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.

For every five hours of studying combinatorics-type questions, the average GMAT student increases their chances of being able to correctly answer a question type that is found only on the very difficult end of the GMAT spectrum. Meanwhile, the same student will have to compute hundreds of basic computations without the aid of a calculator. For students who know how to quickly do these computations, they are rewarded with extra minutes that can be spent double-checking their work and critically thinking about whether their answers make sense. As BenGMAT Franklin might say, a second saved is a second earned on the GMAT, but it doesn’t matter if those extra seconds come from being faster at doing combinatorics questions or quicker at computations. So check out these five math tricks, learn the ones that you like, and practice them daily to give yourself some extra time to finish off that 37th and final Quant question.

Note: like everything else on the GMAT, being able to do something and being able to do something QUICKLY are two different tasks. If you like any of the following math tricks, make sure you know it inside and out before you try using it during your test. Read more

In December, Manhattan Prep took part in three separate holiday drives. We collected non-perishable food to be donated to New York’s City Harvest with a goal of collecting a minimum of 100 pounds of food items and/or the estimated equivalent in monetary donations. We also collected children’s toys to be donated to the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation with a  goal of collecting a minimum of 50 new toys to be distributed to needy children in NYC. Finally, we collected warm clothing to be donated to the  New York Cares Coat Drive. We aimed to collect as many new or gently used coats as possible to be distributed to those affected by Hurricane Sandy in Staten Island, the Rockaways and other hard hit areas. After a month of collections, we surpassed the goals for both our food and toy drives in addition to collecting over a dozen coats for those in need. Furthermore, our sister company mbaMission, graciously matched our food donation to City Harvest with an additional $250 donation. Thank you to all of our staff, instructors and students who participated!

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:

How many distinct positive factors does 30,030 have?

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I’ve spoken with multiple students lately who received a disappointing (lower than they were expecting) score on the Quant section and who all said that the Quant felt relatively easy or straightforward. How is that possible?

First of all, thinking that a test like the GMAT is easy is actually a warning sign: things probably are not going very well. If the test was going very well, then you’d be seeing some seriously hard—next to impossible—problems.

Second, the test writers are phenomenal at writing questions that don’t seem all that complicated but are in fact your worst nightmare. My worst nightmare is not an impossible question—I know I can’t do it, so I just pick and move on. My worst nightmare is a question that I think I can do, and I spend a decent chunk of time doing it, and then I get it wrong anyway—even though I’m sure I got it right! Read more

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 different pairs of perfect squares is the difference of the squares equal to 105?

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

12/10/12 – Houston, TX – Free Trial Class – 6:30-9:30 PM

12/10/12 – Online – Free Trial Class – 8:00-11:00 PM (EST)

12/12/12 – Toronto, ON – Free Trial Class – 6:30-9:30 PM

12/16/12 – Santa Monica, CA – Free Trial Class – 2:00-5:00 PM

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

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:

Operation F means take the square root, operation G means multiply by constant c, and operation H means take the reciprocal. For which value of c is the result of applying the three operations to any positive x the same for all of the possible orders in which the operations are applied?

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I’ve been speaking with a lot of students in this position recently “ welcome to December. Most second round deadlines are rapidly approaching and some students, unfortunately, don’t yet have the score they want in order to apply. What to do?

What you CAN’T do

There are some things you can do “ but we can’t expect miracles either. If you tell me that your test is in less than 2 weeks and you need to improve your score by 100 or more points, I’m going to (gently) tell you that such a goal is unrealistic. I’m not going to discourage you from going for it (it doesn’t hurt to try), but you should also start examining your other options are. These could include accepting your lower score, changing the schools to which you apply, or postponing your candidacy to a later round or a later year. Some people, thinking through this, actually end up deciding that they’d rather wait a year anyway and take their time with the whole application process.
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Here are the free GMAT events we’re holding this week. All times are local unless otherwise specified.

12/3/12 – Philadelphia, PA – Free Trial Class – 6:30-9:30 PM

12/3/12 – San Diego, CA – Free Trial Class – 6;30-9:30 PM

12/4/12 – Online – Free Trial Class – 9:00 PM – 12:00 AM EST

12/5/12 – San Francisco, CA – Free Trial Class – 6:30-9:30 PM

12/6/12 – Chicago, IL – Free Trial Class – 6:30-9:30 PM

12/6/12 – New York, NY – MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed – 7:00-8:30 PM

12/6/12 – Online – Thursdays with Ron – 7:00-8:30 PM EST

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

12/8/12 – Online – Free Trial Class – 2:00-5:00 PM EST

12/9/12 – Boston, MA – Free Trial Class – 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM

12/9/12 – Chicago, IL – Free Trial Class – 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM

12/9/12 – San Francisco, CA – Free Trial Class – 2:00-5:00 PM

12/9/12 – Santa Clara, CA – Free Trial Class – 5:30-8:30 PM

12/9/12 – Online – Free Trial Class – 7:00-10:00 AM EST

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

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 a particular company, the profit P generated by selling Q units of a certain product is given by the formula P = 128 + (“Q²/4 + 4Q “ 16)^z, where z > 0. The maximum profit is achieved when Q =

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