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06 Jan 2016, 16:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: How to Apply to Business School with a Bad GPA |
 Your GPA is one of the most important evaluation criteria used by MBA admissions committees. Unlike the GMAT or your essays, improving this aspect of your application profile is not as simple as a test retake or an additional essay revision. The “in the past” nature of GPA scores means it is more important to confront a poor performance in this area than just simply ignoring the data point. There are a few common threads that plague applicants who suffer from a low undergrad GPA. Let’s explore a few of these common reasons for a low GPA and some ways to explain away these red flags: Maturity: Did your GPA suffer due to a lack of maturity? Many applicants suffered through a low GPA during undergrad because they did not take the academic rigors of school seriously enough. Sometimes it is an issue with partying, other times it can be a lack of focus or prioritization on academia, but maturity is the root cause of many low GPAs coming into the application process. Addressing any maturity issues head on while providing clear examples that chronicle your growth into a mature candidate can help diffuse obvious concerns about your academic profile. Outside Obligations: Was academics not your biggest priority during undergrad? Many students have serious outside obligations that can negatively affect academic performance. From family commitments to work study, students in undergrad are confronted with many distractions than can result in low GPAs. Many of these reasons will immediately resonate with admissions given how relatable these obligations tend to be. The key here is to personalize these challenges and provide context for admissions so it is clear how these obligations affected your performance and whether they will affect your performance in the future. Extracurriculars: Did you have a major extracurricular commitment that affected your academic performance? Utilize these experiences to outline the time commitments of these obligations while highlighting the interpersonal skills developed and results achieved. This is a nice opportunity touch on the value of these extracurricular activities in spite of the negative affect they had on your GPA. Academic Major: Were you in an intense major? Did you change majors? Did you take on a particularly heavy course load? Not all majors and course loads are created equally – no excuses here! It is important to own up to your mistakes or issues, but if there are outside factors out of your control that are related to academics, don’t shy away from discussing them in your optional essays. Focus here on your major aspects that are atypical and would clearly have an affect on your academic performance. Health Did you experience any health concerns during undergrad? Health issues often do not easily show up via your academic record. Even with a withdrawal on your transcript, you will need to explain this via the optional essay. Honestly and vividly express the impact this had on your academic performance to really illuminate the challenges you experienced. A low GPA is not a death sentence to your MBA dreams – follow the tips above to explain away your past GPA missteps. Applying to business school? Call us at 1-800-925-7737 and speak with an MBA admissions expert today, or take our free MBA Admissions Profile Evaluation for personalized advice for your unique application situation! As always, be sure to find us on Facebook, YouTube, Google+ and Twitter. Dozie A.is a Veritas Prep Head Consultant for theKellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. His specialties include consulting, marketing, and low GPA/GMAT applicants. You can read more of his articles here. The post How to Apply to Business School with a Bad GPA appeared first on Veritas Prep Blog. |
07 Jan 2016, 12:01
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: How to Choose the Right Number for a GMAT Variable Problem |
 When you begin studying for the GMAT, you will quickly discover that most of the strategies are, on the surface, fairly simple. It will not come as a terribly big surprise that selecting numbers and doing arithmetic is often an easier way of attacking a problem than attempting to perform complex algebra. There is, however, a big difference between understanding a strategy in the abstract and having honed that strategy to the point that it can be implemented effectively under pressure. Now, you may be thinking, “How hard can it possibly be to pick numbers? I see an “x” and I decide x = 5. Not so complicated.” The art is in learning how to pick workable numbers for each question type. Different questions will require different types of numbers to create a scenario that truly is simpler than the algebra. The harder the problem, the more finesse that will be required when selecting numbers. Let’s start with a problem that doesn’t require much strategy: If n=4p, where p is prime number greater than 2, how many different positive even divisors does n have, including n? (A) 2 (B) 3 (C) 4 (D) 6 (E) 8 Okay in this problem, “p” is a prime number greater than 2. So let’s say p = 3. If n = 4p, and 4p = 4*3 = 12. Let’s list out the factors of 12: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12. The even factors here are 2, 4, 6, 12. There are 4 of them. So the answer is C. Not so bad, right? Just pick the first simple number that pops into your head and you’re off to the races. Bring on the test! If only it were that simple for all questions. So let’s try a much harder question to illustrate the pitfalls of adhering to an approach that’s overly mechanistic: The volume of water in a certain tank is x percent greater than it was one week ago. If r percent of the current volume of water in the tank is removed, the resulting volume will be 90 percent of the volume it was one week ago. What is the value of r in terms of x? (A) x + 10 (B) 10x + 1 (C) 100(x + 10) (D) 100 * (x+10)/(x+100) (E) 100 * (10x + 1)/(10x+10) You’ll notice quickly that if you simply declare that x = 10 and r =20, you may run into trouble. Say, for example, that the starting value from one week ago was 100 liters. If x = 10, a 10% increase will lead to a volume of 110 liters. If we remove 20% of that 110, we’ll be removing .20*110 = 22 liters, giving us 110-22 = 88 liters. But we’re also told that the resulting volume is 90% of the original volume! 88 is not 90% of 100, therefore our numbers aren’t valid. In instances like this, we need to pick some simple starting numbers and then calculate the numbers that will be required to fit the parameters of the question. So again, say the volume one week ago was 100 liters. Let’s say that x = 20%, so the volume, after water is added, will be 100 + 20 = 120 liters. We know that once water is removed, the resulting volume will be 90% of the original. If the original was 100, the volume, once water is removed, will be 100*.90 = 90 liters. Now, rather than arbitrarily picking an “r”, we’ll calculate it based on the numbers we have. To summarize: Start: 100 liters After adding water: 120 liters After removing water: 90 liters We now need to calculate what percent of those 120 liters need to be removed to get down to 90. Using our trusty percent change formula [(Change/Original) * 100] we’ll get (30/120) * 100 = 25%. Thus, when x = 20, r =25. Now all we have to do is substitute “x” with “20” in the answer choices until we hit our target of 25. Remember that in these types of problems, we want to start at the bottom of the answer choice options and work our way up: (E) 100 * (10x + 1)/(10x+10) 100 * (10*20 + 1)/(10*20+10) = 201/210. No need to simplify. There’s no way this equals 25. (D) 100 * (x+10)/(x+100) 100 * (20+10)/(20+100) = 100 * (30/120) = 25. That’s it! We’re done. The correct answer is D. Takeaways: Internalizing strategies is the first step in your process of preparing for the GMAT. Once you’ve learned these strategies, you need to practice them in a variety of contexts until you’ve fully absorbed how each strategy needs to be tweaked to fit the contours of the question. In some cases, you can pick a single random number. Other times, there will be multiple variables, so you’ll have to pick one or two numbers to start and then solve for the remaining numbers so that you don’t violate the conditions of the problem. Accept that you may have to make adjustments mid-stream. Your first selection may produce hairy arithmetic. There are no style point on the GMAT, so stay flexible, cultivate back-up plans, and remember that mental agility trumps rote memorization every time. Plan on taking the GMAT soon? We have GMAT prep courses starting all the time. And be sure to follow us on Facebook, YouTube, Google+ and Twitter! By David Goldstein, a Veritas Prep GMAT instructor based in Boston. You can find more articles by him here. The post How to Choose the Right Number for a GMAT Variable Problem appeared first on Veritas Prep Blog. |
07 Jan 2016, 15:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: Back to the Grind: 3 Tips on Handling Your Final Months as a Senior in High School |
 If you’re a senior heading back from winter break, you probably feel a strange combination of excitement and weariness. You’re done with college applications and ACT and SAT prep; you’re probably already looking forward to your senior trip or the other activities for seniors that your school has planned; you are so close to finally enjoying the fruits of your hard work. That being said, you also have to muster the energy to get through either AP or IB testing, spring sports, and final projects. If you don’t have senioritis already, trust me, it’s going to hit hard during these final months of high school. You’ll find yourself tempted to slack off a bit in the grades department, not to mention showing up to class on time. While some relaxation and celebration is healthy, it’s important that you don’t stop pushing yourself. The better you do on your AP and IB exams, the more likely you’ll earn credits at your college, meaning that you get to pass out of general courses, and move onto the more advanced, detailed courses that distinguish a college education from a high school education. Also, you’ve worked so hard to get where you are – if you keep straight A’s, or run your fastest mile in high school track this spring, it’s something you’ll remember with pride when you’re much older. So, without further ado, here are a few tips from a former senior on how you can jump back into your final months of high school: 1. Get to Bed You’ve probably been staying up late this winter break – and maybe you’ve been eating more sweets than you should, too. One of the simplest and most effective things you can do this January is getting back to a lifestyle that fits with your school schedule. It doesn’t matter how great a student you are – if you can’t get yourself to bed by a reasonable time, senioritis is going to hit you early this semester. So, although your diet and sleep might not seem significant, I’d recommend getting those on lock down as early as possible this semester. 2. Take Care of the Details Now, Not in April In addition to sleeping at a reasonable time, look for other small habits you can adjust to improve your studying and your overall health. Were you on Facebook 24/7 this winter break? Did you spend the last few weeks plugged into your Netflix account? Now that you have to meet deadlines and prepare for your AP and IB exams, it’s time for you to unplug and find a quiet place to study. If you do waste time on the internet, consider downloading Self-control, an app that you can program to block distracting websites. 3. Work on Developing College-Ready Study Habits Speaking of studying, not only should you get off Facebook, but you should also use these months to begin forming college-ready study habits. From kindergarten all the way through high school, your teachers have been structuring your classes – assigning homework that they regularly grade, giving frequent quizzes and in-class exercises – so as to make practice and learning easy. In college, it’s a different ball-game. For the most part, professors will assign less homework and less quizzes. So, it will be up to you to figure out how to digest new material you’ve learned in class. In college, you will have to teach yourself how to learn. Because college is so much less structured than high school, one of the study habits I had to learn in college was pacing. In high school, I used to do “marathon” study sessions. For example, if I had been busy all week preparing for a Varsity track meet and for my IB exams, I might not have had the time I needed to study for an in-class physics test. So, the night before, I’d sit down with my notes, and study them for 3 straight hours until I’d learned everything. While this method can work in high school, I found that in college the material was so much more demanding that I couldn’t learn it in a couple hours, especially because I wasn’t regularly practicing it by doing homework. To get A’s, I needed to study on a daily basis (or every few days). Also, because the material in college is so complicated, I would find that my brain would simply tire out after two hours if I tried to learn it all in one go. I know you’re going to be dragging your feet a little when you have to start waking up at 7 AM again for school. However, if you can see this as an opportunity to practice good study habits, you’ll be laying a great foundation for your academic life in college. For example, why not jump into your final semester by making a resolution to be more organized. Rather than cram for four straight hours the night before a test, start studying two days before. And when you do study, rather than do a marathon session, study for an hour, and then take a 15 minute break – whether that’s going for a walk around the block, listening to a few songs, or having a healthy snack. Repeat this hour of studying followed by 15 minutes of relaxing two to three times, and then do something entirely different, such as going on a jog. Enjoy the last few months of senior year and best of luck preparing for your freshman year of College! Do you still need help with your college applications? We can help! Visit our College Admissions website and fill out our FREE College profile evaluation! By Rita Pearson The post Back to the Grind: 3 Tips on Handling Your Final Months as a Senior in High School appeared first on Veritas Prep Blog. |
08 Jan 2016, 14:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: GMAT Tip of the Week: Make 2016 The Year Of Number Fluency |
 Whether you were watching the College Football Playoffs or Ryan Seacrest; whether you were at a house party, in a nightclub, or home studying for the GMAT; however you rang in 2016, if 2016 is the year that you make your business school goals come true, hopefully you had one of the following thoughts immediately after seeing the number 2016 itself:
Those who quickly see relationships between numbers are at a huge advantage: they’re not just ready to operate on them when they have to, they’re also anticipating what that operation might be so that they don’t have to start from scratch wondering how and where to get started. With 2016, for example: The last two digits are divisible by 4, so you know it’s divisible by 4. The sum of the digits (2 + 0 + 1 + 6) is 9, a multiple of 9, so you know it’s divisible by 9 (and also by 3). So without much thinking or prompting, you should already have that number broken down in your head. 16 divided by 4 is 4 and 2000 divided by 4 is 500, so you should be hoping that the number 504 (also divisible by 9) shows up somewhere in a denominator or division operation (or that 4 or 9 does). So, for example, if you were given a problem: In honor of the year 2016, a donor has purchased 2016 books to be distributed evenly among the elementary schools in a certain school district. If each school must receive the same number of books, and there are to be no books remaining, which of the following is NOT a number of books that each school could receive? (A) 18 (B) 36 (C) 42 (D) 54 (E) 56 You shouldn’t have to spend any time thinking about choices A and B, because you know that 2016 is divisible by 4 and by 9, so it’s definitely divisible by 36 which means it’s also divisible by every factor of 36 (including 18). You don’t need to do long division on each answer choice – your number fluency has taken care of that for you. From there, you should look at the other numbers and get a quick sense of their prime factors: 42 = 2 * 3 * 7 – You know that 2016 is divisible by 2 and 3, but what about 7? 54 = 2 * 3 * 3 * 3 – You know that 2016 is divisible by that 2 and that it’s divisible by 9, so you can cover two of the 3s. But is 2016 divisible by three 3s? 56 = 2 * 2 * 2 * 7 – You know that two of the 2s are covered, and it’s quick math to divide 2016 by 4 (as you saw above, it’s 504). Since 504 is still even, you know that you can cover all three 2s, but what about 7? Here’s where good test-taking strategy can give you a quick leg up: to this point, a savvy 700-scorer shouldn’t have had to do any real “work,” but testing all three remaining answer choices could now get a bit labor intensive. Unless you recognize this: for C and E, the only real question to be asked is “Is 2016 divisible by 7?” After all, you’re already accounted for the 2 and 3 out of 42, and you’ve already accounted for the three 2s out of 56. 7 is the only one you haven’t checked for. And since there can only be one correct answer, 2016 must be divisible by 7…otherwise you’d have to say that C and E are both correct. But even if you’re not willing to take that leap, you may still have the hunch that 7 is probably a factor of 2016, so you can start with choice D. Once you’ve divided 2016 by 9 (here you may have to go long division, or you can factor it out), you’re left with 224. And that’s not divisible by 3. Therefore, you know that 2016 cannot be divided evenly into sets of 54, so answer choice D must be correct. And more importantly, good number fluency should have allowed you to do that relatively quickly without the need for much (if any) long division. So if you didn’t immediately think “divisible by 4 and 9!” when you saw the year 2016 pop up, make it your New Year’s resolution to start thinking that way. When you see numbers this year, start seeing them like a GMAT expert, taking note of clear factors and properties and being ready to quickly operate on that number. Getting ready to take the GMAT? We have free online GMAT seminars running all the time. And, be sure to follow us on Facebook, YouTube, Google+ and Twitter! By Brian Galvin. The post GMAT Tip of the Week: Make 2016 The Year Of Number Fluency appeared first on Veritas Prep Blog. |
08 Jan 2016, 17:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: The Last SAT: Here Are 3 Things to Do on Test Day to Rock the Final 2400 Exam |
 If you’re trying to nail the final 2400 SAT, then you’re probably trying to figure out which tips (given the endless amount of SAT strategies already out there) will truly impact your score. While I do recommend using these remaining two weeks to improve your grasp of content and of strategies (viz., don’t skimp on learning vocabulary words or on practicing tricky word problems), there are a few key habits that you should implement on test day to ensure you perform at your highest level. 1. Be Aware Of Order Of Difficulty Imagine it’s test day. You’re near the end of the long Writing Section. You’re feeling good; so far, you’ve answered every question with confidence, and you only have a couple of questions left to answer. You know you’re close to that dream score you’ve been working hard for. You take a quick look at one of the final grammar-based questions before you begin the paragraph corrections:  This question seems easy enough. There aren’t any glaring mistakes, such as subject-verb disagreement. And if you ignore the descriptive phrases (such as “Not very particular in nesting sites…”) you’ll notice that the sentence also makes sense, meaning there aren’t any problems with sentence construction. You may be tempted to choose E, No error, and move on. Unfortunately, if you did think the answer was E, you fell for a classic SAT trap. There in fact is a mistake in this sentence! So let’s consider it more carefully. For example, when you look at A, rather than just giving a knee-jerk answer, try using the phrase “not very particular ___ …” in your own sentence. How would you say “my sister is not very particular ____ what she wears”? Hopefully, you realized that you would say “my sister is not very particular about what she wears”. Therefore, “particular in” is an idiomatic error, because in English, we say “particular about”. Maybe you’re groaning and thinking to yourself that you’ll never be able to tell the difference between plain easy questions and tricky questions on the SAT. However, if you pay attention to Order of Difficulty, you actually can predict when you are likely to see tricky questions. That is, on the SAT, difficult questions tend to appear near the end of the section, say about the last 5 – 6 problems. So, although you may be able to do a writing or math or vocab question at the beginning of a section in less than thirty seconds, if you do a question at the end of the section easily and in little time, chances are you fell for a trap! In fact, if a problem at the end of the section seems strangely easy, an alarm bell should go off in your head. So, my first tip for you is this: on test day, whenever you are at the end of a section, be sure to always pause and carefully consider an ostensibly easy question, rather than just circling the first plausible answer. 2. Skip and Return Skipping tricky questions on multiple-choice tests (so as to return to them later) is one of the oldest tricks in the book, so I’m sure you’re familiar. However, I want to break down this trick a little further, because although many students do use this strategy, not all of them do so as well as they could. First off, let’s identify under what circumstances you should absolutely skip, versus when you should stick it out. You should skip whenever: -You don’t understand what the question is asking, or the question really confuses you. -You can’t eliminate more than one answer choice. Some test prep companies recommend guessing when you can eliminate just one answer. The reasoning is that you have a 25% chance of guessing correctly, which will outweigh the ¼-point guessing penalty that is in effect on the 2400 SAT. However, this isn’t really good advice, because students rarely guess without any partiality towards certain answer choices. In other words, when students are presented with four answer choices, they are more likely to choose some answers than others. And unsurprisingly, the College Board leverages this by purposely making some answer choices look more appealing than others on difficult questions. So, when you guess between four answer choices, you actually don’t have a 25% chance of guessing correctly. Your chance of guessing correctly will always be lower than 25%. Therefore, only guess if you can eliminate two or more answer choices. Take a look at the following difficult question from a SAT Reading Section:  Can you eliminate more than one answer? If you can’t, this is the type of question you should skip and leave blank. Can you eliminate more than one answer? If yes, you should work through this question as best as you can, even if you can’t instantly identify the correct answer. Although you sometimes will have to skip some hard questions because they are either too confusing or too time-consuming, you should not skip every single difficult question on the SAT. In fact, being able to work through hard questions is what sets apart top test takers. Looking at this question again, let’s say that you were able to eliminate C, steadfast, and E, frank, because you know both of those words have positive connotations and you’ve figured out that the word in the blank must have a negative connotation. However, now you feel stuck, because you don’t know what convivial, steadfast, or clandestine mean. The good news is that you can continue to work through this problem, even though you don’t know the exact definitions of the words. So, rather than guessing randomly between the three, or deciding to return to the question later, you could use two Veritas Prep strategies to continue to eliminate answer choices. Notice that convivial has the root viv. If you know Spanish or Latin, you can intelligently guess that viv probably means life. This means that answer A likely has a positive connotation, and should be eliminated. Also, notice that fortuitous sounds like fortune, which means that it also has a good chance of being related to the word fortune, another word with a positive connotation. Thus, you should eliminate answer D, and choose B, which in fact is the correct answer. Now that we’ve talked about when you should skip versus when you should stick it out, let’s talk about when you should skip and return. Take a look at the following math problem, which was taken from near the end of a SAT Math Section :  The question seems simple enough. You might think to yourself that if the can is eight inches tall, then four of the pencils cannot fit entirely inside the can. However, this question is from the end of a SAT section, so it shouldn’t be easy to solve. So when should you skip a question like this, to return to later? I recommend skipping a question like this when you don’t have a lot of time. For example, let’s say you still have 4 math questions, and you only have 4 minutes left, and you can only eliminate one answer – answer choice D, because it’s too obvious an answer. Unless you can quickly think of a method for working through this problem, I would advise skipping it, and returning to it if you have any remaining time. Note: At the end of this blog post, I’ve included an explanation for this problem. Once you finish reading these test-day tips, try to solve the problem yourself before reading the explanation. 3. Set Pacing Goals One of the most avoidable ways students miss points on the SAT is by not working quickly enough. Thus, it’s essential that you set pacing goals for yourself whenever you do practice sections. For example, if you regularly don’t finish the 35-question Writing Section, then you should try to do the first half of it (approximately questions 1-18) in no more than twelves minutes. That means that at around question 9, you should check your watch to see if you’re on target. If you’ve spent more than six minutes on the first nine questions, then you’re falling behind, and you need to speed up. Note that it isn’t a good idea to check your watch either after every single question, as that will just disrupt your flow. It’s also ineffective to check your watch only near the end of the section, as that may not leave you enough time to finish. Thus, it’s essential that you set simple but effect pacing goals for yourself (i.e., every 5 minutes, I finish 9 questions) so that on test day, you can keep track of your pace. Pacing goals will be different for different students, so use these next two weeks to develop goals that work for you. Before you take a crack at that hard math question with the pencils, I want to give you one last piece of advice. Studies show that resting before a major exam is just as essential as studying, so, be sure to get a good night’s sleep on the two nights leading up to the test. You’ll only perform at your best on test day if you take good care of yourself! Explanation for math problem: One great way to deal with geometry-based questions at the end of the math section is to draw on the provided diagrams as you think your way through the problem -in other words, thinking visually. Doing will help you consider possible solutions you may otherwise overlook, such as in this tricky problem. So, let’s start by “drawing” the nine inch pencil in the tin can:  Clearly, the pencil sticks out of the can. But, seeing the pencil sticking nearly straight up from inside the can gives me a new idea: what if the pencil were tilted? Couldn’t a pencil longer than eight inches fit inside the can? And if so, what would be the longest possible length of a titled pencil that could fit entirely inside the can? To get a better grasp of this idea, I would draw the longest possible tilted line that fit inside the can, meaning a line starting in a bottom corner of the can, and stretching to the top corner, like so:  As you can see, the line that represents the longest possible length of a pencil that fits entirely inside the can is also the hypotenuse of a right triangle with side lengths of 6 inches and 8 inches. Because I can identify the side lengths of this triangle as multiples of the lengths of a 3-4-5 triangle, I know the hypotenuse is 10 inches, meaning that any pencils less than or equal to 10 inches long can fit inside the can. Therefore, my answer is B: only two of the pencils cannot fit entirely inside of the can. Good luck on the final 2400 SAT! Still need to take the SAT? We run a free online SAT prep seminar every few weeks. And, be sure to find us on Facebook, YouTube, Google+ and Twitter! By Rita Pearson The post The Last SAT: Here Are 3 Things to Do on Test Day to Rock the Final 2400 Exam appeared first on Veritas Prep Blog. |
11 Jan 2016, 11:01
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: Quarter Wit, Quarter Wisdom: An Interesting Property of Exponents |
 Today, let’s take a look at an interesting number property. Once we discuss it, you might think, “I always knew that!” and “Really, what’s new here?” So let me give you a question beforehand: For integers x and y, 2^x + 2^y = 2^(36). What is the value of x + y? Think about it for a few seconds – could you come up with the answer in the blink of an eye? If yes, great! Close this window and wait for the next week’s post. If no, then read on. There is much to learn today and it is an eye-opener! Let’s start by jotting down some powers of numbers: Power of 2: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 … Power of 3: 1, 3, 9, 27, 81, 243 … Power of 4: 1, 4, 16, 64, 256, 1024 … Power of 5: 1, 5, 25, 125, 625, 3125 … and so on. Obviously, for every power of 2, when you multiply the previous power by 2, you get the next power (4*2 = 8). For every power of 3, when you multiply the previous power by 3, you get the next power (27*3 = 81), and so on. Also, let’s recall that multiplication is basically repeated addition, so 4*2 is basically 4 + 4. This leads us to the following conclusion using the power of 2: 4 * 2 = 8 4 + 4 = 8 2^2 + 2^2 = 2^3 (2 times 2^2 gives 2^3) Similarly, for the power of 3: 27 * 3 = 81 27 + 27 + 27 = 81 3^3 + 3^3 + 3^3 = 3^4 (3 times 3^3 gives 3^4) And for the power of 4: 4 * 4 = 16 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 = 16 4^1 + 4^1 + 4^1 + 4^1 = 4^2 (4 times 4^1 gives 4^2) Finally, for the power of 5: 125 * 5 = 625 125 + 125 + 125 + 125 + 125 = 625 5^3 + 5^3 + 5^3 + 5^3 + 5^3 = 5^4 (5 times 5^3 gives 5^4) Quite natural and intuitive, isn’t it? Take a look at the previous question again now. For integers x and y, 2^x + 2^y = 2^(36). What is the value of x + y? A) 18 (B) 32 (C) 35 (D) 64 (E) 70 Which two powers when added will give 2^(36)? From our discussion above, we know they are 2^(35) and 2^(35). 2^(35) + 2^(35) = 2^(36) So x = 35 and y = 35 will satisfy this equation. x + y = 35 + 35 = 70 Therefore, our answer is E. One question arises here: Is this the only possible sum of x and y? Can x and y take some other integer values such that the sum of 2^x and 2^y will be 2^(36)? Well, we know that no matter which integer values x and y take, 2^x and 2^y will always be positive, which means both x and y must be less than 36. Now note that no matter which two powers of 2 you add, their sum will always be less than 2^(36). For example: 2^(35) + 2^(34) < 2^(35) + 2^(35) 2^(2) + 2^(35) < 2^(35) + 2^(35) etc. So if x and y are both integers, the only possible values that they can take are 35 and 35. How about something like this: 2^x + 2^y + 2^z = 2^36? What integer values can x, y and z take here? Getting ready to take the GMAT? We have free online GMAT seminars running all the time. And, be sure to follow us on Facebook, YouTube, Google+, and Twitter! 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! The post Quarter Wit, Quarter Wisdom: An Interesting Property of Exponents appeared first on Veritas Prep Blog. |
12 Jan 2016, 11:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: GMAC to Test “Select Section Order” Option |
 Big news in the standardized testing space! For a brief period of time starting next month, the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) will let GMAT candidates choose the order in which they take the GMAT. The “Select Section Order Pilot” will run from February 23 through March 8, 2016. The pilot was first announced via an email to candidates who recently took the GMAT, and it appears to be limited to “invitation only” status for some people who recently took the exam. What Exactly Is The Pilot? Currently, the GMAT is given one way and one way only: Analytical Writing Assessment (30 minutes), Integrated Reasoning (30 minutes), Quantitative (75 minutes), and Verbal (75 minutes). With the pilot, students may choose to take the GMAT in one of these four ways: 1. Quantitative, Verbal, Integrated Reasoning, Analytical Writing Assessment 2. Quantitative, Verbal, Analytical Writing Assessment, Integrated Reasoning 3. Verbal, Quantitative, Integrated Reasoning, Analytical Writing Assessment 4. Analytical Writing Assessment, Integrated Reasoning, Verbal, Quantitative You will need to select your preferred order when you register for a new test date on MBA.com. If you choose one of the experimental options above, then you will need to find an available test center in the February 23 – March 8 period; if choose the normal order in which the GMAT is given now (AWA, IR, Quant, Verbal), then you will not be considered part of the pilot program, and you can register for the test on any date. On its website, GMAC makes a point of saying that the pilot will be very small, involving less than 1% of total testing volume. So, your odds of being invited to the pilot are very small. Also, if you participate, your score will be considered just as valid as if you had taken the “normal” GMAT, and schools will not know that you were part of the Select Section Order pilot. Why Is GMAC Doing This? No doubt GMAC wants to innovate and make the GMAT more applicant-friendly in the face of increasing competition from ETS in the form of the GRE. In its email to recent test takers, GMAC wrote: A launch schedule for any further release of this feature beyond the pilot has not been determined at this time. The wider launch of the Select Section Order feature will depend greatly on the results of the pilot. GMAC may decide not to launch the feature for any number of reasons, including candidate dissatisfaction with the feature. It’s safe to assume that GMAC will only expand the program if it finds that pilot students don’t perform significantly better or worse than their counterparts who take the GMAT in its normal order. Focusing the test on retake students — who give GMAC a terrific baseline for comparing results between the normal GMAT and the pilot program — is how they will determine whether or not playing with section order has a meaningful impact on scores. Should You Participate? If you’re one of the approximately 1% of GMAT candidates who are invited to take part in the pilot, it will be very tempting to take part and try customizing your test day experience. However, we normally recommend that students play the real game just the way they do in practice (and vice versa)… If you’re taking practice tests in the normal order, then we recommend taking the real GMAT the same way. If stamina is a real problem for you — e.g., you find that you always run out of steam on the Verbal section and start making silly mistakes or simply run out of time — then it may be worth trying a format in which you get Quant and Verbal out of the way first. If you’re not sure, then stick with the normal order that you’re used to. Were you invited to take part in the pilot? If so, let us know in the comments below! By Scott Shrum The post GMAC to Test “Select Section Order” Option appeared first on Veritas Prep Blog. |
13 Jan 2016, 17:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: SAT Tip of the Week: 5 Things You Need to Do the Week Before the SAT |
 Imagine it’s Saturday, the weekend before your official SAT test date. You’ve studied hard, learned the material, and maybe even taken one of our super helpful SAT courses. The question is, What more do you need to do to get ready? How should you spend your last week before the SAT? First order of business: take a deep breath. Your brain is probably screaming at you that you’re underprepared. Maybe you’ve had nightmares about sleeping through your alarm. Don’t listen to these thoughts – you’ll be okay! Let’s take a look at 5 thoughts you should be having the week before the SAT: 1) Take a Practice Test Now it’s time to get down to one last bit of hard work. If you haven’t taken a full-length, timed SAT practice test recently, doing one the Saturday before your test is a good idea. I sat down and took a full practice test the week before my real test and got my best score yet. With all the practice I’d been doing and great new score in front of my eyes, I was filled with confidence and energy going into the real test the following week. Think of it like a practice run – treat your practice like it’s the real thing, so that when you do get to the real test, it won’t seem so alien. 2) RELAX The next thing you should do is important: RELAX. Take another deep breath. Remind yourself of all the work you’ve done. Don’t fret over memorizing small details and remembering the names of all the SAT strategies you’ve learned – your goal for this week should be to get your mind in a good, comfortable spot. The worst thing to do is to try to cram a ton of studying in at the last minute. That leads to stress, and stress hurts scores. So, I’ll say it again: try to relax. 3) Become Familiar with the Test Structure It’s also important to be familiar with the structure of the test before test day. Be sure to review the instructions for the sections as well as how to fill out the Scantron before showing up to the test. You want your focus test day to be spent entirely on the actual test questions; knowing the rules before going in will allow you to have laser-like focus on the test. The instructions, the timing of the sections, and the Scantron always are the same. Familiarize yourself with them once and you’ll be okay; the SAT never throws curveballs. 4) Treat Your Body Well An oft-overlooked part of preparation is treating your body well. Be extra conscious about eating well and getting a good night’s sleep during the week before your test (not just the night before). You’ve put in all the hard mental work of learning the strategies, so you don’t want to waste that by treating your body poorly. 5) Study LIGHTLY If you really do feel worry-free, it can be a good thing to look over a few SAT concepts. You definitely don’t want to stress yourself out by doing too much work, but light practice sessions have benefits. Looking over previous questions you’ve struggled with or maybe even doing one section each night can be low-stress ways to keep the SAT in your brain. The big thing to remember is that you’ve put in the work over a long period of time. You’re ready. The week leading up to your test date should be one of excitement, not anxiety. Just remember, as my favorite economics teacher always said, “The truth is in you; just let it out!” Still need to take the SAT? We run a free online SAT prep seminarevery few weeks. And be sure to find us on Facebook, YouTube, Google+ and Twitter! By Aidan Calvelli. The post SAT Tip of the Week: 5 Things You Need to Do the Week Before the SAT appeared first on Veritas Prep Blog. |
13 Jan 2016, 18:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: 4 Steps to Finish Your MBA Application Essay the Right Way |
 Congratulations! If you are reading this, then you are probably almost ready to submit your business school application essays for evaluation. You have spent a ton of time in the recent months conceptualizing, outlining, and writing responses to these notoriously challenging essay prompts. With so much time spent on these by most candidates, you would assume that these essays are typically free of error by the time they reach the admissions officers. However, with so many different touch points in the typical MBA application and with multiple applications in the mix, this process is ripe for typos and mistakes. Admission to business school remains a very competitive process and although minor typos here and there will not greatly affect your candidacy, when multiple are aggregated they may give off the impression of a lack of attention to detail, which can ultimately tank your chances during tough evaluation periods. Let’s walk through a few tips you should leverage as you put the finishing touches on your business school application essays: Read Aloud This is my favorite tip, so let’s start here. Often many candidates will tell me that they are shocked to notice typos after going through multiple in-depth reviews. Sometimes when you are so close to a document, you will overlook glaring typos. The simple act of verbalizing your essay can really help reduce the likelihood that a typo or clunky sentence will survive the final review process. This approach will ensure better flow and clarity to your writing style, and will improve the overall submission. Taking A Break Taking a break between reviews is also another great trick. For the most part, typos and mistakes are more a function of an oversight than incompetence – no one knowingly overlooks a mistake. Separating yourself from the essay for a few hours or days can really sharpen your eye and make you more discerning in the review process. Leverage Personal Reviewers Having a team of reviewers who are familiar with the application process is highly recommended, but it is also helpful to utilize a few who do not. These personal reviewers should be experts on “you” and able to ensure your essays actually sound like, and read like, the person actually writing them. Friends and family are the natural targets here – leverage these people to make sure your essays are coming across as authentic and true to your life as possible. Proofread This one sounds very obvious but you would be surprised how many business school applicants do not run the simplest of proofing software or conduct their own thorough review of their essays before submitting them. Remember, your MBA application will be one of the most important packages you submit in your life, so give it the attention it deserves by allocating ample time to review it in detail. Follow these tips so come decision day, you can let the content of your essays stand for themselves! Applying to business school? Call us at 1-800-925-7737 and speak with an MBA admissions expert today, or take our free MBA Admissions Profile Evaluation for personalized advice for your unique application situation! As always, be sure to find us on Facebook, YouTube, Google+ and Twitter. Dozie A.is a Veritas Prep Head Consultant for theKellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. His specialties include consulting, marketing, and low GPA/GMAT applicants. You can read more of his articles here. The post 4 Steps to Finish Your MBA Application Essay the Right Way appeared first on Veritas Prep Blog. |
14 Jan 2016, 13:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: How to Stay Under Your Essay Word Limit |
 One of the hardest things for many MBA applicants to deal with when it comes to writing their business school essays is to stay under the word limit. You would think crafting a clear, well-written, and compelling essay that fully addressed the prompt is hard enough, but MBA programs make things a bit more difficult with often dauntingly tight word limits. There are a few things that make staying under essay word limits so tough. First, most candidates are not used to explaining themselves in a limited amount of words. The MBA application is an exercise in saying a lot in a few words, meaning every word has to matter – extra pronouns, articles, and prepositions must be reduced to stay under the given word count. Focusing on being as concise and as direct as possible in your language is a major key to making the most of your word count. A good rule of thumb here is if the word doesn’t drive the essay forward and is not integral to the ultimate message you are trying to convey, then you should strongly consider removing it. Second, many candidates will ignore one of the golden rules of MBA essay writing: answer the question! With so few words to write your essay, there is little room to answer extraneous questions or include content not directly referenced in the essay prompt. Providing extra, unnecessary information can also be seen by the admissions committee as the sign of a candidate who is repurposing essays from other schools, which is definitely a bad idea. Answering unasked questions will waste your words and reduce the focus of your narrative, so stick with what the prompt gives you. Third, candidates often make the mistake of spending too much time trying to fit their essays into traditional writing templates with an introduction and conclusion. With so few words, it is often best to skip formalities and dive right into the content. In many instances, if the writing is strong enough, this approach eliminates the need for clunky introductions and conclusions that will most likely end up sounding forced and unnatural anyways. Finally, don’t forget the outline! Creating an outline before writing really brings a focused edge to the essay writing process. Ensure that your outline fully addresses the essay prompt while still allowing enough real estate to communicate your narrative in a compelling way. Don’t let tight essay word limits sap all of the life out of your essays; follow the tips above to ensure you are making the most out of this part of the application process. Applying to business school? Call us at 1-800-925-7737 and speak with an MBA admissions expert today, or take our free MBA Admissions Profile Evaluation for personalized advice for your unique application situation! As always, be sure to find us on Facebook, YouTube, Google+ and Twitter. Dozie A.is a Veritas Prep Head Consultant for theKellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. His specialties include consulting, marketing, and low GPA/GMAT applicants. You can read more of his articles here. The post How to Stay Under Your Essay Word Limit appeared first on Veritas Prep Blog. |
15 Jan 2016, 13:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: GMAT Tip of the Week: Your MLK Study Challenge (Remove Your Biases) |
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As we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. this weekend, you may take some of your free time to study for the GMAT. And if you do, make sure to heed the lessons of Dr. King, particularly as you study Data Sufficiency. If Dr. King were alive today, he would certainly be proud of the legislation he inspired to end much of the explicit bias – you can’t eat here, vote there, etc. – that was part of the American legal code until the 1960s. But he would undoubtedly be dismayed by the implicit bias that still runs rampant across society. This implicit bias is harder to detect and even harder to “fix.” It’s the kind of bias that, for example, the movie Freaknomics shows; often when the name at the top of a resume connotes some sort of stereotype, it subconsciously colors the way that the reader of that resume processes the rest of the information on it. While that kind of subconscious bias is a topic for a different blog to cover, it has an incredible degree of relevance to the way that you attack GMAT Data Sufficiency problems. If you’re serious about studying for the GMAT, you’ll probably have long enacted your own versions of the Voting Rights Act and Civil Rights Act well before you get to test day – that is to say, you’ll have figured out how to eliminate the kind of explicit bias that comes from reading a question like: If y is an odd integer and the product of x and y equals 222, what is the value of x? 1) x > 0 2) y is a 3 digit number Here, you’ll likely see very quickly that Statement 1 is not sufficient, and come back to Statement 2 with fresh eyes. You don’t know that x is positive, so you’ll quickly see that y could be 111 and x could be 2, or that y could be -111 and x could be -2, so Statement 2 is clearly also not sufficient. The explicit bias that came from seeing “x is positive” is relatively easy to avoid – you know not to carry over that explicit information from Statement 1 to Statement 2. But you also need to be just as aware of implicit bias. Try this question, as it is more likely to appear on the actual GMAT: If y is an odd integer and the product of x and y equals 222, what is the value of x? 1) x is a prime number 2) y is a 3 digit number On this version of the problem, people become extremely susceptible to implicit bias. You no longer get to quickly rule out the obvious “x is positive.” Here, the first statement serves to pollute your mind – it is, on its own merit, sufficient (if y is odd and the product of x and y is even, the only prime number x could be is 2, the only even prime), but it also serves to get you thinking about positive numbers (only positive numbers can be prime) and integers (only integers are prime). But those aren’t explicitly stated; they’re just inferences that your mind quickly makes, and then has trouble getting rid of. So as you assess Statement 2, it’s harder for you to even think of the possibilities that: x could be -2 and y could be -111: You’re not thinking about negatives! x could be 2/3 and y could be 333: You’re not thinking about non-integers! On this problem, over 50% of users say that Statement 2 is sufficient (and less than 25% correctly answer A, that Statement 1 alone is sufficient), because they fall victim to that implicit bias that comes from Statement 1 whispering – not shouting – “positive integers.” Harder problems will generally prey on your more subtle bias, so you need to make sure you’re giving each statement a fresh set of available options. So this Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend, applaud the progress that you have made in removing explicit bias from your Data Sufficiency regimen – you now know not to include Statement 1 directly in your assessment of Statement 2 ALONE – but remember that implicit bias is just as dangerous to your score. Pay attention to the times that implicit bias draws you to a poor decision, and be steadfast in your mission to give each statement its deserved, unbiased attention. Getting ready to take the GMAT? We have free online GMAT seminars running all the time. And, be sure to follow us on Facebook, YouTube, Google+ and Twitter! By Brian Galvin. The post GMAT Tip of the Week: Your MLK Study Challenge (Remove Your Biases) appeared first on Veritas Prep Blog. |
18 Jan 2016, 20:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: Quarter Wit, Quarter Wisdom: Keeping an Open Mind in Critical Reasoning |
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Today we will discuss why it is important to keep an open mind while toiling away on your GMAT studying. Don’t go into test day with biases expecting that if a question tells us this, then it must ask that. GMAC testmakers are experts in surprising you and taking advantage of your preconceived notions, which is how they confuse you and convert a 600-level question to a 700-level one. We have discussed necessary and sufficient conditions before; we have also discussed assumptions before. This question from our own curriculum is an innovative take on both of these concepts. Let’s take a look. All of the athletes who will win a medal in competition have spent many hours training under an elite coach. Michael is coached by one of the world’s elite coaches; therefore it follows logically that Michael will win a medal in competition. The argument above logically depends on which of the following assumptions? (A) Michael has not suffered any major injuries in the past year. (B) Michael’s competitors did not spend as much time in training as Michael did. (C) Michael’s coach trained him for many hours. (D) Most of the time Michael spent in training was productive. (E) Michael performs as well in competition as he does in training. First we must break down the argument into premises and conclusions: Premises:
Read the argument carefully: All of the athletes who will win a medal in competition have spent many hours training under an elite coach. Are you wondering, “How does one know that all athletes who will win (in the future) would have spent many hours training under an elite coach?” The answer to this is that it doesn’t matter how one knows – it is a premise and it has to be taken as the truth. How the truth was established is none of our business and that is that. If we try to snoop around too much, we will waste precious time. Also, what may seem improbable may have a perfectly rational explanation. Perhaps all athletes who are competing have spent many hours under an elite coach – we don’t know. Basically, what this statement tells us is that spending many hours under an elite coach is a NECESSARY condition for winning. What you need to take away from this statement is that “many hours training under an elite coach” is a necessary condition to win a medal. Don’t worry about the rest. Michael is coached by one of the world’s elite coaches. It seems that Michael satisfies one necessary condition: he is coached by an elite coach. Conclusion: Michael will win a medal in competition. Now this looks like our standard “gap in logic”. To get this conclusion, the necessary condition has been taken to be sufficient. So if we are asked for the flaw in the argument, we know what to say. Anyway, let’s check out the question (this is usually our first step): The argument above logically depends on which of the following assumptions? Note the question carefully – it is asking for an assumption, or a necessary premise for the conclusion to hold. We know that “many hours training under an elite coach” is a necessary condition to win a medal. We also know that Michael has been trained by an elite coach. Note that we don’t know whether he has spent “many hours” under his elite coach. The necessary condition requires “many hours” under an elite coach. If Michael has spent many hours under the elite coach then he satisfies the necessary condition to win a medal. It is still not sufficient for him to win the medal, but our question only asks for an assumption – a necessary premise for the conclusion to hold. It does not ask for the flaw in the logic. Focus on what you are asked and look at answer choice (C): (C) Michael’s coach trained him for many hours. This is a necessary condition for Michael to win a medal. Hence, it is an assumption and therefore, (C) is the correct answer. Don’t worry that the argument is flawed. There could be another question on this argument which asks you to find the flaw in it, however this particular question asks you for the assumption and nothing more. Getting ready to take the GMAT? We have free online GMAT seminars running all the time. And, be sure to follow us on Facebook, YouTube, Google+, and Twitter! 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! The post Quarter Wit, Quarter Wisdom: Keeping an Open Mind in Critical Reasoning appeared first on Veritas Prep Blog. |
19 Jan 2016, 22:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: The Risks of Cheating on Your MBA Application Essay |
 For as long as schools have been requiring students to write essays, students have been trying to find ways to get out of doing them. We all know why: writing is tough! It requires skill, research, a lot of patience. and plenty of time. Finding time in particular is always the most difficult part, especially because business school applicants have so many things going on at once. Between juggling their current jobs, creating multiple applications, studying for the GMAT and attending to personal obligations, it comes as no surprise that some students look for a shortcut when it comes time to writing their business school application essays. Because of this, schools are on the lookout for students who are trying to cut corners, and there are many technological solutions that help them hunt down potential cheaters. For example, Penn State’s Smeal College of Business uses a software program called iParadigms that will test applications for cheating- about 8% of applicants are found to have cheated on their essays each year, according to Carrie Marcinkevage, the MBA managing director at Penn State. According to The Economist, almost 40 business schools are using such software. What does this mean for MBA applicants? Despite the urge to cheat or the desperation to get into a top business school, plagiarism just is not worth it. Why? Well for starters, you will have no chance at being admitted to your school of choice if you are caught cheating. Even the most lackluster application has a greater than 0% at just about every school, but cheating is the one thing that will for sure keep your application out. Secondly, if you do get in to a business school and are caught cheating later on, not only will you be kicked out of that school and lose a significant amount of money, but if you try to go to a different school in the future, your record of being kicked out of your previous school will follow you, and most likely be taken into consideration with your new application. While not plagiarism, a different form of cheating has also become very prevalent in business school essays, but is possibly harder to detect: many applicants will now pay to have their essay written for them. Admission consultants are regularly asked if they will write an applicants essays for them, and the answer is always a resounding no. Why is this just as bad an idea as traditional plagiarism? Well, if you aren’t capable of getting into a school on your own, it is probably not likely that you will succeed if you are admitted – a stranger writing your application essay for you will not change this. Secondly, if you are admitted with the help of a stellar essay you did not write yourself, you could be taking away a spot from a far more deserving candidate who actually did the work on their own. So while you might feel that your only way into business school is by taking shortcuts, rethink your decision to cheat. The best way to avoid the pressure that might cause you to take this path is to allow yourself plenty of time when it comes to your applications. Even if this means going to school one year later than you planned, it will give you the time to complete a compelling application and one done entirely on your own. Applying to business school? Call us at 1-800-925-7737 and speak with an MBA admissions expert today, or take our free MBA Admissions Profile Evaluation for personalized advice for your unique application situation! As always, be sure to find us on Facebook, YouTube, Google+ and Twitter. Dozie A.is a Veritas Prep Head Consultant for theKellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. His specialties include consulting, marketing, and low GPA/GMAT applicants. You can read more of his articles here. The post The Risks of Cheating on Your MBA Application Essay appeared first on Veritas Prep Blog. |
20 Jan 2016, 11:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: SAT Tip of the Week: Commonly Misused Words |
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Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings (and usually different spellings). For example, there is a massive difference between “I proposed to my fiancée with five carats,” and, “I proposed to my fiancée with five carrots.” The SAT will occasionally test certain differently-spelled homophones (there is a small chance that you will have to choose between words such as fair and fare, as you will see in your practice tests), but it very frequently test the most commonly misused homophones – those involving possessive pronouns and contractions. Let’s take a look at the drill below: “[Its/It’s] a shame,” she sighed. “[They’re/Their/There] on [they’re/their/there] way to taste [your/you’re] famous chili and yet [your/you’re] stuck [they’re/their/there] at the airport. I’ll do my best to make sure they appreciate it in all [its/it’s] glory!” These three sets of homophones are very frequently tested on the SAT – and very frequently misused in day to day communication. Their commonality is that they all involve possessive pronouns (its, their, and your), and contractions (it’s = it is; they’re = they are; you’re = you are). To the academic elite – a group you seek to join as you pursue acceptance to college – the misuse of these common words tends to be a major sign of poor education, so make sure that you get these right on test day and in your application essays. Its vs. It’s Its is the possessive form of it. If an object possesses something (e.g. your phone has a case), then you’ll use its (e.g. “I never take my phone out of its case.”). This is often misused because you’re used to putting ‘s for possessives, but keep in mind, you don’t do that for other pronouns, either! If he has something, that thing is his (not he’s or him’s). Is she has something, that thing is hers (not she’s or her’s). And if they share something, it is theirs (not they’s or them’s). So if it has something, that thing is its thing. It’s, on the other hand, is a contraction for “it is.” (e.g. “Where is your textbook? It’s (it is) in your locker.”) There vs. Their vs. They’re There refers to a place. (e.g. “I’d love to visit Barcelona; I hear it’s beautiful there.”) Their is the possessive for the pronouns they and them. (e.g. “The Lakers are in last place in their division.”) They’re is the contraction for “they are.” (e.g. “Who are The Beatles? They’re only the most famous band in world history.”) Your vs. You’re Your is the possessive pronoun for you. If you own something, people will say that it is yours. (e.g. “Go to your room!”) You’re is the contraction for “you are.” (e.g. “You’re grounded!”) With these rules in mind, let’s look at the answer for that drill we saw earlier: “It’s a shame,” she sighed. “They’re on their way to taste your famous chili and yet you’re stuck there at the airport. I’ll do my best to make sure they appreciate it in all its glory!” Still need to take the SAT? We run a free online SAT prep seminarevery few weeks. And be sure to find us on Facebook, YouTube, Google+ and Twitter! The post SAT Tip of the Week: Commonly Misused Words appeared first on Veritas Prep Blog. |
20 Jan 2016, 15:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: The Rise of the Specialized Business Master’s Degree: What This Means for You |
 Many business schools around the world are suffering right now – the unprecedented hyper-growth of students obtaining MBA degrees has stalled. What was once the most popular graduate degree in the United States is slipping out of the spotlight, and many schools are doing what they can to try to cover their losses. In recent years, many business schools have been introducing new specialized master’s degree programs to fill their deficits and cater to an ever-expanding market. While these programs are typically more rigorous than traditional MBA degrees, they also provide a host of benefits. Times have been tough for many business schools lately. For example, Rochester University’s Simon School of Business recently slashed the cost of their two-year MBA program by 14%. Conversely, over half of the top 25 business schools have added specialized master’s programs within the last three years. This shift toward non-traditional graduate degrees is forecasted to gain even more momentum within the next few years. Specialized master’s degrees are popping up in a variety of niches: finance, marketing, business analytics, big data, and supply chain management are examples of the most popular subjects of study. Approximately one fifth of business students worldwide will pursue these new types of degrees, according to the Graduate Management Admission Council. When compared to the traditional MBA, most of these programs appeal to recent undergrads as a way to “jumpstart” their career and stand out from the crowd, especially if they majored in a non-business degree program such as Liberal Arts or Engineering. Specialized master’s degrees typically cost much less than a traditional MBA and only take a year or less to complete. The GMAT or GRE is still required in most of these programs, but many do not require previous significant work experience. This is an opportunistic path for students faced with circumstances that force them to begin their careers prematurely. Businesses favor those with specialized master’s degrees, as the student will typically be able to begin work quickly and with little training. The door to obtaining a formal MBA later in a student’s career remains open. Mid-tier universities have suffered the most from the decline of MBA applicants, and have also seen the greatest increase in new master’s degree programs. Unfortunately, some of these programs have been poorly designed due to financial and external pressures. Even though specialized programs cost less than MBAs, they are still a significant investment that require a bit of research beforehand. The business schools with the most successful specialized master’s degree programs have taken adequate time to prepare and develop their courses before offering them to the public. Look for schools that have demonstrated consideration for the long-term success of their students. Schools that offer career placement will typically be the best ones to choose, as they have formed a plan to ensure that your overall educational goals are met. While this trend is predicted to continue to grow, specialized master’s degrees are not anticipated to eliminate the need for MBA graduates. As long as business students steer clear of poorly-designed courses, specialized degrees offer many benefits for some. Applying to business school? Call us at 1-800-925-7737 and speak with an MBA admissions expert today, or take our free MBA Admissions Profile Evaluation for personalized advice for your unique application situation! As always, be sure to find us on Facebook, YouTube, Google+ and Twitter. The post The Rise of the Specialized Business Master’s Degree: What This Means for You appeared first on Veritas Prep Blog. |
21 Jan 2016, 12:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: SAT Weather Postponement: What This Means for You |
 If the College Board ever wanted to make a splash, they sure picked a doozy of a weekend to say au revoir, sayonara and adios to the “old SAT.” Winter Storm Jonas is primed and ready to pack a punch that will likely impact thousands of test takers. What’s a test taker to do after months of preparation? If you’re scheduled to take the SAT this weekend (January 23/24) anywhere along the Mid-Atlantic, I-95 East Coast corridor, read on. And if you’re scheduled to take the SAT this weekend and don’t live anywhere close to the East Cost, still read on – even if you’re not directly impacted by winter weather this weekend, it’s good to plan ahead in case something happens that derails your test day experience. Get the 411 Where’s the first place to go for information? College Board has a dedicated page on their websitewhere they post real-time updates. Don’t trust what your friends are posting on Facebook or Twitter. Official word will come from College Board via this site as well as local media outlets, so turn on your local news and radio stations if the web page has issues. Should your test center close, there may be a few options:
Word on the street is that some centers have already closed and are rescheduling for SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20. If you find yourself in this position, don’t panic! Take a deep breath and remember a few important things: You will not forget everything you’ve just learned overnight, but it’s important to stay “fresh” over the next 4 weeks. Have you ever had a test in school that you wish you had a little extra time to study for? Well, now is your chance to make the most of that extra study time. This extension is a great opportunity to strengthen some areas of weakness. Take a look at your last practice test and identify some topics that you’d like to improve upon. Do you forget some of those special triangles? Do you have trouble remembering some of the less common prepositions? Are you still working on speed reading? Pull out your SAT study guide and complete a few extra drills, improve your pacing, and take an extra practice test or two. For Multi-Taskers: What if … . . . you registered for BOTH the January (old SAT) and March (new SAT) tests? You might be looking at testing on February 20 (old SAT) and March 5 (new SAT), but you can still take both in a two week window. Remember that any studying will help, but be smart about what you’re studying. For example, algebra is algebra. It’s not going to change tremendously across both tests, so prioritize some of your studying based on common elements. Both tests contain reading passages of varying lengths, so also work on speed reading. . . . you registered for BOTH the January (old SAT) and February ACT (February 6th)? Again, you can still take both in a two week window, but consider shifting your focus to more difficult math, longer reading passages, and writing/grammar for the next two weeks (ACT emphasis) and then switch back to some of the more SAT-specific topics (vocab, shorter reading passages, etc) after the ACT. Above all, don’t panic. You’ve done the work and put in the time, and whether you test this weekend or in a few weeks, you’re still going to have the opportunity to put forth your best effort on the SAT. In the meantime, if you’re looking for some real world practice, head outside and figure out how long it will take to shovel a driveway that’s 10 meters long if you can only remove 2 cubic feet of snow at a time and snow if falling at a rate of 2 inches per hour. (I’m pretty sure that one won’t show up on the SAT, but the practice can’t hurt.) Still need to take the SAT? We run a free online SAT prep seminarevery few weeks. And be sure to find us on Facebook, YouTube, Google+ and Twitter! By Joanna Graham The post SAT Weather Postponement: What This Means for You appeared first on Veritas Prep Blog. |
21 Jan 2016, 14:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: Balancing Your Business School Coursework and a Startup Company |
 The number of business school students launching ventures during school is seeing tremendous growth. According to Garth Saloner, outgoing Dean of Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, at least 16% of the GSB Class of 2015 began a startup company – that percentage was in the single digits less than a decade ago. While this occurrence is predicted to see steady growth in the coming years, it may actually be a Trojan horse when the long-term effects are factored into the equation. Saloner encourages MBA grads to consider the long game when it comes to their education, and to take caution when forming a startup while still in school. With the revolution brought about by cloud-based software, founding a startup is easier today than it has ever been. Entrepreneur courses designed to facilitate this process are available at many schools even to non-business majors, and there are also many startup summer camps and incubators available for student entrepreneurs to take advantage of. Additionally, the first nine months of 2015 saw $98.4 billion get invested in venture capital-backed companies – an 11% jump over the amount for the full year of 2014. All of these factors have come together to create an environment favorable for students to take the leap and begin their own startup. Unfortunately, there are more dangers than what readily meets the eye. Even though the facts and figures make startup creation incredibly tempting, there are potential downfalls to consider before getting started. While students will typically have the rest of their life to take advantage of all that startups may have to offer, there is only one chance to make the most of their time in school. Neglecting studies will usually result in lost opportunities. Time spent distracted from coursework may end up quite costly, since the average tuition at public and private non-profit universities is approximately $70,000 per year. That figure, coupled with the fact that most first ventures will inevitably fail, can spell out financial disaster for the immediate years after graduation. While there are many unfavorable side effects to consider, it is still possible for students to launch a startup during their business school years. When faced with a conflict of interest, students should ask themselves which action they will learn the most from. Startup activities should be thoughtfully scheduled around existing coursework obligations. Business students may be able to make the startup process less cumbersome by taking on a partner or outsourcing certain aspects. Most schools now offer tools specifically to help student entrepreneurs – these resources should be fully taken advantage of by students who are considering a career in entrepreneurship or even thinking of working for a startup. Realistic goals should be set to ensure that valuable studies and experiences are not neglected. While there are people like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerburg, who dropped out of college after founding startups in their dorm rooms, not everybody will see the same amount of good fortune. By prioritizing education over immediate wealth, business students will receive a better education overall and gain more control over their future. Applying to business school? Call us at 1-800-925-7737 and speak with an MBA admissions expert today, or take our free MBA Admissions Profile Evaluation for personalized advice for your unique application situation! As always, be sure to find us on Facebook, YouTube, Google+ and Twitter. The post Balancing Your Business School Coursework and a Startup Company appeared first on Veritas Prep Blog. |
21 Jan 2016, 17:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: How to Show Fit During the Interview Process at Kellogg |
 If you have received an interview invite to the prestigious Kellogg School of Management, then congratulations! Kellogg has historically been known as a program that really focuses on admitting “real people,” and thus, is one of the few top MBA programs that strives to interview every candidate. The program has long been known for its strong student community and this thorough interview process goes a long way in determining if potential candidates can make the cut in this area. Hopefully, you have already conducted tons of research to prepare yourself for the big day. You know the ins and outs of the school’s academic programs, have a good handle of the recruiting advantages, and even have a comprehensive list of the top extra-curricular activities you’d like to lead. In addition to these factors, understanding the importance of fit at Kellogg is critical in identifying what the program looks for in potential candidates and how you can best position yourself for interview success. Let’s examine some key ways you can showcase fit to your Kellogg interviewer: Intellectual Ability This is business school, after all. Kellogg is looking for the best and the brightest, so it is important to project that you can hang academically, as well as bring a diverse point of view to the classroom. Utilizing professional anecdotes here can certainly do the trick, but the structure and style of your communication can also go a long way here. Problem Solving Skills Kellogg is looking for problem solvers! Whether in your personal or professional past, the school is looking for the type of people who can not only take on a challenge but also solve one. As a Kellogg MBA, you will be expected to solve some of the most challenging global problems in business, so showcase your track record here. For extra points, highlight instances where you solved problems in a group setting. Leadership Experience Although Kellogg has long been known as a top business school that emphasizes teamwork, leadership at the school is equally important. Focus specifically on your individual contributions as you regale the interviewer with your leadership experiences. Keep in mind, particularly for younger candidates, these experiences do not need to be limited to the professional side. Share your most impactful leadership experiences whether they are social, academic, or professional. Values and Motivations Kellogg is looking to admit people, so don’t be afraid to share personal aspects of who you are and what you value. A large part of your evaluation will be whether your personality and vibe can fit in at Kellogg, so don’t try to be anything other than yourself. Extra-Curricular Activities The Kellogg MBA is built on engagement, and as such, the school is seeking candidates who have shown a track record of engagement in the past as this signals a likelihood of being similarly engaged at Kellogg, and later on as an alum. Clearly articulate how you have engaged yourself in the past, as well as how you plan to engage yourself in the future as a Kellogg MBA. Be specific here, and make sure you have more than one example of your engagement goals at the school itself. Interpersonal Skills The ability to work with and lead others is core to all aspects of thriving in the student community at Kellogg. Although this may be the last criteria shared, it may actually be the most important. Don’t be afraid to include examples of how you have engaged with others in all aspects of your life, but remember, Kellogg will have a discerning eye for those inauthentic in this aspect of the evaluation. Also, how you carry yourself in person will be another key indicator if you have what it takes to join the Kellogg community, so keep this in mind. Follow these tips so come interview day, you will be able to breeze through Kellogg’s interview process and put yourself one step closer to that MBA. Applying to business school? Call us at 1-800-925-7737 and speak with an MBA admissions expert today, or take our free MBA Admissions Profile Evaluation for personalized advice for your unique application situation! As always, be sure to find us on Facebook, YouTube, Google+ and Twitter. Dozie A.is a Veritas Prep Head Consultant for theKellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. His specialties include consulting, marketing, and low GPA/GMAT applicants. You can read more of his articles here. The post How to Show Fit During the Interview Process at Kellogg appeared first on Veritas Prep Blog. |
22 Jan 2016, 17:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: GMAT Tip of the Week: Stay In Your Lane (In The Snow And On Sentence Correction) |
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As the east coast braces for a historic winter storm (and Weezer fans can’t get “My Name is Jonas” out of their heads), there’s a lesson that needs to be taught from Hanover to Cambridge to Manhattan to Philadelphia to Charlottesville. When driving in the snow:
1) Stay In Your Lane Just as quick, sudden jerks of the steering wheel will doom you on snowy/icy roads, sudden and unexpected decisions on GMAT Sentence Correction will get you in trouble. Your “lane” consists of the decisions that you’ve studied and practiced and can calmly execute: Modifiers, Verbs (tense and agreement), Pronouns, Comparisons, Parallelism in a Series, etc. It’s when you get out of that lane that you’re prone to skidding well off track. For example, on this problem (courtesy the Official Guide for GMAT Review): While Jackie Robinson was a Brooklyn Dodger, his courage in the face of physical threats and verbal attacks was not unlike that of Rosa Parks, who refused to move to the back of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. (A) not unlike that of Rosa Parks, who refused (B) not unlike Rosa Parks, who refused (C) like Rosa Parks and her refusal (D) like that of Rosa Parks for refusing (E) as that of Rosa Parks, who refused Your “lane” here is to check for Modifiers (Is “who refused” correct? Is it required?) and for logical, clear meaning (it is required, because otherwise you aren’t sure who refused to move to the back of the bus). But examinees are routinely baited into “jerking the wheel” and turning against the strange-but-correct structure of “not unlike.” When you’re taken off of your game, you often eliminate the correct answer (A) because you’re turning into a decision you’re just not great at making. 2) Don’t Turn or Brake Until You Have To The GMAT does test Redundancy and Pronoun Reference (among other things), but those are error types that are dangerous to prioritize – much like it’s dangerous while driving in snow to decide quickly that you need to turn or hit the brakes. Too often, test-takers will slam on the Sentence Correction brakes at their first hint of, “That’s redundant!” (like they would for “not unlike” above) or “There are multiple nouns – that pronoun is unclear!” and steer away from that answer choice. The problem, as you saw above, is that often this means you’re turning away from the proper path. “Not unlike” may scream “double-negative” or “redundant” to many, but it’s a perfectly valid way to express the idea that the two things aren’t close to identical, but they’re not as different as you might think. And you don’t need to know THAT, as much as you need to know that you shouldn’t ever make redundancy your first decision, because if you’re like most examinees you’re probably not that great at you…AND you don’t have to be, because the path toward your strengths will get you to your destination. Similarly, this week the Veritas Prep Homework Help service got into an interesting email thread about why this sentence: Based on his experience in law school, John recommended that his friend take the GMAT instead of the LSAT. has a pronoun reference error, but this sentence: Mothers expect unconditional love from their children, and they are rarely disappointed. does not. And while there likely exists a technical, grammatical reason why, the GMAT reason really comes down to this: Does the problem make you address the pronoun reference? If not, don’t worry about it. In other words, don’t brake or turn until you have to. If you look at those sentences in GMAT problem form, you might have: Based on his experience in law school, John recommended that his friend take the GMAT instead of the LSAT. (A) Based on his experience in law school, John (B) Having had a disappointing experience in law school, John (C) Given his experience in law school, John Here, the question forces you to deal with the pronoun problem. The major differences between the choices are that A and C involve a pronoun, and B doesn’t. Here, you have to deal with that issue. But for the other sentence, you might see: Mothers expect unconditional love from their children, and they are rarely disappointed. (A) Mothers expect unconditional love from their children, and they are (B) The average mother expects unconditional love from their children, and are (C) The average mother expects unconditional love from their children, and they are (D) Mothers, expecting unconditional love from their children, they are Here, the only choice that doesn’t include the pronoun “they” is choice B, but that choice commits a glaring pronoun (and verb) agreement error (“the average mother” is singular, but “their children” is plural…and the verb “are” is, too). So you don’t need to worry about the “they” (which clearly refers to “mothers” and not “children,” even though there happen to be two plural nouns in the sentence). Grammatically, the presence of multiple nouns doesn’t alone make the pronoun itself ambiguous, but strategically for the GMAT, what you really need to know is that you don’t have to hit the brakes at the first sign of “unclear reference.” Wait and see if the answer choices give you a chance to address that, and if they do, then make sure that those choices are free of other, more binary errors first. Don’t turn or brake unless you have to. 3) Stay calm and leave yourself space to make decisions. Just like a driver in the snow, as a GMAT test-taker you’ll be nervous and antsy. But don’t let that force you into rash decisions! Assess the answer choices before you try to determine whether something outside your 100% confidence interval is right or wrong in the original. You don’t need to make a decision on Choice A right away, just like you don’t need to change lanes simply for the sake of doing so. Have a plan and stick to it, both on the GMAT and on those snowy roads this weekend. Getting ready to take the GMAT? We have free online GMAT seminars running all the time. And, be sure to follow us on Facebook, YouTube, Google+ and Twitter! By Brian Galvin. The post GMAT Tip of the Week: Stay In Your Lane (In The Snow And On Sentence Correction) appeared first on Veritas Prep Blog. |
25 Jan 2016, 11:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: Quarter Wit, Quarter Wisdom: Should You Use the Permutation or Combination Formula? |
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A recurring question from many students who are preparing for GMAT is this: When should one use the permutation formula and when should one use the combination formula? People have tried to answer this question in various ways, but some students still remain unsure. So we will give you a rule of thumb to follow in all permutation/combination questions: You never NEED to use the permutation formula! You can always use the combination formula quite conveniently. First let’s look at what these formulas do: Permutation: nPr = n!/(n-r)! Out of n items, select r and arrange them in r! ways. Combination: nCr = n!/[(n-r)!*r!] Out of n items, select r. So the only difference between the two formulas is that nCr has an additional r! in the denominator (that is the number of ways in which you can arrange r elements in a row). So you can very well use the combinations formula in place of the permutation formula like this: nPr = nCr * r! The nCr formula is far more versatile than nPr, so if the two formulas confuse you, just forget about nPr. Whenever you need to “select,” “pick,” or “choose” r things/people/letters… out of n, it’s straightaway nCr. What you do next depends on what the question asks of you. Do you need to arrange the r people in a row? Multiply by r!. Do you need to arrange them in a circle? Multiply by (r-1)!. Do you need to distribute them among m groups? Do that! You don’t need to think about whether it is a permutation problem or a combination problem at all. Let’s look at this concept more in depth with the use of a few examples. There are 8 teachers in a school of which 3 need to give a presentation each. In how many ways can the presenters be chosen? In this question, you simply have to choose 3 of the 8 teachers, and you know that you can do that in 8C3 ways. That is all that is required. 8C3 = 8*7*6/3*2*1 = 56 ways Not too bad, right? Let’s look at another question: There are 8 teachers in a school of which 3 need to give a presentation each. In how many ways can all three presentations be done? This question is a little different. You need to find the ways in which the presentations can be done. Here the presentations will be different if the same three teachers give presentations in different order. Say Teacher 1 presents, then Teacher 2 and finally Teacher 3 — this will be different from Teacher 2 presenting first, then Teacher 3 and finally Teacher 1. So, not only do we need to select the three teachers, but we also need to arrange them in an order. Select 3 teachers out of 8 in 8C3 ways and then arrange them in 3! ways: We get 8C3 * 3! = 56 * 6 = 336 ways Let’s try another one: Alex took a trip with his three best friends and there he clicked 7 photographs. He wants to put 3 of the 7 photographs on Facebook. How many groups of photographs are possible? For this problem, out of 7 photographs, we just have to select 3 to make a group. This can be done in 7C3 ways: 7C3 = 7*6*5/3*2*1 = 35 ways Here’s another variation: Alex took a trip with his three best friends and there he clicked 7 photographs. He wants to put 3 of the 7 photographs on Facebook, 1 each on the walls of his three best friends. In how many ways can he do that? Here, out of 7 photographs, we have to first select 3 photographs. This can be done in 7C3 ways. Thereafter, we need to put the photographs on the walls of his three chosen friends. In how many ways can he do that? Now there are three distinct spots in which he will put up the photographs, so basically, he needs to arrange the 3 photographs in 3 distinct spots, which that can be done in 3! ways: Total number of ways = 7C3 * 3! = (7*6*5/3*2*1) * 6= 35 * 6 = 210 ways Finally, our last problem: 12 athletes will run in a race. In how many ways can the gold, silver and bronze medals be awarded at the end of the race? We will start with selecting 3 of the 12 athletes who will win some position in the race. This can be done in 12C3 ways. But just selecting 3 athletes is not enough — they will be awarded 3 distinct medals of gold, silver, and bronze. Athlete 1 getting gold, Athlete 2 getting silver, and Athlete 3 getting bronze is not the same as Athlete 1 getting silver, Athlete 2 getting gold and Athlete 3 getting bronze. So, the three athletes need to be arranged in 3 distinct spots (first, second and third) in 3! ways: Total number of ways = 12C3 * 3! ways Note that some of the questions above were permutation questions and some were combination questions, but remember, we don’t need to worry about which is which. All we need to think about is how to solve the question, which is usually by starting with nCr and then doing any other required steps. Break the question down — select people and then arrange if required. This will help you get rid of the “permutation or combination” puzzle once and for all. Getting ready to take the GMAT? We have free online GMAT seminars running all the time. And, be sure to follow us on Facebook, YouTube, Google+, and Twitter! 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! The post Quarter Wit, Quarter Wisdom: Should You Use the Permutation or Combination Formula? appeared first on Veritas Prep Blog. |
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Hi Generic [Bot],
Here are updates for you:
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