Treat Each GMAT Verbal Answer Choice as Its Own Question
When you answer most GMAT Quant questions, you’re concerned with only 1 of the 5 answer choices: the correct one. On the other hand, for Verbal questions, you’re not calculating an answer and looking for it among the choices. Rather, you have to consider all 5 answer choices to find the best one.
So, we need a whole different skill set for handling answer choices in Verbal questions. A great way to build those skills is to treat each answer choice in a question as its own question.
For example, let’s say you were solving the following TTP GMAT Critical Reasoning practice question:
Recently, sales of figs have dramatically increased in many areas of the country. Just before the increases in fig sales began, a new video game was released in which characters become powerful by eating figs. Clearly, the reason for the increases in fig sales is the video game's portrayal of figs as a source of power.
Which of the following if true provides the most additional support for the conclusion of the argument?
Answer choice (A) is the following:
(A) Because fig trees can thrive in a range of climates, it is possible to grow figs in many areas of the country.
A test-taker who is not treating each answer choice as a question might look at the choice above and say:
Hey, that sounds pretty reasonable. If figs can grow in many areas, it makes sense that many people would eat figs and sales would increase.
On the other hand, a test-taker who treats each choice as a question would ask him or herself the following:
How does the fact that it’s possible to grow figs in many areas of the country support the conclusion that the reason for increased fig sales is the video game’s portrayal of figs?
The first test-taker might incorrectly select choice (A). Conversely, the second test-taker would quickly see that choice (A) really has nothing to do with the conclusion. By treating the answer choice as its own question, the test-taker would avoid a trap answer.
Warmest regards,
Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder & CEO, Target Test Prep
