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Many MBA applicants feel that they are purchasing a brand when they choose a business school. However, the educational experience you will have is what is crucial to your future, and no one will affect your education more than your professors. Today, we focus on Eric Sussman from UCLA Anderson.

Eric Sussman is an adjunct professor in Anderson’s accounting department and also serves as president of Amber Capital, a real estate investment company. He has been voted Teacher of the Year 13 times by Anderson students and received the Citibank Teaching Award and the Neidorf Decade Teaching Award—both honors decided by a faculty committee. In addition, Sussman has won the Teaching Excellence Award in the full-time MBA program, which is decided by a vote of second-year students, and the University-Wide Distinguished Teacher Award. Sussman has also been recognized by Bloomberg Businessweek as one of Anderson’s Outstanding Faculty members numerous times and as one of the Top Ten Most Popular Business School Professors. In addition to his work in the classroom, Sussman created Insight FSA, a software tool that measures and evaluates the financial accounting and corporate reporting risk for public companies via Edgar Online.

A second-year student blogger at Anderson once described Sussman in a post as “one of what I call the five rock-star professors here,” and a first year we interviewed stated that Sussman “has an outstanding reputation at the school.” A graduate we spoke with who had taken Sussman’s “Corporate Financial Reporting” class agreed: “[Sussman is] probably the best professor at Anderson in my eyes and to a lot of other students,” they said, continuing, “Professor Sussman is also incredibly flexible when it comes to helping students. If you need the help, he will find a way to make time for you no matter your level. He truly was a passionate practitioner who invested so much in the students and school. People like him make Anderson exceptional.”

For more information about UCLA Anderson and 16 other top-ranked business schools, check out our free mbaMission Insider’s Guides.

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

“How do I make sure I don’t get more than two, three, or four questions wrong in a row?”

Students ask this all the time—they have heard that GMAT scoring penalizes us for getting a lot of questions wrong in a row.

This is true, to some extent. The GMAT test writers prioritize steady performance over the length of the entire test, so they have built safeguards into the algorithm to ensure that if, for example, we spend too much time early on, we will get penalized for running out of time at the end.

So… how do I avoid getting multiple questions wrong in a row?

People will say something like, “I am pretty sure I got the last two wrong—I just outright guessed on the last one. Now, how do I make sure I get the next one right?”

You cannot. You can never “make sure” that you get any particular question right. If you could… well, then you would not need any help, right? Nobody on the planet, not even the best test takers, can guarantee that they are going to answer any particular question correctly.

What do I do when I know I have just gotten a couple of questions wrong?

You are going to hate my answer: you ignore it. Do not even think about it in the first place.

You likely hate that answer because you feel that you have no control—and you are right. We cannot control this at all. That is why we should not waste a single second thinking about it. Try the question in front of you for some reasonable amount of time. If you just cannot do it in the expected time frame, find a way to make a guess and move on.

Spending more time (more than the rough average) does not actually increase the chances that you will get something right!

But then, how do I get better?

Expect that you are not going to be able to answer everything.

Know how to make an educated guess wherever possible.

Acknowledge when a problem just is not going your way, and, when needed, make a random guess without wasting a single second longer.

Change your response to the thought “I have to get this one right.” Have you already read this article: But I studied this – I should know how to do it!? If so, then you will remember that we talk about changing your response to the “but!” feeling. (If not, go read the article right now.)

The same thing applies here. When you find yourself thinking, “Oh, I need to get this one right!,” change your reaction. Instead of spending extra time and stressing yourself out, tell yourself, “I cannot guarantee anything. If I can do this one in regular time, great. If not, I will guess without losing time on it and move on.”

Many MBA applicants feel that they are purchasing a brand when they choose a business school. However, the educational experience you will have is what is crucial to your future, and no one will affect your education more than your professors. Today, we focus on Adam Grant from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

In addition to receiving multiple teaching awards at Wharton and having been named one of HR’s “Most Influential International Thinkers” in many biennial rankings, Adam Grant is also reportedly a student favorite. The author of New York Times bestsellers Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy (Knopf, 2017; co-authored with Sheryl Sandberg), Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World (Viking Press, 2016), and Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success (Viking Press, 2013; named one of the best books of the year by Amazon), and more than 60 articles, Grant has received numerous awards for his research on work motivation, including a Cummings Scholarly Achievement Award from the Academy of Management, the Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution from the American Psychological Association, and a fellowship from the National Science Foundation. Grant’s books have been translated into 35 languages.

Grant was quoted in a past Bloomberg Businessweek profile of him as saying, “There is a long list of reasons that make me passionate about teaching, but every one revolves around the observation that we spend the majority of our waking hours at work, and there are many ways in which organizational psychology lets people lead more reward[ing] and productive work lives and makes the experience and organizations of others more productive, too.” In addition, Wharton students quoted by Poets&Quants once remarked of him, “I’m always struck by his humility (and humanity). It’s actually more like a bedside manner, almost like charisma, but more humble and personable” and “Adam is an amazing teacher and friend. In both my classes with him, he’s shown that in addition to being passionate about his subject matter, he really cares about his students. He also has an uncanny ability to remember the name of every student he teaches.”

For information on other defining characteristics of the MBA program at Wharton or any of 16 other top business schools, check out our free mbaMission Insider’s Guides.

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

Some time ago, I flew over to London to give an all-day workshop at London Business School. The audience comprised about 35 students who had already been admitted to a weekend master’s program, but that admission was contingent upon taking the GMAT and getting a “good enough” score (as defined by the school). The students had only about a month or two to fulfill this requirement.

What can you do in a six-hour crash course? Not much more than an introduction and orientation—but even that is incredibly valuable in helping people get started and know what to expect.

So what should someone do who is in the position of taking the test in four to eight weeks and has not studied a ton yet?

First, take a practice test under 100% official conditions. I always recommend this first step for anyone, but this is especially crucial for someone with limited time. You are going to have to prioritize heavily, and you have no effective way to do that without good practice test data.

Next, identify the practice materials you want to use. You are going to need at least one source for official practice questions (perhaps the Official Guide 2018 Edition). You are also going to need some materials that help you get better in your areas of greatest weakness—for example, if you are struggling with word problems and sentence correction, then you are going to need some test prep materials that teach those specific areas.

When determining which question types and content areas to prioritize, remember two important things:

(1) All areas are not created equal. Struggling with Combinatorics? Great. Those are infrequently tested, so you can get away with just dropping that topic entirely. Struggling with exponents and roots? Those are much more common, so you are going to need to dig in there. Frequently versus infrequently tested areas can change over time, so ask an expert on an online forum at whatever point you need to figure this out.

(2) Timing is an enormous factor on this exam. Everyone has timing problems, ranging from mild to severe. I cannot tell you how many students I have spoken with who study for months but do not get much better on their practice tests because they have not been practicing timing. Everyone needs to deal with timing right from the start—and this is especially true for someone who has only four to eight weeks to take the test.

Last step: Start working! Tons of resources are available on the Manhattan Prep blog to help you in your studies, but I will point you toward two particular article compilations that should be the most helpful. Both articles were written as comprehensive articles for people who have months to study, so you will once again have to prioritize and cut out things for which you just do not have time—but these will provide you with the best starting point from which to make those decisions.

As we turn the page on 2022, we at mbaMission are thankful to have been able to continue to help many who have been dislocated by the pandemic—as well as many others—to find acceptances and scholarships in what was certainly a competitive MBA application year. We are proud of the company we keep, maintaining our place as the best reviewed admissions consulting firm on GMAT Club and Poets&Quants and the exclusive partner of the world’s leading GMAT prep firm, Manhattan Prep. We never take for granted all of the hard work that has gotten us here. For almost two decades, we have put our clients first—and we will continue to lead in 2023! 

As we look toward the 2023–2024 admissions season, we remain committed to being the best MBA admissions consulting firm in the world by putting our clients first; providing relevant and insightful guidance through our free guides, webinars, and blog; and continuing to bring dedication, passion, and expertise to every MBA applicant who partners with us.

If you have your sights set on business school—and perhaps applying in 2023—we would love the opportunity to share our knowledge with you. Here are a few ways we can help:

• Sign up for a free consultation to connect with one of our admissions experts and get your initial questions answered!
• Download our free Insider’s Guides and International Program Guides to learn tons of information about your possible target schools.
• Stay tuned to our free webinars for various monthly offerings on assessing your profile. writing compelling essays, acing interviews, and more! 
• Check out our Well-Prepared MBA Application Timeline for an in-depth look at how to create your most compelling MBA application in the year 2023.
  

We are eager to form productive partnerships and to make the coming year one of significant professional and personal advancement. All of us at mbaMission wish you a happy, prosperous, and (most importantly) healthy new year!