Friday, November 27, 2020

GMAT reading comprehension cues



Reading comprehension questions appear in the verbal section of the GMAT exam. 14-15 RC questions are drawn from 3-5 passages. 

The GMAT verbal section uses multiple-choice questions to measure your ability

  •        to read and comprehend written material,
  •         to reason and evaluate arguments and
  •        to correct written material to conform to standard written English.

Because the Verbal section includes content from a variety of topics, you may be generally familiar with some of the material; however, neither the passages nor the questions assume knowledge of the topics discussed.


Typical reading comprehension questions you get in GMAT.

1. The main idea or central theme of the passage

2. Information specifically mentioned in the passage (mostly line numbered)

3. Information implied in the passage

4. The tone, intent or mood of the passage

5. The author’s point of view that’s projected through the article

6. What could have logically preceded or followed the passage

7. The scope of the passage

8. What is true or untrue of the passage

9. What is / are the applications of the ideas


Here are some cues to keep in mind, when you read the passage.

1. Summarize each para in your own words

While reading a passage make a mental map; what each of the paragraphs deals with, the author’s intent…

 Read the passage and form a mental summary

Sample:

The problem is the problem of success itself. Earlier Brazil was a food deficit country, now it is a food surplus one. With surplus production of food have come the problems of storage and in turn the problem of capital being tied up in food grains. The solution that everybody seems to talk about is diversification - into fruits, flowers, fisheries and animal husbandry. This, of course, is easier said than done. First, the farmer has to be convinced of the need to market his produce, which cannot be done without providing him infrastructural support - roads and cold chain. Then there must be someone to do the marketing. After all,even the most progressive farmer has to be assured of a market and of returns on his investment. Of course physical infrastructure is not everything. Knowledge infrastructure - how to deal with perishable produce and where to take it - is also important.

Summary: Diversification of crops, as solution to problems arising from food surplus, can be successfully implemented only when farmers are provided with physical and knowledge infrastructure.

 

The Summary usually comprises the main point of the passage and the different views

  

2. Notice opinions

When you read the passage, notice the different points of view.

You will get questions based on person A’s/B’s… opinion or Authors opinion..

Sample:

“Initially the Vinaver theory that Malory’s eight romances, once thought to be fundamentally unified, were in fact eight independent works produced both a sense of relief and an unpleasant shock.”

There are three points of view in the line above

1. Vinaver’s view – There are 8 books

2. Somebody view– The books are unified

3. Authors view – the books produced both a sense of relief and a shock


Each paragraph will have many opinion/counter opinions.. Identify all of them. 

 

3. Notice thought reversals- but/however..

These words indicate a change in opinions/views…

Positive view to a negative view.. to a positive view…

 Sample:

“ It might seem that certain traits would clearly define a species as a keystone species; for example, Pisaster ochraceus is often a…………………. But such predation on a …………………………………… roles. Moreover, ……………………………and at certain sites sand burial is responsible for eliminating mussels.”

Words like But/Moreover.. indicate thought reversals.

 

4. Skim through descriptive data

Some passages have illustrative data.

Skims through illustrative matter and scan through meaty points

 

Sample

 “There are times when the night sky glows with bands of color. The bands may begin as cloud shapes and then spread into a great arc across the entire sky. They may fall in folds like a curtain drawn across the heavens. The lights usually grow brighter, then suddenly dim. During this time the sky glows with pale yellow, pink, green, violet, blue, and red. These lights are called the Aurora Borealis. Some people call them the Northern Lights. Scientists have been watching them for hundreds of years. They are not quite sure what causes them. In ancient times people were afraid of the Lights. They imagined that they saw fiery dragons in the sky. Some even concluded that the heavens were on fire.”

 

Descriptive data:  “There………….. violet, blue and red”

These line talk about the shapes,colours, sizes..


You need to quickly skim these statements and get the gist of the paragraph as a whole. When you observe an opinion/claim….. read  the statements intently.

 

5. Make a mental map of the entire passage to identify the layout (example para 1:claim, para 2: evidence 1,  para 3: evidence 3...)

 

 Read and map the passage

While reading segregate the meaty statements from purely illustrative matter.

 

Sample:

“Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight is in the private and retiring, for ornament is in discourse, and for ability is in judgment and disposition of business. Reading  and pursuing knowledge allow us to do three things: entertain ourselves in private, adorn or embellish our speech and increase our ability to, for example, make better judgments and decisions in conducting our business. For expert men can execute and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one, but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs come best from those that are learned.

 Experts those who excel at or specialize in one thing, are good at handling particular problems within their area of expertise, but the larger issues of life are handled best by those who have studied more widely, who are more learned. To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament is affectation; to make judgments wholly by their rules is the humor of a scholar. Of course spending too much time reading is

laziness, referring too much to our reading, dropping quotes everywhere, for example, is just showing off; and reacting to life according to the rules we’ve read is the characteristic of a scholar, some one who spends too much time in school, someone who doesn’t get out much into the real world" 

 The statements in bold are the main points/opinions/examples…These should be noted.  Also make a gist of the passage:

 Gist of the passage

The passage is about the benefits of reading- for delight, for communication and for better decision making. However, too much reliance on reading is acceptable, nor is using knowledge at every context welcome.



WHAT NEXT?




Understand how you can improve your accuracy and speed. 

WHAT ELSE?

These are some of the reading cues to keep in mind while reading the passage.

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Monday, November 23, 2020

10 points - GMAT pacing strategy


You might have to modify this strategy as per your strengths and weakness...

1. If you are not able to get an answer in 30 seconds. Then guess and move on. If you                 cant get an answer in 30 seconds, mostly you wont get in 1 or 2 minutes.

2. Attempt a sentence correction question in 60 to 90 seconds

3. Attempt a critical reasoning question in 90 seconds to 3 minutes.

4. Attempt a 3 question Reading comprehension passage in 6 minutes. ( reading + answering      the questions) 

5. Attempt a 4 question Reading comprehension passage in 8 minutes. ( reading + answering      the questions)

6. Attempt a problem solving question in 30 seconds to 2 minutes

7. Attempt a data sufficiency question in 30 seconds to 3 minutes

8. For the math section, you should reach the

  • 11th question with 40 minutes left on the timer
  • 21st question with 20 minutes left on the timer 
  • 31st question with 2 minutes left on the timer

Total questions-  31 questions ..Total time- 62 minutes


9. For the verbal section, you should reach the

  • 11th question with 45 minutes left on the timer
  • 21st question with 27 minutes left on the timer 
  • 31st question with 10 minutes left on the timer

Total questions- 36 questions    Total time- 65 minutes

10. Complete all the questions in the allotted time. Unattended questions carry a huge                    penalty.  

The first 10 questions are more important than the last 10 questions.. So ensure that the first 10 are right. 

Saturday, November 14, 2020

GMAT math thinking skills 7


You will encounter word problems like this in the GMAT.

Most of you will write equations and solve this sum. 

That approach takes a lot of time.   


I am now going to show you, two ways to solve this sum

Method 1 :  The traditional approach




This approach takes time, for those, who are not comfortable with math.

You are also prone to calculation errors.


Method 2: Substitution of numbers



This approach is a lot faster.

You can save lots of time, If you use numbers instead of variables like X and Y. You can use this approach to solve various types of sums, from different areas.

 

Let’s choose numbers such that k is greater than m.

 Lets put P =100 and E = 10 . You can choose any number…


Hence option D is correct.


If there are many variables, use method 2 to arrive at the answer faster. 


Do you want to try another question in this series.
Give it a shot
 


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My contact link is here:



 

Wednesday, November 11, 2020

GMAT sentence correction - concept parallelism - level Hard


This is a tricky question. 70% of the students got this question wrong, when I presented this question in class, .

Lets understand the question first before going into the options.

Clue words:

1. Which- Check the antecedent...
2. and  - check for parallelism
3. comma(,) after dialects.. - What is the subject in the second clause 

Also

Did you observe ...
The increased popularity and availability ..........has....

Shouldn't it be... have???

No."The increased popularity and availability " is a compound word so its a single unit. hence has...

Meaning of the sentence


The increased popularity and availability has led to a decline of dialects. Because of the increased popularity and availability - language variations originated and perpetuating.....

You should have observed that originated and perpetuating are consequences of "increased popularity".. hence they have to be participles  and not verbs.  


Quick tip: A participle phrases modifies the main subject. You can say that the participle phrase is one long adjective. 

So we have to use participles here.

And - indicates parallelism. 
Hence Participle and participle is the parallel structure in this sentence.

Let us analyze each sentence 

Option A: Errors

1. No comma before which.
2. originate and perpetuated.  - Originate is a verb and perpetuated is a participle. It should be originating from.  


Option B: Error

originated is a past tense verb not a participle

Option C: Error

Originated is not a verb. It might look parallel to perpetuated. But it is not as perpetuated is a participle and "originated" is a verb. The participle form is "originating"


Option D: answer


Originating and perpetuated are the participles. Hence parallel

Option E: Error

Perpetuating is the participle form. not perpetuated. 


Hope you learnt about participles today.

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Wednesday, November 4, 2020

GMAT sentence correction - concept: Parallelism/ countable vs non countable nouns/idioms

 

Correct answer  is D

search for clue words in the question statement:

And - is it parallelism ???
Fewer- Is cavities countable or non countable???

From X to Y - idiom...

Lets analyze

From X to Y is there in all options.

Cavities is countable so we have to use fewer not less. Hence Option B is ruled out 

Now lets check parallelism

In option A: Adults getting  fewer cavities and becoming more...
"adults are getting" is preferred over "adults getting"...
Option A is ruled out

In option C: Adults who are both getting fewer cavities and becoming
"adults who are" is wordy..
adults are getting is precise
Option C is ruled out            

In option D:  adults are getting fewer and are also becoming..

"Adults are getting and adults are also becoming..."

Sentence structure is perfect.

In option E: adults getting fewer cavities and becomes....
Getting and becomes not parallel

Hence option D is answer