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With regard to the GMAT, raw intellectual horsepower helps, but it is not everything. In this blog series, Manhattan Prep’s Stacey Koprince teaches you how to perform at your best on test day by using some common sense.

If you have only recently started studying for the GMAT (or even if you have been studying for a while!), you are likely annoyed by Data Sufficiency (DS). What is this weird question type, and why do they ask it? More importantly, how do we handle it?

What is Data Sufficiency?

The GMAT really is not a math test. (Neither is the GRE—we will look at a weird GRE quant question type next week.) These tests are actually trying to test us on our “executive reasoning” skills—that is, how well we make decisions and prioritize when faced with too many things to do in too little time.

So, DS questions are really about quickly analyzing a collective set of data and trying to figure out which pieces you need to do the job. Imagine your boss dumping a bunch of stuff on you and saying, “Hey, our client wants to know whether they should raise the price on this product. Can you answer that question from this data? If so, which pieces do we need to prove the case?”

We do, of course, have to do some math—and sometimes that math is quite annoying. We usually do not, however, have to do as much as we usually do on regular “problem solving” questions (the normal Quant questions).

How does Data Sufficiency work?

First, we are given what is called the “question stem.” Here is an example:

How old is Oliver?

The question stem asks us a question, naturally. It can also provide information, such as the following:

If Oliver’s age is even, how old is Oliver?

Now we know that Oliver’s age is an even number. If they told me, for example, that Oliver is either 13 or 14 years old, now I know he is definitely 14, because I should only consider even numbers as possible values for Oliver’s age.

Next, the problem will give us two statements, such as the following:

(1) Oliver is 4 years older than Sam.

(2) Sam will be 11 years old in 5 years.

So, can we figure out how old Oliver is? What information would we need to do so? The first statement, by itself, does not help, because we do not know how old Sam is. The second statement, by itself, also does not help, because it does not tell us anything about Oliver.

If we put the two statements together, however, then we can actually figure out how old Oliver is. In this case, using both statements 1 and 2 together is sufficient to answer the question. (And this situation corresponds to answer choice C on the GMAT.)

DS questions have five possible answers:

(A) Statement 1 does help us to answer the question but statement 2 does not.

(B) Statement 2 does help us to answer the question but statement 1 does not.

(C) Neither statement works on its own, but I can use them together to answer the question.

(D) Statement 1 works by itself and statement 2 works by itself.

(E) Nothing works. Even if I use both statements together, I still cannot answer the question.

Okay, these are weird. How do I get better?

These are going to take some practice, yes. In addition, this was only a very short introduction; a ton of great strategies are out there that you can learn. Look for books, articles, classes, and other resources to help. (Here is one to get you started.)

You also, of course, have to learn a bunch of math. What we have presented here, though, should help you get started on this kind-of-bizarre question type in the first place!

“The semester I spent in France during high school was a unique experience.”

“I want to attend Columbia Business School because of its unique Entrepreneurial Club.”

“The opportunity to do hands-on consulting at Ross is unique.”

“My finance background and strong interpersonal skills will allow me to make a unique contribution to Cornell’s Investment Management Club.”

One of our consultants recently counted five uses of the word “unique” in a single 600-word essay. What is more, not one of the uses actually fulfilled the term’s correct definition: “existing as the only one or as the sole example.” Business school applicants tend to use the word “unique” in an attempt to make themselves stand out to the admissions committee. However, because they use the word imprecisely—and often too frequently—it ends up having the opposite effect instead, and the essay loses its distinctiveness and believability. Another danger of using the term too casually is that you risk exposing your lack of research about the school if you claim something is unique to the school when it really is not.

Here are the same four statements we presented at the beginning of this post, written without the generic “unique.” In each case, the sentence is far more descriptive and therefore much less likely to appear in any other applicant’s essay.

“The semester I spent in France during high school was eye-opening, from the frogs’ legs I was served at dinner to the concept of shopping daily for my food.”

“I want to attend Columbia Business School because its Entrepreneurial Club offers an incredible range of activities that will prepare me to better run my own company.”

“The opportunity to do hands-on consulting at Ross will complement the theoretical background I will gain by taking classes on consulting.”

“My finance background and strong interpersonal skills will ensure that I will effectively coach and mentor classmates new to finance through the mentorship program offered by Cornell’s Investment Management Club.”

With the changing of the leaves and the influx of cooler weather on Columbia Business School’s (CBS’s) campus comes a series of student-run conferences that give both first- and second-year students the opportunity to expand their knowledge across a variety of disciplines via panels and keynote speaker addresses, and to network with like-minded students, conference sponsors (who are often also big CBS recruiters), and even industry professionals.

In October is the popular Social Enterprise Conference, during which speakers discuss the ways leaders and managers can use strategy as a tool to maximize social change and how organizations can incorporate a broader spectrum of social gains into their organizational strategies, among other issues.

The CBS Healthcare Conference follows. The 2014 conference featured the chairman and COO of Roche Pharmaceuticals and the president and CEO of Intermountain Healthcare as the keynote speakers.The Marketing Association of Columbia (MAC) Conference is up next and, like the Social Enterprise Conference, usually enjoys a packed house. The MAC Conference has focused on such topics as the elevation, enhancement, and personalization of the brand experience for today’s mindful consumer.

Conference season at Columbia continues into the second semester and features the India Business Conference and the Columbia Women in Business Conference. CBS often touts its New York advantage—students have the business world right outsidethe school’s door, ripe for exploration. Obviously, however, this advantage does not mean that CBS neglects to bring the business world to its students.

For more information on CBS or 15 other leading MBA programs, check out the mbaMission Insider’s Guides.

Many top business schools explicitly ask candidates about the steps they have taken to learn about their MBA program. The schools use such questions because they want to know that you have a sincere desire to gain a place in their next entering class specifically, and they want to be sure that you have made a concerted and genuine effort to learn about their program. So, when answering such questions, you absolutely must demonstrate your profound interest in and knowledge of the school.

Explaining that you have fully read the business school’s website will not suffice, considering that this resource is available to anyone—and frankly, the admissions committee expects you to do this anyway. Although you could mention your web research as a starting point if something very particular or unusual caught your attention, you are better off sharing your other—and ideally firsthand/in-person—experiences with the school instead. By discussing the details of your class visit(s) and particularly of your interactions with admissions officers, students, professors, and/or alumni, you will “prove” to the admissions committee that you have truly been striving to learn more and understand your fit with the school. In essence, if you are showing the committee that you have extended yourself to learn, you have surpassed a minimum requirement.

A great starting point for learning whether a particular business school is right for you is our mbaMission Insider’s Guides.

*Please note: You are viewing an essay analysis from the 2015-2016 admissions cycle. Click here to view our collection of essay analyses for the current admissions season. 

The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University has two brand spanking new essay questions this admissions season. They are a fairly straightforward pair: a leadership essay query and a small twist on a goal statement prompt. Kellogg’s somewhat unique application component is its video essay—we would call it truly unique, but the Yale School of Management also requires candidates to submit a video essay. Unfortunately for applicants, Kellogg has repeatedly decreased the word limit for its essays in recent years, and it has not given candidates the same opportunities to roam as Harvard Business School, the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and its crosstown rival Chicago Booth all do. Kellogg’s essays are not very open-ended, meaning that the school’s applicants may worry that they can present only a narrow slice of their best to the admissions committee. Be sure to make especially good use of your recommendations, resume, interview, and short-answer responses, so that Kellogg gets to know the full you.

For 2015–2016, the following two essays are required of all applicants.

Essay 1: Leadership and teamwork are integral parts of the Kellogg experience. Describe a recent and meaningful time you were a leader. What challenges did you face, and what did you learn? (450 words)

This is a fairly straightforward essay prompt. You should launch directly into your narrative and detail the specific actions you took in leading your team. Although we imagine most candidates will write about a success, some applicants may choose to recount a leadership experience that was particularly meaningful, even if the intended goals were not achieved. Indeed, the key here is not necessarily to show that you were a rousing leader who carried your team on your back, all the way to victory, but rather that you shared a valuable experience with others and extracted the most from your team members, regardless of the outcome. The school makes a point of acknowledging within this essay prompt that “leadership and teamwork are integral parts of Kellogg,” seeming to highlight the collaboration and cooperation ideally involved in such arrangements—and thereby implying that the spirit of teamwork should be somehow implicit in your essay.

A mistake applicants often make in writing this kind of essay is presenting a strong narrative wherein they are incredible leaders, and then near the end, making a brief (and typically disjointed) reference to a hardship or conflict encountered along the way, meant to fulfill the “challenges” element of the essay prompt. To be effective and believable, your ups and downs must be woven intrinsically into your narrative, rather than simply being acknowledged at the end.

Do not forget or neglect to explain what you learned from the experience—Kellogg specifically asks you to do so! And keep in mind that for your takeaways to be “meaningful,” they have to be profoundly connected to your narrative. The admissions reader should be able to easily understand how your situation and actions led to your subsequent learnings.

Essay 2: Pursuing an MBA is a catalyst for personal and professional growth. How have you grown in the past? How do you intend to grow at Kellogg? (450 words)

How have you grown in the past? The best way to answer this question is to really take the question at face value and think about… how you have grown in the past! Kellogg has no preconceived notions of what applicants should offer in response to this query; it simply wants to learn more about who you are now and how you came to be this person. Rather than pandering to what you think Kellogg wants to hear or trying to conceive of a storyline that seems like it would sound good, truly reflect on your growth to date and focus on analyzing one or two recent experiences that effectively reveal how you have developed and matured.

You might use the first 200–250 words of your essay to share a brief anecdote or two illustrating your growth. These anecdotes can be thematically connected, or they can present two separate circumstances in which you grew in different ways. This portion of your essay will show that you possess the capacity to grow, so in the rest of your submission, you can outline your agenda for growth at Kellogg. You can home in on academic and/or professional needs or on broader personal needs (such as intellectual growth or global exposure)—either option is fine. What is important is that you clearly show a genuine understanding of how Kellogg is the right catalyst for your anticipated development. If your connection to Kellogg is merely superficial, you will reveal only that you do not truly grasp the potential inherent in your time at the school. So do your homework to learn about Kellogg in depth, and then present clear links between the program and your developmental needs.

Because personal statements are generally similar from one application to the next, we have produced the mbaMission Personal Statement Guide, which helps applicants write this style of essay for any school. We offer this guide to candidates free of charge. Please feel free to download your copy today.

And for a thorough exploration of Kellogg’s academic program/merits, defining characteristics, crucial statistics, social life, academic environment, and more, please check out the mbaMission Insider’s Guide to the Kellogg School of Management.

Certain applicants will respond to additional questions:

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