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M. was what I consider an ideal student--she is very
smart and diligent, but was making some "newbie"
mistakes on the test. M. graduated from a top-five university
and wants to go to a similarly prestigious b-school in
the fall. Her score of 640, however, would have made those
schools a bit of a stretch. M. posts her comments about
her study process and reviews the various materials she
used to prepare. Read all about it here.
Congrats, M.!!
I have worked with several students like M. this past
season. These students were from Harvard, M.I.T., and
Columbia, and were all very bright, but were scoring in
the 600's on their tests. All the students from these
schools were able to raise their scores 50 to 100 points
in about one month.
I recently redesigned our happy, helpful, and productive
forum! I
spent a good amount of time and added some new features
and improved the overall look and feel! It's very smooth,
like ice cream! All of our users (who have commented)
have said they really like the new look, and a few have
compared it to the "Luna" interface in Windows
XP or the original Mac OS X look (yes, once again, it
seems Apple is setting the trends!).
Believe it or not, since I improved the graphics and
look of the forum, the traffic and posts in the forum
have increased about 20%. Amazing what graphics will do!
Most of you know that I teach GMAT prep in San Francisco,
California. I get e-mails and calls all the time about on-line
classes and classes in other cities and countries. Although
I fully intend to have a strong presence all over the world
in the coming years, I currently only teach in San Francisco.
Right now, I have an ongoing workshop for Sentence Correction
and Critical Reasoning. Click here
to see the schedule and tuition information.
Most Common Questions about the 10th Edition
of the Official Guide
This article is exclusive to this newsletter, and is not
available on the http://www.testmagic.com
website yet.
I get a lot of questions every day about the 10th edition
of the GMAT Official Guide (which we will call the OG from
here on out), so I thought I'd try to answer the most common
ones here.
Here they are:
What is the difference between the 9th edition and the
10th edition of the OG?
I already have the 9th edition. Do I need the 10th edition?
The short answer is a resounding YES!! You do need it! My
standard advice is not to stint in the high-stakes game of
getting into b-school! The OG costs about US $30, and it's
worth every penny. You might even be able to find
it cheaper used.
But you want to know the differences between the 9th and
10th editions. In a word, the 10th edition of the OG is the
9th edition with extra material from some of the earlier iterations
of the OG. Think of the 10th edition as a 9th edition with
some extra pages from the 8th, 7th, and earlier editions slapped
on. Many people think that the 10th edition contains new questions,
but sadly, this is not the case. To pad the 10th edition,
the folks at GMAT have simply taken some of the older material
from the previous editions and added it to the 9th to make
the 10th.
Are there any other differences I should know about?
Yes, there are some minor ones. First, the 10th edition contains
one example (that's right, only ONE) of a new type of Critical
Reasoning question, what we call a bold-face question. I know
many of you will be wondering what this type of question looks
like, but you know I can't put it here; that would be a copyright
violation, which I really, really want to stay away from!
Second, the answers to the questions in the 10th edition
are not as easy to find as they are in the 9th. In the 9th
edition, GMAT smartly put all the answers for each set of
questions in one table, making it easy to check your answers
quickly. In the 10th edition, whether to save six sheets of
paper or to try to force people to read the explanations I
really don't know, GMAT has "embedded" the answers
in the explanations. Finally, a few of the questions from
the 9th edition do not appear in the 10th. The number is really
negligible, just a few, but I know many of you will want to
know this.
Where can I buy the 10th edition? All the bookstores are
sold out.
Yes, this book is hard to find, and I'm not exactly sure
why. I suppose it may be because the markup on the book is
not very high. In other words, most booksellers don't make
enough money selling this book. TestMagic used to sell this
book, but we stopped because it was simply too tedious to
take orders, pack and ship them, and answer pre- and post-sale
questions. Erin Billy (that's me!) decided he'd rather spend
his time on his classes and developing his materials. You
could try to buy
it used from Half.com or you could buy
it from Amazon.com. Yes, I know that Amazon says they
won't sell the book for another three to five weeks, so you
should also check out mba.com.
Although this site says that the book will ship only after
a long time, by most accounts, ETS is shipping the book within
a day or two of receiving your order. That said, TestMagic
may begin to sell the book again, but we're not sure yet!
Reference: Some "combinations"
B
Some people call these "idioms," other
people separate them into different groups. TestMagic calls
them "combinations," well, because that's what they
are--combinations of words that we need to know for the GMAT.
This is the beginning of the extensive list
that I am working on. I have researched all of these "combinations"
carefully.
I know some of you out there will want to ask
me a question or want more examples. I'll be happy to engage
in a dialogue with you, as long as it's on-line in my forum.
As I've mentioned several million times already (please skip
if you've heard before...), I get too much e-mail (most asking
the same questions) to respond to each one. And please remember,
most of the material that I send out in these newsletters
is from my works-in-progress, meaning that some stuff is finished,
but the rest is not yet ready. If it were, it'd be published
already!!
Anyway, here are the B's:
base on: Erin Billy based his recommendations
on the research he had done. The novel is based on a true
story.
begin + INFINITIVE: Many students will begin to
understand a concept once they have applied it many times.
benefit from (this is a verb!): Research has consistently
shown that people benefit from regular exposure to sunlight.
benefit of (this is a noun!): One of the many benefits
of exercise is increased energy.
between X and Y: Between San Francisco and Santa
Cruz are several well known tourist attractions.
blame for: Excessive sodium intake is blamed for
many health problems.
boom in: A recent and unexpected boom in sales
allowed Lucise.com to expand operations in emerging markets.
borrow against: U.S. homeowner's often borrow against
the equity they have in their houses to take out what are
called second mortgages. http://www.testmagic.com
borrow from: When interest rates are low, consumers
tend to borrow more money from lenders.
both X and Y (this is almost always plural!): Examples:
Both X and Y are members of the Chamber of Commerce.
bow to: Country X bowed to pressure from Country
Y not to increase tariffs.
break with: After many years of agreement, Country
X broke with Country Y in a bitter dispute over tariffs.
bring about: The diplomat's carefully worded defense
of the treaty was instrumental in bringing about an accord
between the two countries.
Before we begin, I'd like to plug a
site that TestMagic has partnered with for a while, GradSchools.com.
This site has really grown in the last couple years, and is
now one of the best places on the Internet to research graduate
programs. Please click
the link if you need more information about grad schools!
TestMagic and GradSchools.com
will thank you!
Okay, now it's time for everybody's favorite,
grammar. You should know how to do these! I hope you find
these questions helpful!
GMAT Sentence Correction
Yes, all these questions were written by me,
Erin Billy. All of these questions focus on some of the trickiest
grammar points, i.e., the ones my students tend to get stumped
on.
START
Time: 6 minutes
1. The most innovative artists are often the ones who do
not conform in any way with what their fellow artists expect.
O in any way with what their fellow artists expect
O at all to what their fellow artists expect
O to their fellow artists' expectations in any way
O even a little bit with what fellow artists expect
O with what other artists expect, even a little
2. There are many reasons to study in college, each as
compelling as the next.
O each as compelling as
O each one more compelling than
O each is as compelling as
O all the reasons are as compelling as
O and each is more compelling than
3. New York City is thought of as being the financial
center of the United States.
O thought of as being
O thought of as
O thought to be
O thought as
O what many people think is http://www.testmagic.com
4. Many import quotas have recently been lifted, causing
decreased sales for domestic manufacturers.
O causing decreased sales for domestic manufacturers
O which has resulted in a decrease in sales for domestic manufacturers
O resulting in decreased sales of domestic manufacturers
O causing a decrease in sales for domestic manufacturers
O causing domestic manufacturers' decreased sales
5. Carpal tunnel syndrome is a disorder that affects people
who frequently type, write with a pen or pencil, and play
musical instruments.
O that affects people who frequently type, write with a pen
or pencil, and play musical instruments
O affecting people who frequently type, write with a pen or
pencil, and play musical instruments
O affects people who are frequently typing, writing with a
pen or pencil, and paying musical instruments
O that affects people who frequently type, write with a pen
or pencil, or play musical instruments
O affects those who frequently type, write with a pen and
pencil, and play musical instruments
END
Answers
Here are the answers.
<<keep going..>>
If you have any questions, please direct
them here.
<<keep going..>>
To use this great feature, you will have
to register for the discussion groups, which only takes a
few seconds.
<<keep going..>>
No peeking...
<<keep going..>>
Here they are:
1. C
2. A
3. B
4. D
5. D
I sincerely hope that this newsletter has been helpful to
you and that you will forward a copy of it to your friends
who are preparing for the GMAT.
I wish you the best of everything, and good luck on your
GMAT!!
