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:

Can you find the most efficient way to solve this problem?

Gita, Hussain, Inge, Jeong, Karen, and Leila are seated in a row of six chairs. How many seating arrangements are possible if Gita cannot sit next to Inge and Jeong must sit next to Leila?

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

Remember, our Black Friday GMAT special ends on December 15th. Receive $150 off all December GMAT courses will the code BLACKFRIDAY150.

12/8/13– Online – Free Trial Class-  7:00AM- 10:30AM (EST)

12/8/13- Washington, DC- Free Trial Class– 10:30PM- 1:30PM

12/8/13-New York, NY- Free Trial Class– 5:30PM- 8:30PM

12/8/13–  Irvine, CA- Free Trial Class– 5:30PM- 8:30PM

12/8/13– San Francisco, CA- Free Trial Class – 2:00PM- 5:00PM

12/8/13– Santa Monica, CA- Free Trial Class– 10:00AM- 1:00PM

12/8/13– San Diego, CA – Free Trial Class-  11:00AM- 2:00PM

12/8/13– London-Free Trial Class- 10:00AM- 1:00PM

12/8/13– Online- Free Trial Class– 8:30AM- 11:30PM (EST)

12/8/13- Boston, MA- Free Trial Class– 5:30PM- 8:30PM

12/8/13-Toronto, ON-  Free Trial Class– 2:00PM- 5:00PM

12/9/13 –  Bellaire, TX- Free Trial Class– 6:30PM- 9:30PM

12/10/13– Online- The Last-Minute MBA Application presented by mbaMission – 3:00PM- 4:30PM (EST)

12/10/13– Santa Clara, CA- Free Trial Class– 6:30AM- 9:30PM

12/10/13– Online – Free Trial Class-  3:00PM- 6:00PM (EST)

12/11/13– Philadelphia, PA-Free Trial Class- 6:30PM- 9:30PM

12/14/13– Online- Free Trial Class- 2:30PM- 5:30PM

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

We are very excited to announce that our new book, The Official Guide Companion for Sentence Correction, will hit bookshelve today, December 3^rd!

What is the OGSC (for short)?

It’s one of the best GMAT study guides you could have (if we do say so ourselves)!

Here’s the deal: nearly everyone studies from The Official Guide for GMATÒ Review, 13^th Edition (or OG13). This book contains about 900 real GMAT questions that appeared on the exam in the past. OG13 does contain explanations, but those explanations are “textbook” explanations: reading them is like reading a grammar book. The answers are completely accurate but a bit hard to follow if you’re not a grammar teacher (and some of them are hard to follow even when you are a grammar teacher… ahem).

So we decided to remedy that problem by writing our own explanations for every single one of the 159 Sentence Correction problems contained in OG13. We’ll tell you the SC Process for getting through any SC question efficiently and effectively. We’ll also discuss how to eliminate each wrong answer in terms that are easy for students (not just teachers) to understand. The book includes an extra section on sentence structure and a glossary of common grammar terms. Finally, you’ll gain access to our online GMAT Navigator program which lets you track your OG work, time yourself, and view your performance data so that you can better determine your strengths and weaknesses.

Who should use the OGSC?

Are you struggling to improve your SC performance? Do you love studying official problems but hate trying to decipher the sometimes-mystifying official explanations? Do you want to throw your OG13 across the room when you read yet another explanation that says an answer choice is “wordy” or “awkward”?

If something is “awkward,” there is a real reason why—and we explain that specific reason to you so that you can start to pick out similar faulty constructions on other problems in future. (Did you know that, most of the time, “wordy” and “awkward” are code words for an ambiguous or illogical meaning? The OGSC will help you learn how to decipher these for yourself!)

How can I get the most out of the OGSC?

First, read the introduction chapter, where you’ll learn all about how to work through an SC problem in an efficient manner.

Next, if you have already started studying Sentence Correction problems from the OG, begin with the problems that you’ve tried recently. Try to articulate to yourself why each of the four wrong answers is wrong. Try to find all of the errors in each answer (though, on the real test, just one error is enough to eliminate an answer!).

Note: You don’t need to use grammar terminology when you’re trying to articulate why something’s wrong, but do try to go beyond “this one sounds bad.” That’s a good starting point but which part, specifically, sounds bad? What sounds so bad about that part?

Then, check yourself against the explanations. If you didn’t spot a particular error, go back to the problem and ask yourself what clues (in the form of differences in the answer choices) will alert you the next time this particular topic is being tested. If you didn’t know how to handle the issue but now understand from the explanation, make yourself a flashcard to help you remember whatever that is for future. If the explanation seems like Greek to you, then maybe this particular issue is too hard and your take-away is to skip something like this in future and make a guess!

When you’re ready to try new OG problems, make sure to do them under timed conditions (try to average about 1 minute 20 seconds on SC). When you’re done, check the answer. If you guessed, go ahead straight to the explanation. If you got it right, try to articulate why each incorrect answer is wrong, then check the explanation. If you got it wrong, look at the problem again to see whether you might have made a careless mistake. Then go to the explanation.

Where can I get the OGSC?

You can find The Official Guide Companion for Sentence Correction on our website starting today!

Let us know what you think in the Comments section below. Good luck and happy studying!

Below is an excerpt from Andrew Yang‘s new book, Smart People Should Build Things: How to Restore Our Culture of Achievement, Build a Path for Entrepreneurs, and Create New Jobs in America, which comes out in February 2014. Andrew was named Managing Director of Manhattan GMAT in 2006, Chief Executive Officer in 2007, and President in 2010. He left Manhattan GMAT in 2010 to start Venture for America, where he now serves as Founder and CEO. 

Smart People Should Build Things. 

I believe there’s a basic solution to our country’s economic and social problems. We need to get our smart people building things (again). They’re not really doing it right now. They’d like to. But they’re being led down certain paths during and after college and told not to worry, they can figure it out later.

Take me, for instance. I wasn’t very enterprising when I graduated from Brown in 1996. I had a general desire to be smart, accomplished, and successful—whatever that meant. So I went to law school and became a corporate attorney in New York. I figured out I was in the wrong place after a number of months working at the law firm. I left in less than a year and cofounded a dot-com company, Stargiving, which helped raise money for celebrity-affiliated nonprofits. It was extraordinarily difficult. My company failed spectacularly, but I recovered. I went to work for a mobile software company, Crisp Wireless, and then a health care software company, MMF Systems, over the next five years, eventually becoming the CEO of a test-prep company, Manhattan GMAT, in 2006.

I spent five years running Manhattan GMAT, helping young people get into business school. I taught our corporate classes of investment banking analysts and consultants at Goldman Sachs, McKinsey and Company, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Deloitte, as well as hundreds of individual students over the years. Some were exactly where they wanted to be. But there seemed to be just as many top-notch young people who wondered why they didn’t like their jobs more. They sought a higher sense of engagement with their work and their careers. Sometimes they would put words to what they were looking for; they’d say they wanted “something entrepreneurial” or “to be really excited about something.”
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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:

An isosceles triangle with one angle of 120° is inscribed in a circle of radius 2. This triangle is rotated 90° about the center of the circle. What is the total area covered by the triangle throughout this movement, from starting point to final resting point?

(A) 
(B) 
(C) 
(D) 
(E) 

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We are so excited today to announce the launch of “Oh What Fun!,” Manhattan Prep’s first-ever, 12-day holiday celebration! Everyday between today and December 12, 2013, we will be offering exciting promotions, gifts, and contests that are inspired by the spirit and joy of the holiday season.

“Oh What Fun!” deals include $150 off GMAT, LSAT, and GRE courses in the month of December, 50% off strategy guides, free workshops, and Amazon giftcards, offering you unbeatable prices and more ways to save throughout the holiday season.

Here’s how it works: Everyday beginning today and running through December 12, 2013, we will unlock one holiday offer per day for our social media communities. We invite you to come join the fun on Facebook and Twitter so that you don’t miss any of our student-focused holiday deals! You can also use the hashtag #ohwhatfun to connect with us and the entire Manhattan Prep community this holiday season.

The giveaway begins today and we’re offering 50% off our of our individual GMAT Strategy Guides as well as The Official Guide Companion for Sentence Correction, 13th Edition and The Official Guide Companion, 13th ed. Head on over to our GMAT Facebook page to redeem today’s code and to read the terms and conditions.

We hope you’re as excited as we are for this beautiful time of year. Oh what fun this is going to be!