It’s always disheartening when we have a score drop, whether it happens on a practice test or (worst case scenario) on the real test. If this happens to you, the most important thing to do next is figure out why this happened. If you can figure out why, then you may be able to do something to prevent a score drop from happening again.

This article contains the questions to ask yourself as you try to figure out why your score dropped.

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by Jonathan McEuen, guest blogger

Jonathan McEueun is a Manhattan GMAT grad who is off to Wharton this fall. We asked him to share his application process with us. What follows is Part 2 of 5 posts in a series about his experiences. You can read Part 1 here.

Deciding to apply was the easy part.

Once you weigh the pros and cons (the bird “ or paycheck “ in the hand, the uncertainty but immense potential of an MBA program that is right for you and that suits your goals), you start to see the hurdles ahead.  Application season is an expensive and stressful marathon no matter what school you apply to.  My road was looking no different.

I was going into what felt at the time like a particularly hard journey, especially considering my work situation, slightly atypical background, the amount of change going on in my life, etc. etc. etc.  But at the end of the day, Read more

The long-awaited Foundations of Verbal Strategy Guide is finally here! We’re also launching an Advanced Quant book; click on the link to read about that one.

We published our first Foundations book, focused on quant, last year, and now Manhattan GMAT teacher extraordinaire Jen Dziura has gifted us with the equivalent verbal tome “ everything you ever wanted to know about parts of speech, sentence structure, reading comprehension, and all of the basics that most GMAT books (including Manhattan GMAT’s “regular” series of Strategy Guides) assume you already know.

Who should use this book? Great question. If you have taken a practice or real test and scored below the 50^th percentile, then this book may be for you. If you are a non-native English speaker (or even a native!) who didn’t learn much by way of formal grammar (what’s a noun and what different types of nouns are there?), or who never had much practice with reading comprehension tests in English, then this book may be for you.

To give you an idea of what to expect, excerpts from the new Foundations of Verbal are below. Read more

Exciting news “ our Advanced Quant Strategy Guide is finally ready for prime time! We’re also launching a Foundations of Verbal book; click on the link to read about that one.

Who should use this book? Great question. Are you already at the 70^th-plus percentile (minimum) on quant and you’re looking to push yourself well into the 90s? This book is for you. In addition, please note that this book assumes that you have already worked through our five regular Strategy Guides (or the equivalent material from another company).

To give you an idea of what to expect, excerpts from the new Advanced Quant guide are below. The main point I want to make is that this book covers both advanced concepts / mathematical material, and advanced problem solving processes. Both are critical for a 90th-plus percentile test-taker.

Okay, without further ado, here’s excerpt #1, an introduction to a methodical solving style inspired by mathematician George Polya. Read more

The two authors of Case Studies and Cocktails, Chris Ryan and Carrie Shuchart, were recently interviewed on The MBA Show. See what they have to say below about dating, relationships, sex, and b-school jargon:

If you want a little extra practice with your Analytical Writing Essays, we’ve just come across a great resource for you. The GMAC is hosting a survey that includes having participants write out two essays. If you are studying for the GMAT, this gives you a great chance to see more sample essay questions as you practice. In addition, the GMAC is giving participants $30 for completing this survey. They’re only looking for 1000 participants, so be sure to sign up soon if you want this opportunity!

You can find out more about the survey here.

This post orignally appeared on the mbaMission blog. Read the introduction below and find the full post here.

Columbia Business School (CBS) whittled its essay questions from four to three to two over the past five years but is now back to posing three essay questions. Maybe the school’s admissions committee felt that, with just two questions, they were not learning enough about applicants? This year, CBS is offering a variety of creative options in its final essay question, giving candidates greater flexibility”and thus greater control over what the admissions committee will learn about them.

Here are the Questions: Read more

by Jonathan McEuen, guest blogger

Jonathan McEueun is a Manhattan GMAT grad who is off to Wharton this fall. We asked him to share his application process with us. What follows is Part 1 of 5 posts in a series about his experiences. We hope it gives those of you who are going down a similar path some insight into the decisions, work and thought that goes into applying to business school.

I was wrapping up my doctoral thesis in Neuroscience when I first started thinking about business school.  My research had taught me to see the process by which an experiment can grow into a potential drug candidate, and that left me eager to participate in the process of bringing innovations from the lab to market.  In addition, I had planted the entrepreneurial seed in my mind back as an undergrad, and by the end of the PhD process, it had grown into an urge to jump back into the business of science.

So Why Business School?

Halfway through the PhD process I wasn’t yet convinced that business school was the best answer for my position. Then, I started working with a student-run consulting group , and Read more

Last week, in one of the government’s biggest insider trading cases ever, Raj Rajaratnam was found guilty on fourteen counts of securities fraud and conspiracy.  His conviction has stirred up even more conversation on what has been a hotbed topic since the financial crisis in 2008-09: business ethics.  Now, with 36 unrelated insider trading convictions in the past 18 months and several major b-schools attempting to refocus their curriculums, we thought we would share with you some of the articles we have been reading on the matter.

In an article on Poets & Quants, Joel Schectman discusses the hypersensitivity of Wharton graduates following the conviction of Raj Rajaratnam, a member of the Wharton ’83 class, just days before the business school’s May 15^th graduation.  The piece, which is filled with quotes from the students and staff, conveys the Wharton community’s mixed feelings about the trial.  Some of our favorite reactions include: We are all ethical; We can prepare them for the temptations, but we can’t inoculate them completely; and We hope we can do better. Read more

by Jenn Yee, guest blogger

I arrived at business school without a shred of background in economics, statistics, or higher-level mathematics. Kellogg called me a non-traditional student, but most of my pre-business-school friends just said I was flat-out crazy.

With a background almost exclusively in media and education, I went into business school a little naïve about how much would be expected of me academically, socially, and emotionally. It took a little while for me to adjust; I felt uncertain about the strength of my background. Additionally, everyone looked so shiny and happy in the halls “ I wasn’t sure if anyone else was having this experience.

It turns out that quite a few of them were.

Here are some things I learned while attending business school with a non-traditional background, and how to cope. Read more