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Mapping "Analysis of Plan" in OG to Question Type

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Mapping "Analysis of Plan" in OG to Question Type

by wazzawayne » Sun Mar 31, 2013 4:43 am
Hi,

There are a number of question types in the OG marked as "Analysis of Plan".. Take this question stem for example:

Which of the following plans, if feasible, would allow a company to prepare most effectively for the rapid
obsolescence of skills described above?


Is this the same as Evaluate an Argument in CR Bible? (CR Bible says that Evaluate an argument is a question type in which We ask a question, the answer to which will determine if the ARGUMENT is valid or not.. but these OG questions are not arguments, but are fact sets instead.)
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by lunarpower » Mon Apr 01, 2013 12:50 am
this kind of problem doesn't fit neatly into any of the usual little boxes (strengthen, weaken, evaluate, etc.) but, two thoughts here.

1/
first and foremost -
if you UNDERSTAND THE TASK, don't bother classifying the question!

that's really what this is all about - understanding the task.
i.e., if you know what you are actually supposed to do here - to find a way for the company to get ready for the stuff described in the passage - well, then, go find that.
if you have this kind of understanding, then "classifying" the problem is at best a waste of time, and at worst detrimental to your ability to think critically about it.

2/
if you have trouble understanding the task, you can convert this sort of thing easily enough into a "strengthen" or "evaluate" problem.
i.e.,
xxxxxxxx is going to happen. But the company will be prepared for it. Strengthen the argument:
or,
xxxxxxxx happened, but the company did not suffer as a result. Explain the surprising result:
you get the picture.

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again, though, my primary emphasis is on the idea above: if you already understand the task by just reading the question, then there's no point in going this route.
in fact, you shouldn't attempt to systematize anything about a CR problem that you understand intuitively! that kind of intuition, not some sort of pseudo-"systematic" understanding, is your main goal here, and is also the main purpose of these problems in the first place.
Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.

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by wazzawayne » Mon Apr 01, 2013 11:33 pm
Thanks lunarpower..
Yes, I agree.. I usually solve these problems using my reasoning.. but in times when I am stuck, being able to classify the question type alongbwith common errors helps me to eliminate answers.. hence. (Eg no outside information, causal reasoning, etc) so i just wanted to make sure i havent missed anything.
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by David@VeritasPrep » Wed Apr 03, 2013 2:02 pm
Have to agree with Ron on the idea that this is the sort of question that you can just DO! It does ask you pretty specifically to pick the plan that will allow the company to reach a certain goal right?

I have found that something like 15 - 20% of all questions that GMAC has released in recent materials like the OG 12 and 13 refer to a plan. The other types of questions that are becoming more common are "Best Completes the Passage" (where you fill- in - the blank) as well as "Most Useful to Know"

These three types of questions becoming seemingly more common seems to point to what Ron has said, the GMAC does not want you to be simply classifying and relying on tricks for different types. The want you to THINK. They are leading you toward a more natural style of reasoning and not so many tricks and so forth.

So on a plan question it is pretty simple - You know that for a regular question you should focus on the conclusion of the argument (if there is one) and the evidence - For a plan question just shift that. Focus on the Plan and the Goal.

The Main types of Plan questions ask you to strengthen the idea that the plan will reach the goal, ask you to weaken the idea that the plan will reach the goal, and AS IN THIS CASE, ask you to choose the Plan that does reach the goal. So just do what they say. You are not missing anything!

For a strengthen the plan just identify the plan, identify the goal and pick the answer that shows that you will reach the goal. For a weaken do the same but show that it is less likely to reach the goal.

On this question, you just choose the plan - AS AN ANSWER CHOICE - that will best achieve the goal mentioned.

As Ron said nothing fancy. You already know how to do this!
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by lunarpower » Thu Apr 04, 2013 10:33 pm
David@VeritasPrep wrote:These three types of questions becoming seemingly more common seems to point to what Ron has said, the GMAC does not want you to be simply classifying and relying on tricks for different types. The want you to THINK. They are leading you toward a more natural style of reasoning and not so many tricks and so forth.
yes.
in fact, the same can be said for ALL critical reasoning problems on this exam (with the possible exception of "draw your own conclusion" problems, which test the rigorous kind of thinking that one would use to, say, read a contract).

it's impossible to get very far or CR with "tricks" or "rules". (in fact, if you could make a set of rules that could, even somewhat, answer a non-negligible fraction of these questions, then you would thereby have invented "strong artificial intelligence" and would be well on your way to becoming the richest person in the history of the world.)
worse, trying to memorize scads of such things will actually diminish your ability to perform the kinds of everyday human reasoning actually required by the questions!

you really have to be careful with "studying" for this stuff.
if you take a sensible approach to the task -- i.e., understanding that you mainly just have to use your own everyday intuition, but that you have to aim that intuition more precisely than you otherwise might -- then you'll be fine, and you'll properly identify any shortcomings in your approach.
on the other hand, if your approach to the task is to try to memorize a huge set of "rules", then it's practically guaranteed that, after memorizing all that stuff, you'll be worse at CR than you were before you ever opened up a GMAT book.

in other words, the stakes are higher when it comes to studying for the CR section.
if you do unnecessary studying for, say, math, then that's not going to hurt you; it may be a waste of your time, but at least it won't be anything worse than a waste of your time.
on the other hand, if you go about "studying" CR in the wrong way - or if you "study" and "classify" tasks you already understand intuitively - then the externalities will be tangibly negative: you'll be actively rooting out the processes that actually work on CR problems, and replacing them with "rules" that at best are a poor simulacrum of human reasoning, and at worst will actively mislead you.

caveat lector!
Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.

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