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11 Mar 2014, 09:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: School Profile: Why Students Are so Happy at Claremont McKenna College |
 Claremont McKenna College, a young private liberal arts school founded in 1946, is part of the Claremont University Consortium that also includes Pomona College, Scripps College, Pitzer College, Harvey Mudd College, and two graduate schools. It is ranked #18 on the Veritas Prep Elite College Rankings. Claremont College takes a pragmatic pre-professional approach to academics, preparing students for global leadership roles. The most popular majors by student enrollment at Claremont College are economics, government, and psychology; although the college offers thirty-three majors, it specializes in economics and government. The international relations program stresses diplomacy and government action. The study abroad program is unique in that students are frequently immersed in a culture by participating in an international NGO. Several professors at Claremont McKenna are recognized as experts in their fields. One professor was on the Bush Economic Advisory Committee, one is a frequently quoted expert on primary election politics, and another was a government advisor during both the Nixon and Reagan administrations. The academic tone of the college is decidedly conservative. Students with a more liberal mindset may be more comfortable at Pomona than Claremont McKenna. This is a hands-on career prep college. According to rankings for educational institutions’ student return on investments, Claremont ranks #13 overall in getting a great return on tuition investment, #4 among West Coast schools, and #2 among liberal arts colleges. A degree from Claremont McKenna College is highly valued among large corporations and government agencies. CMC students can enjoy paid internships during their college studies, and those in the Washington Scholars program receive assignments on Capitol Hill, the Pentagon, or international NGOs, among others. The Athenaeum, a social and intellectual center for the exchange of ideas, hosts world renowned speakers who interact with the students four nights a week. Beyond the academics, Claremont McKenna College has a reputation among the consortium as a party school. Some students say this is an unfair characterization that springs from the college’s more lax campus drinking rules than the other four schools. There is the opportunity on campus to play on the weekends as hard as you study during the week, however, there are plenty of weekend activities for non-drinkers and occasional drinkers. It isn’t so prevalent that non-drinking students feel it’s unavoidable. In fact, Stark Hall in the Towers is a substance free dorm. Claremont McKenna is part of the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps NCAA Division III athletic program. The athletic program boasts a long history of winning. Of the twenty-one men’s and women’s sports teams, fourteen have finished in the top ten in the country since beginning in 1958. Student-athletes are held to high academic standards in and out of their seasons. Coaches may write letters of support to help sway admissions in your favor, but otherwise have little influence over the selection process. Claremont is one of the top athletics programs in the SCIAC Division. The school also has a strong commitment to intramurals. Claremont McKenna, perhaps because it is so young, is short on traditions. One of the school’s traditions is for incoming freshmen to go on wilderness orientation adventures with upperclassmen and faculty prior to the beginning of school. Destinations include beach camping on Catalina Island, rock-climbing in Yosemite, or canoeing on the Colorado River. Other traditions are ponding, where students are thrown into a campus fountain on their birthdays, and champagne theses day, where students exchange their last paper for a personal bottle of champagne and hang out drinking and talking in the fountains the rest of the day. There is a constant flow of social and academic opportunities on campus. Claremont students are confident and assertive; they’re politically and fiscally conservative and welcome a lively debate on nearly any issue. With the great weather of Southern California, intimate small campus atmosphere, and proximity to Los Angeles, it’s no wonder Claremont students are consistently among the happiest and most satisfied in the nation. We run a free online SAT prep seminar every few weeks. And, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! Also, take a look at our profiles for The University of Chicago, Pomona College, and Amherst College, and more to see if those schools are a good fit for you. By Colleen Hill |
11 Mar 2014, 13:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: GMAT at the Movies: Diagnosis and Surgery of GMAT Problems with Doc Hollywood |
 In this series we return to classic movies to learn fundamental strategies for GMAT Success. There are two facets to each quantitative problem – (1) deciding what to do and (2) then actually doing the math. I refer to these respectively as the “diagnosis” and “surgery.” A Good Diagnosis Avoids Unnecessary Surgery On the GMAT “diagnosis” means to read the problem, do a quick triage of what is asked and what information is given, and come up with a plan of action. “Surgery” is how I refer to the careful completion of the actual math. I use the word “surgery” in order to emphasize the fact that the math must be done with focus and with care and is not something to take for granted. One aspect of the quantitative section is that “a good diagnosis avoids unnecessary surgery.” In this scene from the movie Doc Hollywood, the main character, played by Michael J. Fox, is about to send a kid in for open heart surgery when the wise old physician steps in and gives him a can of carbonated soda instead. Talk about avoiding unnecessary surgery! (Note: This clip contains some coarse language). ) What this clip illustrates is the value of making sure of your diagnosis before you launch into anything too extreme. Doc Hollywood is prescribing heart surgery and the cure turns out to be a soda. When applying this principle to the GMAT you will want to go ahead and complete any simple math such as addition or easy multiplication. If the “surgery” (or math) is going to take less than 20 or 30 seconds then it is certainly worth doing and you should not really waste your time looking for an easier way. It is when the math is complicated and has lots of potential for error (like major surgery) that you want to be sure of your diagnosis. Put It into Practice Apply this knowledge to the following problem from the Veritas Prep Statistics and Combinatorics book: A company assigns product codes consisting of all the letters in the alphabet. How many product codes are possible if the company uses at most three letters in its codes, and all letters can be repeated in any one code? (A) 15,600 (B) 16,226 (C) 17,576 (D) 18,278 (E) 28,572 Do you have the answer? Before you run off and start taking 26 to the power of 3, you will want to think about ways to avoid all of that unnecessary surgery. The question says, “at most three letters” in a code and “all letters can be repeated in any one code.” The first statement means that you have multiple problems within one question and the latter statement means that this is not a permutation or combination, but it is an example of “independent selection.” Basically, since any number can be repeated you could have a one letter code with 26 possibilities, or a two-letter code with 26 * 26 possibilities, or a three letter code with 26 * 26 * 26 possibilities. Since the questions says “at most 3 letters” one, two, and three letter codes are all valid options. You do not need to choose one, but should include all three in your answer. Calculate the number of possibilities for each option and then add them together: so 26 + 262 + 263. Unless there is an easier way. This is a good time to look at the answer choices. You are generally looking for either answers that are spread very far apart or answers that have distinctive unit’s digits. These are often the best ways to avoid doing messy math in this situation. If the answers have large gaps you should estimate. In this case estimating is not that simple, so you should go with the unit’s digit. You will find that any power of 6 results in a unit’s digit of 6. Therefore, 26 has a unit’s digit of 6 as does 262 and 263. Therefore the unit’s digit of the answer is 8 (6 + 6 + 6 is 18 for a unit’s digit of 8). The correct answer is D. Think Like a Doctor Doc Hollywood is an absolutely classic movie from the 1990s, and it illustrates a classic truth about the Quantitative section. If you are about to do some very complicated math, you might want to step back and make sure of your diagnosis. After all, as you are in the process of multiplying three digit numbers together, you do not want some older, wiser GMAT test-taker to give you that look of disdain and say “Nice job, Hollywood.” If you plan on taking the GMAT soon, we have GMAT prep courses starting all the time. And, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! David Newland has been teaching for Veritas Prep since 2006, and he won the Veritas Prep Instructor of the Year award in 2008. Students’ friends often call in asking when he will be teaching next because he really is a Veritas Prep and a GMAT rock star! Read more of his articles here. |
11 Mar 2014, 16:01
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: U.S. News MBA Rankings for 2015 |
 U.S. News & World Report, which maintains arguably the most influential graduate school rankings in the world, has just released its new business school rankings for 2015. It’s far too easy for applicants to get caught up in the rankings, and to obsess over the fact that a school dropped three spots from one year to the next, but reality is that MBA rankings matter. They influence how recruiters look at schools, they serve as a signal to applicants and affect what caliber of applicants each school receives, and they give you an idea of where you stand relative to your target schools. You should never end your business school selection process with the rankings, but the reality is that you will probably start the process by seeing where schools sit in the MBA rankings. Here are the top 25 American MBA programs according to U.S. News. Each program’s 2014 ranking (published in 2013) follows in brackets: 2015 U.S. News Business School Rankings 1. Harvard [1] 1. Stanford [1] 1. Penn (Wharton) [3] 4. U. of Chicago (Booth) [6] 5. MIT (Sloan) [4] 6. Northwestern (Kellogg) [4] 7. UC Berkeley (Haas) [7] 8. Columbia [8] 9. Dartmouth (Tuck) [9] 10. NYU (Stern) [10] 11. U. of Michigan (Ross) [14] 11. U. of Virginia (Darden) [12] 13. Yale [13] 14. Duke (Fuqua) [11] 15. U. of Texas (McCombs) [17] 16. UCLA (Anderson) [14] 17. Cornell (Johnson) [16] 18. Carnegie Mellon (Tepper) [19] 19. U. of North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler) [20] 20. Emory (Goizueta) [18] 21. Indiana (Kelley) [22] 22. Washington U. in St. Louis (Olin) [21] 23. Georgetown (McDonough) [25] 23. Notre Dame (Mendoza) [27] 25. U. of Washington (Foster) [24] 25. Vanderbilt (Owen) [30] (Yup, 26 schools actually made the “Top 25″ in the U.S. News MBA rankings this year.) What’s Changed Since Last Year? Certainly, much of the chatter about this year’s MBA rankings will be about the fact that Wharton has edged into a three-way tie with Harvard and Stanford for the #1 spot. Also at the top, Chicago Booth managed to leapfrog MIT Sloan and Kellogg to take sole possession of the #4 spot. Despite some modest juggling, the same ten MBA programs that a year ago could say they were “top ten” schools are the same programs that can make this claim this year. Outside of the top ten, Ross rose three spots to be just on the outside of the top ten, climbing from #14 to #11 (switching places with Duke’s Fuqua). Notre Dame’s Mendoza and Vanderbilt’s Owen climbed four spots and five spots, respectively, to break into the top 25. You can be sure that some champagne is popping in Indiana and in Tennessee this afternoon. You can read more about 14 of the the most competitive business schools in Veritas Prep’s Essential Guides, 14 in-depth guides to the most elite MBA programs, available on our site. If you’re ready to start building your own MBA candidacy, call us at 1-800-925-7737 and speak with an MBA admissions expert today. And, as always, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! By Scott Shrum. |
12 Mar 2014, 09:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: SAT Tip of the Week: Essential Skills for the Test |
 So much time and energy is spent in preparing for the SAT. Many consider it the gate keeper to their college acceptence. It is a way to distinguish oneself on a level playing field from all others who are attempting to gain admission to college, but what is the SAT really? Is it an IQ test? Is it a college prep test? Does one really have to succeed on the SAT to do well in college? It is probably best to begin with what the SAT is not. The SAT is NOT an IQ test. Once again, the SAT is NOT an IQ test! Doing well or poorly on the SAT does not make a student “smart” or “dumb” and the SAT is not a predictor of a person’s mental acuity (even tests that are supposed to measure IQ tend to be deeply flawed, but that is neither here nor there). The SAT is also NOT a predictor of how well a student will do in college beyond the first semester or so. For many students who do not excel at standardized tests, the SAT is not even a good indicator of proficiency at certain academic skills. Performing well on the SAT is also not required for admittance to a number of reputable institutions of higher learning, though for a great many others, a good SAT score is very helpful in distinguishing one student from a number of other qualified applicants. So what is the SAT? The SAT is a SKILLS test. It tests on a number of copy editing skills, including spotting common grammar and usage problems and improving sentences that have errors. It tests the ability to write an ARGUMENTATIVE essay about some broad topic, and tests the ability to synthesize basic algebra and geometry skills in slightly unconventional contexts. The SAT is an objective test. There are clear right and wrong answers for ALL multiple choice questions, and the SAT is curved so that the scores represent where students fall in a distribution curve of all students who take the SAT. The SAT is long. It takes about three and a half hours and it is exhausting. Finally, what does all this mean for students? Since the SAT is not an IQ, or aptitude test, but is, instead, a SKILLS test, students can learn the skills necessary to succeed on the SAT. Once again, the essential skills for the SAT are as follows:
This is just an overview of what the SAT is and is not. The big take away is that the SAT is not a measure of intelligence, so those who find the SAT challenging should not fall into the trap of questioning their own intelligence. Instead, try to identify what skills need the most work and endeavor to improve in those areas. Success on the SAT may take some work, but the benefits that it bestows in terms of access to certain schools, potential scholarships, and differentiation from other applicants is well worth the effort. Happy studying! If you plan to take the SAT in a couple of years though, you will see a new SAT. Plan on taking the SAT soon? We run a free online SAT prep seminar every few weeks. And, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! David Greenslade is a Veritas Prep SAT instructor based in New York. His passion for education began while tutoring students in underrepresented areas during his time at the University of North Carolina. After receiving a degree in Biology, he studied language in China and then moved to New York where he teaches SAT prep and participates in improv comedy. Read more of his articles here, including How I Scored in the 99th Percentile and How to Effectively Study for the SAT. |
13 Mar 2014, 10:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: 3 Reasons We're Excited for the Redesigned SAT |
 The SAT’s upcoming redesign has some interesting elements – the return to the 1600 scale, the elimination of obscure-for-obscure’s-sake vocabulary, etc. – but perhaps the most noteworthy facet of the announcement is its continuation of a positive trend in standardized tests: a push for more “authentic” material. Much like the GMAT’s recent addition of “Integrated Reasoning” – which includes problem types such as Graphics Interpretation and Table Analysis, requiring examinees to use real-world data to draw conclusions and determine relationships – the redesigned SAT will shift from “abstract math” to “real-world math,” as well as replace arcane vocabulary with relevant-but-challenging vocabulary. What does this mean for students? The new SAT will look a lot more like the classroom, and preparation for the SAT will much more align with preparation for success in college and beyond. When the GMAT made its move to include more-authentic prompts for questions, the request came not from admissions directors but from business school faculty, who wanted students to be more prepared for the types of data analysis they would perform in school. Similarly, the College Board has enlisted the aid of classroom teachers to help inform the creation of new test material. In this way “book smart” will more closely align with practical ability, and students will be encouraged to learn material in ways that will benefit them in and out of the classroom and testing center. As educators, we embrace this opportunity to help students succeed on the new SAT, particularly given that the process of doing so will add more life skills, too. We’re particularly looking forward to: Quantitative Reasoning https://www.collegeboard.org/delivering-opportunity/sat/instruction/math The mere inclusion of the word “reasoning” is cause for excitement, as the Veritas Prep methodology has long valued deep understanding and application over mere memorization and “remembering.” Ratios, proportions, and percentages are incredible tools when learners embrace them conceptually, and we’ve long encouraged the use of “Relative Math” as a strategy for dealing with authentic numbers. For example, when authentic situations call for comparisons like: Which city saved the most money as a percentage of its budget? City Amount Saved Total Budget Andersonville $8,225 $47,975 Bronxtown $16,750 $142,950 A good understanding of ratios and proportions allows a student to quickly calculate that Andersonville saved a little more than 1/6 of its budget (since 8/48 would be 1/6, and the actual numerator is a little more than 8,000 and the actual denominator is a little less than 48,000), and Bronxtown saved less than 1/7 of its budget (since 20/140 is 1/7, but here the numerator is less than 20,000 and the denominator is more than 140,000). As the SAT trends toward more authentic numbers from real-world situations, the ability of students to perform “relative math” estimates, rounding off numbers and using ratios to get quick relationships, will be instrumental in success. Check back tomorrow for two more reasons we’re excited for the new SAT! By Brian Galvin |
13 Mar 2014, 14:01
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: When Should I Go Back to Business School? |
 Business school is perhaps the most unique of all graduate education opportunities, in part because it is the only one which requires substantial work experience to qualify. Think about it—law school, medical school, and every Master’s degree you can pursue, all take students directly out of their undergraduate experience, essentially offering a chance to continue your education without ever working in the “real world.” Business schools on the other hand, rarely (if ever anymore) take students directly out of undergrad, and look instead for applicants who have taken a lap or two around the proverbial block. For this reason, there is a tremendous amount of gray area when it comes to deciding the right time to return to business school. Certainly the admissions statistics can provide guidance, and the average number of years of full time, professional, post-undergraduate career experience is now surpassing five years in many cases. Of course working for five years does not necessarily mean you are ready for business school, but at the very least, it means the opportunity was likely there for you to have experienced something of value in a business context. Of course the reason schools like to see this is, much of what you get out of business school is from the collective wisdom of your classmates. This is why one of the ways you can decide when the time is right for you to go back to business school, is to simply ask yourself, “what do I have to offer?” This question, simple as it is, provides powerful insight into how the admissions committees will view your application. Business schools are looking for mature, insightful, creative leaders and the best way to demonstrate you possess these qualities is to have an independent, objective group (read: employer) vouch for you—both via resume fodder and with recommendations. Have you spent your time at work seeking progressively responsible and complex challenges? Did you find yourself rising to the top of your training class or consistently outperforming your peers? If so, the time may be right for you to apply to school. On the other hand, if you feel you have faltered some, or otherwise not realized your full potential yet, you might consider taking another year to do so. It’s also not just about what you achieve at work. Business schools, particularly those in the top tier, are notorious for rejecting applicants with perfectly acceptable work experience, but who lack community engagement or other experiences which round out the “whole person.” As you progress in your career, it’s often much too easy to rest on your success at work and neglect opportunities to lead and serve in areas you are passionate about outside the office. I say this is much too easy because employers don’t generally value these extracurricular activities until you get much farther down the road in a career. This is why your boss is likely on the local board of a community organization—because his boss is perhaps encouraging him to do so. As a young go-getter, employers mostly try to maximize their return from you. If you happen to work for a firm which emphasizes community service amongst the entry-level set, take full advantage, and consider yourself among the lucky ones. In short, if you feel you have truly maximized your opportunities at work, and feel you have interesting insight to share with others, it just may be the right time to go back. If you want to talk to us about our round 3 guarantee, call us at 1-800-925-7737 and speak with an MBA admissions expert today. Click here to take our Free MBA Admissions Profile Evaluation! As always, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! Scott Bryant has over 25 years of professional post undergraduate experience in the entertainment industry as well as on Wall Street with Goldman Sachs. He served on the admissions committee at the Fuqua School of Business where he received his MBA and now works part time in retirement for a top tier business school. He has been consulting with Veritas Prep clients for the past six admissions seasons. |
14 Mar 2014, 09:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: 3 Reasons We're Excited for the New SAT: Part II |
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As we wrote yesterday, the Next-Generation SAT is set for 2016, and there are several reasons that we at Veritas Prep are looking forward to the new exam. Here are two more things we’re excited about: Evidence-Based Reading and Writing https://www.collegeboard.org/delivering-opportunity/sat/instruction/ela Both the GMAT and the ACT – the other tests in the Veritas Prep suite of prep courses – include Reading Comprehension questions that we call “Function” questions, those that ask for the function of a particular phrase, quote, or statistic in text. In these cases, the questions students need to ask themselves is “why does the author include this?,” and to do so effectively students need to understand the author’s purpose for writing the piece and that paragraph or section in particular. These types of questions – an emphasis of the redesigned SAT – don’t allow for (and often punish) the mere skimming to find keywords in the passage and the answer choices, and instead reward students for truly understanding what they’ve read. We encourage students to stop periodically (using our STOP method, which asks students to consider Scope, Tone, Organization, and Purpose) to ask themselves “what is this about, and why was it written?” to check for understanding. Furthermore, the ability of students to use “The Why Test” to separate evidence from conclusions is instrumental in understanding the way that an author builds to a main point. The type of critical thinking that these questions elicits is precisely what students need to both make quality decisions in the real world and improve the quality of their own writing. Forcing students to think critically in this piece of their college admissions process will go a long way toward helping them get the most out of their college experience. Practical Vocabulary It never fails as we train our SAT instructors before they begin teaching classes – as we discuss the vocabulary lesson, our 99th-percentile instructors will invariably mispronounce a few of the vocab words and we know to coach them to deliver them properly in class. Why is that such a struggle even for our perfect 2400 scorers? Much of the current SAT vocabulary consists of words you may read or just memorize, but never verbalize in daily speech even in rigorous classrooms. These words are often just obscure. The SAT’s shift to more practical – but still challenging – vocabulary will benefit students, giving them greater breadth of word choice in their writing and public speaking, and allowing for better context for teachers as we familiarize students with these words. Practical vocabulary can be multipurpose in SAT prep, as well, as the words required for the vocab questions can also make for well-written essays and may well appear in reading passages. When standardized tests allow for crossover of skills from section to section, students are the winners. The upcoming changes to the SAT are placing that exam more in line with other exams like the GMAT and ACT, and the overall trend in standardized testing is making for what we feel are more practical tests that encourage students to learn the “genre” of each test in a way that translates to real world success. The trends toward authentic assessments and critical thinking skills are progressions that we embrace as both students and educators, and while we’d love to say that we’re excited to get started on the new SAT, our experience with other exams in the same vein has actually had us on that path for some time already. By Brian Galvin |
14 Mar 2014, 16:01
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: GMAT Tip of the Week: Tupac Slow Jams the GMAT |
 Where the Venn Diagram of “Hip Hop Month in the Veritas Prep GMAT Tip space” and “Guy who Photoshops all the preview images for these posts does so for the last time before leaving for an amazing new opportunity” intersects, you’ll find a lot of Boyz II Men, rap ballads, and other assorted slow jams playing bittersweetly in the background. And as it so happens, arguably the best of those slow jams – Tupac’s “Life Goes On” – is a perfect metaphor for GMAT test-day strategy: “How many brothers fell victim to the streets, rest in peace young brother there’s a heaven for a G. I’d be a liar if I told you that I’ve never thought of death. My brother, we’re the last ones left.” While Pac isn’t necessarily talking about the GMAT, he might as well be, as arguably the single most important test-day strategy you need to have in mind is, essentially, Life Goes On. The computer-adaptive algorithm ensures that just about everyone will “lose” questions like Tupac loses homeboys. How many questions will fall victim to the pressures of time and difficulty? More than you’d think. The CAT algorithm is designed to keep testing your upper threshold of ability, so you will miss questions even if – and actually especially if – you’re doing really well. The key is to recognize that life goes on, that struggling through a problem or even guessing on a few problems isn’t a terrible thing. Like Tupac says in the line “my brother, we’re the last ones left” the GMAT is a test of survival and not as much of pure mastery. You need to roll with the punches and keep looking forward. To better exemplify the Life Goes On approach to test-day strategy, take this lesson from GMAC’s OG, Dr. Rudner. The brain behind the GMAT’s scoring algorithm was once taking the exam (for both “fun” and “quality control”) in pursuit of a perfect 51 on the quant section. At one point he encountered a question that he couldn’t quite solve – even with a PhD in statistics and a day job that *is* the GMAT – but couldn’t let go of, either. As the minutes ticked by and his multiple approaches to the problem continued to fall short, he says he laughed to himself that “I wrote the algorithm – I know this is stupid to waste time on one question when one single question probably won’t affect my score” but still he soldiered on. And when he checked the internal report the next day to see his question-by-question performance and the statistics on that particular item, he had to laugh again – that question was an unscored, experimental item that absolutely did not count toward his score. Life goes on; you’ll fall victim to a few questions now and then, and you have to know that it’s okay to let them go. So as you take the GMAT, remember: -You will miss questions and you can miss quite a few questions and still get a great score. Don’t let any one question affect your confidence or your pace. -You can guess to save time. The 37 questions in 75 minutes quant pace and 41 in 75 verbal pace is aggressive for most students, who would perform significantly better if the section were just 3-4 questions shorter. Don’t rush through and make silly mistakes on several questions because you’re intent on doing your best on absolutely every question; if you need to guess on couple awful-looking questions to bank a few minutes to perform comfortably on the others, that’s not a bad strategy. -Not all questions will look difficult, and that’s okay too – don’t let the “hard questions mean you’re doing well” logic convince you of the inverse, that an easy question means you’ve blown it. You may see an easy experimental, or you may find that a question looks easy but has a subtle twist that you didn’t see that makes it hard. Don’t try to read into your performance as you go – that mental energy and time are better spent solving the problem you’re on. Easy or hard, life goes on. On the GMAT, as in life, hardships will hit you but life goes on. You’ll miss questions like we’ll miss Jeremy; in either case, Tupac can slow jam you back to success. Are you studying for the GMAT? We have free online GMAT seminars running all the time. And, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! By Brian Galvin |
17 Mar 2014, 18:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: 3 Ways to Use Your SAT Study Habits in College |
 By the time you’ve taken your last SAT, you may be ready to defenestrate the nearest standardized test. I’m here to advise you to resist throwing either an SAT test or the habits you picked up while studying under Veritas Prep – such as learning new vocabulary – out the window. In all seriousness, you really have learned valuable habits through the Veritas Prep SAT course that I personally regret not employing during my freshman year of college. Freshman year of college was an especially rough year for me. My sleep cycle was off-balance, I was constantly cramming at the last minute, and I was consistent only in being late to class. While it’s possible to get through high school with a completely dysfunctional schedule, in college, it will not only sink your grades, but it will interfere with your social life and generally lead you into an unnecessary but extremely detrimental state of anxiety. I bounced back during my sophomore year, but I can’t help wishing that I’d known the following the strategies before I set foot on campus. 1. Keep Track Veritas Prep gave you prepared notebooks to keep track of your scores, difficult problems, difficult vocabulary, and important practice problems. Make your own version for your toughest college classes so that you can quickly become aware of your performance (are your homework and test scores decreasing or increasing?) and identify how to solve tricky problems. I can’t tell you how many times, my freshman year, I never really set about understanding a problem that had been confusing me all semester, and lost major points on test day as a result. It seems slightly absurd in retrospect, but in college, you won’t have the same supervision from parents or teachers that you did in high school. In college, a professor teaching a class of 200 students won’t say a word to you if you consistently miss a particular problem on your homework. It’s up to you to keep track. 2. Be a Critical Reader In college, you are going to have to read an insane amount of material. One way to make sure that you actually understand what you are reading is to use the SAT Reading Strategies you’ve learned from Veritas Prep to your advantage. By the time you’ve finished the introduction, try to write down the main idea of the article. As you read, make occasional summaries, and pay attention to the particular claims the author makes. You’ll rarely see a set of questions at the end of the article the way you often do in high school. While this may be a relief for some, it also means that you are responsible for making sure you understand what the article is about. Just because you aren’t instantly quizzed on it, doesn’t mean you won’t have to answer questions on it during finals. It doesn’t hurt to look up words you don’t know – and add them to a list of vocabulary words – either. 3. Incorporate Your SAT Vocabulary into Your College Life Regardless of how bored you felt while learning new vocabulary words, try to realize that you’ve been given an invaluable gift. Being able to describe your ideas with more precision is one of the greatest advantages of having a large vocabulary. You’ll not only impress your college professors with your papers, but you’ll be able to communicate with them more accurately and deeply than your classmates who cannot describe the world with the same precision as you. Finally, regardless of your ambitions, realize that the usage and meaning of a word are inseparable; if you don’t use the words in your real life, you will surely forget their meaning. Plan on taking the SAT soon? We run a free online SAT prep seminar every few weeks. And, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! Here’s another article by Rita on scoring a perfect 2400. By Rita Pearson |
18 Mar 2014, 12:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: School Profile: The Path of Enrichment at Williams College |
 Williams College is on a quaint campus in Williamstown, Massachusetts and is ranked #16 on the Veritas Prep Elite College list. This liberal arts college has just under 2,200 students enrolled, primarily. With a focus on humanities and smaller class sizes, this is an ideal school for students looking for a more intimate and personalized education. The mission of Williams College is to not only help their students succeed, but to help them thrive; many services and programs throughout the campus achieve just that. The faculty and staff at Williams College want their students to be well-rounded and exceptional additions to the world after completing their studies. This is done through their comprehensive academic curriculum and extensive educational assistance programs. Every student has a major but instead of minors they offer concentrations. These are compilations of specific topics pulled from an assortment of disciplines and departments. There are no required courses at Williams; however, each student must take three humanities, social sciences, and science and math classes, two intensive writing courses, and one class on reasoning both mathematically and abstractly. The same goes with languages; they are not required courses, but students must enroll in at least one diversity study course. Grad-style research opportunities, overseas learning options, and specialty programs are offered at Williams to create highly developed students. The campus life at Williams College is unique and designed to bring students, staff, and faculty together as a tight-knit community. Campus housing is split into four neighborhoods, Currier, Dodd, Spencer, and Wood; within each neighborhood are five to six different residences. There are three dining halls, two snack bars, a grab and go lunch program, and vending and catering operations on campus. Among the luxuries that the campus provides are programs to enlighten students in self-discovery. The programs were developed to give students an understanding of and appreciation for their individuality. The Career Center is another place for students to hone in on their goals for the future with an exceptionally designed three step process. Campus life at Williams is all about enrichment, making sure each student is confident and comfortable in all aspects of life. Williams College is an NCAA Division III school and part of the New England Small College Athletic Conference. There are 32 men’s and women’s varsity teams as well as junior varsity, club, and intramural teams. This campus also has physical education classes and fitness classes that have access to their state of the art facilities. Williams College is devoted to the health and fitness of their students; they require all students to earn four physical education credits as well as pass a swim test. More than 60 percent of the campus population participates in one of the athletic options, including faculty. Ephraim Williams founded this college in 1793. Originally a men’s college, more than half of the student population is now female. Diversity and forward thinking are the foundations of this school filled with unique traditions. Students, faculty, family, and friends can all participate in eight hour trivia nights after every semester. The event is hosted by the college radio station, and all are put to the test with a crazy mixture of trivia while simultaneously performing tasks and identifying songs. This tradition has been around since 1966 entertaining the masses after grueling semesters. An even cooler event is Mountain Day, the annual canceling of classes on a random Friday in October by the President of the college, where students enjoy donuts, hot cider, and the sounds of a cappella groups. This college caters to students who want a well rounded college experience. We run a free online SAT prep seminar every few weeks. And, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! Also, take a look at our profiles for The University of Chicago, Pomona College, and Amherst College, and more to see if those schools are a good fit for you. By Colleen Hill |
19 Mar 2014, 13:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: GMAT at the Movies: What Austin Powers Can Teach You about Similar Trianges |
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In this series we return to classic movies to learn fundamental strategies for GMAT Success. In the Austin Powers movies the character known as “Dr. Evil” creates an exact version of himself, only smaller, that he calls “Mini-me.” The two characters have identical proportions even though one evil villain is 8 times the size of the other. The hero, Austin Powers, quickly recognizes the similarity, despite the difference in size. This is something that you will need to be able to do on the GMAT! If you are not familiar with “Dr. Evil” and “Mini-me, watch the following clip: This is what similar triangles are all about! Not the evil villain stuff, but the “same proportions, different size.” When you have proven that you have similar triangles you know that any ratio of a side of one triangle to the corresponding side of the other triangle will hold true for each of the sides and even for the height of those triangles. As you can see from the diagram below all three angles are equal. The ratio of the lengths of the triangle will remain constant. So if A:a = 2:1 then B:b and C:c and even H:h will stay at that same ratio of 2:1  Recognizing Similar Triangles Often the biggest difficulty that people have with these similar triangle problems is simply recognizing that they are, in fact, “similar.” Most similar triangles on the GMAT are not like the diagram above. They are actually overlapping triangles that have one angle in common. Be on the lookout for that “shared angle.” That is usually the first clue that you have similar triangles! In addition to the shared angle look for one of these other two clues that similar triangles are present: 1) Parallel lines: If the triangle has a shared angle AND parallel lines then you have a similar triangle. For the diagram below you would be told that DE is parallel to AC. This creates similar triangles BDE and ABC.  2) Right angles: If the triangles each have a right angle AND a shared angle then you have a similar triangle. In the diagram below you see that angle “D” is shared and that angles DCE and ABC are right angles. This means that you have similar triangles ABD and CDE.  Don’t wait for the GMAT to make similar triangles as obvious as Dr. Evil and Mini-Me. Watch out for shared angles, parallel lines, and right angles. And remember that easily recognizing similar triangles is “groovy baby, yeah!” If you plan on taking the GMAT soon, we have GMAT prep courses starting all the time. And, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! David Newland has been teaching for Veritas Prep since 2006, and he won the Veritas Prep Instructor of the Year award in 2008. Students’ friends often call in asking when he will be teaching next because he really is a Veritas Prep and a GMAT rock star! Read more of his articles here. |
20 Mar 2014, 10:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: How Hard is the Verbal Section of the GMAT? |
 Two weeks ago I wrote an article about whether the GMAT was hard. It is a question I get asked regularly from many different students with many different interpretations of what “hard” actually means. On test day, you may get a question that seems impossible to solve, and yet most other students get it right. This means that the question wouldn’t be considered difficult by the GMAT (say a 500 level question), but for you it seemed exceptionally difficult. The notion of difficulty is thus subjective, and while many would argue that the GMAT is hard, I have a much simpler explanation I have been postulating for the past couple of years: The GMAT is not hard, the GMAT is tricky. Last time, I examined how the GMAT attempts to trick students by using subtle word meaning and blatant misdirection from a predominantly mathematical point of view. Today, I’d like to elaborate on how these same elements apply to the verbal section as well. A brief recap for those who haven’t read the previous article: The difference between hard and tricky is primarily that the GMAT will not test any material that wasn’t covered in a standard high school curriculum. Obviously, having a degree in English literature will give you an edge on many types of verbal questions, but a post-secondary education in the language is not necessary to solve any problem. The reason for this is to put students on as even a footing as possible. The downside of this is that the material cannot be advanced, by its very nature its high school level material. The GMAT therefore has to offer difficult questions based on material that’s not inherently too difficult. What are some easy ways to make simple material more challenging? The first one is the timing aspect, so you only have a limited amount of time to answer the questions, but moreover you feel the pressure of time running out on you constantly. If you had unlimited time to answer the questions, most people would score significantly higher on the GMAT, so managing your time is paramount to getting a top score. This is the same reason as to why there’s no spell check on the AWA. With a spell check, it’s a lot harder to differentiate between someone who has a mastery of the English language and someone who can just rely on the red underline in Word (or my bane: the green underline). It also forces you to have to come up with synonyms or alternatives if you’re unsure of the ideal phrasing (or trying to paraphrase the word “question” again). To highlight these elements, let’s look at simple question that underscores the trickiness of the GMAT: Even today, lions can be seen ruling the African plains, hunting almost any animal that crosses its path and intimidating all but the most intrepid hunters. (A) lions can be seen ruling the African plains (B) lions are able to be seen ruling the African plains (C) lions rule the African plains (D) the lion rules the African plains (E) the lion species rules the African plains This sentence correction question asks us to choose among several answers that all sound pretty similar. In fact, the first three answer choices are very similar, just with varying degrees of superfluous text added to each. The other two answers also seem very similar, but play around with the number of the subject. There seems to be a split along the number of the subject, but other than that, the choices seem distressingly similar. At first glance, many students concentrate on the first part of the sentence and essentially ignore everything after the underlined portion. After all, if it were important, wouldn’t it be underlined? This tends to lead to a differentiation among the first three answer choices, all of which essentially say the same thing. In this case, most students would gravitate towards answer choice C as it is the most succinct version of the text. However the slight meaning difference between answers A and C leads many students to debate the merits of each answer choice. Often this can lead to indecision between the choices and an educated guess just to move on to the next question. However, if you’ve gone down this path here (or on another similar question), you’ve fallen into a classic GMAT trap. You’ve just spent time deciding between two answer choices that are both incorrect! This process can be very frustrating on practice tests, but you’ll never know whether this situation arose on the actual GMAT because you’ll never know what the correct answer was (the NSA would know, though). What happened in this situation? The GMAT misled you into contrasting two answer choices with virtually identical meanings. The difference between the first three answer choices and the last two hinges on the number of the subject. If the subject is plural, we need lions; if it’s singular, we need lion or lion species (this is singular even though it doesn’t sound like it!). The key to making this decision lies in the pronoun “its” located at the end of the line. Since the pronoun is singular, the subject must also be singular in order to avoid making an antecedent agreement error. Neither answer choice A nor C can be correct, so it must be either D or E. The correct answer will be D as it is the only one that has a logical meaning. If the subject were the lion species, it would be nonsensical to imagine crossing paths with a species. Answer D is also more succinct, which adds to its appeal (like driving a nice car). The decisions asked of you on the GMAT do not tend to be hard, but they also do not tend to be straight forward. A lot of questions will try to mislead you or trick you into focusing on the wrong thing. Spending a minute choosing between two incorrect answer choices seems absurd, and yet it happens time and time again on this exam. The rules of grammar being tested on this exam, much like the mathematical rules being tested in the quant section, are not the hardest rules imaginable. However, they are specifically chosen to tricky and deceptive. Going back to the industrial strength lock analogy I used two weeks ago, the same lessons can be applied in both verbal and quant. If you know the combination to the safe, you will get the correct answer quickly. If you’re attempting a brute force approach with every possible combination, you will certainly run out of time. However if you know which options to eliminate and which options to keep, you’ll do well on the test. As Kenny Rogers put it: You got to know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em. Plan on taking the GMAT soon? We have GMAT prep courses starting all the time. And, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! Ron Awad is a GMAT instructor for Veritas Prep based in Montreal, bringing you weekly advice for success on your exam. After graduating from McGill and receiving his MBA from Concordia, Ron started teaching GMAT prep and his Veritas Prep students have given him rave reviews ever since. |
21 Mar 2014, 14:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: GMAT Tip of the Week: The Whole Sentence Mathers |
 Welcome back to Hip Hop Month in the Tip of the Week space, where today we’ll cover Sentence Correction’s most devious wordplay with the rap god of wordplay himself, Eminem. Fans of Slim Shady and connoisseurs of Sentence Correction alike will note the similarity between the two: sometimes, when you least expect it, a word all the way at the end will tie back so beautifully to one all the way at the beginning that it’s just mindblowing. In Eminem’s case, you have to rewind the track to listen to it again – did he really carry that rhyme all the way back like that?! – but on the GMAT you can’t rewind, so it’s important to heed Marshall’s advice well before you put on those noise-reduction headphones (Beats by Dre?) at the test center and zone into the verbal section: The Whole Sentence Matters One of Eminem’s most famous lyrics goes like this: “I don’t give an **** if it’s dark or not I’m harder than me trying to park a Dodge When I’m drunk as f**k Right next to a humungous truck In a two car garage.” As you’ll see this “inside out” rhyme scheme has evolved over time, but what he does here after “Dodge” is get onto another rhyme scheme (luck, truck, buck…) and then “surprise” the listener by coming back to Dodge/Garage when your mind has already gotten onto another scheme. 12 years later, this technique has become even more pronounced in his newer track “Headlights” (a surprising tribute to his mom): Cause, one thing I never asked was where the **** my deadbeat dad was F*** it, I guess he had trouble keeping up with every address But I’d have flipped every mattress, every rock and desert cactus Own a collection of maps and followed my kids to the edge of the atlas If someone ever moved ‘em from me, that you could’ve bet your asses If I had to come down the chimney dressed as Santa, kidnap ‘em And although one has only met their grandma, once you pulled up In our drive one night, as we were leaving to get some hamburgers Me, her and Nate, we introduced you, hugged you And as you left I had this overwhelming sadness Come over me as we pulled off to go our separate paths, and I saw your headlights as I looked back and I’m mad I didn’t get the chance to thank you for being my mom and my dad So mom, please accept this as a tribute I wrote this on the jet, I guess I had to get this off my chest, I hope I get the chance to lay it ‘fore I’m dead The stewardess said to fasten my seatbelt, I guess we’re crashing By the time the listener gets to the end of this segment, you’ve almost completely forgotten about the bolded words above, but when Eminem hits that last word “crashing” that same rhyme scheme comes back for one last hurrah. Why is this important for the GMAT? Because this same art of “I bet you’ve forgotten the relationship between these words by now so I’m going to drop it in here and totally surprise you” is one of the techniques that testmakers use frequently to create difficult Sentence Correction: Consider this question as an example: Discovered by Dr. Dre as a teenage rap battle phenom, Eminem released ten Billboard number one singles and collected thirteen Grammys – plus an Academy Award for his single “Lose Yourself” from his autobiograhical film 8 Mile, in which he starred as rapper B. Rabbit – and countless other awards since he signed with Dre’s Aftermath Records. (A) Discovered by Dr. Dre as a teenage rap battle phenom, Eminem released ten Billboard number one singles and collected thirteen Grammys (B) Having been discovered by Dr. Dre as a teenage rap battle phenom, Eminem released ten Billboard number one singles and collected thirteen Grammys (C) Discovered by Dr. Dre as a teenage rap battle phenom, Eminem has released ten Billboard number one singles and collected thirteen Grammys Have you noticed the key word hidden toward the end of the sentence, well away from the underline? Where examinees may be swayed into a Modifier distinction and then make a casual decision between the verb tenses in A and C, the astute test takers will recognize that “The Whole Sentence Matters” and see that word “since” waiting toward the end of the sentence. “Since” connotes an ongoing nature to the timeline of the sentence and therefore begs the word “has” in front of verbs to stay consistent with that timeline. So C has to be the correct answer. Where this sentence – and others with even more nuance and misdirection – has the power to distract you is in the fact that your mind wants to stay close to the underline and start to “check out” the further away you get from it. Savvy testmakers know this, and will hide small words well away from the underline, baffling novice test-takers and rewarding the astute ones who know to look for: -Pronouns (it, they, their…) -Words that signal time (since, after, until…) -Connectors (but, or, and…) When you’re struggling to make a decision, steal a page from Marshall Mathers and look toward the end of the sentence (the Aftermath?) to see if an important word or phrase makes a comeback to change the game. The GMAT loves to distract you by putting plenty of text in between the decision (the underlined portion) and the word that controls that decision. On harder questions, you’ll have to be patient and know to look for that word even all the way at the end of the sentence. Don’t lose yourself in the answer choices; let that tiny hidden word far from the underline be a major factor in your recovery. |
24 Mar 2014, 10:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: Looking for Similar Triangles on the GMAT |
 Our Geometry book discusses the various rules we use to recognize similar triangles such as SSS, AA, SAS and RHS so we are assuming that we needn’t take those up here. We are also assuming that you are comfortable with the figures that beg you to think about similar triangles such as  Try to figure out the similar triangles and the reason they are similar in each one of these cases. (Angles that look 90 are 90). Most of the figures have right angles/parallel lines. This topic was also discussed by David Newland in a rather engaging post last week. You must check it out for its content as well as its context! What we would like to discuss today are situations where most people do not think about similar triangles but if they do, it would make the question very easy for them. But before we do that, we would like to discuss a concept related to similar triangles which is very useful but not discussed often. We already know that sides of similar triangles are in the same ratio. Say two triangles have sides a, b, c and A, B, C respectively. Then, a/A = b/B = c/C = k Note that the altitudes of the two triangles will also be in the same ratio, ‘k’, since all lengths have the ratio ‘k’. Then what is the relation between the areas of the two triangles? Since the ratio of the bases is k and the ratio of the altitudes is also k, the ratio of the areas will be k*k = k^2. So if there are two similar triangles such that their sides are in the ratio 1:2, their areas will be in the ratio 1:4. Now we are all ready to tackle the question we have in mind. Question: In the given figure, ABCD is a parallelogram and E, F, G and H are midpoints of its respective sides. What is the ratio of the shaded area to that of the un-shaded area?  (A) 3:8 (B) 3:5 (C) 5:8 (D) 8:5 (E) 5:3 Solution: There are many ways to do this question but we will look at the method using similar triangles (obviously!). Assume the area of the parallelogram is 8P. In a parallelogram, the lengths of opposite sides are the same. The two triangles formed by the diagonal and two sides are similar by SSS and the ratio of their sides is 1. So they will have equal areas of 4P each (look at the figures in second row below)  Now look at the original figure. HE is formed by joining the mid-points of AD and AB. So AH/AD = AE/AB = 1/2 and included angle A is common. Hence by SAS rule, triangle AHE is similar to triangle ADB. If the ratio of sides is 1/2, ratio of areas will be 1/4. Since area of triangle ADB is 4P, area of AHE is P. We have 3 such triangles, AHE, DHG and CGF which are not shaded so the area of these three triangles together will be 3P. The total area of parallelogram is 8P and the unshaded region is 3P. So the shaded region must be 5P. Hence, area of shaded region : Area of unshaded region = 5:3 Answer (E) Try to think of other ways in which you can solve this question. Karishma, a Computer Engineer with a keen interest in alternative Mathematical approaches, has mentored students in the continents of Asia, Europe and North America. She teaches the GMAT for Veritas Prep and regularly participates in content development projects such as this blog! |
25 Mar 2014, 10:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: School Profile: International Exploration, Tenting, and Pizza at Duke University |
 Duke University is ranked #15 on the Veritas Prep Elite College Rankings. This research university is located on a 9,000 acre campus in Durham, North Carolina. It’s had three name changes and two campus location changes since its 1838 Quaker roots. More than three-quarters of Duke students are involved in some type of service learning either locally or internationally in keeping with the university’s “knowledge in service to society” mission. Duke University is divided into four colleges.
Duke is one of the few schools that require students to live on campus for three full years of their undergraduate studies. Incoming freshmen are assigned to one of fourteen residences based on their academic studies and interests. Students who opt to participate in the FOCUS program are housed together as well. Sophomores, juniors and seniors have more flexibility in their campus housing choices, but all are affiliated with one of the 80 houses on either the West or Central campuses. Each house determines its own personality. Co-ed selective living arrangements offer upperclassmen the choice to live in social groups that are outside the Greek system. Most are organized around a particular interest. Nine sororities and fifteen fraternities in the Greek system are housed on the Central campus. Duke athletics are epic, especially the men’s basketball team (even though they lost to Mercer during March Madness this year), and Duke fans are matchless in their enthusiasm and support for the team. Since tickets to athletic events are free for Duke students, a practice known as “tenting” has become the norm. It’s basically a line to purchase tickets for games where students pitch tents in a row, making sure they have the correct amount of people in their tent to stay in line. Occasionally, the “tent village” will hold a concert or Coach Krzyzewski will buy pizza for the enthusiastic fans in the village. Besides the tradition of tenting before big games, there are a few other interesting campus traditions. One is the unofficial graduation requirement of driving backwards around the campus traffic circle. Another requires students to climb Baldwin Auditorium. The Chapel Tower climb has been a long-standing tradition at Duke; the daring is increased by rumors of the chapel being haunted. A less dramatic and more noble tradition was recently begun where students now participate in academic homecoming ceremonies to honor their choice of majors. Students who crave a social environment and want to be part of something bigger than themselves may want to put Duke University on their top five list. We run a free online SAT prep seminar every few weeks. And, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! Also, take a look at our profiles for The University of Chicago, Pomona College, and Amherst College, and more to see if those schools are a good fit for you. By Colleen Hill |
26 Mar 2014, 10:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: SAT Tip of the Week: 4 Ways You Can Increase Your Reading Score Right Now |
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In my tenure as an SAT teacher I have heard all explanations imaginable as to why the reading on the SAT is the most boring and awful reading in the known universe. Students tell me the reading is too dense, too dry, too descriptive, too hard. There is no arguing with the fact that some of the passages on the SAT are less than thrilling, but in order to score at the highest level on the SAT, students must find a way to stay present and actively consume the material. There are a couple of techniques that can help with this process and allow students to answer questions about the passage effectively. Make Short Summaries of Paragraphs Including What a Paragraph is DOING This technique will not only help students to remember what content is covered in which paragraph (which is especially helpful for longer passages), but it will also prep students to have an answer ready when the SAT inevitably asks what the “purpose” of a paragraph or phrase is. Almost always, the purpose can be explained as “what is this language trying to accomplish?”. Is it supporting a point of view? Discrediting a theory? Describing a memory? If students can identify what a paragraph is doing, it will essentially give them a starting point to attack a question about purpose when it arises. Ask Questions If something seems strange, interesting, or even awful, identify it and ask why the author chose to phrase something in that strange, interesting or awful way. It is likely that pieces of language that are unusual will be referenced in a question. For example, suppose there was a passage which contained the following sentence: “There is no sin so decadent, so devious, so divine as the first instance of breaking a diet that has left you starved and broken.” A student’s instinct should be to note this phrase and ask why the author chose to use it. In this case the use of the words “sin” and “devious” with the words “divine” and “decadent” probably show that this action, which is considered bad, feels really good. Doing this helps students to anticipate questions and be ready for them. Translate Hard Sentences or Sections Sometimes, all it takes to understand a difficult section is to translate some of the tough vocabulary. The time and energy spent studying all those SAT vocab words will come in very handy in this endeavor. Say a question asked why the author used the following phrase: “To be intractable was more than his whim: it was his modes-aparendi, and there was no dissuading him once an idea had him in his clutches.” This phrase is a little dense, but mostly because of a few tricky vocabulary words. “Intractable” just means stubborn, and “modes-aparendi” is Latin for mode of operation. A “whim” means a momentary desire or thought, and “dissuade” is the opposite of persuade. Let’s look at it again: “To be stubborn was more than his momentary desire: it was his mode of operation, and there was no way to un-persuade him once an idea had him in its clutches.” The passage is simply saying that this character is really stubborn. Once the translation is done, it is easy to see what the true nature of the passage is. Look for Answers While You Read As students read the passage, they should refer back to the line specific questions as they are reading so that they are actively looking for the answers as they read. For example, imagine there was a question relating to the following lines which we have already seen: “There is no sin so decadent, so devious, so divine as the first instance of breaking a diet that has left you starved and broken. If there is, friends, I have yet to experience it!” Now imagine the question asks the following: “Which of these techniques is NOT utilized in lines 6-7 of the passage?” a) Alliterative language b) Hyperbole c) Religiously charged comparisons d) Verbal repartee e) Personal declaration If a student encounters this question, he or she could simply start marking off what does and does not happen in the section of text referenced as he or she reads. A quick glance shows there is alliteration (“decadent, devious, and divine all have the same first consonant sound”) and hyperbole (“starved and broken”) as well as religious comparisons (“no sin so…”) and a personal declaration (“I have yet to experience it”). Thus, the only technique NOT used is repartee as there is no other character to offer witty replies. Reading actively can be a challenge, but is essential for a great score on the reading section. With a little practice, staying present in these passages will not seem like such a chore. In fact, students may even find themselves learning something new, or at least actively tearing apart some writing that they hate. Happy studying! If you plan to take the SAT in a couple of years though, you will see a new SAT. Plan on taking the SAT soon? We run a free online SAT prep seminar every few weeks. And, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! David Greenslade is a Veritas Prep SAT instructor based in New York. His passion for education began while tutoring students in underrepresented areas during his time at the University of North Carolina. After receiving a degree in Biology, he studied language in China and then moved to New York where he teaches SAT prep and participates in improv comedy. Read more of his articles here, including How I Scored in the 99th Percentile and How to Effectively Study for the SAT. |
26 Mar 2014, 14:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: How to Write the Best Essay for Your MBA Applications |
 Having graduated from a top MBA program as a non-native English speaker, I still remember being quite worried about the MBA application, fearing that my English was not sophisticated enough. So I focused on improving my writing skills by doing just that – writing. Now as a Veritas Prep School Specialist, I have found working with my clients that there are a few common essay-writing pitfalls. Here are some examples: a) Essays written in a generic way, which focus too much on current work experience. This is not a job application, so try to avoid producing what looks like a resume or CV in essay form. b) Essays that sound like a request for proposal (RFP), with an obvious Power Point sentence writing style with percentages, jargon and keywords such as “innovative” to impress Admission Committees. These committees have seen it all, so be innovative, don’t just say it. c) Essays that don’t talk about you. If an essay question asks what matters to you most and why, the essay will be an opportunity to demonstrate that you are inspired and motivated thanks to XYZ. This shows determination and focus. Personal essays provide precious opportunities to reflect who you have been, where you want to go and your current plan to achieve this. It’s about showing a balance between early leadership aptitude and self-awareness. Use simple sentences but entice your reader by showcasing your talents, creativity and maturity, and this will help them to envision you enrolled in their MBA program. These are 3 simple but powerful tips by advertising guru David Ogilvy from the book “How To Write”: 1) Write the way you talk. Naturally. 2) Use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs. 3) Never use jargon words like reconceptualize, demassification, attitudinally, judgmentally. They are hallmarks of a pretentious ass. Given that the business world does not usually demand essay writing or personal reflection, I would personally suggest keeping a personal journal or diary to practice writing about yourself, as well as to read both business and non-business oriented articles, such as those published in magazines like Harvard Business Review and The Atlantic. Even if English is not your native language, the goal is to find your own unique voice and use writing as your instrument. Simply. Elegantly. You. These are just some suggestions about how you can begin to approach the task of essay writing. Talk to an experienced Veritas Prep Consultant to see how we can help you write effectively to increase your chances for admission to the MBA program of your choice! If you want to talk to us about how you can stand out, call us at 1-800-925-7737 and speak with an MBA admissions expert today. Click here to take our Free MBA Admissions Profile Evaluation! As always, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! This Veritas Prep Head Consultant received a BA in International Economics from UCLA, and went on to the Stanford Graduate School of Business to receive her MBA. Her specialties for helping students include low GMAT score, low GPA, multicultural marketing, and entrepreneurship. |
28 Mar 2014, 11:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: School Profile: These UC Berkeley Traditions Will Make You Want to Apply |
 The University of California, Berkeley, also known as UC Berkeley and Cal, is ranked #20 on the Veritas Prep Elite College Rankings. Cal is a public research university founded in 1868, and located on a 1,232 acre campus overlooking San Francisco Bay. It is home to over 25,000 undergraduate students and 10,000 graduate students in 14 colleges, including professional schools and graduate programs. Cal has long been known for student activism. In 1964 students began the Free Speech Movement in response to the university’s attempts to rid the campus of student political groups when they were active in the Civil Rights and Women’s Movements of the 1960s. UC Berkeley students have a long history of political involvement. The oldest of the ten universities in the UC system, UC Berkeley boasts 72 Nobel Laureates and 11 Pulitzer Prize winners among its alumni, faculty, and researchers. The university, where excellence is the standard, offers 350 degree programs, including 106 undergraduate degrees. With a mix of liberal arts, research, and professional programs for students to choose from, the most popular majors by student enrollment are electrical engineering and computer science. The university is well-known for its political science department too. This top-notch research university offers students countless opportunities to be involved in meaningful research across the disciplines with some of the best minds in the country. Take note that Cal is one of two universities in the UC system that is on a semester schedule. Campus life at UC Berkeley is what the student makes of it, but the opportunities for social engagement are nearly endless. Three-quarters of students live off-campus, and a full 90% are involved in Greek life. Besides campus dorms, the university sponsors 20 off-campus housing options. Students can choose from themed houses – LGBT, vegetarian, all-female and others, or choose by community size, small, medium, or large houses; students can also choose from sponsored apartments. There are 65 Greek campus affiliates – many with housing. Where you choose to live may be one way to find your niche in this super-sized campus experience. Independent, self-motivated extroverts will find their niche here and thrive; introverts may find campus life at Cal overwhelming and indifferent. Cal is not the place to go if you need hand-holding, but if you’re confident in yourself and what you want, and you thrive on challenges, then Cal should be on your short-list. The UC Berkeley Golden Bears are an NCAA Division I program in the Pac-12 Conference, and have 29 men’s and women’s sports teams. Athletic competitions are held at California Memorial Stadium, known for its fantastic views, Haas Pavillion, Evans Diamond, and Edwards Stadium. The storied Golden Bears have accrued 16 national titles and over 90 team titles in their athletic history. Their longstanding rivalry with Stanford University is a spillover of the academic rivalry between one of the best public universities and one of the best private universities in the country. In each sport, the rivalry is marked by “The Big (fill in the blank).” For example, in football it’s The Big Game, The Big Spike is in volleyball, and so on. The two schools play for The Stanford Axe in football every year. If you love sports or are Division I student-athlete material, you’ll find plenty of enthusiasm here. Cal has a rich history of traditions, many of them centered around athletics. The Big C visible from Memorial Stadium was put on Charter Hill and has been inspiring Cal athletes and their fans since 1907; it is maintained by The Rally Committee. The California Victory Cannon on Tightwad Hill above Memorial Stadium is fired at the beginning of every home football game, after every home score, and at the end of each home victory. Oski, Cal’s athletic mascot, has appeared at every home game since 1941. Big Game Week is the most popular tradition at Cal with all kinds of activities that precede The Big Game with rival Stanford. Card stunts in the Cal rooting section of Memorial Stadium have been spelling out witty and enthusiastic messages during games since 1908. The Stanford Axe that was captured at a baseball game in 1899 was held hostage by UC Berkeley for 31 years, only coming out annually to rally students for The Big Game; now the winning school takes it home each year. There are other traditions that continue at Cal, but many more than have gone by the wayside over the years. You may be a part of new Golden Bears traditions, if UC Berkeley is right for you. We run a free online SAT prep seminar every few weeks. And, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! Also, take a look at our profiles for The University of Chicago, Pomona College, and Amherst College, and more to see if those schools are a good fit for you. By Colleen Hill |
31 Mar 2014, 10:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: Determining the Area of Similar Triangles on the GMAT |
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Recall the important property that we discussed about the relation between the areas of the two similar triangles last week – if the ratio of their sides is ‘k’, the ratio of their areas will be k^2. As mentioned last week, it’s an important property and helps you easily solve otherwise difficult questions. The question I have in mind today also brings in focus the Pythagorean triplets. There are some triplets that you should know out cold: (3, 4, 5), (5, 12, 13) and (8, 15, 17). Usually you will find one of these three or their multiples on GMAT. Given a right triangle and two sides, say the two legs, of length 20 and 48, we need to immediately bring them down to the lowest form 20:48 = 5:12. So we know that we are talking about the 5, 12, 13 triplet and the hypotenuse will be 13*4 = 52. These little things help us save a lot of time. Why is it that some people get done with the Quant section in less than an hour while others fall short on time? It is these little things that an adept test taker has mastered which make all the difference. Anyway, let us go on to the question we have in mind. Question: In the figure given below, the length of PQ is 12 and the length of PR is 15. The area of right triangle STU is equal to the area of the shaded region. If the ratio of the length of ST to the length of TU is equal to the ratio of the length of PQ to the length of QR, what is the length of TU?  (A) (9√2)/4 (B) 9/2 (C) (9√2)/2 (D) 6√2 (E) 12 Solution: The information given in the question seems to overwhelm us but let’s take it a bit at a time. “length of PQ is 12 and the length of PR is 15” PQR is a right triangle such that PQ = 12 and PR = 15. So PQ:PR = 4:5. Recall the 3-4-5 triplet. A multiple triplet of 3-4-5 is 9-12-15. This means QR = 9. “ratio of the length of ST to the length of TU is equal to the ratio of the length of PQ to the length of QR” ST/TU = PQ/QR The ratio of two sides of PQR is equal to the ratio of two sides of STU and the included angle between the sides is same ( = 90). Using SAS, triangles PQR and STU are similar. “The area of right triangle STU is equal to the area of the shaded region” Area of triangle PQR = Area of triangle STU + Area of Shaded Region Since area of triangle STU = area of shaded region, (area of triangle PQR) = 2*(area of triangle STU) In similar triangles, if the sides are in the ratio k, the areas of the triangles are in the ratio k^2. If the ratio of the areas is given as 2 (i.e. k^2 is 2), the sides must be in the ratio √2 (i.e. k must be √2). Since QR = 9, TU must be 9/√2. But there is no 9/√2 in the options – in the options the denominators are rationalized. TU = 9/√2 = (9*√2)/(√2*√2) = (9*√2)/2. Answer (C) The question could take a long time if we do not remember the Pythagorean triplets and the area of similar triangles property. Takeaways:
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01 Apr 2014, 11:00
| FROM Veritas Prep Blog: School Profile: Create Your Dream Education at Middlebury College |
 Middlebury College is a small liberal arts college located in Middlebury, Vermont. It is currently ranked #19 on the Veritas Prep Elite College Rankings. This is a top tier college for liberal arts and was founded in 1800; it’s known for international studies and leadership in language instruction. Students can choose from among 44 majors with over 850 courses. Located between the gorgeous Green Mountains on the east and the Adirondacks on the west students will not only be inspired on a daily basis, but also have a natural research lab that surrounds them. The class sizes are kept small, usually around fifteen people, so students get an intimate educational experience. Middlebury is known for on-campus environmental initiatives as well as focusing on environmental issues around the world. Students who attend this college are expected to leave as leaders who are ethical and thoughtful. Champlain Valley is known as the heart of Vermont and is also home to the student residences for those who attend Middlebury. They offer a variety of living options and strive to make their students feel safe and comfortable, ensuring that friendships are built and nurtured. There are a multitude of student activities and groups that students can participate in or be a part of. If you can’t find the organization you’re looking for among the 150 currently offered, feel free to create one of your own with the support of the Student Activities Team. Due to the expansive and rich outdoors, there are a wide variety of outdoor activities offered on campus from kayaking to winter camping. Campus life at Middlebury is all about enjoying the great outdoors, exploring and appreciating diversity, and building a strong community. The academic program at Middlebury is designed to give each student a deep understanding of their defined major while also developing them into well-rounded individuals in various disciplines. The college places an emphasis on writing, which helps students to develop critical thinking while pursuing the requirements that give them a diverse education. At Middlebury students have a large amount of freedom to create their individual academic path due to the wide range of academic choices offered to them. There are a vast number of educational programs from study abroad to writing programs; at this college students really can create their dream education plans. At Middlebury there are 30 NCAA varsity teams; more than 25% of the students play on one of the varsity teams. Middlebury has won countless National Championships in several of the different sports teams, from hockey to soccer. The campus has state-of-the-art facilities, including a golf course. There are off campus locations such as the Bread Loaf Mountain campus that serves as a ski touring center among other things. Middlebury does not just have excellent varsity sports teams, but is also committed to give all their students an opportunity to pursue good health by utilizing excellent gym equipment and engaging in many lifetime sports activities. Students are able to participate in the intramural programs and club sports programs that offer a wide range of recreational athletic activities. Middlebury College started out as a small New England college built by a group of young men, and originally used to train young men in ministry and other related professions. A modest seven students attended this college the first year it was opened. It has know grown into a world renowned institute for liberal arts. This college is rich in history and tradition. The “Hunt” is a massive scavenger hunt in January and a favorite tradition to many. Students get personal with Senior Crush lists that display the seniors’ crushes from freshman year to senior year before they leave to join the real world. There are many more Middlebury traditions all year long; attending this college will allow you to participate in the fun. We run a free online SAT prep seminar every few weeks. And, be sure to find us on Facebook and Google+, and follow us on Twitter! Also, take a look at our profiles for The University of Chicago, Pomona College, and Amherst College, and more to see if those schools are a good fit for you. By Colleen Hill |
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