Bell Curves Blog

Einstein can’t teach me physics! And Michael Jordan can’t teach me basketball.

There, I’ve said it. I’ve put it on the internet for all to know. I don’t think these relative gods of their domain can teach me to succeed in that domain. Before you call me crazy and stop reading, let me make my case.

Einstein was as genius as Jordan was. Geniuses possess innate understanding of their respective fields that most of us do not. Because of this innate understanding, the way they approach that field is very different from that of the average man. This approach combined with their innate knowledge makes them achieve things that we probably can’t follow unless we have the same genius. To learn from this genius you must learn to think like him or he must learn to think like you. That’s a pretty daunting task to accomplish, and most likely a task requiring years of dedication.

Now what’s that got to do with the GMAT you ask?

Each year about this time I travel to several universities and speak to undergraduates about B-School and the GMAT, and each year I’m surprised by how much people don’t know about existing graduate school opportunities. So today’s blog is dedicated to shedding some light on an organization that every aspiring B-School applicant should investigate: The Consortium.

The Word on the Street

First, let’s look at the word on the street about the Consortium. This is what a few of my GMAT students had to say about it:

In order to encourage undergraduates to begin thinking about b-school and the GMAT (when they are better positioned to effectively prepare for it), the good folks at GMAC launched a marketing campaign called “Direct Your Destiny.” The campaign includes a web-based video campaign and other approaches aimed at increasing the number of GMAT test-takers from the undergraduate or recent graduate pool. I checked out the videos the other day, and in all honesty a couple of them are pretty funny.

While the videos are entertaining, the rationale underpinning GMAC’s pitch to undergrads has some significance. Based on the logic, many business majors or business-minded undergraduates should consider taking the GMAT, particularly if they’re pretty sure an MBA is in their future.

Here are a couple things to consider:

So you say you’ve reached a plateau with your GMAT scores? They’ve leveled out (or stayed level) and won’t for the life of you go any higher? You’ve been at it weeks (or months) only to see ten points here and ten points there? I feel your pain. Many test-takers find themselves caught in a similar place, and it’s a frustrating circumstance. The GMAT is designed to thwart score improvement. GMAC, which administers the test, seems to take a certain sadistic pride in touting its algorithm’s accuracy at determining one’s “true” ability on the GMAT, and even has research that shows the average retake score improvement to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 points. 30 little points! So what can you do to counter this trend? Let’s take a look in today’s post at some general things you might do to garner yourself a bump. In later posts we’ll return to this theme to look closer at people scoring at different levels to see how they might get themselves out of the GMAT scoring rut.

1. Study differently — the old adage that “practice makes perfect” only goes so far. For a test as specific and regimented as the GMAT, a certain kind of practice is required. One of the primary inhibitors to improvement is using the same methods over and over and over again (it is this simple fact that often turns peoples’ “three-month study plan” into a year-long struggle). Here are a few things you might do differently:

As I’ve done the last 5 years or so, this past November I went to Chicago to speak at the PhD Project Annual conference. Each year this organization inspires and fascinates me. Its mission is profound and its reach is broad. While some elements were “business as usual” the event brought together about 400 potential doctoral candidates from around the country (and indirectly the globe)  there were two significant milestones: the 15th year of the program and the 1000th doctoral candidate.

For anyone considering a PhD in business it’s a must that you check out this program!

My small contribution to the program was a presentation on how to prepare for the GMAT.

A few weeks back we blogged about the latest news from GMAC as presented during their Test Prep Summit. One of the topics of discussion involved how unanswered questions at the end of the Quant or Verbal Section negatively impacted scores. The bottom line was this: the more questions you left unanswered at the end of the section, the lower your score was.

Turns out, there’s just a little bit more to the story. It’s important to take note of so you can maximize your score by understanding the best approach for you, and how end-of-test outcomes affect overall results.

I recently reviewed a GMAC-published research report (Talento-Miller and Guo) that closely examined the effect of guessing vs. omission on computer adaptive tests. For those of you with an aversion to statistics and tables and charts, this wasn’t a document you’d want to spend much time with. I battled through, so here’s the low-down from the research:

Often, confusion exists about the uses and benefits of practice tests, and the role of practice tests in preparing for the GMAT. Let’s try and offer some clarity to the situation:

Practice Tests

Practice tests are evaluative tools and should be used as such. They are NOT learning tools. You use tests to asses what you have learned and your ability to apply that learning under conditions as similar to the real exam as you can make them. As such you should only be taking practice tests at most once per week (unless you are not working), and should seek to simulate the conditions of the actual test as much as possible when doing so (especially in the last few weeks before the real exam). In the larger preparation picture, you should take a practice test at the very beginning of your preparations to establish a baseline and determine your areas of strength and weakness. After that, it would be advisable to hold off on doing another practice test until you’ve had a chance to do some content review and focused, small-scale practice. Once you’ve gotten a sizable chunk of material and practice behind you, you should start incorporating full-length practice tests into your preparation regiment.

Key points for simulating practice tests:

This past week we went live online with our comprehensive set of digital flashcards. The original hard copy versions had been so well-received by students that we figured we had to put them up in electronic form. The move means even greater functionality and learning benefits. The flashcards were already a great way to learn vital content and hone recognition skills, and soon the digital versions are going to be linked to examples and practice problems according to skill areas.

For Bell Curves students the digital flash cards can be found in the “Extras” tab in your student account. And the best part? They’re free. Now you can access the flashcards whenever you’re in front of a computer and have a few minutes to do some focused review.

Speaking of the new ways to use our Flashcards, we’ll soon be launching a fantastic GMAT iPhone/iPod App. There aren’t many GMAT-only apps out there (from the purported 100,000 apps Apple currently has available), and this one will offer you features for precise, effective on-the-go learning. Keep your eyes and ears open. We’ll let you know when it launches.

Instructor: Jason Chan

Location: 500 Fifth Ave (at 42^nd street), New York, NY

[Editor’s note: Bell Curves instructors are required to have taken the GMAT and scored above the 98th percentile before they were invited to train with Bell Curves. After successfully completing training, our teachers take the test at least once a year so they can stay current with the GMAT experience and provide feedback that will allow us to continually improve our teachers and materials. In the interest of research, Jason was asked to go into the test and be the “obsessive methodical student.” He was required to spend an inordinate amount of time on any question he thought would be tricky to an above average, yet not stellar, test-taker. The intent was to get a score in the 600 range and see what types of questions and content showed up most frequently in that range.]

So it’s a random Tuesday and here I am taking the GMAT. Yay me!

This past Sunday and Monday (the 8th and 9th of November), the Yale SOM hosted it’s annual Explore Diversity event.  I was invited to attend and give a GMAT Presentation, and had a chance to meet many of the people directly involved in selecting candidates from the large pool of SOM applicants.

I have to say, first off, I was pleased to find that when Yale’s SOM touts a diversity weekend, they mean more than just ethnic or racial diversity. Their notions of diversity extend to include a great many parameters that would distinguish candidates, including career choices, country of origin, undergraduate education, and employment history, among others.

I also have to say I found the members of YSOM Admissions Committee to be a great bunch of people. Smaller, more intimate events such as this one give attendees a better opportunity to meet the people behind those the email addresses. The Admissions Committee seems as committed to diversity as the school is, with members clearly expressing very different personalities and perspectives. I imagine committee discussions about applicants are always interesting, and probably quite often heated. If you’re considering Yale, you should definitely meet some of these folks, and if they are any representation of the YSOM, it seems a great place to be!

Sitting in on the various events and talking to other people there, I got a few insights about the Yale SOM application/selection process.