Question re: truth or falsity of GMAT question content.

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Alpha800: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 84; Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2008 7:18 pm; Location: Silicon Valley; Thanked: 4 times

by Alpha800 » Thu Jul 09, 2009 7:02 pm

Hi All,

I'm wondering whether the content of questions asked on the GMAT is always true or not. I.e., during a SC problem, GMAT states that researchers found such and such. I know we're just grammatically correcting the sentence--so really the truth or falsity of the content is irrelevant--but I'm curious if all information used/cited by GMAT are true. Anyone know? Does GMAT ever make up false information while constructing their SC statements?

The one SC problem from OG11 which prompted my above question referred to researchers finding individuals who are blind from birth also gesture while speaking, and they do so even when communicating to another blind person.

I found this fascinating and am wondering if it is true or just something GMAT made up.

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Verbal Reasoning | Thu Jul 09, 2009 7:02 pm

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Stacey Koprince: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2228; Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:28 pmFollowed by: 694 members; Location: Montreal, Canada; Thanked: 639 times; GMAT Score:780

by Stacey Koprince » Thu Jul 16, 2009 10:38 am

Great question.

They do, indeed, pull SC sentences from the real world - not just the info, but the actual sentences themselves! We've actually been able to find the matching sentences in, say, a New York Times article. The passages are also adapted from real-world passages.

Of course, information does change over time. I was just reading an article recently about a new scientific study showing that something we used to think was actually wrong - and that old thing is actually the subject of a past official SC question.

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Alpha800: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 84; Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2008 7:18 pm; Location: Silicon Valley; Thanked: 4 times

by Alpha800 » Thu Jul 16, 2009 6:47 pm

Stacey Koprince wrote:Great question.

They do, indeed, pull SC sentences from the real world - not just the info, but the actual sentences themselves! We've actually been able to find the matching sentences in, say, a New York Times article. The passages are also adapted from real-world passages.

Of course, information does change over time. I was just reading an article recently about a new scientific study showing that something we used to think was actually wrong - and that old thing is actually the subject of a past official SC question.

Thanks for replying Stacey. It makes logical sense that something stated as factual, or believed to be true/factual, at one point in time may later prove out to be false or incorrect given new scientific research or new statistical data. But at least at the time of their writing or incorporation into the GMAT, the writers of the test are using credible and factual data/info that is believed to be true/correct, not pulling random info out of their butts, correct? Basically, I wanted to know if I could believe the information conveyed in these sentences, or whether they were random--and perhaps false--information used as fillers in constructing a grammatically correct sentence.

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GMAT/MBA Expert

Stacey Koprince: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2228; Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:28 pmFollowed by: 694 members; Location: Montreal, Canada; Thanked: 639 times; GMAT Score:780

by Stacey Koprince » Thu Jul 16, 2009 6:48 pm

Yes, at the time of writing, the information is factually correct.

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