Application essays are a crucial part of the admissions process, and effective essays essentially come down to good storytelling.

Your goal as the protagonist of your own story is to become a hero that admissions officers want to root for, says Michael Noltemeyer, founder of North Star Editing and guest on this episode of The Dominate Test Prep Podcast: 

During our wide-ranging conversation, Micheal sheds light on just how to become that hero while sharing examples of successful essays from his 10+ years as a professional editor.

Specifically, in this episode you will learn:

• The Japanese concept of Ikigai for finding your life's purpose, and how that's what you're shooting for on your application essays as well;
• How writing an application essay is like a "choose your own adventure" story in reverse, and how that understanding should influence the aim of your essays;
• What not to do in your essays (hint: you're probably not as...

We're all looking for that magic bullet for how to prepare most effectively for our standardized test so that we get maximum results on test day. Last week, in Part 1 of our Test Mastery series, we laid a solid foundation for you by explaining the three essential components of any effective study plan -- the infamous "Success Triad" of test prep -- and how they can help you improve your time management. This week, in Part 2, we're taking it a step further and helping you create a more customized study plan based on your own strengths and weaknesses. Check it out:

We're pleased to be joined in this episode of The Dominate Test Prep Podcast by Vinay Narang, founder and Chief Genius at GMAT Genius, as he lends his expertise on this topic. Specifically, we cover:

• The importance of taking full-length practice tests, and why official tests are the best;
• How to analyze your practice test results and what they say about where to focus your study efforts;
• Three (3) fundamental reasons...

I've been absolutely dying to share some exciting news with you, and everything is finally ready to let you in on something HUGE that we've been working on here at Dominate Test Prep...

... drum roll please ...

... "The Dominate Test Prep Podcast" is now LIVE and ready for you to start consuming! You can find it anywhere you get your podcasts (search "Dominate Test Prep") or by clicking on this image:

Now I know what you might be thinking: "Wait, I didn't even know that you were working on a podcast!"

That's because I wanted to get all my ducks in a row and make sure I had some killer content published and out there for you to start listening to right away. And now I do. I know you'll get a ton of value from the five episodes that are already live:

1. Top 3 Prep Tips for Any Standardized Test
2. 5 Proven Study Habits for a Higher Score on Test Day
3. Framework for a Successful Grad School Application (with Linda Abraham)
4. On the New Digital LSAT and a Good Ham...

What does it take to truly master the content tested on your standardized test and get a high score on test day?

It really comes down to three core components:

1. Content
2. Strategy
3. Practice

We call it the "Success Triad" of standardized test preparation, and we break it all down for you in this episode of The Dominate Test Prep Podcast. You can listen to it here:

Specifically, you will learn:

• The three components of the Success Triad and how they work together synergistically to produce mastery for whichever standardized test you're taking;
• How the Pareto Principle of economics factors in to how you should think about learning the content tested on your exam;
• The crucial WIBNI mindset for simplifying difficult questions, with an illustrative application example;
• The concept of "perfect practice" with tips on how to make sure you're getting the most out of your study sessions;
• How the Success Triad factors in to effective...

After a brief trial period with a new online format in the summer of 2019, the LSAT went fully digital and is here to stay.

What does that mean for you?

We sat down with Dominate Test Prep’s lead LSAT instructor, Dave Hall, to discuss the changes to the exam and how you can best prepare for this new LSAT.

Ultimately not much has changed with the substance of the LSAT, so in addition to addressing technical aspects of the new online LSAT, Dave spends much of this episode giving you actionable advice on preparing effectively for the LSAT in general, including:

• Why trying to get “better” at taking the LSAT doesn’t make a lot of sense, and what you should focus on instead;
• The importance of mastering conditional logic, and the important role it plays in LR and Games questions;
• Why you need duplicatable patterns and systems for attacking each major question type;
• How to use practice tests as part of your preparation, and where to find them;
• Lessons he...

Your standardized test (GMAT / GRE) is only part of the admissions criteria when applying to graduate or business school.

But what about the rest of your application?

To help you learn how to maximize all parts of your grad school application, we invited expert admissions consultant Linda Abraham, founder and CEO of Accepted, to The Dominate Test Prep Podcast to share her 5-part framework for a successful MBA / grad school application. She breaks down each of the five key components and explains exactly what you need to do in your application to showcase yourself in such a way that schools will want to admit you.

Listen to the episode here:

Be sure to listen all the way to the end, as the second half of the episode includes Linda's answers from a live Q&A where she goes even deeper into best-practices for crafting a winning application. These are common questions that you may have yourself, such as:

• If you’re filling out a general...

As Aristotle said, "We are what we repeatedly do." That's especially true when it comes to the actions you should be taking on a consistent basis as you prepare for your standardized test. In fact, there are five (5) key study habits that I've seen from working with thousands of students over the years that, if you take them to heart and implement them consistently into your study routine, will inevitably lead to better performance and a higher score for you on test day.

We lay them all out for you in this episode of The Dominate Test Prep Podcast:

Specifically, here's what you'll find in this episode:

• The BE-DO-HAVE principle for success, based on the framework laid out by James Clear in his book Atomic Habits;
• A thorough discussion of the five (5) key study habits that will inevitably lead to better results for you on test day if you consistently execute them during your test preparation;
• From the Mailbag: Should you take a full-length...

By: Michael Noltemeyer, North Star Editing

Writing an application is like being trapped in a choose-your-own-adventure story that someone else is reading: your fate lies in the hands of your audience.

Problem is, most applicants don’t understand what their audience wants.

I don’t make that claim lightly. Over the last ten years, I’ve read literally thousands of personal statements and statements of purpose and everything in between.

That’s why I’m confident when I say you’re probably making at least one of these three mistakes I see on almost every essay that comes my way.

1. Thinking Your Essays Don’t Matter

Consider these figures from 2017:

Competition for Ivy League spots is so fierce that Harvard, Yale, and Stanford could each rescind their offers of admission to every student they have already accepted, choose another freshman class of the same size, and suffer no statistical drop-off.

In fact, they could probably do that...

In this very first episode of The Dominate Test Prep Podcast, we share with you the top three things we've seen from 14+ years in the industry that will empower you to have the best possible experience preparing for whichever standardized test you're studying for.

Listen to these top 3 tips here:

These principles are universal, so whether you're just diving in or have been preparing for a while and need that little extra something to get you over the hump, we're confident you'll see an improved score on test day if you take these tips to heart.

In the "From the Mailbag" segment, we also tackle the question of why your standardized test is necessary in the first place, so be sure to listen all the way to the end for that.

Study hard and we'll talk with you on the next episode. Until then, I'll leave you with the quote we opened this episode with:

"If you want to be great, you must embrace the boredom of consistency." -- Justin Su'a

As always, be sure to subscribe to...