Dear customer,

Welcome to the January edition of ICON+’s MBA Access Newsletter. You are receiving this e-newsletter because you inquired about our test prep and/or admissions consulting services.

Begin by starting off the New Year with a sigh of relief! The majority of you will have successfully submitted your MBA applications by now, so the question is what to do next? We will take you through the next steps of your journey towards your dream MBA program.

GMAT Trial Class
11.00-13.00, Sat, Jan 29
ICON+ Raffles Campus

The SMU Info Session
13.00-14.00, Sat, Jan 29
ICON+ Raffles Campus

The ESADE Info Session
19.30-21.00, Tues, Feb 8
ICON+ Raffles Campus

The NUS Info Session
13.00-14.00, Sat, Feb 12
ICON+ Raffles Campus

The SMU Info Session
13.00-14.00, Sat, Feb 19
ICON+ Raffles Campus
 

To register, please contact us at 6336 6558 or arlene@icon-plus.com.

CLICK. Submit.

If you are like most MBA applicants, then it took you at least a full 10 minutes to recover from the shock of having submitted your admissions package.

Perhaps the first thing that flew through your mind was, “Oh no! I think I put a comma where it wasn’t necessary!” or, “What if I misspelled that word in the demographics section of the application?” You might have quickly realized that it was too late to change the one teeny tiny error that (GASP!) might make or break your application. (Don’t worry - we doubt it will.) If you are like some of our students, you sat there in a daze, eyes brimming over with tears of happiness because you finally, FINALLY completed your application! Or, it could be you simply collapsed into a pool of exhaustion.

However, now that it’s been at least a few days after you clicked that intimidating submit button, you may be wondering, what now?

For some of you, it may be tempting to worry over every detail of your application or spend hours perusing online discussion boards trying to gauge your chances of acceptance. For others, there is the tendency to kick back, assume the best, and make little progress in your career or b-school related activities.

Neither approach will help you.

Instead, key into these tips to make the waiting game not only bearable, but also productive

1. Stay involved with your b-schools

There’s no need to brown-nose your way into your favorite business program, but showing continued and genuine interest through staying involved can only help your chances.

If the MBA programs you applied to are holding info sessions online or near you, why not participate? Haven’t had the chance to speak with alumni? Now is the time to get in touch with them.

Not only will staying involved signal to admissions officers that you have strong commitment to attend the program if accepted, but it will also help you with tip 2, below.

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The GRE Verbal section is often quoted as the more difficult section of the test. The reason is that so many of the answer options available will seem incredibly similar. The key to success is acquiring the ability to decipher the differences between seemingly identical answers. This section of the test is designed to really test your reasoning and verbal skills to the limit.

The verbal section of your GRE exam is nicely split into four separate types of tasks.

The first is analogies, where you are presented with two sets of words that have a corresponding link. Your task then, is to figure out the correct relationship between the corresponding words. I know this sounds deceptively simple, but it’s vital to understand all the possible meanings of the word. The tricks are to measure the likeness of the word in relation to its context and to be cautious of overly obvious answers!

The second types of questions are antonyms. normal"> From the choices given, you are asked to find the opposite of the word presented.

The next tasks are sentence completions, where you are presented with an incomplete sentence and have to choose the right missing word. This section is about making sure the word fits in the context of the sentence whilst adhering to grammatical rules.

Finally, you will need to tackle normal">reading comprehension. During this section, you are required to read a passage and respond to questions relating to the text. You are then asked to answer descriptive, analytical and interpretive questions in regard to the passage you just read. The only way to master this section of the test is to practice examining texts. When reading any piece of text, the first and last sentences are the ones essential to understanding the piece. You are not expected to digest the entirety of the passage in one go, and you are free to refer back to the text at any time to confer answers. Just make sure you keep your eye on the clock.

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Overcoming the challenges of the English language is your first step to conquering your IELTS or TOEFL examination. What makes it so tricky is that the English language, like many others, has various exceptions to the rules we learn. As Stephen Fry of the BBC famously stated, there are actually more exceptions than words which follow the rule! If understanding the nuances of the English language doesn’t confuse you enough, there is a whole load of common exceptions that you need to know. Along with common exceptions to the rule, here are some useful tips for mastering the English language.

• I before E except after C

When learning to spell words correctly, this is one of the common rules you are asked to abide by. The rule adheres to words such as ‘being’ ‘piece’ hygiene’, ‘ceiling’, ‘deceive’ and ‘receive’. However what happens when you come to write words such as ‘neighbour’ and ‘weigh’ that don’t follow the rule?. This rule is not an absolute truth, if you are not sure if the spelling of a word follows this rule, look it up in a dictionary just to be sure. In fact, in 2009, teachers in Britain were requested to stop using this rule as it confused more students than it helped!

• Never use double negative

Using the phrase “I’m not an unhappy person” makes sense, but it’s not well written English. This is a double negative which can actually work against you. It’s far better to state, ‘I am a happy person.’ From time to time, it’s very easy to accidently use a double negative. Just be careful when you write not to fall into this trap.

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