Is ?

1.
2.

(A) Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but Statement (2) ALONE is not sufficient
(B) Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but Statement (1) ALONE is not sufficient
(C) BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient
(D) EACH statement ALONE is sufficient
(E) Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient

OA and Explanation

Verbal (CR)

In the earliest stages of the common law, a party could have a case heard by a judge only upon the payment of a fee to the court, and then only if the case fit within one of the forms for which there existed a writ. At first the number of such formalized cases of action was very small, but judges invented new forms which brought more cases and greater revenues. Which of the following conclusions is most strongly suggested by the paragraph above?

(A) Early judges often decided cases in an arbitrary and haphazard manner.
(B) In most early cases, the plaintiff rather than the defendant prevailed.
(C) The judiciary at first had greater power than either the legislature or the executive.
(D) One of the motivating forces for the early expansion in judicial power was economic considerations.
(E) The first common law decisions were inconsistent with one another and did not form a coherent body of law.

OA and Explanation

In normal printing mode, 20 printers can print 100 pages in 3 minutes. In economy mode, printers work 20% faster than in normal mode. How many printers are required to print 180 pages in 3 minutes in economy mode?

(A) 25
(B) 28
(C) 29
(D) 30
(E) 32

OA and Explanation

Verbal (SC)

In a leveraged buyout, investors borrow huge sums of money to buy companies, hoping to pay off the debt by using the company’s earnings and to profit richly by the later resale of the companies or their divisions.

(A) by using the company’s earnings and to profit
(B) by using the companies’ earnings and by profiting
(C) using the companies’ earnings and profiting
(D) with the company’s earnings, profiting
(E) with the companies’ earnings and to profit

OA and Explanation

John throws a coin until a series of three consecutive heads or three consecutive tails appears. What is the probability that the game will end after the fourth throw?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
(E)

OA and discussion

Verbal (SC)

A recent national study of the public schools shows that there are now one microcomputer for every thirty-two pupils, four times as many than there were four years ago.

(A) there are now one microcomputer for every thirty-two pupils, four times as many than there were
(B) there is now one microcomputer for every thirty-two pupils, four times as many than there were
(C) there is now one microcomputer for every thirty-two pupils, four times as many as there were
(D) every thirty-two pupils now have one microcomputer, four times as many than there were
(E) every thirty-two pupils now has one microcomputer, four times as many as

OA and discussion

“My visit to the cemetary on Friday gave new meaning to ‘Black Friday’ for me.”

Actually it didn’t. But if it had, that line would have provided a strong opening to this post on the second of Made to Stick’s six principles of memorable, persuasive communication: Unexpected.

You expect me to post about writing and admissions, not about cemetary visits with intrinsic hints at the macabre. As the authors of Made to Stick argue, surprise seizes attention.

Once you have your readers’ attention, they are more likely to read out of interest, pay attention to your message, and remember what you write.

Corollary: The expected, the routine, and the ordinary bore. Essays with these traits are likely to be skimmed, yawned over, and forgotten. The ding pile acts like a magnet to pedestrian writing.

Given that you aren’t Shakespeare,  how can you apply this principle to application essays and personal statements?

Here are a few suggestions:

• Start in the middle of the action. Don’t turn people off with a long introduction that people don’t have the patience to read and you don’t have the word count to write.
• Start with a question to trigger curiosity and maybe build a little suspense.
• Avoid common openings “I want to do X because…” “I was born in…” “My parents come from…” Other common openings: rephrase the question (worked well in sixth grade) or borrow heavily from the school’s web site.

One caveat: Stay away from gimmickry. Surprise, the unexpected, suspense … they will help you engage your reader provided that the unexpected is “postdictable.” By relating to your core message in an unexpected way, but still supporting it, your personal statement or application essay will grab attention and build credibility while conveying your core message.

Now if I could just connect my visit to the cemetary on Black Friday to using the Unexpected in writing for acceptance…

By Linda Abraham, president and founder of Accepted.com.

A steamer going upstream would cover the distance between town A and town B in 4 hours and 30 minutes. If the same steamer going downstream would cover the distance between the towns in 3 hours, how long would it take a raft moving at the speed of the current to float from town B to town A?

(C) 2008 GMAT Club – m10#4

(A) 10 hours
(B) 12 hours
(C) 15 hours
(D) 18 hours
(E) 20 hours

OA and discussion

Verbal (CR)

Environmentalist:

The use of snowmobiles in the vast park north of Milville creates unacceptable levels of air pollution and should be banned.

Milville business spokesperson:

Snowmobiling brings many out-of-towners to Milville in winter months, to the great financial benefit of many local residents. So, economics dictate that we put up with the pollution.

Environmentalist:I disagree: A great many cross-country skiers are now kept from visiting Milville by the noise and pollution that snowmobiles generate.

Environmentalist responds to the business spokesperson by doing which of the following?

(A) Challenging an assumption that certain desirable outcome can derive from only one set of circumstances

(B) Challenging an assumption that certain desirable outcome is outweighed by negative aspects associated with producing that outcome

(C) Maintaining that the benefit that the spokesperson desires could be achieved in greater degree by a different means

(D) Claiming that the spokesperson is deliberately misrepresenting the environmentalist

(E) Denying that an effect that the spokesperson presents as having benefited a certain group of people actually benefited those people

OA and discussion

• MBA November special ends on Monday November 30. You can save $100 on any order of $2000 or more. Start now to be ready for those January deadlines. (Coupon code MBA100.) But hurry. The coupon code expires on Monday at midnight Eastern Time (GMT -5:00).
• MBA Letters of Recommendation that Rock, November’s featured ebook, is 20% off through November 30. That’s this Monday. It’s back to full price on Tuesday.
• New MBA Interview Reports. Check them out. We have recent interview reports from Harvard, Stanford, and many others. And don’t forget to share your interview experience. Doing so will automatically enroll you in our It’s a 10! contest, making you eligible to win an Amazon gift certificate.
• Consortium Chat. On Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at 5:00 PM PT/8:00 PM ET/1:00 AM GMT, Accepted.com will host an online chat for those interested in applying through the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management. Rebecca Dockery, the Consortium’s Recruiting Manager, and representatives of different Consortium schools will be available to answer your questions from application preparation to fellowships and everything in between.
• Stanford video released next week. I was interviewed extensively for this MBA Podcaster TV video on Stanford and the Stanford MBA application. Stay tuned.

By Linda Abraham, president and founder of Accepted.com.

The importance of appreciation hit me over the head last week when I received a call from a father whose son is graduating Stanford with a stellar GPA in a high demand field. (I have changed details in this story for confidentiality.)

The father called because his son has 6 job offers and wanted to know which one I thought would be better from an MBA admissions perspective. The job offers were from companies that many would give their eye teeth to work for– fantastic opportunities for growth and professional advancement with “brand” companies or boutique firms. BUT, the job that the son really wanted wasn’t among them. The father lamented his son’s fate, bemoaned how hard he has worked and echoed the son’s profound disappointment. I answered the father’s questions and then as the conversation came to a close
we had the following exchange.

Me: “It sounds to me like you son is a talented young man with lots of opportunities and a bright future.

The Dad: He doesn’t see it like that. He didn’t get the offer he wanted. None of those he received is perfect.

Me: They may not be perfect, but they may be good.

Isn’t it sad that instead of celebrating those six excellent offers in this tough, tough job market, both the son and the father are focused on the one that got away?

Are disappointments discouraging? Yes. Are they devastating? Not if you keep them in perspective by focusing on and appreciating what’s going right.

On this Thanksgiving, I am very thankful for a loving, healthy family and a thriving business. My mother, the subject of that favorite Thanksgiving blog post, is celebrating her 80th birthday this weekend. One daughter is expecting her third child, and one is enjoying her 10-month old baby. Our younger son married in August, and we are preparing for our eldest son’s wedding in March.  We count our blessings and are immensely thankful.

What are you thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving!

By Linda Abraham, president and founder of Accepted.com.

(C) 2008 GMAT Club – m25#2

* 6
* 7
* 8
* 9
* 10

4 professors and 6 students are being considered for membership on a supervisory committee which must consist of 3 people. If the committee has to include at least 1 professor, how many ways can this committee be formed?

(C) 2008 GMAT Club – m25#3

* 36
* 60
* 72
* 80
* 100

First, consider an unconstrained version of the question: how many committees of 3 are possible? The answer is . Now subtract the number of committees that consist entirely of students i.e. . The final answer is .

The correct answer is E.