Featured Article
The “Best of Beat The GMAT / MGMAT” – How-To-Study List
Since Beat The GMAT first started up the “expert articles” feature last summer, ManhattanGMAT has posted more than 30 feature articles! In this article, I’m going to offer a “Best of” list for how to study. Below, you’ll find links to the articles that I think are most helpful in developing and executing a comprehensive study plan, as well as a discussion of how to use them. (I’ll only be using ManhattanGMAT articles for this list, though I’m sure there’s lots of other great stuff out there! 
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This is the latest in a series of “How To Analyze” articles that began with the general “
As a current full-time student in Columbia Business School’s executive MBA program and a full-time online marketing maverick for Knewton, I often get asked this question: Are you completely nuts? How can you balance the demands of school and a career without sacrificing one for the other?
When talking to my students about their study plans to prepare for the GMAT, I always emphasize the need to take as many computer-adaptive practice tests as possible. A test-taker needs to experience what the real GMAT is like, and there’s no better way to do that than to sit for four straight hours and experience the challenge (and joy?!) of facing progressively difficult questions.
Almost every top business school embraces the concept of the study group. The study group is simultaneously one of the more frustrating and beneficial aspects of business. This theme runs throughout the entire business school process, even beginning with your application.
As discussed previously in this space, the authors of the GMAT have two primary goals when they write any GMAT question – they want you to have the potential to get the question wrong, and they also want to give you the opportunity to waste precious time as you arrive at your answer (so that you have the potential to get future questions wrong). Cleverly, they have designed a style of Critical Reasoning question that is suited to serve both ends – the “Mimic the Reasoning” question.
There has been a lot of conversation about this topic over the past few years and I thought I would share some of my thoughts surrounding this GMAT/GRE debate, so you can consider the implications it may have for you if any.
It’s common to take the GMAT twice; some have gone as far as retaking the test three or four times! At the end of the day, we all have the same reason for retaking this test: to get a higher score. Perhaps you need a higher GMAT score to compensate for a weak area on your business school application. Or maybe you wish to strengthen your performance on one section of the GMAT to indicate competency to MBA adcoms.
Tone is the feeling or emotion associated with a passage or a part of a passage. An author creates tone with the specific words he or she chooses to include. Adjectives and adverbs give authors a chance to express emotion because they are explicitly descriptive; much of an author’s tone is created in the way he or she describes things.
Applying to business school can require a lot more time and energy than you might initially think. Many applicants reduce the number of schools they apply to after beginning work on the applications and realizing just how much is involved with each and every application; the average candidate applies to 3-4 schools. With so many admissions factors (resume, work experience, GPA, activities, volunteer experience, GMAT score, recommendations, essays, interviews, etc), how should you prioritize your time?
There are two types of interest problems on the GMAT, and they include simple interest and compound interest. Simple interest is the most basic and is a function of P, the principle amount of money invested, the interest rate earned on the principle, i, and the amount of time the money is invested, t (this is usually stated in periods, such as years or months). The resulting equation is:
Many business schools teach using the famous “case method”, in which you will analyze the real-world situation of a specific business at a time of crisis/transition/decision in order to gain practical knowledge of business theory as applied to an actual situation. The theory behind the case method is that, by analyzing how, for example, Kodak needed to transition from a conventional (film) to a new (digital) business model, you will gain large-scale comprehension of a business principle in general, and not just an intimate understanding of one business. With this experience, you can then apply your theoretical-and-practical understanding of a vast array of business principles to whatever situations will arise in your future role as a manager.
The GMAT Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA), which consists of two 30-minute essays (Analysis of an Argument and Analysis of an Issue), is the least important part of the GMAT and the least important part of your application to business school. Still, read on.
The GMAT Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA), which consists of two 30-minute essays (Analysis of an Argument and Analysis of an Issue), is the least important part of the GMAT and the least important part of your application to business school. Still, read on.