BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem

Target Test Prep · GMAT

Choose how you want to prepare

Learn live with an expert or move at your own pace. Every option includes the complete TTP study system.

★★★★★5.0559 reviews
Vote for Target Test Prep, Newsweek Readers’ Choice Awards 2026
NEWSWEEK READERS’ CHOICE 2026

BIG NEWS! Target Test Prep has been nominated, and they’d love your vote!

TTP has worked incredibly hard to build the best test prep experience possible, and winning Newsweek’s 2026 Readers’ Choice Award for Best Test Prep would mean a lot to them. If TTP has helped you, they’d be incredibly grateful for your vote. You can vote once each day through September 9.

Vote for TTP
GMATLiveTeach 7 seats left
Chris Peckover
NEXT LIVE COHORT

Oct 13 to Jan 7, 2027

with Chris Peckover

Schedule
Tue, Thu · 8:00 to 10:00 PM ET
Included
40 live hours + 6 months of GMAT OnDemand
  • Live instruction and real-time questions
  • Class recordings and assigned practice
View class & enroll
Limited cohort · enrollment openTarget Test Prep
EALiveTeach 5 seats left
Logan Thompson
EXECUTIVE ASSESSMENT

Sep 6 to Dec 6, 2026

with Logan Thompson

Schedule
Sun · 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM ET
Included
40 hours of live online classes plus six months of access to the complete TTP EA OnDemand course.
  • 165+ EA Score Guarantee
  • 4,100+ Quant, Verbal, and Integrated Reasoning practice questions
  • 400+ hours of in-depth video lessons
  • 3,000+ step-by-step video solutions
View EA class & enroll
Limited cohort · enrollment openTarget Test Prep
GMATOnDemand Start anytime
SELF-PACED MASTERCLASS

Target Test Prep GMAT OnDemand

Complete access from day one. Study on your schedule.

715+ score guarantee
$0to start then $127/mo
  • Personalized study plan and analytics
  • Thousands of lessons and practice questions

Compare the format, schedule, and included access before enrolling. Prices and seat counts shown reflect the supplied offer details.

graduating medical students

Expert replies

by Stacey Koprince » Wed Mar 10, 2010 12:24 pm
Great, I'm glad it's GMATPrep - that means we can discuss it. :)

First, the idiom is: "X is <4> times more likely than Y TO DO <something>"
The idiom is not "X is <4> times more likely than Y IN DOING <something>"

(You can substitute "as" for "more" up above and that still holds true.)

So, eliminate A. B doesn't say "in doing" but it says "who plan" - which is still not "TO DO" something, so eliminate B.

It is generally true that, as our strategy guide says, we should use the "as... as" construction when we are trying to relate two quantities by multiplication (as is the case in this problem). I should mention that there are rare exceptions, though (as there are for pretty much every grammar rule out there). So if you want some other ideas about how to eliminate, here you go:

In D, we've got two mixed-up comparison markers: "four times more likely" and "rather than." "Rather than" is comparing "minority graduates" to "other graduates" and "four times more likely" is comparing... "it" to "minority graduates"? No, that doesn't make any sense. "Minority graduates" to "other graduates"? Yes, that makes sense... but those two already have "rather than" as a comparison marker. Why do we have both?

No good reason, really, so eliminate D. D also, by the way, introduces a pronoun "it" that doesn't refer to anything in the sentence. That's technically okay, because this "it" is similar to the "it" in the following sentence: "It's raining outside." But, in this case, we have another option (C) that manages to convey the necessary info without introducing this unnecessary "it" so the other sentence is preferable. (The OG, if this were an OG problem, would probably say that this construction is "awkward.") Finally "will plan to practice" is redundant. They "will practice" in future, or they "plan on practicing" in future. Both mean the same thing, so we don't need both "will" and "plan." (Not to mention: you can't conduct a survey on what people say they WILL plan to do, because that means they aren't currently planning to do it, so they don't even know that, sometime in the future, they WILL plan to do it. And if they are currently planning to do something in future, then they're already planning to do it - it's not that they'll start to plan to do it at some future date.)

Was E supposed to say "rather than"? Or did it really just say "than"? Either way, E exhibits the same problem as D. Eliminate. (Also, as someone noted above, "to plan to practice" is not a great construction. The test-writers will generally avoid "to INFINITIVE to" when possible.
Please note: I do not use the Private Messaging system! I will not see any PMs that you send to me!!

Stacey Koprince
GMAT Instructor
Director of Online Community
Manhattan GMAT

Contributor to Beat The GMAT!

Learn more about me
Join the discussion

by hamxa » Wed Mar 10, 2010 12:47 pm
thanks for the explanation,
During the test, I considered ...plan on practicing... unidiomatic. But, I think in situations like these we need to pick the better choice, not necessarily the perfect one.
Join the discussion

by vidhya16 » Sun Sep 02, 2012 8:45 am
All,

Im still confused even after reading the entire post. Could anyone clarify where Im going wrong.

When I scanned the underline portion, I skimmed the sentence in the following way by removing prepositional phrases.

a)minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than are other graduates <prepositional phrase> to practice <prepositional phrase>

b)Minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than other graduates <relative clause> - doesnt give me complete sentence - so not the right answer.

c)minority graduates are nearly four times as likely as other graduates to plan <prepostional phrase>


based on the above, option a talks about "to practice"
option c talks about "to plan". Also by looking at the skimmed structure neither of option (a) or option (c) does complete the sentence to form a independent clause.

Could someone throw new lights on my understanding?

Thanks
Join the discussion