Year: 2015

Sentence Correction – The Minor Error

Published by

In a previous post we had discussed how very often test-takers get stuck to the Major Error error when tackling Sentence Correction questions on the GMAT® . The Major Error in a sentence might be related to tenses or parallel structure or modifiers. This error might be corrected in more than one sentence. What GMAT® test-setters do very well is introduce another Minor Error while correcting the Major Error. The Minor Error more often than not is related to Subject-Verb or Pronoun Usage. The GMAT® question below best exemplifies this.

Critical Reasoning – The Statistics Question 1

Published by

Critical Reasoning questions on the GMAT® , often have questions that have some stats. The most important thing to remember is that stats-based questions have stats-based answers or answers that require an interpretation of the stats. So answer options that give explanations that do not have a statistical implication can easily be ruled out. Let us look at the question below.

Sentence Correction – The Other Error

Published by

One of the frequent things that test-takers keep telling us is that despite memorizing all the rules, they are unable to move beyond a particular level of accuracy on GMAT® Sentence Correction! Well one of the big reasons behind this is that once test-takers have mastered the rules they are able to immediately spot the error and pick option that rectify the error. There is only one catch, they ignore the fact that while major error has been corrected, another error that might have been introduced in another part of the sentence. The question below best exemplifies this.

Critical Reasoning – The Inference Question

Published by

Of all Critical Reasoning Question Types on the GMAT® , the Inference question is probably the easiest one after the Conclusion Type. The easiest inference questions are like Chemistry experiments, if green fumes come out it must contain ammonia (or whatever is green). Let us look at the question below: A company’s two divisions performed with remarkable consistency over the past three years: in each of those years, the pharmaceuticals division has accounted for roughly 20 percent of dollar sales and 40 percent of profits, and the chemicals division for the balance.

What Is The Best Prep Material For The GMAT?

Published by

When it comes to preparing for the GMAT there is a voluminous amount of prep material available. Sometimes the material is so overwhelming that it becomes tough to pick and choose material to suit different parts of your GMAT Prep. To make life simple let us take up this topic in alignment with the structure I suggested for your GMAT Prep in this post. After you take the OG Diagnostic test to identify you learning needs, the three distinct phases of your GMAT Prep are Prep, Practice & Testing As someone who has prepared for and taken the GMAT myself, I can vouch that there is no prep material from any one brand that is best for all three stages.

How To Approximate Your OG Diagnostic Test Performance To The 800-Scale

Published by

As mentioned in this post, the first step of your GMAT Prep begins with taking a Diagnostic Test. This need not be a computer adaptive test, the paper-based Diagnostic Test on the OG will suffice. A few rules that need to be followed while taking the test: • Take the test when you are fresh so that you can get the most accurate measure of your competence; you should not have anything other than your own ability to attribute a sub-par performance to. • The test can be taken either as two sections – Quant and Verbal with any length of break in between (even a day or two) – or as five question-types (PS, DS, RC, CR & SC). • Do not break the test either in the middle of a section or in the middle of a question-type. Your performance across five categories will be categorized as shown in the table below. Before we approximate this performance to a score on the 800-scale we have to take a few things into consideration that …

How To Structure Your GMAT Prep

Published by

A goal without a plan is just a wish – Antoine de Saint-Exupery If there is one thing that is absolutely essential to successfully prepare your way to a great GMAT score it is a structured GMAT Study Plan that is executed perfectly. It is tough to make a one-size-fits-all study plan for those who want to prepare on their own. Instead we will take up each of the elements of your preparation and discuss those in detail. What you should not do Given that the GMAT is predictable and there is a seemingly huge quantity of actual GMAT questions to practice along two official free tests the usual pattern that test-takers follow unfolds as follows. Take a mock test without any preparation – some test-takers use the first test from the GMAT Prep Software, others use a free test from a reputable source such as Kaplan, some others just take any random GMAT Mock that they can find. Firstly, no test from any player in the market actually simulates the GMAT. The failure occurs …

What is the optimum time to prepare for the GMAT?

Published by

This is the first question that pops up regarding test-preparation, be it for the GMAT or for any other test. The short answer to this question — it will require a minimum of 2.5 months and a maximum of 6 months. Now let’s try to get inside these numbers. The optimum time needed depends on the test-taker but the prep phase for any test has two components — the prep-phase and the testing-phase. How long should each of these components be? Let’s start by working backwards.

Why You Should Always Start Your GMAT Prep With A Test Date In Mind

Published by

The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees one’s self. And the arbitrariness of the constraint serves only to obtain precision of execution – Igor Stravinsky, Composer The GMAT can be taken the all-year round but test-slots are not available with equal ease all year round — test-slots are easy to get during the first six months of the year (you can get a slot even if you try book today for a slot in a couple of days) but as the year draws to a close it is almost impossible to get a slot of your choice! Most of you would know the reason for the same — the application deadlines of schools start towards the end of the year (around September). So while we are free to choose a test date of our choice, we refuse to do so for a variety of reasons, some valid and some invalid: