In this post I would like to expound upon a theory of mine that gets at the slight differences in the scoring algorithm on the Quant and Verbal sections of the GMAT. In a previous post I commented on the fact that although on the Quant section the number of...
GMAT/GRE
GMAT Sentence Correction: Right Answers Are Often Deliberately Bad
People studying for the GMAT are often completely thrown by a correct answer on a sentence correction question that just “doesn’t sound good.” In their minds they think, “there is no way that can be the correct answer – that just sounds bad.” Even if that...
Why Isn’t My GMAT Score Increasing? Reason 1
In my years as a GMAT tutor I have had many students come to me complaining that although they have done a lot of prep for the test, their scores just are not increasing. There are many reasons that this could be the case, but in this post I would like to...
Why Isn’t My GMAT Score Increasing? Reason 2
In a previous post I discussed one of the main reasons that a person’s GMAT score can appear not to increase. In this post I will posit what I believe to be the second most common cause: a complete misunderstanding of the test and what it takes to do well on...
Why Isn’t My GMAT Score Increasing? Reason 3
In a couple of previous posts I discussed some of the main reasons that people don’t see much of a score increase when preparing for the GMAT. In this post I will turn to yet another common cause of artificially low GMAT scores: poor time management! Over...
How to Get Hard GMAT Question Right!
The scoring algorithm on the GMAT is such that in order to achieve a high score on the test you have to be getting hard questions right. As most people understand, the number of questions that you get right is not the major factor…your score is based on the...
What Do the GMAT and GRE Really Test?
Virtually everyone who begins studying for the GMAT and GRE (and even many people who are months into the process) tend to misunderstand what the tests are really about. The GMAT and GRE are not typical tests for which you just memorize a body of content...
GMAT Tips: Information Overload on Data Sufficiency
There are many things that tend to give people trouble on Data Sufficiency, but one of the most common issues that people face is the problem of “information overload.” One of the skills that Data Sufficiency tests is a person’s ability to simultaneously...
Data Sufficiency Strategy for GMAT: A Crucial Decision Point
In a previous post I discussed the tendency that people have to “go on a hunch” on Data Sufficiency questions. This is a big no-no because DS questions are designed to punish people for making unwarranted assumptions. Generally speaking it is best to try to...
The Black Swan of Data Sufficiency
Many of you may be aware of the book The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. In the book Taleb uses the analogy of a black swan in nature to describe the problem of predicting highly improbable events. He comments that just because one has never seen a...
GMAT Tip: Avoiding Obvious Answers on Data Sufficiency Questions
When I tutor I often like to ask my students, “what makes a hard question hard from the point of view of the test writers?” Invariably I get answers that point to specific techniques that are used to dial up the level of difficulty, such as abstraction,...
Official GMAT Resources – Why Don’t People Use Them?
It never ceases to amaze me how few people use the official GMAT resources that are available. This is perhaps a credit to how good the major test prep companies have gotten at convincing people that their resources are an accurate representation of what is...
Data Sufficiency: Going on a Hunch?
GMATers, especially newcomers to the test, tend to spend on average less time on Data Sufficiency questions than on the other Data Insights question types. This is in part because Data Sufficiency questions don’t require an “answer” in the same way that the...
Data Sufficiency and the “Spectrum of Sufficiency”
Understanding the “Spectrum of Sufficiency” is a key advanced strategy on Data Sufficiency questions and yet very few people seem to be aware of the technique. Nevertheless, understanding the concept and how to apply it can really help you answer some of the...
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