5 New Changes to GMAT Exam You Need To Know!! | The GMAT Pill Study Method

So GMAC is the organization that administers the GMAT exam.

A few days ago they announced a few changes to GMAT Exam – particularly the SC portion.

1) SC: More questions will have multiple answer choices that are gramatically correct—but ONLY one maintains the meaning of the original question.

2) SC: Idioms will be phased out. Cultural references for non-native speakers will be less of a problem.

3) A 13th Edition of the Official Guide will be available by April 2012

4) The Integrated Reasoning section will replace the Analysis of an Issue Essay in June 2012 and it won’t be adaptive like the other sections.

5) If you need additional practice questions – you can now get GMAT Paper tests — in addition to GMAT Prep software and Official Guide questions.

So what does this mean?

It means SC will be less about spotting ERRORS and more about phrasing things correctly. In a way, it’s a bit more realistic in the context of editing writing. When you edit writing—a sentence with an intended meaning is already there. Your job is to word it in a professional, error-free way. Your job is NOT to rewrite the sentence with a whole new meaning–even if it is grammatically correct.

So welcome to this new approach. Keep an eye out for these kinds of questions. Don’t simply look for errors and automatically pick an answer just because you see no errors. Yes, actually have to think a little bit.

But this doesn’t change things too much. Because the approach we teach at GMATPill (SC) already encompasses this meaning portion. The 2 big areas we always focus on are:
1) STRUCTURE
2) MEANING

So it’s not anything new really. Just a greater emphasis on the MEANING portion. Rest assured–this doesn’t affect GMATPill students too much.

It’s definitely good to know about the April 2012/June 2012 timeline so you can plan ahead and decide for yourself whether you want to take the exam before or after that time.

That’s it for now, folks. Check in again later!

Table of Contents | See Pricing

Verbal Videos: Sentence Correction | Critical Reasoning | Reading Comprehension
Quant Videos: Problem Solving | Data Sufficiency

Chat With GMAT Test Taker On GMAT Strategy

[10:04:57 PM] gmatpill: Hi
[10:05:00 PM] student: hi Zeke
[10:05:04 PM] gmatpill: How are your GMAT studies going?
[10:05:12 PM] student: good…
[10:05:39 PM] student: are you going to host some conference call at skype?
[10:06:35 PM] gmatpill: we decided to make this a more personal experience with one-on-one chatting tonight
[10:06:47 PM] gmatpill: Some topics we’ve been talking about include time allocation
[10:06:55 PM] gmatpill: on the verbal portion
[10:07:12 PM] student: yes.. that’s where I’m most interested.
[10:07:13 PM] gmatpill: How is your performance breakdown between SC/CR/RC?
[10:09:58 PM] student: I gave two GMATPrep tests. Both the time I attempted only verbal portions. V 29 and V35 were my scores.
[10:10:51 PM] gmatpill: v29 and v35 is a decent difference
[10:11:00 PM] gmatpill: Between the 3 sections, where are you weakest
[10:11:25 PM] gmatpill: We generally recommend making your SC section extremely time efficient.
[10:11:39 PM] gmatpill: So you can free up more time for the more time-intensive RC and CR that require more thinking.
[10:12:04 PM] gmatpill: Did you review your GMATPrep tests – mark down all the ones you got wrong
[10:12:08 PM] gmatpill: And revisit them the next day
[10:12:09 PM] student: Although there were repeats, some of the repeats I got wrong. But, I couldn’t manage to finish the test on time and had to guess last 5-6 questions.
[10:12:11 PM] gmatpill: and again the next day
[10:12:55 PM] gmatpill: Ask yourself – why did you get it wrong again?
[10:13:06 PM] gmatpill: What about your thought process – you went down the same thinking path as last time?
[10:13:09 PM] gmatpill: and got the same answer?
[10:13:16 PM] gmatpill: or you went down a different path and still got the same answer?
[10:13:45 PM] gmatpill: Ask yourself: what if I focused on another part of the question? would I arrive at the same conclusion?
[10:14:14 PM] gmatpill: Every question has that SMALL point that can ultimately determine if you are on the right/or wrong track
[10:14:30 PM] gmatpill: Since you know the answers to the ones you got wrong, figure out what that SMALL point is
[10:14:44 PM] gmatpill: THe difference between a good score and a great score is an accumulation of these SMALL details
[10:14:55 PM] student: got it.
[10:14:58 PM] gmatpill: You need to identify and spot that small details in these practice GMAT questions
[10:14:59 PM] student: Yes. I made note of all the questions and did full review and re-attempted questions next day. I got most of the questions correct next day with no test pressure while reviewing.
[10:15:03 PM] gmatpill: make a note in your memory
[10:15:26 PM] gmatpill: that’s good..keep doing the same for the next test
[10:15:29 PM] gmatpill: then set aside one day
[10:15:43 PM] gmatpill: to redo questions you got wrong from both tests at the same time
[10:15:49 PM] student: ok
[10:15:54 PM] gmatpill: hold yourself to a HIGH standard
[10:16:03 PM] gmatpill: since you’ve already seen the answers and questions
[10:16:11 PM] gmatpill: there’s no reason for you to get them wrong again
[10:16:19 PM] gmatpill: in fact, focus on minimizing time
[10:16:36 PM] gmatpill: were there certain answer choices that you didn’t necessarily have to read and still could arrive at the right answer?
[10:16:54 PM] gmatpill: if so, train yourself to develop that confidence to answer the question
[10:16:56 PM] gmatpill: because you’ve seen that pattern before
[10:17:02 PM] student: ok
[10:17:08 PM] gmatpill: and can confidently choose (B)..and not bother with (d) or (E)
[10:17:19 PM] gmatpill: ( d )
[10:17:28 PM] gmatpill: I guess skype turns answer choice d into a drink
[10:17:40 PM] student: i like that
[10:17:47 PM] student: This was my split.
V29
12 incorrect of 41.
5 CR, 5 RC and 2 SC were incorrect.
V35
13 incorrect of 41. 
2 CR, 4 RC and 7 SC were incorrect.
[10:18:23 PM] gmatpill: what?! 7 SC wrong?
[10:18:46 PM] gmatpill: The SC questions come in the beginning and can set you off bad for the rest of the exam if you get the easy ones wrong
[10:19:02 PM] gmatpill: START OFF STRONG
[10:19:06 PM] gmatpill: You’re doing decent in CR and RC
[10:19:16 PM] gmatpill: were you mostly narrowing the SC to 2 choices?
[10:19:29 PM] gmatpill: Or blindly guessing?
[10:20:08 PM] student: 2-3 were blind guessing in the end. but for most of them i come to last two options.
[10:20:42 PM] student: I think i’m getting stuck between question from 21-31. I was on track till 20 but after that tests threw my timing off.
[10:21:14 PM] student: I’m trying to follow this timing plan.
[10:21:26 PM] student: 75 0
56 10
38 20
20 30
1 40
0 41
[10:21:30 PM] gmatpill: Are you identifying the question correctly?
[10:21:45 PM] gmatpill: When you are down between 2 – are you confident you know what the question is testing you on?
[10:21:51 PM] gmatpill: descriptive phrase, main sentence
[10:21:51 PM] gmatpill: vs
[10:21:52 PM] gmatpill: idioms
[10:21:55 PM] gmatpill: vs long lists
[10:22:10 PM] gmatpill: it’s critical that you know what they are testing you on
[10:22:29 PM] gmatpill: otherwise you can waste a lot of time THINKING they are testing you on subject-verb agreement, but relaly they’re testing you on X&Y consistency
[10:22:33 PM] student: generally there are two concepts tested in most of the questions.
[10:22:55 PM] gmatpill: yes..by the time you narrow it down to 2 choices, ther’es usually just 1 concept left
[10:23:01 PM] gmatpill: what are the numbers you sent?
[10:23:44 PM] student: Second column represents time left when I’m on a question in column One.
[10:24:33 PM] student: I copied from word.. so I lost the formatting and the headings
[10:24:45 PM] gmatpill: on question 38, you had 20 extra seconds
[10:25:27 PM] student: yes. I know but didn’t want to remember time in decimals
[10:26:07 PM] student: One thing I’m trying to make sure is that I don’t solve any question in the test without applying some process.
[10:26:16 PM] gmatpill: ok
[10:26:17 PM] gmatpill: one thing to note
[10:26:36 PM] gmatpill: you need to develop a sense of timing without looking at the clock
[10:26:49 PM] gmatpill: on the actual exam, if you keep looking at the clock, you’re going to psych yourself out
[10:26:54 PM] gmatpill: and raise your stress levels
[10:27:06 PM] gmatpill: you need to have a sense of time…roughly when it’s time to move on to the next question
[10:27:16 PM] gmatpill: and roughly how much time you can afford to spend on this question
[10:27:35 PM] gmatpill: sure a little practice with the timer is good in the beginning
[10:27:43 PM] gmatpill: but you’ll need to internalize that timing
[10:27:49 PM] gmatpill: every second counts on the exam
[10:27:55 PM] gmatpill: you don’t want to waste it looking up and down at the timer
[10:28:58 PM] student: how can I do that? Some questions may take up more than regular time and some of the easier ones would be knocked off quickly enough.
[10:29:21 PM] gmatpill: exactly
[10:29:25 PM] gmatpill: bust out the easy ones as much as possible
[10:29:34 PM] gmatpill: you’ll be fed another harder one
[10:30:02 PM] gmatpill: knowing that you got some easy ones earlier that took less time, you know can afford to spend a little bit more time on a hard one
[10:30:13 PM] student: ok.
[10:30:16 PM] gmatpill: it’s a fine art
[10:31:14 PM] student: do you recommend some tip for questions from 21 to 31?
[10:31:34 PM] student: are there more experimental questions in this range?
[10:32:43 PM] gmatpill: Possibly, though no one knows for sure
[10:32:56 PM] gmatpill: Probably would be lower for the first few questions of the actual exam, I would guess
[10:33:07 PM] gmatpill: So that leaves greater probability in the 21-31 range
[10:33:22 PM] student: ok.
[10:33:31 PM] gmatpill: By the time you get to 21-31
[10:33:37 PM] gmatpill: you’ll be a little tired mentally
[10:33:46 PM] gmatpill: So really it’s about maintaining your focus for a long period of time
[10:33:50 PM] gmatpill: a mental marathon of sorts
[10:34:01 PM] gmatpill: that’s what your study sessions are – mental marathon practice sessions
[10:34:23 PM] gmatpill: not only do questions get harder, but your mental capacity gets lower as the test wears you down
[10:34:27 PM] gmatpill: don’t let that happen
[10:34:33 PM] gmatpill: it’s a battle between you and the GMAT
[10:34:36 PM] gmatpill: maintain your focus even after 20 questions
[10:35:12 PM] student: oh yes. I definitely try my best, but I guess it isn’t enough.
[10:35:31 PM] gmatpill: If you watch tennis at the US Open
[10:35:35 PM] gmatpill: You’ll notice all the professionals are highly skilled
[10:35:50 PM] gmatpill: They’re all pretty much very good
[10:36:00 PM] gmatpill: The difference between the very best and the best is not skill
[10:36:13 PM] gmatpill: it’s mental capacity and psychology
[10:36:18 PM] gmatpill: The same is true for the GMAT
[10:36:19 PM] student: true
[10:36:31 PM] gmatpill: THe person with 700 is not necessarily smarter than the person with 610
[10:37:04 PM] gmatpill: He just had the mental capacity swivvel his way through the test and system
[10:41:34 PM] student: how many time full GMAT tests should I give now before my real one?
[10:42:33 PM] student: How many times can I repeat GMATprep tests? I think after a while I’ll see more repeats in GMATPrep.
[10:43:04 PM] gmatpill: Usually 2 or 3 should be fine
[10:43:27 PM] gmatpill: Repeat GMAT Prep tests as many times as you can.
[10:43:43 PM] gmatpill: You can even aim to keep doing them until you get every single question right
[10:43:50 PM] gmatpill: which is extremely difficult–but hey why not
[10:43:55 PM] gmatpill: you’ve already seen teh question before and the answer
[10:44:23 PM] student: i have subscriptions of mgmat,grockit etc… but don’t want to overwhelm myself again.
[10:45:01 PM] gmatpill: I see
[10:45:05 PM] gmatpill: treat GMATPrep and OG as primary sources
[10:45:13 PM] gmatpill: for better quality practice
[10:45:14 PM] gmatpill: use the others as additional practice.
[10:46:00 PM] gmatpill: student – I hope this chat session was helpful for you
[10:46:12 PM] gmatpill: I do need to direct my attention somewhere now
[10:46:18 PM] student: yes it was.
[10:46:19 PM] gmatpill: But as always, I’m here to help.
[10:46:24 PM] student: thank you Zeke.
[10:46:38 PM] student: have a good night.
[10:46:47 PM] gmatpill: Have a good night. Sleep well, and focus tomorrow ;]
[10:46:51 PM] student: hope to cross you on wall st some day
[10:47:03 PM] gmatpill: ;] hopefully we’ll be on teh same side of the trade
[10:47:20 PM] student: later.
[10:47:29 PM] student: thank you for your help.

For more GMAT Prep help, try GMAT Pill videos. We even have RC Videos for maximum impact on your GMAT Verbal score.

Table of Contents | See Pricing

Verbal Videos: Sentence Correction | Critical Reasoning | Reading Comprehension
Quant Videos: Problem Solving | Data Sufficiency

Why Business School Admission is like Getting Six-Pack Abs.

By Alex Chu
Founder of MBA Apply (www.mbaapply.com)

As an admissions consultant, what I do in a nutshell is to coach people on their
applications – the essays, resume, recommendation letters, application forms, interviews,
and just about any issue under the sun that pertains to business school: career goals,
business school life, and whether even to bother applying to school at all.

In many respects, what I do for business school applicants is analogous to what a
personal trainer does for fitness clients.

One of the most common queries I get from prospective clients is this:

“I have a GMAT that is much lower than the averages for my target schools. Can you
help me overcome that?”

The quick answer is, no. Is there a chance you can get in DESPITE a lower GMAT?
Absolutely. But that doesn’t involve “essay magic.” It’s luck and highly unusual
circumstances (you’re sleeping with the adcom, you have the President of the United
States backing you, your parents have a building in the school named after them, and so
forth).

Believing that somehow a low GMAT can be easily mitigated by an exceptionally
executed application assumes that there are enough of your fellow applicants who
will have crappy applications. The thing is, regardless of GMAT score, just about all
applicants will be putting in their best effort. A lot of applicants with GMAT scores
that are average or above average are going to be putting in great applications. Gone
are the days where the majority of applicants were submitting in crappy essays. With
all the resources and knowledge out there that are just a few Google searches away,
most applicants have the savvy and know how to put together specific, clear, organized
and polished essays. And yes, quite a number of these folks who have average to above
average GMATs are also getting help – from consultants, MBA alums, colleagues, and
other people who are giving them feedback on their applications.

So any consultant who claims that they can somehow pull the wool over an adcom’s
eyes and get them to admit you in spite of a low GMAT is akin to those TV infomercials
selling abdominal machines with the promise of six-pack abs.

To claim that using their abdominal exercise contraptions can give you six-pack abs isn’t
outright lying, but it’s misrepresentation. Yes, you can get six-pack abs with exercise
(crunches, sit ups and any form or combination of abdominal exercises). But all the
exercise in the world won’t give you those six-pack abs if your diet and genetics aren’t
already putting you in a position to make those exercises effective.

And that’s what the GMAT is – it’s like diet and genetics. All the “essay magic” in the
world won’t really help to fundamentally change your chances if your GMAT is out of
range.

So this may seem like I am working against my own interests – I mean, as an admissions
consultant, I should be telling you that “hey, if you sign with me, I can help you
overcome your GMAT score!”

But that would again be akin to a personal trainer telling you that your diet and genes
are not important – so long as you follow his/her patented “transcendental metaphysical
crunch!” method, you will get ripped in just 45 days or less. Would you trust someone
who is more focused on sales than on giving you honest advice that serves your best
interest? In other words, are you looking for a sales person, or an advisor? There’s that
old saying that if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is (or they are giving you
a sales pitch).

In other words, I can certainly help make sure you’re doing the best you can on the
applications so as to maximize your chances – but you’ll still be a stretch if your GMAT
isn’t competitive, plain and simple.

I know that the GMAT is a pain in the ass. I hated it myself. I have a greater aversion to
sitting still figuring out multiple choice questions than the average person. But it’s one of
those necessary evils. And if you have tried all you can, taken it multiple times and still
cannot hit the ranges of your target schools, then it’s something you have to simply man
up and live with. This doesn’t mean you should just give up and not apply at all – but
that if you do apply with a significantly lower than average GMAT score, just have some
realistic expectations of where you stand. That may be hard to hear, but it is the truth.

Before embarking on the actual applications, you need to do whatever it takes to score
within range for the schools you’re targeting.

The irony is, those who care least about the GMAT are those who probably need to boost
their score, and those who obsess over their GMAT probably need to relax and focus on
the applications.

In short, here’s the rule of thumb:

You need to be within 20 points of your target school’s incoming GMAT average, and
ideally at the average or more. That’s it. A much higher than average score will not help,
but a score that is 20 points or more below the average will be a significant handicap.

Table of Contents | See Pricing

Verbal Videos: Sentence Correction | Critical Reasoning | Reading Comprehension
Quant Videos: Problem Solving | Data Sufficiency