Beat The GMAT - the MBA Social Network

Suppose I gave you some red fingerpaint and asked you to make all the colors you could from this paint. You’d probably come up with a diverse collection of pinks, reds and burgendys – going through the range of reds – but you would be unable to produce a color that does not depend solely on red, like purple.

If I were to ask you ... Read More

Went from 590 to 620 to 710 so although it is tough, it is not impossible. It all comes down to unlocking the building blocks of both sections. At that point you read through the question and can pretty much predict the answer even before you see answer choices. Almost like Neo in the Matrix. haha Read More

One of the more difficult GMAT problem types deals with summing an arithmetic sequence. Problem 157 in the 12th edition Official Guide is an example:

157. For any positive integer n, the sum of the first n positive integers equals (n(n + 1))/2. What is the sum of all the even integers between 99 and 301?

(A) 10,100

(B) 20,200

(C) 22,650

(D) 40,200

(E) ... Read More

GMAT math tip.. Is there a relationship between squares and sum of odd numbers. Find out. 1^2=12^2= 1+33^2=1+3+54^2=1+3+5+75^2=1+3+5+7+9To get n^2 add the first n odd integers. GMAT math tip #5To find out more tips. Click here.http://www.semanticslearning.com/math-home.asp Read More

I love to play with puzzles. When I was in grade school I would spend hours at a time figuring out ways to solve from things like Tetris, Mindsweeper, Solitare, and Freecell. Later I was introduced to puzzles involving numbers like Sudoku and Nonograms.

These puzzles are often interesting in part because there is generally a very large way that things ... Read More

I came home from work on Wednesday a bit too tired to go for a run and a bit too energetic to sit and watch TV. So I decided to pace around my place while reading a good book. The question was did I have a good book to read. I had been reading sci-fi type books earlier this month and wanted a break from that, so I looked in my mailbox and noticed that ... Read More

Sentence correction tip  – 10 ‘not-so-obvious’ usages1. use a verb, not its noun formAn action expressed in the verb form is more effective than the noun form; a noun form creates wordy prepositional phrases.Action verb- decideNoun form of the verb - decision Example 1Ineffective: Her decision was to invite her colleagues to the ... Read More

In GMAT sentence correction, is wordiness better than ambiguity, or is it vice versa.Read our GMAT verbal tip of the day @ http://www.semanticslearning.com/verbal-home.aspVisit us again to find the latest new GMAT tip which can push your score by 100 points. Read More

What is a "wordy "answer option.Check our verbal tip @http://www.semanticslearning.com/verbal-home.asp Read More

What formula to use when you have to calculate the percentage increase between two numbers?Check math tip 1 @ http://www.semanticslearning.com/math-home.asp Read More

Thank you, Yo! Much appreciated. Read More

Love this so much, Charles…tremendous post — very inspirational. Read More

Is there a short cut?. I get lots of queries -" I want to improve my GMAT score by 100 points, I'm taking my exam in 2 weeks."I'am sorry. If you are looking for a magic pill. I dont have a magic pill which can help you gain 100 points in 2-3 weeks.If you have no other go and have only 2-3 weeks of preparation time left, then to gain 100+ pts, you need1.to ... Read More

Hi Charles I hope all going well for you. Im in the end of my preparation and as soon as I will schedule my exam.

As you know (I guess) I read often your articles even more than once because are a truly font of inspiration and motivation.

As such, I already know this but in spite of everything I have a bit concern about what you said here: the verbal ... Read More

Well written, to the point and in fact pointing to the crudest facts. I could not have agreed any less to GMATNINJA. I am struggling too, at times these posts of success stories do add to my motivation level, but also truly said they dont represent a consensus that I can rely on. % of such success stories are so small, rather negligible and thus needs ... Read More

I just finished my weekly task of shopping for groceries. This can be a somewhat daunting task because I generally have a list of things that I’ll need which cannot all be purchased at a single location. What often happens is that I find that many of the items on my list are ONLY offered at certain stores – generic brands of certain items ... Read More

Thanks, Carcass! I just moved into a new home, so the blog went dormant for a few weeks. More posts coming soon… Read More

I was worried about, since a while I dind’t read one of your amazing article or insight.

In the meantime, I read the previous to keep up with my motivation.



Best Regards,

Carcass. Read More

[...] But these things take time. If your GMAT critical reasoning and reading comprehension mistakes are primarily the result of imprecise reading, then you’ll need more than a few days to make a substantial improvement. Just ask the legendary Ms. HP. [...] Read More

[...] GMAT quant score. You can be pretty mediocre at math and get a composite GMAT score in the 700s (click here or here for examples). You can be somewhat terrible at math and score a 40 or above on the quant [...] Read More

Do attend the workshop. Call and register Read More

Throughout our lives, we are introduced to a wide variety of problems. Naturally we tend to think of some problems as more difficult than others. If you were doing the exercises at the end of a chapter in a book, the author generally tends to begin with those exercises that can be completed in a few minutes or directly from the material in the chapter. ... Read More

Yes, most of the UC programs aren’t too crazy about the GRE. In part I of the series, I specifically mentioned that Haas doesn’t accept the GRE for full-time applicants, and also explained that the GRE doesn’t have much of a track record in the MBA world yet. It isn’t a surprise that many–if not most–MBA programs ... Read More

Many top business schools either require the GMAT still or prefer the GMAT to the GRE, at least some Californian schools -UC Berkeley requires the GMAT for full-time -UC Davis prefers GMAT -UCLA prefers GMAT etc. Read More

Here’s a painfully rigid phrase that I hear far too often:  “I’m only interested in an MBA if I can go to a top 10 program.”  But what the eff does the term “top 10 MBA program” mean, anyway?

For most of you, a certain set of schools immediately leaps to mind whenever you hear the words “top 10 MBA program.”  You’re all thinking ... Read More

I agree.

Moreover, i would say: workout

Regards Read More

If you know me personally, you probably know that I’m obsessed with food.  If you ever want to torment me, watch this video for inspiration.  And if you ever want to get on my good side, take me to one of the interesting places on this crazyass NYC food website.

So when somebody asks me how I managed to get a perfect score on the GMAT, I sometimes ... Read More

I have added a script to help users understand the knapsack problem as well as some attempts at solving it.

To help understand this problem, I want you to think about a common situation in many people’s lives. You have a road trip coming up today and you’ve overslept and are at risk of missing your flight. And to top matters off, you were ... Read More

Thank you, Rebecca! It’s great to hear that the new software is ready. You’ve just made hundreds of thousands of test-takers a little bit happier. Read More

My name is Rebecca Loades and I work for GMAC. I am very pleased to share that we have just launched GMATPrep v2.2.306.

In this new release you will now be able to: » Review your responses to practice exams and practice question sessions » Pause a practice exam or question session » Gain insight into pacing with new timer tools, available when ... Read More

A guest blog post by David-Anthony Gordon, a journalist working for BusinessBecause.com, a professional networking and news site for the business school world. Check out the site for info on MBA rankings and MBA jobs and daily business school news.

The Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) is probably the most important entrance exam you’ll ... Read More

If you either know me personally or are a regular reader of my GMAT blog, you know that I’m not always fond of the GMAT.  I honestly enjoy some of the intellectual and psychological challenges presented by the exam, but I often cringe at the actual content of the test.  I’m simply not convinced that your knowledge of number properties or modifier ... Read More

I haven’t forgotten about my pledge to focus more content here towards some of the areas I’ve been asked to tutor on recently. This latest one is designed to help users understand the properties of triangles. It is based on two laws that we learn in trigonometry: the law of sines and the law of cosines. Assume that we have a triangle with ... Read More

I rarely mention this part of my life on my GMAT blog, but I used to be a junior member of a professional aerial modern dance company.  There were a grand total of six dancers in the company—seven, including the director—and we did a lot of trapeze-based movement, usually mixed with some vaguely acrobatic modern dance.  Our two-hour performances ... Read More

Here in DC, we recently had an unexpected snow day. By the word unexpected, I don’t mean that the snow wasn’t forecast – it was definitely forecast. It just never came. However due to the forecast I decided to avoid traffic just in case the predictions were correct. So while staying at home, I began thinking about some things that ... Read More

If you poke through popular GMAT forums like Beat the GMAT or GMAT Club, you’ll quickly encounter dozens of tales of GMAT glory.  You’ll read about people who improved from 580 to 710 or from 440 to 630.  You might even encounter the amazing story of the guy who got a 420 on his first practice test, and eventually made it to Harvard.  These “I ... Read More

Q: What are the GMAT Paper Tests, and why don’t I hear about them very often?

A: Back in the Dark Ages before Steve Jobs and Bill Gates conquered the world, the GMAT was a paper-based test. The GMAT Paper Tests are basically old, retired exams from way back in the day. Each test contains approximately 110 questions, divided into one data sufficiency ... Read More

I think one of the best recent examples of the importance of mathematics is the rise of the search engine Google. I remember the world of search engines before Google and it was dominated by names like AltaVista, Yahoo, WebCrawler, Excite, and the likes. The standard way these search engines ranked the order that pages would be listed on a search query ... Read More

I’m not a competitive person. Let me correct that. I try not to be a competitive person. I’ve recently been playing some of my favorite games from childhood like Monopoly, Chess, Spades, and Madden and I’ve been reminded of the competitive streak in me that hates losing. This streak has been relaxed in much of my adult life, and I ... Read More

If you’re like most people who stumble across my little corner of the GMAT blogosphere, the GMAT has already punched you in the gut, and you’re probably preparing to retake the test.  But if you’re starting at a 600 or above, the researchers at GMAC have a message for you:  you’ll probably fail in your quest to improve your score.

In a brief ... Read More

Yeah, I know:  your GMAT test score is really important to your personal and professional goals, and your test date is written on your calendar in huge red letters.  Right now, you’re planning your entire life with that date in mind.  You’re taking it extremely seriously.  That makes perfect sense.

But let me tell you a story anyway.  Once ... Read More

(This is part two in a series on the GMATPrep Question Pack.  If you’re interested in reading more about the basics of the GMATPrep Question Pack, please check out part one.)

Q: What is the best way to use the quant questions in the GMATPrep Question Pack?  Should I do the questions in order, or should I randomize them, or…?

A: Here comes a ... Read More

A friend introduced me to a type of puzzles called Nonograms and I enjoyed them so much that I wrote a script that automatically generates these puzzles.

Nonograms are grid puzzles based on discovering the hidden pattern based on the clues provided. This hidden pattern is the answer to the question of which cells of this grid should be shaded black, ... Read More

I’ve added a script which helps to understand geometric sequences.

Suppose you were to draw an equilateral triangle on a sheet of paper. It might look something like this:

Now suppose that you draw lines connecting the midpoints of each of the edges of this triangle. This will dissect the larger triangle into four smaller triangles, each of ... Read More

The new GMATPrep software and the $25 GMATPrep Question Pack have been around for nearly a year now, but I have a funny feeling that the GMATPrep Question Pack is still somewhat underutilized as a GMAT study resource.  So in an effort to encourage you to use the GMATPrep Question Pack—and to use it wisely—here are answers to a few questions that ... Read More

I’ve added a script which helps to understand arithmetic sequences.

At a previous job of mine, there was a policy of holding a dinner party for the company each time we hired a new employee. At these dinners, each employee was treated to a $20 dinner at the expense of the company. There was also a manager responsible for keeping track of the ... Read More

Suppose that you took the GMAT exam, and you felt like you got the living #$^%*&@! beaten out of you.  Maybe the quant section felt ridiculously difficult, and you had to race through the last 12 questions to finish the section before time ran out.  Maybe all of your reading comprehension passages felt completely incomprehensible.

By the time ... Read More

Let’s play a little GMAT guessing game. Take a look at the two GMATPrep screenshots below, and see if you can guess the quant score for each of these tests. (Sorry, the screenshots aren’t beautiful, but I did my best to make them legible.)  Keep in mind that the GMATPrep software uses exactly the same algorithm as the real GMAT test.

On ... Read More

Unbeknownst to many, one of the most effective ways to prepare for standardized exams is to read. The reason is that the skills you develop while reading translate directly to the standardized exams you take.

If you decide to focus on reading while preparing for an exam, an important step is to determine which material to read from. The materials ... Read More

Where is the flaw?-source internet Read More