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FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: Take Ownership of Your Post-MBA Goals and Show Their Attainability |
When admissions officers read your MBA application, they want to feel inspired by your personal statement; they want to know that you have a strong sense of purpose and will work energetically to attain your objectives. Thus, you must ensure that you are not presenting generic or shallow post-MBA goals. Although this problem is not industry-specific, it occurs most often with candidates who propose careers in investment banking or consulting but do not have a true understanding of what these positions entail. For example, a candidate cannot merely state the following goal: “In the short term, when I graduate from Wharton, I want to become an investment banking associate. After three years, I will be promoted to vice president, and then in the long term, I will become a managing director.” This hypothetical candidate does not express any passion for his/her proposed course, does not show any understanding of the demands of the positions, and does not explain the value he/she could bring to the firm. To avoid these kinds of shortcomings, conduct this simple test when writing your personal statement: if you can easily substitute another job title into your career goals and the sentence still makes perfect sense (for example, “In the short term, when I graduate from Wharton, I want to become a consultant. After three years, I will be promoted to vice president, and then in the long term, I will become a managing director.”), you know you have a serious problem on your hands and need to put more work into your essay. To effectively convey your post-MBA goals, you need to truly own them. This means personalizing them, determining and presenting why you expect to be a success in the proposed position, and explaining why an opportunity exists for you to contribute. For example, a former forestry engineer could make a strong argument for joining an environmental impact consulting firm. (Note: This candidate would still need to explain why he/she would want to join one.) Similarly, a financial analyst in the corporate finance department at Yahoo! could connect his/her goals to tech investment banking. Although the connection need not be so direct, especially for candidates seeking to change careers, relating your past experiences and/or your skills to your future path is still extremely important. This approach will add depth to your essay and ensure that the admissions committee takes you seriously. While some candidates struggle to effectively convey their post-MBA goals, many also have difficulty defining their long-term goals. Although short-term goals should be relatively specific, long-term goals can be broad and ambitious. Regardless of what your short- and long-term aspirations actually are, what is most important is presenting a clear “cause and effect” relationship between them. The admissions committee will have difficulty buying into a long-term goal that lacks grounding. However, do not interpret this to mean that you must declare your interest in an industry and then assert that you will stay in it for your entire career. You can present any career path that excites you—again, as long as you also demonstrate a logical path to achieving your goals. For example, many candidates discuss having ambitions in the field of management consulting. Could an individual with such aspirations justify any of the following long-term goals?
mbaMission is the leader in MBA admissions consulting with a full-time and comprehensively trained staff of consultants, all with profound communications and MBA experience. mbaMission has helped thousands of candidates fulfill their dream of attending prominent MBA programs around the world. Take your first step toward a more successful MBA application experience with a free 30-minute consultation with one of mbaMission’s senior consultants. Click here to sign up today. The post Take Ownership of Your Post-MBA Goals and Show Their Attainability appeared first on GMAT. |
FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: A Memorizable List of GMAT Quant Content (Quantent) |
Even though there’s no “new math” on GMAT Quant, there is still a ton of content to keep on our radar. And just like the tragic studying for a vocab test, we’ll have to learn 200 different things, even though the test is going to only ask us 31 of those things (because we don’t know which 31 things we’ll get asked on our test day). How are we going to keep all that stuff in our brain at once? It takes most students at least a couple weeks to cycle through 200 different GMAT Quant problems, so by the time you’re doing the 200th problem, it’s usually been a few weeks since you’ve seen the content on the first 10 problems. In order to take quicker laps around the GMAT Quant universe, you want to make some of your practice feel like you’re studying for a vocab test. We can take a lap through 200 vocab flashcards much more quickly than we can through 200 GMAT Quant problems. Instead of having vocab flashcards with Word on one side and Definition on the other, we’ll have GMAT Quant flashcards that have Topic/Stimulus on one side, and First Move/First Thought on the other. If Pavlov can get dogs to salivate in response to a bell, we can get ourselves to break a number down to primes in response to ‘divisibility language.’ But we’ll have to outdo Pavlov, or at least outdo his dogs, by learning way more than just one stimulus/response pairing. Are you all ready to outdo Pavlov’s certain-to-be-dead-by-now dogs?! (Moment of silence: I hope in doggy heaven, every time the bell rings, you really do get a treat.) In the rest of Part 1 (of this 2-part post), I’ll get you started with a baker’s dozen topics. Next month, we’ll finish off the list. Your job: if you see anything you don’t already know with the ease/certainty of a famous actor’s name/face, then commit that fact to flashcard. Quiz yourself on those flashcards at least three times a week. Add your own flashcards as you review problems you’ve tried and see moves you wish you had made, or number properties you wish you would have inferred. Let us know if you have any questions. DIVISIBILITY on GMAT Quant #1 Move: If we see x is divisible by y, x is a multiple of y, y is a factor of x, x/y is an integer, then we break these numbers down to primes. Divisibility means “the numerator has at least the primes in the denominator.” “x is divisible by 45” = x has at least 3 * 3 * 5 in it. “x is not a multiple of 12” = x either has fewer than two 2’s or doesn’t have a 3, or both. “36 is a factor of 8x” = 2*2*2*x2*2*3*3 = 2*2*2*x2*2*3*3 = 2x3*3 = x has at least 3*3 in it. #2 Move: If we see a multiplication cluster + integer, then we think about the logic of multiples and ask, “What are both quantities divisible by?” If we see 14x + 35, we think “both 14x and 35 are divisible by 7,” so 14x +35 is divisible by 7. a multiple of 7 + a multiple of 7 = a multiple of 7 If we see 7! + 15, we think “both 7! and 15 are divisible by 5,” so 7! + 15 is divisible by 5. STATISTICS on GMAT Quant If we’re talking median,
#1 Thought: even * anything = even #2 Thought: Remember or derive the E/O rules for addition/subtraction/multiplication E +/- E = E E * E = E E +/- O = O E * O = E O +/- O = E O * O = O Usual #1 Move: Take anything with an even coefficient and translate that quantity into E. 3x + 4y is odd → 3x + E = O → 3x = O – E → 3x = O → x = O Dealing with division facts: If we see “x/y is even,” we write, xy = Even, and then multiply y to the other side to get x = Even (y). This tells us that x is even (we know nothing about y). Useful Shortcut: If something has an even coefficient, we won’t learn whether that variable is even or odd. The even coefficient will “hide” which type it is. POSITIVE/NEGATIVE on GMAT Quant #1 Thought: Keep track of possible words with “pos, neg” or “+, -” #1 Move: Use the pos/neg properties of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division to eliminate possible words. x+y > 0 (at least one positive … eliminate neg/neg) x+y x-y > 0 (x > y … eliminate neg/pos) x-y xy > 0 or x/y > 0 (same sign … must be pos/pos or neg/neg) xy Useful Shortcut: If something has an even exponent, we won’t learn whether that variable is positive or negative. The even exponent will “hide” which type it is. DECIMALS on GMAT Quant #1 Move: Clean it up by multiplying by a power of 10. If we see 0.0045, we write 45 * 10-4 #2 Move: Line up the decimals, add zeros where necessary, then remove the decimal. If we see 1.2/.03, we write 1.20/0.03 = 120/3 = 40. UNITS DIGITS on GMAT Quant #1 Move: Write out the pattern for that units digit. Example: What’s the units digit of 6345? Write out the pattern for powers of 3 (the patterns are either a constant digit, a cycle of 2, or a cycle of 4). 3¹ ends in 3 3² ends in 9 3³ ends in 7 34 ends in 1 —————- 35 ends in 3 36 ends in 9 37 ends in 7 38 ends in 1 Since every power that’s a multiple of 4 will end in 1, 344 = ends in a 1. So 345 = ends in a 3, so the units digit of 6345 is 3. EXPONENTS/ROOTS on GMAT Quant #1 Move: If any of the bases aren’t currently prime, break the bases down to primes. If we see 14x * 10y * 85 = 2³² * 5z+1 * 74 Then our next move is: 2x 7x * 2y 5y * (2³)5 = 2³² * 5z+1 * 74 #2 Move: If the problem involves addition or subtraction, we need to factor something out. If we see 2³² – 230 Then our next move is: 230 (2² – 1) = 230 (3). INEQUALITIES on GMAT Quant #1 Thought: Watch out for negatives! (When we multiply or divide by a negative, we have to flip the sign. We shouldn’t multiply or divide by variables unless we know their sign.) #2 Thought: If it deals with exponents and inequalities, try fractions between 0 and 1, and maybe also fractions between -1 and 0 (numbers between 0 and 1 are the only numbers in the universe where x² #3 Thought: If we have two inequalities, line up the inequality sign and add them to each other. ALGEBRAIC STORY PROBLEMS on GMAT Quant #1 Thought: Should I just backsolve, rather than translating the story into variables/equations and trying to solve that way? #2 Thought: If I’m going to translate, let me do so carefully. is (or any other verb) → “=” of → “multiply” percent → /100 “There are” → the coefficient goes on the 2nd thing (“There are 2/3 as many boys as girls” → B = 2/3 G) LINEAR ALGEBRA on GMAT Quant #1 Thought: Am I solving for one variable or two (a “Combo”)? We can solve systems of equations by substitution (isolate some variable or expression in one equation and then substitute the other side of the equation into the second equation). Or we can solve systems of equations by elimination (stack the equations on top of each other, scale one or both of them up so that the coefficient of one of the variables is the same number, then add or subtract the two equations in order to eliminate the same-numbered variable). Solving for a Combo, like “What is 3x + 2y?” means that instead of trying to get x = ___ , y = ____ and then plugging those values in for x and y, we should be trying to get 3x + 2y = _____. TRAP AWARENESS on GMAT Quant When the two DS statements show you a pair of equations with the same two variables, the answer is almost never C (we refer to that as “the C trap”). Sometimes, it’s NOT solvable (the answer is E) because the two equations are actually the same equation, if we simplified or scaled them up/down. What’s the value of x? 1) 3x + 2y = 40 2) 9x – 120 = -6y (Answer: E) Other times, it’s solvable with only one statement (the answer is A or B) because one of the statements gives us an equation that we could manipulate into showing us the value of the Combo we’re looking for. What’s the value of 3x + 2y? 1) 9x – 120 = 6y 2) 5x + 4y = 12 (Answer: A) More to come next month! Want some more GMAT tips from Patrick? Attend the first session of one of his upcoming GMAT courses absolutely free, no strings attached. Seriously. Patrick Tyrrell is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Los Angeles, California. He has a B.A. in philosophy, a 780 on the GMAT, and relentless enthusiasm for his work. In addition to teaching test prep since 2006, he’s also an avid songwriter/musician. Check out Patrick’s upcoming GMAT courses here! The post A Memorizable List of GMAT Quant Content (Quantent) appeared first on GMAT. |
FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: Critical Reasoning Assumption Questions – Let’s Play Jenga! |
Some Critical Reasoning question types are pretty straightforward about what you’re being asked to do. On a Strengthen the Argument question, for example, many students naturally have a good sense of what they’re supposed to do even if they’ve never specifically studied the question type before. Critical Reasoning Assumption questions are a bit less intuitive, but I’d like to show you a technique that makes them a lot easier to unscramble. Let’s try a GMATPrep question first: Set your timer for 2 minutes and give it a go. Excavations of the Roman city of Sepphoris have uncovered numerous detailed mosaics depicting several readily identifiable animal species: a hare, a partridge, and various Mediterranean fish. Oddly, most of the species represented did not live in the Sepphoris region when these mosaics were created. Since identical motifs appear in mosaics found in other Roman cities, however, the mosaics of Sepphoris were very likely created by traveling artisans from some other part of the Roman Empire. Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends? A) The Sepphoris mosaics are not composed exclusively of types of stones found naturally in the Sepphoris area. B) There is no single region to which all the species depicted in the Sepphoris mosaics are native. C) No motifs appear in the Sepphoris mosaics that do not also appear in the mosaics of some other Roman city. D) All of the animal figures in the Sepphoris mosaics are readily identifiable as representations of known species. E) There was not a common repertory of mosaic designs with which artisans who lived in various parts of the Roman Empire were familiar. Step 1: Identify the Question (Read the Question First) We’re being asked to find “an assumption on which the argument depends.” What that means is that one of the answer choices is secretly performing a keystone role in the argument, even though it’s not actually in the argument. (An assumption is an unstated premise that permits the argument to stand.) In other words, the right answer is something that the argument needs in order to have a chance of being valid. Step 2: Deconstruct the Argument (What Was the Argument About?) There are some mosaics in this ancient Roman city with pictures of animals, but most of those animals weren’t native to that region at the time (Premise 1). Other mosaics in other Roman cities show the same animals (Premise 2), so the mosaics were probably created by traveling artisans from other regions (Conclusion). Before going any further, make sure you follow the intended logic of the argument. The author is claiming that since these mosaics included pictures of exotic animals from far away, the artists must have been from far away too. Step 3: Pause and State the Goal (Brainstorm / Try to Predict the Right Answer) For any Critical Reasoning questions that are part of what we call the “assumption family”—assumption, strengthen, weaken, or evaluate—you always want to try to kick the tires on the argument before looking at the answer choices. Looking at this argument, I’m not all that convinced yet. Just because the animals depicted were from far away doesn’t necessarily mean the artists had to be from far away too. Maybe the artists were locals who read about the exotic animals in a book, or heard about them through the grapevine. Step 4: Work from Wrong to Right (Go to the Answers and Use Process of Elimination) Remember, we’re looking for something that would need to be true in order for the argument to have any chance of working—and the argument is that the artisans who made these mosaics were probably travelers from far away. As we work from wrong to right, let’s just do a first pass and eliminate anything that’s clearly not needed by the argument. If anything sounds like it might be needed, then let’s hold onto it for now. A) The Sepphoris mosaics are not composed exclusively of types of stones found naturally in the Sepphoris area. The mosaics are not made of all local stone. Maybe the mosaics were made elsewhere (not by locals) and then transported to the city? That would potentially impact who was making the mosaics, so let’s hold onto that. B) There is no single region to which all the species depicted in the Sepphoris mosaics are native. The exotic animals depicted aren’t all from one region. Who cares? Eliminate. C) No motifs appear in the Sepphoris mosaics that do not also appear in the mosaics of some other Roman city. All of these motifs in the Sepphoris mosaics also show up in some other mosaics in other cities. I’m not totally sure how that might affect our argument yet, so let’s hold onto it for now. D) All of the animal figures in the Sepphoris mosaics are readily identifiable as representations of known species. We don’t need that to be true for the argument to work—they could have included pictures of dragons or unicorns too, but I don’t think that would affect the argument one way or another. Eliminate. E) There was not a common repertory of mosaic designs with which artisans who lived in various parts of the Roman Empire were familiar. This relates to the idea we talked about that locals maybe knew about exotic animals from a book or something. Hold onto this. Step 5: Use the Assumption Negation Technique (Play Jenga) Okay, we’re down to 3 possible answers: A, C, and E. Now it’s time for a move that applies only to Critical Reasoning Assumption questions—don’t use this on any other Critical Reasoning question type. It’s called the assumption negation technique, but I like to think of it as playing Jenga. You’ve played Jenga, right? You build a tower of little wooden blocks, and then you try to take out one block at a time without the tower falling down—when the tower falls down, game over. That’s what we’re going to do here, except the argument is the Jenga tower, and the answer choices are the wooden blocks. What we’re going to do is negate one answer choice at a time (the equivalent of removing that block from our Jenga tower) and see if that destroys the argument (makes our tower fall down). If you pull out a block and the tower falls down, then the tower needed that block. Similarly, if you negate an answer choice—reverse its meaning—and that makes the argument fall apart, then that means that the argument needed the original, unaltered version of that answer choice in order to stand. I know it’s a bit topsy-turvy, but trust me—it’ll make perfect sense once you see it in action. You negate each answer choice by reversing the main verb or action in the sentence, usually by insertion or deletion of the word “no” or “not.” (Make sure you only negate each answer choice once—don’t insert ‘no’ in multiple places in one answer choice.) Of our remaining three answers, we’re now looking for the one that, when negated, destroys the argument (makes our Jenga tower fall down). A) The Sepphoris mosaics are not composed exclusively of types of stones found naturally in the Sepphoris area. If the mosaics are made of all local stone, we still don’t necessarily know who made them—local artisans or traveling artisans. Our Jenga tower is still standing. B) There is no single region to which all the species depicted in the Sepphoris mosaics are native. C) No (Some) motifs appear in the Sepphoris mosaics that do not also appear in the mosaics of some other Roman city. Notice I only eliminated the first ‘no’ (replacing it with the word ‘some’), but not the second. The negated version of this answer means that there are some motifs that are unique to the Sepphoris mosaics. I suppose that slightly undercuts the idea of traveling artisans, but it doesn’t make it impossible—maybe traveling artisans came in, made the mosaics, and included a little custom Sepphoris symbol for the local clientele. It’s a bit of a stretch, but it works. Our Jenga tower wobbled a little, but it’s still standing. D) All of the animal figures in the Sepphoris mosaics are readily identifiable as representations of known species. E) There was not a common repertory of mosaic designs with which artisans who lived in various parts of the Roman Empire were familiar. If there was a common repertory of designs that artisans from all over knew about, and if those designs included a variety of exotic animals from various regions outside of Sepphoris, then the whole argument just fell apart. It didn’t have to be traveling artisans who made the mosaics; it easily could have been locals who simply knew the common designs even if they had never seen those animals in person. Our Jenga tower just fell over, and E is the right answer. So, to recap: Only use assumption negation on Critical Reasoning Assumption questions, and do it only after you’ve eliminated the obviously incorrect answers. It’s easier to knock out a couple first, as we did here, and then negate the remaining choices, rather than negate all five answer choices on every problem. Once you get used to the process, the right answer will start to jump off the screen at you, and you’ll be far more confident about Critical Reasoning Assumption questions. 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. Ryan McGorman is a Manhattan Prep GMAT instructor based in New York, NY. He scored a 770 on the GMAT and has taught everything from SAT to GRE to public speaking and ESL. He earned his MBA at UCLA Anderson. Check out Ryan’s upcoming GMAT prep offerings here! The post Critical Reasoning Assumption Questions – Let’s Play Jenga! appeared first on GMAT. |
FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: I Should Quit My Job to Study for the GMAT |
What have you been told about applying to business school? With the advent of chat rooms, blogs, and forums, armchair “experts” often unintentionally propagate MBA admissions myths, which can linger and undermine an applicant’s confidence. Some applicants are led to believe that schools want a specific “type” of candidate and expect certain GMAT scores and GPAs, for example. Others are led to believe that they need to know alumni from their target schools and/or get a letter of reference from the CEO of their firm in order to get in. In this series,mbaMission debunks these and other myths and strives to take the anxiety out of the admissions process. The GMAT is the sole piece of data that is truly consistent from one candidate to another. Therefore, many MBA applicants get carried away and place undue emphasis on it, when the test is only one of several important aspects of an application. In extreme cases, some applicants consider quitting their jobs to focus on the GMAT full time—not a great idea! Why is it not ideal to quit your job to improve your GMAT score? Quite simply, it sends the message that you cannot manage what many other MBA candidates can manage quite well. In your application, you will need to account for any time off; if you honestly note that you quit your job to study for the GMAT, you will place yourself at a relative disadvantage to others who have proved that they can manage work, study, and possibly volunteer work simultaneously. By taking time off, you will send the unintended message that you cannot achieve what many do unless you have an uneven playing field. This is not the message you want to send your target academic institution, which wants to be sure that you can handle the academic course load, a job hunt, community commitments, and more. Regardless of the admissions committees’ perceptions of taking time off, we believe a calm and methodical approach is your best bet. By furthering your career as you study, you will have a sense of balance in your life. On test day, you will have a far better chance of keeping a level head, ensuring that you will do your best—which, of course, was the point in the first place. mbaMission is the leader in MBA admissions consulting with a full-time and comprehensively trained staff of consultants, all with profound communications and MBA experience. mbaMission has helped thousands of candidates fulfill their dream of attending prominent MBA programs around the world. Take your first step toward a more successful MBA application experience with a free 30-minute consultation with one of mbaMission’s senior consultants. Click here to sign up today. The post MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: I Should Quit My Job to Study for the GMAT appeared first on GMAT. |
FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: Big GMAT Skills: Pinpointing Comparisons and Relationships |
Welcome to the latest installment of the Big GMAT Skills series, which I am hoping to use to lay out some of the biggest GMAT skills you can start using to get that score you want. Check out the other parts (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3), and keep them in mind as you read, as those GMAT skills are still going to be applicable here, just as what’s here is applicable in those articles as well. Let’s pretend I’m making a fruit tart. I lay out my ingredients and, dang it, I realize that I have more oranges but fewer apples than the recipe calls for. I’ll have to go to the store to get some apples, and that’s annoying, because I have to walk, and it’s 91 degrees and humid today, so I’ll start to sweat, probably, and man, do I even want to make this fruit tart anymore? Question: do I have more apples or oranges? Your first instinct may have been to say ‘oranges.’ Which sentence lends support for that answer? “I have more oranges but fewer apples than the recipe calls for.” Read that sentence again, though, very closely, and very literally. Where does it say I have more oranges than apples? The phrase ‘more oranges’ is in there, but what, specifically, exactly, is being compared? I am told I have more oranges than I need and fewer apples than I need. That’s not the same thing as having more oranges than apples. It’s very possible the recipe called for 2 oranges, of which I have 4, and 12 apples, of which I have 8. I have more apples than oranges, but I have fewer apples than the recipe calls for. From that story alone, you don’t know which fruit I have more of. “You tricked me!” No, I didn’t. You took what was there and made a completely unsupported inference, one similar to the situation that was given you but not actually what is known to be true. (This little riddle is inspired by a wrong answer choice on a Critical Reasoning problem in the 2018 OG. Take a look at CR numbers 635 to 640, see if you can find which wrong answer choice ‘A’ makes this same mistake in comparison*.) Comparisons are a huge deal on the GMAT. They are rife in Critical Reasoning, and are one of the five most important things to note in Reading Comp. They are also an entire category of Sentence Correction question. For example: “Unlike watching a movie, a novel forces a person to see the events unfold in his or her imagination, and not on an actual screen.” What’s compared? Forget for a second that you know exactly what this sentence is supposed to mean. What is literally compared? ‘Watching a movie’ and ‘a novel.’ Can you compare watching a movie and a book? You can compare a movie to a novel, and you can compare watching a movie to reading a novel, but you probably shouldn’t compare watching a movie (an action a person does) to a book (a bounded stack of papers with words on them). These are totally different things. Other elements in Sentence Correction can also be likened to a ‘comparison.’ Parallel structure is, ultimately, making sure parts of a sentence that are joined by a conjunction are the ‘same type’ of thing. When you check parallelism, you’re scanning for relationships between parts of a sentence. Pronouns and subject/verbs are about agreement as well. How about Quant? Well, what is a percent, anyway? A percent—and its cousin, the ratio—are relative values that make comparisons between two quantities. But we want to make sure we interpret that comparison correctly. What do you think is the most common mistake people make on a setup like this? “The price of a sweater at a store was 24% lower at the end of the year than at the beginning. If at the end of the year the price was 190 dollars, what was the price at the beginning?” The most common mistake is setting this situation up to solve, and it is usually a mistake of understanding the comparison. Which of the following is the correct set up, where ‘X’ is the price of the sweater at the start of the year? A) 1.24(190) = X B) 1.24(X) = 190 C) .76(X) = 190 D) .76(190) = X Each of these equations tells some sort of comparison story using similar values, but they give different scenarios. The correct set up is answer C. A 24% decrease (.76) of the original price (X) is (=) the price at the end of the year (190). The most common mistake would probably be answer A. What would the ‘English’ comparison of answer ‘A’ be? ‘A’ would be a 24% increase of the year’s end price is the original price. Which might at first seem like the same situation, but it’s not. An x% change in one direction is not ‘undone’ by an x% change in the opposite direction. One of the first things I tell my students to note when a percent or fraction shows up is to specify what that percent is relevant to. That is: specify the comparison. A lot of Quant questions are tricky because they give multiple comparisons. Part of the game is keeping track of which comparisons describe which quantities. Here’s a DS question: If 25 1) (x-1) is a multiple of 5 2) (x+1) has only one unique prime factor I’ll tell you the answer first. It’s E. If you chose any other answer, I’d wager I know your mistake. Either you don’t know what is meant by ‘unique prime factor,’ or you attributed a given comparison to the wrong value. The first mistake is definitional: just know that a number that has only one unique prime factor can be written as prime number raised to an exponent (e.g. 8 = 2^3, so 8 has a one unique prime factor of 2. 12 = (2^2)*3, so 12 has two unique prime factors, 2 and 3). If that wasn’t your mistake (especially if you said statement 1 was sufficient) see if you can spot what comparison mistake someone might make here. The most common mistake on statement 1 would be something like: “Okay, well, if x-1 is a multiple of 5, that would be 26-1=25, or 31-1=30, but 25 is too small, so it has to be 31.” Do you see the problem? 25 is too small for the number x, but not for the number ‘x-1.’ If you said statement 2 was sufficient, you did something similar. The only values that fit would be x = 26, since 26+1 = 27 = (3^3), and x= 31, because 31+1 = 32 = (2^5). You might have thought ’32 is too big.’ But 32 is too big for x, not for ‘x+1.’ (Also note, if you chose D, your two statements would have been sufficient for different answers, and that is never allowed in DS). Keep relationships and comparisons specified to the things they compare—don’t let the comparison ‘bleed.’ Further, many times in Quant, it’s useful to just think “Which number would be bigger?” This can lead to some high-awareness movesthat can often help you narrow down answers, often to the correct one! When it comes to comparisons, the best thing you can do is notice when a comparison is happening, and then specify what that comparison is actually comparing, and isolate that comparison from bleeding into unsupported inferences or restrictions. Make sure it says what it ‘feels like’ it says, and make sure you don’t misapply that comparison to something else in the problem or passage. *The answer that inspired this was wrong answer A on number 636. The answer seems to imply that I know for sure that Malvernia produces more natural gas than oil… but the comparisons in the passage are only ever about how we have vs. how much we need. We never compare the quantities of oil and gas to each other. Want some more GMAT tips from Reed? Attend the first session of one of his upcoming GMAT courses absolutely free, no strings attached. Seriously. Reed Arnold is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in New York, NY. He has a B.A. in economics, philosophy, and mathematics and an M.S. in commerce, both from the University of Virginia. He enjoys writing, acting, Chipotle burritos, and teaching the GMAT. Check out Reed’s upcoming GMAT courses here. The post Big GMAT Skills: Pinpointing Comparisons and Relationships appeared first on GMAT. |
FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: GMAT Data Sufficiency: What Does Insufficient Really Mean? |
When you first learn GMAT Data Sufficiency, it seems fairly straightforward. Your task is to determine whether each statement gives you enough information to answer the question. So you look at the question, look at the statement, and think Yes, I can answer the question—sufficient or No, I can’t answer the question—insufficient. As we get into it, though, we all realize that GMAT Data Sufficiency questions can be quite tricky. We find ourselves regularly looking at answer choices and thinking Oh, I didn’t see that way of doing it; how was I supposed to think of that? Fortunately, there are some concrete steps to improve your decisions on these tricky problems. One of those steps is to realize that we have a language problem. When we say, “I can’t answer the question with this information,” we tend to process that as INSUFFICIENT, but that statement can actually mean two things. Sometimes it means “I can’t figure out an answer” and sometimes it means “I can’t answer it because there are multiple possible answers.” Those are very different! In the first meaning, “I can’t figure out an answer,” it’s often a complex problem with multiple constraints. It might be one of those in which x has to be a multiple of one thing and have a certain remainder and meet some other requirement. You try out a couple numbers and nothing fits, so you say “I can’t figure out an answer,” but be careful! That does not all mean the statement is insufficient. You may not be able to figure out an answer, but somebody could! The key thing is that insufficient means multiple possible answers. If the question is “What is x?” and the statement is “x = y + 2,” you might say, “I can’t figure out what x is,” but you’re really meaning that in the second way. There are multiple possible answers for x. It could be that x = 4 and y = 2 or x = 6 and y = 4 or so on and so on. That’s insufficient. But back on the first meaning, when it’s just so complicated you can’t even come up with one, then you certainly haven’t found multiple answers! You’re actually closer to sufficient than you are to insufficient. All those constraints are making it hard for you to find a value that works, so it’s really unlikely that you could find two values that work, and you always need multiple answers to be insufficient. What should you do then on GMAT Data Sufficiency? Drop the language of “I can’t figure it out.” Instead, focus on proving insufficient. If you find multiple possible answers, great, it’s proven. And if you can’t find multiple possible answers, whether you only find one possible answer or no possible answers at all, you guess sufficient. So, you end up with my favorite GMAT Data Sufficiency mantra: “Prove insufficient, guess sufficient.” Want some more amazing GMAT tips from James? Attend the first session of one of his upcoming GMAT courses absolutely free, no strings attached. Seriously. James Brock is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Virginia Beach, VA. He holds a B.A. in mathematics and a Master of Divinity from Covenant Seminary. James has taught and tutored everything from calculus to chess, and his 780 GMAT score allows him to share his love of teaching and standardized tests with MPrep students. You can check out James’s upcoming GMAT courses here. The post GMAT Data Sufficiency: What Does Insufficient Really Mean? appeared first on GMAT. |
FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: Why Was My Official GMAT Score Lower than My Practice Test Scores? |
Hopefully, once you’ve done a couple of GMAT practice tests, nothing will surprise you on test day. That includes your official GMAT score. But what does it mean if your official GMAT score doesn’t measure up to your practice tests? Keep reading, and we’ll troubleshoot. First, don’t panic. It’s fine to take the GMAT twice. It’s fine to take the GMAT three times! If you do better next time, your schools will see that as a positive. If you do worse, you can just cancel your score, and nobody will be the wiser. Why did this happen? There are three broad reasons to score lower on test day than on your practice tests. Here they are:
Can bad luck hurt your official GMAT score? According to the GMAC, the standard error of your official GMAT score is 30-40 points. Here’s what that means. If you could take the GMAT an infinite number of times, your average score would perfectly reflect your GMAT skills. Sometimes you’d get lucky and see questions that just happened to click for you; sometimes you’d get unlucky and see that one question you were totally dreading. On average, the good luck would balance out the bad luck, and you’d get exactly the score you deserved. Standard error measures how much a single official GMAT score can be affected by random luck. Since the standard error is 30-40 points, your score on any particular GMAT might be as much as 40 points higher or lower than your actual skill level. So, you scored a 560. Your actual skill level might be 560. Or it might be as low as 520—and you were just incredibly lucky on test day. Or it could be as high as 600, and you were really unlucky. The downside is that there’s not necessarily any way to tell. After all, to find your “real” GMAT score, you’d have to take the test an infinite number of times. Did something make your practice tests easier? Look back on the practice tests you scored well on. Is it possible that something inflated your score? Some third-party practice tests just aren’t that accurate. Unfortunately, a lot of the information out there regarding practice test accuracy is anecdotal and contradictory. If you haven’t done so already, take an official GMAC practice test from mba.com. If the score is closer to your official GMAT score, you might have your answer: your practice tests scored you incorrectly. You might want to keep using those tests for practice, but you should take the scores with a grain of salt. Here are some other factors that could have come into play:
Second, if you did something on this list in order to compensate for a weakness, address that weakness! For instance, if you took an extra break because you felt fatigued halfway through the test, practice doing long problem sets without taking breaks, particularly when you’re already tired. Did something make your official test harder? The number-one reason to score lower on test day is anxiety. Test anxiety makes everything harder, and it’s more likely to show up on test day than during a practice test. The good news is, now that you’ve experienced it, you know exactly what you need to fix. Another factor related to anxiety is what I’ll call “taking the test too seriously.” On practice tests, it’s relatively easy to make yourself guess, try new strategies, and use the “back-of-the-napkin” approach to problems. But on test day, you might suddenly feel like you have to answer every question: after all, it’s test day, so it’s time to get serious! Right? Wrong. Unfortunately, guessing is a big part of why you were scoring so well on practice tests. Read this article about guessing and this one about back-of-the-napkin math, and commit to treating your next official test a little more like your practice tests. Here are a few other things to think about:
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 Why Was My Official GMAT Score Lower than My Practice Test Scores? appeared first on GMAT. |
FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: How Long Should I Study for the GMAT? |
Most of us should spend about three months studying for the GMAT. However, your perfect GMAT timeline might look different! Keep reading for a look at what goes into a great GMAT study schedule. How Long Do People Study for the GMAT? In 2016 and 2017, the GMAC included a question about how long people study for the GMAT on their yearly test-taker survey. Here’s a page showing some results from 2016, and here’s a different view from 2017. In 2016, just over half of all test-takers studied for 50 hours or more, and a quarter studied for more than 100 hours. The more hours a test-taker spent studying, the higher their score was likely to be. At the high end, people who scored 700+ on the GMAT studied for a median time of 90 hours before taking the test. That information shows that the GMAT isn’t just about your natural abilities. People who get a great score on the GMAT don’t get there overnight! On average, high scorers are studying more than everyone else. The 2017 data is segmented by location, and it shows the number of weeks or months spent studying, rather than the number of hours. In the United States, the median number of study hours was 48, and the median number of weeks spent studying was between four and six. So the average GMAT test-taker probably studies for around 50 hours, over the course of 1 to 1.5 months. However, high scorers study more than this. How to Have a Productive GMAT Study Week Studying for the GMAT is an intellectually demanding activity. Regardless of how long you study for the GMAT, if you don’t feel challenged, you’re probably studying too passively! On top of that, you shouldn’t quit your job to study for the GMAT. And there’s the rest of the application process, such as writing your essays, to think about. You’ll need to balance the intellectual challenges of studying for the GMAT with the other demands of your life. Because you’re human, you can only put in a certain amount of brain work in one day before you no longer get anything out of it. (Plenty of famous creative types have sworn by the 4-hour workday.) You’re also limited by your natural attention span: your brain can focus for about 90 minutes before it needs a break. However, studying for the GMAT every day—or almost every day—is important too. Especially when you first learn a new concept, revisiting it frequently, in small chunks, is a good way to build durable memories. To sum it up, your study week should include study sessions nearly every day, but you should avoid studying for more than a few hours in one day, and you should take a break at least every 90 minutes. How many hours can you fit in by doing that? Here’s an example study calendar. This calendar includes a couple of quick early-morning problem sessions (set your alarm half an hour earlier), an hour or two of studying most days after work, and a longer session on one weekend day. That schedule would give you 11 hours of solid study time in one week. In general, 10 to 15 hours per week is a good target for those of us with conventional work hours. If you have more or less free time, you can make your study schedule more or less dense. Just don’t try to make up for a lack of time during the week with marathon Saturday-Sunday cram sessions! You’re better off slowing down your study timeline than trying to fit 20 hours of studying into two days. Try this experiment: for one week, write down exactly how long you study for the GMAT. You might find that you’re spending more or less time than you think you are, and you might realize that you’re not taking advantage of free time during your day. Putting It Together People who score 700+ on the GMAT study for about 90 hours overall. A strong GMAT study schedule involves somewhere between 10 and 15 hours of studying per week. Doing the math, that gives you somewhere from 6 to 9 weeks of studying for the GMAT—assuming that you’re able to be 100% consistent, every single week, and you don’t decide to take the GMAT twice. To plan for the unexpected, you should give yourself slightly more time than that. That’s why we recommend planning about three months of studying, or a bit more if you’re going to retake the test. Here’s a short outline of what those three months might look like, if you’re enrolled in a GMAT Complete Course or using GMAT Interact. That’s a total of 13 weeks, or right around 3 months. However, before making assumptions about your study calendar, be sure to take a practice GMAT. It’s possible that you only need to study for one section of the test, or that you only have to brush up on a couple of weak areas. Regardless, make sure to leave at least 1-2 weeks at the end of your study calendar to review and ‘warm up’ for test day. What If Studying for the GMAT Takes More Than Three Months? You might want to answer “how long should I study for the GMAT?” with “as long as possible!”. After all, if high scorers study more, then the more you study, the better—right? That’s only true up to a certain point. We already discussed the challenge of staying actively engaged with your studies. More importantly, if you spend too long studying for the GMAT, you risk burning out. Studying, especially on top of a full-time job, can be exhausting. And you can’t study your way out of GMAT burnout. The only solution to burnout is to take a serious break from the GMAT and allow yourself to mentally recover. In fact, burnout may be why your score isn’t going up—and studying even harder, and for even longer, can leave you stuck in a vicious cycle of exhaustion and frustration. If you’re well over the three-month mark and your scores aren’t improving despite consistent work, it’s time for two things: a break from the GMAT, and then a drastic change in how or what you’re studying. (Consider chatting with a Manhattan Prep GMAT tutor about what changes to make.) Don’t worry about forgetting everything you’ve already learned! You definitely won’t forget everything—and when you do forget something, learning science suggests that re-learning it will only result in stronger memories. Be aware that your practice tests probably won’t improve linearly. You might have only gone from 500 to 550 in the first month of studying, but that doesn’t mean it’ll take you another three months to get to 700. GMAT scoring just doesn’t work that way! If you haven’t put in at least a couple of months, be patient and trust the process. Finally, GMAT instructor Ceilidh Erickson wrote this wise and compassionate article about when to stop studying for the GMAT. I could quote it here, but if your study timeline isn’t working out, you should just go ahead and read it! You shouldn’t plan on studying for the GMAT forever! About three months of consistent work is enough time to familiarize yourself with the material and learn how to take the test. That doesn’t mean that everybody will reach their goal score in a few months—but if you’re spending too much time on the GMAT and you’re starting to burn out, you’ll need to make some changes to reach your goal. And whether you’re reconsidering your study schedule or just getting started, go check out our guide to studying for the GMAT for some helpful advice! 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 How Long Should I Study for the GMAT? appeared first on GMAT. |
FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: Should You Cancel Your GMAT Score? |
You probably know that you can cancel your GMAT score if you aren’t happy with it. However, there’s a lot of misinformation about what it means to cancel your GMAT score and whether you should do it or not. In this article, we’ll answer the big questions about score cancelation, plus a few you might not have thought to ask. Should You Cancel Your GMAT Score? The answer to this question depends on whether it’s your first time taking the GMAT. If it’s your first time taking the GMAT and you get a lousy score, your instincts will tell you to cancel your GMAT score and wipe the slate clean. Don’t do it! There are good reasons to keep that score, even though you aren’t happy with it. First, it’s completely normal to submit two GMAT scores to schools. If you take the GMAT again later, you’ll probably get a higher score. Sending two scores—a lower one and a higher one—sends a clear message to schools:
Second, having a weak official score is better than not having one at all. What if something unexpected happens and you can’t take the GMAT again before your deadlines? What if your plans change and you decide to apply to an MBA program with less stringent GMAT requirements? If you have a weak GMAT score, you can still apply, even if you’re less confident in your applications. If you have no GMAT score at all, your applications won’t make it off the ground. In short, don’t cancel your first GMAT score unless it’s over 100 points below your goal. If your goal is a 700 and you earn a 570, feel free to cancel (although you don’t have to). If you get a 620, keep that score! If you already have an official GMAT score, the rules are a little different. Unless your new score is stronger than your old one, go ahead and cancel it. Be careful, though: ‘stronger’ doesn’t just mean ‘higher overall.’ Your GMAT score goes beyond just the 200-800 number. Here’s an example:
If your new score is only a little stronger than your old one, consider how close you are to reaching your goal score and how much more progress you think you can make before your deadlines. If you’re very close to your goal, you may want to keep your new score. If you improved, but you’re still pretty far off, and you’ll definitely take the test again later? You may want to be more aggressive about canceling. How to Cancel Your GMAT Score At the end of your official GMAT, you’ll have the opportunity to cancel your GMAT score. On the screen, you’ll see your “unofficial score”: your Quant and Verbal subscores, your overall score, and your Integrated Reasoning score. You’ll have two minutes to decide whether to keep or cancel that score. During that two-minute window, canceling your GMAT score is totally free. Don’t try to make the decision within those two minutes! By the end of the test, you’ll be mentally drained. GMAT strategy is all about planning for test day, and whether to cancel your GMAT score is no exception. If you aren’t happy with the decision you made on test day, you have 72 hours—three days—to cancel your score at home. You cancel by logging into your account at mba.com, the same account you used to register for the test. Canceling your GMAT score at this point costs $25. If you don’t see the option to cancel immediately, don’t panic. It can take 24 hours for the option to appear online. If it takes longer than 48 hours, contact the GMAC right away. Here’s one small thing to be aware of: if you order an Additional Score Report, you lose the ability to cancel your GMAT score. So if you decide to send your score to an extra school, then change your mind and want to cancel that score, you won’t be able to do it. Consequences of Canceling Your GMAT Score Will schools know that you canceled a GMAT score? The answer is no. If you cancel your GMAT score, schools will never even know that you took the GMAT on that day. Don’t panic if you look at your own official score report and see your canceled scores there! Your score report is different from the one your schools see. Yours includes all of your canceled scores, while the ones that schools get don’t include those scores (or any record that a score was canceled). Here’s what happens when you cancel your GMAT score:
In short: it’s easy to cancel your GMAT score, and it has relatively few consequences, other than the time, money, and energy you put into taking a test. However, if it’s your first GMAT, plan your cancellation strategy ahead of time, and lean towards not canceling your GMAT score. Your instincts will tell you to cancel a bad score and keep a good one, but the issue is a little more nuanced than that—and you can always change your mind later! 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 Should You Cancel Your GMAT Score? appeared first on GMAT. |
FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: Dartmouth Tuck Essay Analysis, 2018-2019 |
How can you write essays that grab the attention of MBA admissions committees? With this thorough Dartmouth Tuck essay analysis, our friends at mbaMission help you conceptualize your essay ideas and understand how to execute, so that your experiences truly stand out. As the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College enters its second full admissions season with Luke Anthony Peña at the helm as executive director of admissions and financial aid, we are not surprised to see a major overhaul in the program’s essay questions. What was the school’s first essay last year—which covered candidates’ career goals, why an MBA is needed to achieve them, and their reasons for targeting Dartmouth Tuck—has been deconstructed and reformulated into a series of short-answer questions. Tuck’s new Essay 1 instead addresses applicants’ individuality and anticipated contributions to the school. The admissions committee keeps the focus on contribution in its second essay prompt, asking candidates to discuss a time when they helped facilitate another’s success. Clearly, Tuck is interested in identifying individuals who will be connected, cooperative, and supportive members of its community, both as students and as alumni, staying true to its reputation as having one of the closest-knit and most engaged networks among the top MBA programs. Read on for our detailed Dartmouth Tuck essay analysis. . . SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS
Because, as we noted, these prompts cover many of the most elemental components of a traditional personal statement essay, we encourage you to download a free copy of the mbaMission Personal Statement Guide. This document provides in-depth guidance on how to consider and respond to these sorts of questions, along with numerous illustrative examples. Essay 1: Tuck students are aware of how their individuality adds to the fabric of Tuck. Tell us who you are and what you will contribute. (500 words) To know how to contribute to Dartmouth Tuck, you must first understand the community and environment you will be contributing to, so—if you have not already done so—you must research the school in depth before attempting to craft this essay. This means moving beyond the Tuck website, viewbook, and related marketing materials and making direct contact with students, alumni, and even school representatives. Attend an admissions event in your area, if available, and schedule a campus visit and sit in on a class. This kind of firsthand observation of what and who the Tuck program truly entails, paired with a profound knowledge of how it works, is key in identifying what is unique about you viewed against this backdrop—and will help highlight what you can bring to the mix and how. Pay special attention to the aspects of and areas at Tuck that speak to you personally in some way, and consider social events/clubs and professional development opportunities along with course work and academic offerings. Business school is meant to be a comprehensive environment and experience that enriches students in ways not just related directly to business, and perhaps your best potential for contribution lies in one of these areas. If you have years of experience teaching, for example, you could perhaps help facilitate discussions among the students in your study group or on team projects. If you have a depth of knowledge or years of experience in a particular area, whether through your job or in a personal capacity (such as being a dedicated wine aficionado), you could serve as a kind of subject matter expert for those around you in the program or even a valuable component in someone’s recruiting network. If you are particularly funny, creative, or athletic, you may be the ideal fit to lead an extracurricular group or play a significant role in a nonacademic project or event. The broad scope of this essay prompt allows you a great amount of freedom to choose and share the information you believe is most important for the admissions committee to know about you. You have as much as 500 words for this submission, which is rather substantial these days, so take care not to ramble or become repetitious. And truly focus on those elements of your personality that are most relevant to the context here: the Dartmouth Tuck experience. Avoid simply trying to fit in as much information as possible about yourself in hoping of stumbling on the “right” answers and instead clearly present and illustrate your most fitting qualities and show a direct connection between them and specific aspects of the MBA program. Authenticity and enthusiasm are the keys to your success with this essay. For a thorough exploration of Dartmouth Tuck’s academic program, unique resources, defining characteristics, crucial statistics, social life, standout professors, and other key features, download your free copy of the mbaMission Insider’s Guide to the Tuck School of Business. Essay 2: Tuck students are nice, and invest generously in one another’s success. Share an example of how you helped someone else succeed. (500 words) This essay prompt is clearly a nod to the admissions committee’s new stated focus on selecting applicants who are “smart, nice, accomplished, and aware” (we strongly encourage you to click through and read the school’s admissions criteria in detail, if you have not already done so). It also aligns perfectly with the program’s long-held belief in teamwork and community spirit. By illustrating with this essay that you have a natural interest in helping others reach their goals and have successfully done so, you will demonstrate for the admissions committee that you possess the qualities it is seeking in its next class of students. In addition, stepping up proactively to assist someone in an endeavor that is important to him/her shows an instinct for leadership, which is valued by all MBA programs. So, in reality, this is a fairly straightforward essay prompt, and we recommend responding in an equally straightforward manner. Beyond simply sharing a story of having supported, assisted, and/or encouraged another on their path to success, you will need to share the motivation(s) and thought processes that led you to want to do so in the first place. With 500 words for this essay, you should have ample space to clearly convey the situation as you originally found it, your inspiration to contribute, the actions you then took, the outcome, and, ideally, what you learned from the experience (though this last element should be somewhat brief). Take care not to brag about your role or suggest that the party you aided could never have succeeded without you. The school is unquestionably looking for evidence that you not only have a natural inclination to invest in and bolster others but you also have the capacity and skills to do so effectively and are mature enough to grow from the experience yourself. Note that Dartmouth Tuck does not specify from which realm of your life—professional, personal, or community-related—the story you choose to share here must come. This means you can plumb the entirety of your experiences for the one you believe best fulfills what the school wants to see and about which you feel most strongly. (As the admissions committee itself says on the Tuck site, “There are no right or wrong answers.”) Also consider that although the prompt says “someone else,” this could potentially apply to a pair or small group, if presented effectively. Perhaps, for example, you helped a duo of small business owners with a marketing issue or supported a small musical group or athletic team in some capacity. In a June 11, 2018, Tuck news article, Peña commented, “Tuck is a distinctly collaborative community so being able to challenge others tactfully and thoughtfully is important” (emphasis ours). With this in mind, if you are deciding between two or more instances you could discuss for this essay, considering going with one in which your help was not requested or perhaps even immediately accepted—one in which you needed to diplomatically negotiate your offer of input and assistance. Avoid mentioning several different experiences (perhaps for fear of offering the “wrong” one) and focus just on one that you describe in detail. Let the narrative unfold naturally, making sure that the basics are all clearly presented. What the school wants to know is that the incident you are showcasing was truly significant for you and had a meaningful impact, so let that be your guide. Optional Essay: Please provide any additional insight or information that you have not addressed elsewhere (e.g., atypical choice of evaluators, factors affecting academic performance, unexplained job gaps or changes). Complete this question only if you feel your candidacy is not fully represented by this application. You may be tempted to take advantage of this optional essay as an opportunity to share an additional compelling story or to highlight a part of your profile that you fear might be overlooked or undervalued, but we strongly encourage you to resist this temptation. Submit an optional essay here only if your candidacy truly needs it. Consider what the school says about this essay in a Tuck 360 blog post: “If you give us an extra five paragraphs to read and it’s not necessary, we will question your judgment or your ability to express yourself succinctly elsewhere.” You really cannot get much clearer than that! So again, only if your profile has a noticeable gap of some kind or an issue that would might raise a red flag or elicit questions on the part of an admissions officer—such as a poor grade or overall GPA, a low GMAT/GRE score, a gap in your work experience, an arrest, etc.—should you take this opportunity to provide additional information. Download a free copy of our mbaMission Optional Essays Guide, in which we offer detailed advice on deciding whether to take advantage of the optional essay as well as on how to do so effectively (with multiple sample essays) to help you mitigate any problem areas in your profile. Reapplicant Essay: (To be completed by all reapplicants) How have you strengthened your candidacy since you last applied? Please reflect on how you have grown personally and professionally. (500 words) Whether you have improved your academic record, received a promotion, begun a new and exciting project, increased your community involvement, or taken on some sort of personal challenge, the key to success with this essay is conveying a very deliberate path of achievement. Tuck wants to know that you have been actively striving to improve yourself and your profile, and that you have seized opportunities during the previous year to do so, because a Tuck MBA is vital to you. The responses to this essay question will vary greatly from one candidate to the next, because each person’s needs and experiences differ. We are more than happy to provide one-on-one assistance with this highly personal essay to ensure that your efforts over the past year are presented in the best light possible. The Next Step—Mastering Your Dartmouth Tuck Interview: Many MBA candidates find admissions interviews stressful and intimidating, but mastering this important element of the application process is definitely possible—the key is informed preparation. To help you on your way to this high level of preparation, we offer our free Interview Primers. Download your free copy of the Dartmouth Tuck Interview Primer today. mbaMission is the leader in MBA admissions consulting with a full-time and comprehensively trained staff of consultants, all with profound communications and MBA experience. mbaMission has helped thousands of candidates fulfill their dream of attending prominent MBA programs around the world. Take your first step toward a more successful MBA application experience with a free 30-minute consultation with one of mbaMission’s senior consultants. Click here to sign up today. The post Dartmouth Tuck Essay Analysis, 2018-2019 appeared first on GMAT. |
FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: Register for Our Upcoming Dream MBA Webinar Now! |
Starting April 10, Manhattan Prep and mbaMission will be coming together for an invaluable series of free workshops titled “Maximize Your Potential: 5 Steps to Getting Your Dream MBA.” Senior consultants from mbaMission will address and explain various significant admissions issues, while experts from Manhattan Prep will help you tackle some of the toughest challenges GMAT test-takers face, offering insight, advice, and more. Check out the links below for more information, and to sign up for each part of the series:
The post Register for Our Upcoming Dream MBA Webinar Now! appeared first on GMAT. |
FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: What the GMAT Really Tests |
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. The GMAT is not a math test. Nor is it a grammar test. Sure, you have to know something (well, a lot of things!) about these topics in order to get a good score. But this test is really testing your executive reasoning skills. The term might be unfamiliar, but you already have—and use—these skills every day. Here are some examples:
The GMAT is not a math or grammar test. The math and grammar are just there as tools to allow the exam writers to test you on your decision-making ability. How does that help me take the GMAT? The first step is really to internalize the fact that they don’t expect you to get everything right, any more than a CEO expects to clear everything in his or her inbox today. You have to prioritize. A great decision-maker has both expertise and experience: she’s thought about how to make various kinds of decisions, and she’s actually practiced and refined these decision-making processes. While the clock is ticking, she doesn’t hesitate to make a decision and move forward, knowing that she’s going to be leaving some opportunities behind. In order to do that successfully in the business world, you need to know the company’s goals and objectives, and you have to have a good idea of the kind of impact that various tasks or activities will have on the company. You also have to have a lot of practice in making these decisions and observing the outcomes. There’s never just one right way to make these decisions, so the more exposure you give yourself to how things work, the better you’ll be able to make good decisions in the future. The same is true for the GMAT: if you know how it works, and you know what kinds of trade-offs to think about when deciding how to spend your time, then you can learn how to make the best decisions to maximize your score. Okay, how does the GMAT work? Glad you asked. The information I’m discussing is available everywhere, but I still talk to GMAT students nearly every day who tell me that they just can’t give up on a question, or they figure that, if they “know” they can get something right, they might as well take the time to get it right, even when that means running out of time later on. (Note: I put “know” in quotation marks there because, well, you don’t really know. First, you could make a careless mistake at any time. Second, if you need a lot of extra time to do a problem, then something is problematic. You might still get it right, but your odds go way down if something is problematic.) So here’s what you need to do: you need to grow up. I’m not saying “Oh, grow up!” in a harsh way. I’m saying that you need to graduate from school. The way that we were trained to do things in school is often not the way things work in the real world. You already know this—you learned it when you got out into the working world. At university, it’s not that uncommon to ask for extra time on a paper or assignment; some professors won’t allow this, but many do, as long as the work is still done in a reasonable timeframe. It’s not so easy to ask for an extension in the real world. You’d better have a very good reason as to why it would be better to extend the deadline than to stay up all night and finish the project on time. Also, you would be expected to bring this to your boss’s attention several weeks before the deadline, at the least. Expect a very unhappy boss if you don’t say anything until the day before! Further, if you think that a work assignment is approaching a problem in the wrong way, then you can discuss that with your boss or your team and change the mechanism or the scope of the work or whatever it is that you think is off. Try going to your professor and saying, “I know you assigned us these problem sets, but I think it’d actually be more productive if we worked in groups on a project.” In school, you’re supposed to do what the professors assign. At work, you’re supposed to think for yourself. So get yourself out of school. Graduate to the real world. Approach the GMAT as a test of your business ability and decision-making skills. The test just happens to include some school subjects in the details of the questions. Graduation Day If you can graduate to the business mindset, you’ll have a much better shot at hitting your goal score. If you stick with the school mindset, then you’re almost certainly not going to get the score you want. So, first, keep reminding yourself that the GMAT is a decision-making test, not an academic test. React accordingly. The two articles In It to Win It and But I Should Know How to Do This will also help you make this mental switch. Follow those up by educating yourself on the subject of Time Management. Great business people know how to manage their time and make trade-off decisions; great GMAT test-takers have this same skill. Finally, remember that your ability to get better hinges on your ability to analyze your own thought processes and the test questions themselves. Your goal is not academic. Your goal is to learn how to think. 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 What the GMAT Really Tests appeared first on GMAT. |
FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: GMAT 3 Month Study Plan |
Three months is enough time to see all of the material on the GMAT. It’s also easy to waste that time if you study haphazardly. If you have about twelve weeks before your test date, this step-by-step GMAT study guide will help you make the most of your time. 1) Take a GMAT practice test. Yes, even if you haven’t studied at all! Imagine a college class where you got to preview the final exam on the very first day. For the rest of the semester, you’d know exactly what to pay attention to in class and what to practice. By taking a practice test early, you prepare your brain for the task ahead. Before your practice test, read these pages, which outline the time limits and question types: Here’s where to get your first practice test for free: Manhattan Prep Free Practice GMAT 2) Gather your GMAT prep resources. If you choose a Manhattan Prep GMAT course or GMAT Interact, we’ll provide the materials, the syllabus, and plenty of guidance. So, this study plan assumes that you’re studying for the GMAT on your own. Here’s what you’ll need.
Create a calendar to manage your GMAT journey. Start by putting your official test date and your practice tests on your calendar. Plan a practice test every other week, ending at least one week before your official test. A practice test requires about 5 hours of work in total: 2.5-3.5 hours to complete the test (depending on whether you include the Analytical Writing Assessment and Integrated Reasoning sections), and the remaining time to review. Schedule a review day on your calendar after every practice test. Schedule at least one rest day every week to refresh your brain. Be realistic about when you may be unable to study, as well. You might have good intentions of studying while on vacation, but when the time comes, it’ll probably be tough to hit the books. 4) Plan some review days. The most important study session is the review session. When you do a review session, there are a few different things you might be doing. You could quiz yourself with flashcards, reread a chapter you’ve already read, analyze your error log, or—most importantly—redo old problems. Learning doesn’t happen in the heat of the moment, when you’re under pressure to quickly solve a problem you’ve never seen before. It happens later, when you revisit that problem calmly and with an analytical mindset. Schedule one review session per week, and don’t blow it off! This is the most important studying you can do. 5) Schedule your next two weeks of GMAT prep. A good study plan has balance. Efficient studying finds a middle ground along a number of different dimensions: Here’s how that could translate into your first two weeks of studying: This study plan is likely to be successful for a few different reasons.
6) Think about the big picture of your GMAT prep. I’ve recommended planning two weeks at a time because you should take a practice test approximately every two weeks. Analyzing each practice test will give you more information about your strengths and weaknesses, which will give you new ideas about what to study. However, you can lay out the broad strokes of your study plan well in advance.
During the first 6-8 weeks of your plan, here’s what a study week might look like. During the following 2-4 weeks, here’s what a study week might look like: And here’s what you might do the week before your test: 7) Use your study plan wisely Here are a few last-minute tips for building, maintaining, and using your GMAT study plan:
[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 170Q/170V on the GRE. Check out Chelsey’s upcoming GRE prep offerings here. The post GMAT 3 Month Study Plan appeared first on GMAT. |
FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: New Manhattan Prep GMAT Guides Are Here! |
I’m super excited to announce that our new Manhattan Prep GMAT guides are ready for you to study! We’ve been working hard for more than a year now to bring you new and improved content, strategies, drills, practice problems, and more. What’s New? Soooo many things are new that I have to think about where to start. Let’s focus on math first. All the Quant Strategy Guide As we were racking our brains trying to come up with a title for the new GMAT guide—which includes all the Quant content from our original five (separate) Quant strategy guides—it finally hit us. This includes all the Quant you need to get a great GMAT score, so let’s call it All the Quant! By putting all the Quant content into this one guide, we’re giving you a huge leap forward in your studies. We wove all the strategies—smart numbers, testing cases, working backwards, estimating, and so on—throughout the underlying content. This provides two great benefits: 1. You’re learning content and strategies together. As a result, it’s easier for you to internalize how and when to use different strategies. 2. As you progress, we build on your earlier skills to discuss more complex scenarios for advanced content and harder problems. The guide still covers all Quant content areas from our original five strategy guides:
You’ll also find a whole host of other study resources available to you in Atlas, including additional Quant problem banks, new resources to help you analyze your GMAT practice tests, and more. Just create a (free) account on our website to access Atlas. We do still have two other GMAT Quant guides. There’s Foundations of Math, which is especially good for those who haven’t done any textbook math in many years and a great starting point if you’re finding All the Quant to be a little too challenging. There’s also Advanced Quant, designed for those already in the 45-47 score range who are pushing for 50 or 51. All the Verbal Strategy Guide Similar to Quant, our All the VerbalGMAT guide includes all the content from our original three Verbal guides covering Sentence Correction, Reading Comprehension, and Critical Reasoning. In the Sentence Correction unit, I’m most excited about the additional GMAT-like problems throughout all the problem sets. These require you to compare complex answer choices just as you’ll have to do on the real test. We’ve also revamped the content around certain topics that are increasingly tested on the exam, including meaning, the core sentence vs. modifiers, parallelism, and comparisons. Critical Reasoning has been updated to address the different kinds of common argument types presented on the GMAT—how they’re constructed and how you can deconstruct them to uncover the key assumptions, avoid the traps, and find the correct answer as efficiently as possible. You can find additional problem banks for all question types online in Atlas, our study platform. Your Atlas account will also contain all the Extra (harder) material from our former strategy guides, compiled into an exclusive eBook available only to All the Verbal owners. As with Quant, you’ll also find a host of other study resources in your Atlas account. Integrated Reasoning & Essay Strategy Guide The Integrated Reasoning portion of our Integrated Reasoning & Essay GMAT guide has been significantly revamped to provide broader coverage of this section for both the GMAT and the Executive Assessment (EA) exams. Our guide is actually the first book in print that covers the EA. There’s not even an official guide available yet from the makers of the exam. Have you heard of the Executive Assessment before? This is a new exam, launched by GMAC (makers of the GMAT) a few years ago. It’s used by many executive MBA programs—and, increasingly, part-time MBA and other graduate management programs. The EA contains the same question types and content areas (for the most part) as the GMAT, but it’s only 1.5 hours long and structured & scored differently. If you’re thinking about getting an EMBA, a part-time MBA, or another graduate management degree such as a Master of Finance, you may want to check whether your target programs accept the EA. On the GMAT, the IR section is important too; schools and companies are paying more attention to your IR score. If you’re aiming for a top-20 school, you’ll want to score at least a 5 and ideally a 6+ (out of 8). This new guide will help you get the Integrated Reasoning score you need. All the GMAT Strategy Guide Set You can also buy all three of the new Manhattan Prep GMAT guides in a set that includes some incredibly valuable online resources. First, you’ll get access to all 6 of our computer-adaptive GMAT practice tests. They’re guaranteed to have no repeated questions, plus you can retake as many times as you want. If you’re spreading your tests out, it’s common to take 9 or 10 tests before you start seeing repeated questions. You’ll also get something I think is even more valuable: a complete study syllabus in Atlas, our online study platform. The syllabus gives you homework assignments for every last resource that comes with your purchase—we tell you when to read each chapter, what practice problems to do, when to take your practice tests, how to analyze them, and so on. The syllabus assumes a study period of about 3 months, but you can always speed up or slow down according to your preferred schedule. We’ll even give you problem set assignments from the latest GMAT Official Guide! We’ve devised problem sets that match your progression through your study assignments in all our guides. And we’ll toss in access to our GMAT Navigator tool, which contains our own explanations for all those OG problems—explanations that are a lot more accessible than the ones provided in the OG. (Note: You’ll have to buy the OG yourself—we can’t give you the problems, since we don’t own them.) In Atlas, you’ll be able to check off your assignments and see your progress as you go. You can also star specific lessons or practice problems to review again later. (Note: Do this. Reviewing material a second time is a really great way to solidify your learning.) We also provide you with core assignments, as well as easier and harder ones where appropriate, so that you can choose according to your level on different topics. Anything Else about the New Manhattan Prep GMAT Guides? I think I hit all the major highlights—but if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask. Oh, wait, one more thing! You can create a free account in Atlas right now, without buying anything at all. It won’t have all the awesome resources I listed above, but it’ll have one free practice test as well as other free study materials to get you started. If you’re thinking about b-school, check it out. Happy studying! Stacey Koprince is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Montreal, Canada and Los Angeles, California. She’s been teaching the GMAT, GRE, and LSAT for over 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 New Manhattan Prep GMAT Guides Are Here! appeared first on GMAT. |
FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: Manhattan Prep GMAT Free Trial: What to Expect |
You can come to the first session of any Manhattan Prep GMAT class—In Person or Online—for free. In fact, you can try out multiple different MPrep GMAT classes if you want to, and maybe you should! It’s one way to pick the perfect class for you (and even if you don’t end up taking the course, you’ll still learn a lot). Here’s what to expect from—and how to make the most of—your Manhattan Prep GMAT Free Trial Class. What to expect Your trial class will last three hours, including one or two short breaks. The trial class isn’t a special event — it’s just the first session of one of our ordinary GMAT courses, online or in person. The experience will reflect what you can expect from the entire nine-session course. Your trial session will be taught by the same GMAT instructor who teaches the full course, so attending the trial class is one way to decide whether you click with a particular instructor. If you want to know more before your class session (or if you want to see our GMAT scores!), instructor bios are on this page. The GMAT isn’t like a college exam, and a small group of motivated and curious adults won’t learn in the same way as a college lecture class. Expect to spend more time talking, writing, and solving problems than you may have in other classes. In general, the atmosphere will be collaborative and open, with everyone freely sharing ideas and questions. Because of that, in order to take an online GMAT trial class, you’ll need a computer with a microphone (and ideally a camera). Think of your class session as a Skype meeting for work, not a recorded lecture! An online trial class is a good way to test out the online classroom environment. What you’ll do and learn During your trial class (and during every class session!), expect a mixture of discussion and problem-solving. The things you’ll work on in class break down into a few broad categories: Content You’ll learn the math, grammar, and logic rules used in GMAT problems. Since the trial class is the first class session, we don’t do a deep dive into just one type of math or grammar. Instead, we focus on the types of problems you’ll see on test day, using a number of different content areas. In your trial class, you can expect to learn something about integers, exponents, and inequalities, as well as a little bit about modifiers and subject-verb agreement. Performance The GMAT gives you questions you’ve never seen before, and you’re supposed to use your math and grammar content as a toolkit to solve them quickly. To do this, you need to learn something about how to solve GMAT problems, a topic we address in every class session. In the trial class, you’ll learn how to work through Data Sufficiency and Sentence Correction problems in an organized way, as well as how to understand the GMAT’s scoring system and use it to your advantage. Practice In the last few decades, a lot of research has been done on successful learning. Most of GMAT work will happen outside of the classroom, so we spend some of our class time training you to study with less stress and more efficiency. To this end, the trial class always includes some conversation about timing on the GMAT — should you time yourself when you study? What can you do to solve problems faster? How to prepare for your first GMAT class You don’t need to know anything about the GMAT to benefit from the first class session. (In fact, instructor Elaine Loh wrote this article about why you don’t need to teach yourself math before class starts.) If you do have time to prepare a little, here’s what to do instead of cracking the math books:
For the trial session, all you need to bring is a pen and paper, unless your instructor tells you otherwise. (Student Services will guide you through any technical setup you’ll need for an online trial session.) You’ll need the textbooks for your first week of homework, but you’ll get access to them as ebooks as soon as you sign up. What next? Here are a few things to think about:
Here’s where to sign up for a trial class and give it a try. [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 170Q/170V on the GRE. Check out Chelsey’s upcoming GRE prep offerings here. The post Manhattan Prep GMAT Free Trial: What to Expect appeared first on GMAT. |
FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: Everything You Need to Know about GMAT Time Management, Part 1 |
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. First, a note: this three-part series is long; there’s a lot going on. You aren’t going to be able to incorporate all of this from day one. Rather, expect to return to this article as you get further into your studies. Make a note right now that you want to review this before every practice test (and probably after, too!). In this first part, we’re going to get oriented on some overall principles for GMAT time management. Let’s dive in! GMAT Time Management Tip 1) Why is Time Management So Important? The GMAT is ultimately a test of your decision-making, AKA your executive reasoning skills. In school, when you got really good at something, the test felt easier and you were able to answer questions faster. On the GMAT, the test adapts to your level (for the Quant and Verbal sections). As a result, no matter how good you get, the test is going to feel hard and you’re going to feel pressed for time. If you run out of time with a bunch of questions to go, then your score is going to nose-dive right at the end of the section. The GMAT is essentially a “where you end is what you get” test, so a score drop at the end is deadly. You have no time to recover and lift your score back up. At the same time, it can be problematic to go really fast. Speed often translates into careless mistakes, and if you miss too many questions that you really did know how to do, your score is going to be lower than it could have been. So, generally speaking, your goal is to be roughly on time throughout the section. You don’t have to stick super-rigidly to the exact timing. On certain questions, you will be somewhat faster or slower than the average. So we’re going to use this rubric: if you’re within about 3 minutes of where you’re supposed to be, then everything is fine. Keep doing what you’re doing. If you’re more than 3 minutes fast or slow, take action. That begs three questions:
GMAT Time Management Tip 2) Know (Generally) how the Scoring Works The Quant and Verbal sections of the GMAT are weird. The scoring is totally different than what you were used to in school. If you try to take the GMAT the way you took school tests, you’re probably going to mess up the timing and that’s probably going to prevent you from maximizing your score. You don’t have to really learn how the GMAT algorithm works, but there are certain things you need to know. (A) Everyone gets a lot of questions wrong, no matter the scoring level. Pretend you’re playing tennis. You don’t expect to win every point, right? That’d be silly. You just want to win more points than your opponent! On the GMAT, most people answer about 60% of the questions correctly in each section, regardless of scoring level. (B) Getting an easier question wrong hurts your score more than getting a harder question wrong. It’s important not to put yourself in the position of rushing and making tons of careless mistakes. (Note: it is still very possible to get the score you want even if you make mistakes on just a few of the easier questions.) (C) Missing 4 or more questions in a row hurts your score more than getting 4 “spread-out” questions wrong. This, of course, is exactly what happens to someone who runs out of time towards the end of the section. (D) If you don’t even answer the last 4, the score drop will be greater than if you answer the last 4 but get them all wrong. It’s okay if you don’t get to the very last question in the section; just one question can’t kill your score. However, your score will drop a lot if you don’t answer a bunch of questions at the end. The overall message? It’s crucial to learn how to balance your time well on the GMAT. GMAT Time Management Tip 3) When Solving Problems, Follow Two Principles These two principles apply when you are solving Official Guide or other GMAT-format problems. Principle 1: Practice the behavior you want to exhibit on the GMAT. Do not let yourself spend 5 minutes on this question because you’re just practicing and you want to see whether you can figure it out. If you do this, you’re training yourself to spend 5 minutes on the real test, too. Make the decision: “Right now, on the real test, I would pick answer (D) and move on.” Write down answer (D). Then, go to the next principle. Principle 2: After you’ve made your GMAT decision, spend all the time you like trying to figure stuff out. After you’ve told yourself that you’d pick (D) right now, feel free to move into “figure it out” mode. If you want to spend half an hour working on that problem before you look at the answer, do so! Whatever you figure out on your own now, you’ll be much more likely to remember when you need that move again later. If you follow these two principles, you’ll get the best of both worlds. You’ll be training yourself to make GMAT-appropriate decisions while also giving yourself the opportunity to figure out as much as you can on your own. Mull over this information; re-read it as needed. If you’re in one of our classes, I’d recommend waiting another week until you read the second part of this series. In part 2, we’ll dive deep into the details about how to train yourself to manage time on a per-question basis. 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 1 appeared first on GMAT. |
FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: 2019–2020 MBA Essay Analysis: Berkeley Haas, Dartmouth Tuck, Stanford |
How can you write essays that grab the attention of MBA admissions committees? With these thorough essay analyses, our friends at mbaMission help you conceptualize your essay ideas and understand how to execute so that your experiences truly stand out. This week, we round up essay analyses for The Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley; the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College; and the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB). BERKELEY HAAS ESSAY ANALYSIS 2019-2020 Applicants to the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley this season will be responding to two totally new required essay questions. We were a little sad to see that the school’s unique and challenging six-word story prompt had been removed, but we imagine many candidates are not. Instead, Berkeley Haas wants applicants to dig deep on a personal level and discuss something about which they are passionate. For their second essay, candidates must explain the school’s role in their anticipated development as a leader. For its optional essays, the admissions committee has maintained its multipart questionnaire prompt (which is much less complicated than it may seem at first glance) and an open-ended prompt that gives applicants the opportunity to address any unclear or problem areas in their profile. These four essays together should allow you to present a well-rounded impression of yourself to the school, complementing the information presented in your resume, recommendations, and basic stats with insight into who you are as an individual and who you hope to be as a future business leader. Continue reading the full essay analysis for Berkeley Haas. DARTMOUTH TUCK ESSAY ANALYSIS 2019-2020 Although the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College has made some tweaks to its MBA application essay questions this season, the information its candidates are expected to provide remains largely the same. Instead of four short-answer questions and two 500-word essays, applicants must provide three 300-word essays. The school’s first essay prompt broadly covers candidates’ need for an MBA, and specifically a Tuck MBA, though it no longer directly asks for defined career goals. Essay 2 addresses applicants’ individuality, and for the third essay, candidates must discuss a time when they helped facilitate another’s success. Clearly, Tuck is interested in identifying individuals who will be ambitious, cooperative, and supportive members of its community. Click here for our more detailed essay analysis of Tuck’s prompts for 2019–2020. WATCH: mbaMission’s Julie-Anne Heafey helps you tackle Darmouth Tuck’s 2019–2020 application essay questions… [youtube2]p> STAN[/youtube2] DOWNLOAD: Before you apply, be sure to check out the following free resources from mbaMission… Insider’s Guides: For a thorough exploration of each business school’s academic program, unique offerings, social life, and other key characteristics and resources, we recommend downloading a complimentary copy of our school-specific Insider’s Guides. Informed by firsthand insight from students, alumni, program representatives, and admissions officers, our Insider’s Guides offer a detailed look at each business school’s most defining characteristics. According toPoets & Quants, “A more thorough analysis of a school will not be found elsewhere on the web.”
Take the next step towards mastering your business school interview by downloading mbaMission’s free Interview Guides. Many MBA candidates find admissions interviews stressful and intimidating, but mastering this important element of the application process is definitely possible—the key is informed preparation. And, on your way to this high level of preparation, we offer ourfree Interview Primers to spur you along.
mbaMission is the leader in MBA admissions consulting with a full-time and comprehensively trained staff of consultants, all with profound communications and MBA experience. mbaMission has helped thousands of candidates fulfill their dream of attending prominent MBA programs around the world. Take your first step toward a more successful MBA application experience with a free 30-minute consultation with one of mbaMission’s senior consultants. Click here to sign up today. The post 2019–2020 MBA Essay Analysis: Berkeley Haas, Dartmouth Tuck, Stanford appeared first on GMAT. |
FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: GMAT Study Tips: How Do We Learn? |
This post was written by Manhattan Prep GMAT, GRE, and LSAT instructor Chris Gentry. As a standardized test teacher (I started teaching LSAT classes back in 2003, and now teach GMAT, GRE, and LSAT classes), I’ve come to realize that one of the most impressively unfortunate aspects of test preparation is the simple fact that many people don’t know how to study! This is especially true for those of us who have not entered a classroom environment for several years—also known as most of my students preparing for the GMAT. Let’s start with learning itself: how does the brain learn? The brain learns by forgetting. This is the first principle we need to embrace. The brain is a ruthless forgetting machine: it forgets really, really well! And when we begin studying, we will forget. A lot. This is, ironically, one of the first steps to learning. To learn, we need to allow ourselves to forget. So we don’t try to learn a topic entirely in one study session. And we don’t try to learn a topic in sequential study sessions. We learn by spaced repetition: study an element of the test for a short period of time, then walk away. And stay away. For at least a day. Then, after you’ve started to forget, you return to that material. On the GMAT, the most elementary way to implement this learning principle is to alternate study sessions between Quant and Verbal topics. Don’t study exponents on Wednesday, and then on Thursday come back to study exponents again. Study exponents on Wednesday, and then study parallelism on Thursday. Move things around! Embrace the forgetting! When we familiarize ourselves with material, we only think we’ve learned… but sadly, we have not. We need to forget, then re-familiarize, then forget, then re-familiarize; now we are starting to learn! Look up the “Leitner box schedule” online. You’ll want something akin to this as you begin your studies. The brain learns through association. This second aspect is more about where we study than how we study. Don’t study in the same place, at the same time, drinking the same ice water with lemon, all the time. Mix it up! Give the brain some variety! Study at a coffee shop, or a park, or at a library table that people walk by. Moderate levels of distraction are, oddly enough, contributions to your studies! The brain learns through failure. Or, as I put it to my classes, we learn best when we’re a little bit angry. Don’t start by reading a chapter. Start by attempting problems. Embrace that failure! When we look at a curriculum, we should start with the problem sets. Attempt them, but don’t check the answers: not yet. Let our comfort, or lack thereof, dictate how carefully we read the content explanations. After we’ve read, we return to the problems we attempted, and we make any desired revisions to our work. Then we check our answers. But we don’t read explanations…not yet. If we answered the problem correctly, can we write an explanation? And not just ‘Answer C is correct because of this equation’, but ‘Because the problem begins with exponents and addition, consider whether there is a common term manipulation available’. An explanation isn’t what answer is correct: an explanation is how we knew to apply the process that led to that correct answer. And especially what aspect of the problem we will expect to see again in a future problem! If we did not answer the problem correctly, now that we know which answer is correct, what process elements will we implement to arrive at that correct answer? And again, what in the problem should suggest those process elements? We try to craft our own explanations before we read someone else’s. An explanation written by someone else tells us how that other person would solve the problem…but it might not be how we would solve the problem! Even as a GMAT instructor for Manhattan Prep, I read some of our explanations and think ‘Huh. I can see why that works, but I would never have solved it that way.’ And that’s ok. That’s good. The ultimate goal is to build our own processes to arrive at correct answers. Oh, and one other thing…without looking, do we remember what the last piece of advice was in the first bullet point? What was the name of that review schedule? Or have we forgotten it… Good luck, and happy testing! KEEP READING: 8 Essential GMAT Study Tips Want more guidance from our GMAT gurus? You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GRE courses absolutely free! We’re not kidding. Check out our upcoming courses here. [b]Chris Gentry is a Manhattan Prep LSAT, GMAT, and GRE instructor who lives in Atlanta, Georgia. Chris received his Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from Clemson and JD from Emory University School of Law before realizing that he genuinely enjoys the challenge of standardized tests, and his true passion is teaching. Chris’ dual-pronged approach to understanding each test question has helped countless of his students to achieve their goal scores. [/b] The post GMAT Study Tips: How Do We Learn? appeared first on GMAT. |
FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: Testing Accommodations on the GMAT, Part 2 |
Do you qualify for testing accommodations on the GMAT? Or do you think you might? In the first half of this article, we talked about the general application process for testing accommodations. If you haven’t read it yet, go ahead and do so before joining us again here. As I mentioned in the first part of the article, I spoke with two experts from GMAC: Teresa Elliott, Ph.D., Senior Manager of GMAT Exam Accommodations, and Kendra Johnson, Ed.D, Director of GMAT Exam Accommodations. I also spoke with Tova Elberg Ph.D., a clinical psychologist in private practice in Israel and New York. Please note that GMAC does not endorse or recommend the services of any specific evaluator in relation to any disability. The information provided by Dr. Elberg represents Dr. Elberg’s views and should not be interpreted as reflecting official GMAC policy. As we discussed during the first part of this article, GMAC divides possible accommodations issues into 5 main categories (as well as an Other category). All Conditions All quotes in the sections discussing specific conditions are copyright GMAC and come from the organization’s testing accommodations materials posted on its website, unless otherwise cited. Any condition has to be documented in the following ways:
Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder This category requires a DSM-IV or DSM-V diagnosis and the professional who diagnoses you must rule out alternative explanations for the symptoms that you are displaying. GMAC also requests a history of your grades and prior testing issues in school, in addition to information about the impact your ADHD continues to have in adulthood and employment situations. The following tests are listed in GMAC’s guidelines. Many other tests are acceptable as well. – Self-report and Other-report: Connors, Brown – Performance-based: TOVA, IVA, CPT – Adult intelligence: WAIS-IV, Scholastic Abilities Test for Adults In general, your evaluator should use “age-normed, performance-based measures of skills of clear relevance to the GMAT,” according to Dr. Elliott. She continues: “For example, if a person is asking for extended time due to concerns with reading speed, he would need to use well-validated, timed measures of speed and accuracy when reading lengthy, complex material. On the other hand, untimed measures, measures without solid age-based norms, measures that rely on subjective scoring, measures that emphasize oral reading, or measures that do not use lengthy, complex material would not tell us much about a person’s need for extended time on the GMAT.” Learning and Cognitive Disabilities This category includes conditions such as dyslexia and requires a DSM-IV or DSM-V diagnosis. The professional who diagnoses you must rule out alternative explanations for the symptoms that you are displaying. GMAC also requests a history of your grades and prior testing issues in school, in addition to information about the impact your learning or cognitive disability continues to have in adulthood and employment situations. The following tests are listed in GMAC’s guidelines. Many other tests are acceptable as well. – Age-normed measures: Scholastic Abilities Test for Adults – Adult intelligence: WAIS-IV – Other age-normed performance-based measures (e.g., where appropriate, “measures of phonologic and symbolic processing are often helpful”) In general, your evaluator should use “age-normed, performance-based measures of skills of clear relevance to the GMAT,” according to Dr. Elliott. She continues: “For example, if a person is asking for extended time due to concerns with reading speed, he would need to use well-validated, timed measures of speed and accuracy when reading lengthy, complex material. On the other hand, untimed measures, measures without solid age-based norms, measures that rely on subjective scoring, measures that emphasize oral reading, or measures that do not use lengthy, complex material would not tell us much about a person’s need for extended time on the GMAT.” Physical and Systemic Disabilities These issues include mobility impairments and diseases or medical conditions that affect physical functioning, such as multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, systemic lupus, and others. (A full list can be found in the PDF for this category, linked at the beginning of this article.) Because this category includes permanent disabilities, some impairments can be demonstrated via documentation that is more than three years old. While examples are not given in the documentation provided by GMAC, we might imagine that someone who is paralyzed and not expected to recover any function may not be required to supply supporting documentation dated within the past three years. If the particular condition is or could be variable, however, then more recent documentation will likely be required. Psychological Disabilities This category requires a DSM-IV or DSM-V diagnosis and the professional who diagnoses you must rule out alternative explanations for the symptoms that you are displaying. GMAC strongly recommends relatively recent information (typically within 3 years) because psychological issues can change over time. If you underwent a complete evaluation more than 3 years ago, GMAC may accept that report in addition to a more modest “update” evaluation performed recently (typically within the past year). In other words, you don’t necessarily have to undergo another complete (and expensive!) evaluation. Sensory Disabilities (Vision and Hearing) This category primarily encompasses any issues dealing with vision or hearing, but can include anything in the “sensory domain.” Because this category includes permanent disabilities, some impairments can be demonstrated via documentation that is more than three years old. While examples are not given in the documentation provided by GMAC, we might imagine that someone who has been completely and irreversibly blind for many years may not be required to supply supporting documentation dated within the past three years. If the particular condition is or could be variable, however, then more recent documentation will likely be required. For hearing issues, an audiogram must be provided. For vision issues, “current visual acuity data” must be provided. What really happens from an “outside” perspective? So far, we’ve been discussing all of the formal steps, requirements, and rules for the application process. It’s a bit overwhelming. Let’s step out of the “official” role now and talk about what happens from the outsider-looking-in perspective, aka you! Dr. Tova Elberg was kind enough to help me think this through from the student perspective. (All quotes in this section are from Dr. Elberg.) Dr. Elberg deals only with certain kinds of issues and so she speaks from that point of view. She is not, for instance, a medical doctor and so does not deal with the kinds of tests that would demonstrate issues with seeing or hearing, limited motion, and so on. Not everyone will need the specific types of evaluations that she performs. You’ll need to research what might be appropriate given your particular situation. I’m not sure whether I would qualify There are many nuances to this discussion, so there is no way to say for sure, “Oh, this person will definitely qualify but that other person won’t.” You really do have to go through the process. As you might expect, it isn’t easy to qualify for test accommodations (nor should it be!). GMAC needs to ensure that the integrity of the GMAT is maintained while also accommodating those who legitimately qualify. All of the rest of us—whether we qualify or not—want this, too, because we don’t want to think that someone with money could just “buy” their way into extra time on the test. As I mentioned earlier, accommodations aren’t meant to make the test easier for anyone. Rather, they are meant to level the playing field for people who would be at an objective disadvantage if they were to take the test under standard conditions. Dr. Elberg shared with me that the most common “non-qualifying” statement she’ll hear is along the lines of “I get anxious on tests but I’m not otherwise anxious” or “I don’t do well on these kinds of tests” but otherwise this person doesn’t exhibit any impairment in real life. In other words, the student is not discussing a functional impairment that affects her life, employment, and education in general; rather, she’s discussing an issue that appears to affect her only in testing situations. Because the issue doesn’t rise to the level of a functional problem in daily life, this may not qualify as a disability. Dr. Elberg adds, “To be fair, it could be a harbinger of something more serious. I can only know after I perform an evaluation.” I had heard anecdotally that someone who was not previously diagnosed during high school or college doesn’t have much chance of gaining accommodations for the GMAT. Dr. Elberg set me straight: “It’s not true that a person who was not previously diagnosed has a slim-to-none chance of gaining accommodations. A person’s circumstances change and there are individuals who have struggled with a disability from early on that, for whatever reason, went undiagnosed and untreated. “Each case has to be judged on its merits but one criterion must be fulfilled: A person must have a diagnosable disability, judged by both the DSM manual and the Americans for Disabilities Act. “When someone comes to an evaluation seeking accommodations and she’s never been evaluated before, it does raise a red flag (for GMAC and for me) but it’s not a dead end. People’s circumstances change. Sometimes learning disabilities come to the fore in later life. One can suffer even a minor head injury in later life and develop what’s called acquired ADHD.” Finally, Dr. Elberg points out that non-native English speakers will not be able to request dictionaries or other accommodations that are designed to address language skills. If such issues are impairing the student’s ability to perform well on the GMAT, that student will have to take the time to improve his language skills. Getting Started: Find an Evaluator First, if you don’t already have a licensed professional with whom you have worked on these issues, you’ll need to find one. Look for someone who is already familiar with the topic of testing accommodations and ideally has already worked with other GMAT or computer-based standardized-test students in the past. Dr. Elberg provided all kinds of advice about what happens next if you do need a psychologist. (Again, quotes are from here. Also, note that I’m going to use the word “psychologist” from now on to refer to the licensed professional with whom you work, but this does not mean that everyone needs to work with a psychologist!) Show all prior evaluations to your psychologist, including any diagnoses and test results as well as any documentation of testing accommodations received during your school years or for other tests. Also bring medical records, if applicable, including medications that you take or have taken. If applicable, include any “school transcripts showing grades before and after accommodations” or “statements from employers attesting to accommodations received at work,” including how such accommodations have improved your work performance. If you don’t have this kind of documentation, that’s okay—but if you do, include it. If you haven’t worked with this person before, then expect to begin the process with an interview. The psychologist will likely ask questions about your family, school, social, work, and medical history as it relates to educational or work functioning. During this phase, Dr. Elberg says, she is developing hypotheses about the issues faced by this student and posing additional questions to help her confirm or refute various hypotheses. Because she knows that she will need to make a differential diagnosis (as discussed in the first half of this article), she is actively seeking alternative explanations. For example: “A reading difficulty may be tied to ADHD, a vision-focusing issue, or another matter, and I must check each one.” Dr. Elberg typically holds 3 meetings of several hours each; obviously this can vary by case and different evaluators may have different procedures. For these kinds of intensive psychological evaluations, she has heard that (in New York) “prices start at $1,500 for work done by interns under supervision at hospital-affiliated clinics and can run $2000 to $4000 for independent providers.” Again, this will vary significantly based on the kind of evaluation you need and will likely also vary by geographical region (New York is expensive!). You may not need to spend anywhere near that kind of money. Someone who already has a well-documented case may only need a minor update or possibly nothing new at all. (This next bit of advice is mine, from the perspective of a “smart shopper.”) Be sure to ask your psychologist what will happen if GMAC requests additional information. What kind of help is already included in the initial fee and for what kinds of things might you have to pay more? Imagine that you’re shopping for an accountant to do your taxes. What would you expect to be included in the initial quote and what would be extra? For instance, perhaps something was unclear in the initial report. Will the psychologist clarify the material without charging you more? If it were me, I would think of this as a general service included with the original price. In the same way, if there were an error or communication problem with my tax returns, then I would expect my accountant to fix the problem without charging me extra (assuming the error or lack of clarity wasn’t my fault). I would discuss this at my first meeting with the psychologist, in the same way that I would with a new accountant. Perhaps, though, another test has to be performed to provide additional information requested by GMAC. Perhaps a second opinion must be sought from another professional, such as a neurologist or psychiatrist. In those cases, I would feel that it’s reasonable to pay for the additional work that needs to be done at that stage. Last Tips from Dr. Elberg I asked Dr. Elberg whether there was anything else I should have discussed with her and she told me that she wanted to make two points. First, “by undergoing an evaluation, the student is not purchasing accommodations. The decision to grant or deny accommodations rests entirely with GMAC. The student, together with the evaluator, must make the case. “ Second, “to students, a huge piece of advice: Don’t fake anything. You know that you’re faking, I’ll know that you’re faking, and GMAC will know as well!” Finally, this is my favorite piece of advice from Dr. Elberg: “In the section in which the student is asked to indicate why he can’t take the GMAT in standard format, my advice is to write from the heart and indicate what gets in his way. Don’t repeat psychology jargon. Don’t repeat your entire personal history. Rather, explain in simplest terms how your problems prevent you from taking the test the way everyone else does and why you need each of the accommodations you are seeking.” Next Steps (1) Read through the materials linked on the main accommodations page on the mba.com site, including the portion that applies to your particular category. You will no doubt have lots of questions as you do so; you can find a list of frequently asked questions here. (2) Do you need to work with a licensed professional? First, use the published guidelines to review whatever documentation you already have, including previous assessments or tests you’ve undergone, information from schools or employers, and so on. If your existing documentation meets the requirements listed in GMAC’s materials, then you may not need to work with a clinical evaluator. If your documentation does not fulfill all of GMAC’s requirements and recommendations, then you may need to find a licensed professional to conduct a formal evaluation, determine the issues that you face and the appropriate accommodations for your situation, and help you to provide the needed documentation to GMAC. If so, be sure to share all of the official documentation with this individual. (3) Gather your documents and, if needed, schedule your first appointment with your evaluator. Either way, complete and submit your application as soon as is practical. If GMAC does need additional documentation or more recent documentation, they will be more than happy to tell you, but they can’t do this until after you have submitted your initial application. Don’t put this off! The sooner you get started, the better. Good luck—let us know how it goes! The post Testing Accommodations on the GMAT, Part 2 appeared first on GMAT. |
FROM Manhattan GMAT Blog: Testing Accommodations on the GMAT, Part 1 |
Do you qualify for testing accommodations on the GMAT? Or do you think you might? Broadly speaking, the term accommodations refers to altering the testing conditions for a particular student in order to “level the playing field” for that student. Someone who is blind, for example, may need some kind of altered test format in order to read the test questions. These accommodations do not make the test easier for the student; rather, they make the test possible at the same level as for a regular student. Other potential issues are less obvious but no less valid. Someone with a severe reading disorder might qualify for extended time while someone with a mild form might not, because a severe reading disorder might slow someone’s reading speed to the point that it is no longer reasonable to expect this person to get through the test in the standard length of time. Where is that line drawn, though? What is the process for applying for testing accommodations and how are the decisions made? That’s what we’re going to talk about today. I’ve spoken with representatives from GMAC (the organization that owns the GMAT) as well as a psychologist who works with students to determine whether they qualify for test accommodations. I’ve also reviewed all of the application materials and in general kept an ear open to hear what students and teachers are saying about this process. Consider this your unofficial GMAT Testing Accommodations Encyclopedia! Note: This page on the mba.com site explains the overall process. Later in this article, we will discuss the five specific categories of conditions listed on the mba.com page. I spoke with two people at GMAC who are experts in this field. Teresa Elliott, Ph.D., Senior Manager of GMAT Exam Accommodations, was kind enough to talk me through the process, start to finish, and patiently answer interminable questions about hypothetical scenarios and how things work. In addition, Kendra Johnson, Ed.D., Director of GMAT Exam Accommodations, took time out of her extremely busy schedule to clarify the trickiest aspects and to advise me as to the best way to convey these details. I also spoke with Tova Elberg Ph.D., a clinical psychologist in private practice in Israel and New York. I first became acquainted with Dr. Elberg more than 5 years ago when we were both answering questions on the Beat the GMAT forums. She was also kind enough to answer my interminable questions and help me break the intricacies of the process down into more manageable steps. Please note that GMAC does not endorse or recommend the services of any specific evaluator in relation to any disability. The information provided by Dr. Elberg represents Dr. Elberg’s views and should not be interpreted as reflecting official GMAC policy What categories of conditions are covered? GMAC lists five main categories (in alphabetical order) on its website. Go to the main accommodations page on the mba.com site to pull up a PDF describing each category. It is also possible to submit something in the category of “Other” if you feel your particular issue does not fit into one of the five categories listed above. The general application process is the same for all categories, but the material required to document your condition can vary. We’ll cover each of the categories in greater detail during the second half of this article. What does qualify… and what doesn’t? There isn’t an easy answer to this question. Even people with the “same” issues may receive differing accommodations depending upon the particular issue and the severity of that issue. The applications really are handled on a case-by-case basis. The overarching issue, according to both Dr. Elliott of GMAC and psychologist Dr. Elberg, is a condition that results in some kind of impaired functioning in daily life that meets the criteria of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and the DSM-IV or DSM-V. For some categories of disability, that impaired functioning is more straightforward: if you’re blind, then you may not be able to read the screen in “standard form” and may need some kind of appropriate accommodations to take the test. What about someone who has a less obvious issue? If the only criterion is working more slowly than the average person during a test situation, that may not be enough to qualify, nor would the ability to get a significantly better score if you have more time. Most of us wish we could have extra time on any standardized test, but as I mentioned earlier, the goal here is not to make the test easier for us to take. Rather, the goal is to level the playing field for people with pervasive conditions that significantly impact life and work situations in general, not just testing situations. A diagnosis by itself is not enough, though. The condition must be shown to impact current functioning and this impact must be documented carefully. Finally, Dr. Elliott of GMAC stressed that a differential diagnosis is key. Many conditions have similar symptoms, so it is important to show, where applicable, that the diagnosing clinician performed tests to rule out other, related conditions (or to show that you have multiple conditions). Everyone was very clear that a diagnosis does not necessarily mean that someone qualifies for testing accommodations. Dr. Johnson offered an example of a paraplegic who has full use of the upper body and no cognitive issues. This person will clearly be diagnosed as a paraplegic. Such an individual may need a wheelchair-accessible facility and might need longer breaks in order to, say, go to the bathroom. This person may not, however, need accommodations during the test itself, if the specific disability does not impact the way in which the person takes a computer-based, standardized test. On the other hand, it might. Perhaps the injury that led to the paraplegia also caused some kind of cognitive issue. This is precisely why it is so important to be able to explain how a particular issue or disability affects your current functioning across work and academic settings. What is the basic application process? You will need to fill out the GMAT Test Accommodation Request Form, which you can download from the main accommodations page on the mba.com site. You will also need to fill out a form that explains the particular condition(s) you have, as well as what accommodations you are requesting, and you will need to attach supporting documentation from a licensed professional (more on this later). You will fax or mail all of this in with payment for the test itself (250 USD); that is, you will pay for the test at the time that you submit your application. If you are ultimately accepted, you will receive instructions for how to register for the test. If your application is ultimately rejected, you will be able to take the test under regular conditions or you can request a refund of the testing fee if you decide not to take the GMAT after all. How long does the process take GMAC aims to have a response to students within 30 calendar days of submission of the application (and, in fact, many students receive a response with 7 to 10 business days, on average). If the initial application contains all of the necessary documentation to make a determination, then students typically receive a response by or before the 30-calendar-day mark. If GMAC has to request additional documentation, then the clock “resets,” with a goal of a response within 30 days after the additional documentation is received. Note that there is no “expedited” review—you can’t pay an extra fee to have your application jump to the top of the list. In other words, plan ahead! If you know or suspect that you will need accommodations, get your application started before you even start preparing for the test. This is especially true because, at times, it can be harder to schedule your test date. For instance, if you have to take the test over a 2-day period during the busiest time of year, then your testing center may take longer than typical to find a test date that fits your schedule. Every student is having trouble scheduling right now—autumn is the busiest time of year! Even in this kind of scenario, though, you likely won’t wait any longer than other students who are registering for regular tests. What happens if my application is approved? If your application is approved, then you will receive written notification as well as instructions for how to schedule your test date. If applicable, you will also receive a special code that will allow you to use the same accommodations on your GMATPrep test software. For example, if you are approved for 50% extra time, then you will receive a code that will then let you take GMATPrep tests with 50% extra time as well. (This code will also work with the two new Exam Pack tests.) Finally, when you do take the test, the schools will not know that you received accommodations. Your score report will look just like everyone else’s report. If, later, you want to disclose this information to the school (perhaps, when you’re admitted, you want to ask for accommodations during school), GMAC can release information with written approval from you. What happens if my application is rejected? First of all, Dr. Elliott of GMAC emphasized that it is rare for an application to be rejected outright. If someone’s application falls short, GMAC will almost certainly request that the student submit additional documentation and the organization will help the student to know precisely the kinds of material that GMAC requires in order to make a decision. GMAC does not want to reject someone just because his or her application is incomplete. Try to stick as closely as possible to the rules when first filling out your application in order to reduce the chances that you’ll be asked for additional documentation. Don’t fear, though, that if you make a little mistake or forget to include something, then you will be rejected outright. The most likely outcome is that you will be asked to provide additional documentation—lengthening the process, but not killing your chances of being approved. If your application is ultimately rejected, you will receive written notification and instructions about how to appeal the decision, if you wish to do so. You can also register for a regular test administration or request a refund of your test fee. What accommodations am I qualified to receive? We hear this question all the time. GMAC can’t tell you what you “should” apply for (nor can we!); rather, you need to decide (in conjunction with your licensed clinical advisor, medical doctor, or other professional) what accommodations are appropriate for your particular situation. An experienced professional will be able to advise you as to the appropriate accommodations for your diagnosis and you will then request those in your application. You may be approved for some, all, or none. I can assure you that Dr. Elliott and the professionals at GMAC know how nerve-wracking this process can be, but they do need to see your full application in order to decide what might be appropriate for you. There is not a one-size-fits-all answer for everyone, not even for everyone diagnosed with the same condition, so it is impossible for her team to discuss such questions over the phone and without any case history available. So here’s your short answer: you will need to work with a licensed professional who will be able to diagnose and document your particular disability. This person will help you to decide what you should request. Any back-and-forth with GMAC on this topic will occur only after you have submitted your application. What kinds of accommodations are available? The GMAC Handbook lists certain accommodations but also indicates that you can request any accommodations that you think are appropriate for your situation (with no guarantee that you will be approved, of course). The following are already on the “official list” (quoted directly from the GMAC Handbook; anything in parentheses is my own explanation): – Enlarged font – Additional Time: 50% more or 100% more – Additional rest break (more than 2) – Extended rest breaks (more than 8 minutes each) – Two-day appointment (vs. 1 day) – Wheelchair accessibility – Reader who can read the test items to the candidate – Recorder to enter responses – Sign language interpreter for spoken directions and candidate instructions only – Trackball mouse – Allowance of a medical device into the testing room Certain minor accommodations do not require advanced notice or application for accommodations. The examples listed in the Handbook are: – Eyeglasses and hearing aids – Pillow for supporting neck, back, or injured limb – Neck brace or collars – Insulin pump, if attached to your body – Ear plugs or headphones to block noise (these are provided by the testing center) – Switching the mouse from right-hand to left-hand operation How do I find a “licensed professional”? You will want to work with someone who has significant experience in the world of standardized test accommodations, particularly for high-stakes tests such as the GMAT, the GRE, the SAT, and so on. Because the GMAT is given on a computer, you may want to make sure that you’re working with someone who has experience with computer-based tests. The professional should be experienced in making differential diagnoses (as we discussed earlier) and should also be very familiar with performance-based measures that are used to document those diagnoses. If you qualified for testing or other accommodations at university, you may also want to contact the Disability Support Services office and ask for their help. (You can also try calling them even if you didn’t qualify then, but they are more likely to be helpful if they already have a case file on you and are familiar with your history.) In the second part of this article, we’ll talk about the kinds of information GMAC requests with an application. We’ll also take a look at the application process from the point of view of a professional helping a student to document the disabilities. The post Testing Accommodations on the GMAT, Part 1 appeared first on GMAT. |
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