Clear Admit, Author at Clear Admit

Published: November 4, 2011

GMAT Tips – Critical Reasoning Inferences

Today’s GMAT Tip comes to us from Kaplan. In this article, Kaplan GMAT instructor Bret Ruber provides helpful tips for answering inference questions on the Critical Reasoning section of the GMAT: As you try the practice GMAT problem below, remember that on Critical Reasoning inference questions you should accept all of the information in the stimulus as true. When you read the answer choices look for an option that must be true based on the stimulus. Problem: Randall: Many of the productions of my plays by amateur theater groups are poorly done, and such interpretations do not provide a true measure of my skills as a dramatist. Which one of the following can be properly inferred from Randall's statement? (A) Some amateur theater groups' productions of Randall's plays provide a true measure of his skills as a dramatist. (B) All amateur theater group productions of Randall's plays that are not poorly done provide a true measure of his skills as a dramatist. (C) All of the productions of Randall's plays by amateur theater groups that do not provide a true measure of his skills as a dramatist are poorly done. (D) If a production of a dramatist's play is well done, then it provides a true measure of his or her skills as a dramatist. (E) At least some amateur theatrical groups' productions of Randall's plays fail to provide a true measure of his skills as a dramatist. Read more

Published: November 1, 2011

GMAT Tips – Demystifying the GMAT

Today’s GMAT tip comes from test prep firm ManhattanGMAT. In this article, they provide some important infomration about how the GMAT is structured and scored. Read on to see what they have to say! Earlier this fall, GMAC (the people who make the test) held its biennial Test Prep Summit, and we’ve all been writing articles about it ever since. Today I’m going to share with you some very useful knowledge that has been published by Lawrence M. Rudner, Chief Psychometrician of GMAC, in his Demystifying the GMAT article series. The below quotes are all from Dr. Rudner and all quotes are copyright 2011 Graduate Management Admissions Council. The headers below are the names of the individual articles from which the information and quotes came. What Is on the GMAT? First of all, at heart, the GMAT is a reasoning test, not a memorization test. There are many facts and rules that we need to know in order to succeed on the exam, but those facts and rules are just the beginning. “We make the GMAT exam rigorous primarily by including test questions that tap the higher order thinking skills of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.” And the higher you want to go on the exam, the better you’re going to have to be with those higher order skills – one of the major ways in which the test writers make harder questions is to make us do more sophisticated reasoning to get to the answer. The actual facts and rules will only take us so far. Read more

Published: October 26, 2011

Kellogg MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Adcom / On Campus

Interviewer was an admissions official and very friendly. Handed my resume and a sheet which i had just filled out upon arrival which asked to write ST/LT goals (space given to answer each is limited so i think they just expect the highlights) Questions i got: Tell me about yourself Describe professional accomplishments, why important What is leadership style Why MBA / why now – weaved it with goals/why Kellogg What would teammates say are 3 strengths What would teammates say is 1 weakness Difficult situation with team What I do outside of work Why did I choose my undergrad Read more

Published: October 25, 2011

Kellogg EMBA Admissions Interview Questions: Adcom / On Campus

The EMBA interview is required just like the FT program. Given the unique requirements of the EMBA programs (8+ years of managerial experience and required company sponsorship) the interview is more to gauge your fit. AdCom introduction: The AdCom meets to discuss your packet. I am your representative at the AdCom meeting to put your face and interview before the committee. The interview should complete the “picture” of you that we do not gleen from your essays and your resume. Questions: What do you currently do? Describe your current position? Talk me through your resume in any order What is Read more

Published: October 25, 2011

Kellogg MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Adcom and First-year Student / On Campus

My interview was conducted by two people: a Kellogg admissions officer and a first year student who was training to be a part of recruiting. The interview was pretty conversational and the interviewers were very friendly. Here is an overview of the of the questions I was asked: Background: Associate at a healthcare strategy consulting firm Duration of interview: 30-35 minutes Note: this is not the actual flow of the interview. I have just listed the questions as I remembered them. Your background is very interesting – how come you did not think about medicine. Tell me about yourself and Read more

Published: October 14, 2011

GMAT Tips – Ensuring GMAT Success: The Importance of an Effective Study Schedule

Today’s GMAT Tip comes to us from Kaplan. In this article, Kaplan GMAT instructor Bret Ruber provides helpful advice on how to create an effective GMAT study schedule: When studying for the GMAT, one of the first steps you should take is to create a study schedule. Jumping from one topic to the next without structure can have a negative impact on your studying, so putting together a plan is essential to maximizing the effectiveness of the time you have to devote to the GMAT. To make your plan as successful as possible, you should follow a few basic guidelines. Diagnose your strengths and weaknesses First, it is a good idea to take a diagnostic test before you do anything else. While knowing the score at which you are starting is useful, it is not the main purpose of this test. You need to analyze the questions you answered incorrectly and look for any patterns in the types of problems and topics that you often miss. This will allow you to make the most of your study-time, as you will be focusing more on those areas you need to work on the most and less on those areas you already do well in. Read more

Published: October 11, 2011

GMAT Tips – The Idiot’s Guide to GMAT Idioms

Today’s GMAT Tip comes from our friends at Knewton. In this article, they provide helpful information about the extent to which idioms are included on the GMAT. Read on to see what they have to say! You may have heard that the GMAT is no longer testing idioms. You also may have heard that the first 10 questions on the GMAT are the most important. You also may have heard that Lindsey Lohan is great at Data Sufficiency. Why do you believe everything you hear? Dr. Lawrence Rudner is the Vice President of Research and Development at the Graduate Management Admission Council. In other words, he is The Man with regards to the GMAT. Here is what he has to say on the matter: “Some Sentence Correction items continue to pose reasoning tasks that incorporate English-language, NOT American, idioms. These are not intended to test specialized knowledge of colloquialisms and regionalisms.” Read more

Published: August 30, 2011

GMAT Tips – To Venn or Not to Venn? Depends on the Question.

Today’s GMAT Tip comes from our friends at Knewton. In this article, they explain when to use Venn diagrams or charts on the GMAT. Read on to see what they have to say! Many students like to ask me the following question when dealing with overlapping sets problems: “Which are better? Venn diagrams or charts?” I’ve found that students like to ask because every student has a personal preference. Some don’t want to deal with Venn Diagrams because labeling them can get confusing at times. Others stay away from charts, either because they find charts more confusing or because they prefer the compactness of the Venn diagram. So in essence, what the student really wants me to do is either justify a natural inclination (“I just find charts easier”) or tell them that this inclination is completely wrong and needs to be squelched immediately (“I really like Venn Diagrams, but I always get them wrong, so should I switch to charts?”). As with so many things in life, the answer lies somewhere in between. Neither a chart nor a Venn diagram is inherently bad. But here’s the rub: When should you use one versus the other? Let’s take a look at the following Official Guide Data Sufficiency question: If 75 percent of the guests at a certain banquet ordered dessert, what percent of the guests ordered coffee? (1) 60 percent of the guests who ordered dessert also ordered coffee. (2) 90 percent of the guests who ordered coffee also ordered dessert. Read more

Published: August 19, 2011

GMAT Tips: 4 Things to Do Now to Succeed on the GMAT

Today’s GMAT tip comes to us from Veritas Prep. In this article, they explain habits you can develop that will pay off when taking the GMAT. Read on to see what they have to say! Rest assured that you can still enjoy most of your summer even if you do not plan on taking the GMAT until later in the fall. But even without dedicating much of the summer to studying, there are at least five habits you can add to your day-to-day lifestyle that will get you ready to hit the ground running when you do begin your GMAT preparation in earnest sometime soon: 1) Do Math With computers and calculators all around us, we tend not to do very much math once we’ve completed our college quantitative requirements, but the GMAT will require you to be able to do math without a calculator so you will need to retrain your mind. Fortunately, day-to-day life provides countless opportunities to perform simple math by hand or in your head, and the more you can do so the easier a time you’ll have when you do sit down to do GMAT math. Practice calculating tips when you eat out; estimate how long it will take you to reach your driving destination at two different average speeds; notice prime numbers and multiples of 3 when you are writing down phone numbers; do quick calculations on paper before you plug the numbers into Microsoft Excel. Simply thinking mathematically can help you to retrain those atrophied portions of your brain, and that will allow you to eventually focus more of your study time and energy on GMAT-specific question types and strategies. Read more

Published: August 14, 2011

Register Now for QS World MBA Tour

‘Tis the season for MBA fairs and forums. Prospective MBA applicants are invited to register for the QS World MBA Tour, which will include 70 events in 39 countries beginning in September and continuing through November 2011. Designed by MBA graduates, the QS World Tour features free workshops led by experts and alumni to help prospective applicants improve their admissions skills and stand the best chance of getting into the MBA programs of their choice. Read more

Published: August 12, 2011

GMAT Tips – Dealing With Partial Underlines in Sentence Correction

Today’s GMAT tip comes from test prep firm ManhattanGMAT. In this article, they provide helpful tips for how to answer sentence correction questions involving partial underlines on the GMAT. Read on to see what they have to say! It has been a while since we’ve done grammar, so let’s try out this GMATPrep Sentence Correction question. Set your timer for 1 minute and 15 seconds and go! “When the temperature of a gas is increased, it is either accompanied by an increase in pressure if the gas is enclosed in a container, or an increase in volume if the gas is able to expand. “(A) When the temperature of a gas is increased, it is either accompanied by an increase in pressure if the gas is enclosed in a container, or “(B) When the temperature of a gas is increased, it is accompanied either by an increase in pressure if it is enclosed in a container or “(C) When the temperature of a gas is increased, the increase is either accompanied by an increase in pressure if the gas is enclosed in a container or by “(D) Any increase in the temperature of a gas is either accompanied by an increase in pressure if it is enclosed in a container, or by “(E) Any increase in the temperature of a gas is accompanied either by an increase in pressure if the gas is enclosed in a container or by” Read more

Published: August 5, 2011

GMAT Tips – Critical Reasoning Strategies

Today’s GMAT tip comes to us from Veritas Prep. In this article, they provide helpful strategies for answering critical reasoning questions on the GMAT. Read on to see what they have to say! There may not be a more aptly named question type on the GMAT than “Critical Reasoning,” a question type that rewards critical thinking in a major way. Students are successful by reading critically and economically. Those who buy into the critical way of processing arguments can “click” with critical reasoning quite readily, quickly organizing information into actionable components and anticipating correct answers before even reading them. We offer these three critical strategies for critical reasoning questions: 1) Know Your Role Each CR question contains a stimulus (usually one paragraph of 3-5 sentences), a question stem, and five answer choices (four incorrect, one correct). For most questions, it is natural for the student to read by starting at the beginning. But the trick is this — each stimulus, necessarily, is about “something,” and that “something” tends to frame that you read about it. The human brain processes information by building links between known information and new information, so as you read, say, a stimulus about a mining excavation project, your mind will involuntarily try to link it to something you know — the Chilean miners and their underground plight; the city of Pittsburgh and its turnaround through healthcare and education; the fact that you hated your college geology class… Read more

Published: July 12, 2011

GMAT Tips: Why to Avoid the Word "Methodology" in RC Answers – and Other Tips

Today’s GMAT Tip comes from our friends at Knewton. In this article, they provide helpful tips for answering Reading Comprehension questions on the GMAT. Read on to see what they have to say! Sometimes, even as a GMAT teacher, it can be easy to be cynical about Reading Comprehension. “Why bother spending much time teaching Reading Comprehension?” I ask myself in those moments of despair. After all, it’s just reading and answering questions about a passage. It doesn’t have the diverse question types of Critical Reasoning or the grammar rules and “tells” of Sentence Correction. Compared to CR and SC, it sometimes seems that there’s little a GMAT teacher can do to improve his students’ performance on RC. Of course, this isn’t actually true. The vast majority of my students do improve on Reading Comprehension, thanks in large part to strategies like making passage M.A.P.S. — that is, sketching out the the Main idea, Attitude of the author, Purpose of the passage, and Structure of the passage (try it if you haven’t!). Read more

Published: July 8, 2011

GMAT Tips: Four Ways to Minimize Test-Day Anxiety

Today’s GMAT tip comes to us from Veritas Prep. In this article, they provide helpful advice on how to calm your nerves before taking the GMAT. Read on to see what they have to say! 1) Realize that Test-Day Anxiety is exactly what the test wants you to feel Remember this – the GMAT is not as much a test of “how well you’ll do in business school “as it is a test of “how we’ll you’ll do after business school”. Business schools have essentially two constituents — students/alumni and recruiters. And if the top recruiters come to the school to hire the students, the top students will continue to come — you are going to business school to increase your job prospects and career potential, so it’s only natural that you will want to go to the schools that have the highest job placement rates and starting salaries, the most alumni in leadership positions at top firms, the most elite lists of on-campus recruiters, etc. Business schools know this, and accordingly one of their top goals in the admissions process is to admit the kinds of students who will be successful in landing and excelling at great jobs. Read more

Published: June 21, 2011

GMAT Tips: 5 Tips for Getting a Perfect Score on the GMAT Essay

Today’s GMAT Tip comes from our friends at Knewton. In this article, they share advice on how to ace the AWA portion of the GMAT. Read on to see what they have to say! A lot of good folks argue that your GMAT essays are meaningless, but don’t forget that the essays can be a determining factor in the increasingly competitive admissions process. An extremely low score could set off flags, and raise doubts about your ability to complete graduate work. Additionally, admissions officers will use your GMAT essay as a check on your personal statements, to make sure they were authored by the same person. 1. Have a strong opinion In both Analysis of an Issue and Analysis of an Argument essays, it is important to pick a side in the intro/thesis and argue it persuasively throughout. Do not merely summarize—be an active advocate for a perspective. Read more

Published: June 17, 2011

GMAT Tips: The Most Logical Way to Study Sentence Correction

Today’s GMAT tip comes to us from Veritas Prep. In this article, they provide helpful advice on how to study for the Sentence Correction section of the GMAT. Read on to see what they have to say! You know that the GMAT tests Modifiers in Sentence Correction. But the unasked question that you may want to ask is: Why? Why Modifiers and not the fact that you’re not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition? Why Modifiers and not something more obscure like “when assigning a possessive to someone whose name ends in ‘s,’ what is the rule for when you just put the apostrophe right after the ‘s’ (Russ’) and when you put another ‘s’ after the apostrophe (Russ’s)?” Ultimately, Modifiers have one massive advantage to GMAT administrators and the business schools who use GMAT scores in admissions: Modifiers are either logical or illogical. It is patently illogical to say that “like Bob Dylan, the music of Talib Kweli…”. Music just won’t be like Bob Dylan; one is an art or a sound, while the other is a human being. It’s not a logical comparison or description. Instead, you’d have to say “Like that of Bob Dylan, the music of Talib Kweli…” or “Like Bob Dylan, Talib Kweli makes music that…”. Those are logical — Dylan’s music can be like Kweli’s music, or Dylan can be like Kweli. They’re at least in the same realm. Read more

Published: June 6, 2011

Harvard Business School, U Penn’s Wharton School Travel the Globe to Meet Prospective Applicants

Admissions staff from top schools like Harvard Business School (HBS) and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania are circling the globe in the weeks ahead to meet prospective applicants in the countries where they live. Next week, HBS will host MBA Admissions events in Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai* and Beijing. South American events, in Peru and Argentina, are scheduled for later in the summer, in July. These outreach events are designed to give prospective applicants an opportunity to meet representatives from the HBS community and learn more about the MBA program and the admissions process. Interested participants are asked to register online to attend upcoming events. For a full schedule, click here. Read more

Published: May 27, 2011

GMAT Tips: Breaking Down a GMATPrep Critical Reasoning Strengthen Problem

Today’s GMAT tip comes from test prep firm ManhattanGMAT. In this article, they provide helpful tips for how to identify and answer "strengthen" questions in the Critical Reasoning section of the GMAT. Read on to see what they have to say! This week, we’re going to tackle a harder GMATPrep critical reasoning question from the Strengthen category. Let’s start with the problem. Set your timer for 2 minutes! * "Sales of telephones have increased dramatically over the last year. In order to take advantage of this increase, Mammoth Industries plans to expand production of its own model of telephone, while continuing its already very extensive advertising of this product. “Which of the following, if true, provides most support for the view that Mammoth Industries cannot increase its sales of telephones by adopting the plan outlined above? “(A) Although it sells all of the telephones that it produces, Mammoth Industries’ share of all telephone sales has declined over the last year. “(B) Mammoth Industries’ average inventory of telephones awaiting shipment to retailers has declined slightly over the last year. “(C) Advertising has made the brand name of Mammoth Industries’ telephones widely known, but few customers know that Mammoth Industries owns this brand. “(D) Mammoth Industries’ telephone is one of three brands of telephone that have together accounted for the bulk of the last year’s increase in sales. “(E) Despite a slight decline in the retail price, sales of Mammoth Industries’ telephones have fallen in the last year.” Read more

Published: May 20, 2011

GMAT Tips: Highlighting the Critical in Critical Reasoning

Today’s GMAT tip comes to us from Veritas Prep. In this article, they provide helpful tips on how to answer Critical Reasoning questions on the GMAT. Read on to see what they have to say! Admit it: you are a critical person. When you’re in a long line at a store or DMV, you criticize the way the establishment runs things. When you drive, you criticize the others on the road. Like anything, being critical is a matter of interpretation as to whether it’s a good or bad thing. Critical person? Bad. Critical thinker? Harvard material. And on the GMAT, it pays to embrace your inner critic. One of the least-used but most-useful ways of doing so takes place on Critical Reasoning questions that ask you to identify an assumption that an author makes when constructing an argument. True, the correct answer will strengthen, and not weaken, the author’s conclusion, but we’re much better at criticizing than we are at defending, and when given the option we should probably choose the former. Consider this argument and question: When it rains for more than an hour immediately before or during a baseball game, the game is canceled. Therefore, tomorrow’s game is sure to be canceled. The author of the argument above assumes which of the following? (A) The manager of the home team has already begun planning his pitching rotation around the impending cancellation. (B) The ticket office has issued a statement to ticketholders regarding the rain check policy. (C) It will rain for an extended period of time leading up to tomorrow’s scheduled game time. Read more

Published: April 15, 2011

GMAT Tips: Your GMAT Study Strategy

Today’s GMAT tip comes to us from Veritas Prep. In this article, they provide helpful tips on how to study effectively for the GMAT. Read on to see what they have to say! As a demographic group, GMAT students are among the most driven and hardworking people on the planet, but often those positive qualities manifest themselves in the most brute-force of study strategies: do more practice tests; solve more practice problems; spend more hours/days/months “studying”. What these practices tend to miss is that the GMAT is by nature an analytical exam, designed to reward those who think critically, analytically, and efficiently not just about each problem, but about the entire process as a whole. Browse a GMAT study forum and you’re likely to read countless comments and threads such as: “I’ve been studying x hours per week for y months and my score has stagnated. What do I do?” “I’ve used the Official Guide 11th and 12th editions and the verbal and quant supplements in addition to three other books; where can I find more practice problems?” These comments certainly don’t lack for motivation – the authors are clearly committed to putting in the work necessary to succeed. Given that the GMAT isn’t a test of one’s capacity for hard work, however, but rather a test of one’s ability to efficiently solve problems, these comments miss the boat entirely. Read more

Published: April 11, 2011

London Business School MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Alum / Off-Campus

My interview was scheduled for 6 PM at the interviewer’s office. Although the interview was scheduled for an hour, it lasted almost 2 hours. Not a negative sign, though, as the interview was somehow conversational. My interviewer was not from a different industry, but he had after school the kind of experience I´m looking for (financial background with operational experience). The best advice I received before the interview was that despite specific questions being made, I should leave my main messages clear. Questions: What qualities make a leader a good leader? What do you need to work on in order Read more

Published: April 11, 2011

NYU / Stern MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / On-Campus / Adcom

I was greeted with a packet of program information based on my career preference, and they also gave me a Stern t-shirt, like others mentioned earlier. After some initial chitchat of how I got to the city, we went straight to the interview: She started by asking how I developed the hobby I mentioned in my third essay. My career progression / roles in my job. Describe/justify my career goal. What to do if I could not get the summer internship I wanted. How would my friends describe myself? Describe a challenging client situation. How would I decide which MBA Read more

Published: April 11, 2011

Duke / Fuqua MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / On-Campus / 2nd-Year student

I had my interview with a 2nd year on campus doing one of their recruitment weekends. Most of the other students interviewed had 2nd years as well and I had been told that the interview was very laid back and a lot like a conversation. I did not feel that way. I will say that after the interviews, a lot of other prospectives felt like theirs was very laid back but this was not the case for my interview. He seemed to just go down a list of questions and wrote down my answers. All of the questions except for Read more

Published: April 5, 2011

UVA / Darden MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / On campus / Second-year student

I interviewed on campus with a second year. He started off saying that the admissions committee was already impressed which is why I was called in for an interview and that this was a blind interview. He then told me that I had about 30 min to tell my story and to start whenever I wanted. I briefly touched upon my childhood and my college experience and then focused on my career choices and extracurriculars. There was then about 15 min for him to ask follow up questions. ex. why Darden and why MBA. I thought there would have been Read more

Published: April 5, 2011

UVA / Darden MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Adcom / Skype

I am an applicant based in Bangalore/India. I had an interview with an Adcom member over Skype. I wore formals for the interview, tested my Skype set up for video chat and ensured a good view of my room. Please be prepared for a video chat. The interviewer in fact, insisted on having one even when the Internet connection became a bit bad. My advice for all those who are attending an interview over Skype is that please reserve a video-conferencing facility for the interview if possible. My interviewer got stuck up in traffic and informed about the delay. Finally, Read more

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