Of course, the GMAT usually doesn’t ask you to come up with ten percent of things. However, ten percent (and, by extension, one percent) is the fundamental building block of all other percents. Let’s start with a couple of simple examples.

Just like 20% is easy (once you have 10%), 5% and 1% are simple, as well. If you know that 10% = $6.50, you’re one small step away from knowing that 5% = $3.25 and 1% = $0.65. So, if you wanted to calculate 16%, you could simply add the three.

*This is an excerpt from a longer article by Jeff Sackmann, originally published at GMAT Hacks.  Jeff has created several valuable GMAT-preparation resources, including Total GMAT Math and Total GMAT Verbal.

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Anyone wondering whether the new test section may unwittingly give a boost to the GRE will be interested in knowing that, with the upcoming introduction of the GRE revised General Test, ETS plans to offer a limited-time 50% discount on the test fee to all individuals who take the test between August 1 and September 30, 2011.

The announcement appeared on the GRE website when ETS revealed a completely new test-taker section designed to educate potential graduate and business school students about the GRE revised General Test.

When it debuts in 2011, the GRE revised General Test will feature:

• More questions featuring real-life scenarios to better reflect the kind of thinking students will do in today’s demanding graduate and business school programs

• Less reliance on vocabulary out of context, more emphasis on reading — and no antonyms or analogies

• Many new navigation features, including the ability to skip questions and go back to them later within a section for a better test-taking experience

• New answer types, such as filling in a number or providing more than one response when asked, so students can better demonstrate what they know

• An on-screen calculator for the Quantitative Reasoning section

Also starting in August 2011, the split-test administration will be eliminated in China (including Hong Kong), Korea and Taiwan, and will be replaced with computer-based testing one to two times per month. Candidates testing in those regions will be able to take the Verbal, Quantitative and Analytical Writing sections on computer, all on the same day.

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If you are feeling stumped by your application essays and need some additional guidance, check out our NEW series of essay guides for MBA applications. Columbia, Harvard, Kellogg, Stanford and Wharton available now. They are seriously terrific and we are proud to say that almost every person who has ordered one has come back for more!

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The new integrated reasoning section, debuting in June 2012, will provide business schools with a window into how prospective students respond to the kinds of complex challenges they will encounter as managers in today’s information-rich business environment.

“The new integrated reasoning section of the GMAT will be a microcosm of today’s b-school classroom,” said Dave Wilson, president and CEO of GMAC in a statement. “These questions will provide critical intelligence to schools about the ability of prospective students to make sound decisions by evaluating, assimilating or extrapolating data.”

GMAC unveiled these changes to the exam in San Diego yesterday at its Annual Industry Conference, the largest gathering of graduate business school professionals in the world.

The integrated reasoning portion of the GMAT will capitalize on innovations in technology and assessments and feature questions that further enhance the validity of the test. These questions include information from multiple sources, such as charts, graphs, and spreadsheets. Examinees will be asked to analyze information, draw conclusions and discern relationships between data points, just as they must do in business school.

Overall length of the GMAT exam (three and a half hours) will not change. The Council says this new integrated reasoning section will be 30 minutes long and replace one of two essays that are part of the GMAT’s analytical writing section. Admissions officers have stated and GMAC research has shown that performance on the essays is closely aligned, making a single essay acceptable for predicting performance.

The GMAT exam’s verbal and quantitative sections will not change. As a result, when the new section is introduced in June 2012, tests will be scored on the same 200–800 scale used today. Test takers will receive a separate score for the essay—as they do now—and another distinct score on the new integrated reasoning section.

For more information about these enhancements to the GMAT, check out the Next Generation GMAT FAQs here.
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If you are feeling stumped by your application essays and need some additional guidance, check out our NEW series of essay guides for MBA applications. Columbia, Harvard, Kellogg, Stanford and Wharton available now. They are seriously terrific and we are proud to say that almost every person who has ordered one has come back for more!

We are on Facebook – join the Stacy Blackman Consulting group, or become a friend of Stacy Blackman.

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Her advice may seem rather obvious–learn from your errors so you don’t continue to make them–but Koprince delves deeper into the different types of mistakes people make and addresses the best way to minimize them.

Errors can come in several different forms: careless errors, content errors, and technique errors, she writes. Click here to learn how to create an error log and start learning from your mistakes today.

* * * * *

If you are feeling stumped by your application essays and need some additional guidance, check out our NEW series of essay guides for MBA applications. Columbia, Harvard, Kellogg, Stanford and Wharton available now. They are seriously terrific and we are proud to say that almost every person who has ordered one has come back for more!

We are on Facebook – join the Stacy Blackman Consulting group, or become a friend of Stacy Blackman.

I am on Twitter too…click to follow me on Twitter! www.twitter.com/stacyblackman

The last day to submit an application is May 20, 2010, with winners announced on May 30, 2010. For more information or to apply, get started here.

* * * * *

If you are feeling stumped by your application essays and need some additional guidance, check out our NEW series of essay guides for MBA applications. Columbia, Harvard, Kellogg, Stanford and Wharton available now. They are seriously terrific and we are proud to say that almost every person who has ordered one has come back for more!

We are on Facebook – join the Stacy Blackman Consulting group, or become a friend of Stacy Blackman.

I am on Twitter too…click to follow me on Twitter! www.twitter.com/stacyblackman