the Unknown Similarly, in math questions it is very easy to solve for x when the question asks for y. Circle the unknown or write “unknown (x, y, length of smaller side, etc.) =” on the test so that the question isn’t done until that unknown is filled in. 5. Do the First Step This is especially helpful with hard math problems, but is also useful in the writing section. If a question is particularly convoluted or challenging, just do the first step, which is usually writing the known information and the applicable formulas. For writing, the first step is often reading without prepositional and descriptive phrases, then checking verbs and pronouns. Often times, doing the first step reveals subsequent steps, so just start working! 6. If You Have No Idea How to Approach a Problem Skip it IMMEDIATELY If you try to do the first step and are totally lost, skip it IMMEDIATELY! Do not hesitate and sit for five minutes pondering the different ways this problem could be solved: move on! Because the SAT is a timed test, time that is spent on one problem is taking away from time to be spent on another. Perhaps it would be possible to answer four questions in the time it takes to come up with a strategy for another problem. That is a loss of 50-100 points on the test because of poor test taking strategies. Do what is easy first, then tackle the problems that don’t come as easily. 7. Always Give an Answer on the Grid in Questions There is a deduction of one fourth of a point for every wrong answer (though this will change on the new SAT), thus if there is a question that is completely baffling, it is best to leave it blank. This is not the case for the grid in answers. Go ahead and take a guess, even if the question has not been properly answered. Better to try and maybe get lucky than to leave it blank. 8. Bubble Page by Page This technique simply saves time. If there is a movement of paper, back and forth, every time a question is answered, then time is being wasted on this process. Answer a full page of questions then bubble in that full page of answers. This technique will also help to keep students from getting mixed up while bubbling by forcing them to compare the question number with the number on the answer sheet more frequently. 9. Use the Answer Choices to Your Advantage Look at the form of the answer choices to help approach a problem, and feel free to plug in answer choices when possible. This is a sure fire step when another method isn’t obvious. Answer choices are usually listed from smallest to largest, so use this information to help narrow down the choices after testing the first choice. Eliminate obviously incorrect answer choices so they can’t distract from the correct one and can improve odds if guessing becomes necessary. 10. Plug in Numbers Especially on “theoretical problems” or problems that say “for some integer”, “for all prime numbers” it is very useful to just pick numbers that fit the description and plug them in to the equation or situation described. Be sure to pick a positive and negative number when applicable as they can often create very different outcomes. Also, don’t forget zero if it is an option! 11. Do NOT Go Back and Check Your Work, but Check as You Go Going back to check work wastes SO much time. It essentially forces students to do the entire problem again! Check arithmetic as you go with a calculator and double check to make sure you didn’t lose any negatives or improperly distribute something in parentheses. Also check again that you answered the question being asked and that you weren’t tricked by “NOT” or “EXCEPT”. These are not magical techniques to ace the SAT. The SAT still requires students to practice the applicable reading, writing, and math skills, but using these techniques on the SAT, and other tests, will help to ensure that you are performing at the top of your potential. Happy test taking! 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. |
06 Mar 2014, 16:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: The Importance of Timing on the GMAT |
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One of the main goals of the GMAT is to determine whether or not you can analyze a situation in front of you and determine the information needed to solve the question. In this way, the GMAT is testing the same skills required to solve a business case. The numbers in front of you are not important, but your method of solving the question is. Crunching numbers and measuring hypotenuses are not useful skills in business; you’ll have a calculator (or an abacus) to do that. Understanding how to approach and solve problems is the true skill being tested. To that point, many students are far too eager to rely on shortcuts, gimmicks and memorization. Understanding what is being asked is the key to getting the right answer much more frequently than hastily getting to some solution. Of course, getting to work quickly and mindlessly crunching all the numbers as quickly as possible will sometimes work, but it also misses the entire point of the exam. If getting the right answer to a rote multiplication was the only criterion, then you’d be allowed to pull out your smart phone and plug in the numbers. The GMAT is attempting to delve deeper into your brain process than that. That being said (or written), the GMAT is also interested in speed, which is why there is a time limit to each section. Solving the answer correctly in 15 minutes is no more useful than spending one minute to get the wrong answer because you went too fast. There must be a balance between direction and speed (like a vector) Thus, our best tactic is to quickly identify what is being asked and get to work on a strategy to solve the right answer fairly quickly (hopefully in less than two minutes!) As an apt example, let’s look at a question that a lot of people miss because they don’t analyze the situation before turning into (extremely slow) human calculators: Shawn is planning a bus trip across town that involves three buses. Bus 1 travels between Shawn’s house and downtown, and it leaves every half-hour starting at 7:20 AM. Shawn will need to be on bus 1 for 1.2 hours. Bus 2 travels between downtown and uptown every half-hour starting at 7:10 AM. Shawn will need to be on bus 2 for 2/3 hour. Lastly, bus 3 travels between uptown and Shawn’s destination every hour starting at 9 AM. Assuming all buses stay on schedule, what is the least amount of time Shawn must spend waiting for buses? (A) 12 minutes (B) 18 minutes (C) 48 minutes (D) 1 hour, 12 minutes (E) 1 hour, 20 minutes The first thing that comes to mind is that we can just plug in the numbers and find the time it takes to wait for the buses (or that Shawn should just get a car). We can figure out the timing from 7:20 AM and take it down the line from there. Let’s do that for completion’s sake, but it doesn’t mean that this is the best course of action by any means. If Shawn gets on the first bus at 7:20, then he’ll spend 1.2 hours (or 1 hour and 12 minutes) on the bus before getting off at 8:32. It’s important to note that fractions of hours are converted into decimal by dividing by 60, not 100. The second bus comes every half hour starting at 7:10, so Shawn will assuredly miss the first three and only get on the bus that comes at 8:40. He’s waited for 8 minutes up until this point. Bus 2 will take 40 minutes to reach its destination, dropping Shawn off at 9:20 AM. From there, bus 3 will be around every hour, so he’ll have to wait until 10 AM, an additional wait of 40 minutes. Thus, if Shawn gets on the first bus and all buses stick to their schedules, he’ll wait 48 minutes. This is the answer a calculator would get, and as long as no analysis is done, it is a reasonable answer. However, we’ve all experienced situations like this in our daily lives. If the bus is coming for a specific time, your goal is usually to minimize the wait time and arrive at the bus stop slightly before the bus is due. This will minimize your wait time. If the bus will be at the stop at 10 AM, there isn’t much point in being there at 9:01 waiting (although you may break your record at Angry Birds) when you can be there at 9:55 instead. Doing some analysis of this situation, the first bus comes every 30 minutes, meaning the bus always shows up twenty minutes past the hour or ten minutes to the hour. Within each hour, there are two choices you can make: the first bus or the second bus. After that, the choice returns with only the hour hand increasing by one. We thus need to figure out what will happen if we hop on the 7:50 bus instead of the 7:20 bus. Recalculating, we’re on the first bus for 1.2 hours, meaning we get on at 7:50 AM and get off at 9:02. The second bus still comes every half hour starting at 7:40, so we can jump on the 9:10 bus after waiting 8 minutes, just like in the first example. This bus takes us 40 minutes, and therefore drops us off at 9:50. We’re 10 minutes early for the last bus, which is still scheduled at 10 AM, bringing the total amount of time waiting to 18 minutes. Taking bus 1 at 7:50 instead of 7:20 gets us to the destination at the same time but reduces the wait time by 30 minutes, and is therefore preferable. Time on bus 1 7:20 7:50 8:20 8:50 9:20 9:50 Time off bus 1 8:32 9:02 9:32 10:02 10:32 11:02 Wait time 8 mins 8 mins 8 mins 8 mins 8 mins 8 mins Time on bus 2 8:40 9:10 9:40 10:10 10:40 11:10 Time off bus 2 9:20 9:50 10:20 10:50 11:20 11:50 Wait time 40 mins 10 mins 40 mins 10 mins 40 mins 10 mins Time on bus 3 10:00 10:00 11:00 11:00 12:00 12:00 Total Wait Time: 48 mins 18 mins 48 mins 18 mins 48 mins 18 mins The table above highlights the repetitive nature of problems like these. Every bus that comes at twenty past the hour will lead to a 48 minute total wait time, while every bus that comes at ten to the hour will lead to an 18 minute total wait time, regardless of the hour. (again assuming that the buses always run on time) On GMAT problems, it’s important to take a few seconds to understand what is being asked in the problem. Rushing headlong into a solution will work on many questions, but on tricky questions, a strong analysis of the situation is required to make the most effective decision. Despite the many tricks and gimmicks touted to solve GMAT problems more efficiently, the underlying goal of this test is to gauge your ability to analyze situations and apply logic. Being able to optimize a given scenario is important not only when in business, but also when in line for a bus. 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. |
07 Mar 2014, 11:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: How to Navigate the Waitlist for MBA Admission |
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Earlier this week, we talked about what it means to be on the waitlist. Today, we’ll go into more detail on what you can do if you’re on the waitlist. Despite the name “waitlist,” there are several things you can do besides simply wait for your dream school to call. From a strategic standpoint, sitting in a state of limbo gives you the opportunity to improve your profile or status as a candidate, and such improvements can and should be communicated to the admissions committees. The way you do this is straightforward and usually as simple as sending a short email with the update (e.g. you were promoted at work, received some kind of community award or position, or got an A in that accounting class you were taking at the local community college). It is important to note that you should never revise your application with any information which could have been included in the original application (so don’t submit things that you “forgot” to include—this would be considered poor judgment), but rather only new information or changes in your profile which are potentially interesting or important to your candidacy. Most schools will also accept new GMAT or GRE scores from an applicant who has elected to remain active on the waitlist. Of course deciding to retake the GMAT or GRE may or may not be the right thing for you, but certainly if you feel that you did not perform on the GMAT at your highest potential, it might make sense to retake the test and subsequently submit the higher score. When deciding to retest or not, sometimes it helps to view your performance on the test in light of your target schools’ 80% range (instead of its average score). For example, a top tier school may post a 720 average GMAT, but the 80% range is 650-750. If your score was in the lower range of the 80th percentile, it could indeed help boost your chances, certainly vs. someone else on the waitlist who is not re-testing. If you elect to take the GMAT or GRE again, make sure you tell your target school’s admission office so they can be on the lookout for your new score. Obviously when you take the test, you will need to request the score be officially submitted to your school. It typically takes one to three weeks for the score to be received once requested. One thing many candidates want to know is whether or not the waitlist is ranked and if so what their number is. In most cases, schools claim their waitlist is not ranked, but even if you do not update the committee on any changes in your profile or GMAT scores, it is important at the very least that you inform the committee of your intention to remain active on the waitlist, since only those applicants who have elected to remain active on the waitlist will be considered for admission. Each school has a different process, so make sure you reach out and touch base with them individually. Schools generally reassess the waitlist with each subsequent new round of applications, but after the third round, there is clearly a long period of time until August when orientation starts. Don’t lose heart, and remember to remain in contact with the adcom (in a thoughtful way, for example one touchpoint per month to reiterate your interest). Who knows? Perhaps that call will come. If you want to talk to us about our round 3 guarantee, 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. |
07 Mar 2014, 16:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: GMAT Tip of the Week: Started From the Bottom, Now We Here |
 As Hip Hop Month rolls along in the GMAT Tip space, we’ll pass the torch from classic artists to the future, today letting Drake take the mic. In MBA-speak, Drake is a natural Kellogg candidate, a collaborative type who loves group projects, always appearing on tracks with other artists and bragging not just about his own success, but “now my whole team here.” So in that teamwork spirit, let’s work with Drake to help him solve his most famous math problem with some lyrics of his own: The problem: “The square root of 69 is 8 something; I’ve been trying to work it out” The solution: “Started from the bottom, now we here.” On the GMAT, a problem that asks you for the square root of a not-that-common square (you have to have the squares memorized up to about 15 and you should know that 25^2 is 625, too) is almost always going to be an exercise in “starting from the bottom,” using the answer choices to help guide your work. The GMAT doesn’t care if you can calculate the square root of 69, but it does care about whether you can leverage assets like answer choices to help you solve the problem. So on a problem like Drake’s, answer choices might look like: (A) Between 6 and 7 (B) Between 7 and 8 (C) Between 8 and 9 (D) Between 9 and 10 (E) Between 10 and 11 And in that case, starting from the bottom – looking at the answer choices before you begin your work – can tell you two things: 1) You don’t need an exact number; an estimate will suffice. 2) They’re giving you the numbers to use as an estimate; if you start in the middle of the range (using 8 and 9), you can determine whether you need bigger or smaller numbers. So if you try 8^2 to give yourself a range of numbers, you’ll see that the square root of 69 is going to be bigger than 8, since 8^2 is 64. So then try the next highest integer, 9, and when you see that 9^2 is 81, bigger than 69, you’ve bracketed in the range at between 8 and 9 and you don’t need to do any more work. When math looks like it could be labor-intensive, the answer choices often show you that you don’t have to do it all! Even if the problem were a bit tougher, and gave exact numbers like: (D) 8.31 (E) 8.66 You could again lighten the load by picking an easier-to-calculate number in between, like 8.5. That’s not the easiest math in the world, but multiplying by 5s is typically fairly quick and you’d see that the number has to be less than 8.5 (since 8.5-squared is 72.25). So the lesson is this – on most Problem Solving and Sentence Correction questions, it pays to “start at the bottom” so to speak, at least taking a quick glance at the answer choices to see if anything jumps out to help you guide your work on the problem. For Problem Solving, some of the prime candidates are:
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 |
10 Mar 2014, 10:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: All About Negative Remainders on the GMAT |
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I could have sworn that I had discussed negative remainders on my blog but the other day I was looking for a post discussing it and much as I would try, I could not find one. I am a little surprised since this concept is quite useful and I should have taken it in detail while discussing divisibility. Though we did have a fleeting discussion of it here. Since we did miss it, we will discuss it in detail today but you must review the link given above before we proceed. Consider this: When n is divided by 3, it leaves a remainder 1. This means that when we divide n balls in groups of 3 balls each, we are left with 1 ball.  This also means that n is 1 MORE than a multiple of 3. Or, it also means that n is 2 less than the next multiple of 3, doesn’t it? Say, n is 16. When you split 16 balls into groups of 3 balls each, you get 5 groups of 3 balls each and there is one ball leftover. n is 1 more than a multiple of 3 (the multiple being 15). But we can also say that it is 2 LESS than the next multiple of 3 (which is 18). Hence, the negative remainder in this case is -2 which is equivalent to a positive remainder of 1. Generally speaking, if n is divided by m and it leaves a remainder r, the negative remainder in this case is -(m – r). When n is divided by 7, it leaves a remainder of 4. This is equivalent to a remainder of -3. n is 3 more than a multiple of m. It is also 2 less than the next multiple of m. This means m is 5. This concept is very useful to us sometimes, especially when the divisor and the remainder are big numbers. Let’s take a question to see how. Question 1: What is the remainder when 1555 * 1557 * 1559 is divided by 13? (A) 0 (B) 2 (C) 4 (D) 9 (E) 11 Solution: Since it is a GMAT question (a question for which we will have no calculator), multiplying the 3 numbers and then dividing by 13 is absolutely out of question! There has to be another method. Say n = 1555 * 1557 * 1559 When we divide 1555 by 13, we get a quotient of 119 (irrelevant to our question) and remainder of 8. So the remainder when we divide 1557 by 13 will be 8+2 = 10 (since 1557 is 2 more than 1555) and when we divide 1559 by 13, the remainder will be 10+2 = 12 (since 1559 is 2 more than 1557). So n = (13*119 + 8)*(13*119 + 10)*(13*119 + 12) (you can choose to ignore the quotient and just write it as ‘a’ since it is irrelevant to our discussion) So we need to find the remainder when n is divided by 13. Note that when we multiply these factors, all terms we obtain will have 13 in them except the last term which is obtained by multiplying the constants together i.e. 8*10*12. Since all other terms are multiples of 13, we can say that n is 8*10*12 (= 960) more than a multiple of 13. There are many more groups of 13 balls that we can form out of 960. 960 divided by 13 gives a remainder of 11. Hence n is actually 11 more than a multiple of 13. We did not use the negative remainders concept here. Let’s see how using negative remainders makes our calculations easier here. The remainder of 8, 10 and 12 imply that the negative remainders are -5, -3 and -1 respectively. Now n = (13a – 5) * (13a – 3) * (13a – 1) The last term in this case is -5*-3*-1 = -15 This means that n is 15 less than a multiple of 13 i.e. actually 2 less than a multiple of 13 because when you go back 13 steps, you get another multiple of 13. This gives us a negative remainder of -2 which means the positive remainder in this case will be 11. Here we avoided some big calculations. I will leave you now with a question which you should try to solve using negative remainders. Question 2: What is the remainder when 3^(7^11) is divided by 5? (here, 3 is raised to the power (7^11)) (A) 0 (B) 1 (C) 2 (D) 3 (E) 4 Hint: I solved this question orally in a few secs using cyclicity and negative remainders. Don’t get lost in calculations! 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! |
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