GMAT Tip: Think Like the Testmaker Series, Volume 2 » Clear Admit: MBA Admissions Consultants Blog

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Below are links to Clear Admit's exclusive interviews with MBA admissions directors at leading programs.
Dawna Clarke (Tuck)
Rose Martinelli (Chicago)
Judith Hodara (Wharton)
Sara Neher (Darden)
Soojin Kwon Koh (Michigan)
Randall Sawyer (Cornell)
Beth Flye (Kellogg)
David Simpson (LBS)
Liz Riley Hargrove (Duke)
Linda Meehan (Columbia)
Bruce DelMonico (Yale)
Peter Johnson (Berkeley)
Isser Gallogly (NYU)
Mae Jennifer Shores (UCLA)
J.J. Cutler (Wharton)
Jake Cohen (INSEAD)
Rod Garcia (MIT Sloan)
Mary Miller (Columbia)

Clear Admit School Guides
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Clear Admit Career Guides
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Clear Admit Strategy Series
Craft a winning application with the Clear Admit Strategy Series! Step-by-Step guidance through the application process. Titles include a Resume Guide, Recommendations Guide, Waitlist Guide and more!

Clear Admit Interview Guides
Be as prepared as possible for your MBA interviews this season with the Clear Admit Interview Guides! School-specific sample questions and in-depth strategy, campus visit details and places to stay.

Application Deadlines
Below are the upcoming deadlines for admission to top-tier schools.
Feb 10: INSEAD R3
Mar 1: Michigan / Ross R3
Mar 3: CBS
Mar 3: LBS R3
Mar 4: Kellogg R3
Mar 8: Cambridge / Judge R4
Mar 8: CMU / Tepper R3
Mar 9: Duke / Fuqua R3
Mar 9: Penn / Wharton R3
Mar 10: Berkeley / Hass R4
Mar 10: Chicago Booth R3
Mar 10: Yale SOM R3
Mar 15: NYU / Stern R3
Mar 17: UCLA / Anderson R3
Mar 19: UNC / Kenan-Flagler R4
Mar 30: Cornell / Johnson R4
Mar 31: UVA / Darden R3
Mar 31: INSEAD R4
Apr 1: UT-Austin / McCombs
Apr 2: Dartmouth / Tuck R3
Apr 2: Oxford / Saїd R3
Apr 7: Stanford GSB R4
Apr 8: Harvard R3
Apr 14: CBS

Essay Topic Analysis
Below are links to our comments on some of the top programs' essay topics.
The Career Goals Essay
Berkeley / Haas*
Chicago Booth*
CMU / Tepper*
Columbia*
Cornell / Johnson*
Dartmouth / Tuck*
Duke / Fuqua*
Harvard*
Indian School of Business*
INSEAD*
London Business School*
MIT / Sloan*
Michigan / Ross*
Northwestern / Kellogg*
NYU / Stern*
Oxford / Said*
Penn / Wharton*
Stanford GSB*
UCLA / Anderson*
UNC / Kenan-Flagler*
USC / Marshall*
UT Austin / McCombs*
UVA / Darden*
Yale SOM*
* denotes '09-'10 commentary

Categories
Use categories to access all that has been written on each of the topics. We have categorized by school and by subject matter.

Interview Reports
A selection of interview field reports from fellow applicants posted to the MBA Admissions Wiki. Add your reports when you are finished with your interviews.
Chicago
Columbia
Dartmouth / Tuck
Duke / Fuqua
Harvard
Kellogg
Michigan / Ross
MIT / Sloan
Stanford
UNC / Chapel Hill
Virginia / Darden
Wharton
London Business School

GMAT Resources
MBA.com
Manhattan GMAT
GMAT Club
Princeton Review
Test Prep New York
Kaplan
Beat The GMAT
Knewton

Writing Resources
Guide to Grammar and Writing
The Internet Grammar of English
English Usage, Style and Composition
The Economist Style Guide
Paradigm Online Writing Assistant

School Rankings
Rankings are a good way to start your research on various MBA Programs. Keep in mind each uses a different methodology.
Business Week
Economist
Financial Times
Forbes
USNews
Wall Street Journal

Career Guides
The following resources should be useful to those who want to research the careers open to them after (or before) earning an MBA.
Vault.com
Wetfeet

Business School Resources
The following are business resources offered by a variety of leading Business Schools. It's useful to subscribe to these resources, especially for the schools to which you are applying.

MBA Programs: North America
If an MBA Program is not listed, please e-mail and we will be happy to list it.
Berkeley / Haas
Boston College / Carroll
Carnegie Mellon / Tepper
Chicago
Columbia
Concordia
Cornell / Johnson
Dartmouth / Tuck
Duke / Fuqua
Emory / Goizueta
Harvard
HEC Montreal
Indiana / Kelley
Michigan
MIT / Sloan
Northwestern / Kellogg
New York / Stern
North Carolina / Kenan Flagler
Notre Dame / Mendoza
Pennsylvania / Wharton
Queens
Stanford
Syracuse / Whitman
Texas / McCombs
Thunderbird
Toronto
USC / Marshall
UCLA / Anderson
Vanderbilt / Owen
Virginia / Darden
Washington University in St. Louis / Olin
Western Ontario / Ivey
Yale

MBA Programs: Rest of the World
As there is some variety in the length of international MBA programs, we have denoted the length of the program next to its name (1 = one year; 2 = 2 years). If an MBA Program is not listed, please e-mail and we will be happy to list it.
AGSM (Australia) 2
Cambridge / Judge (UK) 1
CIEBS (China) 2
Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (China) 1
Cranfield School of Mgmt (UK) 1
ESADE (Spain) 1 or 2
HEC (France) 2
Hult (UK) 1
IESE (Spain) 2
IMD (Switzerland) 1
INCAE (Costa Rica) 2
INSEAD (France) 1
IPADE (Mexico)
ISB (India) 1
London Business School (UK) 2
Manchester Bus. School (UK) 2
Melbourne (Australia) 2
Oxford / Said (UK) 1
Rotterdam (Netherlands) 1
Tsinghua IMBA (China) 2
University of St. Gallen (Switzerland) 1

Additional Resources
Here we link a host of additional resources available across the web. E-mail info@clearadmit.com to have resources added to this list.
AACSB International
Association of MBAs
Beyond Grey Pinstripes
EFMD
gradschools.com (worldwide)
Infozee
International Student Loans
mba.com (GMAT Scores)
MBAInfo
mbaleague.blogspot.com
MBAzone
MBA Jungle
TOEFL
Top MBA

MBA Tipline
We encourage admissions officers, students and applicants to alert us of interesting news and developments, please send an email to news@clearadmit.com so we can blog it.

Blog Archive

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Sunday, December 27, 2009

GMAT Tip: Think Like the Testmaker Series, Volume 2

Today’s GMAT tip comes from Veritas Prep. Earlier this week, we shared with you the first volume of their “Think Like the Testmaker Series.” In today’s article, they present their second installment to help you as you study:

The writers of the GMAT are tasked with a fairly difficult challenge — using fairly basic, high-school level math and verbal skills, they must create questions that will elicit incorrect answers from some of the most intelligent people on the planet. If you’re even interested in taking the GMAT, you’ve either graduated from or intend to shortly graduate from a four-year university, and you likely have at least a few years of quality work experience, plus the desire to spend two years and a healthy amount of money to obtain a Master’s degree. People like you, quite frankly, are difficult to consistently outsmart!

The writers, however, are quite sharp themselves, and realize astutely that intelligent people have learned over time to make time-saving assumptions that allow them to consistently perform at a high level without spending undue time to do so. As a multitasker, you allow yourself to take shortcuts that can be your undoing on the GMAT.

Consider this question:

How many even integers exist within the range -9 to 9?

As you attempt to answer this quickly, you’ll likely note that the range is symmetrical, and that by recognizing 2, 4, 6, and 8 as the positive even integers, you can multiply by 2 to account for all of the negative integers. Accordingly, you might choose 8 as your answer.

In doing so, however, you’ll have forgotten about 0, one of the devilish devices that the GMAT uses to bait unaware test-takers. Zero, quite literally, means “nothing,” making it an easy number to overlook. Furthermore, it’s neither positive nor negative (which mean “greater than zero” and “less than zero,” respectively), so it has no opposite in a situation like this when you might try to bank on the symmetry of the data set to shorten your workload.

To be successful on the GMAT, be keenly aware of the presence of the number 0 in any problems where it could appear. Much like a talented, multi-dimensional football player can cause defenses to always seek for his jersey number on the field (“Where’s number 5? Who’s covering number 5?”), the number 0 should keep you alert, as well. Ask yourself how 0 might factor in to each situation you face (it’s nonnegative but not positive; it’s even; when multiplied, it makes the entire product 0), as it just may be the difference-maker that the authors of the test need to keep your score down.

For more information on Veritas Prep, download Clear Admit’s independent guide to the leading test preparation companies here. This FREE guide includes coupons for discounts on test prep services at ten different firms!

# posted by Clear Admit @ 3:00 pm in GMAT - Quantitative, GMAT News, GMAT Test Prep Company Series, GMAT Tips

One Response to “GMAT Tip: Think Like the Testmaker Series, Volume 2”

michelle Says:
January 17th, 2010 at 7:02 pm
I think you are confusing yourself. Zero cannot be an even number since it is not divisible by two. I am disturbed. Please explain this question.

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Columbia
Dartmouth / Tuck
Duke / Fuqua
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Kellogg
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IESE
INSEAD
London Business School

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Community blog with MBA student and alum contributors.

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Video blog entries posted by women MBA students.

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Independent blog with content by Vanderbilt MBA students.

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