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Eliminating the wrong choice

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Eliminating the wrong choice

by tanya82 » Tue Jul 08, 2008 5:20 am
Hi,

I’ve been diligently practicing the critical reasoning questions for a while now and noticed that when I am stuck between 2 choices of the 5, I end up selecting the incorrect choice. While solving the problem I am able to reason out why I select that particular answer, but in the end I miss some information. Would anyone be to advice on how to analyze/eliminate answers when stuck between the two?

Appreciate any help
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Source: — Critical Reasoning |
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by jsl » Tue Jul 08, 2008 5:33 am
Hiya!

I get the same problem! Eliminating down from 5 to 2 choices but then select the wrong answer. I have found that on verbal questions, I should go with my gut instinct. I'm a native Englishman which probably explains that. Sometimes, I try to double guess an answer and get it wrong. Try just going with your gut feeling for a few practise tests and let me know how you get on!

Jon
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by svaradhan » Tue Jul 08, 2008 5:59 am
Hi, I think most of us will encounter this problem at one point. But, what I could see was that one option always has some deviation from the actual argument. Identifying this deviation in the incorrect choice will help us nail the right answer. For example, the main argument might talk about the safety of cars in the absence of the air bag during crashes (I'm using this example as I saw this more recently in this forum) but the answer choice might talk about the number of crashes. We might miss this trap per se but I think we will start noticing such things over time.

Well, this is just my thought :). I think Ron or Stacey can throw more light on this.
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by jslavi01 » Tue Jul 08, 2008 6:05 am
tanya82:
I’ve been diligently practicing the critical reasoning questions for a while now and noticed that when I am stuck between 2 choices of the 5, I end up selecting the incorrect choice.
jslavi01:
I think you should look for an eenie-meenie-miney-moe technique that more often than not selects the correct answer.
Which statement, if true, most seriously undermines jslavi01's advice?

A) Every GMAT answer you choose is correct, unless the answer you've selected is in a CR section the day of the live GMAT after you've narrowed down the answers to 2 of the 5 available choices. The answer you choose of those two choices is never correct.
B) The eenie-meeny-miney-moe technique is random and cannot be utilized to consistently choose a correct answer.
C) GMAT owns our collective souls and purposefully writes questions in a confusing and convoluted manner.
C) C is the most common answer
D) Flipping a coin on test day to choose between two possible answers is more efficient than the eenie-meeny-miney-moe technique.
E) I've spent more time on this post than I have studying CR questions today.

Relax and keep doing problems. Post specific instances of where you're having difficulty and ppl will break down the question. Pay attention to the thought processes! You'll learn how the question writers may try to misdirect your thought process. There are patterns here, you just have to look for them.

Good luck. Don't give up, and keep doing problems!
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