Well, this is the Nth year that I've been admitted to a business school, but with my family recovering from near bankruptcy, it wasn't easy to say no to great business schools that I was admitted to in the past. However, I finally decided that enough was enough, and told this particular school that I would be going. Although, I am still a little short of funds, but I'm not going to let that little detail stop me this time.

Anyways, I got my acceptance letter from Simon Business School sometime back. They even offered me a 70% scholarship+ISLP combo. And the great folks of the Simon's Admissions committee also sent me a box full of goodies - getting the goodies out of the clutches of the customs officials was a task in itself.

So, I just thought I should share this moment on my blog, since I haven't updated it in a long time. Here are the pics of the box of gifts sent to me by Simon Business School. Thank you guys for this, this is amazing:

You must have heard that admissions committee members go through a single application within 18 minutes. In that time, they'll read your application including essays, recommendations and resume. And try to get a clear picture of who you are and why you want to go for an MBA.

At the end of 18 minutes, they will either walk away with a clear picture of who you are, or they’ll forget about you immediately after they’ve read your application. 

Being memorable is up to you. A great resume will help you achieve that goal.The resume is not the first thing that comes to mind when one starts applying to business school. But it should be.

One page resumes

As most top schools mention in their application instructions, a resume should not be more than one page long, maybe two if you’ve the accomplishments to justify the length.

Accomplishments not responsibilities

Also, the resume should not be about your roles and responsibilities within the organization. Rather, it should be about the ‘accomplishments and achievements’ in each position. How did you impact the organization? And can you quantify your achievements?

Customized to each school

Some business schools provide a specific resume template to be followed. Others provide a list of things that should ideally be provided in the resume. Finally, resumes should be customized by you at least somewhat since each school has a different requirement.

Focused Brand

Think about it. Obviously your resume should be highly focused. But it should also be in line with the essays and other details you provide in your application. So, say for school A, you used a story about how you won a multi-million dollar contract. Your resume should at least have a quantified mention of that story. For school B, you may have used a story about how you handled a certain crisis. Your resume should then reflect that in the resume as well. It’s not always possible to put everything on one page. So, you have to make sure you double check everything and stay focused on on your brand.

Get Time on your side

Create a readable resume. Write crisp short sentences, with quantified achievements. Use action verbs – if you don’t know which ones, simply Google “Harvard resume action verbs”. The eyes read faster when they move from top to bottom. So create a resume that can be easily traversed by the eye from top to bottom, but that still manages to capture your accomplishments.

Get Feedback

Always get feedback. If people around you tell you, “it’s great”, be very worried! You may need to find someone else to take a look. Plus, simply forget about your resume for a few days or weeks (preferably) and then take a look. You’ll see a lot of scope for improvement. Keep reworking till you are satisfied!

Round 1 is almost over. If you are not done with your applications, don't rush to finish it now. There is another round right around the corner - Round 2!

Round 2 is the round in which schools get the bulk of their applications. This is also the final round for most international students. This is also the final round for most types of financial aids. Needless to say, if you want to give yourself maximum leverage, make sure you put your best foot forward in round 2 instead of rushing in to submit applications in round 1.

Its better to create a killer app then to create an OK one.

So, what do you need to know about Round 2:

1. Events: Most schools will visit a city near you before the R2 deadlines! There are a number of online and face-to-face events conducted by the MBA tour, the economist, and other such organizations. If you haven't attended one yet, you need to do that now!
http://www.thembatour.com/bschool/calendarEvents.html
https://success.economist.com/products/online-fair

2.  Webinars: Attend school webinars when possible because videos presentations are less distracting and you can research better.

3. New Students: R2 is also the best time to contact new students (from the latest fall batch- if schools allow). These students can tell you their experiences better because memories are fresh about the first month at a new school campus.

4. Luxury of Time: R2 also gives you time to build an even stronger bond with your inner circle including recommenders, reviewers and other brand champions. You can also take a step back from the hellish schedule of R1 to get a better sense of the big picture.

5. Priorities: Even though you have plenty of time, this is not the time to apply to 5 more schools. Depending upon how you did in Round 1 in terms of interview invites and other success metrics, you may now need to ensure that you modify your strategy a bit. Learn from your mistakes. And then apply to the schools that fit the bill. Remember, you really shouldn't be looking to apply in R3. So, R2 is it! Make sure you remember that R2 is your last round.

R2 is the golden ticket for most people. If you have had a great experience interviewing and now know yourself better, then R2 will be a breeze for you. All the Best!

CR(Critical Reasoning) is my favorite sub-section on the GMAT. Firstly, because I had 100% accuracy on CR. But more importantly,  I got to dissect a well formed argument.

You don't have to read loooooong passages and neither do you have to correct sentences. Some say, you can't prepare or practice for CR, but that's not true. Although, you do get diminishing returns after a point. So just practice until you have your techniques mastered.

Strengthen/Weaken type questions are fairly common. And so it is imperative that we know how to solve these questions correctly, with 100% accuracy. Let us see how we can achieve that level of accuracy on such questions:

The key is Identifying Assumptions.

Facts/Premises + Assumptions = Conclusion(s)

If you can identify the assumptions, you can make an argument stronger or weaker. Most people try to "Prove" that the conclusion is some how wrong, which is the wrong approach. Conclusions are never drawn wrong. They are based on facts/premises and assumptions.

So obviously, either the facts are wrong or the assumptions are wrong. Unlike certain news channels, the GMAT test makers never get facts or premises wrong. You cannot attack the facts given in a GMAT argument! Remember that!

What is left for us to attack then? Assumptions.

Assumptions can either be strengthened or weakened.

How? You ask.

By providing additional information that either supports or negates the assumption.

That's it. That's the key. All GMAT CR Strengthen/Weaken questions rely on you identifying the assumptions correctly. Once you identify the assumptions, all you have to do is go through the answer choices to strengthen or weaken the argument.

ONLY one choice will do the trick. Others will either do the opposite or will not have any bearing on the argument at all! So, use your superpower of elimination to cut through the noise and find the correct answer choice.

If you practice this with 30 questions, you won't get another S/W question wrong.

Everything revolves around the return on investment. Ultimately, schools either can or cannot keep up with the trends. MBA programs have been evolving continuously for the past many years, but for some reason a specific crowd of applicants no longer sees 2 year MBA programs as viable.

To know more about how MBA programs are at crossroads, you can read this book: Rethinking the MBA

The crowd that is moving away from the MBA programs is aged 21 to 25, has little work experience and big dreams. Granted young professionals and recent graduates may not be thinking about ROI, but they definitely know that competition is fierce when it comes to full time MBA programs and the odds are stacked against them.

I mean how does one compete with VPs of important divisions at Fortune 500 companies with just a college degree? And how does one compete with a Serial Entrepreneur with 8 different successes with just one year of "so so" work experience? Yes, apples are compared to apples, and ultimately Admissions committees do compare Consultants with Consultants, but who do you think wins - the consultant with 5 years of stellar work ex or the young associate consultant who just started out at a small company?

On top of that, being 2 years out of the work force really doesn't sit well with students who already realize how hard it is to pay the bills with a humanities degree.

Luckily, European and Asian schools gave such students a solution to their problems. The Masters in Management program.

Its generally a one year program that really prepares you for the business world. You spend less money, time and effort than you would in a 2 year MBA program and you start working at a respectable annual salary of $90k at a major corporation. Sounds like a lucrative proposition if you ask me.

Plus, you compete with people just like you. The number of applicants is less. And getting financial aid is just as easy, if not more.

Here are the FT rankings for MiM programs for 2015: Link

If you sort the numbers, you realize that ROI is high for all programs. Let us set aside Indian and German programs since the cost of living is relatively low in these countries. To make it fair, we will use salary data from Swiss Business school, University of St. Gallen to calculate ROI:

ROI for USG= 89000/55000 = 1.6  (in the very first year!)

ROI for HBS=120000/200000 = 0.6 (again first year)

Let us also not forget that other than Switzerland most of the other countries on the list have much lower living costs. Many schools charge nominal fees. And almost all of the European schools allow you to work for upto 20 hours per week slashing the costs even more.

If we decided to look at a German school such as WHU Germany the ROI comes out to be ~2.5 and that is just one year.

Now you may say, but wait a minute, maybe students don't get placements. And you would be wrong. Placements are 100% for many schools! While about 20 schools on the list have promising placement stats of 95% or more, most of the schools have figures in the 90-100% range.

Let us also not forget that it takes up to 10 years to pay off a US full time MBA loan. Here are some more though provoking payback figures published on Top MBA: Link

So, if you are young, inexperienced, do not wish to be burdened by heavy loans or simply cannot afford a 2 year MBA, perhaps you should look at MiM programs. Besides, a euro-trip never hurt anyone!

Probability questions are one of the most hated kind of questions on the GMAT. After all, the "probability" of getting the answer right (if you are a Poet) is pretty low. Although, under timed conditions, many Quants struggle to get it right too.

First of all, you don't need to worry too much about any one topic on the GMAT. It's just not worth the hassle to fret over something that might not even show up on test day! Still, if you want to get Probability questions right, I am going to give you some very basic tips that will at least help you narrow down the answer choices and eliminate the wrong ones.

So what is probability? Its the mathematical representation of "chance".

Basically, if I gave you a coin and told you to toss it just once, you will either get heads or tails. So, if I ask, what are the chances of getting heads, you might say 50%. How did we calculate that? Simple.

Number of total possible outcomes: 2 (Heads or Tails)

Number of favorable outcomes: 1 (Heads)

Simple divide number of favorable outcomes by number of total outcomes, or

Number of favorable outcomes           = Probability
Number of Total possible outcomes

1   = 0.5     Multiply this by 100 to get probability in percentage, i.e. 0.5 x 100 = 50%
2

Now, what if you don't have the time or don't really need to calculate probability?
How do you guesstimate?

Golden Rule: Always calculate the total number of outcomes first! That's it!

If you have the denominator, you will be able to eliminate a couple of choices in most questions.

After that you may or may not be able to calculate the number of favorable outcomes, but you would be able to guess better.

Yesterday, I had an extremely crucial Skype call to attend. But, for some reason technology decided to give me the slip and I wasn't even able to connect. It WAS a major setback considering that I worked for a long time just for that ONE call. Luckily, things turned out well, but even before they had turned out well, the way I reacted was amazing. For some reason, the incident had fired me up instead of making me feel disappointed.

My thought process was: Even if I get 30 seconds, I am sure I will be able to get my message across.

And I noticed that reaction and thought to myself, "What is going on? Is this how I always react to setbacks? With more energy and determination?" And the answer from all levels of my conscience was a resounding YES!!!

That's the reaction that GMAT test takers must have when they face setbacks on the way to their dream score!

Then, a friend of mine shared a link to Tim Grover's book and said I might find it useful:
Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable

Of course, I have followed Tim for a long time, but never read the book. For the uninitiated, Tim Grover is the man who trained Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Dwayne Wade (along with countless others), and helped these amazing super-performers become "Unstoppable". There a lot of "Self-help" Gurus out their, but how many can claim to have churned out superstar after superstar?

When I was done with the book, it struck me - everything that Tim says in his book applies to GMAT as well. I mean ultimately, most first time GMAT test takers do not score their dream scores. Usually, there is a major gap between what they score and what they would like to score.

Some people close the gap quickly, and others don't.

Here's how the "Top Performers" score that elusive score after failing the first time (and how Tim's advice applies to performance on the GMAT):

1. By thriving under pressure: That's the reason 2 people who score same in practice, end up scoring different scores on Test Day! Nervousness kills performance on the GMAT!

2. By not recognizing failure: It is highly common to have to retake the test. But, most people give up after their first attempt! High performers "expect" that a retake may be necessary and simply consider any setbacks as bumps in the road.

3. By controlling the uncontrollable: Emotions, Timing, and Intellectual Stamina - these are the 3 things that need to be controlled. You can't be emotional or egoistic about some question that you couldn't answer. You must have a proper timing strategy so you don't run out of time near the end. And you must have trained yourself to sit through 4 hours of GMAT without running out of gas. Those who make a come back on the GMAT, control these apparently uncontrollable things.

By the way, on the GMAT, the test makers are your "Competition". They will try to trick you every step of the way, they will try to get in your head, and they will place a number of obstacles in your way. But, ultimately, you will triumph.

So heed Tim's advice and become Unstoppable!

Conventional wisdom tells you: If you just keep your head down, focus on learning, practice a ton of questions, you’ll achieve that score. Everyone thinks that’s how preparation works. Traditional education has ruined our ability to learn effectively – it made us take a test, get a decent score, and then move on to the next year. 

Traditional education doesn’t focus on “Analysis”. And we tend to bring that “bad understanding” of how learning and test preparation works into our GMAT preparation.

There is no doubt in my mind that hard work is one of the pillars of success. But, it’s just one of the pillars. It is not a guarantee! 

On the GMAT, you need to constantly improve. If you haven’t score 700+ on a practice test after months of hard work, ask yourself: Why aren’t you improving? 

Here's is that answer: The lack of Analysis.

Not everyone is created equal- you will either be a poet or a quant, which means you’ll be good at only 50% of the test before starting preparations. 

You’ll have to work on the other 50%.

And it’s not by brute force or hard work that you’ll get results. It’s by analyzing your tests and practicing the right way. 

I have already written about how you can do that: here

Check it out. It is my most popular post and that's for a reason!

Paradox questions confuse test takers. The question is how do I correctly answer a CR question that is paradoxical?

Usually, paradox questions say something like: "Resolve the paradox". And that is a clue! The test makers want you to resolve the paradox.

How do you resolve a paradox? Let us understand with an example:

The Mayor promised that the local economy would do amazingly well, once the new stadium was completed. He provided the logic that since tens of thousands of people would come to watch sports events every month, these people would have to stay in nearby hotels, eat at local restaurants and shop for goods from the local shops. However, sales figures show that there was no impact on the revenue of the local retailers, hoteliers . In fact, in many cases, the sales actually went down.

How do we explain this paradox?

Obviously, there has to be a plausible explanation. There could be many, but on the GMAT only one of the options given would be correct.

In order to resolve the paradox, use the Bridge technique. The premise states x, which should give result y, but in reality gives result z. So there has to be some fact that would be able to bridge the gap between two contradictory things.

Bridge technique says that you need to choose an answer choice that Proves there was no paradox in the first place!

Let us say there were 3 choices:

Choice A: The stadium itself failed to attract crowds. -> doesn't explain why sales went down
Choice B: The mayor was lying -> irrelevant to the argument
Choice C: Sports fans bought snacks and other food items inside the stadium and never had to stay overnight. Also, local people avoided shopping downtown when such events took place, because the traffic and rush was just mind boggling.

That last choice explains everything. Fans never had to stay overnight. They did not eat at local restaurants, because they visited only for games and stadiums provided enough "food" for them. Plus, since the locals avoided the local shops during events, obviously local businesses not only did not profit from the stadium, their revenue actually went down.

That choice shows that there was no paradox to start with!

So, use the bridge technique and simply pick the choice that proves there is no paradox! Other choices will either be IRRELEVANT or won't completely explain away the paradox.

Statistics are extremely important in life. But, on the GMAT, you don't need to have the skills of an economist to crack problems. Generally, the test makers rarely provide problem solving questions related to stats, but they almost always provide data sufficiency questions related to stats.

So, knowledge of some rules is all you need to tackle most DS problems related to statistics.

The most common "rule" that you should become familiar with: what happens to a stat when you add a new parameter or subtract a new parameter? Does the mean change when you suddenly multiple the same number across individual parameters? What is the one thing that rarely changes?

I'll give you the answers to all these questions in just a second. But, first let us understand why we need to know this stuff. Basically, statistics problems are trickiest when they are combined with the Data Sufficiency format. You can't or shouldn't solve anything related to a DS problem, unless you want to waste a lot of time.

So, the alternative is to know certain "properties" related to statistics, in case the test makers decide to play statistical mind games with you.

Rule 1: Any time you add,subtract, multiple or divide anything with the individual components of a series, the Mean and Median change.

For example: Mean of 2,3,4 = 3  , but if we add 1, mean of (2+1,3+1,4+1) = 4

Notice: Mean increases by 1 as well!

Rule 2: Range and Standard deviation DO NOT change on addition or subtraction.

For example, Range in the above example was = 2. Even after addition of 1, the range still remained 2!

Rule 3: Range and Standard deviation DO CHANGE on multiplication or division.

For example, if we have original series as 2,3,4 and new series as 2x2,3x2,4x2 or 4,6,8 ...
Then, the range changes from 2 to 4!

Notice: Range increases by a factor of 2 as well.

Those are the 3 rules that you should know. The example given by me should be enough for you to remember these rules.

What is your leadership style? Don't know?.. find out.
What are some of the strengths and weaknesses that really make you YOU?
What is unique about your personality and how you handle problems?

One of the most important qualities of a true leader is that the leader knows himself much better than those who follow him.

Like Sun Tzu said,

"If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles" 

So before you even put pen to paper (metaphorically) to write down an essay, you better know everything about yourself.

Of course, you can use the old technique of keeping a journal with you and noting down qualities, examples and anecdotes about you. This technique of course is time consuming, although extremely helpful.

A better way to do things would be to simply take a few personality tests and see what they say about you! That will not cover the "examples and anecdotes" part, but it will certainly give you a clear sense of who you are as a person and as a leader.

Start with the Myers Briggs test, or the multiple free adaptations of the test available online. Don't ask which one, anyone would do! If one doesn't satisfy your intellectual taste buds, take another one.

Then, move on to leadership tests that give you more insight into your leadership style. Take a few tests that tell you about what kind of a team mate you are too.

Finally, BE HONEST about what you find out and if you can, discuss with your peers or those who know you best.

Once all that is done, then you can move on to the next step- which is thinking about all the different life stories that you would want to utilize while writing your essays.

Even if you don't completely agree with what the tests say, at least now you have something better to work with.

Leadership is not always quantifiable, but certain traits are easily identifiable. So find out who you are as a leader, as a team mate and as a person, and use that knowledge to choose schools, write essays and get into a school that is a REAL fit for you.

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Free just for today - 25th Aug, 2015:

One Page to Bind them All

For the uninitiated, this list will act as the starting point. For those who’re already familiar with various GMAT strategies, this will act as a revision list:

GMAT Quant Strategies:


When you don’t have a formula, always go back to the basics:

• An equation with 2 variables x and y can be solved for both variables only if there is another equation. 
• The angle on a straight line, a triangle and a semi-circle are always 180 degrees. 
• Fractions, ratio, proportions, number properties problems can be easily understood and solved using a number line! 
• When you do have a formula but you can’t seem to find the right answer, try a backup method. 
• If the backup method doesn’t work, guess and move on. 
• On DS questions, try reading the second statement first and then analyze the first one. You are less likely to mentally carry facts from the first statement to the second. 
• 2 minutes is generally the limit. But, if you don’t know how to solve a question, you should quit immediately and guess, instead of wasting your time.

GMAT Verbal Strategies:

• A reading comp passage is not for “detailed scrutiny”. Read it in under 4 minutes without delving into the details. 
• Directional words and tone are important on RC. 
• For Critical reasoning questions, always remember that assumptions are the key in most cases. 
• Always try to identify and differentiate between premises, examples, intermediate conclusions, and main conclusion. 
• If you are unable to differentiate between the main and intermediate conclusions, try reading the whole argument and draw a logic diagram if you need to. Sort of like A->B B->C so C->A or A->C? 
• Be careful not to invert causal relationships. The test makers love it when you do that. i.e. if A leads to C, its not necessary that C will also lead to A! 
• For sentence correction questions, when all else fails, just look at the meaning and the relationships between nouns, pronouns, subjects, verbs and objects. 

GMAT Test Taking Strategies

• Practice timing. Utilize one of the many timing strategies freely available on gmat forums.
• Hide the clock when possible.
• Do not fret about the first two sections. It’s the last two that count for the 800 score.
• Carry eatables, such as MARS bars, that release energy quickly. And utilize your breaks.
• Take a minor 30 second break after every 10 questions.
• If you fall behind on time, guess a question. It’s better than to rush in the end and get a series of questions wrong.
• Learn to leave your ego behind. When something doesn’t get solved, just quit. Not worth ruining your score over a single question.
• DO NOT practice much on the day before or even right before the test.
• DO NOT fall for the trap of learning something new right before the test.
• Stay calm. It’s just a test and you can take it again if it doesn’t go well.

GMAT Practice Strategies:

• Practice under timed conditions.
• However, when learning a new concept, you can practice untimed until you grasp the concept.
• Do not solve a hundred questions a day! Practice answering just 15 questions a day.
• Once the 15 questions are done, analyze them until you have extracted every last bit of information from those questions.
• Use a matrix to keep track of your progress in various sub-sections such as SC, DS, RC, etc.
• Keep a journal in which to note down new concepts or ‘thumb rules’ you run into while practicing.
• Keep an error log and revisit the question you answered incorrectly after a few weeks. Answer them and see if you get them right.
• Take the GMAT Prep test as many times as you want. Questions don’t always repeat and the software has a ton of new questions to offer.
• Test prep companies are in business for a reason. Most of them offer free flash cards, practice tests, etc. Utilize their services or books. But remember to rely on your hard work.
• When in doubt, ask people on the forums for their answers.

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How not to fall for "trust your ear"

This is a more generic post as compared to the previous "Back to the Basics" posts. Certain stylistic elements, and colloquialisms are different for Americans, British, Chinese, Indians, Africans, etc.

A sentence may be considered "correct" or "wrong" simply based on how that sounds to a certain person. However, on the GMAT, only the sentences that follow the rules are correct. Even though the GMAT was focused more on idioms many years ago, that is not the case today.

As a result, today when test makers create a sentence that "sounds" like its correct, they do so in order to trick you. It is the easiest trap to set. People simply do not use elimination when the answer apparently stares them in the face.

So I highly advise that instead of trusting your ear, trust your process of elimination and trust the rules that the test makers generally want you to know.

Another highly sensitive subject on the GMAT- is the Sensitive subject. A reading passage or a critical reasoning question may focus on an issue that is close to your heart. You may feel emotional while reading that passage- however- do not fall for the trap of marking answers based upon your feelings!

The GMAT is not a test of political science, religion or other such subjects. And generally test makers steer clear of such topics. However, they do insert topics other than political or religious that are generally considered "social science" type sensitive passages.

Again, do not fall for a trap while answering any of the GMAT questions. It is an objective type test, where attachment to the subject matter of a single passage is not warranted. Just use the process of elimination and stay objective.

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People around the world are getting more and more impatient by the day. It seems like everyone wants results instantly. But, that is not how the world works.

Just because you CAN answer practice questions quickly, doesn't mean that you should do that. Rushing through the official guide and then just checking whether you answered correctly or not will not help you improve.

Here is how to utilize the golden resources that test makers and test prep companies put in front of you after much delibration and hard work:

1. Focus on the quality of your practice and not the quantity.
2. Marking a hundred questions during a single practice session will not get you that 700+ score!
3. Instead try answering just 15 questions in a timed manner.
4. Once you are done with those 15 questions, analyze WHY you answered correctly or incorrectly.
5. Then, READ the explanation given at the back.
6. Finally, if you answered something one way and the book answered it another way, make sure you understand BOTH techniques, because you never know when you may need a backup.
7. Speaking of backup, always try to find backup techniques, so that you can double check your answers when possible.

The rule is simple. If you practiced with just 1 question, make sure you always walk away with a takeaway. Do NOT leave any question alone until you have extracted the maximum benefit from that question.

Remember, GMAT questions don't just have one thing wrong with them. There may be multiple things wrong and you need to figure out all of those errors.

If you do this, you will score your target GMAT score soon.

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There are numerous techniques available on beatthegmat that may help you score better on reading comprehension. But, not all RC techniques are equal. And some may require extensive practice before you finally start seeing the results that you really want to achieve. Keeping this in mind, here are a few specific tips that will help you perform better at RC without worrying about tactics and techniques:

1.       Details are not important

      You know how you read every “serious and official” looking document? That’s not how you read GMAT RC passages! On the contrary, what you are trying to get, is just the outline and gist of the passage. After reading the passage once, you should be able to describe what the passage is about, without going into any details. This is the most basic rule of performing better on GMAT RC questions. Otherwise, it may take you longer, just to “memorize” or “understand” every detail that will be of no consequence to you while answering the questions that follow. Also, remember that the passage is always going to be right there in front of you! So, just go through once without delving into the details.

2.       Writer’s intention

       You should be able to tell whether a passage is biased or unbiased. You should also be able to tell whether the author/writer is using a specific tone just to get his/her message across. This is something that you already do when you read research papers or news reports. Today, no research happens without a motive, and no news organization publishes content without a motive or in some cases propaganda behind the news article. Apply your skill of identifying intention, tone and diction, to get a better understanding about the passage.

3.       Directional words

       Look for directional words such as Moreover, furthermore, however, but, etc. These words either imply change in the logical direction or that more supporting points are going to follow. GMAT test makers are obsessed with making sure that they provide you with passages that have no or minimum paragraphs. This is because, change in paragraph usually means a change in idea or sub-topic. So, being able to identify directional words will help you know how the passage flows and how ideas likely change in the passage.

      

That’s it. Those are the basics of RC that you absolutely must remember. And they are really simple: don’t fret about the details, identify the writer’s intention, and take a mental note anytime you see directional words within the passage.

“Getting” the passage is extremely important on the GMAT. The same passage is generally used to ask at least 3 questions, and if you answer those 3 questions correctly, your score takes a major jump. Get RC questions wrong in a row and your score takes a major hit. So focus on RC using the above techniques and beat the GMAT!

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It’s no big secret that chances of your success in gaining admissions to some of the most selective schools in the world depend on your ability to properly utilize the resources and talent available at your disposal. In most cases, you do need a happy supervisor (or 2) who will provide a stellar recommendation and hopefully mention all your success stories that you remind him so energetically about. 

You also need an admissions consultant unless you have the bandwidth to learn about every school and understand where you may or may not get in. If you’re an international student, you’ll also need someone to guide you through the whole visa process, because frankly you don’t want to be accepted at some school only to be rejected by the consulate because you made an avoidable mistake in your visa application. 

You also need to talk to current students (if possible) and alumni, not only to understand what the school offers, but also to maybe put in a good word , depending upon how much influence students have on the process.  

You need all of those people. But, the most important people whom you may seem to forget about are the people on admissions committees. Ultimately, you can have all things stacked up nicely, but the buck stops with the AdCom! Now, short of actually visiting each and every school that you may be interested in, what is it that you can do connect with the amazing people on Adcoms? 

Hmm…

“If only there were a place where AdCom members gather in large numbers, with the sole intent of interacting with prospective students…”

Well, there is such a place. And that place is called an Admissions event! Every major school conducts such events across the globe. But, if you live far away from one of the cities where such events take place, the least you can do is attend important MBA fairs. MBA fairs are those magical places where a number of business schools come together under one roof and readily communicate with you on a personal level. 

Nothing beats face to face interactions. You can get a sense of a person’s inclinations, interests, etc. Plus, AdCom members tell you their honest opinion about your chances at their schools and you can understand what each school is looking for in an MBA student and if you fit the bill.

But if you don’t really think that such interactions are enough of an attraction, there is a financial side to such fairs as well. Aaah! I see I have your attention. Many schools offer fee waivers, discounts, and some even offer scholarships. If you are going to apply to 5 schools (which is always better than applying to just one), the bill for applying to that many schools ranges from $1250 to $10000, depending upon whether you are using a consultant in addition to paying the fees! 

To most people, that is a loooot of money. And considering that someone is generous enough to understand your situation and is willing and able to offer you a waiver or a discount, should really get you going to those events.

The more important thing to realize, is that you are there for much needed facetime with the Adcom members, who will remember you long after they have left the event. And when the time comes to choose between a faceless application and a person they’ve actually met, who do you think the Adcom members will choose?

So, whatever may be your motivation to attend those events, if you can, do attend such events. A couple of friends I know walked away with fee waivers, and later the adcom members who had asked them to apply asap pushed for these friends to be admitted. These events are the hidden secret that no one seems to tell you about. They are key to your success!

It seems quite simple- you read 5 sentences, eliminate 4 and voila you have your answer. But, as you answer questions correctly, the test itself gets more and more complicated. At one point, you will face a sentence correction question which will have multiple correct answers and things won't seem so simple anymore.

The easiest trick that the test makers use, is to create complicated sentences, where the meaning changes so slightly that you wouldn't even call it fair. Of course, meaning can be changed using different tools. But the most common tool to be used it to make subject, verb and object (in some cases) to either not match or to distort the meaning of a sentence. OR the meaning simply may not be clear!

For example,  see if you can spot the simple variations in meaning, subject, etc.

"Mike talked to John, who agreed to meet him after the meeting."  -> 'Who' refers to John

"John talked to Mike, who agreed to meet him after the meeting." -> 'Who' refers to Mike

"Agreeing to meet him after the meeting, John had a talk with Mike." -> Seems like John first agreed to meet Mike and then John talked to Mike.

"Mike and John talked, agreeing to meet him after the meeting." -> Ambiguity exists w.r.t. 'him'.

"Mike and John talked to each other, agreeing to meet after the meeting." -> Both Mike and John were the actors here.


Another example, comes from a former US president's answer to a question:

"Our enemies do everything to destroy our country, and so do we!" A clearer sentence would have been "Our enemies do everything to destroy our country, and we are doing everything to destroy them."

Final example related to Subject Verb agreement: http://www.beatthegmat.com/unlike-lions-and-tigers-t85617.html

Remember: The test makers will never provide a question that just distorts meaning! The sentence will have plenty of other things wrong with it too (IF it is wrong). But, by approaching a question with "meaning" in mind, you will be able to know if you're being tricked by the test makers into choosing the wrong answer choice.

For more: http://www.amazon.com/GMAT-Improve-Drastically-Business-School-ebook/dp/B00A7CTV1A/

Before you can even think about a high score, you need to build a solid foundation. There are certain things that you just can’t ignore. OR should it be: There are certain things which you just can’t ignore? How do you know? Sometimes even if something sounds right, doesn’t mean it is right! Let us understand when we should use ‘that’ and when we should use ‘which’.

If a clause provides vital information, without which the sentence will not be complete, we use ‘That’.

If a clause provides non-vital information, without which the sentence still be complete, we use ‘Which’.

For example, “Country X has banned the book Y, which has captivated the world’s attention.”

If you omit the “which” clause, i.e. “which has captivated the world’s attention”, you still get a perfectly meaningful sentence, i.e. “Country X has banned the book Y.”

Now, let us look at a sentence that uses ‘that’.

“The book that has captivated the world’s attention has been banned in country X”

If you omit the part following that, you don’t even get a sentence. You only get “The book”!

Of course, grammatically that is not the only criteria. But, on the GMAT you can easily spot whether the sentence can “survive” without a modifying clause or not using the above criteria.

Clauses using ‘that’ are called restrictive clauses, because they restrict the scope of the sentence. Clauses using ‘which’ are called non-restrictive clauses, because they don’t restrict the scope of the sentence.

But, you don’t need jargon for now. These are the basics. There are some exceptions to the above rules, which I will cover when we get to more advanced concepts.