Given that Integrated Reasoning may become more important for those who want to go into consulting or banking, let’s take a look at a Multi-Source Reasoning (MSR) problem!

In this first part, we’re going to take a look at how to read and take notes on the MSR text. In the next article, we’ll do a problem that goes with the text. This MSR is from the free GMATPrep test, so if you have not yet taken GMATPrep, don’t read this article yet! Put it away and come back to it after you’ve seen the problem yourself.

MSRs appear as three tabs of information. I can’t format things into tabs here, so I’ll just show it all to you one after the other. You have about 2.5 minutes per question on IR. This MSR has a total of 3 associated questions, but I’m only giving you one in this article. Spend about 2 to 2.5 minutes on the read-through, leaving yourself about 1.5 to 2 minutes to spend on each question.

Tab 1

“An archaeological team has been excavating three ancient village sites—Barras, Agna, and Cussaia—looking in particular at kitchen waste dumps as a way to understand the villages’ dietary patterns and trading relationships. What follows are brief summaries of their findings.

“Barras: The best data come from stratified finds in this oceanside village, which was inhabited from AD 600 to 1300 and was the only one of the three villages to produce seafood, its main dietary item. Though Barras residents hunted on land and raised crops, this provided relatively small amounts of food. As Barras’s overall prosperity rose, there was more food available per person, and its population increased from an average of 100 residents in the AD 600s to 400 residents in the AD 1000s to 600 residents in the AD 1200s.

“Agna: Agna was established in an inland forest around AD 800 and its residents mainly hunted but also ate considerable amounts of fruit, nuts, and other forest-vegetable products. They also traded meat to Barras for other goods. With no open fields, Agna grew no grain.

“Cussaia: Predating Barras, Cussaia depended heavily on raising grain crops and eventually obtained seafood and meat via trade. It traded directly only with Barras, because a mountain range separated it from Agna, though some products may have been traded between Agna and Cussaia via Barras.

“Additionally, there is no evidence that any other village traded with Barras, Agna, or Cussaia prior to AD 1300.”

—

Tab 2

“Barras: Percentages, by Estimated Weight, of Dietary Items Consumed per Person per Month”

Century	Seafood	Meat	Grains	Other
600s	65%	10%	10%	15%
700s	65%	10%	15%	10%
800s	60%	15%	15%	10%
900s	45%	30%	12%	13%
1000s	45%	30%	12%	13%
1100s	60%	10%	20%	10%
1200s	55%	25%	10%	10%

—

Tab 3

“Barras, Agna: Estimated Average Monthly Meat and Seafood Consumption (lb per 4-Person Family)”

Century	Barras		Agna
	Seafood	Meat	Seafood	Meat
600s	240	37	not applicable	not applicable
700s	250	38	not applicable	not applicable
800s	275	70	60	240
900s	258	172	66	180
1000s	240	160	66	186
1100s	275	45	8	240
1200s	265	120	45	240

—

That’s a lot to read through in only 2 minutes or so. The key is to be able to divide the info into three categories:

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Manhattan Prep is offering special full tuition scholarships for up to 16 individuals per year (4 per quarter) who will be selected as part of Manhattan GMAT’s Social Venture Scholars program. This program provides the selected scholars with free admission into one of Manhattan GMAT’s live online Complete Courses (a $1290 value).

These competitive scholarships are offered to individuals who (1) currently work full-time in an organization that promotes positive social change, (2) plan to use their MBA to work in a public, not-for-profit, or other venture with a social-change oriented mission, and (3) demonstrate clear financial need. The Social Venture Scholars will all enroll in a special online preparation course taught by two of Manhattan GMAT’s expert instructors within one year of winning the scholarship.

The deadline our next application period is 9/6.

Details about the SVS program and how you can apply can be found here.

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 three different integers are selected at random from the integers 1 through 8, what is the probability that the three selected integers can be the side lengths of a triangle?

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

8/26/13– Boston, MA – Essay Writing Workshop Presented by mbaMission– 7:00PM- 8:30PM

8/26/13– Online- Free Trial Class– 8:00PM- 11:00PM (EDT)

8/27/13– Austin, TX –  Free Trial Class– 6:30PM- 9:30PM

8/27/13–  Washington, DC- MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed presented by mbaMission– 7:00PM- 8:30PM

8/27/13– Online – Free Trial Class– 9:00PM-12:00AM (EDT)

9/1/13– London- Essay Writing Workshop Presented by mbaMission– 7:00PM- 8:30PM

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:

Here’s Why Applying To Harvard Business School Has Never Been Easier (Forbes)

Rather, it’s never been more straightforward – for you and close to 10,000 other applicants who are likely to apply this year for one of 940 or so places in the Class of 2016.

Want To Be An Entrepreneur? Then Get Your MBA (Really) (The Globe and Mail)

For those hoping to break into entrepreneurship, business school is an amazing path to do so because of its inherent opportunities.

10 Least Expensive Private Business Schools (U.S. News Education)

These private b-schools keep tuition and fees under $40,000 a year.

At Harvard Business School, Lessons in Leadership from Literature (Bloomberg Businessweek)

For the last 12 years, HBS students, who take a class on literature and leadership, have been scanning the pages of books for lessons to help them tackle business’s most challenging dilemmas.

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 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:

In the figure above, ABC is a right triangle with AC as its hypotenuse, and PQRS is a square. What is the area of the square?

(1) AC is 70 units long.

(2) The product of the length of AS and the length of RC is 396.

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

8/19/13– Santa Monica, CA – Free Trial Class- 6:30PM- 9:30PM

8/19/13– New York, NY- Free Trial Class– 6:30PM- 9:30PM

8/19/13– San Francisco, CA- Free Trial Class– 6:30PM- 9:30PM

8/19/13–  Toronto, ON- Free Trial Class– 6:30PM- 9:30PM

8/19/13– New York, NY – The Last Minute MBA Application presented by mbaMission– 7:00PM-8:30PM

8/19/13– Online- Live Online GMAT Preview– 9:00PM- 10:30PM

8/20/13–  Atlanta, GA- Free Trial Class– 6:30PM- 9:30PM

8/20/13– Boston, MA- Free Trial Class– 6:30PM- 9:30PM

8/21/13– Online- MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed presented by mbaMission– 9:30AM- 10:30PM (EDT)

8/21/13– San Diego, CA – Free Trial Class– 6:30PM- 9:30PM

8/21/13– Santa Clara, CA – Essay Writing Workshop Presented by mbaMission– 7:00PM- 8:30PM

8/21/13– Irvine, CA- Free Trial Class– 6:30PM- 9:30PM

8/21/13– Online – Essay Writing Workshop Presented by mbaMission– 4:00PM- 5:30PM (EDT)

8/22/13– Chicago, IL- Free Trial Class – 6:30PM- 9:30PM
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Catch up on some business school news and tips with a few of this week’s top stories:

Seek Online MBA Programs The Provide Travel Opportunities (U.S. News Education)

Traveling abroad can help online business students network and improve their resumes.

The Nuances of an MBA Resume (Poets & Quants)

In an application, a resume is more than a chronology of your academic and professional career.

How Getting an MBA can Help You Be a Better Entrepreneur (Upstart Business)

Whether an MBA is necessary to be an entrepreneur is the subject of lots of debate, but getting a master’s in business administration can be a huge help in getting your startup off the ground.

M.B.A. Admission Tip: Always Go for an Easy ‘A’ (The Wall Street Journal)

Business-school applicants with high undergraduate grade point averages are more likely to be admitted than those who performed slightly less well but did so amid tougher grading standards.

From a Dark Foundry to The Milanese Sunshine: Do An MBA, Says MIP Engineer (BusinessBecause)

Former technical manager of engineering giant Metec WA shares why all engineers who want to be recognized as good managers should get an MBA.

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 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 how many unique pairs of nonnegative integers {a, b} is the equation a² – b² = 225 true?

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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.

They manage to pick such interesting topics for Reading Comprehension, don’t they? It’s always the kind of thing you’d choose to read at home in your free time!

Wait. No, that’s not quite right. But the topics are relevant to business school…well, occasionally. Hmm. Read more