Manhattan Elite Prep's article on Practical GMAT Test Prep Questions as featured in MBA Intelligence, May 2013. Manhattan Elite Prep offers GMAT, SAT, GRE, LSAT, TOEFL, MCAT preparation class, course, tutoring & tips. Also offers MBA, Graduate School, law school & college admissions consulting, language, computer and career training. Call 888-215-6269 or visit http://www.manhattaneliteprep.com/

1. Growing
MARKET
May 2013
Experts’
GMAT
tips & tricks
No5
share
Luxury brand
marketing
STRATEGIES

2. MBAINTELLIGENCE
MAY 2013 No5
3
Letter from
the top: Editorial
25
Growing an online
grocery business’
market share
4
The Popinator:
How a small
company’s
marketing
strategy went
viral
46
Kaplan Test Prep:
GMAT mythbusting from
the top
9
Marketing &
operations
management at
Aston Martin
51
Book Review:
Roll the Bones by
David G Schwartz
16
Practical GMAT
test prep question
from Manhattan
Elite Prep
52
Essential Links
and Resources
for MBA’s
23
Back issues:
What has MBA
Intelligence been
talking about?
53
Article References
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3. MBAINTELLIGENCE
MAY 2013 No5
GMAT
The GMAT
Breakdown:
Tips and Tricks by
Manhattan Elite Prep
16

4. MBAINTELLIGENCE
MAY 2013 No5
GMAT
On route to attaining an M.B.A. and future success in the
business world, most neophyte professionals must undergo
the trials and tribulations of the GMAT. With hundreds of
applications going to each school each year, the GMAT
becomes one of the chief predictors that admissions boards
use to evaluate a prospect's candidacy.
there is no need to fret
over this future
determining, three
and a half hour exam
Unlike academic grades, the GMAT is a standardized exam that helps business schools assess
the qualification of an individual against a large pool of applicants with diverse personal and
professional backgrounds. The GMAT scores play a significant role in admissions decisions
since they are more recent than most academic transcripts of an applicant and they evaluate a
person’s verbal, quantitative and writing skills. However, there is no need to fret over this
future determining, three and a half hour exam, because it can be mastered. It just takes some
hard work and guidance. Below are a series of helpful hints, tricks and steps to aid you in your
own GMAT preparation from the instructors of Manhattan Elite Prep.
Understanding Data Sufficiency
There are two categories in the Quantitative Section with 37 questions in total, Problem
Solving and Data Sufficiency. The latter and more ominous of the two, Data-Sufficiency is
designed to measure your ability to:
• Analyze a quantitative problem
• Recognize relevant information
• Determine whether there is sufficient information to solve a problem
Two Statements
Data-Sufficiency questions are accompanied by some initial information and two statements,
labeled (1) and (2). The two statements lay out possible conditions. You must decide whether
the statements given offer enough data to enable you to answer the question.
Data Sufficiency questions are not about the actual solution, but deciding whether a solution
can be derived in the first place. It is important to analyze each statement independently . In
other words, you cannot mix the information from one statement with the other.
Two Types of Questions
???
??
There are two common types of Data Sufficiency questions:
• Close-ended: Is “Y” divisible by 3?
• Open-ended: What is the value of “X”?
In a close-ended question, you can judge whether each statement is sufficient by determining
if its answer is always Yes or always No. A statement is insufficient if its answer is sometimes
Yes or sometimes No.
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5. MBAINTELLIGENCE
MAY 2013 No5
GMAT
Q
In an open-ended question, you can judge whether each statement is sufficient by
determining if its answer results in a single value. A statement is insufficient if its answer leads
to a range of values, instead of a specific value.
Five Possible Answers
The answer choices are always the same; by the time you get to the test and have done
enough practice problems, you will not even have to look at the answers if the question is of
the data sufficiency variety.
• Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) alone is not sufficient.
• Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) alone is not sufficient.
• BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient
• EACH statement ALONE is sufficient.
• Statement (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient.
A
Three Questions You Must Ask
(1) Is the information in Statement 1 sufficient to answer the question uniquely, as in, is there
only one possible answer? It does not matter what the answer is: yes, no, red, blue. Will it
always be the same, no matter what?
(2) Is the information in Statement 2 sufficient to answer the question uniquely, meaning do
you know that only one answer is possible?
(3) If both of these questions are answered with a ”No,” then the third question becomes
necessary: Is the information in Statements 1 and 2 together enough to answer the
question?
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6. MBAINTELLIGENCE
MAY 2013 No5
GMAT
One Practice Problem
If a real estate agent received a commission of 6 percent of the selling price of a certain house,
what was the selling price of the house?
(1) The selling price minus the real estate agent’s commission was $84,600.
(2) The selling price was 250 percent of the original purchase price of $36,000.
• Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) alone is not sufficient.
• Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) alone is not sufficient.
• BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient
• EACH statement ALONE is sufficient.
• Statement (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient.
From (1) we know that $84,600 is 94% (100% - 6%) of the selling price, and thus the selling
price, $84,600 / 0.94, can be determined. Therefore (1) alone is sufficient. While from (2) it
follows that the selling price is 2.5($36,000). Thus, (2) alone is sufficient. The best answer is the
fourth choice.
To increase your speed it is important to practice your multiplication and divisibility.
Learn the secret rule of 7 here.
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7. MBAINTELLIGENCE
MAY 2013 No5
GMAT
Critical Reasoning:
Think Outside the Book
Achieving success in the Critical Reasoning section
of the GMAT exam is as methodical as the name
suggests. The section consists of a series of short
passages (typically 100 words or less), a follow-up
question, and five multiple-choice answers. Do not
worry about being familiar with the content discussed
in the passages. The goal of this section is to test your
ability to make an argument, evaluate an argument, and
formulate or assess various chains of reasoning.
In the CR section you will come across four types of questions:
Assumption – The most common type of question. Here you likely see a conclusion in the
passage along with some evidence supporting that conclusion. You will then be asked to
weaken or strengthen the argument, or to identify some unwritten flaw or assumption on
which the argument relies.
Inference – This question type is easy to spot because it typically contains the
word infer, inference, conclude, or complete. The question will ask you to find the answer
choice that represents a possible conclusion derived from the argument in the passage. This is
different than Assumption because the passage will not provide you with a conclusion,
instead it will ask you to form one.
Paradox – Requiring more internal analysis than the previous two types, this question type
will ask you to reconcile which of the answers if true would help to explain a specific reason,
difference, or conclusion.
Method of Reasoning – There is no “what to look out for” when it comes to this type of
question. However it will generally ask you to break down the structure of the statement and
evaluate or describe the role of a specific component.
Try your luck at a question:
Recent studies show that people between the ages of 13 and 55 produce 65 pounds more
garbage per year now than they did in 1995. This increase has led them to hold a higher
percentage of the total garbage produced by all age groups. This age group constitutes a
growing percentage of the population, so it partially explains this rise.
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8. MBAINTELLIGENCE
MAY 2013 No5
GMAT
Which of the following can be concluded from the passage above?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
People over the age of 55 produce less garbage than children below the age of 13.
The population has risen since 1995.
People between the ages of 13 and 55 are more than half of the current population.
Before 1995 people below the age of 13 and over the age of 55 produced a higher
percentage of the total garbage than they do now.
(E) People between the ages of 13 and 55 produce more garbage than those that are
younger or older.
You can easily pick out the question type because you know that when you see concluded in
a question, you are being asked an inference question. Using the limited information in the
passage, you must deduce which option provides the most accurate conclusion.
Option A seems possible, particularly because some may assume that people over the age of
55 produce more trash than people young than 13 – but a conclusion cannot come from your
gut or even prior knowledge of a topic, if it’s not in the passage, it is wrong.
Again B seems possible because the passage states the 13-55 constitutes a growing
percentage of the population. However only that portion of the population is confirmed to
be growing therefore B is too vague to be correct.
C is easy to eliminate because it is a stretch and the least logical option compared to the first
two.
Answer choice D needs to be evaluated mathematically. If the increase in trash produced by
13-55 years olds has led them to now hold a higher percentage of total trash produced by all
age groups, then the percentage of trash produced by those younger and older must have
shrunk. Mathematically speaking, this is correct. However, because you must choose the best
possible option, it is imperative to read all answers, unlike you would with say a math
problem.
The statement choice E is sneaky like a politician. It looks right because you would assume
that if the majority percentage of trash comes from 13-55 years that people in that age group
produce more trash. Sneaky right! But because the population is growing, there are likely
more people in that age group which is why the percentage of trash produced increased.
However this does not mean that people themselves are producing more trash, in fact they
may even be producing less!
This section can only be tackled successfully if you familiarize yourself with the different
question types. If you learn to spot the buzzwords that signify a question type (that’s right
read the question before the passage), you will know what to look for when reading the
passage. Study outside of your GMAT book—read an analysis of the presidential debates,
review Gallup polls. Familiarizing yourself with day-to-day critical reasoning will improve your
instincts on test day.
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9. MBAINTELLIGENCE
MAY 2013 No5
GMAT
Manhattan Elite Prep Services
We here at Manhattan Elite Prep hope that this GMAT tutorial is a helpful first step in your
efforts to reach your highest possible score potential. We offer assistance for the GMAT exam
across a multitude of mediums. We have group courses, private 1-on-1 courses and tutoring,
as well as Online preparation all run by experienced instructors who have aced the GMAT
themselves. All course packages include 5 Computer Adaptive practice exams, as well as
access to our Online Recording Library. Manhattan Elite Prep also provides expert assistance
to students preparing for the GRE, TOEFL, LSAT and SAT exams as well as MBA Admissions
Consulting services such as Essay Review. Check out our website, follow us on Twitter and
Facebook, give us a call, or even stop in to our Manhattan based headquarters for a free
consultation. We want to ensure that each and every student that utilizes our services are not
only fully prepared for their exam and able to score to the highest of their abilities, but are
primed for future success in their academic and professional careers.
www.manhattaneliteprep.com
22

10. MBAINTELLIGENCE
MARCH 2013 No4
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