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Choosing between two choices

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sam2304 GMAT Titan
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Choosing between two choices Post Thu Apr 19, 2012 9:23 am
Whenever I practice problems in a timed manner, I often end up confused with two choices in CR and RC and choose the wrong answer most of the time. Before I start reviewing I would check for the right answers and most of the time the one I chose will be wrong and the one I avoided will be the right one. Most of the time my first instinct or intuition will be right. How should one go about rectifying this problem ?

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Post Thu Apr 19, 2012 12:15 pm
You could always use the Costanza strategy Very Happy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKUvKE3bQlY

When I get down to two answers that I think are pretty good, I try to refocus on what's important. If it's a Strengthen question, for instance, I reread the conclusion. The answer choice that more directly supports the conclusion is the correct one. If you have to justify an answer (i.e. "well, if x is true, then y, and then B supports the conclusion"), it's probably not the one you're looking for.

I think trusting your first instinct is important as well. It's really easy to overthink and talk yourself out of an answer.

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Post Thu Apr 19, 2012 8:56 pm
paraphrasing your own version on the answer in CR will definitely help you save time in narrowing down the options and finding the correct one.

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sam2304 GMAT Titan
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Post Thu Apr 19, 2012 9:33 pm
GMAT Kolaveri wrote:
paraphrasing your own version on the answer in CR will definitely help you save time in narrowing down the options and finding the correct one.
I don't have trouble with strengthen, weaken and assumption. Most of these mistakes happen with inference questions and they are difficult to paraphrase. The same happens with RC as well.

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Post Tue Apr 24, 2012 8:32 pm
The best source for inference concepts is the Must be true chapter in powerscore CR bible.

Inference question answer options should be derived from the premise only. We should not broaden the topic of discussion.

Practicing/reviewing/reading the solution of inference question will help you.

Breaking down the argument and removing the fluff in CR also helps.
http://www.beatthegmat.com/the-answer-to-this-question-surprised-me-please-help-t110793.html#467125

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Post Sun May 06, 2012 2:12 pm
i received a message regarding this thread.

we hear this sort of thing a lot -- the "i always choose wrong when i'm down to two choices" thing -- and, well, it's probably not true.

what's probably happening is this:
* your review concentrates, primarily or exclusively, on problems that you got WRONG.
* so, the problems on which you guessed correctly between two choices get marginalized (or, if you're only going over the wrong answers, get ignored altogether).
* therefore, it starts to appear as though you always blow the choices between 2 options.
as an extreme (and obvious) illustration, if you are only reviewing the problems that you got wrong, then it's going to look as though you choose the wrong answer between two options 100% of the time.

try this: do some problems, and actually write down, at the time, whenever you guess between two options. if you do this, you'll almost certainly find that about 50% (or more) of those guesses are right.

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