How to solve GMAT Inference question type
You’re having lunch with your friend Jane, and you suggest getting hot fudge sundaes for dessert; Jane tells you that she doesn’t eat hot fudge sundaes. In real life, you could draw several valid inferences from this: she’s lactose intolerant, she has sensitive teeth and so can’t eat frozen desserts, she’s on a diet and trying to avoid sweets, or maybe she just doesn’t like ice cream or hot fudge.
In real life, those would all be acceptable inferences, because the real-world definition of infer is to do any of the following:
1. to derive by reasoning; conclude or judge from premises or evidence: e.g., They inferred his anger from his heated denial.
2. (of facts, circumstances, statements, etc.) to indicate or involve as a conclusion; lead to.
3. to guess; speculate; surmise.
4. to hint; imply; suggest.
“Infer” is, as you can see, a word with fairly flexible meaning. We most often use it in day-to-day life to mean “make an educated guess.” If your friend Jane says she doesn’t eat hot fudge sundaes, you apply your existing knowledge about the possible reasons someone could have for not enjoying the hot fudge and ice cream deliciousness, and you make an educated guess as to what her reasons could be. On the GMAT, however, “inference” has a different meaning. Think of inferring as the process of deriving the strict logical consequences of assumed premises.
On the GMAT, therefore, if you are told that Jane doesn’t eat hot fudge sundaes, you can derive two logical consequences from that premise:
1. If Jane is eating, has eaten, or will eat something, it isn’t a hot fudge sundae, and
2. If someone is eating, has eaten, or will eat a hot fudge sundae, that person is not Jane.
The correct answer to an inference question on the GMAT...
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GMAT Simple Interest and Compound Interest
Simple interest and compound interest - essential topics for an MBA. GMAC thinks the same too. So you will find these questions randomly distributed in your GMAT Exam.
Simple interest is the most basic and is a function of P, the principle amount of money invested, the interest rate earned on the principle, i, and the amount of time the money is invested, t (this is usually stated in periods, such as years or months).
The resulting equation is:
Interest = iPt
In basic terms, the above equation tells us the amount of interest that would be earned on a principle amount invested (P), for a given time (t) at a given interest rate (i).
Example
If you invested $1,000 (P = your principle) for one year (t = one year) at 6% simple interest (i = given interest rate), you would get $60 in interest at the end of the year and would have a total of $1,060.
For compound interest, you would earn slightly more. Let’s look at similar type problem, though this one involves compound interest.
Q) Mr. Riley deposits $500 into an account that pays 10% interest, compounded semiannually. How much money will be in Mr. Riley’s account at the end of one year?
For compound interest, first you need to divide the interest rate by how many compound periods there are. So for in the above question, because we are compounding semiannually, we need to divide 10% by 2 (because of 2 compounding periods), and if we were compounding quarterly, we would need to divide 10% by 4.
In the above question, Mr. Riley deposited $500 into his account at a rate of 10% compounded semiannually and the...
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How to solve work and rates problem in GMAT
Carefully go through the following question types. These are the standard work rate problems that you would encounter in your GMAT Exam.
Working Together
In questions where individuals work at different speeds, we typically need to add their separate rates together. Make sure you keep your units straight. This doesn’t mean wasting time and writing each and every one out, but rather simply recognizing their existence. Note that when working together, the total time to complete the same task will be less than BOTH of the individual rates, but not necessarily in proportion. Nor, are you averaging or adding the given times taken. You must add rates.
Q) A worker can load 1 full truck in 6 hours. A second worker can load the same truck in 7 hours. If both workers load one truck simultaneously while maintaining their constant rates, approximately how long, in hours, will it take them to fill 1 truck?
A. 0.15
B. 0.31
C. 2.47
D. 3.23
E. 3.25
The rate of worker #1 is 1 truck/6 hours. This can also be 1/6 trucks/1 hour. The rate of worker #2 is 1/7. When together, they will complete 1/6 + 1/7 trucks/ 1 hour.
1/6 + 1/7 = 6/42 + 7/42 = 13/42 trucks/1 hour. Remember the question is asking for the number of hours to fill 1 truck, NOT the number of trucks completed in 1 hour. To find this, we find the reciprocal of 13/42.
42/13 hours/truck = 3 3/13 hours/truck.
At this point, we may not be able to decide between (D) or (E). However, the decimal is important. Because the denominator is 13, we know the decimal cannot equal .25. We can also see that 3/12 will yield .25, so 3/13 will be slightly lower. Choice (E).
Relative Velocity
Planes, trains and automobiles....
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GMAT Critical Reasoning – How to solve the weakness question type?
Start solving the GMAT Critical Reasoning weaken question by reading the question first. Why? This would help you determine the task before you go into the argument.
For example:
Healica, a new drug that can cure a common disease that until now has been fatal for 50% of those infected, is made from the root of the New Zealand banananut tree. The banananut tree is rare in New Zealand, and large quantities of the root are necessary in order to make Healica. Therefore, if Healica remains in production, the banananut tree will eventually become extinct.
If true, which of the following most calls into question the conclusion above?
a) The company that holds the patent to Healica has exclusive rights to produce the drug for another 10 years.
b) Healica is expensive, and is not currently covered by most major insurance plans.
c) Banananut leaves are considered a gourmet delicacy in many parts of the world.
d) The banananut tree, although native to New Zealand, can easily be grown in other parts of the world.
e) Producing Healica is time-consuming and expensive for the drug manufacturer.
Tip 1: You should always read the question first, and here the commonly-used phrase “calls into question” means that this question is asking for a weakener.
Looking at the argument, we can see from the clue word “therefore” that the conclusion is the last sentence of the argument: “if Healica remains in production, the banananut tree will eventually become extinct.” Now our job is to find a way to attack the argument, and the easiest way to do that is to identify an existing weakness and exploit it.
Here, as in many arguments on the GMAT, the argument has an unstated assumption....
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Non-native English speakers - GMAT Verbal Study Plan designed for you!
English, like all living languages, is complex and constantly-changing; what is acceptable in spoken English is not always accepted in Standard (written) English. The key to improving your English reading, processing, and writing skills for the GMAT is consistent high-quality practice. It's true that native speakers have a big advantage -- they have typically been listening to correct English for at least two decades. Non-native speakers, however, have a small advantage -- they (unlike native speakers) have not been listening to incorrect English for two decades. Build your study around quality writing and daily practice -- and start as early as you can.
Quality writing:
New Yorker
The Economist
Harper's Magazine
The Atlantic
A note about The Economist in particular: you may be tempted to choose that above all the others, as it is the most business- and world news-focused. I believe doing so would be a mistake! The Economist is known for its very precise and concise use of language; you all should be reading it for this reason. On the other hand, The Economist assumes a very high level of familiarity and comfort with not only standard language usage, but also the rarer, more complex, and more concise usage of English found more commonly in the humanities (it also occasionally chooses British English usage over American English usage). The other three periodicals mentioned...
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