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.
Last week, we covered the basic components of an Argument and how to identify them (Critical Reasoning for Beginners, Part 1: The Components of an Argument). Now let’s put the theory into practice and look at a simple Sample Argument.
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.
Perhaps the most frustrating of the three Verbal question types, Critical Reasoning (or Argument) questions present a difficult challenge for most testers. While they’re somewhat less involved than Reading Comprehension questions, they require a significant measure of language processing and reasoning. Often testers find the text of CR questions to be convoluted and confusing. Sometimes, the questions themselves can be phrased in ways that make the question tasks difficult to identify. However, as CR is roughly 30% of the Verbal section, these questions simply cannot be disregarded. Performing well on CR during questions 1-30 is essential to achieving one’s target Verbal score.
If you have a glaring weakness like bad grades or test scores, you may be tempted to address it in your personal essay. Tread carefully if you choose to go this route.
Admissions committees don’t expect you to sail through life unscathed. They do, however, expect you to own up to your shortcomings and move on with confidence. It’s best to address your weaknesses honestly, take responsibility for them, then discuss how you grew or changed as a result. Focus on the positive results of a negative situation. Don’t whine or blame others.
First, let’s define an Early Career MBA program. Unlike traditional and executive MBA programs, Early Career MBA programs are designed for students with zero to three years of professional work experience (most MBA programs expect applicants to have spent more time in the workforce). Students are typically recent college graduates. The curriculum, hands-on applications and career services are geared to help students accelerate their careers and re-enter the workforce with a more competitive skill set.
I once had a tutee—let’s call her Jill—who had scored a 430 on her GMAT prior to the start of our 10-hour tutorial. On her first GMAT, Jill had only completed 20-22 Math questions and about 25 Verbal questions, though she did make sure to click in guesses for the remaining questions in each section. Her Math score was 18, her Verbal 28. Clearly, pacing was an issue. Pacing problems are often tied to lack of content knowledge, and, given Jill’s Math score, I figured she was likely to fit that pattern.
One of my students asked me what I think are the three most important things in preparation for the GMAT. I said that the most important is knowing what the question is asking, the second most important was knowing where you are starting.
The third most important thing, and the topic of today’s article, is to know all of your equations and formulas. By knowing them, I mean knowing them really well and more than just being able to recite them. Understand when to use them and when not to use them.
Let me give you an example:
If there’s one question type that makes most GMAT testers sigh or even curse, it’s Reading Comprehension. Most testers find the passages confusing or boring or some combination of both. The questions may be hard to follow, ask for information that is difficult to find in the passage, and/or present answer choices that are hard to understand and difficult to choose between. However, as RC is roughly 30% of the Verbal section, these questions simply cannot be disregarded. Typically, a GMAT tester will see 4 passages with 2-4 questions each. Passage subject matter ranges from social science/history to economics/business to science/technology. Question types range from information retrieval and specific inference to primary purpose and passage structure. RC appears roughly once during every set of 10 questions. Therefore, performing well on the first 3 passages, which will occur during questions 1-30, is essential to building and maintaining a great Verbal score.
If there’s one question type that makes most testers sigh or even curse, it’s Reading Comprehension. Most testers find the passages confusing or boring or some combination of both. However, as RC is roughly 30% of the Verbal section, these questions simply cannot be disregarded. Typically, a GMAT tester will see 4 passages with 2-4 questions each. Subject matter ranges from social science/history to economics/business to science/technology. Passages occur roughly once during every set of 10 questions. Therefore, performing well on the first 3 passages, which will occur during questions 1-30, is essential to building and maintaining a great Verbal score.
About 1 in 5 to 1 in 3 testers have test anxiety, which is simply defined as a level of anxiety that negatively impacts performance. There’s no shame in anxiety; it’s natural to be nervous in the face of a difficult challenge. Besides, some anxiety on test day is beneficial; it helps you perform your best when it counts. But if you experience a level of anxiety that detracts from your ability to concentrate, it’s important to acknowledge it and take steps to help yourself relax.
For many testers, GMAT Sentence Corrections can be a score destroyer. However, SC questions are somewhat less involved than Reading Comprehension and Arguments, and constitute roughly 40% of the Verbal questions. Thus, it’s absolutely essential to do well on SC in order to hit your target Verbal score range. In fact, performing effectively and efficiently on SC is the backbone to a great Verbal score: By getting almost all (if not all) of your SC right, you set yourself up for success on the Verbal section as a whole because SC allows you to get a high number of questions correct in less time per question than Reading Comprehension and Arguments take. As an added bonus, SC questions are based on actual content knowledge. Thus, you absolutely must take the sometimes tedious trek through Grammar 101 in order to master your core content. Once you’ve got that knowledge, you can then take control of those murky, shark infested sentences that GMAC throws at you. Below are some tips on how to apply your grammar knowledge to GMAT Sentence Corrections.
While recuperating from Arthroscopic knee surgery, I decided to write a piece on Data Sufficiency questions. Then I visited the website and saw that Ben Leff had done something on that just a few days ago.* I decided to alter the focus a bit and talk more generally about the nature of the point he was making and expand to talk about the distinctions between Data Sufficiency (DS) and Multiple Choice (MC) questions, with most of the focus on the DS questions.
One of the most important aspects of applying to business school is selecting the program that is best suited to your interests and career goals. Tours or Fairs provide you with an opportunity to gain in-depth information from school representatives that will help you evaluate programs and find the best fit for you.
Attending an MBA Tour Event will put you directly in touch with business school admissions directors and alumni from the nation’s best MBA programs to discuss what an MBA can do for your career and what it takes to get accepted to these programs. You can register at www.thembatour.com for Feb. 2 (San Francisco), Feb. 6 (New York City) or Feb. 7 (Washington DC). Dates for September 2010 have not been released.
So here is a list of what can you do to set yourself up for a successful event (this will apply to other types of fairs as well):
