The of the GMAT contains 41 multiple choice questions that you must answer in 75 minutes. In order give yourself the best chance of success, aim to do each question in 60 seconds. This will automatically build in time for you to review your answers, and provide you with extra time to spend on the most difficult questions.

Not sure you can meet this goal? Here are some time saving tips:

1. Identify the type of question being asked. Questions will take 3 forms; Reading Comprehension; Critical Reasoning, or Sentence Correction, but they appear in random order Make sure you’re applying to proper reasoning to each question.
2. Start with the hardest ones. Pick the types of questions you find most difficult and double your practice of those. This will help you focus your efforts and increase your confidence going into the test.
3. Practice your short hand. Both Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension are solved faster if you break out the major points of the passage; but don’t let yourself get bogged down. Practice taking points and rewriting them in as few words as possible (think 5 or less)
4. Use your ear to eliminate first. This tip applies best to Sentence Correction. Read the sentence to yourself with the available answers. If it sounds awkward, it likely is not the answer you want.
5. Love your stopwatch. It’s almost impossible to think critically and keep track of each minute, so make sure you’re practicing against a timer. Using a timer will help you meet your goal of 60 seconds per question, and give you a better sense of how much time has passed while you write – something you’ll need for the exam.

Reading to start timing yourself? Try a to see how you measure up.

The new year is almost upon us and so are round two MBA application deadlines. With this putting the pressure on applicants the admissions office at Yale School of Management came forward with an early holiday treat – 4 tips for B-school applicants.

1. Work on your essays. Here is your chance to share your personal/professional narrative, so make sure your essays not only answer the questions, but tell a coherent and concise story. Consider asking a mentor or colleague to read over your essays and provide honest feedback on how well you achieve these goals.
2. Polish your resume. The resume is a snapshot of your educational and professional life to-date. Make sure it is clean, clear, and concise; that it highlights your achievements as well as responsibilities; and that it is completely typo-free.
3. Settle your recommendations. You want to give your recommenders as much time as possible to complete their recommendations. If you have not finalized your choice of recommenders yet and sent them the recommendation form, now is the time to do so.
4. Consider retaking a standardized test. If you’ve already taken the GMAT or GRE but not satisfied with the results and feel that you can do materially better, there’s still time to take it again. But, keep in mind that you’re in crunch time now, so make sure you have all other elements of the application under control if you’re considering retaking the test.

The GMAT Quantitative section includes between two and four data interpretation questions which will always include a graph, chart, or data table. If you aren’t keen on data, and numbers to start with, this section can be very intimidating, so this week we’ve put together some ‘cheats’ that can boost your performance in this section; no numbers required.

1. Read all questions carefully, and take care not to mix percentages with raw numbers.
2. Whenever the question speaks of an “approximation” you can round off the numbers for faster calculations.
3. Read the data artifacts first, take a moment to consider what you’re seeing and then read the problem. This can help you solve the problem faster.
4. Do not rush. The majority of mistakes are not made from calculation mistakes, but from using the wrong data. Be sure of what the question is asking.

Ready to put those tips to the test? Log into JumboTests now and see how you prepared you are.

Discussion around the value of an EMBA continued today amongst the recent release of the Financial Times’ 2010 EMBA Rankings.

While EMBA have been traditionally favoured by the Corporate world to retain star performers, corporate sponsorships are at an all time low, leaving coverage the cost these programs to individuals, and with some programs costing upwards of $150,000; it’s a large financial burden to take on. So, is the current decline in the EMBA’s popularity a trend; or a natural reaction to the current economic temperature?

Howard Kaufold, director of the EMBA program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, feels confident that what we’re seeing now is more of a cycle than a trend. “I still think the EMBA is good value, but it’s harder to see that when you are in a down cycle,” he says.

Another reason for hope for the EMBA: it’s gaining popularity worldwide. Steve DeKrey, associate dean of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Business School, says demand in Asia is on the rise as the EMBA has become the degree of choice in the east. “In Asia, the EMBA is taking over the mantle that the MBA has in the west,” says DeKrey. “Back in the west, [the EMBA] has always been the stepchild.”

This degree is so popular, tha almost one third of participants on the Kellogg-HKUST EMBA program are self-financing, says DeKrey. “It’s not just that the company won’t pay … half of my people who are self- financed are doing so through choice.”

Read the complete Top Ten List

Today’s GMAT preparation tips come from Soojin Kwon Koh, Direction of Admission at the Ross School of Business. Koh likens preparing for the the GMAT to competing in a marathon. “Everyone’s training;” she says “if you want to be competitive, you should too.” Here are her top GMAT Prep tips:

1. Set a goal. To determine your target score, use the GMAT averages and ranges of the schools to which you are applying as a guide. Scoring in a school’s middle 80-percent range puts you in the running.
2. Set a schedule. If you choose to prepare on your own, carve out regular study time on your calendar. Mark down the day or days you plan to take an entire practice test to assess your progress. As in most situations, thorough and disciplined preparation is a key to success.
3. Simulate the test day scenario. Around the same time of day that you will be taking the actual test, close your door, turn off your phone, set a timer, and take a practice test. Endurance often is the key, and it’s important to remain focused throughout the duration of the exam. Continue these “training runs” and your preparation regimen until you score in your target range and feel you can go into the actual test with confidence.
4. Go for your personal best. You may hit your goal on your first try, or you may not. It’s okay if you don’t. If you think you can do better, and can muster up the stamina to give it another shot, you should. Schools look favourably upon applicants who retake the GMAT rather than submitting only one low score.

Bonus tip: The GMAT won’t make or break you. Keep in mind that the GMAT is only one aspect of your application. Schools evaluate applications holistically; no single element of your application will guarantee admission or denial. So for those who ace the GMAT, don’t rest on the laurels of your strong score – go for a personal best on every application component.

The Economist has recently release their annual global ranking of full-time MBA programs, and it’s been quite the shake up. According to the newspaper the list of school is often similar through the years with only small movements up and down the scale, however this year the swings have been much wider.

Overall trends this year trends include:

• Global domination by North American business schools, with the top 4 rankings (and 7 of the top ten) programs located in either the USA or Canada
• Salaries are down globally, however European MBA’s still earn more than their North American counterparts. However, this is due to increased age and experience of European candidates, not hot job markets.
• Despite a focus on recruiting more female MBA candidates men still out number women by a third.
• Asian MBA candidates are becoming more likely to forgo travelling for second tier B-Schools, instead pursuing options closer to home.

To see the Top Ten rankings, as well as the criteria used by The Economist to rank these schools, make sure to click here.

According to recent findings released by the Graduate Management Admissions Council, the growth MBA programs have been experiencing over recent years may be slowing down.

Less than 45% of full-time MBA programs reported an increase in applications, compared to 77% two years ago, and 66% last year. Part time programs reported applications are comparable to last years numbers.

One program area that is experiencing growth are the Executive MBAs, with 59% of these programs reporting an increase in applications this year – compared with only 37% in previous years.

“The findings from this survey underscore the importance of flexibility and creativity in delivering management education,” said Dave Wilson, president and CEO of GMAC.

“People can always derive great value from going to business school; our surveys attest to this fact. But many changing factors affect the kinds of programs that best meet their needs. Applicants need to find the very best fit for their own game plan.”

With 190 million twitter users and 500 million Facebook book users, B-schools have come to realize the importance of training MBA candidates to understand and develop marketing strategies that reflect the rules of online marketing. Schools like Harvard, Columbia, London Business School, INSEAD, HEC Paris, and others have begun adding courses on social media to their curricula, addressing the corporate demand for social-network-savvy employees.

“In the realm of technology it’s possible for us to teach our students a tool that their bosses don’t have, and they can provide that added value from day one,” says John Gallaugher, associate professor of information systems at Boston College’s Carroll School of Management.

Who’s offering what?

• Columbia Business School offers four Internet marketing courses, Two of which (Social Media and Media and Technology) will be offered for the first time next spring,
• Stanford Graduate School of Business has a new course designed to promote social good through nonprofit businesses entitled The Power of Social Technology.
• Harvard Business School has introduced Competing with Social Networks, a second year elective that is so popular there are 3 student enrolled for every available seat.
• INSEAD offers Advertising and Social media Strategy, a two month course focusing on non-traditional marketing techniques to prepare student to deal with the new media landscape.

If you have been hunting for information on B-Schools you’ll have realized that many schools have released their application essay topics. Many schools also release GMAT blogs that are full of tips with how to write a strong application essay. Stanford, however, has taken the opposite approaching and provided mistakes to avoid while preparing your B-school application essay. Here are their tips, slightly modified so you can use them for any school application:

1. Making your essays to general. Often one of the essays you’ll be asked to write will ask you a direct question about why this school. Why Chicago Booth’s MBA program? What appeals to you about Stanford’s leadership philosophy? If you’ve been asked to explain why you want this school above others be sure to address that in your essay.
2. Using out of date examples. When using examples from your own life, make sure they are recent and relevant to the topic of discussion. Some schools will even provide you with a set number of years you can work back to.
3. Combining your short essays into one long essay. If you’re asked to write a number of short answer essays (Stanford, for example asks people to pick 2 out of 5 topics to discuss), make sure you’re following instructions and writing separate pieces.
4. Cutting and pasting from other essays. Cutting and pasting text, even your own, can be a big risk. You may interrupt the flow of the essay, risk not properly addressing the question, or worst of all, entering the wrong name of the school. Always write original text for each essay, even if the ideas are they same.
5. Not being genuine. Don’t write about what you think the right answer should be, or what you think the readers want to hear. They want to know what you truly believe the school should know about you.
6. Messing with the format. Always double space, always use 12-point font, always chose Arial, Courier or Times New Roman fonts, first to ensure that your essay can be downloaded by the reviewers, and second to ensure they can easily read it.

If you’re interested in completing your MBA, but not ready or able to commit to a full time program, a Hybrid MBA may be the solution you’re looking for. Hybrid MBA’s offer a mix of online instruction with in-class instruction allowing student to attend the school of their choice without necessarily having to give up their job, moving, or adding endless hours of commuting to their day.

Many people considering an MBA are reluctant to pursue a completely online program for fear that they may be considered less prestigious by their peers, and that is a valid concern. Why bother going to the trouble of completing such a demanding program if it is not going to bring you the opportunities you’re looking for? However, hybrid programs are gaining popularity with more and more schools as, after the initial fiscal investment of designing the program, these programs are relatively low maintenance using less campus services and resources. This means the number of schools offering these type of programs is growing and now includes many presitigous schools like Duke/Fuqua School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business and Babson College.

Today’s tips come from Amit Jain, a first year MBA student chronicling his time at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business via his new blog. Below, are 5 things to complete before starting your MBA, according to Jain.

1. Find your focus. If you come into the program focused on what you want to do both during your MBA as well as post-degree, you’ll have a leg up over your fellow students.
2. Finish your pre-assignments early. This is especially true for students moving to attend school. Once you arrive at your destination you’ve got find a home base, get to know the city, settle into a new routine, and so much more. Save yourself the last minute stress by finish your pre-course work before moving.
3. Explore the school. Heading to the campus before it’s swarming with people can give you time to get your bearings and find classrooms so you won’t be lost your first day.
4. Open you mind. Your MBA program is a melting pot of students and ideas; keep your mind open to people and activities no matter what you first opinion – you may be surprised by how you feel about them at the end of the term.
5. Spend time with you family and friends. You’re about to get very, very busy… Make the most of out your spare time while you still have it.

About to start the MBA application process and hoping to be the best possible candidate you can be? Why not take your information straight from the source? Below are 6 tips for being a good MBA applicant, courtesy of Jenni Denniston, Manager of Admission Recruiting at the Richard Ivey School of Business (University of Western Ontario).

1. Do your own homework Read each school’s website thoroughly before shooting off any emails to an admissions officer or to general inquiries. It reflects poorly on you and your commitment to the program if you’re asking questions that can be answered by reading the FAQ page.
2. If the opportunity exists to create an account with your target school(s), do so Being on the mailing list keeps you in the loop for invite-only applicant events, deadlines and other important information. This will reduce the amount of searching you would have to do. If the school doesn’t know that you’re interested in their program, they won’t keep you apprised of any news that could help in your application process.
3. Attend events hosted by your target B-school(s) Whether it is an MBA Fair, Info Session, Open House, etc., attending an event in person and meeting representatives from the school is a great way to determine if the school is a good fit with your personality and background. Plus, it shows that you have a higher level of commitment to the program than a person who simply submits an application with zero interaction.
4. Read the application requirements/instructions carefully Requirements are similar among B-schools, but they’re not identical. Be sure to know exactly what you need to submit for each school you apply to, and what the minimum application requirements are. You will save yourself (and the admissions team) a lot of time and frustration if you take the time to print out the checklist and follow the directions.
5. Plan Ahead Once you determine which schools you will apply to, work backwards. Determine which deadline you are targeting to submit your application, and schedule your GMAT for at least a month before this date (just in case you decide you want to re-write), and don’t forget to have a conversation with your banker/parents/financial advisor about the investment you are looking to make in your education.
6. Be Patient After reading the website and application instructions thoroughly (Tips #1 and 4), you should have a sense of what will happen after you click the submit button on your application: if the school indicates that it will contact you, be patient and let them contact you. Many programs have a ‘no news is good news’ policy, so if anything is missing from your application, or if you are required to schedule an interview, you will be notified as soon as possible.

Yes. Or least so says a recent survery released by the Graduate Management Admission Council, 55% of responding companies plan to hire new MBA grads in 2010, which is excellent news for MBA candidates who can see the finish line approaching.
GMAC also found that employers are shifting away from an emphasis on cost-cutting and retrenchment and paying more attention to growing their businesses—a particularly positive development for job-seekers. “Employers have spoken clearly. The intrinsic value they place on the skills people develop in business school does not rise and fall just because the economy does,” said Dave Wilson, president and CEO of GMAC.

For those of you just starting to walk the MBA path, the study includes useful news for you as well; predicted job opportunities for the MBA class of 2010 are consulting and health care. Positions in marketing and sales are likely to be most plentiful, followed by finance-related slots in areas other than investment banking, according to GMAC.

According to the Financial Times’ 2010 Executive Education Rankings it’s the United States of America; home of the Darden School of Business. Along with the results, FT revealed that companies expect three things from schools specializing in executive education. After all, says Sean Meehan, Dean of External Relations at IMG If [corporations] are paying the bill, it is their agenda that needs to be addressed>

1. To be more aware of corporate needs and deliver programs more attuned to their requirements;
2. To be more global in their approach;
3. To offer the best value for the money, using technology in the process.

So which school’s are giving the corporations what they want? Click here to see the top 20 ranked Business schools.

An increasing number of women are heading to business school, citing a weakened economy, the flexibility the degree affords and an effort by universities to actively recruit more female students according to a recent Forbes article.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, women received 44% of M.B.A.s in 2007, up from 39% a decade earlier, translating to a 75% increase over the last 10 years. Furthermore, based on currently recrutting trends at Ivy schools, this number maybe continue to increase -the Wharton Business School’s, class of 2011 is comprised of 40% women, up from 32% in 2007.

But despite the increasing numbers of women pursuing M.B.A.s, they are still under represented within that particular field of study. Women currently receive 61% of all master’s degrees awarded but only 44% of all M.B.A.s, according to the U.S. Department of Education. And this is something that peopple like Elissa Ellis Sangster are working to change. Sangster is executive director of the Forté Foundation; a consortium of schools and businesses dedicated to increasing the percentage of women pursuing M.B.A.s,

“It’s great that women are close to the 50% mark, but there’s still a lot[of work] to do,” says Sangster. She hopes to see women’s enrollment in elite schools continue to rise, along with women’s representation in senior leadership roles. “We’re still relatively new to the workforce. We need more examples female leaders, mentors and role models.”

While preparing for their book, Rethinking the MBA, Srikant Data, David Garvin, and Patrick Cullen (all researchers from Harvard) polled a number of b-school deans, corporate recruiters, and business executives to find suprising results: MBA graduates are lacking in soft skills. Particularly the ability to communication.

“Even the students we hire from the best schools can’t communicate,” one recruiter observed. Another said: “Communication skills are poor, and without them you cannot lead.” Even more surprisingly, deans were equally scathing. “The ability to communicate is lacking. Students don’t know how to present in front of groups nor how to express their concerns in a frank but non-aggressive way,” one dean said.

The reasoning behind this may be due to the fact that traditional MBA are taught by not by business practitioners, but by academics who focus on theory and hard skills such as finance, accounting, and supply chain management with little emphasis on communication and presentation skills.

Many school have taken measures to counter this problem by increasing their program’s communication training. Some have created new classes, some have even gone so far as to include mandatory humanities (think sociology or philosophy) training in their program. But this could also mean good news for Liberal Arts and Humanities grads considering an MBA as those disciplines already focus more on training the soft skills of verbal and written communication as well as problems solving. If you have those skills down, MBA programs are looking for you! All you’ll need to do is ace your GMAT.

You’ve got a touch decision to make. On one hand, going back to school for an MBA can earn you a lot more money during the life of your career. On the other, more money over 30 years doesn’t give you the funds to pay for schooling right now. But did you know there are ways for both for domestic and international students to make getting an MBA or even writing the GMAT more affordable?

• Each year, GMAC offers a limited number of fee waivers to schools that use the GMAT so that they may give free access to the exam to students with financial need. Each school can apply for up to ten waivers a year, so when considering schools for your MBA, make sure to inquire about this program.
• If you’ve got the grades, scholarships can go a long way to lowering the cost of your MBA; but what if your grades aren’t stellar? Consider bursaries, which are awarded amounts given to students who are able to demonstrate financial need. Schools know that students can no longer rely on corporate training budgets to help offset the costs of an MBA and are responding with the creation of more bursaries and scholarships; all you have to do is dig to find them.
• International students can often have trouble securing loans from banks; so stop looking to banks. In 2009 GMAC launched a pilot lending program to help international students attend business school. This program has a lending base of over $500m and can be used for funding at 40 different schools across the US and Europe. The British Council also has similar programs for students looking to study in the UK.
• Choose a school that gives you options – not all MBA programs are structured the same way. Choosing a part time MBA program over a full time MBA will allow you to keep working while in school. Also, did you know that some schools do not require to you pay the entire cost of your tuition at once? Some schools, like Manchester Business School Worldwide, allow you to split the cost of your program over a number of months, or even years to ease the financial burden.

You spend hours in a little room studying to ace your GMAT, so you can reach your goal of spending hours in a classroom to get your MBA. If that sounds unbearably dull, pay attention: your MBA education does not have to be that way.

Recently, the Darden School of Business (University of Virginia) announced the launch of their Global Business Experiences. These one-to-two week courses allow students to travel to the counties they are studying, highlighting how culture and business protocol work around the world, as well as increasing students understanding of economic and political challenges outside of the United States.

Last year, participants travelled to Argentina, Bahrain, Brazil, China, Egypt, Spain and Sweeden. This Spring, participating first and second year students will be adding Israel to that list. Professor Gal Raz, who teaches operations and supply chain management at Darden, says this GBE is unique in its focus on innovation and entrepreneurship in Israel; students will work on an actual project to develop a business plan to bring a product to the U.S. market. A project which counts for 50% of the grade; but isn’t the experience worth the pressure?

If you have served in the military, corporations want you, and that means top MBA programs want you too. Even if your GMAT score leaves a little to be desired, your experience serving can give you a serious edge.

According to coporate recruiters, veterans bring an affinity for leadership and strong teamwork skills to their workplaces, and tend to be highly successful in business because of their keen sense discipline and ability to create camaraderie amongst coworkers. Recently, the Wall Street Journal detailed exactly what makes veterans so attractive to schools. “They automatically know how to work in a team and they have respect, an impotant characteristic for business schools.” Stacy Blackman, an MBA admissions consultant, told the paper.

Thanks to programs like the Yellow Ribbon program, and the funding increase in the GI bill, Business Schools are able to do more than ever to help attract veterans to their programs with military job fairs, dedicated veteran’s scholarships, and government partnered scholarships. Along with these initiatives, which can not only assist with tution costs, but also housing and books, many schools are have created transitional programs that start a few weeks before the school term that can help ease nontraditional students into campus life, or teach them how to translate their military backgrounds into corporate friendly language.

There is more to getting into your dream school than acing the GMAT, so this week we’re bringing you tips on your MBA interview from the UCLA Anderson School of Management’s MBA admissions director Mae Jennifer Shores.

• This is not a popularity contest. It does not matter how well you connect with the interviewer. They are assessing you for academic readiness and overall ability to contribute to the school’s MBA program.
• Advance preparation is not necessary. You will not be asked to prove your mastery of any particular subject. Questions asked will be straightforward involving topics you would have covered in your application.
• Over preparing could hurt you. These interviews are meant to be a dialogue, so follow the interviewer’s cues for tone. Excessively pre-rehearsing your speech can limit the ability for your personality to shine through.
• Length does not indicate success. Interviews are set to last 30 minutes, however as with most interviews, some will run longer and some finish faster. This is normal and not likely to be a reflection of the interviewer’s feelings towards the candidate.
• Your interviewer is walking in blind. Interviewers do not see application in advance in order to eliminate preconceived notions of the candidate. Your interviewer knows as little about you as you do them.
• All interviews carry the same weight. While interviewing on campus allows you to get a better feel for the school, it has no impact on your admissions decision.
• Do not see feedback where there is none. Interviewers are unlikely to provide you with feedback during or after the interview. Take care not to misinterpret any verbal or non-verbal communication from the interviewer.