[720 Q49 V40] My Blog: Errors and lessons learned

mayonnai5e · Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 3:49 pm Post subject:

Hello again,

I will be leaving for vacation this weekend for two weeks so you will probably not see much of me during that time. I'd like to present one small strategy that I used to help me on CR questions before I leave though.

Disclaimer: This technique is NOT meant to be used stand-alone; instead, it is meant to help you narrow your focus and isolate the good answer choices from the fluff that test writers add in to confuse you. This strategy is very useful for easy/medium level questions, but is harder to apply on hard questions because test writers often use the keywords themselves on hard questions to throw you off course! Use of this technique can increase your score if used wisely. Overuse of this technique can lead to very bad things especially on hard, hard CR.

Keyword/phrase search:

In my previous blog lessons learned on CR, I continuously mentioned the idea of using keywords to help eliminate answer choices and narrow your focus. In this lesson learned, I will show you how I apply this technique and how I used it to answer difficult questions for which I was unsure of the correct answer.

The idea is that you should search the stimulus and question stem for certain keywords. In particular, pay attention to things can that be tangential to those keywords in the answer choices as this usually signals an incorrect answer choice that is out of scope.

In the example question below, I have highlighted in bold the key words and phrases that I feel are the most important ones to focus on

#73 OG verbal review:

The cotton farms of Country Q became so productive that the market could not absorb all that they produced. Consequently, cotton prices fell. The government tried to boost cotton prices by offering farmers who took 25 percent of their cotton acreage out of production direct support payments up to a specified maximum per farm.

The government's program, if successful, will not be a net burden on the budget. Which of the following, if true, is the best basis for an explanation of how this could be so?

(A) Depressed cotton prices meant operating losses for cotton farms, and the government lost revenue from taxes on farm profits.

(B) Cotton production in several countries other than Q declined slightly the year that the support-payment program went into effect in Q.

(C) The first year that the support-payment program was in effect, cotton acreage in Q was 5 percent below its level in the base year for the program.

(D) The specified maximum per farm meant that for very large cottons farms the support payments were less per acre for those acres that were withdrawn from production than they were for smaller farms.

(E) Farmers who wished to qualify for support payments could not use the cotton acreage that was withdrawn from production to grow any other crop.

Okay, so let's take a look at the keywords that I found:
Stimulus - answer choices should have something to do with direct support payments, cotton prices and country Q.
Question stem - choices should have something to do with NET burden on the budget. What does "Net" anything usually involve?
(A) Choice includes info on losses, revenue, profits and cotton prices
(B) Choice talks about other countries
(C) Choice talks about the first year of the program
(D) Choice compares large and small farms
(E) Choice talks about qualification for the payments and also other crops.

How do you use these keywords to eliminate answers? Just do some thinking about the passage. The passage talks about direct support payments in general with no restrictions on size and not within a particular time frame. The question stem asks you to look for something that has to do with net burden and the budget.

Now let's go through the key words and phrases of the answer choices and eliminate those that have keywords that are tangential to the things I've just mentioned:
(A) losses, revenue and profits --> do these have to do with 'net' burden. sounds likely...keep it for now
(B) several other countries? nope passage only mentions Q. eliminate
(C) first year? does the passage have any keywords that restrict time period? nope. eliminate
(D) very large farms vs small farms? does the passage contain any keywords suggesting size restrictions? nope. eliminate
(E) qualifying for payments. other crops. does the passage mention anything about qualifications? nope. how about other crops? nope. eliminate.

So A is the only answer choice that appears to have keywords that relate to the keywords we found in the stimulus and question stem. A is the OA. When I did this practice problem, I was not sure what the answer was after reading the choices. I had eliminated 3 answer choices, but I was stuck on the last two. So I went to my last resort - keyword searching. I went through the passage quickly, scanned for keywords and compared the last two answer choices and chose A because it contained keywords that reflected the keywords found in the stimulus and question stem. I got it right. Note that there are only 83 CR questions in this book so this question is one of the harder ones.

So you can see this technique can be used to help eliminate answer choices and, when stuck between 2 or 3 choices, can help you decide amongst them which is the most likely to be the correct answer. If you would like to practice this technique, go through the easy CR questions found in CR. Scan them and look for keywords in the stimulus, question stem, and answer choices and try eliminating answer choices based on the keywords. Then make a best guess as to which is the correct answer and see if you got it right.

Cheers!

beatthegmat · Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 10:20 pm Post subject:

Thanks for this great post before your trip! We look forward to seeing you when you get back. Smile

mayonnai5e · Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 2:31 pm Post subject:

Guest · Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 2:53 pm Post subject:

You deserve it, thanks!

mayonnai5e · Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 3:04 pm Post subject:

Hello again,

This next blog post is another CR strategy. In CR, I believe the two most important things are:

1) Sorting out the premises from the conclusion. Being able to quickly separate these two elements is vital to working through CR questions quickly

2) Narrowing your focus to the specific (I mean very specific) topic covered by the stimulus.

Failing to do these two on a CR question can lead to selection of an answer that is out of scope or a tangent to the topic at hand or confusion over what the author is actually trying to get across.

My main method for addressing (2) was discussed in my last post, namely the keyword search technique. My method for dealing with (1) is a technique that I will call "the truthness technique" for lack of a better phrase (if someone finds a better name for it, please make a suggestion). Please keep in mind, that I have never read the MGMAT CR book or the LSAT CR book so I have no idea what kinds of techniques they provide in those books. It may very well be that my ideas are already published in these books - I really don't know. If they are, I am definitely not copying them and taking credit for them. These ideas that I've suggested in my blog are my own techniques that I practiced internally and instinctively as I practiced more and more.

Anyways, I'll begin by reminding everyone that a premise is any evidence that the author uses to support his claim. The important thing to remember is that the author will ALWAYS state a premise as a truth. Think about it, if you were arguing something, would you provide evidence in such a way that it seems disputable? No! Of course not, you would state it like it was absolute truth so no one can weaken your argument. And that is the key fact: premises will almost always be presented as TRUTH. If the author states something in such a way that it appears to be absolute truth, it is most likely a premise.

On the other hand, a conclusion made by the author is rarely ever stated as a given fact. Why? Because the author is ARGUING for his conclusion - there's no point for an author to argue a conclusion if it is absolute fact. For example, would someone argue, "The US gained independence in 1776?" No. We know that is a fact so that statement would more likely be used as a premise: "Since the US gained independence in 1776,..." And this is the other key fact: conclusions will almost never be discussed as TRUTH.

This is why I call this the "the truthness technique" - you can often figure out which statements are premises vs conclusions by determining whether the author presents them as truth or maybe/could be true.

Here is a problem that I answered on a post in the verbal CR forum:

http://www.beatthegmat.com/viewtopic.php?t=3246

Since no one returns from death, we can never be certain about what passes through the mind of the dying person. For the unconscious, the confused, and the heavily sedated, these final moments are probably meaningless. However, for the mentally alert, it is quite possible that death presents itself as an unbelievably glorious experience, a flight into an entirely new universe of sensation. Why should we think so? Some people who have been reprieved from “certain” death at the last moment have experienced what goes through the consciousness of those who are not so fortunate. For example, parachutists who have survived falls report experiences that resemble psychedelic “trips.”

The primary point of the argument in the passage is
(A) no one returns from death
(B) dying can be a glorious experience
(C) we can never know what passes through the mind of a dying person
(D) some people are reprieved from death at the last moment
(E) some people “die”, yet live to report their, experiences

First, I want to note that the keyword search technique is absolutely useless for this question. Each answer choice contains keywords found in the passage so throw that strategy out and look inside your verbal toolbox for other tools that can be used. My method to solve this was the truthness technique.

In the linked post above, I did not fully describe this technique so I will go into my detail here. You can follow the link to see my less detailed response.

The question is asking what the primary point, or conclusion, is.

(A) no one returns from death

"Since no one returns from death, we can never be certain about what passes through the mind of the dying person."
--> How does this statement read to you? How does the author present it? It is stated like it is truth - consider the "since no one" and the "we can never..." PREMISE! ELIMINATE.

(B) dying can be a glorious experience

"it is quite possible that death presents itself as an unbelievably glorious experience,"
--> this statement is not presented as absolute truth - consider the "it is quite possible"
--> since it is not presented as truth, it can plausibly be the conclusion

(C) we can never know what passes through the mind of a dying person

--> this is the second half of the statement shown the choice (A) which I've already classified as a premise. ELIMINATE.

(D) some people are reprieved from death at the last moment

" Some people who have been reprieved from “certain” death at the last moment have experienced what goes through the consciousness of those who are not so fortunate."
--> This also is presented as a truth because it is cited as a fact. People have survived certain death and have lived to tell their story - there is no debate about it. PREMISE! ELIMINATE.

(E) some people “die”, yet live to report their, experiences

--> This is just a restatement of the fact stated in (E), which I classified as a premise. ELIMINATE.

Okay, so A, C, D, and E were presented by the author as TRUTHS. The only statement that was not presented as a truth or fact was B so choose B. This question comes from CR 1000. The poster from the link above did not provide the OA, but I checked the document itself and B is indeed the OA.

The books out there often tell you to look for premise words like {for, since, because, etc etc} but sometimes the author states things in such a way that he does not need to use these words. How boring would an argument be if every other statement started with since or because? When no such keywords can be found, use my truth technique to figure out what is what in CR questions.

Thanks again for reading my blog! And good luck everyone! (time to go pack!)

mayonnai5e · Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 3:12 pm Post subject:

It seems that people are not sure of my sex (Stacy referred to me in an earlier post by "s/he") so I just want to make it clear that I'm male. Oh and my name is Lee. So you don't have to write out Mayonnai5e all the time now.

Guest · Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 4:10 pm Post subject:

Your posts rock!

mayonnai5e · Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 4:16 pm Post subject:

mayonnai5e · Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 4:22 pm Post subject:

I just want to clarify that I am not suggesting the truth technique over other methods of determining whether a statement is a premise or a conclusion. My idea is mainly useful if the statements are hard to classify because there are none of the usual keywords. If you notice, for choice A above, the related statement begins, "Since no one returns from death." The word since here clearly signals a premise so you really do not need to use my truth technique here. If there is an easier clue, use it! Just because you have a sophisticated tool does not mean you should use it for every case. As they say in software, KISS (keep it simple stupid).

mayonnai5e · Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 4:34 pm Post subject:

Oh sorry, I forgot to mention how to practice the truthness technique. Like the keyword search technique, just go through some very simple CR questions in OG11. For each, read a statement and think about whether that statement is presented as a truth or as something that could be true. Continue this until you've read the entire stimulus. Which statement is the conclusion? Which are the premises? Pay particular attention to phrases that signal indisputability ("we can never tell") and disputability ("it is quite possible"). Try to do this quickly because that is what matters on the real GMAT - separating premises from the conclusion quickly.

Stacey Koprince · Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 10:30 am Post subject:

Just want to add a tidbit. I just got back from a conference put on by GMAC and one of the slides illustrated the penalty for not answering 5 questions at the end (not guessing on those 5, but leaving them blank).

Your score goes down by 15 percentile points.

If you leave even 1 question blank, you go down about 3 percentile points.

So if you were at the 80th percentile and ran out of time with 5 questions to go, you would now be at the 65th percentile for that topic.

They didn't have the specific numbers for what would happen if you did guess on those 5 and got them all wrong, but the penalty will be nearly as substantial.

In other words, the penalty is HUGE.

samirpandeyit62 · Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 10:47 am Post subject:

Thanks Stacey for sharing this information, I dont think anyone could have imagined that leaving a question would be so destructive.

beatthegmat · Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 2:13 pm Post subject:

Moved to 'I just Beat The GMAT' section. Great story, start to finish!

mayonnai5e · Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 8:26 am Post subject:

Update:

AWA 5/61%

I hoped for a 6, but I only started studying for the AWA two nights before and did not write any actual essays during my prep.

Lesson: Start studying for AWA earlier and actually write a few sample essays.