Even if you’re amazing at Reading Comprehension, it’s sometimes difficult to tell a subtle Inference question from a Detail question. How can you keep straight which question type is which? Here’s an overview of common Reading Comprehension question types and some example GMAT question-stems to help you identify what you’re looking at on Test Day!
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On the GMAT, you will face a variety of questions that you can prepare for. Not to be an auctioneer, the section boasts arithmetic problems, factor problems, algebra problems, geometry problems, stats problems, probability problems, data sufficiency problems, work rate problems, ratio problems, even combinatorics problems. However on the quant section you can often run into an unfamiliar question type that can reasoned out with some basics of algebra and clear conceptual thinking. When faced with this type of outlandish question, you only have one basic directive: solve it.
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Often, the hardest part of a GMAT quantitative problem is taking all the information and organizing it in a meaningful way so that you can actually start the math part of the problem. (How many of you have faced this on the Grizzly Peak problem in the Arithmetic lecture?)
Let’s look at a particular type of problem that’s common on the test: the multiple rate problem.
We have three basic pieces of any rate problem: Rate, Time, and Distance (or work).
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Welcome to the first segment of a 4-part Veritas Prep College Readiness Series! Each segment will cover what students can do to prepare for college. Today’s blog post will give 9th graders advice on what they can do now to make sure they have a stellar college application.
Dear 9th Graders:
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Send your admissions questions to timeout@veritasprep.com!
Dear Trav,
I started my own business in college, but it didn’t pan out. Should I mention this in my application?
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Succeeding in GMAT grammar requires you to emulate Sherlock Holmes. The clues are right in front of you!
The first item to be aware of is that too many of the sentences presented in the grammar portion of the GMAT are not clearly written, which can be frustrating if you are looking for an answer that is clean and concise. However, analyzing the sentences based on the rules that govern language rather than looking for answer choices that have polished readability is the key to being successful on this section.
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Has studying vocabulary words for the SAT got you down? Memorizing an exorbitant list of words can definitely be a daunting task. Tactics such as “repeat, review, review” can be tedious, but memorizing vocabulary doesn’t have to be so monotonous. Think back to a recent time you were in the car. What do you remember? You probably don’t remember the usual blue, black, or silver cars that passed you by on the street, but what about an ostentatious pink Punch Buggy with a stenciled floral pattern on the trunk? You would probably remember a car like that because it is out of the ordinary. It is something different, perhaps even funny, that stands out in your mind from the other cars on the road each day. What if vocabulary words were atypical and humorous? They would be easier to remember too. Here are some strategies to help make your vocabulary words as conspicuous as a flowered pink Punch Buggy driving down the street.
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March Madness, the annual tournament of some elite and some not-so-elite college basketball teams, is soon upon us. Teams have played through an entire season, including conference and early-season tournaments, and 68 of the chosen are now ready to face off in the biggest sports showcase in America. How they will do depends in no small part on their seeding—the ranking they receive based on how well they can perform against the competition. The better the seed, the easier their road to victory.
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We have discussed before how GMAT is not a calculation intensive exam. Whenever you land on an equation which looks something like this: 60/(n – 5) – 60/n = 2, you probably think that we don’t know what we are talking about! You obviously need to cross multiply, make a quadratic and finally, solve the quadratic to get the value of n. Actually, you usually don’t need to do any of that for GMAT questions. You have an important leverage – the options. Even if the options don’t directly give you the values of n or n-5, you can use the knowledge that every GMAT question is do-able in 2 mins and that the numbers fit in beautifully well.
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In Geometry, we often come across unusual figures. This can throw off our mind a bit, but it is important to remember: just use what you already know. Don’t let the unusual shapes take up too much time on the GMAT. Let’s take the following example, very similar to a problem a student emailed me this week.
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Welcome back to Hip Hop Month in the GMAT Tip of the Week column, where we created this week’s tip by quoting Too Short in our production meeting. In short dog’s classic “Blow The Whistle” (also central to this article) he rhymes the fact that he’s in Miami, Houston and ATL with the line “Ask Dave Chappelle”. So we asked Dave – Dave, who’s a rapper who has something important to say about GMAT performance? And while at first he listed his top five as “Dylan, Dylan, Dylan…” he eventually pointed out the foibles of a former up-and-comer named Fisticuffs, whose struggles as a rapper directly parallel many GMAT students’ battles with the GMAT. If you haven’t seen Chappelle’s Fisticuffs skit, take a look:
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On the surface, rate problems always seem like straight-forward problems. But when you actually sit down to work on them, especially the higher level problems under the time constraints of the GMAT, it’s often hard to keep all the pieces in order. My own personal strategy for dealing with these problems is to try to develop the intuition behind these problems as well as remember the formulas.
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When reading through diverse texts, it is not uncommon to see various portions highlighted in different forms. The use of italics has become ubiquitous with citing references or proper names, and the GMAT has no reserved denotation for Italics. Generally, text that is underlined needs to examined carefully, and the GMAT uses this method exclusively for sentence correction. However, nothing draws the eye like the use of boldface. The additional thickness of the characters makes every letter seem more important than the paler doppelgangers that share the page with them. (Beware: a letter with tiny goatee may be an evil twin of that letter. G is the most likely evil doppelganger)
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You know the most frequent question that I get asked by students preparing for the SAT? “Why does this matter? Its just a silly test! It doesn’t measure how good of a student I will be or how smart I am.”
The simple response to this question is that this is a valid criticism. It really is! The SAT does not measure the merit of a student, but other things are also true. Namely, the SAT can help you get into college, and it should be treated as a tool to accomplish this goal.
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A student recently asked me how she could have gotten such a low score on the verbal section when the questions seemed so easy. Here is my response:
I have had students in your situation before and let me say that sometimes when things feel too easy on the VERBAL section, it is when a person allows herself or himself to get caught by assumptions and easy answers and does not dig as deeply as they should. This often happens when students finish the VERBAL section too quickly or feel like it was easy.
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Send your admissions questions to timeout@veritasprep.com!
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Dear Trav,
I was laid off during the recession and out of work for about a year. How will that affect my candidacy?
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Clearly, this would have been a huge challenge for you and I applaud your diligence in working to overcome it! The global financial crisis affected millions of people—both well qualified and poorly qualified. Some industries were affected more than others, and if you were in an industry such as Finance or Real Estate, this may be fairly common. However, you will need to explain any gap in employment in the optional essay in your MBA application, and a yearlong gap will need a particularly thoughtful explanation.
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Today we will look at an OG question of critical reasoning (as promised last week). We will use the concept discussed last week – remember what an assumption is. An assumption is a missing necessary premise. It will bring in new information essential to the conclusion.
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Every year, high school students choose how they will spend their summer! Whether it be traveling to another country to help people in need, submersing themselves into an intensive language program, or obtaining a job or internship in their own backyard, there are a number of organizations to help students find the right summer program for them.
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Welcome back to Hip Hop Month in the GMAT Tip of the Week space, where we’re shocked that in the years of doing this every March we’ve never yet mentioned Vanilla Ice, perhaps the greatest Sentence Correction rapper of all time (with apologies to Method Man and Dr. Dre). Before we explain why, let’s give Vanilla a chance (yo Vanilla – kick it one time, boyyyyyy):
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But You and I, We’re Just a Couple of Squares… What Difference Could We Possibly Make…?
The savvy GMAT-goer knows that the work on a Problem Solving question is best undertaken only after a survey of the answer choices makes clear just how much work — and what type of work — is really necessary. For instance, a 160/1600/16000/… set of choices tells you you can focus all your care on the magnitude of your answer; a 16000/25000/36000/… set of choices tells you you can forget about all those trailing 0’s and just focus on the “head” of the answer. As we stress in our Foundations of GMAT Logic book, the answer choices are part of the problem.
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Have you ever been on the exam and the question is asking you something that you know well but can’t remember the details at that crucial moment? This happens to all of us at one time or another, and sometimes it helps to have a catchphrase or keyword to help recall the concept in our mind. Since certain things are easier to remember than others, it helps to associate a difficult concept with something you’re less likely to forget, such as the lyrics to your favorite song.
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It was 8:46 AM on a cloudy Saturday in April 2007 and I was at the William St. test center in Manhattan. My GMAT was at 9:00. Unfortunately, that morning was also the date of the final exam for a nursing school in the city. There were around 20 anxious nursing students reviewing flashcards and cheat sheets, asking each other last minute questions, and generally freaking out. Watching them, I felt my pulse quicken.
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I have been asked many times what type of snack to have and whether or not caffeine was a good option on test day. While this can vary student to student, here are a few responses to those student questions:
Some of the most challenging Quant questions on the GMAT involve Coordinate Geometry, so it’s important you have a solid grasp on the formulas and concepts on Test Day. You’ll see straight lines more than curved figures, but you may find it helpful to know the standard formula of the parabola in order to tackle some of the toughest Coordinate Geometry questions.
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Send your admissions questions to timeout@veritasprep.com!
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Dear Trav,
My GMAT score was 700 (with a 99th percentile in quant, and a 60th percentile in verbal). Should I retake the exam?
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Congratulations on your 700 GMAT score! I think people tend to think that getting a 700 is a piece of cake, but remember that only 1 in 10 test takers gets a 700+, and the population of GMAT takers is primarily college-educated, ambitious, smart people. Top 10% is a tough crowd!
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Last week, College Board CEO David Coleman made waves by sending out an email announcement about changes coming to the SAT. Coleman, who started leading The College Board in October, has wasted no time in making his mark on the organization and on the exam. While the details are murky and the timing is still “TBD,” it is clear that Coleman doesn’t want to wait before tweaking the SAT.
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Last week Poets & Quants ran an article announcing robust growth in GMAT testing volume from Testing Year 2011 to 2012. A total of 286,529 exams were taken in Testing Year 2012, representing the highest total ever, and 11% growth vs. the previous year. (GMAC’s testing years run from July 1 to June 30 each year.) While testing volume in the United States is still down about 10% vs. Testing Year 2009, strong growth in East and Southeast Asia helped drive total testing volume to its highest level ever.
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Today we would like to discuss a technique which is very useful in solving assumption questions. No, I am not talking about the ‘Assumption Negation Technique’ (ANT), which, by the way, is extremely useful, no doubt. The point is that ANT is explained beautifully and in detail in your book so there is no point of re-doing it here. You already know how to use it.
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As loyal readers of this space will know, if it’s a Friday in March that means it’s Hip Hop Month for GMAT tips, and the US government sequester will not slow us down! Although it may inspire us. As the government careens toward desperate austerity measures, frugality is in the air, both in Washington and on your radio. Which is good news – let’s pop some tags and talk about how going to the Thrift Shop, Macklemore style, can help you crush GMAT Data Sufficiency.
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Former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden was famous for winning numerous NCAA championships in the 1960s and 1970s. A number of the life lessons and phrases that he passed on to his players (Woodenisms) have become well known. I have sometimes found myself quoting these from time to time in my GMAT prep classes. Wooden saw himself as an educator even more so than a coach, and therefore his lessons extend to all facets of higher education, whether your goal is to make it to the NBA or to achieve an elite MBA. So regardless of your goals, heed the wise words of the Wizard of Westwood to raise your performance.
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So, does the GMAT really have anything to do with Business School, let alone business? When I took the GMAT over 5 years ago, I thought it was the stupidest, weirdest test in the world. I’d already taken my fair share of multiple choice tests – from SATs and multiple SAT IIs, to AP exams and college-level final exams – but I’d never seen anything as odd as the GMAT. From the adaptive nature to the specific range of questions, I really couldn’t understand why the entrance exam for business school included this particular range of questions.
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In GMAT Reading Comp, we’re sometimes asked to determine why the author includes a certain detail within a paragraph, or why the entire paragraph itself is included in the passage. We have to understand the logical structure of the author’s argument, the “flow” of one paragraph to the next, and the logic behind the use of a particular piece of information.
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Send your admissions questions to timeout@veritasprep.com!
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Dear Trav,
I run my own business and don’t have any managers. Who should I go to for letters of rec?
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We often hear that b-schools want a letter of recommendation from your current supervisor, period. There are a number of circumstances where this is not possible, and running your own business is certainly one of them. Fear not! Admissions officers completely understand that you don’t have a direct supervisor, and they will not hold this against you. Instead, you should be congratulated on starting and running your own business! This shows a great deal of leadership ability, calculated risk taking and professional maturity, all of which are highly valued by MBA programs!
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Today, we would like to discuss one of our own work questions. The intent is to show you how simple your calculations can get when you use the methods we discussed in the last few weeks. I couldn’t say it enough – develop a love for ratios. You will save a huge amount of time in lots of questions. If you haven’t been following the last few weeks’ posts, take a look at this link before checking out the question. Otherwise the method may not make sense to you.
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It’s Oscar weekend here in Los Angeles, and that can only mean one thing:
The winner is…your GMAT verbal score.
How can this year’s Academy Awards improve your performance on GMAT Sentence Correction? Let’s look at the odds-on favorite to win Best Picture, Argo. The title alone, Argo, brings up two important points about GMAT Sentence Correction:
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“How can I improve my Critical Reasoning ability?” is a common question for any GMAT instructor, but particularly for our own David Newland, who owns a 99th percentile LSAT score in addition to several 99ths on the GMAT. As an expert on both GMAT Critical Reasoning and its LSAT counterpart, Logical Reasoning, David is regularly sought out by those seeking advice on CR questions. Here’s his most common reply:
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In the four months since we launched the Veritas Prep GMAT Question Bank, we have collected nearly 300,000 responses and helped thousands of users get ready for the GMAT. Students’ responses have been nothing short of terrific, sharing success stories with us and giving us some great ideas for how to make the GMAT Question Bank even better.
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The pope’s recent announcement that he would be leaving the papacy came as a surprise to millions of people around the world last month. After all, election as pope carries a lifetime mandate by definition, and no sitting pope has resigned in the past 600 years. This string of some 60 popes serving their full mandate has now been broken, and the news brings up the topic of abdicating in the scope of the GMAT exam.
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Send your admissions questions to timeout@veritasprep.com.
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Dear Trav,
I want to apply for a full time MBA program, but I am 32 years old. Am I too old for this type of program?
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Deciding whether your age will be a damaging factor to your b-school application is an important question!
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