Articles published in April 2016

Boring is Sometimes Best on GMAT Verbal

by

Manhattan Prep GMAT Blog - Boring is Sometimes Best on GMAT Verbal by Chelsey CooleyDid 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.


There’s a particular exercise I like to do with students who overthink Reading Comprehension and Critical Reasoning problems. (I initially got it from fellow instructor Ceilidh Erickson, who developed this exercise for her own GMAT classes.) It involves answering GMAT RC and CR problems without looking at the passage or the argument. With a little training, my students can often reach 50% accuracy or better! That might seem impossible — but keep reading to learn the secret. Read more

Two Minutes of GMAT Quant: A Breakdown (Part 3)

by

Manhattan Prep GMAT Blog - Two Minutes of GMAT Quant a Breakdown Part 3Did 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.


Ready for the long awaited conclusion of how to tackle a quant problem in two minutes? We’ll finally get to the point where you can submit an answer! If you haven’t been keeping up, catch up here. Read more

GMAT Sentence Correction Tests Good Grammar, Not Good Writing

by

Manhattan Prep GMAT Blog - Sentence Correction Tests Good Grammar Not Good Writing by Chelsey CooleyDid 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.


There’s a type of sentence known among linguists and grammar mavens as a “garden path” sentence. These sentences earned this name by leading readers “down the garden path” — you think the sentence is going in one direction, but halfway through, you suddenly realize that it’s saying something else entirely. Here’s the classic example: Read more

Taking the new mini-GMAT for EMBA? Here’s how to prep! – Part 2

by

Manhattan Prep GMAT Blog - Taking the New Mini-GMAT for EMBA Candidates? Here's How to Prep (Part 2) by Stacey KoprinceDid 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.


Last time, we talked about the IR and Verbal sections of the new Executive Assessment (EA) exam for EMBA candidates. Today, we’re going to dive into Quant and also talk more about your overall study. Read more

Think Like an Expert: How & When to Work Backwards on GMAT Problem Solving

by

Manhattan Prep GMAT Blog - Working Backwards on GMAT Problem Solving by Ceilidh EricksonDid 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.


What does it take to be a GMAT expert? It’s not just content knowledge (although of course that’s necessary). A GMAT expert knows how to quickly identify patterns and choose quickly from a variety of strategies. In each of these segments, I’ll show you one of these expert moves and how to use it. Read more

Taking the New Executive Assessment for EMBA? Here’s how to Prep! – Part 1

by

Manhattan Prep GMAT Blog - Taking the New Mini-GMAT for EMBA Candidates? Here's How to Prep (Part 1) by Stacey KoprinceDid 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.


The Executive Assessment exam was launched in March 2016 to provide a more streamlined version of the GMAT for EMBA candidates at certain schools. Follow that link for logistics.

I’ve spoken with multiple students who are planning to take the exam and they all have the same question: How should I prepare for this test? Read more

Two More Official Practice GMAT Exams Released!

by

Manhattan Prep GMAT Blog - GMAC Releases Two More Official GMAT Practice Exams! by Stacey KoprinceGMAC® has released two new official practice CATs for your studying pleasure. In addition to the 2 free tests and the 2 previously-released paid tests, this brings to 6 the total number of official practice GMATs you can take as you get ready for the real test.

The GMATPrep® Exam Pack 2 contains 2 full-length practice tests for $49.99 and, as with the Exam Pack 1 product, you’ll receive an enhanced score report providing you with your overall scores and some detailed performance data by question-type.

GMATPrep Exam Tips

We do recommend that you time yourself per question while taking the GMATPrep® exams. Almost everyone has at least minor timing issues in at least one of the sections, so this is useful data to gather. Grab your smartphone and disable the screen saver (or make it so long that it won’t go dark on you between questions).

Pull up a timer or stopwatch app and play with it until you figure out how the lap timing function works. The lap timer allows you run a timer continuously as you hit the lap button periodically. Every time you hit the lap button, the timer will record how long it has been since you last hit the lap button, but the timer won’t stop. It’ll continue running.

Every time you finish a problem and click Next and Confirm, train yourself to hit a third button: Lap. Your sequence is always Next-Confirm-Lap and on to the new problem. When you’re done, you’ll have your per-question timing data.

Read more

GMAT Grammar Biweekly: Noun Modifiers

by

Manhattan Prep GMAT Blog - GMAT Grammar Biweekly: Noun Modifiers by Emily MadanDid 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.


If you’ve been following these posts, you already have one kind of  noun modifier safely stashed away – opening modifiers. Let’s expand your repertoire using the same sentence: Read more

GMATPrep Reading Comp: Tackling a Tough Passage (part 2)

by

Manhattan Prep GMAT Blog - GMATPrep® Reading Comprehension: Tackling a Tough GMAT Passage - Part 2 by Stacey KoprinceDid 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.


In the first installment of this series, we deconstructed a challenging Reading Comprehension passage from the GMATPrep® free exams. Pull up that page, as I’m not going to repeat the full text of the passage here.

I also gave you the first problem to try. Let’s talk about it now!

Here’s the problem again: Read more