Dear customer,

Welcome to the May 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.

Boggled by the MBA admissions process? Which schools should you pick? When should you apply? How can you increase your chances of admissions?

Get answers to your questions by taking advantage of a 30 minute complimentary session with one of our professional MBA admissions consultants. To set up an appointment, simply email admissions@icon-plus.com or call us at 6336-6558.

1. GMAT Trial Class

    11am-1pm
    Saturday, June 5

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    61 Stamford Court

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• Covers all sections of the MCAT
• 60+ hour course
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Whilst an MBA may be seen as a crucial element to get you that promotion, or to move into a new sector, or just to expand your current skills set, one should recall that it remains but an element. The letters after your name on official documents will speak of your level of learning, but will not say exactly what you have learned. Even if you choose to undertake a very specified MBA, the electives and projects themselves will not be enough to set you apart from the competition.

Think of it this way: whilst following your MBA may give you an advantage over your work-peers, what about all of those who have done an MBA with you? You’re all in the same boat, so if two of you go for the same job, then how will you set yourself apart – from the work you were doing a year, or perhaps even two years ago? What about all the others doing MBAs elsewhere, or those who completed their MBA in recent years? You’re competing against all of them too, remember.

Read full article.

Cheating, unfortunately, is prevalent in many walks of life, exams being no exception. Whilst tests are stringently monitored for such activities, there have been and will always be those looking for the easy way out who endeavor only to work around the system. It rarely works, and the repercussions of being caught can be absolutely dire, particularly where the GMAT is concerned.

In 2008 six thousand students were caught and banned from ever taking the GMAT again. Any who already had places at business schools found themselves at serious risk of being kicked out, and many indeed were. Their crime? Using a website, now defunct, called ScoreTop.com, which offered practice GMAT questions for students before their exams.

Click here to read full article.

In both the TOEFL and IELTS exams, the speaking section can present a problem not only in terms of sentence structure and coherence of thought, but also in terms of pronunciation. A number of students find themselves quite confident in terms of understanding ‘what’ they need to say, but struggle in ‘how’ to say it. A native accent can indeed be a difficult thing to overcome as this is likely to damage a score in the speaking section, but it can be worked on.

In short, practice makes perfect. Don’t fool yourself, also, into thinking than an American accent must be better for TOEFL and a British or Australian accent would be better for IELTS – all are acceptable. The exams are looking to be sure that you’re clear and that you articulate correctly, not that you can just mimic a native speaker well enough! You do, however, certainly need to be able to speak clearly otherwise your score will suffer as a result. 

Read more here.