Who does well in the GMAT

So the cat is out of the bag. Indians are second only to the Chinese in math. atleast that is what we understand from a release of the GMAC,administrators of GMAT,the admission test for graduate management courses.(The Far East and Middle East fair better in Math than the East).Is this time also for the tests such as GRE,SAT,LSAT? We need yet to find out.

But we believed, thus far, otherwise. Havent we? The report also says that 60% of GMAT aspirants in India are engineers.We aren’t surprised.
Bt now things should change with the opportunities foe non-engineers- Harvard 2+2,international masters of Hult,SDA,Bocconi,….
Freshers from other disciplines also stand a fair chance.



Bookmark this on Delicious

100 points more GMAT score improvement strategy -3

Part 3

Bookmark this on Delicious

GMAT flash card set 1

Presented below GMAT flash card series. Today we start with GMAT flash card set 1.

Gmat flash card set 1

View more presentations from urmentorsemantics.

Bookmark this on Delicious

Road to Harvard: Harvard 2+2 program for college students.

Harvard has launched a program for students who will complete their under graduate course in 2012.
So if you have it in you, here is some information to feed on.

What is the Harvard 2+2 program?
Harvard gives a confirmed seat in their MBA Program while you are still in the Pre-final year of your undergraduate degree. After you finish your degree, you will have to work for 2 years. The faculty at Harvard will assist you and introduce you to a wide network of recruiting partners. After two years you will undergo a two year full time MBA program from Harvard.

Who is eligible?
You should have at-least one remaining semester after June 2011 to apply for the program.

When should you apply?
Applications should be submitted by October 1st 2011(round 1), January 2012(round 2), and March 2012 (round 3). However it is better to submit the application by Oct 1st 2011 as HBS processes the applications on a roll on basis.

How many seats are available and what is the student profile?
Last year Harvard took 115 students. This year the intake can be more. The 2+2 Program is primarily targeted towards students who are not already on a business track. Apart from commerce and BBA students; engineering, liberal arts or sciences students also have a good chance of securing a seat.

What is the admission criteria?
You need to have:
• A strong academic background
• A variety of skills and accomplishments
• A GMAT score of 740+
• Should have demonstrated leadership skills


What do you mean by leadership skills?
Harvard recognizes leadership that may be expressed in various forms; from college extracurricular activities to academic or business achievements, from personal accomplishments to community commitments.
Harvard also appreciates display of leadership skills in organizing a classroom training program to directing a combat squad, from running an independent business to spearheading initiatives at work.

Do you get scholarship or any other financial aid?
Yes, approximately 75% of Harvard Business School students receive some form of financial assistance. Visit the Harvard 2+2 website to get more details on loan options and the fees.

How can SEMANTICS help you?
If you are a student based in Chennai or close to Chennai, then you can get mentored and trained by us. We will partner with you in:
1. Profile building 2.GMAT preparation 3. SOP evaluation.

We will analyze you with an HR test, align your interests with accomplishments, counsel you on various internship options which will fortify your profile, mentor you while you are interning with a company, prepare you for GMAT and ensure that you get 740+ and finally help you with your SOP’s.
You need to be associated with us for a year to achieve this.
So get in touch with – enquiry@semanticslearning.com or call 9884123808 (George IIM alumnus- HBS mentor)
Grab your seat, Grab your future.


Bookmark this on Delicious

GMAT preparation: blueprint and study chapters

Here is a complete list of chapters relevant to GMAT
First phase: Reading comprehension
Extensive reading of various topical articles-
Science, economics, literary reviews, philosophy, and topics of contemporary debate.( double the reading of topics that you have not been in the habit of reading)
Second phase
How to actively read texts for tone and bias
How to read quickly and efficiently
How to analyze organization and structure
How to draw inferences from a reading text
The major question types and how to approach them
Practice with all types of passages and questions
Analyse extensively – questions, solutions, wrong answers, right answers.
critical reasoning
Phase 1
Lessons in formal logic, types of arguments, components of arguments, weak and strong arguments, inductive and deductive arguments, types of logic, common fallacies in argument, criteria of strong arguments
Phase 2
How to analyze arguments
How to spot weaknesses in arguments
15 Critical Reasoning question types and transferable strategies
Practice with quality questions.
Sentence correction
Phase 1
Parts of speech, grammar rules, diction, common idioms, grammar drills
Common errors in writing – agreement between parts of sentence.
Effective expressions: avoiding redundancy, wordy structures, awkwardness, ambiguity, unnecessary separation of elements, inappropriate diction, inconsistency
Phase 2
Typical sentence correction questions
How to identify trick sentence correction questions
Observe how options are constructed
Elimination method
Practicing with a wide variety of sentence correction questions
Problem solving
Phase 1
review of fundamentals of math
In arithmetic - Percentage, Interest, discount, Progressions, Uniform motion, Ratio and proportion, Grouping and counting, Data Interpretation, symbols, Progressions,
In algebra - study quadratic equations, linear/ bi-linear equations, trigonometry.
In Geometry - lines, quadrilateral, circles, polygons, trapezium and mensuration.
Phase 2
Learn how to interpret data graphs, pie charts, bar graphs and caselets and how to apply statistics concepts such as mode, mean, standard deviation and median.
Solve word problems, data sufficiency problems and reasoning in a quantitative setting. Work with a wide variety of problems –concept application, formula based, puzzles.
Analyse extensively
Work with higher order problems –caselets, data analysis, develop creative problem solving strategies- hypothesizing and verifying, working backward using option indicators, devising spot strategies
Build speed, work with timed tests

Essays:
brain storm and write at least 10 issue and 10 argument sample practice essays on original topics.
Brainstorm on a lot of topics from the real topics.
Have your essay evaluated by tutors or qualified friends

Mock exams and remedial work
5- 10 mock exams – do all sections at one sitting( you have to build stamina for a nearly 4 hr exam, no kid’s play) adjust time management . revise chapters, work on weak areas
Recommended concept resource: e-books www. semanticslearning.com
Recommended test practice: official guide
Recommended mock exams: powerprep test
With all these mastered, you will know exactly what to expect in the test.

Open your skills. Succeed.





Bookmark this on Delicious

World Executive MBA @ GSBA Zurich

With the power of Zurich Living Case
Happened to see this on a lazy browsing afternoon session

Here’s the summary
With great strides in the field of management and economics, business schools have to shape their teaching and research to keep pace with the developments in order to remain competitive. The World Executive Education Alliance is the first academic alliance in business admisntration which offers management modules in fundamental disciplines of business administration on five continents in Brazil, South Africa, India, Russia and Switzerland.

The programme is a unique and copyrighted teaching and learning methodology called the Zurich Living Case.
GSBA students study at campus in Horgen/Zurich and at GSBA’s prestigious WEEA partner universities around the world. It ensures high class teaching with first class international faculty and an intercultural exchange among executive students and faculty.

Truly one of its kind. Any takers
Hear more at
info@gsba.ch
www.gsba.ch


Bookmark this on Delicious

What to write for your MBA essays

Is cooking up info in your essays good?

How do you project your uniqueness?

What is your long term goal? Entrepreneurship?

Many of you often ask me: what should I write for MBA essays.

Lets read what the ISB’s admissions director had to say about this.

http://www.isb.edu/Blog/admissionsdirector





Bookmark this on Delicious

a new course from ISB for senior executives

Here is a program tailor made for Executives in the fourties.
If life begins at 40, a new career horizon can also begin at 40.Atleast that is what ISB hyderabad believes with the introduction of the 15 month part time PGPMAX.

Who doesn't want to go back to the classroom. Those who have not yet conquered the highest levels of the leadership pipeline(let us says levels: functional management, group management & enterprise management),this could well be the passport to those positions.

The program involves overseas trip, classes at Wharton,and meeting head honchos of the industry. Program will commence from June 2010.

Visit www.isb.edu for more details



Bookmark this on Delicious

Number of GMAT test takers

GMAT was taken 265613 times in the testing year 2009*. “Total GMAT volume is up, but by breaking down the figures by country, by world region, by gender, by intended degree, and by age, we see a very complex picture emerge,” says a senior official from GMAC.

Some highlights from the GMAC report

• The number of GMAT test takers have been rising for the past five years
• The number of tests takers under 24 continues to rise rapidly
• The percentage growth of number of tests takers has increased the greatest in central/south asia followed by Australia/Pasific islands, Europe and finally Canada.
  
• The overall mean GMAT score is down one point, to 539

* source GMAC

Bookmark this on Delicious

GMAT reading comprehension

How to answer central ideas and organization/structure of the passage questions?
These passages are organized on certain templates. We need to know these.

Why
Because there are questions that seek you to identify the structure or organization of the passage
What are those structures?

Bookmark this on Delicious

5 crucial points to keep in mind while solving a permutation combination problem

1.ARRANGMENT N terms can be arranged in N! ways, if each position can be occupied by one term. N terms can be arranged in NM ways if each position can be occupied by 1 term or 2 terms or …… N terms.  M stands for the number of positions to be filled.

2.COMBINATION M terms can be selected from P terms in [ (P)combination(m) ] ways.

3.In certain situations it is required to first choose the terms and then arrange the terms. i.e.     PERMUTATION.     Permutation = combination x arrangement.

4.When N objects are distributed among P positions such that each position can get any number     of objects (zero, one, two ……N) then the number of ways of arranging the items is [ (N+P-1) combination (P-1) ]

5.When N objects are distributed among P positions such that each position can get atleast one     objet (one, two ……N) then the number of ways of arranging the items is [ (N-1) combination (P+1) ]

Bschools in India taking GMAT scores

For our INDIAN friends............

MBA aspirants in India with reasonably good scores in the GMAT can use the score for admissions to select B. Schools within the country.
Here’s a list of those B.Schools
1.    Indian School of Business, Hyderabad
2.    IIM Ahmedabad’s PGPX
3.    IIM Lucknow’s IPMX
4.    MICA Ahmedabad
5.    Great  Lakes Inst of Management, Chennai
6.    NMIMS Mumbai
7.    IIMs for PGPX programs
8.    MDI Gurgaon for fellow programs
9.    Select IIMs for fellow programs

GMAT study plan to achieve 720+ in 30 days

A systematic study plan is a necessary first step toward a high score in a tough exam such as the GMAT , a broad based study plan incorporating “The Science of Thinking” approaches.

Read all about science of thinking at http://www.semanticslearning.com/beta/gmat-science-of-thinking.asp

Modify and adapt it to suit your competency level. For instance, some of you might require a basic word building before you embark on the verbal preparation.

All the material suggested below requires an acrobat reader as well as the reader downloadable from http://www.semanticslearning.com/beta/downloads.asp

Registration is free. Download the reader and install it in your computer.

http://www.semanticslearning.com/beta/login.asp

Pre-stage:

Take the GMAT diagnostic test at

http://www.semanticslearning.com/beta/gmat-home.asp ----------GMAT tests

Use the test feedback to gauge whether you need to begin at the elementary stage or at the concept stage.

Stage 1: elementary work(optional)

Math: objective -review all fundamental concepts

Material: Use workbooks – Geometry, algebra, arithmetic. Develop basic computation using Vedic math from Concept ebook. Write tables  from 1x1 to 25 x 25.Learn the squares, cubes, square roots of numbers from 1 to 25.

Download free math workbooks http://www.semanticslearning.com/beta/downloads.asp downloads.

The concept ebook can be downloaded at

http://www.semanticslearning.com/beta/downloads/GMAT-Math.zip

Verbal: objective- learn  parts of speech, reading skills, idioms, basics of logics

Material: use workbooks- science of grammar, meaning, comprehension, reasoning, vocabulary and idiom lists;

Download free verbal workbooks http://www.semanticslearning.com/beta/downloads.asp downloads.

Read a wide variety of articles- science, economics, book reviews, philosophy, history( from publications)

For higher order GMAT- like passages

Visit times literary supplement…………………………….. http://gale.cengage.co.uk/tls/

Stage 2: concept building

Verbal ebook- Study grammar, critical reasoning approaches, Reading comprehension strategies

Browse through http://www.semanticslearning.com/beta/gmat-it-works.asp for more tips and strategies on critical reasoning

Browse through http://www.semanticslearning.com/beta/gmat-usage.asp for more tips and strategies on sentence correction

Browse through http://www.semanticslearning.com/beta/gmat-reading-comprehension.asp for more tips and strategies on reading comprehension

Download ebook at http://www.semanticslearning.com/beta/downloads/GMAT_Verbal.zip

Math ebook- algebra, arithmetic, geometry concepts. Review ScoT bytes an Quick bytes from the concept ebook. This can be used as GMAT flash cards

Download concept math ebook

http://www.semanticslearning.com/beta/downloads/GMAT-Math.zip

Browse through http://www.semanticslearning.com/beta/gmat-l3-method.asp  for more tips and strategies on problem solving

Browse through http://www.semanticslearning.com/beta/gmat-ds-strategies.asp for more tips and strategies on data sufficiency

essay:

Browse through power writing strategies http://www.semanticslearning.com/beta/gmat-power-writing.asp

Learn how to write essay using ebook

http://www.semanticslearning.com/beta/downloads/GMAT-Essays.zip

Submit analytical writing essays to us at urmentor@semanticslearning.com

write essays ( 10 argument essays/ 10 issue essays)*seek guidance  from  online mentor

Take the practice tests at the end of the ebook

Stage 3: science of thinking strategies

Math:  Study modern math and science of thinking strategies from ebook volume on higher order solving

Practice ‘solution-free problem solving’ exercise.

http://www.semanticslearning.com/beta/downloads/GMATHigher_Order_Problem_solving.zip

Verbal:

Study CR strategies for 15 question types , Intricacies of abstract passages,25  errors in GMAT sentence correction from the following ebooks.

http://www.semanticslearning.com/beta/downloads/GMATSentence_Correction.zip

http://www.semanticslearning.com/beta/downloads/GMATCritical_Reasoning.zip

http://www.semanticslearning.com/beta/downloads/GMAT_Verbal.zip

Stage 4.    

do CBTs

Download  free CBT’s at http://www.semanticslearning.com/beta/downloads.asp

Work on official guide

http://www.amazon.com/Official-Guide-GMAT-Review-11th/dp/0976570904 Take full length GMAT adaptive tests

-power prep test

http://www.mba.com/mba

Stage 5: revision and guidance

Review formulae, CR strategies, Sentence error areas, analyse tests, write timed essays

Seek guidance from

Email your doubts to urmentor@semanticslearning.com for math,verbal,essay

Call +91-09884123808 / +91-044-42068494

Other useful site links:

Blogs: yogmat.semanticsearning.com, letsgmat@blogspot.com.

Bschools…………………. http://www.semanticslearning.com/beta/gmat-home.asp

MBA news…………………….. http://www.semanticslearning.com/beta/gmat-home.asp

Join our forum http://letusgmat.ning.com/

Follow me on twitter – http://twitter.com/GMAT_hub

Disclaimer*

This is only suggestive and prescriptive. Since test aspirants vary in their needs and levels of preparation, each one should chart out intelligent plans to strengthen all areas of test.

GRE instead of GMAT?

YES. Although the GMAT is tougher than the GRE, a new trend has emerged in B- school admissions – the use of the GRE score instead of the GMAT score.
It’s not that there are no similarities between the two tests. In fact there are more overlaps than differences.
Overlaps
- analytical writing essays are common to both – includes both topics- issue and argument.
- both tests comprise a math and a verbal section
- areas tested in math are more or less the same, though the questions are presented differently.
-reading coprehension is more or less on similar lines.
- language competence is integral to both tests- grammar in the GMAT, diction in the GRE.

GMAT exam day

The D day
So you are ready for the GMAT, the first time!

1.Reach the test centre at least 45 min before the commencement of the test.
if you happen to be late more than 15 min to the test centre, bad luck, you lose out on the test and alas the money too, then rescheduling, the wait the delays…

2. carry a valid ID original identification document
With a photograph, your signature and proof of date of birth

3. no gadgets, test aids allowed inside the test hall

4. writing instruments to aid test taking will be provided to you

5. you are given a comfortable test station to take the test.
Take the test, valiantly
Keep watch of your time, because each section is separately timed…the system will show what time is left for the section.
Try and complete the section- even if guessing wildly, don’t you think that answering offers more probability of getting a correct answer than, un attempted questions?

Done the test?
You can get a score report comprising
Verbal, Math and total score plus the recipients as designated by us.
Not happy with the score? Feel you can score better?

Retake?
This can be the next, if money test is not too much of a problem…but then, you need a minimum 30 days, with ample every time at your disposal. for a revision and some great notes….then better luck next time…
If you are not in this position best, prepare well the first time itself…good luck.