Showing posts with label GMAT tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GMAT tips. Show all posts

Friday, October 21, 2011

GMAT sentence correction tips

GMAT sentence correction tip

check each sentence for semantics( meaning conveyed) and syntax( the grammatical structure and conformity).
syntax is altered to convey the meaning aptly, not the other way around.

in addition to these two, terseness is important- being economical with words
caution: if being terse, ie reducing words, lead to ambiguity, length is welcome.
here are two eg.

eg. 1.
ambiguous: Piaget noted that in children a repertoire of skills is acquired during preschool period and need further
strengthening through organized learning experienced at school.

what needs strengthening is ambiguous, so we need to repeat some words

Piaget noted that in children a repertoire of skills is acquired during preschool period and these skills need further
strengthening through organized learning experienced at school.


eg 2- a wordy sentence
The houses were mostly well built in construction, but the interior furnishing within the house left much
to be desired.
economical
the houses were mostly well- built, but the interiors left much to be desired.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

GMAT sentence correction- tips

GMAT sentence correction: Think beyond grammar
Fine, you know the GMAT SC jargon – tense error, pronoun error, subject verb disagreement. Good. Useful. But you must think beyond grammar to do justice to the range SC questions.
One of such errors is ambiguity. That is something is not clear. To make clear the meaning conveyed. So keep track of meaning also while checking a sentence for errors.
Illustration - real GMAT qns
1. Incorrect: In mammals, a lifetime’s supply of egg cells are produced during fetal development and remain dormant until maturity.

Here remain dormant is ambiguously used; one may ask what remain egg cells or development? In such cases, we need to repeat the word, cells, since these remain dormant until maturity. The verb is agrees with the singular sub lifetime’s supply.
Correct … is produced during fetal development and the cells remain dormant until maturity.

2. In 1869, anxious to balance its population of 8,000 men and 2,000 women, the Wyoming legislature extended voting rights to women in Wyoming.

A. its population of 8,000 men and 2,000 women, the Wyoming legislature
B. their population of 8,000 men and 2,000 women, the Wyoming’s legislature
C. the state’s population of 8,000 men and 2,000 women, the Wyoming legislature
D. a state population of 8,000 men and 2,000 women, the legislature in Wyoming
E. its population of 8,000 men with 2,000 women, the Wyoming’s legislature
So since you know that singular pronouns agree with singular nouns, its agrees with Wyoming legislature. But grammar alone wont rescue us here.
Look at the meaning, can Wyoming legislature have population? No the population belongs to the state, C is clear and exact. D, would mean any state’s population, not necessarily Wyoming’s.
Moral of the story
Attention to detail…is very important..keep looking out for similar errors; match grammar with meaning.







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GMAT tips to score more..

Ten ways to score poorly in GMAT! If you are rich enough for retakes, that is
1. I know math, so no need to go thru the same old arithmetic, algebra, geometry stuff
2. Tones of free downloads on your pc..what is relevant, what is not, even God may not know..
3. Just official guide, what else, nothing official about it…
4. I will join for the costliest, longest duration course in town…let them get me the score, no need to study at home..
5. I wont do the essays while practicing, only math and verbal mock exams will do
6. I speak and write good English, so verbal is going to be a cake walk, no less
7. I need just one month for preparation, after all I had high grades in college.
8. Do as many tests as possible, in fact 90 percent of my preparation time should be spent on tests. concepts? What concepts?
9. My friend said GMAT was easy for him, no tough qns ( hey, what was your friend’s score?)
10. Out of five tests I did, one test I scores above 650. So I will give the test as planned. I believe in luck!
PS Good luck

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Wednesday, April 6, 2011

guaranteed tools for 720+ in the GMAT

I have compiled a set of guaranteed tools for 720+ in the GMAT. I have advised my students most of these tools. I have seen most of them break the 750 barrier. The tools are:

1. Just 80hrs of structured preparation
2. Master grammar and math concepts
3. Reinforce the 25 sentence correction concepts
4. internalize the tactics for critical reasoning question types.
5. Maximise practice on data sufficiency questions
6. Apply all concepts learnt in original GMAC questions
7. Read extensively-philosophy, art and literature reviews,socio-history,science journals
8. Write atleast 15 essays. Have them reviewed by a GMAT test expert. Make preliminary notes for
each of the pre-disclosed essay prompts.
9. Plan remedial learning for weak areas.
10.With every computer based tests, take the essays(do not get habituated to math and
verbal alone), the verbal section must be attempted 2+hr after math and essay writing.
11.Repeatedly practice official guide.
12.If you are not a systematic self-learner, take up quality training from an experience GMAT
trainer.

Write to us if you want to add value to your GMAT prep- urmentor@semanticslearing.com



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Thursday, July 8, 2010

GMAT prep notes for sentence correction

the more the merrier

1. Relative clauses: clauses beginning with who, whose, whom, that, which, whosoever, whomever, whichever, nevertheless – check their use in the question.
Antecedents (the nouns substituted by the pronouns) which, who, he, they, it etc should be clearly matched with their pronouns.
Scientists have observed large quantities of fossil fuel in the Cauvery basin, which are consistent with the growth of mining activities in the area. (which is ambiguously placed)
Scientists have observed large quantities of fossil fuel in the Cauvery basin, an observation consistent with the growth of mining activities in the area.

Wordy: Everybody likes apple pie, which for years has been a favorite American dessert.

Concise: Everybody likes apple pie, for years a favorite American dessert.
In most instances, a relative pronoun is unwanted.

Verb Tense
Incorrect:
In the last ten years, dropout rate among minority primary school students fell drastically, while the number of minority students more than doubled.
Correct: In the last ten years, dropout rate among minority primary school students has fallen drastically, while the number of minority students has more than doubled.

Logical Equivalents
1. The study noted that, up to the present, interferon has been more impressive in preventing viral infections as to treat it.
2. The study noted that, up to the present, interferon has been more impressive in preventing viral infections than in treating them.


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Friday, January 8, 2010

How to improve your GMAT score by 100 points

Recently I trained a student for GMAT. Let me share my experiences with you

He visited me, a month back. He had written GMAT and had got a score of 500. He had prepared for a month earlier. This was his preparation

1. He devoured the official guide twice. He practiced 25 sentence correction questions, 50 math(problem solving and data sufficiency questions) and 5 RC passages daily.
2. He had 3 GB of downloaded GMAT material, from which he practiced random questions daily.
3. He took up the GMAC test software twice, a week before the exam.

These were the observations I could make out.

His knowledge of mathematical formula was strong. He could remember the formula for area of the equilateral triangle, formulae in trigonometry and other conceptual formulae. He could also remember intricate details like the height of the equilateral triangle, the formula to arrive at the in-centre of the circle…. However when he saw tough problems he couldn’t proceed beyond the first stage in the problem solving process(identifying what formula to use). He knew which formula to apply but he didn’t know how to apply the formula.

In verbal he had a fairly strong vocabulary. He knew some grammar concepts like subject verb agreement, errors due to misplaced modifier, pronoun errors, ambiguous use of ‘which’ and ‘it’ and few more error types.

In critical reasoning he went by his gut feeling to get his answers. He could eliminate 3 options, but two options were very close. He guessed the answer.

He briefly dilly dallied by reading the local newspaper.

Here is a typical case of GMAT student who presume he/she can prepare for GMAT in less than a month.

I suggested the following things and I closely monitored his training.

I selected (edited obviously) GMAT like passages from various sources in the net, the topics covered business, philosophy, anthropology, science….

I exposed him to 25 different errors commonly asked in GMAT. I didn’t go back to high school grammar. I found that, the knowledge in high school grammar is too elementary to teach sophisticated error identification.

For critical reasoning, I took him through a course in logic. I taught him how to identify arguments, how to identify fallacies in the argument. I designed an algorithm(a step by step process )to arrive at an answer for critical reasoning questions. (Engineering knowledge was useful here:-)) There are 7 different types of CR questions. Hence 7 different algorithms.

For math I taught him how to critically analyze mathematical problem, how to determine the variables in a problem, how to define relationships in the variables, how to derive hidden relationships. How to diagram the problem.

Further I taught him faster means of solving equations, working backwards with the answer options and also how to effectively eliminate answers by using deductive reasoning.

I taught him for two weeks and then I gave him problems to practice on and told him to classify problems in the OG.

I told him to take 4 full tests. He was averaging around 620 in them.

He eventually got 650.
I wish he had met me earlier, he could have saved one GMAT attempt cost $250.

For further guidance mail me at george@semanticslearning.com. Lets see who I interact with next. Ill post my experiences of mentoring him/her.

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