What’s It Like To Write A Textbook? An Interview With Authors Of MGMAT’s 5th Edition Strategy Guides, Pt 2
In keeping with our 5th Edition Release Week festivities, we’re really excited to bring to you an interview with three of the people behind our awesome new 5th Edition Manhattan GMAT Strategy Guides.
Below is part 2 of a 2 part interview with David Mahler, Stacey Koprince, and Liz Moliski. Learn what part of the books was hardest to write, what part was our interviewee’s favorite, and how a student should work their way through the books. Part 1 is here.
What was it like to finally finish the books? What was the final rush to beat the deadline like?
Stacey Koprince: I was lucky in that I received the research relatively early on for my book, so I was done in advance of the eventual deadline. I say the “eventual” deadline, because the first deadline I was given didn’t end up being the final deadline. Because some of the other books were delayed, all of the deadlines were pushed back several times, so I finished on time. I’ll admit, though, that I might’ve missed the original deadline if it hadn’t been moved back. : )
For the quant books, though, I would sometimes receive part of the galleys (the files that needed to be proofed) one day and need to give my edits the next day or the day after. Towards the end, we were all working to turn things around so quickly that I would often only be given a chapter at a time, and by the time I was done with it (an hour or two later), the next chapter would be ready to edit.
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What’s It Like To Write A Textbook? An Interview With Authors Of MGMAT’s 5th Edition Strategy Guides, Pt 1
In keeping with our 5th Edition Release Week festivities, we’re really excited to bring to you an interview with three of the people behind our awesome new 5th Edition Manhattan GMAT Strategy Guides.
Below is part 1 of a 2 part interview with David Mahler, Stacey Koprince, and Liz Moliski. Learn what it’s like to write a textbook, how long the process takes, what it’s like approaching the final deadline, and more! Be sure to check back tomorrow for part 2.
What’s it like to actually write a textbook? Where do you start? What is the day-to-day process like?
Stacey Koprince: We do a lot of research before we can even think about starting to write. We examine every all of the most recent official questions to determine patterns, language structures, traps, and so on. We use that data to determine the best solution methods and what and how our students need to study in order to succeed with that question type or content area.
After several months, we’re finally ready to start writing. The process isn’t that different from writing a school paper – a really long school paper! I start with an outline, and then I expand the outline chapter by chapter. Once I have a clear idea of the sub-sections I want to have in each chapter, then I dive into the actual writing.
5th Edition Manhattan GMAT Strategy Guides Giveaways!
In celebration of the release of our 5th Edition Strategy Guides, we’re giving away a complete set (10 books!) to one lucky person. For a chance to win the beautiful books you see to your left, head over to our Facebook page and “like” our post announcing the giveaway. We’ll pick one person at random Friday afternoon. If we get over 100 “likes”, we’ll give away a second set of books, so get as many people to “like” it as you can!
We’ll also be giving away a complete set of 5th Edition Strategy Guides on Twitter at some point this week, and in the next issue of our newsletter, GMATTERS, as well as a few other places online. Keep your eyes peeled for a chance to win! Or, if you can’t wait, head over to our store and pick up the books now and see how great they really are.
Update, 4/26/12: We’re giving away a set of 5th edition books on GMAT Club and Beat the GMAT. Post on the linked threads for a chance to win!
The 5th Edition Manhattan GMAT Strategy Guides Have Arrived!
We are excited to announce the release of our new 5th Edition GMAT Strategy Guides! Months of intensive work by our 99th percentile instructors has resulted in what we believe are the finest GMAT prep books money can buy. The 10 5th Edition books (which amount to nearly 1,900 pages!) were designed with our content-based approach to prepare students for the most recent changes to the GMAT, including Integrated Reasoning. The 5th Edition Strategy Guides come with access to 6 free online practice exams as well as access to over 200 additional free practice questions in 9 subject-specific question banks.
Interested in learning more? Check out the individual book pages in our MGMAT Store. We’re also going to have a lot of great content and giveaways relating to the new 5th Edition guides on the blog this week so make sure you check back every day!
Challenge Problem Showdown – April 23rd, 2012
We invite you to test your GMAT knowledge for a chance to win! Each week, we will post a new Challenge Problem for you to attempt. If you submit the correct answer, you will be entered into that week’s drawing for a free Manhattan GMAT Prep item. Tell your friends to get out their scrap paper and start solving!
Here is this week’s problem:
Ror positive integer m, the m-th heptagonal number is given by the formula 5m2 “ 3m)/2. For positive integer n, the n-th triangular number is the sum of the first n positive integers. Which of the following is true for k, the smallest triangular number that is also heptagonal?
Meaning is Mean! A GMATPrep Sentence Correction Problem
We’ve talked a lot about meaning in sentence correction recently and I’ve got another problem along that same theme for you. The problem I chose comes from the new GMATPrep 2.0 (warning: you may not want to read the explanation until after you’ve used the new software yourself, just in case you see the same problem!). This one actually did also show up in the old version of GMATPrep, but I saw it years ago and forgot about it. When I saw it during my 2.0 test last week, I had the same reaction that I did when I first saw the problem about 5 years ago: I can’t believe they actually did that!
Here’s the problem. Set your timer for 1 minute 15 seconds and go for it!
* As the former chair of the planning board for 18 consecutive years and a board member for 28 years, Joan Philkill attended more than 400 meetings and reviewed more than 700 rezoning applications.
(A) As the former
(B) The former
(C) Former
(D) She was
(E) As the
Short underline “ should be easy right? I received this question as #14 on my test and I got the first 13 questions right. That should give you an idea of the difficulty level. : )
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Chasing Superman: Change In Distance As Work On The GMAT
Editor’s Note: This is the first post by Manhattan GMAT instructor Avi Gutman. Toronto-based, England-born (to Scottish and Moldovan parents), and Israel-raised, Avi likes to consider himself an international man of mystery. The publication of this post was delayed a week due to Avi’s wedding! Welcome him to our blog and send him your congratulation in the comment section below!
Raise your hand if you cringe whenever you think of word problems from 8th grade. Raise your hand again if you feel queasy when you see a question involving Train A and Train B.
If your hand is getting tired this blog post is for you. Most of us already know that GMAT problems involving moving objects (people, cars, trains, etc.) are just one particular form of a WRT (Work Rate Time) problem, where the work is simply the distance traveled. When dealing with just one moving object we can apply the DRT formula as usual (Distance=Rate*Time), but the test writers know that by throwing two moving objects at us (figuratively!) they raise the level of the problem by some 200 points.
Need To Prep Fast Before The GMAT Changes On June 5th?
Manhattan Prep is pleased to announce its Complete Crash Course, an intensive 9-day sprint through the complete GMAT curriculum.
Do you have a GMAT test date booked before the exam changes on June 5th?
Would you benefit from exposure to Manhattan GMAT’s full curriculum beforehand?
If so, this course may be just the structure you need to organize your next couple weeks of studying.
This course is not for the faint of heart or for those expecting miraculous, 150-point score improvements in two weeks. If you learn very quickly and have the GMAT basics already mastered, then allow Manhattan GMAT a chance to take your studying to the next level.
Manhattan GMAT & National Wear Red Day
On February 3rd, the team at Manhattan Prep joined together and wore red for the National Wear Red Day. This annual event is sponsored by the American Heart Association. Additionally, Manhattan Prep held its first Give A Heart drive. Throughout the month of February, Instructors and staff donated money towards the purchase of paper hearts. All funds were donated to the America Heart Association.
Manhattan Prep is a proud supporter of heart health, in addition to overall wellness. The company promotes an active and healthy life-style, encouraging employees to participate in company exercise initiatives and organizing healthy lunch programs each month. We are proud to support such a wonderful cause. Thanks to all that were involved!
Challenge Problem Showdown – April 16nd, 2012
We invite you to test your GMAT knowledge for a chance to win! Each week, we will post a new Challenge Problem for you to attempt. If you submit the correct answer, you will be entered into that week’s drawing for a free Manhattan GMAT Prep item. Tell your friends to get out their scrap paper and start solving!
Here is this week’s problem:
The positive value of x that satisfies the equation (1 + 2x)5 = (1 + 3x)4 is between