Essentials for GMAT data sufficiency.. Must read

What is Data Sufficiency?

Data sufficiency is designed to measure your ability to

1. Analyse a quantitative problem
2. Recognize which information is relevant
3. Synthesize data
4. Determine at which point there is sufficient information to solve a problem.

Data sufficiency questions contains a question statement, followed by two sub statements labeled (1) and (2). Do not waste valuable time solving a problem. Only determine the statements sufficient to solve a problem.

Follow the flow chart presented below.

 The order of preference while answering a question is

• D
• A/B
• C
• E

There are 5 possible scenario's while answering questions. They are:

Scenario 1:

Check question statement and statement (1) first. If you get an answer, wait
Then
Check question statement and statement (2)alone. If you get an answer now mark D

Scenario 2:

Check question statement and statement (1) first. If you get an answer, wait
Then
Check question statement and statement (2)alone. If you do not get an answer now mark A

Scenario 3:

Check question statement and statement (1) first. If you do not get an answer
Then
Check question statement and statement (2)alone. If you do get an answer now mark B

Scenario 4:

Combine question statement ,statement (1) and statement (2).
If you get an answer now mark C

Scenario 5:

Combine question statement ,statement (1) and statement (2).
If you do not get an answer now mark E

I hope you get your DS sums right now. Mail me at george@semanticslearning.com for your GMAT doubts...:-)



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Wow strategies for GMAT critical reasoning

Now some critical thoughts

Most people find the weaken/strengthen critical reasoning questions tough to crack.
Here’s good news!

If the question is weaken/ strengthen the logic is inductive. i.e. a conclusion is drawn
•from examples,
•from analogies(comparing two things)
•from cause effect relationship(causal logic)
•or from statistics( numbers, ratio, percentages)

To weaken argument from examples – choose counter example from options
To weaken analogy – choose the option that shows non- comparability
To weaken causal –choose alternative causes from option
To weaken statistics- choose option that shows unrepresentativeness

Reverse these m you are ready for strengthen.
How write strategy like the above for each logic type for strengthen question
Now work on 10 weaken/10 strengthen questions from OG. Voila! You’ve bloomed to be a logician (does that exist??)

Let me know if it works.


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GMAT Critical reasoning and AWA tips

hey guys, if you have been seriously preparing for GMAT, you would have noticed a lot of overlaps in critical reasoning and argument task of the writing section.

The logic as well as the way to analyse these is almost the same. So generously draw from your CR learning to analyse and compose response to your argument essay.(assuming that you did good preparation for CR). The argument topic presents a short passage(just as in CR) that presents an argument and specific instructions on how to respond to that passage.

The instruction is common across argument topics -to assess the logical soundness of the given argument.

keep in mind that the instruction for the issue topic varies from topic to topic).

The essays test you on critical thinking and analytical writing. Know that you are NOT being asked to present your own views on the subject.( that is in the issue topic). Here you have to analyse somebody else’s claim( easier right? To find fault with some one else! I find argument essay easier).

Make sure that you support your analysis with relevant reasons and/or counter examples( yes, if eg is used in issue, you use counter eg in arg; don’t forget we are finding fault with the speaker of the arg.) you can give hypothetical eg – drawn , personal, observed, read about..just ensure that your example is intelligible to a stranger…eg can be news items, research findings, general beliefs and so on. Ensure that they are relevant and positioned at the right place.

If the claim in the argument, for instance, is that Atkins diet is found to bring down blood glucose levels. So those who are diabetic should shift to Atkins diet. You may counter it by referring to a hypothetical report on the importance of physical activity in the lowering of blood sugar levels and that diet alone is no solution…etc etc.

Argument essay integrates critical thinking and writing skills. So don’t ignore language.

On that and snippets on issue task, iam saving for the nxt time…happy prep



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Exciting times for students planning to go to Australia?

Exciting time, they are at( India and Australia), so they claim. while signing a new agreement in Melbourne. People to people contact is at the heart of the bilateral relationship.(provided the eyes and the hearts are spared!!!), sorry Sibalji

Experts from both sides comprise the India – Australia education council and the Australian govt’s earlier advise to Indian students ‘ don’t flash your expensive possessions! Blueberries, I pads....’,part of the new deal?)

Kapil Sibal and Gillard( Oz deputy PM) are meeting after six months( obviously waiting for the heat and dust to settle). What about the 40% drop in students going to Oz for studies? Sure they will be working out a mechanism—relaxation of visa rule, scholarships, longer work permit.. the works..you add more to it



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Know your critical reasoning concept for GMAT – 1

There are two types of arguments commonly asked in the GMAT CR. Lets discuss them

• What is an inductive argument?
• What is a deductive argument?

An inductive argument is an argument where the conclusion is derived from the given premises only. The GMAT CR arguments are mostly of this type. This argument is weak because when the argument is critically analyzed it can be concluded that the conclusion cannot be derived from only the given premises.
Few examples of inductive arguments are given below.

Example 1:

Recently Algie Corporation has recruited a clever CEO to manage its operations and found its operational costs reduce by 30 percent ever since. A similar decision helped Beta Ltd to cut down operational costs by 33 percent. This shows that corporations can reduce operational costs considerably by recruiting astute CEOs.

The argument is weak because it cannot be concluded that the reduction of ops cost cannot be attributed to CEO only, it could be because of some other external factors.

Example 2

A few students of Joe School joined Luke College for liberal arts course. Mary is a student of Joe School. Therefore, Mary is most likely to join Luke College for liberal arts course.

The argument is weak because it cannot be concluded that Mary belonged to that group of students that joined Joe School

A deductive argument is an argument where the conclusion is claimed to follow necessarily from the given premises. Specific conclusions can be derived from universal premises. This argument is strong.
Few example of deductive arguments are as follows

Example 1:

All plants are green
Rose is a plant
Rose is green.

Example 2

All chemical factories in North America have effluent treatment plants within the factory premises. Fertilizer Max is a chemical factory in North America. Hence, it must have an effluent treatment plant in its premises.

Now why don’t you submit three inductive and deductive arguments . Let me check them.
You can also email your comments to urmentor@semanticslearning.com





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Move over IIM CAT, here comes GMAT.

Days after the union cabinet cleared the foreign educational institutional bill (This bill allows foreign universities to set up shop in India), GMAC has announced plans to set its third office in India(The other offices are in Virginia, USA and London, Uk)

For GMAC, India is a huge market with 8% of the total test takers being Indians. Also the number of institutes that take GMAT should increase.
Currently there are 26 Indian schools which take the GMAT. The GMAT test is currently used by over 4700 programmes in 1900 Bschools all over the world. ISB Hyderabad, IIM Ahmedabad ,Bangalore, Calcutta ,Lucknow and Indore take the GMAT score for their current programmes. The number of Bschools which will take GMAT will increases as most of them aspire to meet global standards.

Last year 2.65 Lakh students appeared for GMAT. This number should increase this year as more colleges should be considering GMAT in their admission criteria. The number of test takers has doubled from 2005 to 2009.

This means that you will have more globally ranked colleges to apply to......


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GMAT class room training program

I have just started a fresh batch for GMAT. I have come up with 8 different course variants for GMAT. I found that we cant be teaching the same course for everybody.
Call me at 09884123808 India for more details.





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Grab the exclusive MBA seat at Harvard

Harvard has been in the forefront of management education since 1908. The MBA program is famous for its curriculum where it is required to apply the candidates decision making skills as many as 500 hundred times in two years through their case- method learning.

To get into Harvard, email your admission queries to admissions@hbs.edu. They look out for students with leadership potential and a capacity to thrive in a rigorous academic environment.

The candidates leadership potential can be gauged through various instances. It can be from organizing a classroom to running an independent business. Candidates with a potential for intellectual growth, sophisticated ideas, analytical ability and discussion skills are preferred.

Work experience will be considered along with GMAT scores. There is no minimum work experience required. At times it may be required for you to attend an on-campus summer pre MBA international programme.
For loan opportunities and research outside funding opportunities visit www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/loans.html and www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/funding.html



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Component skills to master GMAT reading comprehension

GMAT reading comprehension tests you on many component skills.

There are a lot more analytical skills that go into high performance in the verbal. Here is a set of skills – of recognizing the fine differences between the list of terms.

Label passages into narrative, argumentative, expository, descriptive
Recognize- main points of the passage, factors, examples
Relate- between causes and effects, major and minor ideas
Critique- the author’s assertions
Translate- abstract and figurative expressions into more precise and literal language
Apply- information in the passage in hypothetical contexts
Draw- logical conclusions, inferences
Analyze- a text for weaknesses, strengths, validity
Compare and contrast different points of view
Recognize the organization of the passage
Integrate- new ideas into the passage
Defend/ rebut-the author’s position

For high score verbal, acquire a copy of RC topper module at.
Email your queries to urmentor@semanticslearning.com



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GMAT sentence correction error types

Re-write the following sentences correctly

Error type: Subject verb disagreement
1. When temperature increases, the ice caps melt and presumably, causes flood in summer.

Error type: Parallelism
2. The panel of contractual savings has suggested three major recommendations, namely, benchmarking of small savings against government securities, retain tax sops only on savings with maturities in excess of six years and transferring of the entire proceeds of small savings collections to states.

Error type: idiomatic construction
3. Some of’ the biographers of Leonardo have actually expressed regret that such a man, endowed by divine artistic genius would waste precious years of his life on such a lowly pursuit like engineering.

Error type: Misplaced modifier
4. Instituted by the law council, three years to a review of the legal profession was devoted by the task force.

Error type: Tense consistency

5. Debono’s recent research on cognitive processes had revealed that managers used intuition in distinct ways.

Error type: Countable, non countable noun use
6. During the economic recession, the wages of much unskilled workers were so less that many of them lived in abject poverty.

Error type: Pronoun and noun agreement
7. Almost a century ago biologists found that if it separated an animal embryo into two parts at an early stage, they would survive and develop as two normal embryos.

Error type: Illogical comparison
8. Unlike Singapore, the roads in Hong Kong are asphalted twice a year when the monsoon comes to an end.

Error type: Adjective adverb use
9. This perfect sound method to portray the text as it originally stood, is quite imaginative and with creativity than the new interpretation.

Error type: Faulty Diction
10. A policy outlook on the status of children in a country is essential but not quiet well enough condition to make a difference to the future of a generation.


There are 15 more error. In total there are 25 error types often tested in the GMAT. To know more information click http://www.semanticslearning.com/gmat-usage.asp


To download the entire error list and study notes click here.http://www.semanticslearning.com/downloads/GMATSentence_Correction.zip

Email me at enquiry@semanticslearning.com for doubts and queries. A GMAT verbal faculty will answer them.



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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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An Analytical focus to GMAT

IIM CAT gets lots of space in discussion forums(thanks to the Prometric goof up), while its international cousin, GMAT, though revered for its reliability, is hardly discussed. Now that GMAT is used by a good number of B. Schools in India, IIMA( PGPX), ISB Hyderabad, IIMB( PGSEM), GLIM Chennai, to name a few, let’s give it its due and take a closer look at it.

GMAT tests verbal( sentence correction, critical reasoning and reading comprehension), math(problem solving and data sufficiency), and analytical writing skills.

The test assesses diverse competencies the prerequisites of which are strong fundamentals, the ability to think laterally and an analytical approach to sentence formation( grammar), critical reasoning, reading comprehension and quantitative problem solving.

Retake ,retake
GMAT is arguably the most repeated test. Twice, thrice. At times four attempts. Given that B.chools require 670+/800 thorough preparation is indispensable. The preparation cannot be confined to taking computer based tests or solving questions from the official guide. An overload of practice material in the internet has also mostly caused confusion among test takers- how much of it is adequate and if all relevant topics are covered.

Miracles do not happen
A reading comprehension section requires one to analyse and evaluate varied topics from economics, literature, philosophy, science, history. One who is planning to do GMAT should start early by extensive reading of such texts( The Hindu, Tuesday open page, Thursday Science and Technology and Sunday literary magazine are excellent sources. )this can be followed by reading comprehension(RC) tests of good quality. Always analyse the passages after the test. To score well in the Reading Comprehension a good diction is a must. For instance you must know the fine difference between explain, argue, propose, analyse, evaluate(words that summarise the primary purpose of the passage). And disinterested(not uninterested), biased, apprehensive - to cite a few terms depicting the author’s attitude toward the issue under discussion.
For the critical reasoning section there is a lot to learn about argument formation, argument types, argument evaluation and fallacies in arguments. One should know all the terminology that comprise the philosophy of argument( inductive generalization, argument by analogy, flaws in reasoning, post hoc fallacy to mention a few) from a whole spectrum of logic.
Sentence correction needs a lot of preparation. Requirements of standard written English, syntactical formats( eg. hardly…when, as much …as, so…that ), effective expressions( placing modifiers at the right place, avoiding unnecessary repetitions , ambiguity, choosing appropriate words).


The problem solving section of the GMAT is not as challenging as that of CAT. However, since most GMATers have a gap in academics, a thorough review of basics of math is a good start. This can be followed by strategy building- analyzing numerical problems, diagramming problems, substitution of suitable values, forming equations, forming hypothesis and testing , assessing the adequacy of data and the like.
The essays need attention- brainstorming on topics, learning the intricacies of argument analysis and adequate practice on timed organized writing.

In sum, to a reasonable degree, GMAT tests a candidate’s preparedness for the rigours of business education and business careers thereafter. Those competencies involve quantitative analysis, critical thinking, decision making, divergent thinking, Interpreting and evaluating complex data, and expressing ideas coherently and persuasively. These skills are reflected in the GMAT. Study well and crack it the first attempt itself.

For guidance email urmentor@semanticslearning.com







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Happy New year

Lets GMAT all its followers a very very happy new year. May all of you get 750+ in the GMAT:-)


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Merry Christmas

letsgmat wishes you a Merry Christmas:-)



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Check your GMAT skills

Your GMAT prep – how should it be? What skills should you build

Conceptual clarity

Basic mathematics- strong fundamentals in algebra, arithmetic, geometry- theorems, rules, equations, formula, counting methods, speed of calculation.

Basic skills: verbal – reading skills- familiarity with a wide range of topics- science, history, philosophy, economics- literature. Ability to read varied texts with speed. Ability to speak and write correct English, a good vocabulary- ability to glean the meaning of words in context.
Basic skill – writing- ability to organize ideas in a logical order. Ability to write grammatically correct sentences. Ability to use forceful words to express ideas. General knowledge- awareness of varied current issues and topics of interest.

Analytical skills
Ability to analyse quantitative problems , arguments- identify logic underlying arguments, flaws in reasoning- ability to analyse abstract passages, complex sentences for errors.
Ability to analyse question requirement – critical reasoning, reading comprehension and certain quantitative questions accompanying problems. Ability to analyse purpose of arguments, passages.

Strategy application skills:
Ability to transfer learning to similar problem contexts, ability to identify commonness of problems and questions. Ability to improvise a solution plan. To evaluate arguments and assertions. To gauge the subtle differences between options.





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