Today’s GMAT tip comes to us from Veritas Prep.  In today’s blog post, they explain how to recognize misdirection on the verbal section of the GMAT.  Read on to see what they have to say!

A critical component of your GMAT studies is to notice misdirection wherever it’s employed. Consider, for example, this question:

Babies develop audial recognition abilities months before being born, lending credence to the notion that prenatal exposure to classical music can aid in intellectual development and apparently assisting newborns, who cannot yet visually recognize shapes and colors, in distinguishing their own mothers from those of others.

(A) apparently assisting newborns, who cannot yet visually recognize shapes and colors, in distinguishing their own mothers from those of others (B) apparently assisting newborns that cannot yet visually recognize shapes and colors in distinguishing their own mothers (C) assisting apparent newborns, who cannot yet visually recognize shapes and colors, in distinguishing their own mothers from those of others (D) apparently assisting newborns, who could not yet visually recognize shapes and colors, in distinguishing their own mothers (E) apparently assisting newborns, who cannot yet visually recognize shapes and colors, in distinguishing their own mothers from others.

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Today’s GMAT Tip comes to us from Kaplan. In this article, Kaplan guest author Kurt Keefner discusses problem words and phrases that often arise in the Sentence Correction section of the GMAT:

Many GMAT preppers struggle with Sentence Correction.  Probably most reading this post have some trouble with it.  But why should that be?  Presumably everyone reading this speaks English. 

That’s the key to the puzzle right there.  We all speak English, but the GMAT doesn’t test spoken English, it tests written English, otherwise know as Standard English.  Unless you are trained as a writer or normally read university-level texts, your exposure to Standard English may be fragmentary and/or faded. 

One remedy for this situation is to read well-written books and periodicals such as The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal.  Most GMAT prep materials will also provide a review of many of the commonly tested usages.  Just to get you started, however, let’s look at six problem words and phrases that come up within GMAT Sentence Correction questions.

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Today’s GMAT tip comes from test prep firm ManhattanGMAT. In this article, they provide helpful tips on how to approach Critical Reasoning questions on the GMAT.  Read on to see what they have to say!

I’ve been in full-on writing mode lately as we update our strategy guides (look for the 5th edition in 2012, in time to start prepping for the Next Generation GMAT!). A couple of our teachers have been doing extensive research on all of the available official Critical Reasoning (CR) problems, and now we’re synthesizing everything. Although we’re still in development mode, I want to share some of our take-aways with you so that you can start to benefit from them right away!

One 4-step process for all CR questions

First, there’s one overall process we’re going to use for any CR question:

Step 1: Identify the question.

Step 2: Deconstruct the argument.

Step 3: State the Goal.

Step 4: Work from wrong to right.

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Today’s GMAT Tip comes to us from Kaplan. In this article, Kaplan GMAT instructor Bret Ruber provides helpful tips for answering inference questions on the Critical Reasoning section of the GMAT:

As you try the practice GMAT problem below, remember that on Critical Reasoning inference questions you should accept all of the information in the stimulus as true.  When you read the answer choices look for an option that must be true based on the stimulus. 

Problem:

Randall: Many of the productions of my plays by amateur theater groups are poorly done, and such interpretations do not provide a true measure of my skills as a dramatist.

Which one of the following can be properly inferred from Randall’s statement?

(A) Some amateur theater groups’ productions of Randall’s plays provide a true measure of his skills as a dramatist.

(B) All amateur theater group productions of Randall’s plays that are not poorly done provide a true measure of his skills as a dramatist.

(C) All of the productions of Randall’s plays by amateur theater groups that do not provide a true measure of his skills as a dramatist are poorly done.

(D) If a production of a dramatist’s play is well done, then it provides a true measure of his or her skills as a dramatist.

(E) At least some amateur theatrical groups’ productions of Randall’s plays fail to provide a true measure of his skills as a dramatist.

Today’s GMAT Tip comes to us from Kaplan. In this article, Kaplan GMAT instructor Bret Ruber explains how to approach sentence correction questions on the GMAT:

Because the GMAT is a standardized test, understanding the structure of certain questions types can give you an advantage on test day.  Specifically, by understanding how the test maker is setting up a type of problem, you can move through the problem more quickly, giving yourself time for more advanced problems.

On GMAT sentence correction questions, you will be given a sentence, part of which is underlined.  In order to answer correctly, you must choose the answer that makes the underlined portion grammatically correct.

The first pattern to keep in mind in these questions involves answer choice (A).  The first answer in sentence correction problems will always be the same as the original sentence.  Thus, the first way test takers can save time is by not reading this answer choice, as it mirrors the underlined portion in the problem.

Today’s GMAT Tip comes from our friends at Knewton.  In this article, they explain a helpful strategy for answering assumption questions on the Critical Reasoning section of the GMAT.  Read on to see what they have to say!

In my last post, I covered the theory behind the Denial Test for Critical Reasoning Assumption questions and demonstrated how to do  negations properly. If you’re not sure what the Denial Test is or want a refresher on negations, be sure to check out that post before you read on.

All set?  Let’s now take a look at an actual GMAT Assumption question and see how the Denial Test can be very helpful. Try the question out for yourself first if you’d like, then read on for the explanation.

Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin, a hormone that is needed to convert glucose into energy needed for daily life. Because ice cream commonly contains glucose in the form of sucrose, diabetics generally experience discomfort after consuming even a small serving of ice cream. However, since there are several ice cream companies who add sucrose to none of the ice cream they produce, diabetics are able to eat ice cream without experiencing discomfort due to glucose intolerance afterward.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

(A)These ice cream companies have been able to duplicate the taste of sucrose derived from glucose by means that do not involve adding any potential substances that may be of discomfort to diabetics.

(B) Not all forms of glucose are equally likely to result in this discomfort.

(C) Ice cream is not the only food to which glucose is commonly added.

(D)Apart from glucose, there are no substances commonly present in ice cream that would cause discomfort to diabetics.

(E) Glucose is not naturally present in the ice cream produced by these ice cream companies in amounts large enough to cause discomfort to diabetics who eat this ice cream. . . . → Continue Reading

Today’s GMAT Tip comes from our friends at Knewton.  In this article, they explain a strategy for tackling challenging assumptions questions in the Verbal section.  Read on to see what they have to say!

Critical Reasoning Assumption questions ask you to identify an unspoken assumption made by the argument’s author. On these types of questions, one of the most powerful techniques you have at your disposal is the denial test. Before we go into the details of the test, let’s take a look at some sample Assumption question stems:

“The commentator’s argument relies on which of the following assumptions?”

“The official’s conclusion logically depends on which of the following assumptions?”

“Which of the following is an assumption made in drawing the conclusion above?”

Again, all of these questions are asking you to find an answer choice that contains a missing assumption of the argument.

The denial test allows you to confirm that you’ve chosen the right answer choice. The test is very simple: just negate the answer choice you’ve chosen. The negation of the correct answer must weaken the argument. While it certainly isn’t efficient to negate every answer choice, the denial test can be extremely useful when debating between two tempting answer choices.

Let’s consider the following argument:

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