Journey so far

“Life is filled with possibilities, one just needs to explore”

All this started not so long ago. Though it was always there in back of my mind but action was missing all along, probably waiting for some trigger.

Chicago was witnessing record snowfall in 2007 and it was snowing heavily even on that day. I was driving down the Hintz road in my Audi (used one), listening Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir when it struck me to hit library; Indian public trails library was very near to my place (Mallard Apartment) in Wheeling. Was it for the actual reason or just for doing something constructive so as to come out of forced hibernation, I don’t remember why I took that turn to library. Whatever was the reason but when I reached that library, I found more than couple of guys preparing for GMAT. Already two of my friends were deep into the GMAT and had even booked the dates for the exam.

Over the last year, I was very busy as onsite project lead of an IT project. But when I entered that library, I just came out of cocoon and I think it was in that frame that I decided that my old self could and should go for infamous GMAT exam. At that time, I was so naïve to the field that I didn’t know name of any other school except for ISB and Harvard. Since, I wanted to settle down in India, so ISB was dream school.

Initially, I enjoyed going to library but project was hectic and I was unable to spare even an hour. I didn’t want that craving to die and hence I again went to library in March and then couple of times in April. I was advised by one of my friend (he had appeared and scored 670) that to be serious, one should book the exam, set a target and then prepare. Instead, I assumed that I will give GMAT in May and started working towards it.

Cutting short, I started my preparations around mid March but got serious only in May. I started studying by self help books and was lucky to have Awendra( brilliant IITian) against whom I could benchmark myself. Since, Awendra was taking coaching from Kaplan, so I often went to him for general discussions. On Friday and Saturday, both of us would go to library and then return to his house for cup of tea (he used to prepare the tea  ). Discussions with Awendra were sometimes constructive but actually I wanted to keep meeting him as discussions with him relieved me of work related stress. Also, it helps to know that you can discuss your preparations with someone who is preparing seriously and that too from best in business.

Though, we always planned to discuss only studies so as to conserve time and energy but usually we ended up discussing all the possible topics under the sky ranging from Indian politics, to economics and shares. Though later in night I always used to feel guilty for wasting my time but I literally used to enjoy those discussions. Different perspectives on same topic were enlightening and gave new always threw new insights.


Other distractions:


Wheeling library is a beautiful place to be in, it has everything from free net access to silent room where one could practice online tests, what else could a person considering GMAT consider beautiful. But there is a catch; it also has a sprawling soccer field just next to it. Fortunately or otherwise, my colleagues had spotted this amazing field for daily soccer games. Being an avid sports lover, I can’t express the feeling that I used to have while climbing the stairs watching my team play soccer. Quite often, I would just park the Audi in library, take my kit out of trunk and head off to the field. This is one time pass, which never felt me feel like I am wasting my time. Soccer just rejuvenates me more than anything else, fierce nature of this game take all the tension out of you.


NGO and Marathon

Around same time I was looking for other extracurricular activities. I wanted to work with an India centric NGO in US, so I contacted couple of NGOs in New Jersey area but finally zeroed on Chicago chapter of TEAM ASHA, which is fund raising arm of ASHA.

Some TEAM ASHA members run marathon, and as a pre requisite members have to raise set target of funds. I joined the team and started training with them on Sunday mornings while I used to run alternate days by myself. On an average I used to run 5 miles or more..Sundays morning were hectic when I targeted 7-9 miles in later stages. I eventually settled for Chicago half marathon. Though I was not good on timing but I was happy that at least I finished what I started with little practice amidst hectic work, GMAT prep, NGO meetings all going on simultaneously.


Forgot to mention that my GMAT date and marathon were on consecutive weekends, so I stopped practicing in last couple of weeks...just no time. I got badly hurt, couldn't walk in the evening as i had not broken into my shoes :( as mandated for runners.


After looking at pathetic performance I first couple of tests, I thought I should drop MBA plans. But then I kept going on, did lots of practice on various books..still had poor results in June ends..GMAT was approaching on 12th July.
Awendra then suggested me a book from Manhattan…for Sentence correction. I bought the book and found it so good that I shifted my GMAT date by 2 weeks so that I can assimilate the wonderful rules and guidelines from that sweet little book. Since then I have recommended that book to so many aspirants and even they found it good. Trick is to use it with supplementary materials such as OG.


The DAY

Finally, I took exam on 26th July 2009.

I was both confident and nervous at same time, probably anxious would be right word. In last week before the exam, I had taken 3 mock tests and had scored more than 750 in all three..so I was high on confidence.

My exam centre was in Chicago downtown, next to beautiful lake and skyline. As a precaution, I drove till station and rode train to downtown. It was a beautiful day, neither too hot nor too cold.

I went to the test center (I had visited it earlier, to be on safer side). They provide you lockers in which I kept my belonging, can’t take food inside so had got a quick nutrient cake in bag for the break time.

After the usual formalities, i-card, authentication and all I was asked to take my seat for the exam. By now, confidence was nowhere to be seen and I was all about nervousness and anxiety.

Exam:

Though I am weak in essay writing but I had developed couple of frameworks by myself and had practiced a bit on those. Though essays that came were quite off the general topics but I just managed to scrape through but I knew I didn’t perform well, which further built on anxiety and pressure to do well in next sections.

(don’t remember which came first, English or maths but I did take due break for restroom and munching)

Anyways, I moved on to next section. Time management was again a cropper as I finished the section 12 minutes ahead of time. Man I was devastated, I spent lot of time on last few questions to increase accuracy but still had plenty of time on hand. I also spent around 7-8 minutes on single question # 13, which I was sure still went wrong.

I found english section relatively easier than practice papers, but my chances relied on accuracy of guesswork. All time management went awry when I finished my first section well in advance by 10 minutes..I repented my stupidity ‘coz in practice exams this trend usually resulted in lower accuracy for me (speed decreases the accuracy)

Now came the final screen…”Do you want to accept the score or to cancel the exam?”
I was so damn anxious and worried that I have failed big time, reflecting on practice exams, I thought I will get max 650-670, which wont help me nyways.
After deliberating for more than 5 minutes, I finally presses accepted and to my surprise I had scored 760

I jumped off my chair, left a note with receptionist for Awendra (he was in same center for mock test) and went to the river side. Meanwhile I called up my brother (in India), it was around 4:00 AM in India, still my brother Ashesh was waiting for the result and we both planned how shall I move forward. One thing we both agreed on is…its party time.

Finally I could chill out after grueling 5 months but not before I submit the applications
(soon I was to know GMAT was easiest of all steps)

What a feeling that was, Awendra and I both came back together. We had fun…went to Pankaj da’s place..partied with my roomies.

Result was worth the effort after all
Thanks to all who contributed to my journey thus far.

Pending:

Stage 2: application process

Stage 3: Finally I made it to premiere schools. I applied to IIM Calcutta (executive) and ISB. Cracked both..eventually choosed ISB.

Why and how?
Will come later as right now I am damn hard pressed at ISB…intellectuals here are killing me for performance…always short of time..confidence I have but uncertain markets and bad placement experience from engineering (during 02-03 downturn) are factors that worry a bit as markets are again down in 09-10

"Lets see..journey itself will explore the path henceforth as it has in past!"

SPARK, what an event!
After coming back to India, I felt like I should get into stuff that could keep me from getting bored!
Now that Salsa intermidiate classes are over so what next? Hmm..what else could I do?
How does one pass time in his company? Work Work ..naaaah.

Lets teach the kids, as soon as this idea popped out of my brain, I contacted E&R (education and research) guys.And immediately I got a mail from Brijesh, who I later came to know is a gem of a person. More on him later but yeah he initiated me into CTY and Spark initiatives.

On 31st of January, Spark and CTY events were organized in Infosys. Being a socialy responsible coprporate, Infosys invites class 8th students for a competitive exam. Selected students from CTY get opportunity to work for 2 months in Infosys production projects.

Considering my experience (common I am not that old yet :( ), I had to keep teachers, wards and senior students engaged. Being a tutotr for 7 years, I knew that handling senior students and teachers won't be easy. But one can't shy away in front of juniors :), specially the fairer sex. So, I was ready for the dreadful encounter fearing the kind of questions that could pop out of such a crowd.

Event was well planned, volunteers were assigned due responsibilities and backup were also put in place. On 31st, all of us were ready to meet the young guns from all strata of Hyderabad schools.

Volume of participants is a story in itself; Arrangements were in place for approx 600 but its anyones guess what transpired when over 1000 participants eventually turned up.

Chaos is the word that come to mind, isn't it?

Man, was it a Chaos! aye, it surely was. But there was such a symmetry amidst the huge chaos, students in all the directions, in different uniforms. I closed my eyes to enjoy the moment, all I could hear was interference of different notes and syllables. No meaninful conversation could be heard but still it was beautiful. I don't know if this happens with others too but I have a habit of going back down the memory lane, revisiting similar events from my life.

Toughest task of the day was to segregate 8th std kids from other kids of same school and to keep a mapping of room and school so that their wards can track the students. Task was further complicated by the requirement that guys and girls should be in different rooms, thanks to Women special sessions :).
Nari Shakti key samney natmastak!

Eventually, I reached the hall and tried to settle down the crowd by getting into active one to many conversations. Oh dear, there were so many stunners; I got in touch with 4 smart guys from some school named Oak Ridge (I hope I got it right). One of these guys asked me, "Why did you come back from US?". Though, I had answered this question so many times but it got difficult for me. They were unable to appreciate that some people prefer working in home country even if it's India.Blame the pre recession US hype amoung Andhrites, which has still not died.
Phew, except when it comes to marrying ones duaghter to a poor IT chap in US!

Now how many of us believe in coincidence? My hand is up in support.

After the tiresome 4 hours, myself and Sunita (who was also in same hall as mine) were about to go for first tea break. Suddenly, one of Oak ridge guy (aye, coincidence) got severe Asthma attack, he was about to faint. To save the time, we took this smart guy in Sunita's car to the nearest pharmacy where he got the puff. But it was only temporary so we took him to Apollo and finally to CARE center in Jubille Hills.

Though I was tense because of the kid's condition but what was driving me crazy was deadly combination of Sunita's fast and nervous driving. Probably, she was worried for what if we make it late to the hospital.

Eventually, we arrived back just in time. Event was over! but we didn't miss the photo sessions :)

It was an eventful day that started with a calm prayer, had it's share of excitement, thrill and drama.
But like bollywood movies, day ended on a happy note:)

Finally, my take at end of day; such events are great not only 'coz one gets chance to contribute to society but also 'coz one's friend circle increases many fold and never forget the happiness factor :)

ISB Pre-term References:

Accounting:

Financial Accounting :
Tools for Business Decision Making by Paul D. Kimmel, Jerry J. Weygandt, Donald E. Kieso, John Wiley & Sons, Third Edition, 2004
Schaum`s outline of theory and problems of financial accounting by Shim Jae K and Siegel Joel G, Tata McGraw-Hill, 2004 Bus

If you want to avoid buying costly books then refer this link:

http://www.principlesofaccounting.com/

Statistics:
Required Text Book: Aczel, A. D. and J. Sounderpandian, Complete Business Statistics, Fifth Edition, Tata McGraw Hill
Reference Text Book:
Murray R. Spiegel, 'Theory and Problems of Probability and Statistics', Schaum's series, McGraw Hill.

I started writing this blog long time back when I joined this group but saved this as draft.
Lot of facts have changed so I should edit the article gramatically and factually to bring it closer to reality.
I was supporting orphanges in bangalore but then found that I am not satisfied by my contributions as I always doubted the intentions of nobel folks running the charity based orphanages.

When I moved to Chicago, I thought I should contribute back to the society in more scalable way. I did some research and found an organization that was contributing to the cause of education, the cause that is very close to my heart. But then the organization rejected my application as it doubted my ability to contribute while sitting miles away; the organization was in New Jersey. I called up the concerned person and he suggested that I should find something in Chicago itself. Wow...how could I be so dumb? I should have done this search earlier itself but then I had thought that not many US based organizations will work in area of education.
So. I learnt a lesson. Not to Assume:)

Anyways, I found sweet little organization ASHA, a group of volunteers spread across the continents and to my liking it is a flat volunteer based org. So no jhanjat but full control. Wow... I joined the group and started attending the session and took part in activities.
Over course of time, I came to know of sister org TEAMASHA, the revenue engine for ASHA.
So, I joined that too.
If I was amazed to find so many young and old ccommited Indians working for ASHA then I was left wondering how TeamASHA makes 15-75 year old people run on road over several months and that too in snow storms and rains.
The way Asha and TeamAsha work is so transparent and simple that I have decided that I will always be an active member of this org and will contribute to the cause in one way or another. After all teamAsha made a fat man like me to run Chicago marathon, no mean achievement. Not for me but for TeamAsha :)

Will write more about my marathon experience and activities in Asha some time later.

I have recently joined an energetic group of volunteers and runners from Asha and TeamAsha. For starters, Asha is an Organization started by few like minded people in US, those who had a vision and those who had energy to bring their aim to fruition. Currently, I am enrolled in TeamAsha, which is a fund raising arm for main Asha organization. Team Asha has many members who are training regularly to participate in Chicago marathon. Fund raising is a very responsible and neck breaking job but Team Asha has made it easy

Subprime:

Subprime loans are no-prime loans or the loans at high risk.

• Institutions provide high interest loans to people who have low credit scores. These loans run into high risk in difficult market times such as credit crunch of 2008.
• Subprime mortgage loans are similar in risk profile as subprime loans mentioned above.
• Late 2006, subprime mortgage industry entered what observers refer to as meltdown.
• Lowering house prices over several years made people default on the loans
  Steep rise in rate of subprime mortgage defaults and foreclosures caused more than 100 subprime mortgage lenders to fail or to file bankruptcy.
  
  Why Subprime hit other markets?
  
  US Banks and lending institutions had repackaged the subprime debts and sold these as attractive securities and investment engines that were snapped by EU and Asian markets.
  
  
• So when crisis hit subprime mortgage industry, those who had bought into these so called growth engines found their investment valueless.
• Unable to assess values of such properties led to uncertainties and banks stopped lending to maintain credit lines.
• Market paranoia and credit holding led to credit crunch

Who is responsible?
Federal: Unable to monitor and regulate the market
Lenders: Greed led to such loans
Wall street: For backing securities based on high risk subprime loans
Loaners: for taking loan that they can’t repay, but they can’t be blamed.

Socialist and Communist Vs Capitalist

Yesterday, my roommate Prasad called me a capitalist. I jumped at the opportunity and asked him to define himself. As soon as he declared himself as socialist, I asked him to take out his cheque book and donate 200 dollars for my charity organization. He is a smart guy so it was easy to trap him, he agreed with heavy heart:).
Isn't it fun, a capitalist asking a socialist to contribute forcefully for a charity organization that the capitalist supports and raises funds for. I know it sounds confusing but that is because definitions were not used correctly.

later, we had a discussion on socialists, communists and capitalists. As per Prasad, Ratan tata and Ambani are hard core capitalist but Murthy sir is a pure socialist. My view, to which Prasad agreed after 3 hours, is that Tata and Ambani may be capitalists but still they contributed more to Indian society than communist turened capitalist whom he termed pure socialist.

As per Prasad, a capitalist is worse than socialist because capitalists carries people forward for his own good, welfare of society is a by product for him. I mean common, why should one bother that capitalist wants his betterment if he is anyways carrying society with him. Once capitalist can do more for society than a socialist would do while thinking.

At least Prasad and I agreed on one fact that communism may not be successful any more.
Also, as far as I am concerned, old definitions of communist, socilaist or capitalist belong to a bygone era. Now, no one is in black and white, we have various shades now and hence no pure breed are left. What we have are opportunists, the most dangerous but successful breed of all.

I respect Murthy sir but it seems the new breed started around same time when he jumped from communist bullock cart to capitalist's jet airplane. Still, no doubt he did lot for India, but as a by-product.

CASE : You have been appointed to head the team to build a dam across the River Zumba. Success in this project is critical for your company and would earn you a promotion. Failure would mean that your company would be bankrupt and will take along with it, its investors and its employees. Building a dam across the river would result in deforestation of a portion of the rainforests and would mean relocation of the tribals and destabilization of wild life at Zumba. There is resistance from environmental groups against your project. You are meeting the head of the resistance movement in one hour wherein you would have to explain your decision. Describe what you would do and why? (You will be evaluated on the creativity and practicality of your solution).

PRINCIPAL BASIC BENEFITS THAT WILL COME INTO EXISTANCE
AFTER THE DEVELOPMENT OF WATER SOURCES
1. Flood control benefits; it decreases and remove the flood effects.
2. Land improvement benefits; are the extra benefits that will occur after
an increase in the soil productivity because of drainage and land improvement
pecautions.
3. Electricity energy benefits; are the energy benefit value of the more
economical project out of two alternative projects.
4. Transportation benefits;are the benefits that will happen in case of there
is waterway transportation in the project.
5. Providing drinking water and domestic water benefits are different
from each other and should be investigated one by one.
6. Irrigation benefits; defines the distinction benefits between dry and irrigated
positions

Points to Build on - Application
I truly believe it came down to these two things:

1. Your career progression and how well you could portray it in your essays. You need to have articulated clearly your impact to the company.

2. Your goals have to be really clear-I know it is cliched- but the successful guys goals flowed really well from his current role and he maintained a solid theme of his goals throughout the essays. His essays were not as "polished" but had a lot of passion for his goals. In contrast, my essays were pretty well edited and written but lacked the passion I feel. The guy who was WL had an equally impressive WE (he has made presentations to the CEO of the company, a Fortune 200 one. He has increased revenue of almost a $1BB for this company). But his essays were similar to mine- conservative and lacked that personal and passionate feel. Bottomline- dont try to replicate those essays found in books and let your true self come out.

3. Try to do something extra- submit an extra reco if the school allows. Make that extra trip to the school and try to get as much face time with the adcoms as possible. I think they might not be decisive factors but every little bit might help.


Having said that, for an Indian to get into M7 is a pretty tough task. I know there are a lot of desis in all the top schools but I am talking about pure acceptance rates for us is probably less than 10%. Even on this forum- we had a bunch of impressive desi profiles and I think mneo, ujjib and nupur (I am sure I am missing 1 or 2) are the few who have been admitted to an M7. I am not trying to discourage you at all- just trying to put things in perspective.

Be Bold and Ready to Boast of your success

It's OK to boast (a little):

Generally, while talking, we desis (especially those who studied and worked in India) have a tendency of being a little discrete about our achievements and successes. We do fine on paper with the essays, but when it comes to the interviews, I feel we do not play up our achievements for all they are worth. On the other hands, Americans are very upfront about it and they expect us to tell them how great we are - something we are not used to. Of course, this doesn't mean that we should all become narcissists! Just ensure that you clearly communicate your successes and what you did to contribute without holding back.

Show, don't tell (even in the interview)

Something else that I realized during my R-1 postmortem (and corrected it in R-2) was the fact that in most instances, I was 'mentioning' my achievements and not really elaborating them. Definitely not a good idea! In the later interviews, I would mention the achievement, then talk about something specific about it - either a particular incident or how that experience itself has contributed to my well-roundedness. Most interviewers give applicants a fair amount of leeway in guiding the discussions. So take advantage of this and give anecdotes to 'show' (and not just 'tell') your strengths.

The power of anecdotes

Personal experience are just that - personal. They make your interview a lot more personal and less scripted. The anecdote, being your's and therefore unique, will stand out from the usual drivel that interviewers constantly hear. Told well, a good anecdote will definitely pique the interviewer's interest in you. Another great thing that I noticed about anecdotes was that while telling them during the interviews, I automatically became more comfortable and was able to build up a stronger rapport with the interviewer. Sometimes the interviewer would pitch in with something similar from his own personal experience and we would really take off on a great conversation from there.

GMAT Application Process

2008 Application Deadlines

Statement of Purpose
Why MBA?
IIM Calcutta(IIMC) PGPEX - Application Essays and Statement of Purpose

Quant - Probability + Combination + Permutation

If an integer n is to be chosen at random from the integers 1 to 96, inclusive, what is the probability that n(n + 1)(n + 2) will be divisible by 8?

A. 1/4
B. 3/8
C. 1/2
D. 5/8
E. 3/4


i. if n is multiple of 2 then n+2 will be such that n* (n+2) will always be divisible by 8. Total such cases = number of even nos = 96/2 = 48
ii. In addition to i above, if n+1 is divisible by 8 then it will also suffice the requirement. Total such cases = 96/8 = 12

So, probability = (48+12)/96 = 5/8


2
Meg and Bob are among the 5 participants in a cycling race. If each participant finishes the race and no two participants finish at the same time, in how many different possible orders can the participants finish the race so that Meg finishes ahead of Bob?

A. 24
B. 30
C. 60
D. 90
E. 120


i. (4+2+3+1)* 3! = 60
ii. There are 5! possible ways for the 5 participants to finish the race without any ties.
Logically, Meg will finish ahead of Bob in exactly half of these outcomes

5!/2 = 60

3.
A set consist of 2n-1 element. What is the number of subsets of this set which contain at most n-1 elements?

A. 2^(2n-2)
B. 2^(2n) - 2
C. 2^(2n) -1
D. 2^(2n)
E. 2^(2n-1)


for example, let n=2 then: 2n-1=3, n-1=1

the number of subsets: 3C1+1 (for empty subset) = 4

A. 2^(2n-2) ==> 4
B. 2^(2n) - 2 ==> 14
C. 2^(2n) -1 ==> 15
D. 2^(2n) ==> 16
E. 2^(2n-1) ==> 8

let n=3 then 2n-1=5, n-1=2

the number of subsets: 5C2+5C1+1 (for empty subset) = 10+5+1=16

A. 2^(2n-2) ==> 16
B. 2^(2n) - 2 ==> 62
C. 2^(2n) -1 ==> 63
D. 2^(2n) ==> 64
E. 2^(2n-1) ==> 32

4.
A group of 8 friends want to play doubles tennis. How many different ways can the group be divided into 4 teams of 2 people?

A. 420
B. 2520
C. 168
D. 90
E. 105

E.

N=8C2*6C2*4C2*2C2/4!=105

4!=4P4 - we should exclude arrangement of 4 pairs in different order.

5.

Rich has 3 green, 2 red and 3 blue balls in a bag. He randomly picks 5 from the bag WITH replacement. What is the probability that of the 5 drawn balls, Rich has picked 1 red, 2 green, and 2 blue balls?

2r 3g 3b

a total of 8 balls.

[2/8*(3/8)*(3/8)*(3/8)*(3/8)*] *[5!/(2!*2!)] (we have 5!/2!2! b/c we have 2 green picks and 2 blue picks and 1 red pick but we don't need to worry about that one--> 5*4*3*2/2*2=30) --> 30(2*3^4/8^5) 81*2*30 -->
162*30= 4860/32768 -->~14%

6. Standard Deviation + Probability
Three fair coins are labeled with a zero (0) on one side and a one (1) on the other side. Jimmy flips all three coins at once and computes the sum of the numbers displayed. He does this over 1000 times, writing down the sums in a long list. What is the expected standard deviation of the sums on this list?
A) 1/2
B)3/4
C)sqrt3/2
D)sqrt5/2
E) 5/4

Approach 1:
variance of binomial distribution is n*p*(1-p), n = 3, p = 1/2

variance = 3*1/2*(1-1/2)= 3/4

stdev = sqrt(variance) = sqrt(3)/2

After many trials sample standard deviation is close to theoretical standard deviation = sqrt(3)/2.

C is the answer


Approach 2:
http://www.gmatclub.com/forum/7-t58616


7.
How many subordinates does Marcia Have?

1) there are between 200 and 500 lists she could make consisting of the names of at least 2 of her subordinates.
2) there are 28 ways that she could decide which 2 subordinates she will recommend promoting.

D

1. nc0 + nc1 + nc2 + nc3 + ..... + ncn = 2^n
Hence, nc2 + nc3 + ..... + ncn = 2^n - n - 1
If RHS of above equation is between 200 and 500 => n = 8 as 2^8 = 256 while 2^9 = 512

So. sufficient

2. nC2 describes this situation.

nC2=n(n-1)/2=28 ==> n(n-1)=56 ==> n=8


8.

Probability Permutation and Combinations

Whether Vs If

1). After Prepositions , we use only whether.

I haven't settled the question of whether I'll go back home.
There was a big argument about whether we should move to a new house.

2). Whether, but not if, is used before infinitives.

They can't decide whether to get married now or wait.

3). Whether is generally preferred in a two - part question with or.

The Directors have not decided whether they will recommend a dividend or reinvest the profits.

4). Use Whether when only 2 choices exist
I am not sure whether I could go.

As per American Oxford dictionary:
Use if for a conditional idea, whether for an alternative or possibility.

AWA Hints from 6.0 Grader

Pick up the Princeton Verbal book. It gives a great, straightforward approach to tackling the AWA section.

Next, when you are writing your essays, take a very direct approach. The introduction and conclusion are the MOST important parts of your piece. Why? Because, as the books will tell you, the graders only take a few minutes to read over your essay, because they have a ton to read during their shift.

So my intro's are always like this:

"In today's society, blah blah blah. Blah blah blah. Therefore, the author is incorrect in asserting that... and the alternate approach is more effective because..."

"The author introduces an argument that.... however, her reasoning is based upon 2 faulty premises, and one invalid assumption."

Make sure the reader knows EXACTLY what point you are trying to make. I always make my conclusion, or thesis statement, the last sentence in the introduction.

The body of your essay should then develop the idea you presented in the introduction. Make sure that each paragraph deals with one thought or piece of your overall argument, unless of course you are making a clear connection between two smaller ideas.

It is also important that you provide a real life example to support your position in the issue analysis essay. So get reading, or talk to your friends about current issues that you can call on to support your stance. Microsoft, intel - these are good for technology. Just find the basics, you don't need to come up with an obscure example, just something that shows you command a very good understanding of the issue.

Also, VERY IMPORTANT: ACKNOWLEDGE THE STRENGTHS OF THE OPPOSING ARGUMENT OR ISSUE. You want to show the reader that you understand that the opposing issue does have merit, but that your position is the superior choice. Don't expand too much on the strengths of the argument, but just make sure you mention them briefly. This applies moreso to the issue analysis, and not the analysis of an argument.

The conclusion then ties the introduction and body together, and provides some sort of link putting it all together. It should not just restate what you wrote in the introduction and the body of your essay - you should try to come up with a way to paraphrase what you have written. The idea is to restate the main idea of your essay without using the exact same language you used in the essay itself.

So to summarize, try to follow something like this for the argument analysis:

The author says this... but she is wrong based on reasons 1, 2, and 3.

New paragraph discussing reason 1

New paragrpah discussing reason 2

New paragraph discussing reason 3

1+2+3=6, 6 being the paraphrased conclusion linking everything together.

For issue analysis:

The issue is... and I take this position because...(make sure your position is fully established in the introduction.)

New paragraph elaborting on your position, provide some logical reasoning

New paragraph introducing a real life example supporting your position

New paragraph acknowledging that you understand the opposing view does have it's strengths - but regardless of this, your position is the superior one, and describe why, by introducing yet another new idea (if you can think of one) or by linking your reasoning from an earlier paragraph.

Conclusion ties it all together, but does not just repeat what you said in the body of the essay. You want to parahprase what you said, try to keep it interesting and remember this should be the cherry on top of your essay icecream.

Reading Comprehension

Main Idea:
Look in the first and last paragraphs for the main idea. Any conclusion words
like therefore, thus, so, hence, etc. that you see are most likely introducing the main idea.
The correct answer will say the same thing as it says in the text, but using different words.
The Main Idea is not always stated explicitly in the passage – in fact, more likely than not, it is
not stated explicitly. Therefore, in order to answer this type of question when it is more
implicit:
Re-read the first line of every passage, and the last line of the first and last paragraphs. This
should give you the general structure or outline of the argument, with which you can answer
the Main Idea question.
After determining the general structure or content of the argument, eliminate answer choices
that are too broad or too specific, i.e. answer choices that go beyond the content of the
passage, or that deal with content only discussed in one paragraph of the passage.
Make brief notes – a couple of words- regarding the Main Idea on the text on your scrap
paper while you read.


Primary Purpose:
What is the author trying to do? What is his intention?

Note: A good main idea or primary purpose does not go beyond the scope of the passage,
nor does it limit itself to discussing only one part of the passage.

Detail Questions:
Location is everything, locate the specific corresponding section and answer accordingly.


Organization of the passage questions:
Re-read the first line of every passage, and the last line of the first and last paragraphs. This
should give you the general structure or outline of the argument, with which you can answer
the question.Remember to make brief notes about the structure of the text on your scrap
paper.

Test Strategy:
1) Aggressively read each paragraph for its main idea. If you can’t write down in a few words
what the point of each paragraph is, you weren’t reading actively enough.
2) Note any trigger words, same train of thought words.
3) Always eliminate bad choices first before answering.
4) "According to the passage/author" question type of questions. Whenever you see this
question, tell yourself, "Stop and stop thinking. I need to FIND, not think."
5) For main point or central idea type of questions, re-read the first and last sentences of each
paragraph before making elimination choices and answering. Getting the overall structure is
really helpful before answering.
6) Mostly you can weed out too strong an answer. Use of words like “only”, “definitely”, “p
ositively” or disrepectful words.



Sentence Correction:

Pronouns

Singular and Plural Clause
When two nouns are in the sentence doing an action together but they are linked with
i) Along with
ii) Together with
iii) With
iv) As well as
v) In addition to
vi) Accompanied by

This does not make the following action they do plural. Only “AND” can take the
two singulars and make their action plural.

Singular Pronouns (Memorize these)
It’s SANE to memorize this
Some---
Any—
No—
Every—

Relative pronouns are often used incorrectly today.
1) Referring to things or animals – that, which
2) Referring to people—who, whom
3) They – be careful that you don’t use this unless you’re positive there is a referring
noun.

Compound Subject
In compound subject joined by 'OR', the verb matches the closer part of subject.
1. Every day Joy or Clara rides the subway to work.
Here rides is Clara is singular and hence merits singular verb rides.
2. Every day Joy or Clara's sisters ride the subway to work.
Clara's sisters is plural and hence plural verb ride.


Test Strategy
1) Avoid Passive voice
2) Avoid Redundancy, shorter is better
3) 'Being' - Don't choose answers with 'being', 'thing'
4) Read answers back into sentences - very useful strategy

The president of the Women's Freedom Association tried to convince her peers they should join forces to prevent discrimination in the workplace rather than continuing to be underpaid.

(A) they should join forces to prevent discrimination in the workplace rather than continuing to be underpaid.

(B) that they should join forces to prevent discrimination in the workplace rather than continue to be underpaid.

(C) about joining forces to prevent discrimination in the workplace instead of continuing to be underpaid.

(D) for the joining of forces to prevent discrimination in the workplace rather than continue to be underpaid.

(E) to join forces to prevent discrimination in the workplace rather than continuing to be underpaid.

Explanation:
Choice B is correct. The error in the original sentence is faulty parallelism. Only Choice B has both elements in the same form, "join rather than continue". Choice C is incorrect because it uses the incorrect phrase "convince about".

Regarding the legalization of medicinal marijuana, the Governor is not concerned so much by its potential impact on elderly cancer patients but instead by its potential nationwide impact on innocent schoolchildren.

(A) but instead

(B) so much as

(C) rather

(D) but rather

(E) as

Explanation:
Idiom: Choice E is correct, as it provides the correct structure "not so much by....as by....".

Active vs Passive



A) John was not ready to move to the new company because they had not rated it highly by any investment company.

B) Because of its low investment rating, John was not ready to move to the new company.

C) Because of it's low investment rating, John was not ready to move to the new company.

D) John was not ready to move to the new company because no investment company rated it highly.

E) John was not ready to move to the new company since it was not rated highly by any investment company.

Explanation:
(D). The first answer contains a pronoun (they) without an antecedent.
In addition, the sentence is ungrammatical, having a 'by'-phrase from a passive without the required form of 'be' in the verb.
Choices (A) and (E) have passives, always avoid passives in GMAT.
Choices (B) and (C) contain misplaced modifiers, making the correct choice (D).

A) The old geezer aggravated his younger counterparts by consistently producing more work than them.

B) The old geezer aggravated the younger counterparts by consistently producing more work than they.

C) The old geezer irritated the younger workers by consistently producing more work than them.

D) The old man irritated his younger workers by consistently producing more work than them.

E) The old man irritated his younger workers by consistently producing more work than they.

Explanation:
(E) Geezer and counterparts are jargon and should be avoided.
A wound or sore is aggravated; a person is irritated.
They is subject of the understood produce, not the object. Hence (E) is correct.
The old man irritated his younger workers by consistently producing more work than they did (better than Them did)

Gerund follows the verb

Even though she didn't anticipate manager's proposal to strengthen her department.

A) to implement it, the advertising manager agreed with the personal

B) implementing it, the advertising manager agreed with the personal

C) implementing it, the advertising manager agreed with the personnel

D) to implement it, the advertising manager agreed with the personnel

E) implementing it, the advertising manager agreed to the personnel

Explanation:
(E) 'Personal' deals with a person's own special things; 'Personnel' deals with a lot of people.
Verbs like 'anticipate' must be followed by a gerund, the verb form in '-ing'. The correct idiom usage should read: a person 'agrees with' another person, not with an inanimate thing such as a proposal. Therefore, she agrees 'to the proposal.' (E) is correct.

Different Than vs Different From

His approach to singing is .

A) different than the approach used by any other tenor

B) different from the approach used by any other tenor

C) different from the approach which is used by any other tenor

D) different then the approach of any other tenor

E) different from the approach of any other tenor


Explanation:
(E)
Different than is grammatically incorrect. The correct version of the idiom (different from) appears only in choices (B), (C) and (E). Moreover, Choice (D) uses 'Different then' which changes the meaning and makes no sense. Choice (C) contains 'used by' which is a passive voice construction, almost always avoided by ETS. The correct answer is (E).
B is probably more wordier than E.