-
Target Test Prep's 2024 GMAT Focus Edition prep is discounted for the BTG community!
Redeem
The Next-Gen GMAT: Multi-Source Reasoning
We havent tried one of these yet: multi-source reasoning. These questions will consist of 2 or 3 tabs of information with accompanying questions. MSRs tend to have 2 or 3 associated questions, though its possible to have just 1 or more than 3. The one were going to try has been released as a sample question on the mba.com website and contains just one accompanying question.
Try the problem
Lets try out the question: here it is. Just in case that link changes, you can also click on this link to go to the next-gen GMAT website, and then, toward the bottom of the page, click on the Multi-Source Reasoning link. Were going to try the very first problem (with the text beginning "Yesterday was the deadline...").
Note: when you are done, do NOT click the next button. Just leave it up on the screen and come back here.
Set your timer for 2.5 minutes and go! (Note: we have an average of 2 minutes and 30 seconds for each IR question in the section, but some question types are more complicated than others. I recommend trying this one for 2.5 minutes, but you can spend 3 to 3.5 if needed. Normally, we would have at least 2 questions and a total of at least 5 minutes to spend on an MSR prompt, but were answering only 1 question here.)
Theres so much text!
Yes, thats true. MSRs will tend to be text heavy and may also include graphs or tables. Remember, you will normally have several questions, similar to RC, and because of that, you will have time to read the information and answer the questions!
Email #1 is from the administrator. She has two questions: did enough people respond to the survey and do they need to ask more people to participate?
I wrote down:
T1: enough ppl? >>? [T1 is an abbreviation for Tab 1]
The project coordinator responds in Email #2. They received 350 but need 700 (so it looks like they will need more). Next we get a bunch of statistics. Heres what I wrote down:
T2: got 350, need 700+
40% usu reply [usu is an abbreviation for usually]
but could vary
$50 per pers; budget?
Okay. The project coordinator provides some information about how they might make the decision to ask more people to participate, but doesnt actually offer a plan. He also asks a question: whats the budget for this project?
The administrator answers his question and indicates something very interesting: they will honor [their] commitment to pay people, but they need to try not to exceed the budget. In other words, the administrator is acknowledging the possibility that they will exceed the budget, even though theyre going to try not to do so. I wonder if that will come into play in any of the questions?
I wrote down this:
T3: $45k budg
I chose not to repeat the $50 per person info in my notes and I decided that I would definitely remember that part about trying not to exceed the budget (because it was interesting to me), so I didnt need to write that down.
The Question
Were given three Yes/No statements (note: this is considered one question). The question asks us whether the given information supports the inference as stated. Excellent. These are inference questions. If we can prove the statement must be true using the given information, then well answer Yes. If we cant prove that it must be true, then well answer No. (Note: we do not have to prove the statement false in order to select No. We just have to show that we cant prove it true.)
Heres the first statement:
The administrator is unwilling to invite as many participants in the second group as were invited in the first group.
Hmm. I dont remember reading anything about that. Let me check my notes. The administrator just asked questions in Tab 1. Tab 2 was the coordinator, so I can ignore that. Tab 3 was the administrator again. If she did indicate unwillingness, shed have had to do so in tab 3. Im going to check the text of that tab again.
(Rereading tab 3) Nope, I cant justify that this statement must absolutely be true. She actually says that we need to try not to exceed the budget, not that we absolutely cannot exceed the budget, which implies that there is a possibility we could invite more and go over budget. Im answering No on this one.
Heres the second statement:
The project coordinator does not expect to be able to meet the goal for numbers of completed surveys received.
Project coordinator okay, that was tab 2. Im scanning that again. He said that there exists the risk of getting too few returns but doesnt indicate definitively that they will not be able to get the 700 surveys. The answer is No again.
And our third statement:
The administrator is willing to accept some risk of exceeding the budget for compensating participants.
Yes! This was that interesting language in Tab 3 that I noticed! Let me just go check yep, in tab 3, the administrator says we have to try not to exceed the budget, so shes acknowledging the possibility that we might go over. This one is a Yes.
The answers to the three statements are No, No, Yes.
Key Takeaways for Multi-Source Reasoning questions:
(1) These will be the longest to read, similar to RC passages in the sense that we will need to invest time upfront before answering the questions. The one we did above was very text-heavy, but MSRs can also contain tables or graphs and be quant-focused.
(2) Try to understand the big picture information, but dont get too caught up in the details. There are a lot of details for which well never get asked questions (and this is true in general on IR questions). Once youre looking at the question, you can return to the detail to confirm.
(3) Most Multi-Source Reasoning prompts will come with 2 or 3 questions (the one we did above is considered 1 three-part question). As such, you will have an average of 5 or 7.5 minutes to complete an MSR plus the accompanying questions.
* All quotes copyright and courtesy of the Graduate Management Admissions Council. Usage of this material does not imply endorsement by GMAC.
Recent Articles
Archive
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009