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09 Sep 2020, 17:00
| FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: Coronavirus GMAT Updates |
 NOTE: For the most up-to-date information about the GMAT Online and 2020 testing updates, read our breakdown from Manhattan Prep Instructor, Stacey Koprince. At Manhattan Prep, we’ve been closely monitoring the effects of COVID-19 in our communities. This is an immensely difficult time and our top commitment is to the health and safety of our students, employees, and the community. We know that COVID-19 is deeply disrupting your life right now, and it has the potential to delay your long-term goals for your career and education. You can still study effectively, though, and it’s also fine to delay your studies if needed—the GMAT isn’t going anywhere and neither are we. To that end, we want you to know that we’re here for you. Here are ways we’re working to help you continue to achieve your goals, even in these tough circumstances:
Thanks and stay healthy, The Manhattan Prep Team Study Advice & Recommended Resources GMAT Online:
WORK/STUDY/PLAY-FROM HOME:
The post Coronavirus GMAT Updates appeared first on GMAT. |
23 Sep 2020, 14:00
| FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: What’s Tested on the Executive Assessment? |
 The Executive Assessment is made up of three sections: Integrated Reasoning, Verbal Reasoning, and Quantitative Reasoning. We’ll cover all three in this post. the IR score is incorporated into your Total score (along with Quant and Verbal), so you do have to be well-prepared for IR. As on the GMAT, you will answer 12 IR problems in 30 minutes and you will have access to an on-screen calculator. On the EA, though, you will complete the problems in 2 separate panels of 6 problems each. Within one panel, you can do the problems in any order you like. Some people like to go through first and answer just the ones that seem easy to them, then do a second pass to try the harder ones. You’ll also need to keep track of your timing. At approximately the halfway mark, you’ll want to submit the first panel and start working on the second one; once you do this, you can’t go back to the first panel, so there’s a psychological factor to take into account: the “bail” problem. A “bail” problem is one that you just don’t want to do. (Okay…that’s all of them. But it’s one that you actually are not going to do.) Assume that you’re going to bail on one problem per panel—you’re literally just going to guess in 3 seconds and reallocate that time to other problems in the section. Why? Unless you’re trying to get everything right so you can teach for us…you don’t need to get everything right. And standardized tests are notorious for not giving us enough time to answer all the questions to the best of our ability. So rather than spreading 30 minutes across 12 problems, spread that 30 minutes across 10 problems and give yourself a better chance of actually answering a majority of those 10 correctly. There are four IR problem types. If you manipulate and analyze data at your job already, then at least two of these problem types will feel not-too-weird to you: Tables and Graphs. Multi-Source Reasoning (MSR) problems can be a little more complicated, but they are primarily about synthesizing data and information from multiple sources—presumably you already do this on a daily basis at work.  The fourth IR type, Two-Part, is a pretty classic “standardized-test” type of problem: You’re asked a multiple-choice problem and have to solve for or find the answer (the twist, as the name Two-Part implies: You have to find two answers for each problem). The more verbal- or analytical-reasoning questions do not require any outside factual knowledge, but you will need some factual knowledge for the more quant-focused questions. The released official IR questions test the following quantitative concepts:
Our Integrated Reasoning & Essay guide says GMAT on the front cover but actually fully includes EA strategy as well as GMAT strategy in the guide itself. (Every time we talk overall strategy, the book will have two sections: one for EA and one for GMAT. If you use this guide, read the EA part and skip the GMAT part.) sample Verbal problems. Sentence Correction (SC) SC problems are grammar problems: You’ll be given a sentence and 5 answer choices, representing variations on that sentence. You have to say which version of the sentence is the best one—logical, unambiguous, and without any grammar errors. Plan to study all major rules and areas for SC: meaning, sentence structure, modifiers, parallelism & comparisons, and so on. If you’ve never had a solid grounding in grammar (including how to recognize different parts of speech), then you may want to start with something like ourFoundations of Verbal strategy guide and work your way up to the regular Sentence Correction unit in ourAll the Verbal strategy guide. In that second book, learn the main lessons for the major grammar topics and ignore anything that the book says is more advanced or more rarely tested (especially in the advanced chapters found in the All the Verbal Companion ebook that comes with the physical book). The sample SC questions posted on GMAC’s site are skewed a little toward the easier-to-medium side, but they’re a good introduction to the problem type. Critical Reasoning (CR) CR problems provide you with a short argument or plan and ask you to critique it in some way. You might be asked to do something with the conclusion (strengthen it, weaken it, identify an assumption underlying it). You might be asked to give a conclusion (inference) or fix a problem (explain a discrepancy). The official EA CR questions cover the full range of GMAT CR question types, with an emphasis towards Inference and Strengthen questions. There are also a decent number of Weaken, Find the Assumption, and Discrepancy questions. We can’t necessarily assume that the official test will follow these same trends. The GMAT tends to emphasize Find the Assumption and Weaken at about the same rate as Strengthen and Inference, so I would expect something similar to hold true for the EA. If you use the CR unit of our All the Verbal strategy guide, study the whole unit but prioritize Strengthen, Weaken, Find the Assumption, and Inference. The Companion ebook that comes with this strategy guide includes an extra chapter on wrong answer analysis for CR that you might find useful. Reading Comprehension (RC) This is a classic standardized test problem type: You read several paragraphs of information and then answer several questions about that same passage. So far, our teachers taking the real exam have all been given one RC passage with 4 related questions. We have a small number of data points so far, but we’re assuming that this is the standard pattern and most people will see this. The passages and question types in the EA official tool run the gamut—Science, Social Science, and Business topics, and all of the usual question types. As on the GMAT, Specific Detail and Inference questions are by far the most common, with a smattering of Primary Purpose / Main Idea and various minor types. As with the rest of verbal, use the entire RC unit in our All the Verbal Strategy guide. In short: You can really use everything in the All the Verbal Strategy guide.sample Quant problems. The single biggest difference is that geometry* has been removed from the EA. But, yes, I had to add an asterisk there. Did you know that, among mathematicians, coordinate plane is considered algebra, not geometry? (I learned this in high school…but I completely forgot until it came up again for the EA.) So it’s true that geometry is not on the EA…but since coordinate plane is really algebra, it can show up on the EA. I find that a little annoying, but I was heartened to see that, of the 100 quant questions in the EA official tool, exactly one is a geometry problem. So I went into my EA just assuming that I would ignore any coordinate plane questions I might see—and I didn’t see any at all. (I do, of course, know geometry, since I also teach the GMAT, but I wanted to take the EA in the way that I’m advising my students to take it.) I have had students see a geometry problem, but I haven’t (yet) had anyone tell me that they’ve seen more than one. So, best guess, you’ll see either 0 or 1 coordinate plane problem…so decide whether that is worth any of your precious study time. I personally would not study it and would just make that one of my bail questions (more about this inpart 2). If you’ve studied for the GMAT and are familiar with the strategies Choose Smart Numbers, Work Backwards, and Test Cases, you can definitely use these strategies on the EA, too. You also can (and should!) estimate—I found I was able to do this even more than on the GMAT. As far as the rest of the quant material, the EA appears to test everything else that the GMAT tests. If you’re using our books to study, I would emphasize the following:
Unit 1: Fractions, Decimals, Percents, and Ratios
Good luck and happy studying! NEXT: How to Prep for the Executive Assessment For information about our Executive Assessment Complete Course click here.  Stacey Koprince is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Montreal, Canada and Los Angeles, California. Stacey has been teaching the GMAT, GRE, and LSAT for more than 15 years and is one of the most well-known instructors in the industry. Stacey loves to teach and is absolutely fascinated by standardized tests. Check out Stacey’s upcoming GMAT courses here. The post What’s Tested on the Executive Assessment? appeared first on GMAT. |
24 Sep 2020, 14:00
| FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: The Official Guide 2021 Review and Highlights |
 GMAC published the 2021 edition of its Official Guide series in late June and we’ve got all of the highlights for the main guide. Is it worth buying? Definitely. I wouldn’t study for the GMAT without using at least the main official guide (OG) book. There are four books in all:
The main OG contains so many problems that I find most students don’t need the Quant and Verbal-only books, but they’re available if you want more. If you’re going for a 700+ kind of score, then you may also want the Advanced OG (but start with the main OG unless your score is already in the upper 600s). How is it different from the prior edition (Official Guide 2020)? There are 92 new problems:
GMAC did remove the Diagnostic Test chapter, which contained 100 problems, but you still have access to all of these problems at their Efficient Learning online platform (you get access to this platform for 1 year with your purchase of the book). You’ll find the 100 Diagnostic problems in the “Online Exclusive” problem bank, and you’ll have access to a number of Integrated Reasoning practice problems that are also available only online. And, as a bonus, the online platform contains all of the problems that are printed in the book; you can create problem sets (more on this below), practice time management, and track certain performance metrics. There’s one interesting new feature this year: digital flash cards to help you study. I haven’t tried them yet so can’t tell you whether they’re good, but I’m a big fan of flash cards in general. They’re great for anything you need to memorize—facts, formulas, and what I call Know the Code takeaways. These takeaways come in the form “When I see _____” (on the front side of the flash card) and “I’ll think / do ______” (on the back side of the flash card). For example: When I see a comma which vs. comma –ing difference in the answers on an SC problem, I’ll think “modifiers” and figure out what the modifier is referring to. If you’re debating between buying OG2020 and OG2021, I’d go for 2021. You’ll have all of the same problems that are in OG2020, plus 92 additional, brand-new problems as well as access to the new flash cards. How should I use the OG in my studies? If you’re using our study materials, we’ve classified all of the OG problems by problem type and by chapter / content area from our books. Anyone can access these classification lists by creating a free Atlas GMAT Starter Kit account on our website. You’ll find the OG problem lists under Official Guide Resources on the left-hand menu bar. (The Starter Kit has a bunch of other free resources as well, FYI.) I would also take a look at this blog series on creating your own problem sets. You’ll use the problems in different ways during different stages of your studies and that series explains what to do when. Are there any trends in the new problems? There are a lot of really interesting new problems! I can’t, unfortunately, show any of them to you (copyright law…), but I’ll tell you what I think about some of them and you can look them up yourself in your own copy of the book. Quant Overall, I noticed a ton of stories and a lot of opportunities to logic something out or to estimate. There are also some pure math problems, but there is a definite trend around the ability to think logically about math. (And I love that because it makes the test a lot easier to take—once you train yourself to think logically about math. Bonus: That ability will help you in b-school and at work.) There were also some beautiful traps—the test writers really are masters at figuring out how to tempt us to go down the wrong path. (Seriously, I consider them artists in this way!) Here are a few of my favorite Problem Solving and Data Sufficiency problems that are new to OG 2021. When you have your copy, try the problems first and then read what I thought. PS #94
In the Critical Reasoning chapter, 11 of the 19 new problems were Strengthen or Weaken. These two types are quite frequent on the real test. My favorite of the new problems is a Weaken (details below). Each Sentence Correction problem tests multiple grammar rules, as always. I noticed a lot of sentence structure issues, parallelism and comparisons, and some really interesting issues around meaning. Here are a few of my favorite new problems. When you have your copy, try the problems first and then read what I thought. CR #707
That’s it! But I will repeat what I said at the beginning. Don’t consider studying for the GMAT without getting yourself a copy of the OG. If you already have a copy of the 2020 edition, it’s not necessary to purchase the new edition. But if you don’t yet have a copy, I’d recommend getting OG 2021. Good luck and happy studying! Stacey Koprince is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Montreal, Canada and Los Angeles, California. Stacey has been teaching the GMAT, GRE, and LSAT for more than 15 years and is one of the most well-known instructors in the industry. Stacey loves to teach and is absolutely fascinated by standardized tests. Check out Stacey’s upcoming GMAT courses here. The post The Official Guide 2021 Review and Highlights appeared first on GMAT. |
26 Jan 2021, 23:00
| FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: Everything You Need to Know about GMAT Time Management, Part 2 |
 Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We’re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here. Welcome to the second installment of our GMAT time management series! In the first part, we addressed the following:
4) First, Train Per Problem: Develop Your “1-Minute Time Sense” In order to manage your time well in an entire section (which we’ll talk about next time), you have to make good decisions about what to do on individual problems. Specifically, you have to know how to decide when to keep solving versus when to move on—and that requires having an approximate idea of how long you’re spending on those individual problems. On most GMAT problems, you’re going to make your first big decision just 1 minute into the problem. That’s enough time for you to know whether you understand what the problem is talking about and whether you’ve got a good enough plan to warrant continuing on with the problem. If you don’t know what the problem is telling you or you don’t understand what the problem is asking you to do, that’s a good clue to guess and move on. Alternatively, you might fully understand what the problem is saying but just not have a great idea of what to do in order to solve—and that’s another good clue to guess and move on. Remember: You only need to get about 50% to 70% of the problems right. You can afford to let the annoying ones go. Ok, so 1 minute is the first big decision…but it would be really annoying to check the clock every minute during the test. How can you know that it’s been approximately a minute since you started working on this problem, without actually checking the clock all the time? You’re going to develop your 1-minute time sense. Before we dive in, just a note: I explicitly do not want you to time yourself when you’re doing non-GMAT-format practice, such as skill drill sets. When you’re doing that kind of work, learn at a pace that works for you. You’re only going to time yourself when you’re working in Exam Mode on Official Guide or other official-GMAT-format problems. Why 1 minute? It has to do with the average time available to spend on each problem. The 1-minute mark is the half-way point for Quant and Critical Reasoning (CR) problems, as well as for some Reading Comprehension (RC) problems. If you’re actually going to finish this problem around the 2 minute average, then by the half-way point, you’ve got to understand both what they’re telling you and what they’re asking you and you have to have a good idea of how to solve. If that’s the case, great! Keep going (for another minute or so) on this problem. However, if you don’t understand what’s going on or don’t have a good idea of how to solve, then don’t keep going down the “I’m trying to solve this” path. One possible alternative is to make an educated guess: You see a legitimate way to eliminate wrong answers and you do that before you guess from among the remaining answers. If you don’t see a path for that either, though, then just guess randomly and move to the next problem. On Sentence Correction (SC) and main-idea RC questions, on average, you’re supposed to be further along by the 1-minute mark—something like three-quarters of the way through the problem. Since these are both Verbal problem types, let’s say that your 1-minute goal is to have eliminated 1 or 2 answers. If so, things are working—keep going. But if you’re still stuck trying to understand the sentence or the passage / problem, guess and move on. In any of these scenarios, you’re employing your executive reasoning skills: You’re making the best possible decision to maximize your ROI (return on investment). When it’s objectively worth it to invest more time, go for it. But when it’s not, you are able to make the executive call to let that opportunity go and look to invest elsewhere. This is really what the GMAT is testing, at heart. How do I develop my 1-minute time sense? You need the stopwatch / timer function on the device of your choice. First, see what features it has. Look for an app that has a “lap” button. (On some apps, the start button turns into a lap button after you press Start.) When you tap the lap button, the timer will mark the time at which you tapped Lap—but the timer doesn’t stop. It keeps running. Tap the Lap button repeatedly and you’ll get a list of time intervals, each measuring from the last time you tapped the button. Find a non-GMAT-related task that takes concentration: Write an email for work, research a product you’re thinking about buying, read something in The Economist. On your stopwatch, cover up the timer display so that you can’t see what it says but leave all of the other buttons visible. Start working. Every time you think about 1 minute has passed, tap the Lap button. Ignore the list of data that starts popping up; keep working. A little while later, pause and look at the list of numbers. If most of your lap times are within 20 seconds of 1 minute (that is, between 40 seconds and 1 minute 20 seconds), great! Try this a few more times over the next few days; if your results continue to be consistent, you’re good to go. If you’re like most people, though, you don’t already have an internal clock in your brain, so you’ll need to train. Do this exercise a few times a day for 5 to 10 minutes at a time, and after a week or two, you’ll get yourself pretty consistently into a “close enough” time range (00:40 to 01:20). One note: You may find that you have a consistent sense of how long you think one minute is, but that sense is inaccurate—it’s either too fast or too slow. Let’s say that your times are all around 30 to 50 seconds—you’re consistent, but that’s too fast. Try tapping the button when your brain thinks it’s been 1 minute 15 seconds. If, on the other hand, you find that your timing is consistently too slow, tap the button when you feel like it’s been only 45 seconds. You’re retraining your brain to get used to how long 1 minute actually is, not what your brain currently thinks it is. How do I practice this on GMAT questions? Glad you asked. I’d train first with 2-minute-average problems: Try a set of 4 quant or CR problems. Get your problem set organized, cover up the time on your timer, and go! When you think it’s been roughly a minute since you began the first problem, tap the lap button. When you’ve finished the problem, tap the lap button again. (When you’ve finished a problem on the real test, you have to click Next and Confirm to advance to the next problem. Pretend that’s what’s happening now: You have to push the button when you’re done in order to go to the next problem.) Repeat until you’ve finished all four problems, then analyze your data. You’ll—hopefully—have 8 lap times. (At first, you might forget to tap Lap every time; you’ll get better with practice.) The odd-numbered data points (1, 3, 5, and 7) represent your first minute(ish) for each problem. You’re looking for these times to be roughly within that 00:40 to 01:20 timeframe. The even-numbered data points (2, 4, 6, and 8) represent the remaining time you spent on the second half of each problem. These data points do not have to fit into the 1-minute timeframe. If you found the problem easy or decided to guess, you might have only 15 or 30 seconds for the remaining time. Or, on a harder one, you might have decided to invest an extra 30 seconds, so this data point might be more like 1:30. These even-numbered data points should only raise an alarm if you spent way too much time—2, 3, 4 minutes on the second “half” of the problem. Your collective time on the entire set does have to fit the time limit for this block of questions—in this case, 8 minutes for 4 problems. So I also recommend setting a second timer that’s counting down from 8 minutes. (This is also the beginning of learning how to manage your time over an entire section; as I mentioned, we’ll talk about that next time.) Reflect on the entire problem set. In hindsight, what were your good decisions about when to keep going and when to let go? (Don’t skip this step! Reinforce what went well so that you’re building the habit do the same thing again next time.) And what decisions might you want to make differently next time? With the benefit of hindsight, figure out what those different decisions would be and what specific clues will prompt you to know to make that specific decision next time. We call this maximizing your ROI on the test; read more about how to do this here. I want to emphasize one very important aspect of the above: Making a “different decision next time” does not necessarily mean “How do I get this right next time?” Sometimes, a problem is just too hard or otherwise annoying and your decision is “How will I recognize faster next time that this kind of problem is terrible and my best strategy is to guess fast and move on?” And occasionally, you’ll realize (after the fact) that there was a valid way to narrow down the answer choices—that is, to cross off wrong answers even though you didn’t know how to get to the correct answer. Take some time to explore what that valid thought process is and figure out how you’ll recognize when you can use that same analysis on future problems. You do have to guess a lot on this test; educated guessing is a fantastic way to improve your odds (as always, as long as you can do so within the established timeframe). Take about 2 to 4 weeks to practice your 1-minute time sense and how to make good decisions on a per-problem basis. Move to the third and final part of this series sometime in the week before you take your next practice CAT. (If you’re taking one of our classes, we’ve already assigned the next installment in your syllabus—you don’t have to remember.) In part 3, we’ll discuss how to manage your time across an entire section of the GMAT—including when to bail entirely (that is, guess almost immediately on a problem). One last thing: We have free stuff! The free GMAT Starter Kit study syllabus includes a full-length practice test, among other study resources, and we regularly hold free events, including GMAT Prep Hour and joint admissions events with admissions consulting firm mbaMission. You can also sit in on the first session of any of our GMAT Complete Courses for free. Stacey Koprince is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Montreal, Canada and Los Angeles, California. Stacey has been teaching the GMAT, GRE, and LSAT for more than 15 years and is one of the most well-known instructors in the industry. Stacey loves to teach and is absolutely fascinated by standardized tests. Check out Stacey’s upcoming GMAT courses here. The post Everything You Need to Know about GMAT Time Management, Part 2 appeared first on GMAT. |
27 Jan 2021, 23:00
| FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: Everything You Need to Know about GMAT Time Management, Part 3 |
 Guess what? You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free—we’re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here. You’ve made it to part 3 of our Time Management series! In the first part of this series, we discussed the following: 1. Why is time management so important on the GMAT? 2. Know (generally) how the scoring works. 3. When solving problems, follow two principles: first Exam Mode, then Study Mode In the second part, we discussed our first major time management strategy: 4. First, train per problem: Develop your “1-minute time sense” In today’s post, we’re moving up to our second strategy: how to manage your time across the entire section. We’re going to use the testing-center experience as the baseline in this post, but at the end of this post, you’ll find a link to another article about how to keep track of your time for the GMAT Online. (But do read this post first—the overall strategy is the same for both forms of the exam; the difference is really just in how you use your scratch pad / whiteboard to keep track of the time.) One more public service announcement before we dive in: If you’re reading this and have not yet taken a practice test, go do that before you keep reading. Yes, I actually want you to take a test before you learn how to manage your time per section. Get a sense of your strengths and weaknesses on just the pure content without having half of your brain distracted because it’s trying to remember all the time management stuff I’m about to teach you. (Aside: Our free GMAT Starter Kit study syllabus comes with one free practice CAT.) When you’re ready for your second practice test, that’s when you’ll try the below for the first time. (Taking a course with us? Just follow your syllabus; this is all built-in for you already.) Ready? Let’s go! 5) Second, Manage an Entire Section Using Benchmarks The GMAT gives you a block of time for an entire section. In the Quant section, you’ll have 62 minutes to spend on 31 problems; in the Verbal section, you’ll have 65 minutes for 36 problems. On average, you’ll have about 2 minutes per problem for quant and a little less than 2 minutes per problem for verbal. Those are just averages though; in practice, you’re going to spend somewhere between 1 minute and 3 minutes on most problems. Most—but not all. Sometimes, you’ll spend even less time. For example, when you see a problem that’s a significant weakness of yours or just looks awful, you’re going to guess almost immediately—basically, as soon as you recognize that this problem is not a good one for you. And you’re actually going to bail (guess almost immediately) on about 2 to 4 problems in each section (Quant, Verbal, and IR). One of the things you’re going to prepare ahead of time is a list of what you hate and tend to answer incorrectly or take too much time to do, so that you can make a quick executive-reasoning call to bail early and move on. On the other side of the timescale, you’re also looking to avoid spending more than about 3 minutes on any one Quant or Verbal problem, since your odds of getting it right have gone way down. (It’s pure logic: There is a faster solution, but you don’t know what it is since you’re spending 3+ minutes. Pick an answer and don’t look back.) So how do you balance all of that to come out to 2 minutes on average by the time you’re done with the section? You’re going to use your scratch paper to help you keep track. In the testing center, you’re going to get a bound booklet of 5 sheets of yellow, laminated, legal-sized paper (that extra long paper typically used for legal documents). You’ll also get a special pen to write on it. (If you’re in one of our classes, then you received your very own scratch paper booklet and pen in your package of materials. If you aren’t in one of our classes, we also sell the scratch paper booklet on Amazon. Alternatively, staple together 5 sheets of paper to create a facsimile.) The front face of the booklet has a bunch of writing and instructions on it, so you’ll have 9 faces (front and back of 5 pages, minus the 1 face with writing) on which to write. You can have only one booklet at a time at your desk, but you can swap out for a new one at any time. Ask for a new booklet during each break so that you don’t have to worry about doing so during the test itself. Quant Section Timing You’ll have a 30-second introduction screen (also known as a “breather” screen) right before each section starts. But you’ll already know the information given on the screen, so use that time instead to take a deep breath and set up your scratch paper. Note: You cannot set up your scratch paper during the break; you are not allowed to write anything or even to sit in the testing room during your break. Here’s what to do:  Flip the booklet over so that you’re on the back face of the very last sheet. Draw a big X at the top (for “Extra”). If you need more room, you’ve got it. Next, flip over to the front face of that last page and write 0 or draw a smiley face in the lower-right corner, as shown in the diagram. When you get to this point, you’re done with the Quant section! Draw two lines, as shown, to split the page into four sections. Then move to the back face of the second-to-last page and write 8 this time. Again, split the page into four sections. On the front face of that page, write 16. Keep going by multiples of 8 and working your way from the end of the booklet to the front. When you get to the 56 page, you’re going to make just 3 problem sections, not 4. This will take a little time. With practice, you can learn to do this in 30 seconds. (Even if it takes you a full minute, that’s only 30 seconds out of your 62 minutes for this section. That’s not going to make or break your score.) Starting from the front of the booklet, use the little segments on each page to do each problem. When you finish a page, the number in the corner tells you approximately the time left that you want to see on the countdown timer (in the upper right corner of the screen). You don’t have to be exactly on time; as long as you’re within roughly 3 minutes in either direction, all is good. There are two “take action!” scenarios:
If you’re more than 3 minutes behind, here’s your action: During the next set of 4, as soon as you see a problem that makes you think “Ugh,” bail immediately (within 30 seconds). The problem could be testing something you don’t like, or the first sentence is really hard to follow, or it has an ugly equation, or whatever—just choose your favorite letter and move on. And that’s it! As long as you take action when needed all the way through the section, bailing like this on one problem (or maybe two) will be sufficient to put you back on track. (Aside: What’s your favorite letter, A, B, C, D, or E? Congratulations! You now know what you’re going to pick every single time you decide that you want to random-bail. Don’t give this decision any more brainpower than necessary during the exam. Pick your favorite letter and move on.) If you’re more than 3 minutes ahead, here’s your action: First, take a deep breath. Next, figure out what you need to do to work more methodically. Write all of your work down (especially if it’s math). Make yourself check for the proof in the RC passage—don’t just rely on memory. Slow down the rush. Rushing just causes careless mistakes. You’re going to practice this for the first time on your second practice test. You’re probably going to screw it up at least a little. You might screw it up a lot. That’s what practice is for! By the time you get to the real thing, you’ll be able to set up your grids in 30 seconds (it’s not easy!) and you’ll know how to react appropriately (and immediately!) when you realize that you’re too far behind or ahead. Verbal Section Timing There are three verbal problem types—all, annoyingly, with different average time expectations. Verbal time management is messier than quant time management. Here’s how to set up the scratch paper for Verbal:  (Note: The visual shows the paper in classic portrait layout. For verbal, I personally turn the booklet horizontally—landscape layout. I’m writing more notes in this section, especially for RC and it makes me feel like I have more space…even though, yes, I know it’s actually the same size.) For Verbal, why are we doing 9 problems per face across only 4 faces? Verbal has another complication: Reading Comprehension (RC). First, you need time to read the passage before you can begin to answer the problems. So we have to account for that time somehow. Second, you usually get 4 RC passages on the GMAT. Odds are good that you will start one new passage in each “quarter” of the exam. In other words, you will most likely start your first RC passage somewhere during the first 9 problems. You’ll probably start your second RC passage somewhere in the next block of 9. And so on. So that’s why Verbal is organized in 4 blocks of 9 problems each—to match up with the expectation that we’ll probably get one RC passage per block. The twist: It’s also possible that the passages could be more clumped. (Could this test be any more annoying?!? #ChandlerBing) Don’t worry; the time management plan accounts for that possibility. Here’s how to track RC. First, see the little R after each of your time-markers (0R, 16R, 32R, and 48R)? The R stands for RC. Every time a new RC passage pops up on the screen, go cross off that R in the corner of the page. The “expected” scenario is shown in the top right example of this visual: You were expecting to be given one RC passage in this first block of problems and now you’ve gotten it.  If you get to the end of that 9-problem block having seen only one RC passage, you’re going to stick with the expected time of 48 minutes left. If you’re within 3m of that time, keep going; if you’re not, take action. As on the quant, if you’re behind on time, bail immediately on the next “Ugh” problem you see. If you’re too far ahead, slow down a little and figure out how to work more systematically to minimize careless mistakes. But! What if you’re in your first block of 9 and you’ve already crossed off your R…and they give you a second RC passage in that block? You’ve already crossed off the R! The second box on the right side of the visual shows what to do: Jot down another R and don’t cross it off. That’s your signal that you got an extra RC passage in this block, so you’re going to be a bit short on time compared to that 48 minutes written on the page. In fact, expect to be about 2 minutes slow—so if, for example, the time marker says 48, subtract 2. You should really have around 48 – 2 = 46 minutes left. As always, check the clock and, if you find yourself more than a few minutes ahead or behind, take action. Alternatively, what if you get to the end of that block but haven’t crossed off the first R? That’s what the third box on the right side of our visual shows. When this happens, they didn’t give you any new RC passage in that block—so expect to be a couple of minutes ahead of your expected time at the end of that block. In the example above, you’d expect to be at about 48 + 2 = 50 minutes; if you’re more than a few minutes ahead or behind that time, take action. One last note: In the graphic, we’ve written out ABCDE for each problem. But that’s a lot of work to do for the entire test. Ideally, practice writing out the letters just once for each block, then track your work for each problem in the blank space to the right of the ABCDE. Use your usual symbols to eliminate letters or circle the one you want to choose—you’ll just be doing this in blank space rather than directly over the letters ABCDE. (Once I know what I want to pick, I also jot down that specific letter—just to reinforce what I’m about to pick on screen.) You will absolutely need to practice this process many times to get good at it. You can also practice this when doing problem sets. Do all your quant problem sets in multiples of 4 from now on (4, 8, 12, or 16) and make your verbal problem sets in batches of 9 or 18. When you’re done with an exam or a problem set, analyze your timing on both a global and a per-problem basis. Where are you happy with your decisions? Where do you wish you’d made different decisions? What is that different decision and what clues would you have needed to spot to know to make that different decision? This level of analysis will retrain your brain for next time so that you can make your executive reasoning skills really work for you on this exam. Integrated Reasoning Timing The Integrated Reasoning section is much more straightforward than the Quant and Verbal sections—as far as time management is concerned, anyway. You’ll have 30 minutes to solve 12 problems, but you’ll be looking to bail (guess immediately) on about 3 of those problems, so you actually have 30 minutes to do 9 problems, or a bit over 3 minutes per problem. You’re going to set up your yellow pad in the same way you did for quant, in groups of 4, but you’ll only need 3 pages, since there are only 12 problems. In the bottom right corner of the 3 pages, write 20, 10, and 0 counting down. On each page, draw two lines to split the page into four sections. Now let’s use a little of the RC tracking strategy. You’re going to bail on 3 problems and there are 3 groups of 4 problems each, so assume that you’re probably going to bail on one problem in each block. You’ll have 10 minutes to spread across the remaining 3 problems in that block. When you decide to bail fast on a problem, draw a big X at the top of that problem’s quadrant—but don’t cross off the whole quadrant. If you need more room for one of the other problems, use the remaining space in that bail problem’s quadrant. But what if you actually do all 4 in a block (ie, you don’t bail on any)? Then your time should be a little lower than what you’ve written in the corner of that page. For example, if the page says 20 but you did all 4, your time should be more like 17 or 18. Note: In this case, you’ll need to bail on an extra problem in one of the other blocks—that is you’ll bail on two problems in another block—in order to catch back up. When you flip to the next page, jot a note at the top, something like “NEED EXTRA BAIL.” The GMAT Online Timing The Quant, Verbal, and IR sections are identical for the GMAT Online—same number of problems, same time limit per section. The only difference has to do with how you’re going to use your scratch paper to manage your time. For the GMAT Online, you don’t get the multi-page booklet. Instead, you’ll have a physical whiteboard that doesn’t have as much real estate and you’ll also have access to an online whiteboard that has endless capacity. You’ll want to use the physical whiteboard for certain things and the online whiteboard for other things—and this article about the GMAT Online will tell and show you how. Good luck, merry time management, and happy studying! Stacey Koprince is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Montreal, Canada and Los Angeles, California. Stacey has been teaching the GMAT, GRE, and LSAT for more than 15 years and is one of the most well-known instructors in the industry. Stacey loves to teach and is absolutely fascinated by standardized tests. Check out Stacey’s upcoming GMAT courses here. The post Everything You Need to Know about GMAT Time Management, Part 3 appeared first on GMAT. |
10 Feb 2021, 12:00
| FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: The Executive Assessment Online |
 [Note: I first wrote this right after I took the official Executive Assessment Online in May 2020. At that time, we had to use an online whiteboard for all of our work. In June 2020, they fixed that: Now, everyone can use both a physical whiteboard and an online whiteboard. I’ve updated this article accordingly; otherwise, the post is exactly what I wrote right after I took the exam.] I took the GMAT Online about a month ago and I was getting restless (nothing to do during the pandemic!), so I signed up to take the Executive Assessment (EA) Online. The EA Online was a much better experience—I’ll tell you why below. (And since everyone always asks: I scored a 166 overall: 15 on IR, 13 on Verbal, and 18 on Quant. Verbal is usually my best section, so I was surprised by that score. My score also dropped on the Verbal when I took the GMAT Online, but my Quant and IR scores were fine / what I usually get.) Why did the Executive Assessment feel easier? The biggest reason: I knew exactly what to expect. I’ve been practicing with the online whiteboard for a month now—I no longer have to think about it how to use it or which icon I need to click for which tool. [And now that you can have a physical whiteboard, use the physical one for all of your math. I do still recommend using the online whiteboard to keep track of your time. For verbal-based notes, do you prefer to type or write? I’d rather type, so I’d still take notes on the online whiteboard.] For the EA Online, I also knew exactly how the technology check and security protocols would work. I knew what to do to call the proctor and where I wanted to place my online whiteboard relative to the rest of the test on the screen. The key is in knowing what to expect. That’s true whether you take the exam at a testing center or online—if you have a good idea of what’s coming, you’ll significantly reduce your anxiety in a stressful situation. For the online exam, make sure that you’re going through the tech and proctor check at least 24 hours before your exam—maybe even do the tech check twice the week before. I’d go so far as to assume you’re going to take the real test twice (and, if you get a score you like the first time, it’s just a nice surprise that you don’t need to take it again). Second, it’s just easier to take the EA. The entire exam is only 90 minutes long, half the length of the GMAT (or the GRE), so it’s literally easier from a physical standpoint. I wasn’t getting cramped in my chair; I didn’t have the urge to go to the bathroom, nor did I get hungry or thirsty. In addition, while the EA is also an adaptive exam, it doesn’t adapt in the same way as the GMAT. The EA is “section adaptive”—that is, the problems are given in a series of sections, or panels, of 6 or 7 questions each. Within any one panel of problems, you can move around however you like; you can skip a problem and come back to it later. That’s a less stressful exam experience than having to answer every question in the order given (which is how the GMAT works)—you feel as though you actually have some control over the test. The GMAT is a more challenging exam, based on how the exam is constructed—and that’s not all bad. I actually feel a strong sense of accomplishment when I’m done with it. This is no doubt why many people still consider the GMAT the gold standard for business school. But, in many cases, the GMAT is overkill. If a program accepts the EA*, then I get the best of both worlds—I get the cachet of taking an exam that is very similar to the GMAT but it’s easier to take. (The only drawback is that it does cost more upfront than the GMAT. But there are no fees for most rescheduling scenarios or for sending score reports, so I find that friendlier, too. Pay once, get everything.) *Most EMBA programs accept the EA at this point. An increasing number of regular full-time and part-time MBA programs are starting to accept the EA. Here’s a full list of accepting programs. So how did the EA go? First, someone from Pearson, the organization that runs both the online exam and the in-person testing centers for the GMAT and EA, told me that the vast majority of test-takers who have tech issues during the exam unfortunately didn’t do the tech / system check ahead of time. Put a note on your calendar to run the tech check a few days (at least!) before you take the test. The tech check literally takes you all the way through launching a one-problem “exam” (it’s not a real test problem). If you discover an issue, you’ll have plenty of time to work with their tech support team to resolve it. (You will run this same tech check again immediately before the exam starts on exam day—but this time, the real exam will launch at the end of the tech check.) My EA Online was identical to the EA I took in the testing center (except for the test problems, of course!). You start with a 12-minute instruction period, but if you’ve prepared by taking the official practice EAs (strongly recommended), you won’t need to read these instructions. Leave them on screen and let the 12-minute timer keep running, though. Pull up the online whiteboard (it’s always available and it’ll sit on top of the instructions screen). Start testing out the tools and jot down anything you want to use to help you keep track of your time as you take the exam. Use this time to make sure that everything is working properly. I didn’t, and it turned out that my whiteboard was glitching—but I didn’t discover this until after I’d started the first section. Every 20-30 seconds, my whiteboard would suddenly erase everything I’d typed! (It seemed to happen every time I typed the letter Z—maybe related to control-Z, undo? I’m not sure. I only realized this afterwards.) After the third time it happened, I clicked to summon the proctor. She restarted the software immediately, and the whiteboard worked perfectly for the rest of the test. I didn’t call the proctor until about 3 minutes into the section, and then I started trying to explain exactly what the glitch was. I was stressed and was thinking “This is tech support, so I have to give them every detail so they can troubleshoot” mode. But really, I should’ve kept it short and simple, “It’s erasing itself every few seconds!” As soon as she understood me, she rebooted—but by then I was probably 4-5 minutes into the section. From then on, everything was normal. I was able to answer every IR problem except for one, a pretty ugly Two-Part problem for which I would have needed the calculator—but I ran out of time. I think another minute or two would have been sufficient to finish it, so the time I lost to the tech malfunction earlier did cost me here. The Verbal and Quant sections were both good. I had to do all of my work on the online whiteboard (since the physical whiteboard wasn’t allowed then) and I found one pretty significant benefit to doing the work online. I was working straight down on a single “page,” essentially, so when I reached the end of a panel, it was easy to scroll back up to review my work while I double-checked my answers. In the test center, I usually need two pages for one panel of problems, so I was having to flip around to review my work. I also had to keep looking up and down when I was using a physical whiteboard; with the online whiteboard, my work and the problem were side by side. At the very end of the Quant section, I had a panic moment when I thought my screen had frozen—but it actually hadn’t. A five-minute-warning window pops up, but I’d placed my whiteboard over the middle of the screen. The warning window had popped up behind it, so I didn’t see it. When I tried to choose my answer for the final problem, nothing happened. I finally remembered the 5-minute warning from the earlier sections, moved the whiteboard and saw it, clicked to dismiss it, and was able to select my answer. So just an FYI if you think the screen has frozen—move your whiteboard to see whether this warning window or another window has popped up on the screen. So…about that tech issue… After my exam, GMAC was nice enough to answer my questions about how tech issues are handled in general. Most tech issues can be resolved pretty easily; the proctors can restart the software very quickly and the test timer will stay at the same time it was at when the system was rebooted. (I can confirm that my timer stayed the same when they rebooted the software for me.) So if you do experience a tech issue, click the button to call the proctor immediately. For most issues, they can get you going again quickly. GMAC also said that you don’t have to worry if you have an internet outage or similar tech issue at home. If the outage is pretty short (a few seconds to a few minutes), you’ll be able to pick up where you left off. If you were to have a more serious tech issue (e.g., your power goes out for hours), you’d be given a case number and your case would be investigated. This can take up to a week; the resolution generally seems to be that the test-taker is allowed to reschedule and retake the exam (and this doesn’t count against you in terms of the number of times you’re allowed to take the exam). I’ve had students lose power or Internet in testing centers, too—the same thing happens. You have to reschedule for a later date. It’s really annoying when it happens but it’s not super common. Online vs. testing center: Which is better? A month ago, I was leaning towards testing online, but I was still on the fence. Now that I’ve had time to get used to everything [and now that they allow physical whiteboards], I’m a big fan of taking the exam online—assuming you have both the technology and the necessary quiet space to take the exam. Yes, testing at home probably has more potential for technology glitches, but to me, that’s worth not having to travel across town and sit in a room listening to other people sniffle or feeling cold because the room temperature isn’t what I prefer. (And it’s not like the testing centers don’t have power outages or other glitches, too.) When I took the GMAT Online a month ago, I was also concerned about privacy issues; I wasn’t thrilled about the idea of an exam recording me in my own home. Pearson has told me, though, that they follow all data privacy and security laws in each test-taker’s country. In the United States, for example, any recordings are required to be deleted within 30 days of the date the recording is made. So I don’t have security/privacy concerns any longer. This is a personal choice, of course, so you’ll have to gauge your own preferences as well as how well you can meet the requirements (technology and quiet space). Speaking just for myself, now that GMAC has announced that the online versions of both the GMAT and EA are here to stay, I’ll definitely be taking these exams from the comfort of my own home in the future. Want to learn more about the EA? Get your very own free EA Starter Kit syllabus on Manhattan Prep’s site for some free practice and lessons. Happy studying! For information about our Executive Assessment Complete Course click here. Stacey Koprince is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Montreal, Canada and Los Angeles, California. Stacey has been teaching the GMAT, GRE, and LSAT for more than 15 years and is one of the most well-known instructors in the industry. Stacey loves to teach and is absolutely fascinated by standardized tests. Check out Stacey’s upcoming GMAT courses here. The post The Executive Assessment Online appeared first on GMAT. |
11 Feb 2021, 12:00
| FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: Coming April 8th: Great Updates for the GMAT Online |
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GMAC, the organization that makes the GMAT, has just announced some great news regarding the GMAT Online! Beginning April 8th, we’ll gain a bunch of features that currently exist only for the testing center-based GMAT:
So, starting April 8th, the test center GMAT and the GMAT Online will be almost identical. The only substantive difference will be the scratch paper. It’s still the case that you’ll get the laminated yellow pad in the testing center, but when you take the test at home, you’ll use your own dry erase whiteboard and have access to an online whiteboard. I’m really excited about this news because it means that your preparation for either version of the exam is basically the same. So you can just get down to the business of studying and decide later whether you’ll take the exam in the testing center or at home (or both!). We still have a few questions for GMAC about some other implications of this update—we’ll update this post as we learn the answers. The post Coming April 8th: Great Updates for the GMAT Online appeared first on GMAT. |
24 Feb 2021, 12:00
| FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: What’s a Good GMAT Score? |
 Applying to MBA programs would be simpler if there was just one “good GMAT score.” If you scored above that mark, you’d be done with the GMAT; if not, you’d know you needed to keep trying. Unfortunately, a good GMAT score isn’t that simple. In this article, we’ll break down what counts as a good GMAT score, and how to know whether or not you’ve achieved one. The Building Blocks of a Good GMAT Score Your GMAT score isn’t just one score. It’s actually five different scores—so you could have both a good GMAT score and a bad GMAT score on the same test! The most well-known part of your GMAT score is your overall score. This is a number from 200 to 800: a 200 is the lowest score you can get, and an 800 is the highest. However, the GMAT rarely uses the full range of overall scores. Very few people ever score an 800, and many of them are probably GMAT teachers. Very low GMAT scores are nearly as rare: only about 3% of test-takers score in the 200s. Almost all of us—about 96%—will have an overall score between 300 and 760. The next two parts of a good GMAT score are your Quant and Verbal subscores. Each of these will be a number somewhere between 6 and 51. On Quant, the effective range goes all the way up to 51: a lot of people do get the highest possible Quant score on the GMAT. On Verbal, although you can technically earn a 51, it’s extremely rare. Practically speaking, the maximum Verbal score is more like a 45. This doesn’t mean that the “good GMAT score” range starts at 760 overall or at 45 on Verbal. Think of a 760 as being like an A+ on a college exam. An A+ is fantastic, but an A is an excellent result too! We’ll go into what counts as an “A” on the GMAT in a moment. The last two pieces of a good GMAT score are your Integrated Reasoning score and your Analytical Writing score. Since these two scores aren’t as important as the other three, it’s easier to say what counts as a good score. On IR, a good GMAT score is a 5 or higher (out of 8). On AWA, a good score is a 4.0 or higher (out of 6.0). How Many People Get a Good GMAT Score? Here are two good reasons to research what counts as a good GMAT score:
Here’s a summary of the data from 2014 to 2017.  As you can see, most test-takers will score at least a 490. A 580 is still a pretty common GMAT score. However, once you’re up to the 670 mark, you definitely have a good score: only one out of every five people who take the GMAT will score that well. And if you want to teach for Manhattan Prep, you need a score that’s only earned by one out of every 100 test-takers.  It isn’t that rare to get a Quant score towards the very top of the range. Even the maximum score of 51 is earned by one out of every twenty-five test takers. Compare that to the numbers for Verbal:  Let’s put these numbers in context. How unusual is a 710 on the GMAT, really? Only one out of ten test-takers will score that well. In the United States, one out of every ten adult women is 5’7” or taller, and one out of every ten men is 6’1” or taller. Among 2018 Boston Marathon finishers, one out of every ten finished the race in under 3:06. By comparison, one out of every 100 people will score 760+ on the GMAT. That’s the equivalent of a woman in the US being 5’10” or taller, a man being 6’4” or taller, or a runner finishing the Boston Marathon in under 2:44. A Good GMAT Score, or a “Good Enough” GMAT Score? While the percentile data is interesting, it doesn’t help you figure out what a good score is for you. To get into Harvard, do you need to be one-in-a-hundred, or is one-in-ten good enough? Many programs publish data on the GMAT scores earned by their incoming class. In most cases, the only information published is the average overall GMAT score. Here are some of those scores for 2017. For a more complete chart, check out this article from Poets & Quants.  The average GMAT scores for top-10 programs are often in the low 700s, around 720-730; for other highly-ranked schools, the average may be anywhere from the low 600s to the low 700s. From the perspective of most top-50 schools, a 650 is a good GMAT score. Your best bet is to research the average score data for the schools you’re planning to apply to. The average score might represent a good GMAT score for you. However, your own “good” score could be slightly higher or lower. Calculating Your Own Good GMAT Score Even a perfect GMAT score won’t guarantee you admission. But on the other hand, most schools admit many applicants with below-average scores. HBS admitted at least one student with a GMAT of 510 in 2017, and Chicago Booth had a recent successful applicant with a 570 GMAT. If your application is very compelling, a good score for you could be well below the published average. On the other hand, your own good score may be higher than the average. For instance, you might have a weak quantitative background or a history of low grades in quant-related classes. If so, you might need a higher-than-average GMAT Quant score to impress an admissions committee. If you’re overrepresented among applicants, or if there are weaknesses in your application package, a good overall score for you might be higher than the overall average. Start with the average for your target schools, then add or subtract a few points depending on the rest of your story. It’s tough to analyze your own application, so you may want to speak with an admissions counselor. mbaMission offers a free half-hour phone call, as well as admissions consulting services. Don’t forget that while a good score will help your application, it isn’t the whole story. It’s easy to become so focused on the numbers that you lose sight of the bigger picture. Always think about your GMAT score in context: a good GMAT score for a top-10 school will look different from a good GMAT score at a top-100 school, and a good GMAT score for you won’t be the same as a good GMAT score for your neighbor. Work towards the highest GMAT score you can, develop a strong application, and you may surprise yourself! ? Want more guidance from our GMAT gurus? You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free! We’re not kidding. Check out our upcoming courses here. [b]Chelsey Cooley  is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Seattle, Washington. [/b]Chelsey always followed her heart when it came to her education. Luckily, her heart led her straight to the perfect background for GMAT and GRE teaching: she has undergraduate degrees in mathematics and history, a master’s degree in linguistics, a 790 on the GMAT, and a perfect 170/170 on the GRE. Check out Chelsey’s upcoming GMAT prep offerings here. The post What’s a Good GMAT Score? appeared first on GMAT. |
26 May 2021, 19:00
| FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: The 3 Keys to Success on Integrated Reasoning |
 Many schools care the most about the Quant section of the GMAT, but Integrated Reasoning has become more important since it was introduced in 2012. And employers who care about test scores are often very interested in your Integrated Reasoning (IR) scores. Follow the below 3 Keys to Success and you’ll be sitting pretty on test day. Key #1: Learn—and Practice—the Four Integrated Reasoning Problem Types Most people are pretty nervous when they first see the four types of IR problems: Multi-Source Reasoning (MSR), Table Analysis, Graphical Interpretation, and Two-Part Analysis. They really don’t look like typical standardized test problems. They’re…weird. But they’re not as scary as they look! You have to interpret tables and graphs, yes—but you’ll need to do that in b-school too (and you may already do this kind of data analysis in your job right now). You’ll also need to sift through a large volume of info to find the two or three pieces that you actually need to solve this problem…again, like you’ll need to do in school and like you do every day at work. As with so many things in life, you just need to get used to this new thing. Learn: (1) How each problem type works (2) The strategies that will help you to answer each type efficiently (3) The one or two problem types you like the least (more on this below) Our GMAT Integrated Reasoning and Essay guide will teach you the first two. And once you learn all of that, you’ll be able to figure out the third one for yourself. Key #2: Know When to Guess on Integrated Reasoning Speaking of knowing what you do and don’t like…do you generally like quant or verbal better? How do you feel about fractions, percents, and statistics, the math topics the most commonly tested on IR? Do you like those topics more or less than you like critical reasoning problems? Do you like pulling data from tables and manipulating it to conclude something? Interpreting graphical information? Or do you prefer synthesizing material from two or three primarily text-based sources (but maybe with a table or graph thrown in)? Why am I asking all of these questions? You might have heard that the GMAT is a timed test…and you might have noticed that we never seem to have enough time to answer all of the questions on standardized tests. It’s the way these tests are built. If you address all 12 IR prompts, you’ll have just 2.5 minutes to try to answer each one. (Have you looked at any of these yet? That is…just not enough time.) If, on the other hand, you bail immediately on 2 of the 12 problems, you’ll have a full 3 minutes each to spend on the rest of the questions. That makes a huge difference. And the scoring algorithm allows us all to take this approach. The average score on IR is between a 4 and a 5; the high score is 8. Your goal is to beat the average*. If you’re aiming for a score of 5 or higher, then you can immediately bail on 3 questions in the section (and have a whopping 3 minutes 20 seconds to spend on each other problem). And you can also miss some of the ones you do try to answer correctly and still hit your target score of 5 or higher. *Beating the average is good enough for most test takers. If you want to go into management consulting or investment banking, though, then aim for at least a 6 and ideally a 7 or 8. In this case, you’re going to bail immediately on 2 problems or maybe just 1 if you’re going for a perfect score of 8. So, how do you know when to bail? Decide what topics you like least and combine that information with the one or two problem types you like least. For instance, let’s say that you dislike fraction and percent topics the most. You also hate graphs and you aren’t too thrilled about tables either. During the test, if a fraction or percent-based graph prompt pops up, guess immediately (just click anything) and move on. Ditto for a tables question. If, on the other hand, you get a table prompt that asks statistics-based questions (and you’re fine with statistics), then go ahead and do that one. If you see a really terrible fractions or percents Two-Part problem, you might guess immediately on that one, too, even if you don’t normally mind Two-Part problems. Key #3: Practice Just Enough for Integrated Reasoning…and No More While it’s true that the IR section is more important than it was when first introduced…it’s still the case that most schools are going to care more about your Total and Quant scores on the GMAT. (Your Total score is calculated from your Quant and Verbal section scores. Your IR score does not factor into your Total score.) So you want to be prepared to do well enough—but that’s it. First of all, do the IR section (and the essay section) on any practice tests you take. You need to make sure that you’ve got the necessary mental stamina to take a full-length test (nearly 3.5 hours including breaks!) and perform at a high level all the way to the end. You also need to practice your timing and skipping strategies under real conditions. When you’re done, make sure to review your decision-making. Where did you make the right call to bail fast? And where didn’t you? How would you decide differently (and better!) next time? Second, do enough practice with the four IR prompt types that you are familiar with the general strategies for tackling each one. Practice your bail strategies as well—you need to know how to make a fast decision to not do something and you just need to practice to make sure that you’re actually letting go when you should. The best practice problems are the real ones. The official practice material on mba.com gives you 15 free IR problems, as well as 12 more in each of the two free practice tests. If you have The GMAT Official Guide, then you also have online access to an IR problem set. Note that your Official Guide online access expires a certain amount of time after activation, so don’t activate the problem set until you’re ready to start studying IR. Final Words
Can’t get enough of Stacey’s GMAT mastery? Attend the first session of one of her upcoming GMAT courses absolutely free, no strings attached. Seriously. Stacey Koprince is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Montreal, Canada and Los Angeles, California. Stacey has been teaching the GMAT, GRE, and LSAT for more than 15 years and is one of the most well-known instructors in the industry. Stacey loves to teach and is absolutely fascinated by standardized tests. Check out Stacey’s upcoming GMAT courses here. The post The 3 Keys to Success on Integrated Reasoning appeared first on GMAT. |
20 Jul 2021, 16:00
| FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: Should I take the GMAT? A Cost-Benefit Analysis |
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If you’re thinking about going to business school, you have multiple options in terms of which entrance exam to take, but nowadays, you may also have the option not to take any exam at all. That might seem like a no-brainer decision—after all, who wants* to take a standardized test? But it turns out that there are still good reasons for some people to choose to take the GMAT, even when their target schools don’t require them to do so. The question is just whether any of those reasons apply to you. (*Cough. Besides me and [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/instructors/]my colleagues[/url]…) First, do all of your target schools have either test waivers available or test-optional policies in place? If some of your schools do require an exam, and you don’t want to take those schools off of your list, then sharpen your pencil and get ready to study. If, though, all of your desired schools really do allow you to make this choice, now we’ve got some analysis to do. How to decide whether you should take the GMAT: A framework Use a common business-school framework to decide whether to take the GMAT: a cost-benefit analysis. You have three key questions to answer: [list] What are the likely costs?[/*] What are the potential benefits?[/*] How likely am I to achieve those benefits?[/*] [/list] Take notes as you do your analysis. What does it cost to study for the GMAT? As with so many things in life, there are two big categories of cost to getting ready for the GMAT: [list] [*]Time[/*] Money[/*] [/list] Time Spent Studying for the GMAT What else you would you do with your time if you weren’t studying for the GMAT? If you could use the time to take on a big project at work, gain leadership experience, and get promoted, then that might be more valuable for your application than a test score. If, on the other hand, you’d be spending that time on a favorite hobby—one that you love but that isn’t particularly valuable on a graduate school application—then it might be worth investing the next three to four months of that time on GMAT study instead. (And if you’d be collapsing on the couch and binge-watching the latest hit series every night…no judgment here, but it’s likely that studying for the exam would be of more benefit to your applications.) Money Needed to Study for the GMAT Money-wise, it will likely cost you at least $500 to get ready for the GMAT. The exam fee is about half of that and you’ll need the other half for practice tests and books that teach you what you need to know and give you problems to practice. Complete courses that include all of your study materials and a full syllabus tend to run in the $1,000 to $2,500 range. There’s also private tutoring, which is the most customized—and also the most expensive—option. (Aside: All of the above is tiny compared to what business school itself will cost, of course, so it’s a good idea to apply this same cost-benefit analysis to your overall decision to go to b-school, too.) And what if you do invest your time and money but don’t get a score that will be competitive at some of your target schools? If those schools are test-optional, just don’t share your scores—so it won’t hurt your application. It just won’t help it, either. What are the potential benefits of taking the GMAT? The three most significant potential benefits of taking the GMAT are the following: [list] Improving your odds of admission to a higher-ranked business school[/*] Earning a better financial package when you are accepted[/*] Proving your quant and analytical “readiness”—to yourself and to schools[/*] [/list] Getting into a higher-ranked Business School Generally speaking, graduates of higher-ranked schools tend to earn more money coming out of b-school—and that translates into greater lifetime earnings overall. In the current system, [url=https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-business-schools/mba-rankings]the organizations that generate b-school rankings[/url] use GMAT scores (among other data points) to determine the rankings, and the schools themselves of course want be ranked well because that helps them to attract stronger candidates. So if you’re applying to a school and you have a higher-than-their-average GMAT score, you’re improving your odds at that school. Paying Less for Business School For that same reason, a higher-than-that-school’s-average GMAT score can actually directly reduce your costs to attend that school. Many schools offer financial packages—I think of it as a signing bonus—to the strongest candidates. The school may offer you [url=https://www.mba.com/~/link.aspx?_id=C7022E72F60942DF914F2E748C54A839&_z=z]grants, scholarships, fellowships, and other awards[/url] to give you an incentive to choose their program over other programs. (Full disclosure: I wish GMAT scores weren’t used to generate school rankings. If I could wave a magic wand, I would have schools just set a certain “threshold” level and say, “If you score above this threshold, we guarantee to look at the rest of your application—and we don’t care how high above that threshold you are, because we’re never going to disclose the average GMAT scores for our pool of students.” But we have to deal with the system that we actually have today, so we might as well take advantage of it whenever possible.) Proving Your Ready for Business School Getting ready for the GMAT is a serious challenge, and people tend to be most nervous about their quant skills. When was the last time you did math…on paper, with no calculator or Excel available? And with a strict time limit? You’ll have a heavy quant load in the first year of school (stats, accounting, finance…), so getting ready for the quant and integrated reasoning sections of the GMAT can be a head start on getting your math skills back up to speed for b-school itself. People are also usually pretty nervous about getting cold-called during class, especially when analyzing case studies. There’s real pressure to perform well—to process new information quickly, analyze on the fly, and draw critical inferences about a plan, a series of events, an argument. Getting ready for the GMAT is a way to demonstrate—to both the schools and yourself—that you’re ready for all of those quant topics and analytical discussions coming your way. From the perspective of the schools, this is especially important if you didn’t take quant-focused classes (and earn good grades) in college or if your job doesn’t have many quantitative or analytical aspects. In addition, my colleague Reed Arnold pointed out that studying for the GMAT isn’t just good for proving your readiness. The intellectual challenge of getting ready for the test can actually help you push your analytical reasoning skills a lot further—skills that you’ll use every day in b-school and in the business world. (Also: How long has it been since you took an academic class of any type? Getting yourself back into Study Mode before school starts will help you to hit the ground running on day one.) If I take the GMAT, how do I make sure that I get a high score? There are no guarantees in life, of course, so I can’t tell you that you’ll definitely get a competitive GMAT score. But I can tell you the kinds of things that improve your odds. First, have a plan. Studying for the GMAT is like taking a semester-long, university-level course. You’re going to want books, practice tests, and practice problems, and you’re going to want to have some kind of plan, or syllabus, for learning the material. You can create that plan on your own or you can buy some kind of [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/prep/]self-study syllabus or live course[/url] (which should come with a syllabus). Second, give yourself adequate time. Depending on your score goal and how much time you have to study each week, you’ll likely need somewhere between 2 and 5 months to get ready for the GMAT. Let’s say that you want to lift your score by 100 points, from around 550 to 650, and you can study for 15 hours a week; in that case, you might only need a few months to get ready. If, on the other hand, you want a 200-point increase and you can “only” study 8 to 12 hours a week, you’ll likely need more time to prepare. (I put the “only” in quotes because…yes, you’re going to have to do some real study to get ready for this test. The GMAT isn’t easy. Neither is business school.) Third, figure out how you’re going to keep yourself motivated and moving forward in your studies. Are any colleagues or friends also preparing to take the test? [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/get-the-most-out-of-your-gmat-study-group-part-1/]Form a study group.[/url] If you’re taking a class, ask around among your classmates; chances are at least one other person also wants a study buddy. And fourth, take advantage of any and all free (and high quality) study materials available to get started and see how it goes before you decide to invest any real money. Take a month and work through all of our [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/resources/]free Foundations of Math and Foundations of Verbal study materials[/url], for example, then take a practice test (also free) to see where you’re at before you decide how (or whether) you want to move forward. At that point, you’ll be in a much better position to decide whether you’re willing to invest your time and money in order to have a shot at the potential benefits—and, if you are, then just make sure you take steps to give yourself a real chance to do well on the exam. Good luck and happy studying! [b]Can’t get enough of Stacey’s GMAT mastery? Attend the first session of one of [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/]her upcoming GMAT courses[/url] absolutely free, no strings attached. Seriously.[/b] [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/stacey-koprince/][img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2015/06/stacey-koprince-150x150.png[/img][/url] [b][url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/stacey-koprince/]Stacey Koprince[/url] is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Montreal, Canada and Los Angeles, California.[/b] Stacey has been teaching the GMAT, GRE, and LSAT for more than 15 years and is one of the most well-known instructors in the industry. Stacey loves to teach and is absolutely fascinated by standardized tests. [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/#instructor/86]Check out Stacey’s upcoming GMAT courses here[/url]. The post [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/should-i-take-the-gmat/]Should I take the GMAT? A Cost-Benefit Analysis[/url] appeared first on [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat]GMAT[/url]. |
16 Aug 2022, 00:00
| FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: Get the Most Out of Your GMAT Study Group |
 Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We’re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here. Recently, one of my fellow instructors, Jamie Nelson, got a great question from one of her students: What should I do to get the most out of my time with my GMAT study group? In the process of answering her student, Jamie checked with me to see whether we had anything on our blog that contained more formal recommendations or resources. We didn’t at the time, but now we do! Read on. I’m already really busy. Is a GMAT study group worth the effort? I really think so, yes. (And I’m saying this as an introvert who generally prefers to study home alone.) I also polled my fellow teachers and it turns out we all agree: If at all possible, get a GMAT study group going! There are two primary benefits you can gain by studying regularly with at least one other person. (1) You’ll keep yourself motivated. It’s harder to procrastinate when you know you need to be ready to meet with the group by a certain day. (2) You will learn more than you can on your own. Other members of the group will be better at something than you are and can teach you. In addition, you will sometimes teach something to others—and teaching helps you to understand a concept much better than just learning it in the first place. How do I set up the GMAT study group? If friends of yours are also studying for the GMAT, then that part is relatively easy—though, ideally, you want at least one person in the group who is stronger at Quant and one who is stronger at Verbal. So if you and your friend are both Verbal whizzes, expand your search to find someone who is better at Quant. If you are taking a class, go out on a limb and announce to the class that you want to set up a GMAT study group and ask who is interested. If you want to maintain a level of control over the group, then decide certain details in advance. “I’m looking for people who can meet on Saturdays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at XYZ library or on Zoom.” (And you can do a lot meeting online! You can take a photo of your scratch work on a math problem, for example, and then share screen to show the photo to the others.) I do think it’s a good idea to have 3 or more people in the group, if possible. Circumstances change—your study buddy could get sick or decide to postpone her studies for some reason. People go on vacation for a week. Ideally, the group is large enough that it can weather the temporary or permanent absence of 1 or 2 people. What do we actually do when we get together? (Reason #1) All right, now we’re getting to the real heart of the matter! Let’s start with the first reason that study groups are so beneficial: You’re going to keep each other honest. Scheduling Set up a schedule with one or two steady appointments every week. (If your schedule needs to change from week to week, then have a set schedule about one month out.) For instance, you might meet Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings. (Or you might just meet once a week.) You’re allowed to miss a study session—for good reason. You have a deadline at work…you’re sick or dealing with a challenging personal situation…you have a prior commitment to a family member or other important person in your life. When you absolutely do have to miss, you will give your GMAT study group as early notice as possible. Here are some reasons you’re not allowed to miss the study session: “I’m tired / not feeling it.” “I didn’t get my homework done.” “I’d rather (have brunch with a friend/stay home and binge watch my favorite show/clean my bathroom).” Your team members are counting on you. Go. Commitment Next, you’re going to plan out your own private studies from now until that next meeting. Set certain goals. (“I’m going to do the Exponents and Roots chapters of the Algebra study unit. Then I’m going to do and review Official Guide (OG) problems in those areas. And I’m going to do the Comparisons chapter in Sentence Correction and also do OG problems to test myself there.”) Now, tell your GMAT study group what your goals are. Why did I center that text? To catch your attention. (Did it work? ) This is a really important step, one that I learned from my fellow instructor Noah Teitelbaum. If you make an advance commitment to your group, you are much more likely to stay motivated and do your work. One more note: You all have to check in to make sure you’re actually sticking with your commitments—that’s where accountability comes in. When you start your study session, go around the group. Everyone reports what they did and whether they fulfilled their commitment. If you didn’t get to it all, then be prepared to make another commitment: When will you get to this stuff in the coming week? Noah has also shared with me a website/app called StickK, a free resource that allows you to set commitments and share them with your selected GMAT study group. Consider using this together to keep track of your commitments. What about Reason #2 (learning from each other)? Your study group will help you learn more than you would learn on your own. Here’s how. Have an Agenda/Plan for Your GMAT Study Group Any productive meeting has a plan—you will accomplish more when you know specifically what you want to do. You can either have one person manage the group (and always establish the plan for each meeting) or you can rotate. Here are some things to include in your plan:
 This agenda would require the group members to prepare certain things in advance. For “Review homework,” you would each need to have completed the same homework assignment in advance. Perhaps this is a specific set of Official Guide problems or certain chapters and problems from your Manhattan Prep books. For “Teach a problem,” you would each come prepared to teach one problem to the others in the group—more on this below. It’s a great idea to leave the last 15 to 30 minutes free for open questions—What has been driving you crazy? Are you struggling with something that your GMAT study group might help you to remedy? Alternatively, if nobody has anything to discuss, you could use the time for quiet study—but with your study buddies available in case a question does come up while you work. This extra time also provides a buffer, in case one of your earlier activities takes more time than planned. One last thing: Did somebody forget to put together an agenda? Were you all too busy this week to get to the homework or prepare problems to teach? Don’t cancel your meeting! Get together anyway. Study quietly for 30 minutes (or 60 minutes), then check in with each other. Did anyone get stuck on something? Can you help? Then study quietly for another length of time and repeat. And, yes, even do this online! I know it sounds silly to all be in Zoom while quietly studying…but do it! You even have more flexibility online. For example, let’s say you have a question about something now, but everyone else is working and you don’t want to interrupt. Type your question in the chat. When someone else gets to a good stopping point, the two of you can discuss (jump to another room, if others are still studying quietly). Okay, let’s talk a little more about each of the elements in the table above. Review Homework If you all do the same homework ahead of time, then you can compare notes when you get together. (And Noah suggests taking it one step further: If you know a certain problem is driving you crazy, let your GMAT study group know before you get together so they can spend some extra time thinking about that one. You can also do this with other problems—ones that weren’t part of the group homework.) Which problems did you find the most annoying? Does someone else have a better way of approaching that problem? Or a good way to narrow down the answers to make an educated guess? Did you just get totally stumped with something? One of your study partners might be able to explain something to you in a way that gets you unstuck. And you might be able to return the favor on another problem.  Did you make a mistake on something but now you think you understand what to do next time? Prove it! Articulate three things out loud to the group:
One caveat: Don’t always do the same homework as the GMAT study group, because you each want to customize to your own strengths and weaknesses. But do some of the same homework so that you can then learn from each other and help to lift each other up. Teach a Problem My colleagues Chris Gentry and Noah Teitelbaum both strongly advocate putting yourself in the teacher role. If you think you know how to do something well, then (once again!) prove it by teaching it to your study group. Chris calls this exercise “You’re the Teacher!” and here’s what he says to do. Before you get together, each person chooses one problem to prepare. Choose something that you think will be at least somewhat challenging for the group—but not so challenging that you’ll struggle to teach it. You can give people the problem to try in advance of your meeting or you can give it to them to try during the meeting. If it’s during the meeting, give them whatever the average amount of time is to do that kind of problem on the real test. Now, here’s what you’re NOT going to do: You’re not just going to tell them how to do the problem. Rather, you’re going to lead a discussion with the goal of getting them to figure out how to do the problem and tell you what that is. That’s what a good teacher does—teaches his/her students how to think for themselves. Start asking questions. What did you think was straightforward about this problem? Which parts were challenging? Does the group all agree on the straightforward stuff? If not, hash that out first. Then, start brainstorming what to do about the challenging parts. When the group gets stuck, give them clues—but don’t give them too much at once. The best clues will be enough to get the group unstuck and allow them to move themselves further through the problem until they either finish it or get stuck at a different part and need another clue. What are the big takeaways? Next time you see something like this, what do you want to be able to recognize? And what steps are you going to take when you recognize that thing? Try to frame the answer in the form “When I see X, I’ll think/do Y.” When you’re the teacher (and when you’re not!), help the GMAT study group to articulate these takeaways. Open Questions/Quiet Study/Buffer The buffer part is self-explanatory, but I’d like to talk a bit more about open questions and quiet study. You will be studying a lot more in a week than you plan specifically to address with your GMAT study group—so you will all likely have additional questions or areas that need help. Tell the group what you’re struggling with most and see who else might be good at that area and able to help you. You might even set up a one-hour exchange on some other day—you spend 30 minutes helping the other person with some topic, question type, or strategy and then they spend 30 minutes helping you with whatever you need. Start a discussion board where you can all post questions throughout the week while you’re studying separately. People can answer questions when they have time, and you can also pull up the discussion board when you get together to help you figure out what you might want to discuss during the Open Questions portion of your study session. The Quiet Study portion might sound the least helpful in a group setting, but I think it’s actually super useful. First of all, it just helps to keep you on track. I’ve had students meet twice a week, but one of those meetings is pure quiet study. It keeps you honest. If your GMAT study group is meeting for quiet study on Wednesday, you aren’t going to blow off your Wednesday study time because you had a long day at work (or whatever…we’ve all been there!)—because your group will want to know where you are. When you are studying on your own, there are tons of times that you get stuck. In general, it’s true that it’s good to push through and try to figure things out on your own—but, if you get really stuck, it’s incredibly helpful to be able to toss out a question and get an immediate answer/insight from the group. Then you don’t have to set aside that lesson and come back to it later when you do finally get help to unstick yourself; you can keep pushing through right now. Takeaways for Your GMAT Study Group (1) Set up a GMAT study group of 3 to 5 people, online or in-person. Try to have a mix of skills/strengths and weaknesses so that you can help each other and learn from each other. (2) Commit! Plan a schedule and stick to it—no absences without a legitimate excuse. Set study goals from week to week. Share the goals with your group members and make sure that you’re updating them on your progress. (3) Plan meeting agendas in advance and engage in a variety of activities to help you stay motivated and learn from each other. Happy studying! Can’t get enough of Stacey’s GMAT mastery? Attend the first session of one of her upcoming GMAT courses absolutely free, no strings attached. Seriously. Stacey Koprince is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Montreal, Canada and Los Angeles, California. Stacey has been teaching the GMAT, GRE, and LSAT for more than 15 years and is one of the most well-known instructors in the industry. Stacey loves to teach and is absolutely fascinated by standardized tests. Check out Stacey’s upcoming GMAT courses here. The post Get the Most Out of Your GMAT Study Group appeared first on GMAT. |
21 Oct 2022, 03:00
| FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: How Data Sufficiency Works |
 Data sufficiency problems are really weird—they were literally created for the GMAT, so if you’re new to the test, you’ve never seen math problems like this before. Even if you’ve been studying for a while, there’s a good chance you feel a little uncomfortable whenever a DS question pops up on the screen. Why? Because you could completely mess up a DS question and still get to one of the 5 answer choices, having no idea that you messed something up. That’s a really uncomfortable feeling when taking a test! So let’s demystify the DS process. What is Data Sufficiency? The GMAT really isn’t a math test. These tests are actually trying to test us on our executive reasoning skills—that is, how well we make decisions and prioritize when faced with too many things to do in too short a length of time. Data Sufficiency questions test our ability to (quickly) analyze a collective set of data and figure out which pieces are needed to do the job. Imagine your boss dumping a bunch of stuff on you and saying, “Hey, Sam is debating whether to raise the price on this product. Is this the right data to send to them to help them figure that out?” It’s crucial to notice what your boss actually asked you to do. She’s not actually asking you to do the calculations—Sam is going to do that. Instead, she’s just asking whether this data is what Sam will need to do those calculations. That’s Data Sufficiency! And the beauty of DS is that you can get away with doing a lot less math than you have to do on standard Problem Solving problems—if you know what you’re doing on DS. How does Data Sufficiency work? First, you’re given what’s called the question stem. Here’s an example: How old is Oliver? The question stem can also provide information, such as: If Oliver’s age is even, how old is Oliver? So if they also told you, for example, that Oliver is either 13 or 14 years old, then you can conclude he must be 14, since you can only consider even numbers as possible values for Oliver’s age. Next, the problem will provide two statements, such as: (1) Oliver is 4 years older than Anh. (2) Anh will be 11 years old in 5 years. These statements are facts. From these facts, can you figure out how old Oliver is? Which facts do you need? The first statement, by itself, indicates a relationship between Oliver and Anh but doesn’t indicate how old Anh is, so that statement is not sufficient to answer the question. The second statement, by itself, doesn’t help, because it doesn’t indicate anything about Oliver. Statement (2) is also not sufficient. Put the two pieces of information together. In this case, using both statements 1 and 2 together is sufficient to answer the question, because you can figure out how old Oliver is. (And this situation corresponds to answer choice C on the GMAT.) You don’t actually have to figure out how old Oliver is. You just have to know that you definitely could if you used both statements (1) and (2) together. In fact, it’s important to build this habit on DS: Only calculate as much as you have to calculate. Once you know that you can calculate a value, stop right there and choose your answer. Save that time to use elsewhere on the test. There are 5 possible answers to Data Sufficiency questions: (A) Statement 1 is sufficient to answer the question but statement 2 does not. (B) Statement 2 is sufficient to answer the question but statement 1 does not. (C) Neither statement works on its own, but together they are sufficient. (D) Statement 1 works by itself and statement 2 works by itself. (E) Nothing works. Even if I use both statements together, I still can’t answer the question. Here’s an easier way to remember the five answer choices; we call this the twelve-ten mnemonic (memory aid): 1: only statement 1 2: only statement 2 T: together E: either one N: neither / nothing Value vs. Yes/No on Data Sufficiency All DS questions can be put into one of two broad categories: value questions or yes/no questions. The Oliver question, above, was an example of a value question: You were asked to find a specific value (Oliver’s age). If you can find one specific value, then that information is sufficient to answer the question. If, on the other hand, a statement gives you zero values or more than one value, then that statement is NOT sufficient. But instead of asking how old Oliver is, a question might ask “Is Oliver 13 years old?” This is a Yes/No question. Imagine that Oliver is actually in his twenties. What’s the answer to that question? No. Is that answer sufficient? Yes! That, in a nutshell, illustrates the weirdness of yes/no questions. A definitive NO answer to a question is a sufficient answer. Do I know how old Oliver is? Nope, I only know he’s in his twenties. But I wasn’t asked how old he is. The question asked whether Oliver is 13, and I know the answer to that: definitely not. Therefore, the information is sufficient to provide a definitive answer to the question. If, on the other hand, someone said, “Oliver? Oh, he’s either 13 or 22,” now I would have a “maybe, maybe not” answer, or “sometimes yes, sometimes no.” That’s not sufficient to answer the question. In short, a definitive Yes answer is sufficient and a definitive No answer is also sufficient. On the other hand, sometimes yes and sometimes no is NOT sufficient. Finally, just a note. All questions, whether value or yes/no, have this in common: – A definitive answer to the question (no ambiguity) is sufficient; the answer is always 3 or always Yes or always This One Thing. – An “it might be this way or that way” answer is NOT sufficient. The answer is 3 or 14; the answer is Yes in this case but No in that case; the answer is It Depends. These are all examples of Not Sufficient answers. What’s my overall Data Sufficiency strategy? A new question pops up on the screen. Now what? First, read the question stem (this is everything above the two statements labeled 1 and 2). Write down any facts, formulas, or info that you want in writing. Note whether you have a value or yes/no question. Next, glance very briefly at the two statements, just long enough to notice the way in which the information is presented. Written out or pure math? With real numbers? Variables? Percentages or fractions? Fairly simple / straightforward, or more complicated? Do NOT actually do anything with the statements at this point. You’re just gathering information and getting oriented. Do what’s been described so far for this problem, but then keep reading—don’t solve it all the way. If x is a positive integer, is x less than 13 ? (1) x is a multiple of 6. (2) x Jot down the fact that x is a positive integer and that they’re asking whether it’s less than 13. Also jot down Y/N to indicate that this is a Yes/No question. The two statements provide pretty basic information—nothing to do yet. Now, go back to the question stem. Can you figure out or infer anything from this information? Can you simplify or rephrase anything? Unless the question stem is extremely simple, you can probably do something with that information right now that will make your life easier once you get to the statements. In this case, better articulate what the question really means. Since x must be a positive integer, it must be at least 1. If you can tell that x is in the range 1 to 12, inclusive, then the answer to the question “Is x x is 13 or greater, then the answer will be a definitive No. And if you can’t tell which grouping x falls into…then that information won’t be sufficient to answer the question. So the real question Now you’re ready to tackle the statements. Usually, you’re going to start with statement 1. If statement (1) looks awful, though, of if statement (2) looks a lot easier than statement (1), then you can start with statement (2). Let’s start with statement 1 on this one. Write AD on your scratch paper. Below that, write BCE. Now, evaluate statement 1:  In this case, statement 1 indicates that x is a multiple of 6. So x could be 6, in which case the answer to the question is Yes. But x could also be 60, in which case the answer to the question is No. A “sometimes Yes, sometimes No” situation is NOT sufficient, so cross off the top row of letters:  (If statement (1) had been sufficient, you’d cross off the bottom row instead.) Next, evaluate statement 2. This is important: Completely ignore everything contained in statement 1. Just look at statement 2 all by itself. In this case, statement (2) indicates that x x could be 5, in which case the answer is Yes, or x could be 14, in which case the answer is No. This statement is also NOT sufficient, so cross off answer (B):  (If statement (2) had been sufficient, you would have selected (B) as the correct answer.) The next step is to evaluate statements 1 and 2 together. (Note: If you’ve already found an answer, you don’t have to do this; you only have to do this if you have crossed off answers A, B, and D, as has happened on this problem.) Using the two statements together, x is a multiple of 6 and x is less than 17. In addition, the question stem indicated that x is positive. Given all of those constraints, x could equal either 6 or 12. So Yes, it is always the case that x If the two statements together had NOT been sufficient, the answer would be (E). How can the answer be sufficient when you don’t know whether x equals 6 or 12? The question didn’t ask what x was. The question asked only whether x was less then 13. On Data Sufficiency, it’s super important to understand whether the question is asking you for a value or whether it’s asking a Yes/No question—your answer will depend upon that distinction! What if you want to start with statement 2 first? You can—the process is actually almost exactly the same, but you have to make one change at the start. In the AD/BCE answer grid, swap the A and the B to get the answer grid BD/ACE instead. Other than that, everything works exactly the same. Go ahead and try the problem again, only this time start with the second statement and use the BD/ACE answer grid instead. You’ll get to the same answer in the end. How do I get better at Data Sufficiency? This article barely scratches the surface of DS. There are all kinds of great strategies out there—how to test numbers, how to prove insufficiency, how to use theory vs. real numbers, and so on. Any GMAT class or GMAT test-prep book will have strategies to help you learn how to get better and faster at DS. Happy studying! The post How Data Sufficiency Works appeared first on GMAT. |
15 Mar 2023, 09:00
| FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: What You Need To Know About The GMAT Focus Edition |
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[img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2023/03/blog-header-test-change-2.png[/img] Breaking news! On March 10, 2023, the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) revealed that the [url=https://www.mba.com/exams/gmat-focus-edition?nav=home]GMAT Focus Edition[/url]—a next-generation GMAT exam—will launch sometime later in 2023. The existing version of the [url=https://www.kaptest.com/gmat]GMAT exam[/url] will continue to operate until sometime in 2024, at which point it will be retired. (They’ve stated that the current exam will be available until at least early 2024; there’s a good chance it will be available further into 2024.) The new exam will have a tighter focus on business skills and [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/what-the-gmat-really-tests/]executive decision-making[/url]—things you’ll actually use in business school and your career. [b]I’m currently studying for the GMAT / I’m applying in 2023. What should I do?[/b] Carry on and ignore the hype. GMAC is providing plenty of notice for anyone who does want to take the new version of the GMAT exam, but you don’t need to do anything differently if you don’t want to. If you’re planning to apply during round 1 or round 2 of the 2023-2024 admissions cycle (applying this fall for a program beginning in 2024), assume that you’ll take the existing version of the GMAT and don’t worry at all about the new GMAT Focus Edition. Just keep this idea in your back pocket: If your plans change later, you can switch to the new exam or even take both exams and then submit only the one that gives you the better score. The two exams overlap significantly, so almost everything you study for the current/old GMAT will still apply to the new GMAT. [b]Should I take the current GMAT or the new GMAT Focus?[/b] GMAC has not yet announced exactly when the new GMAT Focus will begin. If you want to have the GMAT out of the way in 2023, plan to take the current/old exam for now (you can still change your mind later). If you want to start studying this year but put off the decision as to which exam to take, begin with the question types and content areas that are covered on both versions of the GMAT (details later in this post). In the next couple of months, we should have full details; at that point, you can decide which GMAT exam to take and target your remaining studies accordingly. If you aren’t planning to start your studies until 2024, you’ll likely take the new exam. You don’t need to start doing anything now; by the time you want to start in 2024, all of the [url=https://www.kaptest.com/gmat]GMAT prep[/url] materials and practice tests will be updated. [b]Will my “old” GMAT scores still be accepted by business schools in 2024 (or later)?[/b] Yes! Don’t worry about this at all. Your [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/gmat-score-calculator/]GMAT scores[/url] are good for 5 years after your test date. Business schools aren’t dropping the current/old exam; they’re just also accepting this new exam, the same way many now also accept the GRE and EA. They will accept any scores as long as those scores are still valid (and all of these exam scores are valid for 5 years). [b]When will GMAT Focus launch?[/b] GMAC says that GMAT Focus is “coming later this year.” We’d guess that it will launch in the second half of 2023, simply because everyone will need at least a couple of months to prepare after the official materials, including practice tests, are released. [b]When will the current/old GMAT be retired?[/b] You’ll be able to take the current version of the GMAT until at least “early 2024,” though GMAC has not yet released a specific retirement date. There’s a good chance that it will be available throughout Q1 of 2024 and possibly Q2. If you’re planning to take the current version of the exam, take it for the first time before the end of 2023. Give yourself plenty of time to take it a second time, just in case. [b]What’s new on the GMAT? What’s on the GMAT Focus? [/b] GMAC has released some official information; additional information was accidentally released early and has not yet been officially confirmed. Here’s the structure of the new GMAT Focus. The information in italics has not yet been officially confirmed: [img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2023/03/screen-shot-2023-03-14-at-5.37.41-pm.png[/img] The AWA/Essay section has been removed from the new exam; this is officially confirmed. You will be able to choose from among several test section orders, as you can on the current GMAT. It appears to be the case that the Data Insights section is a collection of five existing problem types: the four existing [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/the-3-keys-to-success-on-integrated-reasoning/]Integrated Reasoning[/url] (IR) types and [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/how-data-sufficiency-works/]Data Sufficiency[/url] (DS), which currently appears on the Quant section. It’s unclear whether DS will move entirely to the Data Insights section or whether it will also appear in the Quant section. [b]What is the new GMAT Focus score scale?[/b] GMAC has not yet released official information regarding the new GMAT Focus scoring scale, but it does appear to be the case that the scoring scale will change. We expect two things to happen: [list] The new Total score will include all three sections: Quant, Verbal, and Data Insights. (Currently, the Total score includes only the Quant and Verbal sections.) It will be on a scale from 205 to 805 in 10-point increments.[/*] The individual sections will each receive a score on a 60 to 90 scale in 1-point increments.[/*] [/list] In related news, the GMAT Focus score reports will include your scores from just one sitting of the exam, so if you take it more than once, you can choose exactly which set of scores you want to share. Nice! [b]Is GMAT Focus an adaptive exam?[/b] Yes, the GMAT Focus is a question-adaptive exam, just like the current GMAT. After you answer each question, the exam chooses the next one based on your performance to that point in the exam. This is considered the best (and most complicated) type of adaptive algorithm because the test can really hone in on a super precise score for each test taker. It also tends to be more stressful for test takers, because you have to answer each question as it’s given and you can’t change your answers afterwards. But GMAC is doing something revolutionary. On the GMAT Focus, you can change up to 3 answers in each section, even though it’s still a question-adaptive exam. They’re inventing something new and, as far as I can tell, they’re doing it primarily to make the testing experience less stressful for all of us—I applaud GMAC for this. At first, I was worried that the ability to change just 3 answers in each section would inject more stress into the process. But there’s also a lot of stress involved in knowing that you could change all of your answers. So this limit will actually force us to train our business-thinking skills: Most of the time, our first, reasoned decision is the best decision and we should stick with it. Occasionally, we realize that we made a mistake or we suddenly remember some additional information that changes things. In those narrow circumstances, go ahead and update your decision. But if you’re just second-guessing yourself because the little gnomes in your brain are trying to make you doubt yourself…leave your answer as-is. Your first answer is your best answer unless you know that you made a mistake. And if you’re agonizing between two answers…you’re not going to know in 30 more seconds, either. Stop wasting your time, leave your answer as-is, and move on. [b]What’s covered on both versions of the GMAT?[/b] If you have the luxury of time, you can start studying now (or soon) but decide in a few weeks or months which version of the exam you’ll take. GMAC hasn’t released full information yet, but so far, most question types and content areas will be on both exams, including the following: [img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2023/03/screen-shot-2023-03-14-at-5.38.22-pm.png[/img] Because the change was just announced, [url=https://www.kaptest.com/gmat/practice/gmat-practice]current prep materials[/url] are all geared towards the current exam. But the new exam is essentially a subset of the soon-to-be-retired one, so you can still use the “old” study materials—just skip the geometry and Sentence Correction material for now. If you later decide that you want to take the current/old exam, you can add these areas into your study. Once GMAC releases the official GMAT Focus practice tests, use those. It will take test prep organizations some time to investigate how the new algorithm works and then build our own versions that effectively mimic the real test. If you’re just getting started, build your skills with our free [url=https://www.amazon.com/GMAT-Foundations-Math-Practice-Manhattan-ebook/dp/B07P5HFN7H?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=&linkCode=ll1&tag=mprep-gmat-kindle-product-page-20&linkId=c8b2ff831b4bdc7e10d5c0fadbc1044d&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl]GMAT Foundations of Math[/url] ebook (skip the geometry chapter) and free [url=https://www.amazon.com/GMAT-Foundations-Verbal-Practice-Manhattan-ebook/dp/B07P5GCNSG?&linkCode=ll1&tag=mprep-gmat-kindle-product-page-20&linkId=ba8168c01be62f6abe854241f059aa5c&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl]GMAT Foundations of Verbal[/url] ebook (skip the Sentence Correction chapters). And sign up for our [url=https://www.kaptest.com/gmat/free/gmat-practice]Free Starter Kit[/url]. It already contains full information about the current exam and, as more information about the GMAT Focus is released, we’ll keep the Starter Kit fully updated. Happy studying! The post [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-gmat-focus-edition/]What You Need To Know About The GMAT Focus Edition[/url] appeared first on [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat]GMAT[/url]. |
29 Jul 2023, 15:00
| FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: The GMAT Focus Online: How to Make the Most of BOTH Whiteboard Tools |
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[img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2020/06/gmat-online-whiteboard-tool-stacey-koprince-manhattan-prep-strategy-blog-info-study-learn-teacher-expert-score.png[/img] [b]The GMAT Online allows test-takers to use both a physical whiteboard and an[/b][b] online whiteboard—and there are great reasons to use [/b][b]both[/b][b], actually. Learn when to use which in this post![/b] When you [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/i-took-the-gmat-online-heres-what-happened/]take the GMAT Online[/url], you’ll have access to both a physical whiteboard (that you’ll buy yourself) and an online one. The key is knowing when to use which and practicing in advance so that everything goes smoothly on test day. (This post is updated for both the classic GMAT and the GMAT Focus.) When you take an official practice test, you’ll have access to the official online whiteboard. We’ve replicated the official online whiteboard tool to allow you to practice under official test conditions in advance of the test, including the ability to resize the board and place it wherever you want on your test screen. If you have any type of syllabus with us, including our free [url=https://www.kaptest.com/gmat/free/gmat-practice]Starter Kit syllabus[/url], the online whiteboard is already waiting for you. (No MPrep syllabus? Get a free one—just follow that link. You’ll also get a free suite of foundational math and verbal study materials.) Here are the [url=https://www.mba.com/exams/gmat-online/prepare-for-your-exam/whiteboard-options]official requirements[/url] for the physical whiteboard that you buy yourself for the GMAT Online. (If you’re taking it in the testing center, they’ll provide the scratch paper for you. It’ll [url=https://www.amazon.com/Manhattan-GMAT-Simulation-Booklet-Marker/dp/0979017580?&linkCode=ll1&tag=mprep-gmat-product-page-20&linkId=4712500b5b6a2d553f6f7778099fc741&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl]look like this[/url].) You’ll want to take at least a couple of practice tests using your physical whiteboard to figure out exactly how you want to use it, so buy it soon. One more thing. Be prepared to take the exam either online or in a testing center. Give yourself full flexibility, just in case. Requirements for the physical whiteboard The maximum dimensions of the whiteboard are 12 by 20 inches or 30 by 50 centimeters. It does need to be a dry-erase board and it does have to have a plain white background (no colors or grid lines). Also: Buy a double-sided whiteboard—it’s explicitly allowed and you’ll have double the “real estate” on which to write! (*If you have our [url=https://www.amazon.com/Manhattan-GMAT-Simulation-Booklet-Marker/dp/0979017580?&linkCode=ll1&tag=mprep-gmat-product-page-20&linkId=4712500b5b6a2d553f6f7778099fc741&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl]Yellow Pad[/url], you can’t use this for the GMAT Online. The Yellow Pad is still used for your scratch paper in the testing center, though, so it’s good practice for that format.) For the GMAT Online, you can have one eraser and up to two dry erase markers—definitely have two markers on hand for your test and make sure they’re new or almost-new. Here’s a [url=https://www.mba.com/exams/gmat-online/prepare-for-your-exam/whiteboard-options]partial list[/url] of what GMAC has said cannot be used—but they reserve the right to deny other things. So look for the largest whiteboard that fits the max size limits, but go super simple after that—white, boring, basic. How the online whiteboard works This table lays out how to use each tool, in order as they appear on the screen: [b]Tool[/b] [b]How to Use[/b] [img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2020/04/pencil.png[/img] Pencil / Pen. Write or draw anything you want. Choose one of the smaller thickness settings. The whiteboard will remember your choice. [img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2020/04/eraser.png[/img] Eraser. Choose the greatest setting for thickness. The whiteboard will remember your choice. [img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2020/04/line.png[/img] Line. Draw perfectly straight lines, dashed lines, and arrows. Probably won’t need to use much. [img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2020/04/rectangle.png[/img] Rectangle. Use when you want to make a box or grid. Probably won’t use much. [img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2020/04/ellipse.png[/img] Circle. Probably won’t use much. [img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2020/04/text.png[/img] Text. Take notes on longer verbal- or logic-based problem types. [img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2020/04/polygon.png[/img] Ignore. Polygon or Free Shape. [img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2020/04/pan.png[/img] Pan. Use to move to new white/blank space. [img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2020/04/eyedropper.png[/img] Ignore. Eyedropper. [img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2020/04/stroke.png[/img] Change the color of your drawing or writing. Probably ignore. [img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2020/04/fill.png[/img] Fill a shape with a certain color. Probably ignore. [img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2020/04/background.png[/img] Change the background color of the whiteboard. Choose your desired color at the beginning. Ignore after that. [img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2020/04/undoredo-white-background.png[/img] Undo a change or redo. If you accidentally delete something, bring it back. If you make a mistake, undo it. [img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2020/04/zoom-in-zoom-out-white-background.png[/img] Ignore. Zoom in and out. Just use the Pan tool (above) if you need more white space. [img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2020/04/clear-white-background.png[/img] Ignore. Clear everything. Just use the Pan tool (above) if you need more white space. Top Tips for getting the most out of the online whiteboard The online whiteboard is great for several reasons: [list] Anything you write will stay there for the entire section, even if you close and open the whiteboard. (It will erase before you start the next section.)[/*] The whiteboard is (effectively) infinite…you always have more space.[/*] You can type! When you take notes on word-based problems, you can type if you prefer.[/*] [/list] Use these facts to your advantage, especially given that your physical whiteboard is pretty limited in size. For example, use the online whiteboard to manage your time for each section (you can read more about this in our Free Starter Kit or in your course materials). And use the online whiteboard to jot down any facts, formulas, or positive mantras you want to remember for this section (but don’t want to clutter up your physical whiteboard). Placement of your online whiteboard You can place the whiteboard anywhere on your screen and you can resize it. When you want to move the whiteboard out of the way, you can either close* it or drag it partially or mostly off screen, your choice. Whenever you want to access that content again, drag it back on screen or open it up again. (*Note: Our browser-based version will erase everything you wrote when you close it. On the real test, though, your content will persist until the end of that test section.) You’ll do most of your math on your physical whiteboard. Consider, though: There may be times you actually do want to do math on the online whiteboard. Some problems might be easier to solve if you can do the work immediately next to whatever is written on screen—so you don’t have to keep looking up and down while you try to solve. For example, you might be working from a table of info. Or the problem might have a lot of numbers to copy down. Maybe you just need to rearrange the numbers to find a pattern—it might be easier to draw or type right next to the problem on the whiteboard than to look up and down repeatedly to copy everything down. Verbal-based problems are all about finding and crossing off the wrong answers. You can keep track on your physical whiteboard, of course, but you can also do so right on screen most of the time. Drag the online whiteboard partially off-screen and place it right next to the right-hand end of the answers. Use the pen tool to keep track of your answer evaluations as you go. I use X to eliminate an answer for good and squiggles to mean “come back to this answer in a minute.” [img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2023/07/manhattan-prep-gmat-online-whiteboard-5.png[/img] In this example problem from mba.com, I’ve eliminated A, D, and E. I’ve marked B and C as the two possible options that I need to review. (Note: This problem is from the free official problem set on mba.com.) You can almost always keep track of your answer choice eliminations on screen for CR (from the Verbal section) and Two-Parts (from the Data Insights section). It may not always work as well for RC or Multi-Source Reasoning, because those two problem types take up a lot more real-estate on the screen, making it harder to find a good place for the online whiteboard. Play around with it it to see what you prefer. I type my notes for the RC passages and MSR tabs and start off each problem with my notes visible on screen. I use my notes to figure out what I need to re-read in the passage / tabs, and then I drag the whiteboard mostly off screen so that I can see the full prompt/text, question, and answer choices all at the same time. Sometimes, there’s enough room to still use the whiteboard for my answer choice eliminations; when there isn’t, I use my physical whiteboard. When you use the physical whiteboard for your answer eliminations, only write down ABCDE once. Make your markings next to the letters (not on top of them) and erase just the markings after each problem. Concentrate on the Pen, Text, and Straight Line Tools Use the pen or line tool when you need to make a grid. Use the pen tool to jot down a single number or letter or draw symbols for your answer choice eliminations—anything that’s quick and easy. When you need to take more extensive notes, type using the text tool (or write on your physical whiteboard). If you find yourself occasionally solving for the wrong thing (especially on math problems), consider jotting down what you’re solving for on the online whiteboard and positioning it near the answers, so that it’s sitting on screen to remind you: Did you just solve for the right thing? Take a Practice CAT to Mimic the GMAT Online For the most part, practice the way you think you’re going to take the real exam—whether online or in a testing center. But take at least one practice test using the GMAT Online whiteboard requirements and at least one practice test using the testing center scratch paper. That way, if you do have to change your plans at the last minute, you’ll already know how to set up and use your scratch pad for the other test format. Good luck and happy studying! [b]RELATED:[/b] [url=https://www.kaptest.com/gmat/free/gmat-practice]Free GMAT Starter Kit study syllabus[/url] [b]You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free! We’re not kidding. [/b][url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/][b]Check out our upcoming courses here[/b][/url][b].[/b] [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/stacey-koprince/?utm_source=manhattanprep.com%2Fgmat%2Fblog&utm_medium=blog&utm_content=KoprinceBioLinkGMATBlog&utm_campaign=GMAT%20Blog][img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2015/06/stacey-koprince-150x150.png[/img][/url] [b][url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/stacey-koprince/?utm_source=manhattanprep.com%2Fgmat%2Fblog&utm_medium=blog&utm_content=KoprinceBioLinkGMATBlog&utm_campaign=GMAT%20Blog]Stacey Koprince[/url] is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Montreal, Canada.[/b] Stacey has been teaching the GMAT for more than 15 years and is one of the most well-known instructors in the industry. Stacey loves to teach and is absolutely fascinated by standardized tests. [url=https://www.kaptest.com/gmat/new-complete-course-scheduler/classes]Check out Stacey’s upcoming GMAT courses here[/url]. The post [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/gmat-online-whiteboard/]The GMAT Focus Online: How to Make the Most of BOTH Whiteboard Tools[/url] appeared first on [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat]GMAT[/url]. |
27 Aug 2023, 15:00
| FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: Stop Taking So Many CATs! |
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[img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2013/07/istock-000012103093xsmall.jpg[/img] If you’ve ever taken more than one GMAT practice test (CAT) in a week, you’re taking CATs too frequently! Practice tests are one of your most valuable tools as you get ready for the official GMAT—but there’s definitely a wrong way to use your CATs. Here’s how to know when to take your next CAT. When should I take a practice GMAT? Practice CATs are very useful for three things: [list] [*]Figuring out your current scoring level*[/*] [*]Practicing time management and stamina[/*] [*]Analyzing your strengths and weaknesses[/*] [/list] The first one has an asterisk because it contains a big assumption: Assuming that you took the practice CAT under official test conditions. It’s never a good idea to give yourself extra time, pause the test, take longer breaks than allowed, and so on. Always take practice tests under 100% official conditions. And the third item on the list is actually the most important. You don’t get better while taking a practice test, in the same way that you don’t learn how to get better while you’re running a marathon; you’re literally just trying to survive. [img]https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f605.png[/img] Rather, you learn how to improve in between practice tests while doing all kinds of training activities and analyzing your performance. So, the data you get on your strengths and weaknesses is the most important aspect of your practice test, because that’s what’s going to help you figure out what you need to work on between now and your next practice test. Here’s your general practice test regimen: [list] [*]Take your first practice test early—within the first week or two of your studies.[/*] [*]Spend 4 to 6 weeks studying before you take another test. Keep on this cycle until you have gotten through all of your “primary” study materials (see below for details).[/*] [*]After you have gotten through your primary study materials once, go into Review And Improve mode. Take tests approximately every 2 to 4 weeks in this phase.[/*] [*]Don’t take tests more frequently than once a week.[/*] [/list] Read on to find out more about each of the steps in this regimen. Step 1: DO take a CAT at the beginning of your studies Many people put off taking their first CAT, usually because they haven’t studied yet so they know they won’t do well. But who cares what the score is at this stage? You just started. Your goal now is simply to get good data on your strengths and weaknesses. If you know that right away, you can make much better decisions about how to prioritize your studies. It’s important to have a basic understanding of the question types before that first exam (particularly the questions in the Data Insights section), just so that you understand how each one works, but don’t worry about all of the formulas and rules. Some you already know; others, you don’t. Your first test performance will tell you what you do and don’t know—and you’ll use that information to set up your study plan. One caution in particular here: A decent percentage of the people who put off their first CAT do so because they’re feeling significant anxiety about taking the test. But pushing off that first test will just make you feel more anxious (because you’ll be telling yourself that you’ve studied so now you should get a better score…and it will just spiral from there). Do yourself a favor and take that first test right away. You can honestly tell yourself that your score doesn’t matter because you haven’t even really started studying yet. Step 2: During your primary study phase, take 4 to 8 weeks between CATs Now that you have a handle on your baseline strengths and weaknesses, dive into your study materials—your books or whatever you’re using that will teach you about all of the different question types and content areas tested on the GMAT. In our courses, we have everyone take their second practice test when they’re a little more than halfway through their primary study material. When you take this second test, still try not to care too much about your score. (I know, that’s hard!) There’s still a lot that you literally haven’t studied yet. The goal for this second test is two-fold: [list] [*]Get some practice with time management and with the strategies you have learned so far[/*] [*]Update your data on your strengths and weaknesses[/*] [/list] Use this new data to help prioritize the next segment of your studies—the areas that you may be able to predict will be easier or harder for you based on how things are going so far. And note anything that you may need to review, then decide when you want to review it. For example, if you’re struggling with exponents, then it may be a good idea to review that topic before you begin studying quadratic equations, since quadratics also use exponents. Alternatively, if you’re struggling with decimals, which is a more isolated category, then it might be fine to wait until you’re done with your next segment of study before you loop back around to review this topic area. Follow this regimen (ideally about every 4 to 6 weeks) until you’ve made it through all of your study materials once. DON’T go months without taking a CAT You may find yourself dreading taking your next practice test. The impetus is usually anxiety: You’re nervous that you won’t get the results that you want, so you avoid getting any results at all. Alternatively, maybe you think that you’ll study everything and then when you finally take a practice test, you’ll get the score that you want. In either case, practicing without any semi-recent CAT data is going to cause you to build bad habits (such as spending too much time on a question) and fail to build good ones (such as learning how and when to cut yourself off and guess). If your last CAT was so long ago that you’re no longer sure what your strengths and weaknesses are under testing conditions, it’s time for another CAT. And bonus: The more CATs you take, the more they will seem routine and the less you will dread taking them. Step 3: During your Review and Improve phase, take CATs every 2 to 4 weeks In our courses, this corresponds to the phase right after the course ends. You’ve studied everything once…now what? Take a test, analyze it, and use the results to set up a study plan that will carry you just until your next practice test in another 2 to 4 weeks. Prioritize your best opportunities for improvement based on the data from that test. Careless mistakes? Definitely address. Didn’t know something but feel comfortable with the explanation? Learn how to do it for yourself in future. Totally lost when you review the explanation? Put that problem on your bail list; if you see something similar on your next practice test, guess immediately and move on. (After that next test, you can decide whether to study anything on your bail list. But not between now and the next practice test.) Spend 80% of your time on the areas that you identify as the best opportunities for improvement. Reserve the other 20% for overall review of everything on the test—do random sets of problems to keep your skills up. When you feel like you’ve made good progress on the best opportunities from your last practice test, take another practice test. Analyze the data and repeat the process. When you get yourself into your goal scoring range on your practice tests (taken under 100% official conditions), it’s time to schedule your official test! DON’T try to study everything before you take your next CAT The goal is just to improve on your next test, not to get a perfect score; the GMAT is an adaptive test, so it can just keep getting harder. [img]https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f9d0.png[/img] Study enough that you think you’ve gotten better, then test to see whether you did. If you do earn a better score, great—now, use the new data to figure out what to prioritize for the next few weeks. And if you don’t, better to know now so that you can take steps to figure out why your studies aren’t translating into a better score. (Maybe you’re messing up your time management or something else that isn’t related to the actual content you were just studying!) Step 4: DON’T take a CAT more than once a week Have you ever had this happen? You take a practice test and you get a score that you don’t like. Maybe you even really mess things up—run out of time or finish 20 minutes early—and your score plummets. So, a couple of days later, you take another CAT to prove to yourself that the bad test was just a fluke. But that bad test was not just a fluke. Something happened to cause that performance—and if you don’t figure out what that was, then you’re at risk of repeating the experience on your official test. So, don’t take another practice test right now. There’s something important for you to learn from the practice test you already took—go figure out what that is. In general, whether you like your score or not, don’t take another practice test until you’ve addressed whatever issues popped up during your analysis of the first test. (Alternatively, if you really like your score, go schedule your official test!) Most of the time, wait at least 2 weeks before taking another CAT There are three broad modes of study: [list] [*]Your primary studies: Take CATs every 4 to 6 weeks[/*] [*]The review-and-improve phase: Take CATs every 2 to 4 weeks[/*] [*]The last-two-weeks phase: Take two CATs, one each week[/*] [/list] Most of your study will fall in the first and second phases. During these phases, it is a complete waste of time to take another CAT in less than 2 weeks. The whole point of taking the practice CAT is to figure out what needs to get better. And then you need time to go get better! Until you’ve made substantial progress towards whatever issues were uncovered, taking another practice CAT is just going to tell you that you still have those same issues. Once you do hit the final couple of weeks, your focus shifts. Now, you’re trying to [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/2012/09/13/the-last-14-days-building-your-game-plan-part-1/]solidify your Game Plan[/url] for test day. In this phase, do go ahead and take a CAT two weeks before your official test date and then again one week before. But take a look at the Game Plan article to understand how to use your data at this stage of the game. DON’T take a practice CAT within 5 days of the real test You wouldn’t run a practice marathon a few days before a real marathon, would you? You risk tiring yourself out or injuring yourself (by reducing your confidence) just before the real test. If your score isn’t where you want it to be, postpone the test; you’re not going to change things substantially by taking a practice CAT at the last minute. But consider keeping your official test date and using it as an official “dry run” or practice run. It’s valuable to see what the official testing experience is like (whether in a testing center or at home); you may be less nervous when you take the test again because you’ll know what to expect. Takeaways In short, do take a CAT pretty early on in your study process. Then analyze the results and use that analysis to inform your study plan. Early on, study everything that could be tested on the GMAT, taking periodic tests along the way to help continue to prioritize your studies. After you’ve made it all the way through your study materials once, take another CAT, analyze, and figure out two to three weeks’ worth of priorities—the things that seem to you like the best opportunities for improvement. Then, take another CAT and repeat the process. Once you’ve got your score where you want it to be, start your final review phase. During this phase (which typically lasts a couple of weeks), plan to take one CAT two weeks before and another CAT one week before your real test date. Read the Game Plan article (linked above) to learn what to do with this data. Good luck and happy studying! [b]RELATED:[/b] [url=https://www.kaptest.com/gmat/free/gmat-practice]Free GMAT Starter Kit study syllabus[/url] [b]You can attend the first session of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free! We’re not kidding. [/b][url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/][b]Check out our upcoming courses here[/b][/url][b].[/b] [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/stacey-koprince/?utm_source=manhattanprep.com%2Fgmat%2Fblog&utm_medium=blog&utm_content=KoprinceBioLinkGMATBlog&utm_campaign=GMAT%20Blog][img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2015/06/stacey-koprince-150x150.png[/img][/url] [b][url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/stacey-koprince/?utm_source=manhattanprep.com%2Fgmat%2Fblog&utm_medium=blog&utm_content=KoprinceBioLinkGMATBlog&utm_campaign=GMAT%20Blog]Stacey Koprince[/url] is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Montreal, Canada.[/b] Stacey has been teaching the GMAT for more than 15 years and is one of the most well-known instructors in the industry. Stacey loves to teach and is absolutely fascinated by standardized tests. [url=https://www.kaptest.com/gmat/new-complete-course-scheduler/classes]Check out Stacey’s upcoming GMAT courses here[/url]. The post [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/stop-taking-so-many-cats/]Stop Taking So Many CATs![/url] appeared first on [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat]GMAT[/url]. |
01 Sep 2023, 16:00
| FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: The Last Two Weeks Before Your GMAT |
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[img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2019/08/what-the-gmat-tests-tested-on.png[/img] In the final two weeks before your official GMAT, your focus needs to shift. You’re no longer trying to lift your scoring level. Instead, focus on hitting your peak performance on Game Day—like an Olympic athlete who’s trying to peak for the gold-medal match. Your current scoring level isn’t just a single value. It’s actually a range of values—and a pretty wide one, probably about 30 to 60 points, depending on your scoring level. On Game Day (the day you take your official test), you could have a great day and hit the top of your range…or you could have a bad day and hit the bottom of your range. So let’s talk about how to hit your peak performance on Game Day! [b]Week 1: Develop your game plan[/b] At two weeks out from Game Day, your skills are what they are and your scoring range is what it is. These things are not going to change substantially in the last two weeks. But there’s a lot you can do to increase your chances of scoring at the top end of your current range on game day. Your new mantra: I’m no longer trying to increase my skills. Now, I’m trying to minimize mistakes and maximize performance on the things that I already know how to do. [b]What [/b][b]not[/b][b] to do[/b] You don’t want to hit your trough—your lowest level—on game day. That’s a real risk if you spend the last couple of weeks trying to cram because you’re desperate to add another 100 points before your official test. The hard truth: It’s very unlikely to improve by 100+ points in two weeks. If that’s your goal, it’s better to postpone your test date. If you can’t postpone your test, then be realistic and lower your goal score to something more reasonable. If you’re already within the window where you have to pay a lot of money to reschedule, consider keeping this test date as your first “dry run” and then take the official test again in 6 to 8 weeks, after you’ve had a chance to do more to lift your skills. [b]What’s a Game Plan?[/b] Your Game Plan is the decision-making plan you’ll use during your test. For example: [list] What are you going to do if you find yourself too far ahead of time or too far behind on time? [/*] On what types of questions do you want to guess immediately and move on? [/*] When are you going to invest a little extra time? [/*] How will you know when to cut yourself off and let go of a problem?[/*] [/list] You’re also going to review your major strategies, the major content areas, your time management plan, and so on—we’ll get to that a bit later. [b]Building Your Game Plan[/b] Your Game Plan is a dynamic plan. You perfect it a little bit more every day as you gather more data during your review. What Does My Gut Say? First, make a list of your major strengths and weaknesses. Start with the eight GMAT question types, but also drill down further into specific quant content areas (eg, statistics, ratios, and so on) as well as question sub-types (eg, logic problems, inference problems, and so on). [list] Strengths: You usually get these right. You’re usually on time (maybe even fast). You feel pretty good about these when you see them.[/*] Medium: You can get these right, but you do make mistakes sometimes. You may need an extra 30 to 45 seconds at times. You don’t dislike these, though you may not like them either.[/*] Weaknesses: You often get these wrong even when you spend extra time, or you need an extra minute or more to get these right. These often feel stressful or frustrating.[/*] [/list] What Does The Data Say? Your gut is often accurate—but it is sometimes wrong, so it’s also important to check your data. Take a full-length practice test under 100% official test conditions. After you’re done, take a break (your brain needs a little rest after that ordeal!) Then, log into your account on the Manhattan Prep site and find the practice test analysis tracker; it’s linked wherever we assign you a practice test. (If you aren’t in a study program with us, you can find this tracker in the [url=https://www.kaptest.com/gmat/free/gmat-practice]Free GMAT Starter Kit[/url] syllabus—which is, as the name implies, completely free. [img]https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72x72/1f642.png[/img] ) First, look at your results globally. How was your [url=https://www.kaptest.com/study/gmat/gmat-focus-time-management/]time management[/url]? [list] Running out of time / rushing at the end: [list] Where did you spend too much time?[/*] What action are you going to take if you find yourself > 3 min behind in the section?[/*] [/list] [/*] Finishing more than 5 minutes early: [list] Where did you rush too much?[/*] What action are you going to take if you find yourself > 3 min ahead in the section?[/*] [/list] [/*] Up-and-down timing: On time at the end, but multiple too-slow and too-fast problems throughout the section: [list] On which problems should you have cut yourself off faster so that you don’t have to rush so much on others? How are you going to recognize when to cut yourself off on future, similar problems?[/*] [/list] [/*] [/list] If you are using our [url=https://www.kaptest.com/study/gmat/gmat-focus-time-management/]time management[/url] strategies to manage your time in each section, review those strategies. (That article will also help you to answer some of the questions in the above list.) How were your mental stamina and nerves? [list] Getting tired / making careless mistakes: [list] Where did you spend too much time / mental energy? These problems are hurting your overall mental stamina reserve for the entire test—cut them off next time![/*] What are you going to eat and drink before the test and on your break?[/*] What physical activity (e.g., stretching, jumping jacks) will you do before the test and on your break?[/*] What stretches can you do during the test / without leaving your chair?[/*] [/list] [/*] Too much adrenaline / got nervous or raced through test: [list] What mindfulness mantras or other techniques can you use to manage your performance anxiety on test day? (If you’re in one of our study programs, check the weekly Study Strategy sections for resources; our [url=https://www.kaptest.com/gmat/free/gmat-practice]Free Starter Kit[/url] also contains mindfulness resources.)[/*] Start building these habits today.[/*] [/list] [/*] [/list] Next, analyze the individual problems, but not in the same way you have in the past. Instead, do this: Is this a Strength, Medium, or Weakness problem? [list] [*] [list] For Strength and Medium problems: [list] Articulate what approach you want to use for each one, in case you see something similar on the real test.[/*] Articulate how you’ll know when things aren’t playing out the way you’d planned—so that you can make a guess and move on.[/*] [/list] [/*] For Weaknesses: [list] Articulate how to recognize these fast, so that you can guess immediately and move on.[/*] You are no longer trying to improve your weaknesses! Acknowledge that they’re weak. Move on.[/*] [/list] [/*] [/list] [/*] [/list] Did I make any careless mistakes? [list] [*] [list] What was the mistake? [/*] Why did I make it?[/*] What new habit can I implement that will minimize that type of careless error?[/*] Spend the next two weeks building that new habit.[/*] [/list] [/*] [/list] As you do new problem sets or work from the Official Guide during your review this week, analyze every problem in the same way as described above. And that’s it in terms of learning from your practice test or your practice problems. You’re no longer trying to lift your score / skills to some level you don’t currently possess. Rather, you’re trying to earn every point that you are currently, already capable of earning on the test. [b]Content and Skill Review: Week 1[/b] As you develop your game plan, you’ll also start your comprehensive review of all of the main problem types, strategies, and content areas tested on the GMAT, with a concentration on those that are the most frequently tested. Math-based content and skills are tested on the Quant and Data Insights (DI) sections. Verbal and logic-based skills are tested on the Verbal and DI sections. As you review these areas, do practice problems from across all eight GMAT problem types so that you get practice in every format. Do timed sets of random practice problems (use our GMAT Navigator random set generator feature or the Official Guide’s online access) and then review those problems. An important note: Don’t reread chapters in your books. Only go back to your books to look up specific things based on a specific need that you identify while reviewing your practice problems. [b]Math-Based Content Review[/b] The following math-based content areas are frequently tested on the GMAT: [img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2023/08/screenshot-2023-08-31-at-6.30.32-pm.png[/img] Do still review the rest of the quant content areas discussed in your books, but give extra attention to things on the “frequently tested” list. It’s also a good idea to choose a few less-frequently-tested areas as your bail-fast categories. You can literally not review these areas at all; just know enough to recognize the problems fast so that you can guess fast and move on. Good candidates for the bail-fast group include: [list] Coordinate plane [/*] Combinatorics[/*] Remainders[/*] Sequences and functions[/*] Complicated story problems that are pure algebra (you can’t use real numbers to solve)[/*] Roman-numeral-format problems[/*] A problem with 4 variables[/*] [/list] The list is not limited to the above! Basically, you can put anything you hate on your bail list as long as it’s a narrow topic/skill area or problem sub-type (ie, it won’t show up on 4+ test problems). [b]Math-based Strategy Review[/b] These skills are commonly needed throughout the Quant and DI sections and are taught in our GMAT All the Quant guide: [img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2023/08/screenshot-2023-08-31-at-6.31.52-pm.png[/img] The chapters listed introduce or provide additional instruction on these strategies. You’ll also see the strategies used elsewhere in the book, after they’ve been introduced. [b]Verbal and Logic-Based Skills Review[/b] Verbal and Logic-based problems don’t test you on formulas or rules that you have to learn before the test starts. Rather, these problems present you with the necessary facts or scenarios and then test you on your comprehension and analytical reasoning skills. These are the most commonly tested verbal and logic-based skills: [img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2023/08/screenshot-2023-08-31-at-6.33.55-pm.png[/img] [b]Week 2: Test and revise your game plan[/b] One week before your official test, take your very last practice test. Right before you start the test, review your game plan, including: [list] Your time management strategies [list] How you’ll keep track of your time in each section[/*] What you’ll do if you find yourself too far ahead or behind on time[/*] [/list] [/*] Your bail-fast list[/*] Where you do—and don’t—want to invest a little extra time[/*] How you’ll maintain focus during the test (mindfulness mantras, etc.)[/*] What you’ll eat on your breaks[/*] How you’ll keep your neck, shoulders, and the rest of your body relatively loose as the test continues[/*] [/list] Ready? Take your practice test. Use your game plan. Good luck! [b]Revise your game plan[/b] When you’re done, review your test solely from the perspective of revising your game plan. Don’t try to learn new stuff! Don’t analyze the way you have in the past! Literally just go through the whole game planning process again, asking yourself whether you want to tweak any part of your game plan based on how that test just went. Maybe you need to add something to your bail-fast list or even move something from your bail list to your Medium list. Go for it! Maybe you realize that something you thought was a Strength is actually a Medium or vice-versa. Make a note of that; you’ll use that knowledge on test day to make better decisions. And think about how to refine the decisions that you made. For example, if a Strength problem is longer/harder than usual, it might be worth an extra 30 or 45-second investment. But if it’s a longer/harder Medium problem? That might push the problem towards guess-fast. [b]Do NOT try to learn new skills or substantially improve existing skills this week![/b] Seriously. Well, okay: You can address any careless mistakes. Use the same process as before (what mistake did I make, why did I make it, what new habit can I implement?). Other than that, though, your skills are what they are. Spend this last week practicing the major question types, content areas, and strategies. Do random problem sets, as you did last week, and review afterwards. Let your problem review guide you on what else you may need to review from your notes or books. Forgot an exponent rule? Look it up, make a flashcard, do a few Foundations of Math drills to solidify the rule. Just did your first Critical Reasoning Assumption problem in a month and feeling a little hazy on that sub-type? Review the strategy just for that question sub-type in your book. Struggling with how to map out a Multi-Source Reasoning passage or a logic-based problem on your scratch paper? Retry a few problems you did several weeks (or longer) ago. When you’re done, keep rewriting/revising your scratch work until you feel comfortable with the abbreviations and symbols you’re using and the way in which you’re organizing the information. As you do this final review, continue to tweak your game plan as needed. [b]Takeaways for your last two weeks[/b] [list] Change your focus during the final two weeks before your GMAT: Your strengths and weaknesses are what they are and your current scoring range is not going to change by test day. Your goal now is to peak on test day and hit the top end of your current scoring range.[/*] In the first week, develop your game plan. Know your Strength, Medium, and Weakness problems so that you can make good investment decisions during the test. Know what time management strategies you want to use during the test, including your test-section management and your bail-fast list.[/*] Also in the first week, practice the major question types, content areas, and strategies you can expect to need on test day. Do timed, random problem sets. (And when you see something that’s on your bail-fast list…bail fast, just like you want to do on test day!)[/*] In the second and final week, test out your game plan on your final practice test and then spend the remainder of that week doing and reviewing practice sets under timed conditions, refining your game plan as you go.[/*] [/list] Good luck and happy studying! [b]Can’t get enough of Stacey’s GMAT expertise? Attend the first session of one of [/b][url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/?utm_source=manhattanprep.com%2Fgmat%2Fblog&utm_medium=blog&utm_content=KoprinceCoursesLinkGMATBlog&utm_campaign=GMAT%20Blog#instructor/86][b]her upcoming GMAT courses[/b][/url][b] absolutely free, no strings attached. Seriously. [/b] [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/stacey-koprince/?utm_source=manhattanprep.com%2Fgmat%2Fblog&utm_medium=blog&utm_content=KoprinceBioLinkGMATBlog&utm_campaign=GMAT%20Blog][b]Stacey Koprince[/b][/url][b] is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Montreal, Canada.[/b] Stacey has been teaching the GMAT, GRE, and LSAT for more than 15 years and is one of the most well-known instructors in the industry. Stacey loves to teach and is absolutely fascinated by standardized tests. [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/?utm_source=manhattanprep.com%2Fgmat%2Fblog&utm_medium=blog&utm_content=KoprinceCoursesLinkGMATBlog&utm_campaign=GMAT%20Blog#instructor/86]Check out Stacey’s upcoming GMAT courses here[/url]. The post [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/the-last-two-weeks-before-your-gmat/]The Last Two Weeks Before Your GMAT[/url] appeared first on [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat]GMAT[/url]. |
28 Oct 2023, 17:00
| FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: More Fast Math for the GMAT (Part 6) |
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[img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2018/03/more-fast-math-gmat-part-6-stacey-koprince.png[/img] [b]Guess what? You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free—we’re not kidding! [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/]Check out our upcoming courses here[/url].[/b] Welcome to the 6th installment of our [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/2017/04/25/gmat-fast-math-part-1-of-5/]Fast Math for the GMAT[/url] series! On these two new problems, we’re going to employ some broader principles than the ones you saw in the earlier installments of this series. I won’t say any more yet—try the two problems from the free problem set available on [url=https://www.mba.com]mba.com[/url] and then we’ll talk. Set your timer for 4 minutes and go! [img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2018/03/screen-shot-2023-10-20-at-10.36.16-am.png[/img] (A) 3⁄10 (B) 7⁄10 (C) 6⁄7 (D) 10⁄7 (E) 10⁄3 The Earth travels around the Sun at a speed of approximately 18.5 miles per second. This approximate speed is how many miles per hour? (A) 1,080 (B) 1,160 (C) 64,800 (D) 66,600 (E) 3,996,000 We’ll talk about the first one in this installment and the second one in the next installment. Step 1: Understand what’s going on. [img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2018/01/quant-process-1.png[/img] Glance: Wow, that fraction in the first problem is ugly! Glance down at the answers, too. Notice anything? Answers (A) through (C) are less than 1 and answers (D) and (E) are greater than 1. Is there a way to tell whether the correct answer is greater or less than 1? Also, Answers (A) and (E) are “mirror images” and so are (B) and (D). That makes sense, because chances are the most common trap answer will be someone solving correctly but just reversing the fraction by accident. Answer (C) doesn’t have a mirror…so if I have to guess, I’m not going to guess that. (And, in fact, if I solve and get (C), I might actually check my work.) Step 2: Now that you know what’s going on, figure out your plan. [img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2018/01/quant-process-2.png[/img] Hmm. Can I tell anything now about whether it’ll be greater or less than 1? The top of the “main” fraction is the number 1. The bottom of the main fraction is 1 + something. That “something” is positive, so the overall fraction is 1 over something bigger than 1. Is that going to be greater than 1 or less than 1? 1 over (>1) is less than 1. Eliminate answers (D) and (E). From here, you can just straight up solve. If you’re confident that (C) isn’t going to be right, though, you can also estimate. Why? Because answer (A) is 3⁄10 and answer (B) is 7⁄10. Those are pretty far apart—like 30% and 70%. [img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2018/03/screen-shot-2023-10-20-at-10.36.16-am.png[/img] Look at that thing again. 2 + 1⁄3 is about 2 (or close enough!). So just the bottom part of the fraction is about 1 + 1⁄2 = 3⁄2. And then bring the numerator back in: 1 over 3⁄2 just means “take the reciprocal,” which is 2⁄3. Which answer is closest? Answer (B), 7⁄10. Answer (A) is too far away. Done! You might be thinking, sure, I see how that works, but the actual math isn’t all that hard…so why not just do it? Here’s why: When I’m studying I’m not just looking for ways to get this problem right. I’m also looking for legitimate ways to solve the problem using as little time and mental energy as possible—because any time and mental energy saved can be used on other problems in the section. But if you really want to know, here is the math. [img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2023/10/fast-math-part-6-image-1.png[/img] I’m not saying that you shouldn’t solve it this way—but I am saying that you should consider whether there’s a valid path that’s faster / easier…so that you can spend that saved time and mental energy elsewhere. [b]Key Fast Math Takeaways[/b] (1) You can estimate a lot more than you might think on the GMAT. If the question stem asks for an approximate answer—of course, estimate. But, on PS, also glance at those answers before you begin to solve. Certain characteristics can indicate a good opportunity to estimate. (2) What kinds of characteristics? The most common one is simply answers that are spread out. You can also usually estimate when the answers fall on either side of some “dividing line”—for example, some are greater than 0 and some are less than 0. Some are more than 1⁄2 and some are less than 1⁄2 (that one is especially good for probability questions!). And so on. [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/2018/03/20/fast-math-gmat-part-7/]Are you ready? Read on for Part 7 of the Fast Math series![/url] * GMATPrep® questions courtesy of the Graduate Management Admissions Council. Usage of this question does not imply endorsement by GMAC. [b]Can’t get enough of Stacey’s GMAT mastery? Attend the first session of one of [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/]her upcoming GMAT courses[/url] absolutely free, no strings attached. Seriously.[/b] [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/stacey-koprince/][img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2015/06/stacey-koprince-150x150.png[/img][/url] [b][url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/stacey-koprince/]Stacey Koprince[/url] is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Montreal, Canada.[/b] Stacey has been teaching the GMAT, GRE, and LSAT for more than 15 years and is one of the most well-known instructors in the industry. Stacey loves to teach and is absolutely fascinated by standardized tests. [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/#instructor/86]Check out Stacey’s upcoming GMAT courses here[/url]. The post [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/fast-math-gmat-part-6/]More Fast Math for the GMAT (Part 6)[/url] appeared first on [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat]GMAT[/url]. |
28 Oct 2023, 17:00
| FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: More Fast Math for the GMAT (Part 7) |
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[img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2018/03/more-fast-math-for-the-gmat-part-7-stacey-koprince.png[/img] [b]Guess what? You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free—we’re not kidding! [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/]Check out our upcoming courses here[/url].[/b] A while back, we started a series on Fast Math for the GMAT—here’s the [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/2017/04/25/gmat-fast-math-part-1-of-5/]link[/url] if you want to start from the beginning. In our last installment, I gave you two problems to try. We’ve already discussed the first one; here’s the second one again (from the free problem set on [url=https://www.mba.com]mba.com[/url]). The Earth travels around the Sun at a speed of approximately 18.5 miles per second. This approximate speed is how many miles per hour? (A) 1,080 (B) 1,160 (C) 64,800 (D) 66,600 (E) 3,996,000 What do you think? Step 1: Understand [img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2018/01/quant-process-1.png[/img] Those answers…they are seriously far apart. The first two are “clumped,” then the next two, and that last one is totally different. We’re definitely going to estimate on this one. [img]https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/263a.png[/img] Also, just from glancing at the answers, I’m guessing that the correct answer will not be (E). Chances are pretty good that the correct answer will have another “close” answer based on making some small mistake—or based on making the problem just a little harder to estimate. Jot down the details. [img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2018/03/fast-math-part-7-image-1.png[/img] Step 2: What’s the plan? [img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2018/01/quant-process-2.png[/img] How do you go from seconds to hours? 60 seconds → 1 minute 60 minutes → 1 hour So we need 60 twice. But is that…multiplying? Dividing? Glance at the answers again or think it out logically. All of the answers are greater than 18.5, so I must have to multiply. And logically, that makes sense: If I go 18.5 miles in one second, then I should be able to go a lot further in a whole hour. Okay, now which “clump” of answers is the right clump? 18.5 is a really annoying number, but the clumps are so far apart that I can just call that 20 for now. (20)(60) = 1,200 Hmm. I still need to multiply by another 60, so answers (A) and (B) are out. But I’m only multiplying by another 60, so answer (E) is out, too. It’s down to (C) and (D). If I just multiply by another 60 now…will it be close enough? I’m not sure. I overestimated (from 18.5 to 20) and the two final numbers are pretty close. If the answer is (C), I might think it’s (D) just from the error I introduced in my estimation. In fact, (1,200)(60) = 72,000. Definitely not good enough. Okay, what should I do next? The “official” math is this: (18.5)(60)(60) The math that I actually did was this: (20)(60)(60) Hmm. So I overestimated because I used 20 rather than 18.5. In other words, I overestimated by 1.5—times 60 times 60: (1.5)(60)(60) = overestimate The latter two are easy: (60)(60) = 3,600. Oh, and then multiplying by 1.5 is the same thing as increasing something by 50%. So 3,600 + half of 3,600 = 3,600 + 1,800 = 5,400. My original “answer” was 72,000 but I overestimated by 5,400. 72,000 minus 5,000-ish, is about 67,000. The actual value should be a little less, since I actually want to subtract 5,400. The answer must be (D) 66,600. Answer (C) is too small. [b]Key Fast Math Takeaways:[/b] (1) If you think you need to do long division or long multiplication, stop for a moment. Reflect. Even if you have to do partial long division or multiplication, how much do you really have to do? (2) As we discussed last time, don’t start solving on PS until you’ve looked at those answer choices! Sometimes, they contain very important clues about the most efficient way to solve. * GMATPrep® questions courtesy of the Graduate Management Admissions Council. Usage of this question does not imply endorsement by GMAC. [b]Can’t get enough of Stacey’s GMAT mastery? Attend the first session of one of [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/]her upcoming GMAT courses[/url] absolutely free, no strings attached. Seriously.[/b] [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/stacey-koprince/][img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2015/06/stacey-koprince-150x150.png[/img][/url] [b][url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/stacey-koprince/]Stacey Koprince[/url] is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Montreal, Canada.[/b] Stacey has been teaching the GMAT, GRE, and LSAT for more than 15 years and is one of the most well-known instructors in the industry. Stacey loves to teach and is absolutely fascinated by standardized tests. [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/#instructor/86]Check out Stacey’s upcoming GMAT courses here[/url]. The post [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/fast-math-gmat-part-7/]More Fast Math for the GMAT (Part 7)[/url] appeared first on [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat]GMAT[/url]. |
01 Feb 2024, 01:00
| FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: New GMAT On Demand Study Program Has Launched! |
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[img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2019/02/how-to-get-a-700-on-the-gmat.png[/img] I’m super excited to announce that our new [url=https://www.kaptest.com/gmat/courses/gmat-prep-self-paced]GMAT On Demand[/url] study program, fully updated for the new GMAT Focus exam, is here! The GMAT On Demand program is comprehensive; it covers everything you need to know to get a high score on all three sections of the new GMAT exam. [b]What is GMAT On Demand?[/b] We built this for people who want to study on their own—but also still want up-to-date lessons from 99th* percentile GMAT instructors. Jeff Vollmer and Stacey Koprince (aka…me) built our new GMAT Focus course curriculum. We recorded the first live Complete GMAT Course that we taught together—so you can “take” our course, without the “live course” cost. (GMAT On Demand costs $650; the Complete Live course is $1,850, nearly three times as much. It really is a good deal, if I do say so myself. [img]https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f642.png[/img] ) *Truth in advertising: Actually, we upped our game a little. Both Jeff and Stacey have scored in the 100th percentile on the official GMAT Focus. (On the old GMAT, the scoring scale topped out at 99th percentile; the new GMAT allows 100th percentile scores.) We had a ton of fun (along with some stressful days/nights!) both building and teaching this course. We’re excited for you to start using it! [b]What study resources does GMAT On Demand include?[/b] The study resources include everything that our live course students get—all of our books, the Official Guide, the Official GMAT Practice Exams, our online resources, and more—as well as all of the recordings of our complete live GMAT course. Also: No need to figure out your own study plan. We’ll give you your full study syllabus, from start to finish. We’ve spread the work out over an approximately 10-week period and assign you exactly what you need to do from all of your resources, step by step. The one thing GMAT On Demand doesn’t include is live access to instructors—but if you feel comfortable studying on your own, that’s okay. (If you do want live instruction, [url=https://www.kaptest.com/gmat]take a look at our courses[/url] and attend a free live trial class.) Here are the major resources included with GMAT On Demand: [list] 25+ hours of in-depth video lessons taught by 99th+ percentile instructors Stacey Koprince and Jeff Vollmer[/*] GMAT Official Guide (OG) (a $49 value*)[/*] 6 official GMAT Focus practice exams from mba.com (the 4 paid practice exams are a $130 value*)[/*] Complete study syllabus with full assignments for every step of your studies[/*] GMAT Navigator[img]https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/2122.png[/img] practice tracker with detailed solutions for OG questions[/*] Manhattan Prep All the GMAT Strategy Guide Set[/*] Foundations of GMAT Math and Foundations of GMAT Verbal Guides[/*] GMAT Advanced Quant eBook[/*] 10 hours of Foundations of GMAT Math workshops[/*] Test simulation booklet (physical book purchase only)[/*] [/list] *Everyone who’s studying for the GMAT should definitely buy the OG and the official practice tests, so we’ve bought them for you and included assignments in the syllabus. That’s $180 you don’t have to spend elsewhere! A few notes on the resources: [list] Your online study syllabus gives you individual assignments, tracks your progress, and allows you to make a star list or to purposely skip certain assignments without dinging your progress percentage.[/*] The syllabus contains extra Easier and Harder assignments for when you’re struggling or doing really well with a particular topic. You can easily customize your studies based on your own strengths and weaknesses.[/*] The Foundations of GMAT Math workshops are available to anyone, completely for free. Recordings of the FoM workshops are in the On Demand syllabus; you can also [url=https://www.kaptest.com/gmat/courses/foundations-of-gmat-math]attend live workshops[/url], if you prefer.[/*] Right now, our books do also contain information for the Classic (old) GMAT exam, but your online syllabus tells you exactly what to study. Just follow your syllabus; it will assign you only what you need to know for the new GMAT—and everything you need to know for the new GMAT.[/*] Your online syllabus also contains exclusive, hot-off-the-presses digital resources and practice problems built for the new GMAT.[/*] [/list] In short, [url=https://www.kaptest.com/gmat/courses/gmat-prep-self-paced]GMAT On Demand[/url] will get you ready to take the new GMAT exam (and it won’t waste your time on material that is no longer tested). Happy new year, good luck, and happy studying! [b]Can’t get enough of Stacey’s GMAT mastery? Attend the first session of one of [url=https://www.kaptest.com/gmat/free/events]her upcoming GMAT courses[/url] absolutely free, no strings attached. Seriously.[/b] [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/stacey-koprince/][img]https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gmat/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2015/06/stacey-koprince-150x150.png[/img][/url] [b][url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/stacey-koprince/]Stacey Koprince[/url] is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Montreal, Canada.[/b] Stacey has been teaching the GMAT, GRE, and EA for more than 15 years and is one of the most well-known instructors in the industry. Stacey loves to teach and is absolutely fascinated by standardized tests. [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/#instructor/86]Check out Stacey’s upcoming GMAT courses here[/url]. The post [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/new-gmat-on-demand-study-program-has-launched/]New GMAT On Demand Study Program Has Launched![/url] appeared first on [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat]GMAT[/url]. |
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Hi Generic [Bot],
Here are updates for you:
ANNOUNCEMENTS
 Wednesday, Apr 24, 2024 11:30am NY / 3:30pm London / 9pm Mumbai Watch earlier episodes of DI series below EP1: 6 Hardest Two-Part Analysis Questions EP2: 5 Hardest Graphical Interpretation Questions
Tuck at Dartmouth
AGSM at UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE
 Free Resources
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