GMAT & MBA Admissions Blog

Mark Skoskiewicz

Mark Skoskiewicz holds a B.S. in Business Administration with a Major in Finance from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business, (he received additional minors in Philosophy and History). At IU, Mark was an undergraduate economics instructor teaching supplemental small group sessions for the department’s introductory economics course. During his junior and senior years, he was a private economics, finance, and accounting tutor. After Indiana, Mark spent 8 years working for Marakon Associates before creating MyGuru in 2009 while earning his MBA at Northwestern Kellogg to make it easier for parents and students to find high quality yet affordable tutors. While Mark wants MyGuru to always be known as a source for excellent tutors, we also aim to be a thought leader on how to improve academic performance through shifts in mindset, well-defined study plans, improved study habits, and even stress reduction strategies. Mark believes these ideas are a powerful, critical complement to working with an expert private tutor. Mark currently shares insights, advice, and information about how to improve academic performance in MyGuru’s improving academic performance blog and in an eBook Plan, Prepare, Perform: A Personalized Approach to Test Preparation.

Recent Posts

Ask 4 Questions Before Hiring a GMAT Tutor

Posted by Mark Skoskiewicz on October 25, 2013 10:43:00 AM CDT

4 Questions to Ask of a GMAT tutor

Your GMAT score is obviously a critical component of your business school application (although, I’d argue, perhaps not as important as many people make it out to be), and most folks need to invest a significant amount of time in preparing for it.  Certain GMAT preparation approaches can work better for some people relative to others. 

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Tags: GMAT tutor, GMAT help, gmat tutoring, gmat test, GMAT prep, GMAT tips

After the GMAT: Part-time vs. Full-time MBA programs

Posted by Mark Skoskiewicz on August 1, 2013 9:22:00 PM CDT

business school presentationA good GMAT score is just the first step on your path to business school.  If you are trying to get into one of the top 5-10 business schools in the U.S., you have many options, decisions, and challenges ahead of you.  

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Tags: GMAT score, MBA programs, MBA admissions consultant, part-time MBA, full-time MBA

GMAT Interviews: Improving your GMAT Verbal Score

Posted by Mark Skoskiewicz on July 22, 2013 9:47:00 PM CDT

We recently conducted a phone interview with Amit, who worked with one of our most senior GMAT tutors to improve his verbal score.

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Tags: GMAT verbal, GMAT verbal tips, GMAT interview, improving your GMAT verbal score, GMAT tips

Upcoming B-School Application Webinar

Posted by Mark Skoskiewicz on July 1, 2013 8:30:00 AM CDT

stacy blackman  B School Application Webinar

The GMAT is an important part of applying to business school, but it is one of many dimensions admissions committees will look at.  To a greater degree than law school or medical school,  the business school application puts a very large premium on the holistic “story” of each applicant.  For example, a sliding scale of GPA vs. LSAT score, adjusted for undergraduate school and major, essentially determines your law school admissions chances).  However, while a 90th percentile GMAT score is very helpful in getting into a top 20 business school, a poor story can really hurt your chances.  On the other hand, a low GMAT score with a strong story can and does frequently result in admissions offers.

Questions like the following are explicitly or implicitly asked in applications to top business schools:

  • Why do you want an MBA?
  • What do you want to learn while there?   Why?
  • What are you going to focus on while getting the MBA?
  • Where do you see yourself in five years?  How will the MBA help you get there?
  • How can you explain your lack of experience/low GPA/low GMAT/ etc.?
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Improving Your GMAT Quant Score: Mental Math [Part 2]

Posted by Mark Skoskiewicz on June 25, 2013 1:03:00 PM CDT

gmat mental math

In a previous post on improving your GMAT Quant score, we discussed how certain GMAT Quant concepts are difficult because you may not have been exposed to them for many years – or you may never have learned them at all.  If the latter case, it’s critical to invest the time and potentially money to learn these concepts via online videos, book, classes, or GMAT tutoring.  Simply trying to do practice problems and then reading the answers as a learning strategy can be frustrating.

In this post, we’ll cover the second proven way to increase your GMAT quant score – build your mental math skills.  We’ll address the importance of mental math on the GMAT and provide some easy-to-implement ideas and tips for improving your mental math skills. 

The Importance of Mental Math on the GMAT

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How to Improve Your GMAT Quant Score [Part 1]

Posted by Mark Skoskiewicz on June 18, 2013 10:19:00 AM CDT

improving gmat quant score

While I’d describe myself as above average at math, when I was preparing for the GMAT, I realized two things:

  1. I hadn’t taken a pure “math class” in a long time and...
  2. I’ve never been good at mental math. 

Context: My Math Background and GMAT Quant Score

First, a little context on my background – which I think many GMAT test takers might relate to.

In high school, I was in the advanced math classes, including Calculus. I took the ACT a few times, and if I can remember that far back, my ACT-Math score was above the 90th percentile every time – sometimes much higher.  In college, I majored in Finance, which required a lot of math.   After college, I became a business strategy consultant, and built lots of extremely advanced financial valuation models, and gained tons of valuable experience debating arcane and complex valuation principles – which again, involve a lot of math.

All in all, if you’d asked me whether I was “good at math” I would have said yes. 

But, I hadn’t really taken a pure math class in over 6 years.   Also, for whatever reason, doing relatively simple math quickly in front of colleagues, or even figuring out a tip at a restaurant in front of friends, always made me nervous.  I struggled with mental math.

And sure enough, my GMAT math score was lower than I was hoping for.  I ended up scoring very well on verbal, but in only the 75th percentile on Quant.  I ultimately was able to get into Kellogg, which is at least one data point that violates the 80/80 rule (i.e., a rule of thumb many people believe in, which suggests that top MBA programs want to see both Quant and Verbal scores above the 80th percentile).

So, based on this experience, this post offers a two part strategy for improving your GMAT quant score:

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