Looking for a way to learn about dozens of leading MBA programs from the comfort of your computer? Through the upcoming GMATCH virtual fair,  sponsored by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), prospective students can connect with admissions officials, ask questions of current students and alumni, and collect information about MBA programs in Asia, Europe and North America.

Set to run October 10th and 11th, 2012, the GMATCH fair will include the University of California-Berkeley Haas School of Business, the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, the Indian School of Business, the Tuck School of Business, UV Darden School of Business, Spain’s IESE Business School and EMLYON in France.

Established in 2010, GMATCH employs a rich graphical interface featuring virtual booths designed and run by each participating school. The online fair includes a multimedia auditorium with presentations on a variety of topics, such as choosing the best program and preparing for the GMAT exam. The GMATCH fair also has a lounge to facilitate networking with school staff and other prospective MBA students.

“The driving force behind GMATCH is our vision to provide students and institutions with tools that will help them thrive in today’s global, highly competitive economy,” says Pepe Carreras, GMAC vice president of marketing operations. “GMAC is pleased to host this high-tech event to bring together MBA programs and prospective students from around the world.”

Registration has begun for the GMATCH virtual fair, which will be open for six hours on each of the two days it occurs and is structured to allow people in different time zones to participate when it is most convenient for them. Students may register for the GMATCH fair by visiting www.mba.com/gmatch.

The number of GMAT scores sent by Chinese citizens to schools around the world nearly tripled (from 48,664 to 126,090) in the past five years, says a new report on GMAT score-sending patterns in Asia from the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC).

With 40,069 exams taken by Chinese citizens in the testing year ending June 30, 2011, growth has been driven by women test takers and those younger than 25, who are largely interested in specialized master’s programs outside of China.

According to an interview with Dave Wilson, president and chief executive of GMAC, the reason for this shift is that a lot of young people realize that the best time to take the GMAT is when they are in the last year of undergraduate program, when they’re used to exams and have the time to study.

The 2012 Asian Geographic Trend Report also illustrates the globalization of management education and the quality options within Asia and around the world. Programs in Asia saw a 63 percent increase in the number of GMAT scores received from test takers in testing year 2011 (42,933) when compared with 2007 (26,296). India remains the region’s leading destination for GMAT scores, receiving 11,484 score reports in 2007 and increasing to 17,638 in 2011, with the vast majority of scores coming from Indian citizens.

Overall, Asian citizens sent 69 percent of their scores to management programs in the U.S. in 2011, compared with 74 percent in 2007. Other study destinations among the top 10 that received more than 10,000 score reports from Asian citizens included India, United Kingdom, Singapore, and Canada.

The report also shows that Asian citizens sent an average of 3.4 GMAT scores per exam taken in 2011, significantly higher than the global average of 2.9.  However, there were substantial regional differences in score-sending habits. For example, Indian citizens sent the highest average number (4.4), and South Koreans sent the lowest (2.0).

“The significance of the Asian impact on management education is real,” says Wilson. “The flows of graduate management students to, from and within the region have positive benefits for Asian firms as well as multi-national companies that operate there.”

Learn what sophisticated GMAC research reveals about last-minute time-crunch strategies on the GMAT.

It’s All About Timing

Of course, learning to solve problems under time pressure is an important part of preparing for the GMAT.  Of course, you should do everything you can do to maximize your ability to perform at the highest level on as many questions as possible.  Of course, that’s what any responsible person preparing for the GMAT will strive to do.

All true, but as our friend Robert Burns (1759 – 1796) reminds us, the best laid plans of mice and men go oft astray.  As well as you prepare, as diligently as you practice, you may find yourself at the end of a section on a real GMAT running out of time. What should you do? Guess randomly or omit the question?

Guessing vs. Solution Behavior

First, I need to clarify what I mean by “guessing.”  By “guessing”, or “random guessing”, I mean you have no earthly clue which of the five answer choices is right.  The right answer could equally be any of the five as far as you are concerned.  This would most often occur if you are doing rapid guessing in the last few seconds of a session — answering, say that last 5 question in the last 10-15 seconds, for example (we’ll talk about the wisdom of that below.)  Conceivably, a question could occur in the middle of the test which utterly befuddles you, but given that you have been preparing diligently for the GMAT, the likelihood of something so arcane as to stymie you completely is remote at best.

If you study the question, and can eliminate some answers, but don’t know which of the remaining answers is right, this is called “solution behavior“. On average, solution behavior will benefit you. It is always, 100% of the time, much better than either random guessing or omitting.  If you have any clue about a question, and can narrow the answers down to three or two choices, then guess from among those and move on.  NEVER leave such a question blank. I cannot underscore that enough.

On the Verbal Section: Omit (AKA Skip)!

GMAC, those folks that design the GMAT, did a study in 2009 trying to answer the question about guessing or omitting in the final moments of the test.  They looked at patterns in tens of thousands of GMATs, and culled through the data.  You can read the whole paper at the link below, but I really summarize everything you need in this blog article.

It turns out, on the verbal section, it appears there is no substantial difference between guessing on the last few question or omitting them.  Your score will be, on average, the same regardless of which way you choose.  This is invaluable information, because it implies undoubtedly the best strategy to use in that situation.  I quote the GMAT gurus in the article: “If an examinee found herself with only a minute remaining to answer the last four items of the verbal section, it would be to her benefit to spend time trying to answer at least one of the remaining questions with thought while feeling confident that leaving the remaining items blank would not affect the score much differently than random responding” (p. 12).  Thus, when running out of time on the Verbal section of the GMAT, your focus should be: remain calm, and simply do your best working thoroughly with each question one at a time, even if that means there are two or three questions you simply don’t see.    That’s the univocal strategy for the precious last minutes on the GMAT Verbal section.

On the Quantitative Section: Know Thyself!

The data from test takers is far more nuanced on the quantitative section.  Here, the advice varies widely, depending on your abilities.  I will assume you have at least a rough idea about whether you are a top scoring math student or someone who really struggles with math.

For folks who struggle with math, who are anticipating a relatively low grade on math (i.e. below 25), it turns out that, as in the verbal section, it is advantageous to omit questions. If you don’t know, simply leave the question blank instead of randomly guessing.  Again, if you have enough insight to eliminate even one answer choice, that’s no longer guessing but rather solution behavior, and you should guess from the remaining answers.  But if you truly have no clue, and especially if you are running out time, plan to omit questions, and do you best with the ones which you can either solve or apply solution behavior.

For folks at the other end of the spectrum, folks very talented in the quantitative section and shooting for one of the highest scores, the advice is the polar opposite: omitting a question is one of the worst things you can do.  If you are that caliber of math student, probably few GMAT PS or DS questions will outright stump you, but if you don’t work quickly, running out of time might be a problem. If worst comes to worst, and you have less than a minute to do the last handful of questions, you will be much better served by randomly guessing than leaving anything blank.

What about the many folks in between, folks headed for a decent score on GMAT Quantitative, but not planning to blow the doors off?  Well, if you’re really good at math, omitting answers hurts you a lot.  If you medium at math, omitting answers hurts you a little. Basically, you are better off answering every question, even if that means random guessing in a last mad dash at the end.

Summary

Those are the most sophisticated data-driven recommendations on GMAT guessing strategies available. Of course, if at any point you can practice solution behavior — that is, you can intelligently eliminate some answer choices and after that get stuck — then you should always guess from the remaining choices and never leave such a question blank.  And, of course, the more you practice against the clock, and practice a wide variety of GMAT questions, the less the dilemma of a last-minute crunch will be your problem at all.

Work Cited:

Talento-Miller, Eileen and Ranimn Guo. Guess What? Score Differences with Rapid Replies versus Omissions on a Computerized Adaptive Test.  GMAC Research Reports, RR-09-04, February 1, 2009.

Original paper available at: http://www.gmac.com/NR/rdonlyres/14987E08-3220-4D52-BDC3-D5EB12EAA7AC/0/RR0904_GuessWhat.pdf

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This post was written by Mike McGarry, GMAT expert at Magoosh, and originally posted here.

The growing popularity of specialized master’s programs has not diminished interest in MBA programs; rather, a new segment in the prospective student population has emerged, based on findings in a new report from the Graduate Management Admission Council.

Among all prospective students surveyed, 55 percent still report exclusive interest in attending an MBA program (this has remained steady over the last three years), while 18 percent of prospective students have their sights set only on a specialized master’s program, up from 13 percent in 2009.

The mba.com Prospective Students Survey results for the first time offer insight into the reasons why prospects choose study destinations. Similar to GMAT score sending patterns, the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada came in as the top three preferred destinations. Those surveyed cited the reputation of a country’s educational system as the most compelling reason for choosing a specific destination.

Prospective students intending to study in the U.S. cited better career preparation, whereas improved chances for an international career was cited for non-U.S. destinations. Notably, respondents selecting Canada, Singapore, and India cited affordability as a key factor.

“Prospective students have more information and more options with program choice than ever before,” says Dave Wilson, president and CEO of GMAC. “But as the dark economic clouds continue to dissipate, the challenge of meeting the financial costs of a graduate management program is very much on their minds.”

Fewer respondents cited economic reservations as a constraint to pursuing a graduate management degree compared with three years ago. Yet, when choosing a specific program to apply to, financial considerations have become more important. Potential students say they will rely more on personal savings and family support than on loans, grants and other aid.

The Prospective Students Survey includes responses from 16,000 people who registered on mba.com in 2011. With more than 56,000 aspiring management students providing feedback about their motivations, behaviors, program choices, and intended career outcomes over the past three years, it is one of the largest surveys of its kind.

This post originally appeared on the U.S. News–Strictly Business MBA Admissions Blog.