In a certain game, a player begins with a bag containing tiles numbered 1 through 10, each of which has an equal probability of being selected. The player draws one tile. If the tile is even, the player stops. If not, the player draws another tile without replacing the first. If this second tile is even, the player stops. If not, the player draws a third tile—without replacing either of the first two tiles—and then stops. What is the probability that at the conclusion of the game, the sum of the tiles that the player has drawn is odd?

A) 5/18
B) 13/36
C) 3/8
D) 5/8
E)  23/36

In these “Mimic the Reasoning” questions, which are also quite common on the LSAT, you are asked to read an argument, and then select from five different arguments the one that best parallels the reasoning in the given stimulus.  A sample question stem would read:  Which of the following arguments is most similar, in its logical structure, to the argument above? What sounds like an innocent enough question type – like a game of card matching or Travel Guess Who – can contain quite a few pitfalls for you as the authors of the GMAT seek out their mission:

Waste Your Time

Mimic the Reasoning questions are unique in that you need to read six different arguments, or a total of 12-18 sentences.  Most Critical Reasoning questions are shorter – 3-4 sentence stimulus with five, one-sentence answer choices.  If nothing else, these Mimic questions will require a bit more reading time, and take a little extra focus.

Your response?

Be diligent in determining up front what the flow of the logic of the initial argument is, because your job is to match it identically.  If you know, for example, that the initial argument flows as X leads to Y, and Y leads to Z, so X leads to Z, you can more quickly go through the answer choices and eliminate them as soon as there is a deviation from the required logic.  Because your only job is to find a match, as soon as you can determine that an answer choice isn’t a match, it’s no longer useful to you, and you don’t have to read any farther.

Elicit an Incorrect Answer

Here, the authors of the GMAT can use the way that you think against you.  This may best be demonstrated with an example:

Fish have dorsal fins and tails.  Dolphins have dorsal fins and tails, so dolphins must be a type of fish.

Which of the following is most similar, in its logical structure, to the argument above?

A) Fruits are edible and have seeds.  Apples are fruits, so apples must have seeds.
B) This blog must be a novel, because novels have multiple typewritten paragraphs, and this blog has multiple typewritten paragraphs.
C) Fish breathe through gills.  Salmon are fish, so salmon must breathe through gills.

To elicit incorrect answers from you, Mimic questions tend to take the natural ways that you process information and use them against you.  A few popular ways that the authors do this are:

• Provide a stimulus with a flawed conclusion, and an incorrect answer that has a valid conclusion. Look at answer choice A.  Its conclusion is valid – if a condition of fruits is that they have seeds, then an apple, which is a fruit, will then have seeds.  The conclusion works.  In the stimulus, however, the logic is flipped and incorrect; fish have dorsal fins and tails, so we would know that any subset of the category “fish” should have fins and tails, but we don’t know that fish are the only animals with fins and tails.  This is a flawed conclusion, so the correct answer must also have a flaw.

You’ll tend to gravitate to answer choices like A because they’re true – as you read it, and it makes logical sense, your mind will accept it as “good” because it’s true, and you’ll be likely to consider it correct.  But the correct answer has to match the logic – flaw and all – so you need to think in terms of logical parallelism, not logical correctness.

• Give you matching logical structure, but different sentence structure. Choice B is correct, but it may not seem that way at first.  The logical structure is parallel – the premises flip the logic in the same way as the original (X has Y characteristic.  A has Y characteristic, so A must be X.), but the sentence structure is different.  The stimulus reads:  Premise, Premise, therefore Flawed Conclusion; Choice B reads Flawed Conclusion, because of Premise, Premise.  Because of this, B might not seem to fit exactly, but the logical structure is all that matters.  The authors know that they can change the sentence structure to make it seem different, but you’re only responsible (as the question stem states) for the logical structure, so make sure that you keep that as your focus.

• Provide an incorrect answer with similar topic matter. Choice C seems extremely similar to the stimulus because the topic matter – characteristics of fish – is nearly identical.  Its logical structure actually parallels incorrect choice A, however – it’s valid.  If fish have gills, and salmon are a type of fish, then salmon should have the characteristics of a fish, and therefore have gills.  Because the logic is valid, and your job is to match an answer with incorrect logic, C is incorrect – even though it is extremely similar in sentence structure and subject matter.

The authors of the GMAT know the way that your mind works – you see similarities and differences most obviously with subject matter and sentence structure, and your mind processes “correctness of logic” as “the correct answer”.  Your job on Mimic the Reasoning questions is, as the questions ask, to mimic the reasoning, so beware of these traps in your GMAT prep to get you to mimic anything other than the reasoning, and these questions can become much more manageable.

Read other GMAT Insider articles:

• GMAT Insider: The GMAT Case Method
• GMAT Insider: Critical Reasoning Help Stat!
• GMAT Insider: Memorization – The 2000-pound Elephant in the Room

Pacing the Essay

Thirty minutes isn’t a great deal of time to write Shakespeare.  However, you don’t need to be as eloquent and esoteric in your style.  What you need to be is clear, organized, and direct.  The best way to accomplish those three objectives is to spend a significant amount of time planning your essay before you start typing the essay.  Kaplan has specific templates and approaches that we discuss in our course; however, I’m going to simplify our approach for this post:

Step 1: Spend about 8 minutes planning your essay

In this step, make sure you critically assess the argument and issue at hand.  Keep yourself unbiased and objective as you initially understand the argument or issue presented.

Step 2: Spend about 20 minutes writing your essay

During the writing step, this is where you pull together the ideas you came up with during the planning stage of the essay.  While you were objective during the planning stage, in the writing stage, you drop that objectivity and vociferously attack each essay appropriately.  However, make sure you also mention the other side – i.e. acknowledge the dissenting point of view.  Indicate that while you understand the different point of view, it is not as strong as your position.

Step 3: Spend about 2 minutes proofreading your essay

Most test takers fail to conduct this final step.  Please! Take two minutes to review what you wrote.  While you are not restructuring the argument in this case, you need to re-read the essay, correct spelling mistakes, and liberally add structural words.

Length of the Essay

The length of the essay is actually the least important component.  The essay is graded on four dimensions – length is not one of those dimensions.  Generally, shorter is better (if you were able to clearly articulate your points with specific and clear examples).  At the end of the day, the length won’t matter if you are sure to include the following points:

1. At least two clear points that articulate your position, broken down by the different essays:

• Argument = Two clear flaws of the argument
• Issue = Two clear points that defend your side of the issue

2. At least two clear examples that drive your point home

3. At least one counter point (with rebuttal), broken down by the different essays:

• Argument = One clear strengthener point that the author could include to support his position
• Issue = Acknowledgement of a potential point someone on the other side of the issue would argue

If you have these three components in a well-written essay, you’ll score at the top of the AWA range; no matter what the length of the essay.

Make sure you practice full-length CAT tests that have essays included!  Before you ever see a quantitative question on test day, you will have already spent 60 minutes writing two intense essays, so it’s important to make sure you practice under the same test-like conditions. Good luck!

Quick Background

The GMAT still has a monopoly at business schools but the GRE is trying to chip away.  The GMAT is the time-honored hoop to jump through for virtually all students seeking admission to business school while the Educational Testing Service (ETS), which administers the GRE, is taking aim at the b-school market by introducing the GRE.  The GRE is used by a wider range of graduate schools, as an alternative to the GMAT.  I took the GRE when I went to graduate school for Clinical Psychology.  I like to refer to it as an SAT on steroids (as they expect you to know thousands more words on the verbal).  If you have taken the SAT, you have seen many question types that exist on the GRE.

So now there is a dogfight as ETS wants to collect some more revenue and GMAC wants to keep it all.  Proponents of the GRE option say they believe it may help b-schools attract classes that are more diverse and to land students who are considering both business school and master’s or Ph.D. programs in other business-related fields.   What we do know is that schools are still figuring out what they want to do, whether accept GRE scores quietly (not publicizing it) or on a case-by-case basis.

Should you take the GRE over the GMAT? Some Things to Consider:

1. Some top-tier business programs such as Stanford and MIT’s Sloan School of Management accept the GRE.  Stanford says the GMAT is required for admission but it will accept the GRE as an alternative.  Some schools are more lenient in accepting the scores and “allow for degrees of freedom.”  For a full list, visit http://www.ets.org/gre/institutions/about/mba/programs/index.html.  This is just to show you that it would be OK should you choose this route.
2. Do you already have a GRE score in the bank?  Basically if a school you are applying to accepts the GRE and you already have a score (within the time frame and it’s a top-notch score), it may save you time to bypass the testing portion of the whole cycle.  Not many people fill this space.
3. The GRE is changing.  A new test can mean many things good and bad (i.e. GRE will be longer).  Launching in 2011, ETS says it will be “more closely aligned with the types of skills that are required to meet today’s demanding business school expectations” Go to the GRE revised General Test section for more details.  This could also mean business schools may change how they look at it – we don’t know this yet.
4. Are you unsure about business school? Taking the GRE may keep more options open earlier in your path to some type of graduate school.
5. What are your strengths?  If a test is better suited to your strengths, then take that one.  It was the same argument in high school – SAT vs. ACT.
6. A test is a test.  Whether it is the GMAT or GRE you will most likely have a similar approach in your preparation (time, discipline, practice, etc).  People in general tend to be less fearful of the GRE than the GMAT from what I have noticed in my 16 years in the business but the GMAT isn’t a bigger deal (and shouldn’t be more anxiety provoking).
7. Impressions.  Some schools may consider scoring high on the GMAT math section more impressive than a 700+ on the GRE quant especially if you apply to math heavy (finance and economics) programs.  I would ask them.
8. Are you serious?  Preparing for and taking the GMAT may show that you are more serious of an applicant in deciding to pursue an MBA.  This may not be true for all applicants and depends on each individual story but if you can back up your focus in your essays, it may show more commitment.

It may sound like I am saying take the GRE…I am not saying that.  You still need to consider your personal situation and determine what is best for you at the particular time.  On a final note, I don’t believe there is one test that measures the ability of a student to be successful in business (or graduate school).

Additional Resources:

• GRE-GMAT Comparison Chart
• GRE-GMAT Comparison Tool

Lets deal with the latter two, as the former is pretty easy.  If you love the field, but they do not offer you a job, you will find yourself in a large camp of fellow business school students.  A lot of firms simply do not have the budget to make an offer at that time, so the key is to keep in touch with the firm and specifically a person who liked you there.  Try to meet up with them throughout the second year to see if things have changed on the hiring front.  Make sure you are LinkedIn with them and have them write a recommendation for you when you are still fresh in their memory.

The next step is to get back to the informational interview grind.  Get back in touch with your solid contacts, let them know about your internship and get back into their minds.  Secondly, don’t fret too much as there will be a lot of companies coming on campus and not getting an offer is not a scarlet letter that should cause problems for you.

If you realized during your internship that you do not really want to go into that field, you are both lucky and disadvantaged.  On one hand you got paid for three months of work to save you from getting into a lifetime of something that does not interest you, but on the other hand you now are back at close to square one with less time on your hands.  You need to really focus on developing a new list of alumni contacts to speak to and possibly push for an academic internship.

Either way stay involved in the community, because you never know what type of opportunities will arise by just speaking to classmates, professors or people in the field.

Finding your job will be a job and you need to treat it as such.  Do not get bogged down looking to get all A’s and graduate owing Sallie Mae and without a job.  Make sure you continue to prioritize your time in a way that allows you to take advantage of all of the help you will have during this time, because it will recede after you graduate.

To sum it all up, business school is basically about getting you a job and the resources and time are set up that way.  Do yourself a favor and use these resources fully and find that job that just cost you a pretty penny.

And it’s not because of imaginary “brownie points,” but because you will be a much better informed applicant after you visit a school than before. You’ll know more about each school, its culture, and why that particular school appeals to you. You’ll learn more about its teaching style, whether it supports your goals, and how well you and your goals match the program, students, and faculty.

Here are some tips to make the most of your visit:

1. Visit the school when class is in session. That way you’ll get to see the learning in action and speak with the students when they’re not stressed out about finals.
2. Take advantage of all visitor options, including a tour, a one-on-one meeting with a student, info sessions, etc.
3. Come prepared with good questions to ask the adcom and to ask students and/or faculty that you may encounter.
4. Learn as much about the school before you land on campus. You don’t want to ask a question that was answered 10 times already on the school’s website.
5. If you are unable to visit the campus, be sure to attend info sessions held in your city.

While “good questions” differ b-school to b-school and student to student, the following is a sample of general questions that you can use as a jumping off point for your specific situation:

1. What is a typical day like for a first or second year student?
2. How do professors balance research and teaching?
3. Do professors teach their classes in the larger framework of the interconnectedness of business functions? Do they use an integrated approach? Do they coordinate with other professors?
4. How are interview slots for internships and full-time positions assigned? If there’s a bidding process, how does it work?

In summary, do your research, take advantage of visitor options, ask good questions, and evaluate your fit with each school. And don’t forget to snap some pictures during your visit and submit them to the Beautiful B-School Photo Contest—you could win a $200 Amazon.com gift certificate!

Related Accepted.com Resources:

• Beautiful B-School Photo Contest
• MBA Admissions: Brownie Points for Visits?
• MBA Admissions Interview: Tips, Sample Questions, Feedback

So what is the best strategy for retaking the GMAT? Before answering this question, it is important to assess your options.

Should I Retake?

There are several cases where retaking is definitely to your advantage. These situations can involve elements that are out of your control, or events that happen on your test day. If you are sick, dealing with a personal or family issue, or taking the GMAT in less than perfect conditions (I’ve heard many stories of people underperforming because of construction work that disrupted their ability to focus), then a retake may be advisable. These external factors may have had some impact on your low score, especially if your practice tests indicated a higher performance level.

If external factors affected your GMAT score, then retaking is a no-brainer. But there are other situations in which the decision to retake is not that easy to make. In contrast to the scenarios described above, these instances relate to elements that are more or less under your control: the quality of your study plan and of the materials you’ve used, test day anxiety, and so forth. For example, if you didn’t prep with the Official Guide for GMAT Review, you should probably consider a retake and focus your studies on this critical book.

On the other hand, if you’ve studied diligently for the past few months and have used the best materials available, then you may want to move on from your GMAT and focus on improving other aspects of your application. The same holds true for students who retake the test over and over again: unless you are consistently improving your scores, then you may have hit a plateau in your performance. Remember: taking the test more than three times may be a red flag for some admissions committees for the simple reason that a strong applicant should demonstrate good judgment in investing in other parts of her application package instead of obsessing over a single element.

All that said, if you’ve made the decision to retake the GMAT, it’s time to diagnose what went wrong in your first attempt and remedy any problems. In the following sections, I break down some of the most common mistakes students make in their initial GMAT prep.

Common Mistake #1: Wrong Materials

Many people have problems on their GMAT because they have studied with the wrong books.  You must have the right GMAT books for your GMAT prep—period.  Here are my recommendations:

• The Official Guide for GMAT Review and the two supplements released by GMAC, the creators of the test. These books are essential for any test taker!
• Kaplan GMAT Premier, Kaplan Math and Verbal Workbooks. These three books are solid and cover most of what you’ll need
• The PowerScore Critical Reasoning Bible is a must have for anyone struggling with Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension
• The Manhattan GMAT Set of 8 Guides. These 8 guides are often considered the most complete GMAT prep collection available

Depending on what you already have, you should come up with a shopping list to complement your strengths and target your weaknesses.

Besides the books mentioned above, do not forget to download the free GMATPrep software from MBA.com. This software contains the two best GMAT practice tests available.

Common Mistake #2: Wrong Study Plan

Consider the following scenario: math has always been your strength. When you started studying for the GMAT, you enjoyed solving math problems a lot. As a result, you were biased in spending more time on math prep than on verbal prep. Consequently on your test day, your verbal score was well below your math score, resulting in a poor overall GMAT score.

The problem here is easy to spot: when you are preparing for the GMAT, you need to ignore your preferences and invest more time in your weaknesses—even if they include subjects you do not enjoy. Targeting your weaknesses should be your top priority; fortifying your strengths should come second.  Here are some suggested study plans.

Another common mistake is not being consistent in your prep. When you’ve decided to take the GMAT, you need to devise a solid plan from the start and stick to it. Procrastination and intermittent study translate into poor test performance. Inconsistent study will prevent you from learning GMAT concepts effectively. This is why a realistic, personalized plan that fits into your daily routine is the best way to go about preparing for the GMAT. If you follow this advice for your retake, I guarantee you’ll get better results.

I would also advise test takers to be “optimistically conservative” when setting their target scores. No matter how good your study plan may be, sometimes it’s just not enough. For instance, hoping for a 200-point increase in less than a month of prep is unrealistic.

Common Mistake #3: Dealing with Timing/Anxiety Issues

You’ll often hear GMAT experts mention that almost any student can solve all the questions on the GMAT if she is given enough time. However, one of the reasons why this test is so difficult is that you are under a pretty severe time constraint. In your retake study plan, be sure to emphasize test pacing. This is important to master because the penalty for not finishing a section on the GMAT is severe. You can check out a few tips regarding pacing here.

Related to test pacing is stress management. Poor time management will often lead to stress on the GMAT, which will seriously affect you ability to answer all the questions. To remedy your stress management issues, be sure to practice under simulated conditions so that you’ll get used to performing under pressure. It’s also worth mentioning that a lot of people feel more comfortable on their retake because they have already gone through the whole process once and thus are more familiar with the testing conditions.

A method that I’ve personally tested when feeling anxious is taking a few seconds to “talk yourself into” ignoring the stress and trying your best under the circumstances. Accepting the situation really helps boost your morale. You can also find some useful hints regarding stress control here.

Final Thoughts

These three mistakes are among the most commonly reported by test takers (that I’ve seen), but this list is not nearly exhaustive. No matter your reasons for retaking the GMAT, be sure to do a full review of your initial GMAT strategy. Examine your errors and target your weak concepts. If you find it hard to do this on your own, remember that you can always ask for help in the Beat The GMAT community.

Here’s the problem again; if you didn’t read the first article and try the problem already, then try this problem now (2 minutes):

*A contractor combined x tons of gravel mixture that contained 10 percent gravel G, by weight, with y tons of a mixture that contained 2 percent gravel G, by weight, to produce z tons of a mixture that was 5 percent gravel G, by weight. What is the value of x?

(1) y = 10
(2) z = 16

After trying the problem, checking the answer, and reading and understanding the solution (read the original article, linked above), I try to answer these questions:

1. Did I know WHAT they were trying to test?

Was I able to CATEGORIZE this question by topic and subtopic? By process / technique? If I had to look something up in my books, would I know exactly where to go?

• The question is a Data Sufficiency question from the Statistics chapter of my Word Translations book. It’s testing the concept of average (arithmetic mean) and, more specifically, it’s testing the concept of weighted average. The problem never mentions the word “average” but I figured this out because the problem talks about 2 sub-groups that are combined in some way to make a 3rd overall group, or mixture of the original 2 sub-groups.

Did I COMPREHEND the symbols, text, questions, statements, and answer choices? Can I comprehend it all now, when I have lots of time to think about it? What do I need to do to make sure that I do comprehend everything here? How am I going to remember whatever I’ve just learned for future?

• I noticed that the problem has three variables: x, y, and z. It asks me to solve for the value of x. One of the statements gives me the value for y and the other gives me the value for z. I’m already thinking E is probably not the right answer (think about why before you keep reading – I’ll explain this under the “Other Strategies” question, below).

Did I understand the actual CONTENT (facts, knowledge) being tested?

• What kind of average is this problem discussing? Regular average / mean is characterized by the formula A = S/n, where A is the average of the set, S is the sum of the items in the set, and n is the number of items in the set. Is this problem testing “regular” averages? Let’s see: a “regular” average of 10% gravel and 2% gravel would be (10+2) /2 = 6. But the problem says the resulting mixture is 5% gravel, not 6% gravel – so this isn’t a “regular” average.

• That means this problem must be about the more complicated weighted average. In a weighted average, some of the elements are weighed, or counted more heavily, than other elements, so the calculation has to take that into account. (And I have to know how to do that… more on that later.)

2. How well did I HANDLE what they were trying to test?

Did I choose the best APPROACH? Or is there a better way to do the problem? (There’s almost always a better way!) What is that better way? How am I going to remember this better approach the next time I see a similar problem?

• (See the original article, for a detailed discussion of the best approach. Here, I’ll pretend that I didn’t use the best approach.) Weighted average problems can be solved by using the weighted average formula, which is what I tried to do. I got into trouble with it though – I didn’t set it up properly and so I couldn’t finish it to see whether I could solve.

• There’s a shortcut solution method that I could have used, but I forgot about it when I was doing this problem. (See original article for this shortcut solution method.)

Did I have the SKILLS to follow through? Or did I fall short on anything?

• I ended up having to guess because I couldn’t solve the “official math” way and then I forgot to try the easier “shortcut” way. I’m going to redo this problem using the easier shortcut, and I’m also going to go find a couple of additional weighted average problems and do those with the easier shortcut way so that I can make sure that (a) I know how to do it this way, and (b) I remember / recognize when I can do it this way.

• I should still also learn how to do this using the “official math” weighted average formula, just in case I ever have to use the long way.

Did I make any careless mistakes? If so, WHY did I make each mistake? What habits could I make or break to minimize the chances of repeating that careless mistake in future?

• When I tried to use the “official” formula, I couldn’t remember exactly how to set it up, so I ended up setting it up with too many variables, and then of course I couldn’t solve. It’s data sufficiency, so knowing I can’t solve is sufficient… except that I knew I was doing something wrong because I couldn’t really remember the formula. I need to go and study that formula. I should make a flash card with “weighted average formula” on one side, and the couple of different ways the formula can be written on the other side. (Those different ways are listed in my Word Translations strategy guide.)

Am I comfortable with OTHER STRATEGIES that would have worked, at least partially? How should I have made an educated guess?

• I was pretty sure it wasn’t E because it looks like you can set up a three-variable equation, and then we’re supposed to solve for x. Each statement gives us only one of the two remaining variables, so it “looks like” it can’t be done unless you have both of the other variables… which you would for answer choice C. So, at the least, C does work and it’s not E.

• I ended up guessing C but, in hindsight, that’s a trap too. I could ask my 14-year-old niece: if you have an equation with three variables and you want to solve for one of those variables, what do you need to know? And she’d say “The other two variables.” (And then she’d probably think, “Duh, Aunt Stacey.”) This test isn’t for my 14-year-old niece, though, it’s for people who have already graduated from college. So that’s too easy. And that’s really interesting, because that means that you most likely CAN actually solve given just one statement. Each statement represents one of the two unknown variables, so if one works, it’s fairly likely that the other one works too… so I probably should have guessed D.

Do I understand every TRAP & TRICK that the writer built into the question, including wrong answers?

• See above – I think C and E are both trap answers on this one, and C is especially tempting.

3. How well did I or could I RECOGNIZE what was going on?

Did I make a CONNECTION to previous experience? If so, what problem(s) did this remind me of and what, precisely, was similar? Or did I have to do it all from scratch? If so, see the next bullet.

Can I make any CONNECTIONS now, while I’m analyzing the problem? What have I done in the past that is similar to this one? How are they similar? How could that recognition have helped me to do this problem more efficiently or effectively? (This may involve looking up some past problem and making comparisons between the two!)

• Yes, I did make a connection, but I also missed one. I did recognize that this was a weighted average problem even though it didn’t explicitly mention the word “average,” so I’m happy about that. I didn’t recognize, however, that I could have used a big shortcut that would have saved me a lot of time and frustration. I need to go study that shortcut, how to recognize it, how to use it, etc – and maybe make a couple of flash cards.

HOW will I recognize similar problems in the future? What can I do now to maximize the chances that I will remember and be able to use lessons learned from this problem the next time I see a new problem that tests something similar?

• I need to do everything I already described in my notes above. I’m also going to re-do this problem from scratch– actually make myself write out the best way to do it, alternate ways to do it, how to make a guess, and so on, so that I really remember the lessons. Then, because my big problem on this one was with recognizing that I could use a shortcut and then actually using it, I’m going to find other weighted average problems that I’ve already done in the past and practice: (1) knowing how to recognize that it’s a weighted average and that it qualifies for the “weighted average shortcut,” (2) working through the problem using that shortcut, and (3) thinking about how to make an educated guess. Then I’m going to do new weighted average problems as part of a mixed set of problems consisting of things I’ve messed up recently and other random things (so that I don’t know exactly what I’m getting for each problem) and see whether I can quickly recognize and apply what I just learned.

And that’s it! Note that, of course, the details above are specific to each individual person – such a write-up would be different for every single one of you, depending upon your particular strengths, weaknesses, and mistakes. Hopefully, though, this gives you a better idea of the way to analyze a problem. This framework also gives you a valuable way to discuss problems with fellow online students or in study groups – this is the kind of discussion that really helps to maximize scores.

* GMATPrep® question courtesy of the Graduate Management Admissions Council. Usage of this question does not imply endorsement by GMAC.

Without question, gaining admission at virtually any of the top schools in the third round is more challenging. When mbaMission interviewed J.J. Cutler, Director of Admissions at UPenn-Wharton, he informed us,

…our ability to make decisions in the third round is different than it is in the first round. So my advice is to always use the third round as an absolutely last resort…I think if you’re serious, and if it’s possible, you should apply in Round 1 or 2. Third round is—and we’re very clear about this on our Web site—just significantly less optimal for an applicant than Round 1 or Round 2.

Similarly, Northwestern Kellogg’s Assistant Dean and Director of Admissions Beth Flye told mbaMission,

I would strongly encourage (applicants to) apply in one of the first two rounds. Are we going to shun those who apply in the third round? No, not at all.

While we don’t have the space to go through each and every admissions officer comment we have on Round 3, the theme among them all is that the first and second rounds are generally preferable for a serious candidate. However, what is particularly important to note is Ms. Flye’s final comment: “Are we going to shun those who apply in the final round? No, not at all.” There is a definite difference between a preference—even a strong preference—and a rule that states “don’t bother applying.”

Indeed, Rose Martinelli, Chicago Booth’s associate dean for student recruitment and admissions, recently addressed the myth of the impossible third round (R3) in a blog post, telling readers,

Somewhere along the line, R3 inherited the reputation of being somewhat irrelevant in the overall admissions cycle…The truth is that R3 can be a bit more competitive simply because the majority of applications and acceptances will occur in Rounds One and Two.  However, I’d like to emphasize that a good portion of our class will be admitted from R3…

Ms. Martinelli then added, “R3 exists for a reason… Your dream school should be on your radar no matter what people ‘are saying’!” Indeed, the third round is not a practical joke that schools are playing on applicants. By the time Round 3 rolls around, most admissions committees have been inundated with applications and are exhausted. Yet, they continue to review new candidates and they still grant acceptances. Otherwise, they would just cancel the round and start their vacations. So if you find yourself unable to apply earlier than the third round, you don’t need to take a pass on the year. If you are a standout candidate, apply and see what happens…

Read other Admissions Myths Destroyed:

• Admissions Myths Destroyed: The “Right” Path
• Admissions Myths Destroyed: I Should Quit My Job for the GMAT
• Admissions Myths Destroyed: Title Trumps All!
• Admissions Myths Destroyed: Yikes, a Typo; I am Done!
• Admissions Myths Destroyed: I Must Have Gotten It Wrong!
• Admissions Myths Destroyed: I Have No International Experience
• Admissions Myths Destroyed: I Have a Gap!
• Admissions Myths Destroyed: I Must Interview with the AdCom!
• Admissions Myths Destroyed: Well, I Had My Chance on the GMAT…
• Admissions Myths Destroyed: Why Worried? I Served!

Sometimes an entire passage has a tone. Take this example:

As we approach Earth Day, it is an appropriate time to reflect on our duty to protect the vast natural resources of this country. My imperative today is to show that there are ways to foster economic growth without compromising a healthy, sustainable environment. This nation’s public lands are one of the greatest national resources. They serve as tourist destinations for millions of Americans and generate important activity for many small businesses. We cannot help but feel inspired at their beauty, and afraid of the damage that unsustainable resource-extraction could wreak upon them.

While drilling may be required to meet our energy needs, it must be managed in a way that will not destroy wildlife habitat and diminish the hunting, fishing and grazing opportunities. Even now, unwise use puts these wild places in jeopardy; the need to check this exploitation is pressing. The greedy and malicious see in federal lands a one-time opportunity to fatten their pockets. Allowing the barons of  oil and gas to run rampant will all but assure the destruction of irreplaceable national treasures.

This passage overall has a cautionary tone; it explicitly encourages readers to protect the natural resources against destruction and unsustainable use. The tone is also urgent; words like imperative, must, even now, and pressing help convey the sense that the author’s warnings must be heeded right away.

A single paragraph can also have a tone. The second paragraph of the passage above has an especially negative, critical tone. Members of the oil and gas industry are referred to as greedy and malicious, as barons looking to fatten their pockets. The description of these people as evil tycoons contributes to the author’s case that we need to protect public lands.

Even single words can have significance for tone. Indeed, the associations that individual words call up in readers are the building blocks of tone. Perhaps the most evocative word in the passage above is barons. Barons are generally regarded as cruel despots and heartless opportunists; this word carries strongly negative connotations.

You can find more helpful tips and GMAT Reading Comprehension practice questions here from Knewton.