Don’t Match Words to Find Correct Answers

DO: Eliminate answer choices based on meaning and logic.

DON’T: Eliminate choices simply because the wording doesn’t “match” what is in the passage, or choose answers because the wording matches the passage’s wording exactly.

RC questions are a veritable minefield of trap answers, and a major way that GMAT question writers lay their traps is by choosing words and phrasing that make right answers look wrong and wrong answers look right. Often, incorrect RC answer choices seem to match exactly what the passage says, whereas correct answers will switch up the wording so that the answer seems less related to what is in the passage. Let’s look at an example.

A passage discusses “an atomic clock located in Colorado.” A very tempting incorrect answer choice says something about “an atomic clock located in Colorado.” The correct answer, on the other hand, says something about “an advanced timepiece placed at a great distance from the researchers.” Nowhere in the passage is the expression “an advanced timepiece” ever used. However, given the context of the passage, the atomic clock could rightly be described as “an advanced timepiece placed at a great distance from the researchers.”

The question writers matched the wording of the passage in their trap choice and changed the wording in the correct answer because they know that doing so will make test-takers second-guess whether to choose the correct answer.

It’s only natural to be thrown by something that “sounds wrong” and tempted by something that “sounds right.” So, you have to be very careful not to simply eliminate choices because the wording doesn’t “match” what is in the passage, and not to choose answers simply because the wording matches the passage’s wording exactly. You must be sophisticated in your thinking and find the choice that really makes sense given what the passage says.