what is recognizing patterns in CR

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what is recognizing patterns in CR

by crackinggmat » Fri Sep 23, 2011 8:08 am
Hi all

I am specially struggling in CR ...i have been reading powerscore CR bible....it says the more u look for patterns in reasoning ..the better u r ....

But what does that mean , almost everyother other question has its own different reasoning ..

Or may be iam not getting what they want to say

pls help!!!

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by crackinggmat » Mon Oct 10, 2011 6:56 pm
No reply yet ....
crackinggmat wrote:Hi all

I am specially struggling in CR ...i have been reading powerscore CR bible....it says the more u look for patterns in reasoning ..the better u r ....

But what does that mean , almost everyother other question has its own different reasoning ..

Or may be iam not getting what they want to say

pls help!!!

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by smackmartine » Mon Oct 10, 2011 7:55 pm
Reasoning comes from practice!!! More types of cases and scenarios you see, more your reasoning skills will improve. Because an average person in real world is not use to think in the way GMAT wants him to, it is very likely that a fresh start might bring little bit of frustration. However, instead of doubting your reasoning skills, concentrate and work more on whatever you are learning. Think as if you are hard wiring different cases for different questions in your brain. As the time goes by, when you come across similar cases, your brain matches the same with an existing case. Slowly you will understand how similar type of reasoning is tested over and over again on certain types of question. This is what a PATTERN is!
Once you train your brain, your reaction time to reason an argument will reduce and you can solve CRs on a fly. Also try to visualize the scenarios at hand and think what you would do when you come across a similar situation.

Hope this helps!
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by lunarpower » Sat Oct 15, 2011 11:50 pm
i received a pm regarding this thread.
crackinggmat wrote:Hi all

I am specially struggling in CR ...i have been reading powerscore CR bible....it says the more u look for patterns in reasoning ..the better u r ....
what is the surrounding context? and/or what page of the book says this?

stated completely by itself, this statement is basically just common sense -- it basically just means that, if you actually notice how things are related to other things, then you will be able to see how they relate to even more things.
(by the way, you should STOP thinking of the powerscore book as a memorization task, step back, and then see how much of it confirms things that are already common sense. if you do this, you will probably discover that at least 95% of the things written in the book are already normal real-world intuition, and that trying to learn them as "rules" just makes them harder.)

on the other hand, i'm thinking that this statement may appear as part of a larger context (i.e., a pattern - hey! how about that), and that this context may give it some sort of additional meaning. so, again, please give the context in which / page on which it is found. thanks.
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by lunarpower » Sat Oct 15, 2011 11:56 pm
smackmartine --
Because an average person in real world is not use to think in the way GMAT wants him to
this is completely false. on the vast majority of CR problem types -- in fact, every single one of them, except "draw the conclusion" -- the gmat wants people to think exactly like real-world people.
in fact, the main reason why certain people find CR so difficult (including many, many posters on this board) is precisely because they don't think like real-world people, choosing instead to take an "academic" approach in which they try to memorize endless rules.

the CR problems (again, with only the minor exception of "draw the conclusion" problems) are actually designed to test EXACTLY the kind of reasoning that is largely known as "real-world intuition" or "common sense". if people find the problems difficult, then that difficulty stems from (a) the weird subjects treated in the passages -- subjects about which people don't ordinarily have much intuition/common sense -- or (b) an inapposite approach, such as memorization of "rules".

it is actually impossible to succeed at CR with an academic / non-real-world approach; it literally can't be done. i wrote more about this here:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/gmat-score-6 ... tml#415768
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by crackinggmat » Wed Oct 19, 2011 6:40 am
Hi ron...thank you very much....

this is from page no 140 ....on side notes in powerscore cr
lunarpower wrote:i received a pm regarding this thread.
crackinggmat wrote:Hi all

I am specially struggling in CR ...i have been reading powerscore CR bible....it says the more u look for patterns in reasoning ..the better u r ....
what is the surrounding context? and/or what page of the book says this?

stated completely by itself, this statement is basically just common sense -- it basically just means that, if you actually notice how things are related to other things, then you will be able to see how they relate to even more things.
(by the way, you should STOP thinking of the powerscore book as a memorization task, step back, and then see how much of it confirms things that are already common sense. if you do this, you will probably discover that at least 95% of the things written in the book are already normal real-world intuition, and that trying to learn them as "rules" just makes them harder.)

on the other hand, i'm thinking that this statement may appear as part of a larger context (i.e., a pattern - hey! how about that), and that this context may give it some sort of additional meaning. so, again, please give the context in which / page on which it is found. thanks.

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by rohangupta83 » Wed Oct 19, 2011 7:20 am
Hi,

I would like to share my 3 step approach to CR, hopefully it would help and provide a starting point.

1. This is a must do: ALWAYS be able to identify "premises" and "conclusions" in any CR problem. This is the starting point and THE MOST important step in solving CR and has been repeatedly emphasized in CR Bible.

2. Don't try to memorize pattern types, take each question as it comes. Lesser the baggage you carry when attempting a problem, the more relaxed you would be while reading through.

3. Of course, read every problem VERY VERY carefully, understanding the argument thoroughly.

Plus, if you can identify patterns, that certainly would help. I, however cannot identify any patterns.

Hope this helps!

Cheers!