hi,
kartik22 wrote:
eg. i have solved over 100's sc questions and i am always trying to find the pattern, the gmat way of crafting wrong and right answers
in general, this is probably not the best way to spend your time; you would be better served by cultivating your understanding of how the questions actually work, rather than looking for "patterns". it's very unlikely that you will discover any heretofore unknown "quick tricks" for this exam.
and i feel that in SC if gmat gives u a choice that clearly stands out from the word go then it is most probably wrong because if that was the right choice then u would immediately pick it up and move on and save time.
well, this statement is not something that can be generalized.
for instance, test takers who are experienced writers or editors can usually solve the SC problems by, essentially, just looking at them and using pure intuition, while people who are less experienced with written english couldn't do the same.
also, certain correct answers in critical reasoning may well be "obvious" (again, to some test takers, but not to others). for instance, on some strengthening/weakening problems, there may be one quite apparent way to strengthen or weaken the argument.
in any case, one of the attractive qualities of the gmat exam is that it really doesn't contain "tricks".
sure, there are lots of answer choices that may look attractive if you aren't paying enough attention to relevant details, or if you misunderstand the original problem, or whatever. however, there really aren't any "stick a foot out and trip you" answer choices.
I would request you to express your views on what i wrote earlier. is my break down of gmat pattern any good? please do add your two cents.
well, the problem with the "patterns" that you've described above is that they aren't really patterns, at least not in any objective sense.
the only two criteria you listed are (1) "don't pick attractive choices" and (2) "don't pick choices that stand out".
first, these statements don't have any objective meaning; their meaning depends entirely on what seems "attractive" or seems to "stand out" to
you in particular.
second, as i noted above, this advice is good for some people and bad for others. for instance, if you told an experienced writer not to pick the "most attractive" choice on SC problems, then he or she would get pretty much everything wrong.
btw, i havn't broken down gmat's RC approach it would be nice if you can comment on how gmat tricks us.
again, there aren't really any "tricks" in the true sense of the word. there are lots of problems in which you need to be duly diligent and focus on extremely particular things, but there won't be instances in which gmac sticks its foot out and tries to trip you.
