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CR Strategy when it comes to hard questions.

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CR Strategy when it comes to hard questions.

by dddanny2006 » Thu Feb 27, 2014 6:21 am
Hi

Im finding CR questions hard,I'm just done with the Must be true/Inference category of questions.I get some right,and some wrong.The one's that I get wrong are ones where I've completely sized down options to 2,including a right answer and a wrong answer.

My question is :When some answer choices do not meet the scope of an argument and are categorized as wrong,but the other is right despite being questionable whether it comes under the scope of the argument?

I mean what can one do in those situations?FYI,Im doing pretty well on problems from the OG,Ive only done Must Be True/Inference based one's so far.What does that mean?Is it that the OG has very simple questions,or does my performance on it speak anything about my understanding.?

The Powerscore CR bible had 8 questions of which I got 4 correct and the remaining 4 wrong.Im a bit worried if I could change my way of understanding things just for the test.

Please help me with the following words,there's a discrepancy in every source that I've read so far.
Many,Most,Usually,Generally,All,Few,Some,Often.The way these words work relative to each other and also the one's that can be replaced by one another.Any more words that could be added to the list area also welcome.

Thanks

Dan
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by Mike@Magoosh » Thu Feb 27, 2014 2:47 pm
dddanny2006 wrote:Hi

Im finding CR questions hard,I'm just done with the Must be true/Inference category of questions.I get some right,and some wrong.The one's that I get wrong are ones where I've completely sized down options to 2,including a right answer and a wrong answer.

My question is :When some answer choices do not meet the scope of an argument and are categorized as wrong,but the other is right despite being questionable whether it comes under the scope of the argument?

I mean what can one do in those situations?FYI,Im doing pretty well on problems from the OG,Ive only done Must Be True/Inference based one's so far.What does that mean?Is it that the OG has very simple questions,or does my performance on it speak anything about my understanding.?

The Powerscore CR bible had 8 questions of which I got 4 correct and the remaining 4 wrong.Im a bit worried if I could change my way of understanding things just for the test.

Please help me with the following words,there's a discrepancy in every source that I've read so far.
Many,Most,Usually,Generally,All,Few,Some,Often.The way these words work relative to each other and also the one's that can be replaced by one another.Any more words that could be added to the list area also welcome.

Thanks

Dan
Dear Dan,
I'm happy to respond to your p.m. :-)

First of all, here's a blog about GMAT CR Inference questions:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-criti ... inference/

In the OG CR questions, and in well written CR practice questions, the correct answer will be completely justifiable, and each wrong answer will be unambiguously wrong. The questions in the OG aren't easy, but they are well-written according to these standards. Unfortunately, not all questions out there are written to the same standards. I certainly have seen some CR practice questions in which two answers could be justified, or no answer is completely satisfactory. My first piece of advice is: don't necessarily trust that any practice CR question is written to high GMAT standards simply because the person who is selling it to you (or giving it away for free) claims that it is a high quality GMAT CR question. Caveat emptor!

Having said that, it may be that these questions you are finding problematic are perfectly well written questions, but because of diabolically clever distractors, you are getting confused. I would have no way of knowing without seeing the individual questions. I highly recommend that you post each question you got wrong, each in its own new thread, and make sure you explain --- I was choosing between these two answers, and I don't understand why this answer is the OA when blah blah .... Explain your reasoning, explain exactly how you got the question wrong, and explain any dissatisfaction you have with the OE. Feel free to send me and other experts a p.m., soliciting our feedback. Only by examining each question, one at a time, could I tell you whether the questions are poor or whether the questions are fine but there are flaws in your logic. Do you see what I mean?

As to your question about frequency words. I would add "every", "each", "none" or "no" to the list. Those words are also know as "indefinite" pronouns or modifiers. FWIW, here are two blogs about grammar points when they show up in the SC questions:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-sente ... agreement/
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-sente ... and-logic/

I will say that the ones that are totalistic, that is, the ones that implies something is true for 100% or 0% of the population, are extreme. Very few things are true for 100% of population or 0% of the population. If you see "all", "every", "never", etc. in an answer choice, there's a very good chance that answer choice is incorrect.

I'm not sure exactly what you question about these is. Perhaps you could clarify further.

Here's a blog about reasoning with populations that may intersect some of the issues about which you are curious:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-criti ... pulations/

Mike :-)
Magoosh GMAT Instructor
https://gmat.magoosh.com/
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by [email protected] » Thu Feb 27, 2014 11:36 pm
Hi dddanny2006,

I'm curious about how your performance differs when working out of a book vs. when you work on the computer. Do you find it easier to work in one over the other?

Since you'll be taking the GMAT on a computer, there's something to be said for focusing on practice that matches test-like conditions. Also, since the Verbal section is the last section of the GMAT, how well do you perform when you're tired? It might be that you're dealing with endurance issues moreso than anything else. People who are too tired to think clearly often make little mistakes that cost them questions (especially when they've narrowed the answers down to 2 choices.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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by dddanny2006 » Fri Feb 28, 2014 1:07 am
Hi Mike,

Thank you for getting back to me.I really appreciate it.Well,my question about the modifier words:When can they be interchanged,as in if a question stimulus has the word many in it,and an answer choice has most,can they be taken as the same?Can you please give me a list of interchangeable's among words:most,many,few,all,some,often,usually,generallyBecause Ive read conflicting views from various different sources,and hence Im confused. Thanks for your responding,I really appreciate it.
Dan
Mike@Magoosh wrote: Dear Dan,
I'm happy to respond to your p.m. :-)

First of all, here's a blog about GMAT CR Inference questions:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-criti ... inference/

In the OG CR questions, and in well written CR practice questions, the correct answer will be completely justifiable, and each wrong answer will be unambiguously wrong. The questions in the OG aren't easy, but they are well-written according to these standards. Unfortunately, not all questions out there are written to the same standards. I certainly have seen some CR practice questions in which two answers could be justified, or no answer is completely satisfactory. My first piece of advice is: don't necessarily trust that any practice CR question is written to high GMAT standards simply because the person who is selling it to you (or giving it away for free) claims that it is a high quality GMAT CR question. Caveat emptor!

Having said that, it may be that these questions you are finding problematic are perfectly well written questions, but because of diabolically clever distractors, you are getting confused. I would have no way of knowing without seeing the individual questions. I highly recommend that you post each question you got wrong, each in its own new thread, and make sure you explain --- I was choosing between these two answers, and I don't understand why this answer is the OA when blah blah .... Explain your reasoning, explain exactly how you got the question wrong, and explain any dissatisfaction you have with the OE. Feel free to send me and other experts a p.m., soliciting our feedback. Only by examining each question, one at a time, could I tell you whether the questions are poor or whether the questions are fine but there are flaws in your logic. Do you see what I mean?

As to your question about frequency words. I would add "every", "each", "none" or "no" to the list. Those words are also know as "indefinite" pronouns or modifiers. FWIW, here are two blogs about grammar points when they show up in the SC questions:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-sente ... agreement/
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-sente ... and-logic/

I will say that the ones that are totalistic, that is, the ones that implies something is true for 100% or 0% of the population, are extreme. Very few things are true for 100% of population or 0% of the population. If you see "all", "every", "never", etc. in an answer choice, there's a very good chance that answer choice is incorrect.

I'm not sure exactly what you question about these is. Perhaps you could clarify further.

Here's a blog about reasoning with populations that may intersect some of the issues about which you are curious:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-criti ... pulations/

Mike :-)
Last edited by dddanny2006 on Fri Feb 28, 2014 1:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
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by dddanny2006 » Fri Feb 28, 2014 1:22 am
Thanks Rich.I have tried questions both on the ebook,as well as the book.I get some right,the many that I get wrong are a result of the incorrect choice that I make from the final 2 options.What do you make of the OG Inference questions?I got 9/12 right,3 mistakes but I wonder if the questions on the OG are the easy ones in comparison to what might pop up on the test day.What say??Are they easy or good questions similar to those I may get on the test day?From Powerscore Must Be True chapter,I got the first few correct 4 correct on the trot,and last 4 wrong on the trot.So I tend to wonder if it is only those easy questions that I get right,they may be hard too.Experts will know,but I cant decide the levels on my own.
[email protected] wrote:Hi dddanny2006,

I'm curious about how your performance differs when working out of a book vs. when you work on the computer. Do you find it easier to work in one over the other?

Since you'll be taking the GMAT on a computer, there's something to be said for focusing on practice that matches test-like conditions. Also, since the Verbal section is the last section of the GMAT, how well do you perform when you're tired? It might be that you're dealing with endurance issues moreso than anything else. People who are too tired to think clearly often make little mistakes that cost them questions (especially when they've narrowed the answers down to 2 choices.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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