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GMAT Tip: Don’t Fret Over Two Letter Words
Many students get frustrated when evaluating sentence correction problems, with the biggest point of frustration coming from feeling that they need to memorize chart after chart of idioms. While knowing idioms can certainly be helpful, if you are facing a short timeline, sometimes you can’t have your cake and eat it too. Just like quantitative problems, there are frequently multiple ways to evaluate sentence correction problems. Not clear on determining that we arrive “at” an airport and arrive “in” a city, but we don’t tend to arrive “to” places? Don’t completely despair that – while you should have a decent
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Published: April 23, 2019
So, You’re Terrible at Integrated Reasoning…
Since its release on the June 2012 exam, the Integrated Reasoning portion of the GMAT has had some test takers stumped. This 30-minute, 12 question section is oddly scored on a 1 to 8 scale, and no partial credit is given, even for multi-part, multi-answer questions. For the past several years, it was a matter of debate on whether business schools evaluated applicants on the basis of the Integrated Reasoning section. Admissions offices can be slow to adapt to changes in standardized tests, waiting for enough points of comparison to consider whether the change corresponds with other ways that applicants
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Published: April 16, 2019
Combinations: Consider The Grouping with the Slot Method
The GMAT loves to present combination questions that force people to sit next to each other, or in certain seats, and then have the test taker figure out how many different ways people not forced to be glued to possibly a very uncomfortable chair can be seated around them. Because free will, clearly, is not an option for many movie-goers, committee members, and/or people seated in a kumbaya circle. Take this question, for example: A group of 5 students bought movie tickets in one row next to each other. If Bob and Lisa are in this group, what is the
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Probability Tip: Three Strategies That Aren’t Used Enough
Some GMAT instructors will say that students often place too much emphasis on studying for Probability and Combinatorics, rather than spending more time focusing on the heavy lifters of Algebra and Arithmetic. Like it or not, GMAT students get fixated on combinatorics and probability because a) these questions are never, never as straightforward as remembering and plugging into the permutation or combination formula and b) these problems have the illusion of being easy and attainable. But these sticky types of GMAT questions are notorious time wasters, driving test takers deep into a rabbit holes without consideration the right strategies. In
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Published: March 19, 2019
Sentence Correction Tip: Cut the Junk
Sentence corrections on the GMAT can be particularly tricky. There are so many rules and goals to keep in mind – not only does the correct selection have to be grammatically correct, but it needs to be concise and clear – at least, according to GMAC standards. The biggest strategy that we find even the best GMAT test takers fail to consider is “cutting the junk” when approaching GMAT sentence correction questions. It is easy for a GMAT test taker, particularly a native English speaker, to heavily rely on how a sentence correction questions sounds to make corrections, then jump
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Published: March 12, 2019
GMAT Critical Reasoning Tip: Mind the Gap
Let’s start this post with a critical reasoning question: When a group of people starts a company, the founders usually serve as sources both of funding and of skills in marketing, management, and technical matters. It is unlikely that a single individual can both provide adequate funding and be skilled in marketing, management, and technical matters. Therefore, companies founded by groups are more likely to succeed than companies founded by individuals. Which one of the following is an assumption required by the argument? Before we dive into the answer choices, let’s start by wrapping our heads around what this critical
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Published: December 11, 2018
GMAT Tip: Precarious Prepositions
When offering up strategy for sentence correction questions, we often talk about “decision points” – understanding what type of error is being tested and what subtle changes exist between multiple-choice selections. One of the most common questions we see from students is “shouldn’t the answer be ______, because the subject is ______, and therefore (singular/plural)? Nine times out of ten, inquiring test taker has simply not correctly identified the subject of the sentence because of his/her failure to eliminate the prepositional phrase. GMAT questions are not straightforward – when you are being asked to identify a correct verb, there can
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Published: November 6, 2018
GMAT Tip: Eliminate Out of Scope
Believe it or not, getting to the right answer for a Critical Reasoning question can be as simple at reading the prompt carefully and strategically eliminating answer choices that are out of scope of the passage. A lot of answer choices can “sound good” but really don’t do anything in the form of answering the question being asked or give the additional information required to strengthen or weaken the argument. The below question is a perfect example of when out of scope answer choices help us to quickly get to 50/50: Boreal owls range over a much larger area than
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Published: October 30, 2018
GMAT Tip: Completing the Critical Reasoning Blank
While strengthen, weaken, and inference questions tend to make up the bulk of GMAT Critical Reasoning questions, another question Critical Reasoning type that appears often is those that require completing the blank, following the prompt: Which of the following most logically completes the argument below? These question types are asking you to figure out what makes sense, typically as part of a plan of action based upon data, surveys, or other kinds of feedback. Let’s take a look at a sample problem below: Which of the following most logically completes the argument below? NowNews, although still the most popular magazine
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Published: October 9, 2018
GMAT Tip: Focus on Sentence Corrections
GMAT test takers tend to get really focused on the quantitative section. Somehow, it seems like that in order to score a 700+ on the GMAT, we must work on endless amounts of algebra and geometry concepts, coupled with hundreds of problem solving and data sufficiency questions. The verbal section must be easier right? You scored a 54% in quantitative and a 43% in verbal, but you were just not having a great grammar day, right? Not necessarily. The vast majority of GMAT students overlook the obvious and, often, more attainable question types – particularly sentence correction. In some instances,
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Published: October 3, 2018
Has the MBA Lost Its Luster? GMAC Application Trends Survey Sheds Some Light
Declining application volume at U.S. business schools made the headlines when the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) released the findings of its annual application trends survey earlier this week (10/1). “Applications Down at 70 Percent of U.S. MBA Programs—Including Harvard,” broadcast one news outlet. And it’s true. The GMAC data reveal that just 32 percent of U.S. programs reported growth as compared to last year. Overall, U.S. business schools experienced a nearly 7 percent decline, with domestic applications down 1.8 percent and international volume off by 10.5 percent. Growth in Other Markets Offsets U.S. Decline
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Published: September 18, 2018
GMAT Tip: Three Tips for GMAT Integrated Reasoning
When the Graduate Management Admission Council introduced the Integrated Reasoning section a few years ago, it was in response to considerable business school feedback around evolving technology, changing student skill-sets and the need to continue adapting. Now with a few years of data available, schools are starting to determine how to best utilize this score data, so while the GMAT Integrated Reasoning section doesn’t fall nicely and neatly into the quant or verbal bucket, let’s break down IR since this section doesn’t look quite like the others. Familiarize Yourself with GMAT Integrated Reasoning Answer Formats and Types. Integrated Reasoning questions
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Published: August 14, 2018
GMAT Tip: Read It Right On The Screen
Many test takers get frustrated when they uncover that a point of weakness in their GMAT practice tests is the reading section. “But I have an English degree!” or “I read part of a book each day!” While reading difficult, dense reading material each day – like the Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, or The Economist – can certainly boost and hone your reading comprehension skills, the reality is that (just like the rest of the test) there is a strategy behind the reading comprehension section that is more than, well, just reading. One strategy that a lot of test takers don’t think
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Published: August 7, 2018
GMAT Tip: The IR Matters
Many test takers spent the vast majority of their preparation working towards improving in the Quantitative and Verbal Reasoning sections, only taking a day or two to skim through the Integrated Reasoning sections, and almost always skipping the IR section on practice exams. Not giving the Integrated Reasoning section due diligence and/or just a tenth of preparation time may be detrimental for a competitive application. Set up as an experimental section, many b-school experts felt that the IR would never become a valid aspect of a GMAT application. But more recent surveys indicate that IR is, in fact, becoming an
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GMAT Tip: When You Can’t Swim in Critical Reasoning, Eliminate
With Critical Reasoning questions, many test takers forget the immense importance of figuring out the gap, or disconnect, in the reasoning in the question being provided. Understanding this gap is essential to determining what answer choice fits to resolve the gap. The next step is moving to evaluate what the question asks you to find – say, whether you need to select an answer choice that strengthens or weakens the prompt provided. Many test takers fail to spend adequate time evaluating the gap, and find themselves stuck between 2 or 3 answer choices. Without fundamentally understanding the gap, figuring out
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GMAT Tip: Only a Kitchen Calculator
There are many different approaches in tackling a GMAT Quantitative question effectively. Algebraically, working backwards from the answer choices, considering “lucky twins” – a smart test taker is flexible and takes a fresh new approach by evaluating each quantitative question individually, taking the route that is efficient and effective. But how does said test taker become the smart test taker – what kinds of signs tip us off that we should go down a certain strategy road for a tricky and/or difficult quantitative question? Think of the “kitchen calculator” – the kind of cheap plastic, four-digit calculator that you find
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Published: April 17, 2018
Our Latest Podcast: The Great Test Debate—GMAT Versus GRE
In early April, the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), which owns and administers the GMAT, announced that it is shaving half an hour off the test, bringing it down from four hours to three and a half. GMAC called it a “candidate friendly change designed to enhance the test taking experience,” adding that “the GMAT is the only assessment designed specifically for graduate business school.” To get to a shorter test, GMAC sliced out 23 minutes of unscored (research) questions in the Quantitative and Verbal Reasoning sections and streamlined non-exam portions like tutorials and instructions. GMAC made no mention of
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Published: April 10, 2018
Sentence Corrections: Not About the Grammar?
Gerunds, prepositional phrases, past perfect test, idioms…if you are a test taker who knows your E.B. White and Will Strunk book by heart, you should ace the Sentence Corrections section every single time, right? Not necessarily. While a cursory review of grammar is important to do well in verbal, a common mistake that test takers make is assuming that knowing good grammar is the number one path to success on Sentence Correction questions. Furthermore, test takers rely on “what sounds good,” not focusing on what the GMAT test makers are seeking to understand from those test takers – the ability
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A Shorter GMAT? It’s True—Starting April 16th
If you’re planning to sit for the GMAT exam in preparation for applying to business school, you might do well to hold off for a couple of weeks. According to the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), which owns and administers the GMAT, the test will be 30 minutes shorter than it has been in the past, lasting just 3.5 hours instead of the previous 4, including breaks and instructions. But before you get too excited, we should stress that this does not mean the test will be any easier. GMAC sliced 23 minutes out of the exam sections themselves by
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The Managerial Approach to Sentence Correction
For most examinees, GMAT Sentence Correction can look a lot like a typical workday: you face a series of tasks and decisions that seem a bit daunting and quite a bit out of your control or expertise. But remember: the whole reason you’re taking the GMAT is to eventually become a high-level manager, and what effective managers do is determine where they’re best able to add value and then focus on that. The same ideology should be true of your Sentence Correction approach! Elon Musk is able to spearhead initiatives in space travel, electric cars, and (perhaps soon) revolutionary public
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Published: February 27, 2018
GMAT Tip: Put the Critical in Critical Reasoning
As you read GMAT Critical Reasoning problems, you might be struck by how different the questions can be: some are about biology, others about geology, and still others about politics, home repair, corporate strategy, and a whole host of other topics. But, strategically speaking, Critical Reasoning problems are all a lot more similar than meets the eye. There are a handful of blueprints for the structure of these problems, and if you can see those blueprints the subject matter becomes window dressing. The most popular Critical Reasoning blueprint? It looks like this: Fact that guarantees that X is true. Conclusion
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Published: February 20, 2018
Your 3-Phase GMAT Study Plan
Perhaps the most common question students ask about the GMAT is some variation of “how many hours per week do I need to study for the GMAT?” and “how long should I study for the GMAT?” And while these questions aren’t completely off base, they’re at least somewhat misguided. The key to studying for the GMAT isn’t as much the quantity of your study, it’s the quality. So let’s talk about how to get the most value out of your GMAT study plan, by paying attention to three very important phases. 1. Learn The single biggest mistake that test-takers make
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Published: December 26, 2017
GMAT Tip: Let It Cancel Out
When faced with Geometry problems with variables, many test takers will approach the question with fear, believing they are forgetting some obscure geometric rule that is the only path towards a correct answer. In reality, as we’ve covered in a few past posts, the understanding required to do well on Geometry questions on the GMAT is basic – Pythagorean theorem, special right triangles, area formula, and the like that you’ve found in the first half of an introductory Geometry course. Occasionally, we see some oddball questions associated with central angles, but there are still multiple ways to get to the
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Published: December 19, 2017
GMAT Tip: Assumption without Negation
Quick recap: we typically see four different question types on the GMAT – Strengthen, Weaken, Assumption, and Method of Reasoning. Many students find the assumption questions to be one of the toughest nuts to crack because of how difficult it is to discern what type of logic the author uses to form his/her argument. Assumption questions can be identified by the question (or similar question): The argument relies on which of the following assumptions? A commonly recommended strategy is the assumption-negation technique, where we negate answer choices to determine whether the conclusion can hold without the assumption. Some test takers
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Published: November 28, 2017
GMAT Tip: Analyzing Sentence Correction
If you hit the road over the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S., you joined millions of other Americans who traveled more than 50 miles to get to their feast of turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce. And more likely than not, you probably sat in traffic for some portion of that journey and enlisted the help of at least one travel app to try and find another less-congested route. The moment of truth comes when you have to decide whether or not to pull the trigger on the seemingly longer and more circuitous route or stick with your original plan of
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