Here are the free GMAT events we’re holding this week. All times are local unless otherwise specified.
1/24/13– Online- Choosing the Right B-School presented by mbaMission– 9:00- 10:30PM (EST)

1/24/13– Online- Thursdays with Ron- 7:00- 8:30PM (EST)

1/26/13– Online- GMAT Preview– 1:00- 2:30PM (EST)

1/27/13 – Online – Free Trial Class – 2:00- 5:00PM (EST)

1/21/13 – Ann Arbor, MI – Free Trial Class – 6:30-9:30 PM

1/27/13 – Atlanta, GA – Free Trial Class – 5:30-8:30 PM

1/27/13– Chicago, IL- Free Trial Class – 5:30- 8:30PM
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Here’s a roundup of some of this week’s top business school related articles:

Women in Business School: Why So Few? (Bloomberg Businessweek)

Bloomberg offers some explanations for why men outnumber women on business school campuses.

U.S. News Ranks Online MBA Programs (Poets & Quants)

U.S. News recently released online MBA program rankings for the first time ever. Check out what Poets & Quants had to say about the report.

Harvard Might Be the Best in Business, But Those Excelling in Entrepreneurship are Babson & MIT (BostInno)

Interested in pursuing an MBA in entrepreneurship? BostInno reviews Bloomberg Businessweek’s rankings of the top programs for entrepreneurship.
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Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We’re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here.

Has this happened to you? You’re reviewing a practice test, and you look at a question you got wrong. “That was just a stupid mistake,” you say, “I should have gotten that one right. I’ll get it next time.” Read more

I’ve written a lot “ and you’ve read a lot “ about timing already, but I want to address something that I’ve been hearing lately from students particularly those who have been studying for a while and are really struggling to make progress on practice tests.

My best timing was on my very first practice test

I’ve spoken with a few students lately who’ve told me that they felt more comfortable with the timing before they started studying all of this stuff. How is that possible?

Actually, it’s fairly common. Here’s what happens: on your first practice test (before or shortly after you started studying), you know what you don’t know and so it’s much easier to let go of the too-hard questions. Once you start studying, you’ll see something and think, Oh, I studied that! I can get this one! But it turns out that one is still too hard only, this time, you won’t let go when you should. Do that a few times and the whole situation snowballs: you realize you’re behind on time, you start to panic and rush, that causes careless mistakes. Then you get stuck on another because you feel like you’re getting a bunch wrong so you don’t want to get this one wrong too now you’re wasting even more time, and then the section ends with a bunch of guesses or even blank questions.

I’m fine with OG / untimed / with shorter problem sets

I’m sure it’s no surprise to you that you’re better when the timer isn’t ticking. We all are. Unfortunately, the real test is timed, so our untimed performance doesn’t matter. Lots of people also discover that everything’s fine when doing sets out of the Official Guide, especially shorter problem sets. This, again, is to be expected “ the OG isn’t adaptive (so you aren’t getting harder questions when you do well), and it’s easier to keep track of your global time for 5 or 10 questions rather than 37 or 41.

So what do I do?

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Many a true word is said in jest.—I don’t know, but I heard it from my mother.

Folks don’t score as well as they should on the GMAT for a variety of reasons. One major reason for this is that folks worry about the wrong thing.  They worry about what they know, but they should be worrying about what they do.  They should worry about the reality of doing.  As an athlete does physically and as a method actor does mentally.  (Wait for it.)

The GMAT is an aptitude test, not a knowledge test.  It tests the same logic system throughout—in both the math and the verbal.  In both sections, the modus operandi is to be specific, don’t assume, and don’t rationalize.  Be more precise than in life; notice the exact meaning of the words.  It takes classes three weeks to open their third eyes and notice the difference between precision and hoping.  Second, no outside knowledge or assumptions are allowed.  However, the hardest part for GMAT test takers is not to rationalize.  The questions ask what MUST be true, not what COULD be true by adding opinions.  Folks want to demonstrate the depth of their thoughts, but the questions ask what must follow—-so, whatever you do, don’t think. . .much like in life.  Just do.

A student, who was accepted to both Harvard and Stanford, once said to me, The funny thing about the GMAT is that the math is the verbal and the verbal is the math.  Because it is one logic system, there is a truth to this—the verbal is the math because you must not only be as precise as, but also as systematic as you are in quantitative work.  On the other hand, the math revolves around noticing exactly what the words say, as well as and reading and writing with symbols.  Doing the arithmetic and algebra is the moral equivalent of reading English—it is taken for granted and not tested per se.  This is a double edged sword. Folks are ruined because they concentrate on challenging math topics but their shoddy mechanics cost them at least half a minute per problem.  That, however, is a separate reason for, and separate article about, why folks do not score as well as they should.

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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:

For all non-negative integers x and n such that 0 ≤ x ≤ n, the function f_n(x) is defined by the equation f_n(x) = x^n“x. The smallest value of n for which the maximum of f_n(x) occurs when x = 4 is

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Did you ever have one of those anal teachers in high school math or science who would take off points if you did not include the correct units? So an answer of 7 would only receive partial credit when the answer was 7 inches.  Although this practice likely seemed frustrating at the time, I hope to provide some method behind this madness “ or specifically how awareness of units can help you on the GMAT.

My appreciation of units first began during college. I was a chemistry major in college, and as part of my major I had to take physics.  The topics in physics never came naturally for me so I was always looking for little tricks that would lead me towards a correct answer.  One trick I found that was surprisingly effective was to just combine the numbers in the way such that the answer was in the appropriate units.  For example if the question asked for an acceleration (the rate at which speed is changing or the second derivative of distance for the calculus-inclined), I knew that acceleration is always in the form of units of distance / units of time^2 (e.g. meters/ seconds^2).  So unless I combined the numbers in a way that resulted in these units as the answer “ for example by dividing a speed in meters per second by a time in seconds “ I knew I had done something wrong.

Since units are not required on the GMAT, I find many students exclude them entirely from their note taking and calculations.  But keeping track of units, while it may cost a little time, can help lead you towards right answers and prevent you from doing illogical algebra.
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Here are the free GMAT events we’re holding this week. All times are local unless otherwise specified.

1/16/13 – Austin, TX – Free Trial Class – 6:30-9:30 PM

1/19/13 – Boston, MA – Free Trial Class – 2:00-5:00 PM

1/19/13– Chicago, IL- Free Trial Class – 10:00 AM-1:00 PM

1/14/13– Dallas, TX- Free Trial Class– 6:30-9:30 PM

1/17/13– Denver, CO- Free Trial Class– 6:30- 9:30 PM

1/14/13– Glendale, CA – Free Trial Class– 6:30- 9:30 PM

1/17/13– Encino, CA- Free Trial Class– 6:30- 9:30 PM
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Here’s a roundup of some of this week’s top business school related articles:

How to Choose MBA Elective Courses (U.S. News Education)

Be smart when choosing electives in business school. Here are some electives that MBAs and professors advise graduate business students to pursue.

B-School Chart of the Week: Number of Living Alumni (mbaMission)

Looking for an MBA program with a sizable alumni base?  Check out this chart on mbaMission for some insight into which schools have the most living alumni.

M.B.A. Pop Quiz: Are You Employable? (The Wall Street Journal)

Business school admissions committees look for employable people. Some MBA programs are now using career-services staff to evaluate applicants.
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The last blog post I wrote showed how modifiers can fool people on quant problems “ here’s the link.

Several of my students who got the baseball problem from that post correct dismissed the issue entirely and scoffed at me for showing them such an easy problem, then inevitably missed a variant of the problem I’m about to show you. Try it for yourself, and watch out for the modifiers!

The town of Malmo, Sweden has only two late-night food options: Pizza and Kebab. All sellers of late-night food have either a street permit or a permanent store permit. 60% of all the late-night food sellers in Malmo are street vendors that serve Kebab; 20% of all the late-night food sellers who have a permanent store serve Pizza. If Malmo’s ratio of total street permits to total permanent store permits is exactly 7 to 3, what percentage of all late-night food sellers in Malmo serve pizza?

 

(A)  10%

(B)  16%

(C)  24%

(D) 30%

(E)  70%

(If you’re not sure how to approach this problem, try brushing up on overlapping sets, covered in the Manhattan GMAT Word Problems strategy guide. Then come back and give it a shot.)

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