I know what Statement 2 is telling me; it’s saying ˜Become a carpenter!’

Why is this question here? Why am I here?  When’s the civil service exam?  Garbage men still have a union. . .

Have you lived that movie?  Paranoia is only human and the old saying is true: Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.  Paranoia is a primal reaction, developed to help protect humans from animals with sharp, pointy teeth.  Unfortunately, it is not helpful when one is facing questions with sharp, pointy teeth.  Even though the GMAT is out to get you.  Failing to control your paranoia is a hidden reason for underperforming on the actual exam.

On this blog, I and others have discussed many factors crucial for success: foundation skills, strategies, timing, precision, and so forth.  And it’s like I say about L.A.—everything you ever read [here] about it is true.  However, after honing these skills, after achieving mastery, too many test takers succumb to their paranoia and thus revert when taking the actual exam, especially for the first time.  Even 99^th percentile skills will crumble if undermined by irrational panic and the results will not be gratifying.  (Have you ever watched the Chicago Cubs play a post season series?)   To succeed, folks must understand the difference between dispassionate, objective analysis—I’ve never gotten a combinatrics question right in life, why do I think I’ll have a divine inspiration today?—and irrelevant fear—They’re going to tattoo a scarlet L on my forehead.  Just as folks plan question and timing strategies, they must develop tools to banish their internally generated negative visualizations.

How do you tell the difference?  Objective analysis responds to the stimuli on the monitor.  Paranoia is a response to internal doubts.  (Notice how this is parallel to the nature of the exam—search for the answer on the screen, not in the opinions in your head.)  Sometimes, after you’ve read a question twice (everyone has a sinking feeling the first time), you hear yourself singing, I’ve got the ˜I don’t know where I’m going but I’m going nowhere in a hurry’ blues.  That’s the truth, not paranoia.  Bail out.  As one of my acting coaches used to say, Only schizophrenics don’t react to the reality around them.  Conversely, paranoia is when your thoughts of impending disaster revolve around your supposed shortcomings rather than the material on the screen.  As I’ve said before, if while taking the exam you find yourself thinking about how big a dumb ass you are, check the question—if it doesn’t read, Which of the following best describes how big a dumb ass you are?, you’re thinking about the wrong thing.  That is paranoia.  No kidding—you knew that.

Well then, why do people recognize the difference between analysis and paranoia but still succumb to the latter?  Because they try to do the impossible.  They try not to have thoughts of failure.  That’s impossible—you can’t override human nature.  I have feelings of paranoia, even though I’ve always scored in the 99^th percentile.  I still have them”even though I don’t really care about my score anymore.  Instead, you have to recognize irrationality in yourself and laugh it off.  I say to myself, Save some of that craziness for menopause.  Then I giggle, read the question again, and really listen to the words.  And if I still don’t get it, I say, Screw them if they can’t take a joke.  And bail out.

Maybe some of you can’t make jokes to yourself during the exam because you’re worried about your entire future.  That’s part of the problem—if a chunk (or all) of your mind is thinking about things other than the words on the monitor, it will lower your score.  It’s the difference between worrying about being the hero or the goat and just seeing the ball and hitting the ball.  Feelings of failure while taking the exam are like stage fright.  That’s what stage fright is—standing up there thinking you look like an idiot.  You say, No, it’s much different—they give me a piece of paper that says I’m an idiot.  No.  Really.  It’s the same.  So, I’ve got another suggestion for you, if you didn’t like the first one.

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We were taught in school to think of whole numbers in the context of two groups: Odds vs. Evens. I remember thinking it was like the black vs. white pieces on a chess board (I was kind of a nerd). As I’m sure you know, an Even number is simply a number divisible by 2, and an Odd number is any number that’s not even. But ask yourself this: what is the remainder when you divide an odd number by 2? Take a minute to think about this. Try out a few different odd numbers and see if you can identify a pattern.

The remainder will always be 1 when you divide an odd number by 2. Always. And when you divide an even number by 2? Well, by definition the even number is divisible by 2, so the remainder is therefore zero.

The GMAT loves taking this concept and testing how deep your understanding goes. Therefore, we must free ourselves of the simplistic odd vs. even framework that we were fed in school, and explore this concept to a much deeper level. That is exactly what I intend to do in this blog post.

I always joke with my students that if I were the number 3 on the number line, I would really hate my next door neighbor to the left (number 2). He thinks he’s so special because there’s a name for any multiple of him (“even”); and if that’s not enough to give him a big head, they also invented a name for any number that isn’t a multiple of him (“odd”). What do you call multiples of me? “multiple of 3”. What do you call numbers that are not multiples of me? “not a multiple of 3”. LAME

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This is the second of a series of posts that offer alternate ways to solve certain GMAT problems (check out the first here: DS Value Problems). Just like last time, if you like the method, steal it! And if you don’t, I promise not to lose any sleep. There’s a lot of ways to solve most questions on the GMAT and the best way will always be the way that works best for you. So without further ado, let’s check out a GMATPrep question and see how fast you can solve:

Last month 15 homes were sold in Town X. The average (arithmetic mean) sale price of the homes was $150,000 and the median sale price was $130,000. Which of the following statements must be true?

I. At least one of the homes was sold for more than $165,000.

II. At least one of the homes was sold for more than $130,000 and less than $150,000.

III. At least one of the homes was sold for less than $130,000.

 

(A) I only

(B) II only

(C) III only

(D) I and II

(E) I and III

First things first, if you answered this question using algebra, you’re in great company. Another one of our instructors, Stacey Koprince, has a great write up on the algebra in this question, and it’s definitely worth a read-through right here. But a lot of questions on the GMAT, including this one, can be solved by thinking of extremely simple scenarios, rather than the algebra that determines all of them.

The first thing I noticed on this question is that this is one of those awful questions where there’s a whole lot of wiggle room with the information that they give you. What was the cheapest house? What was the cost of the third most expensive house? Were any of the houses all the same price? If the second cheapest house is half as expensive as the most expensive, how does that affect the cost of the other houses? It’s easy to get lost when you start to think about how little you know in this scenario.

But before I jump around and start picking values out of thin air, the most important part of this problem are the (few) things that MUST be true. In this case, there are two: the 15 house prices have a mean of $150,000 and a median of $130,000. And on my paper, I would write out a few slots to represent the house prices like this: (note- I wouldn’t write out all 15 slots. Just the first few, the last few, and, since this is a median problem, one in the middle.)

Again, there are two things that they tell me here, but I want to start with the most restrictive element in this problem. There are lots of different ways to get a mean of $150,000, but in order to get a median of $130,000, I would need at least one house to cost EXACTLY $130,000. So I add that to my chart (ignoring the $ sign and extra zeroes):

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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:

If n is a positive integer greater than 1, what is the smallest positive difference between two different factors of n?

(1)  is a positive integer.

(2) n is a multiple of both 11 and 9.

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Here are the free GMAT events we’re holding this week. All times are local unless otherwise specified.

7/15/13– West Hollywood, CA- Free Trial Class– 6:30PM- 9:30PM

7/15/13– Seattle, WA- Free Trial Class– 6:30PM- 9:30PM

7/16/13– Dallas, TX- Free Trial Class– 6:30PM- 9:30PM

7/16/13– San Diego, CA – Free Trial Class– 6:30PM- 9:30PM

7/16/13– Evanston, IL – Free Trial Class– 6:30PM- 9:30PM

7/16/13– Irvine, CA – Free Trial Class– 6:30PM- 9:30PM

7/17/13– Online- Choosing the Right B-School presented by mbaMission– 12:00PM- 1:30PM (EDT)

7/17/13– Boston, MA – Free Trial Class– 6:30PM- 9:30PM

7/18/13– New York, NY-  Free Trial Class– 6:30PM- 9:30PM

7/20/13– New York, NY- Free Trial Class– 10:00AM- 1:00PM

7/20/13– Santa Monica, CA- Free Trial Class– 10:00AM- 1:00PM

7/20/13– Arlington, VA- Free Trial Class– 10:00AM- 1:00PM

7/21/13– New York, NY- Free Trial Class– 10:00AM- 1:00PM

7/21/13– Online- Free Trial Class– 2:00PM- 5:00PM EDT

Looking for more free events? Check out our Free Events Listings Page.

Catch up on some business school news and tips with a few of this week’s top stories:

Boost B-School Applications by Attending Diversity Events (U.S. News Education)

Attending diversity events can give minority MBA candidates a window into the admissions process.

Three Myths About Your Strengths (Harvard Business Review)

HBR addresses the shift in focus from correcting weaknesses to identifying and expanding on strengths.

B-School Chart of the Week: June 2013 Social Currency Ranking (mbaMission)

For a different perspective on the value of an MBA, mbaMission turned to the New York Times society pages, where the editors select and profile promising couples.

Ask Farnoosh: What’s the Right Business School Program for Me? (Yahoo Finance)

Here is some advice for picking a program that meets your career objectives while carrying a price tag that doesn’t keep you indebted for decades to come.

In Business, Foreign Language Skills Help (Graduate Guide)

Whether individuals plan to work with colleagues in other countries or conduct business with companies abroad, having a global perspective helps.

Did we miss your favorite article from the week? Let us know what you have been reading in the comments below or tweet @ManhattanGMAT

We’ve invited mbaMission to share their Business School Essays Analyses as they’re released for the 2013-2014 application season. Here is their analysis for University of Virginia (Darden).

Darden has tweaked its single essay question ever so slightly, changing the second part of the prompt  from How did this experience change your perspective? to What did you learn about yourself? Although the phrasing is a little bit different, the spirit is largely the same. Because Darden offers you such little leeway in revealing the breadth of your experiences, we strongly advise you to make the most of your resume and short-answer responses within your application to ensure that the school learns as much as possible about you. In particular, you will need to rely on your resume to reveal important accomplishments, but you will have to be careful not to overstuff it. Do not mistake quantity for quality.

Our analysis of Darden’s sole question follows

Share your thought process as you encountered a challenging work situation or complex problem. What did you learn about yourself?  (500 words maximum)

Choosing a situation to discuss that required clear and measured consideration on your part is imperative, given that Darden asks explicitly for you to detail your thought process. Simply describing the nature of the situation and how it played out is not enough for this essay”you must reveal the process of contemplation that ultimately led you to action in your efforts to resolve the issue. Interestingly, you do not necessarily need to show that you achieved your desired results, and the type of challenge you describe is not of primary importance. The key to a successful essay here is not only showing that you invested an appropriate amount of thought for the problem or situation at hand, but also the progression and development of your thinking. The other crucial element of this essay is demonstrating that you learned from the experience”and specifically, learned something about yourself. So, claiming that you gained a new skill, for example, would not constitute an appropriate response. You will need to delve more deeply into how your understanding of yourself differed after the situation and clearly explain what the experience brought out in you that you had not known about yourself before.

For a thorough exploration of Darden’s academic program/merits, defining characteristics, crucial statistics, social life, academic environment and more, please check out the mbaMission Insider’s Guide to the Darden School of Business Administration.

We’ve invited mbaMission to share their Business School Essays Analyses as they’re released for the 2013-2014 application season. Here is their analysis for University of Pennsylvania (Wharton).

Wharton’s essay prompts for this application season may seem a bit perplexing. At first glance, the two questions seem rather similar. However, the first is basically a question about what you hope to get from your MBA experience at the school, and the second is mostly about what you can give to the Wharton program. With only 500 words for Essay 2 to give the school a sense of your personality and experiences, you will need to think especially carefully about what you want to say. At other schools, an interview will give you the opportunity to share these parts of your profile, but Wharton’s group interview will not be the place for you to talk about yourself, so this essay is your opportunity instead. Proceed thoughtfully

Essay 1: What do you aspire to achieve, personally and professionally, through the Wharton MBA? (500 words)

This essay prompt has the markings of the classic personal statement question, though it differs slightly in that it includes your personal aspirations in addition to your professional aspirations. With respect to your personal aspirations (note that the phrasing is through Wharton’s program), your goals can be anything from advancing your intellectual development while at the school to experiencing new cultures and personalities after graduating with your degree. The goal you claim is not as important as truly owning it and connecting it directly to what Wharton offers, revealing a very clear understanding of the school’s strengths and resources and of how you will use them. Avoid vague statements about how great the school is and focus on demonstrating a clear connection between your aspirations, what you need to achieve them and what Wharton in particular offers that will enable you to fulfill those needs.

Because Personal Statements are generally similar from one application to the next, we have produced the mbaMission Personal Statement Guide, which helps applicants write this style of essay for any school. We offer this guide to candidates free of charge. Please feel free to download your copy today.

For a thorough exploration of Wharton’s academic program/merits, defining characteristics, crucial statistics, social life, academic environment and more, please check out the mbaMission Insider’s Guide to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Essay 2: Academic engagement is an important element of the Wharton MBA experience. How do you see yourself contributing to our learning community? (500 words)

Here, Wharton gives you a chance to discuss how your past activities, professional experiences and, in some cases, even personal adventures could be harnessed for the benefit of others at the school. Consider identifying and exploring one or two specific instances in your life that were extraordinary or formative and allowed you to claim specific knowledge or expertise. Then connect them to specific elements of the school’s MBA program, revealing that you have a thorough understanding not only of the school itself but also of how your personal strengths could enhance the experience for your fellow students.

Your experiences need not be totally unique, but they must be conveyed in a way that paints them as specifically yours, and they need to be capable of being leveraged academically.  Note that the school’s question specifies a contribution to the learning community. However, this does not mean that you must have some sort of strictly academicknowledge. In fact, most essays written from that angle would end up being quite boring: I worked on discounted cash flows modeling, so I can help others with such models would be an almost sure loser. Unless you can claim a truly exceptional academic achievement that has direct application in class (My PhD in nanotechnology would advance discussions on the topic of emerging technologies), you would be better off delving into how you developed particular skills or traits and then explaining how they could be applied. For example, if you have experience managing flexible teams, you would be well equipped to facilitate discussions on your learning team and thereby add value in that capacity.

As you approach this essay, be sure to not simply tell the admissions committee how great you are at something. Instead, use a narrative to illustrate that you have certain applicable experiences, skills and/or qualities and fully understand their value to others.

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:

If PQ is a diameter of the circle above, and the lengths of AX, BX, PX, and QX are integers, what is the area of the circle?

(1) (AX)(BX) = 16
(2) QX > AB

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Here are the free GMAT events we’re holding this week. All times are local unless otherwise specified.

7/8/13– Durham, NC- Free Trial Class– 6:30PM- 9:30PM

7/8/13– New York, NY- Free Trial Class– 6:30PM- 9:30PM

7/9/13– Bellaire, TX- Free Trial Class– 6:30PM- 9:30PM

7/9/13– Santa Monica, CA – Free Trial Class– 6:30PM- 9:30PM

7/9/13– Washington, DC- Free Trial Class– 6:30PM- 9:30PM

7/9/13– Salt Lake City, UT – Free Trial Class– 6:30PM- 9:30PM

7/10/13– Online – Free Trial Class- 8:00PM- 11:00PM (EDT)

7/11/13– Chicago, IL –MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed presented by mbaMission– 7:00PM-8:30PM

7/13/13– Chicago, IL- Free Trial Class– 10:30AM- 1:00PM
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