Wednesday, May 8, 2024

GMAT or GRE: Which is right for you?

 


The Context:

If you see yourself in a leadership role in management or consulting, MBA will be helpful.

The MBA course covers marketing, finance and economics. The skills you learn will help you tackle scenarios which you will encounter as business leader

If you like to specialize in a particular field, a masters degree or a PhD is a better option.


So now comes the critical question:


Should I do the GMAT or the GRE?

If you are unsure which one to do. Do the GRE. Your options are more as you can opt for masters in science or business or a Phd. Many B-schools take GRE.

Keep in mind B-schools will accept both GRE and GMAT, the admissions committee may prefer that you take the GMAT. Do your research and ask around.

 

What is common to the GRE and GMAT?

  • Both involve high school math- arithmetic, algebra and data analysis
  • Both rely heavily on reading comprehension

The difference:

 GRE quant is easier than GMAT quant, but since GRE verbal is vocabulary heavy, you won't likely find GRE verbal any easier than GMAT verbal, and you may find that learning the vocabulary you need for GRE verbal is a huge task.If vocabulary is your strength, then take the GRE.

 

If you prepare effectively for GMAT quant and verbal, you should be able to increase your quant and verbal scores significantly in two months

Bonus tip:

Even though many business schools accept both the GMAT and GRE for admission, think about your post-MBA plans. If you’re looking to get into finance or consulting, beware that some of the top firms will look at your GMAT score as an element of your recruitment.

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Wednesday, April 24, 2024

10 must NOT DOs for GMAT reading comprehension

 10 must NOT DOs for GMAT reading comprehension




1.Reading only for the topic

Read for the author’s opinions running parallel to the topic as well

2.Concentrating on the specific details

Higher weight-age questions demand overall intent, flow and tone of the passage.

3.Choosing a stated idea for inference question

The answer to an inference question is never explicitly stated in the passage; it is implied

4.Taking the notes too far

One way to keep track of a long passage is by making thought flow chart; use symbols arrows to show relationships

5.Losing track of ‘who says what’

The passage may present multiple perspectives- of the author’s, someone else’s ( being quoted)..

6.Overlooking the question stem.

Some question stems are simple, yet others roundabout. ensure that you are clear what the question asks.

7.Undermining the need to build vocabulary

One third of the RC questions demand word knowledge…. Skepticism, laudatory, archaic, condescending…these all appear

8.Over reading

Skip, examples, specific details, long parenthetical statements….

9.‘ NOT SEEing crucial words- Only, except, not in the question stem


10. First reading- a slow ‘thorough’ reading

The first reading can be a faster skimming, for the main points of discussion.


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Happy learning

 



Friday, April 5, 2024

GMAT Critical reasoning 10 min test 1


5 questions in 10 mins

Directions: choose the right answer for each of the following questions.

1.Columnist: There are several symptoms of depression. One symptom is sleeping more than 12 hours a day. Therefore, you should buy an alarm clock so that you do not sleep more than 8 hours a day to cure your depression.

If the article also noted that excessive sleeping is caused by reduced serotonin levels resulting from depression, then which of the arguments below best describes the logical flaw in the columnist’s reasoning?

(A) Sleep has many beneficial effects.

(B) The columnist has mistaken an argument for an explanation.

(C) The columnist has mistaken a premise for a conclusion.

(D) The columnist has failed to consider that an alarm clock may not be a reliable means of assuring a person wakes up.

E) The columnist has mistaken a symptom for a cause.


2.For the safety-conscious Swedish market, a United States manufacturer of desktop computers developed a special display screen that produces a much weaker electromagnetic field surrounding the user than do ordinary screens. Despite an advantage in this respect over its competitors, the manufacturer is introducing the screen into the United States market without advertising it as a safety improvement.

Which of the following, if true, provides a rationale for the manufacturer’s approach to advertising the screen in the United States?

(A) Many more desktop computers are sold each year in the United States market than are sold in the Swedish market.

(B) The manufacturer does not want its competitors to become aware of the means by which the company has achieved this advance in technology.

(C) Most business and scientific purchasers of desktop computers expect to replace such equipment eventually as better technology becomes available on the market.

(D) An emphasis on the comparative safety of the new screen would call into question the safety of the many screens the manufacturer has already sold in the United States.

(E) Concern has been expressed in the United States over the health effects of the large electromagnetic fields surrounding electric power lines.


3.Most doctors recommend that pregnant women eat a nutritious diet to promote the health of their babies. However, most babies who are born to women who ate nutritious diets while pregnant still develop at least one medical problem in their first year.

Which one of the following, if true, does most to resolve the apparent discrepancy in the information above?

(A) Women who regularly eat a nutritious diet while pregnant tend to eat a nutritious diet while breast-feeding.

(B) Most of the babies born to women who did not eat nutritious diet while pregnant develop no serious medical problems later in childhood.

(C) Babies of women who did not eat nutritious diets while pregnant tend to have more medical problems in their first year than do other babies.

(D) Medical problems that develop in the first year of life tend to be more serious than those that develop later in childhood.

(E) Many of the physicians who initially recommended that pregnant women consume nutritious diets have only recently reaffirmed their recommendation.


4.The mayor boasts that the average ambulance turnaround time, the time from summons to delivery of the patient, has been reduced this year for top-priority emergencies. This is a serious misrepresentation. This “reduction” was produced simply by redefining “top priority.” Such emergencies used to include gunshot wounds and electrocutions, the most time-consuming cases. Now they are limited strictly to heart attacks and strokes.

Which one of the following would strengthen the author’s conclusion that it was the redefinition of “top priority” that produced the reduction in turnaround time?

(A) The number of heart attacks and strokes declined this year.

(B) The mayor redefined the city’s financial priorities this year.

(C) Experts disagree with the mayor’s definition of “top-priority emergency.”

(D) Other cities include gunshot wound cases in their category o top-priority emergencies.

(E) One half of all of last year’s top-priority emergencies were gunshot wounds and electrocution cases.


5. Several ancient Greek texts provide accounts of people being poisoned by honey that texts suggest was made from the nectar of rhododendron or oleander plants. Honey made from such nectar can cause the effects the texts describe, but only if eaten fresh, since the honey loses its toxicity within a few weeks of being made. In Greece, rhododendrons and oleander bloom only in springtime, when they are the predominant sources of nectar.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly support the accounts of Greek texts?

(A) There are no plants that Greece in ancient times that produce more nectar than rhododendrons or oleanders does.

(B) In areas where neither rhododendrons nor oleanders grow, honey is never poisonous

(C) A beehive’s honeycomb cannot have some sections that contain toxic honey and other sections that contain nontoxic honey.

(D) The incidents of honey poisoning that are related in the ancient texts occurred in the springtime or in the early summer.

(E) Whether the honey in a beehive is toxic depends solely on which plants were the source of that was used to make the honey.


Answer key:

1.E 2. D 3.C 4.E 5.D 


If you need further explanations on any question. Click here to ask a query. we will reach out to you with in-depth solutions. …..


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Monday, January 29, 2024

GMAT focus edition 8 points

 



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Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Scholarship options for students, who want to study in the USA


 
1. Fulbright Foreign Student program:

 The Fulbright Foreign Student Program enables graduate students, young professionals and artists from abroad to study and conduct research in the United States.

 Click here to know more 

 https://foreign.fulbrightonline.org/about/foreign-student-program

 2. Hubert Humphrey Fellowship program:

 For professionals with work experience

 Click here to know more 

 https://www.humphreyfellowship.org/

 3. Tata Scholarships for Cornell University:

 Designed for Indian undergraduate students admitted to Cornell University, this scholarship offers financial assistance.

 Click here to know more 

 https://admissions.cornell.edu/how-to-apply/first-year-international-applicants

 4. Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation scholarships

These scholarships provide prizes and monetary support for young Indians acquiring diverse skills domestically and internationally.

 Click here to know more

 https://www.inlaksfoundation.org/scholarships/

5.  AAUW International fellowships

Offered by the American Association of University Women, only for women

 Click here to know more

 https://www.aauw.org/resources/programs/fellowships-grants/current-opportunities/international/

6. Rotary Peace fellowship

The Rotary Foundation extends fellowships for master's and certificate programs at prestigious colleges.

 Click here to know more

 https://www.rotary.org/en/our-programs/peace-fellowships

  7. East-West Center scholarships and fellowships

 Providing funding for international students from the Asia-Pacific region, these scholarships enable studies at selected institutions in the United States.

 Click here to know more

 https://www.eastwestcenter.org/education/opportunities-study-and-scholarship

 8. Japan-United States Friendship Commission

This collaborative effort between Japan and the US offers grant programs for Japanese students studying in the US and vice versa.

 Click here to know more

 https://www.jusfc.gov/

 9. Wesleyan Freeman Asian Scholarship program

 Awarding scholarships to outstanding Asian students, this program covers tuition and student fees, enabling them to study at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, USA

 Click here to know more

 https://www.wesleyan.edu/admission/afford-aid/freeman.html

 

Source - internet

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

What is the GMAT focus edition?




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Wednesday, November 29, 2023

Time for A new habit - GMAT Reading tips

 Time for A new habit




“Do you read?”. I ask in my first meeting with a GMAT aspirant.

Mostly predictable responses: college text books, tech info and social media ( messages, forwards, news headlines…) much of these latter, on the mobile phone.

Well, these are sources of information ( not to forget a large chunk of misinformation too)that everyone is exposed to.

As a test prep professional, when I asked the question, I was referring to deeper reading of  longer essays: Essays from various domains of knowledge.

That, anyways, is a rare habit.

But one that has to change now, if you intent to crack the GRE or GMAT verbal section.

Sources:

Business

1. https://www.ft.com/

2. https://www.economist.com/

3. https://www.bloomberg.com/businessweek

Science - Social & Biological

1. https://www.scientificamerican.com/

Literary reviews

1. https://www.nytimes.com/section/books/review

2. https://www.theatlantic.com/world/

3. https://www.newyorker.com/

Tuesday, November 28, 2023

An essential reading comprehension skill to ace the GMAT reading comprehension section

 Distinguish between matter and Author's opinion.



Observe the passage below..

Passage:

 Dopamine is a hormone that sends  out that tingling feeling of anticipation, say like the night before a party at which you'll be honored age to with an award. Or the rush after a fantastic exam result. A substance released at the end of a nerve fibre, effecting the transfer of an impulse from one nerve to another, dopamine is, in essence, our morning's get-up-and-go neuro-chemical. "We used to believe it's all about  pleasure and reward; this is an old story. Now we say that dopamine amps up desire.Dopamine is the brain signaling you to indulge in an activity; it is the anticipation of the activity from which you derive pleasure.

 Like all good things, too much or too little is a problem Too much has been found in the brains of those who live with Tourette syndrome; too little in those with Parkinson's disease. But what's really worrying, researchers is the way it's being increasingly pumped out in the brain through our daily behaviour.


This passage has factual matter.. interlaced with opinions.. You need to read critically and differentiate the two. Lets work on this skill 


Authors opinions are marked in yellow.

Dopamine is a hormone that sends sends out that tingling feeling of anticipation, say like the night before a party at which you'll be honored age to with an award. Or the rush after a fantastic exam result. A substance released at the end of a nerve fibre, effecting the transfer of an impulse from one nerve to another, dopamine is, in essence, our morning's get-up-and-go neuro-chemical. "We used to believe it's all about  pleasure and reward; this is an old story. Now we say that dopamine amps up desire. 

 

Dopamine is the brain signaling you to indulge in an activity; it is the anticipation of the activity from which you derive pleasure

 

 Like all good things, too much or too little is a problem. Too much has been found in the brains of those who live with Tourette syndrome; too little in those with Parkinson's disease. But what's really worrying, researchers is the way it's being increasingly pumped out in the brain through our daily behaviour.

The rest of the matter is factual.


As you read, through a passage anticipate :
  •  which statement is matter..
  •  which is opinion..

You can get questions on both- matter and opinion..

 

Schedule a counselling session with our verbal tutor to get a customized plan

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Monday, December 26, 2022

GMAT reading comprehension - Supplementary reading



 GMAT 750. the power of TLS

Times Literary Supplement(TLS) is arguably the best source for higher order, abstract passages.

If you have exhausted OG passages, read TLS online

Search for archives

https://www.the-tls.co.uk/

Even abstracts of essays will help


What to read?

- essays on North American history

-political essays

-literary reviews and criticism

-articles on art, philosophy

- write ups on Environment

-Research synopses….

No doubt, you need to invest time. But your test readiness is near perfect.


Try a practice reading comprehension exercise

Click here


Wednesday, December 14, 2022

5 points to keep in mind - GMAT critical reasoning

 


The CR puzzle

  1. Critical reasoning has not been part of your school or college syllabus
  2. 1/3rd of the verbal questions are CR
  3. Official guide chapter on CR is tough to understand
  4. Using ‘common sense’ and guess yield limited success
  5. No one dedicated source book for GMAT/GRE cr    

Schedule a counselling session with our verbal tutor to get a customized plan

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Monday, December 12, 2022

5 tips to keep in mind - GMAT reading comprehension

Do not take chances with reading comprehension
  • Thorough preparation must
  • Read all types of passages- science, art, literature
  • Its critical reading not just understanding
  • Ensure you know all types of question types asked
  • Learn strategies for higher weightage inference questions
Schedule a counselling session with our verbal tutor to get a customized plan

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Wednesday, November 16, 2022

What math skills are tested on the GMAT?

 


What math skills are tested on the GMAT?

The quantitative section of the GMAT is predictable. If you grasp the fundamentals, you
will be able to ace the GMAT math section.

What are the fundamentals skills, you should focus on…

 

#GMAT MATH SKILL 1: ARITHMETIC


The GMAT tests your ability to do the following:

  • Work with fractions, decimals and ratios
  • Understand properties and concepts of real numbers
  • Work with multiples and factors
  • Understand and apply concepts of percentages in sums dealing with profit loss discount, simple and compound interest
  • Calculate indices, exponent and surds
  • Know and apply counting methods (permutation and combination)
  • Understand probability and apply this concept in word problems
  • Work on sets (Venn diagrams)
  • Understand descriptive statistics (mean, median, mode and standard deviation)

        

#GMAT MATH SKILL 2: ALGEBRA

The GMAT tests your ability to do the following:

Solve and manipulate

  • Equations
  • Inequalities
  • Algebraic expressions (isolate variable and solve for a variable)
  • Functions

#GMAT MATH SKILL 3: GEOMETRY

The GMAT tests your ability to do the following:

Understand the properties of

  •  Lines, triangles, quadrilaterals and circles
  • Solids (cuboid, cylinders, spheres.)

Use the concepts of

  • Coordinate geometry
  • Trigonometry

 #GMAT MATH SKILL 4: RATIOS and PROPORTION

The GMAT tests your ability to do the following:

  • Work with ratios and measurement problems

Apply the concept of ratios in

  • Time and work problems
  • Time speed and distance problems
  • Mixtures and solutions

Once you get the grasp of the fundamentals, then you need to apply them in problems.

Time management is also an important parameter during problem solving.  You need to arrive at an answer in less than 2 minutes.

Need help in math,, Feel free to contact me

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Monday, July 18, 2022

How to boost your GMAT verbal score from 28 to 35+.. Part 1/3

 

Today , We will focus on the sentence correction section..


To boost your score from VA 28 to 35+ 

Master “ effective expressions” in addition to standard rules of grammar.


What are effective expressions? 

Sentences 

  • With no unwanted repetitions 
  • With no confusing pronouns 
  • With no awkward arrangement of words 
  • With clarity 
  • With contextually appropriate words 
  • With meaning conformity 
  • Less wordy

Schedule a counselling session with our verbal tutor to get a customized plan

My contact link is here:

Note*

It is unlikely that a less than 30 raw score in the verbal section contain the range of concepts listed above. Be prepared for tougher questions than those you found in your earlier attempt. For guidance in any or all of the test areas presented above, 

Contact us

Online / offline interactive classes available at semantics:

ranging from 6 hrs to 30 hrs for select areas or for full verbal course.

Watch this space for the next post 


Tuesday, July 5, 2022

How to boost your GMAT verbal score from 28 to 35+.. Part 2/3

Today , We will focus on the Reading comprehension section.

Read part 1 on sentence correction section here 


To boost your score from VA 28 to 35+ 

Upgrade your critical reading skills


  • Work out more abstract passages: art, literature, history
  • Read high-end essays.eg. From Times Literary Supplement archives

Read the 10 must not do's here

http://letsgmat.blogspot.com/2021/02/10-must-not-dos-for-gmat-reading.html




Schedule a counselling session with our verbal tutor to get a customized plan

My contact link is here:

Note*

It is unlikely that a less than 30 raw score in the verbal section contain the range of concepts listed above. Be prepared for tougher questions than those you found in your earlier attempt. For guidance in any or all of the test areas presented above, 

Contact us

Online / offline interactive classes available at semantics:

ranging from 6 hrs to 30 hrs for select areas or for full verbal course.

Watch this space for the next post 


Monday, November 22, 2021

GMAT math thinking skills 11



GMAT tests your logical skills as well as your knowledge of math concepts. To score high, you need to remember various formulas, theorems. Also you need to master critical problem-solving skills.

Today I am going to  take you through one problem -solving skill – Diagramming


 Students with a non-math background usually.. do this

  1. Read the complete math problem
  2. Write equations.

Solving equations is time consuming.  You can make mistakes too..if your are not careful.

 

Students who are fairly proficient in quantitative reasoning..do this

  1. Break the problem into parts. (they don't read the whole question in one assay)
  2. Analyze each part, and represent that part visually
Rarely do they write equations. 

Then  they do mental calculations

This approach saves time...


Lets take this math problem

Observe the problem solving process…

If the average number of 8 terms is given to be 40 and the average of first 6 terms is given to be 35. What is the average of the remaining 2 terms?


Method 1:Conventional approach




Average = sum of numbers/ number of items

Average of 8 terms = 40

So let the 8 terms be a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h

(a+b+c+d+e+f+g+h)/8 = 40

(a+b+c+d+e+f+g+h) = 40*8 = 320…..equation (i)

(a+b+c+d+e+f)/6 = 35

(a+b+c+d+e+f) =  35*6 = 210…..equation (ii)

Subtract both equations to get g+h

g+h= 320-210= 110

Average = 110/2 = 55

 

Method 2: Visualization 



Let's visually represent the sum

Let's take 8 terms as 8 dashes.


The sum of the 8 terms = 8 x 40=320.  The sum of the first six terms is 6 x 35=210.

Subtract both sums to get the sum of the remaining terms = 320 - 210= 110

Hence average =110/2=55

The second method takes less time too.


So even if you have non math background, you can ace the math section by writing less equations and drawing more diagrams.

Feel free to contact me if you want to ace the math section by using simple strategies like this. 

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