GMAT for dummies, 7th edition

GMAT® For Dummies®, 7th Edition with Online Practice Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com Copyright © 2018 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions Trademarks: Wiley, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, 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Sheet, simply go to www.dummies.com and search for “GMAT For Dummies 7th Edition Cheat Sheet” in the Search box Table of Contents Cover Introduction About This Book Foolish Assumptions Icons Used in This Book Beyond the Book Where to Go from Here Part 1: Getting Started with the GMAT Chapter 1: Getting the Lowdown on the GMAT Knowing Why the GMAT Is Important Timing It Perfectly: When to Take the GMAT (And What to Bring) Forming First Impressions: The Format of the GMAT Knowing Where You Stand: Scoring Considerations Repeating the Process: Retaking the GMAT Chapter 2: Maximizing Your Score on the GMAT Discovering Strategies for Successful Guessing Winning the Race against the Clock Getting Rid of Wrong Answers Playing It Smart: A Few Things You Shouldn’t Do When Taking the Test Tackling a Case of Nerves with Relaxation Techniques Devising a Plan of Attack Chapter 3: Mastering Business-School Admissions Choosing a Business School Lining Up Your Ducks — Applying to Business Schools Crafting Effective Business-School Essays Part 2: Vanquishing the Verbal Section Chapter 4: Applying What You Learned (We Hope) in Grammar Class: Sentence Correction Building a Solid Foundation: Grammar Basics Pointing Out Mistakes: Common Sentence-Correction Errors Implementing an Approach to Sentence-Correction Questions Sentence-Correction Practice Problems with Answer Explanations Chapter 5: Not as Enticing as a Bestseller: Reading Comprehension Judging by Appearances: What Reading-Comprehension Questions Look Like Approaching Reading Passages Sticking to the Subject: Types of Passages Approaching Reading-Comprehension Questions Reading-Comprehension Practice Questions with Answer Explanations Chapter 6: Let’s Think This Through Logically: Critical Reasoning Focusing on “Critical” Concepts: An Overview Making a Case: Essentials of Informal Logic Thinking Inside the Box: Question Types Stalking Your Prey: How to Approach Each Question Type Critical-Reasoning Practice Questions and Answer Explanations Chapter 7: Bringing It Together: A Mini Practice Verbal Section Working Through Verbal Reasoning Practice Questions Understanding What’s Right with Answer Explanations Part 3: Acing the Analytical-Writing Section Chapter 8: Analyze This: What to Expect from the Analy tical Writing Assessment Fitting in the AWA with the Rest of the GMAT Calling 411: Your AWA Writing Tools Analyzing an Argument Racking Up the Points: How the GMAT Scores Your Essay Chapter 9: Present Per fect Paragraphs: How to Write a GMAT Essay Avoiding Grammar, Punctuation, and Mechanics Errors Building a Better Essay: Ten Steps to a Higher Score Chapter 10: Deconstructing Sample GMAT Essays Defining GMAT AWA Scores Taking a Look at Sample Essays Chapter 11: Sampling a Series of Writing Prompts Sample Prompt #1 Sample Prompt #2 Sample Prompt #3 Sample Prompt #4 Part 4: Conquering the Quantitative Section Chapter 12: Getting Back to Basics: Numbers and Operations Just Your Type: Kinds of Numbers It’s Not Brain Surgery: Basic Operations Using Little Numbers for Big Values: Bases and Exponents Checking Out the Ancestry: Roots Order of Operations: Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally Splitting Up: Fractions, Decimals, and Percentages Making Comparisons: Ratios and Proportions Playing the Numbers: Scientific Notation Chapter 13: Considering All the Variables: Algebra Defining the Elements: Algebraic Terms Maintaining an Orderly Fashion: Algebraic Operations Extracting Information: Factoring Polynomials Minding Your Ps and Qs: Functions Putting On Your Thinking Cap: Problem-Solving Chapter 14: Getting the Angle on Geometry: Planes and Solids Fishing for the Answers: Lines and Angles Trusting Triangles Playing Four Square: Quadrilaterals Showing Their Good Sides: Other Polygons Eating Up Pieces of Pi: Circles Getting a Little Depth Perception: Three-Dimensional Geometry Chapter 15: Keeping in Step: Coordinate Geometry Taking Flight: The Coordinate Plane Slip-Sliding Away: Slope and Linear Equations Fully Functioning: Graphing Functions Chapter 16: Manipulating Numbers: Statistics and Sets Joining a Clique: Groups Setting Up Sets Making Arrangements: Permutations and Combinations Meeting in the Middle: Mean, Median, and Mode Straying from Home: Range and Standard Deviation Predicting the Future: Probability Chapter 17: It’s All in the Presentation: GMAT Quantitative Question Types Enough’s Enough: Data-Sufficiency Questions Taking a Look at Data-Sufficiency Practice Problems Houston, We Have a Problem: Problem-Solving Questions Trying Out Some Problem-Solving Practice Problems Chapter 18: All Together Now: A Mini Practice Quantitative Section Tackling GMAT Math Practice Questions Checking Out the Answer Explanations Part 5: Excelling on the Integrated-Reasoning Section Chapter 19: Best of Both Worlds: The Integrated-Reasoning Section Understanding What the IR Section Is All About Figuring Out How the IR Section Is Scored Making the Most of Your Time Approaching Each Question Type Chapter 20: Deciphering Data in Charts and Graphs Approaching Integrated-Reasoning Data in Five Easy Steps Translating Information in Tables Making Comparisons with Bar Graphs Evaluating Line Graphs Clarifying Circle Graphs (Also Known as Pie Charts) Extracting Data from Venn Diagrams Part 6: Practice Makes Perfect Chapter 21: GMAT Practice Test Answer Sheet Section 1: Analytical Writing Assessment Section 2: Integrated Reasoning Section 3: Quantitative Section 4: Verbal Chapter 22: Practice Test Answers and Explanations Section 1: Analytical Writing Assessment Section 2: Integrated Reasoning Section 3: Quantitative Section 4: Verbal Answers at a Glance Part 7: The Part of Tens Chapter 23: Ten Question Types You’ve Got a Good Shot At Main-Theme Reading Questions Specific-Information Reading Questions Sentence Corrections Exception Questions for Reading Passages Strengthening or Weakening Critical Arguments Data-Sufficiency Math Questions Math Problem-Solving with Figures Math Problems Involving Basic Operations Substitution Math Problems Graph- and Table-Analysis Questions Chapter 24: Ten Writing Errors to Avoid Composing Complicated Sentences Presenting Your Text in Passive Voice Wasting Time with Unfamiliar Words Using Unclear (Or Zero) Transitions Going Overboard with Generic Terms Writing in Informal English Giving a Laundry List of Examples Succumbing to Sentence Fragments Announcing a Position without Explanation Putting Aside Proofreading Chapter 25: Ten Ways to Increase Your Chances of Getting into Business School Accumulate a Little Work Experience Ace the Interview Apply Early Apply While You’re Upwardly Mobile Capitalize on What Makes You Unique Demonstrate Interest Focus on Fit Get the Right Recommendations Study for the GMAT Write a Memorable Admissions Essay About the Authors Connect with Dummies End User License Agreement Introduction You’re merrily skimming through the admissions requirements for your favorite MBA programs when all of a sudden, you’re dealt a shocking blow Your absolute top choice program — you’ll die if you don’t get in — requires that you take the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) And you thought your days of speed-reading passages and solving for x were over Many MBA programs include the GMAT as an admissions requirement, so you’ll be in good company But how you prepare for such a comprehensive test? What are you going to do? Get out your spiral notebooks from undergraduate courses and sift through years’ worth of doodles? Many years may have gone by since you encountered a geometry problem, and we bet your grammar skills have gotten a little rusty since English 101 Clearly, you need a readable, concisely structured resource Well, you’ve come to the right place GMAT For Dummies, 7th Edition with Online Practice, puts at your fingertips everything you need to know to conquer the GMAT We give you complete math and grammar reviews and provide insights into how to avoid the pitfalls that the GMAT creators want you to fall into We also try to make this book as enjoyable as a book that devotes itself to setting up equations and critiquing arguments can be About This Book We suspect that you aren’t eagerly anticipating sitting through the GMAT, and you’re probably not looking forward to studying for it, either Therefore, we’ve attempted to make the study process as painless as possible by giving you clearly written advice in a casual tone We realize you have a bunch of things you’d rather be doing, so we’ve broken down the information into easily digested bites If you have an extra hour before work or Pilates class, you can devour a chapter or even a particular section within a chapter (If these eating metaphors are making you hungry, feel free to take a snack break.) In this book, you can find Plenty of sample questions so you can see just how the GMAT tests a particular concept Our sample questions read like the actual test questions, so you can get comfortable with the way the GMAT phrases questions and expresses answer choices Detailed explanations of the strategies for mastering all four sections of the GMAT Enjoy a grammar review for the verbal-reasoning section, an extensive math lesson to help you with the quantitative-reasoning section, a summary of good writing practices for the analytical writing assessment, and a how-to on reading all kinds of charts and graphs for the integratedreasoning section Six practice tests One appears in this book in Chapter 21, and you’ll find that one plus five others online Ultimately, the best way to prepare for any standardized test is to practice on lots of test questions, and this book, along with the accompanying online test bank, has more Graph- and Table-Analysis Questions The questions that require you to analyze graphs and tables in the integrated-reasoning section primarily test your ability to read data Finding the correct answer is rarely based on your ability to read lengthy paragraphs or perform complex calculations As long as you pay attention to how the chart categorizes the data, you should sail through these questions fairly smoothly Just don’t complicate matters by reading more into these questions than you have to Chapter 24 Ten Writing Errors to Avoid IN THIS CHAPTER Being aware of ten writing practices you should shun Finding ways to ace the analytical writing assessment Chapter 10 gives you what you need to know to develop a good writing style for the analytical writing assessment, but becoming a better writer takes practice Fortunately, you can rapidly improve your writing style (and your analytical writing assessment score) if you avoid the ten common writing mistakes we share in this chapter Composing Complicated Sentences The chances of making multiple grammar and punctuation errors increase with the length and complexity of your sentences If you need to improve your writing in a hurry, concentrate on simplicity Make your point, end your sentence, and move on Remember that the readers have to grade many exams Don’t make your reader work too hard to understand your sentences You can (and should) use a variety of sentence structures, but keep them simple Presenting Your Text in Passive Voice Active voice is clearer and more powerful than passive voice Passive voice uses more words than necessary and clouds the main action You’re much more likely to make errors in verb usage with a passive sentence Remember that the passive voice is really only appropriate when the doer of the action is unknown or unimportant, such as in scientific writing For business writing and the GMAT, use active voice (See Chapter for more about active and passive voice.) Wasting Time with Unfamiliar Words Trying to impress the essay readers with your advanced vocabulary is tempting But if you aren’t completely familiar with a word’s meaning, don’t use it on the GMAT GMAT readers focus more on how you organize and support your thoughts than on the reading level of your essay, and they’ll take points off your score if you misuse words You have only 30 minutes to develop your argument, so don’t waste time coming up with five-syllable words unless you just happen to use them in your normal conversation Using Unclear (Or Zero) Transitions Tell your reader where your argument is going by including clear transitions With just one or two words, you can tell the reader whether the next paragraph continues the current idea, refutes it, or moves in a new direction Using transition words and phrases can really improve your assessment score Going Overboard with Generic Terms To clarify your points and excite your reader, pack your sentences with lively and unambiguous descriptions rather than fuzzy generalities (like interesting, great, and awful) Your writing makes a greater impact and will receive a higher score when you fortify it with expressive language Writing in Informal English Save slang and creative capitalization and punctuation for the text messages you send to your friends and co-workers For the GMAT, apply the rules of standard written English you learned in grammar class Giving a Laundry List of Examples Satisfy essay readers with a few clearly developed illustrations to back up your points rather than a list of undeveloped examples Readers are more concerned with the depth of your supporting evidence than they are with its quantity In fact, you can earn a with just one example if you develop it well Succumbing to Sentence Fragments Your essay shouldn’t read like an outline Fully develop your thoughts with properly punctuated, complete sentences and well-organized paragraphs Announcing a Position without Explanation The essay prompt requires you to adopt a position But merely stating your position and jumping into your argument is insufficient Introduce your essay with a brief analysis of the argument to show the readers you understand what you’re writing about Putting Aside Proofreading Leave yourself enough time at the end of the 30 minutes to quickly read through your essay and correct any obvious errors Set aside about three minutes to proofread your masterpiece and eliminate careless errors Doing so can raise your score by a complete point Chapter 25 Ten Ways to Increase Your Chances of Getting into Business School IN THIS CHAPTER Discovering what’s important to admissions committees Finding out how to make the most of your MBA admissions application The number of business school applications continues to increase, but quantity doesn’t necessarily mean quality And the quality of your application remains your single best bet for standing out among the crowd A great application emphasizes your academic preparation, strong work experience, and a clear sense of what you hope to gain from your quest for an MBA This chapter highlights what you can to make sure your application process provides what it takes to impress the decision makers Accumulate a Little Work Experience You don’t have to get your MBA right after you graduate In fact, waiting and working for a while may be to your advantage Many admissions officers like to see at least three years of managerial work experience when you apply for an MBA program so they can be sure you’re cut out for a career in business They also look for signs of competence and career progress, such as promotions, the acquisition of new skills, and increased responsibilities in the workplace Ace the Interview Some programs require an interview; others may recommend them If a business school states that an interview is optional, grab this opportunity to demonstrate your social skills and highlight your passions To make a good impression, heed the following advice: Dress in business attire Smile, look your interviewer in the eye, and answer questions honestly Exude confidence without arrogance Ask questions of the interviewer that demonstrate your knowledge of the program Follow up with a thank-you note Apply Early Applying early to an MBA program demonstrates strong planning skills and a significant interest in the program Submitting your application before the rest of the crowd also increases the chances of your application getting the time and attention from admissions officers it rightfully deserves! Apply While You’re Upwardly Mobile Business schools want go-getters, and what better time to catch someone than on the way up? Show your school of choice that you’re a force to be reckoned with by highlighting any recent promotions, achievements, accolades, or anything that helps suggest that it had better snatch you up while you’re in your prime before another school beats it to the punch Capitalize on What Makes You Unique Don’t waste too much time trying to fit into some imaginary mold of the ideal business student Business school admissions officers are seeking students with varying life experiences and from a broad variety of backgrounds, so embrace who you are and avoid trying to present a false persona that may ultimately backfire In fact, your non-traditional profile may make you even more desirable to a program that seeks to diversify its class Demonstrate Interest Business schools want to know that if they accept you, you’ll actually attend Admissions committees equate communication with interest, so the more you reach out to them, the more interested they’ll be in you Contact your admissions representative regularly with pertinent questions Just make sure you don’t become a pest! Focus on Fit Just as you want to know what school is the best fit for you, admissions officers seek the students who are the best fit for them Do your research about what a particular school is known for and what sorts of skills and personality traits it embraces, and tailor your application, essay, and interview accordingly You can find out a lot about a particular business school’s personality by researching its website, searching the Internet for articles about the program and its graduates, and visiting the campus Get the Right Recommendations Business school applicants commonly fixate so much on the essay process that they diminish the importance of securing solid recommendations Don’t undervalue the crucial role of recommendations Choose supervisors who know you well, both personally and professionally Admissions officers focus on how well your reference knows your strengths and weaknesses Find someone who can expound on how well you interact with others and provide evidence of your academic prowess and leadership abilities The person who knows you best is more likely to be your direct supervisor than the company CEO Study for the GMAT Your GMAT score matters The test was designed to determine how well you’ll likely in an MBA program in comparison to a plethora of other applicants, so scoring sky-high on the GMAT can place you head and shoulders above the rest of the crowd Use this book’s step-by-step instruction for each area of the test to help you prepare, and be sure to take the practice tests to help you identify areas where you could benefit from a bit of a refresher Write a Memorable Admissions Essay When crafting your admissions essay, keep in mind that the admissions committee already knows your facts and figures — what you studied, where you worked, and your scores on the GMAT The point of the essay is to give application readers a glimpse of the real you — what makes you stand out from the crowd, what motivates you, what you have overcome, and what you want to achieve in life Keep in mind that admissions committees are reading thousands of responses to the same questions, so avoid falling into the trap of writing what you think they want to hear and instead shift your focus to self-revelation through vivid details and thoughtful anecdotes About the Authors Lisa Zimmer Hatch, M.A and Scott A Hatch, J.D have prepared teens and adults since 1987 to excel on standardized tests, gain admission to colleges of their choice, and secure challenging and lucrative professional careers For virtually 30 years, they have created and administered award-winning standardized test preparation and professional career courses worldwide for live lecture, online, and other formats through more than 500 universities worldwide Scott and Lisa have written the curriculum for all formats, and their books have been translated for international markets Additionally, they wrote, produced, and appeared in the landmark weekly PBS “Law for Life” series They continue to develop new courses for a variety of careers and extend their college admissions expertise to assist those seeking advanced degrees in law, business, and other professions Together they have authored numerous law and standardized test prep texts, including ACT For Dummies, 1,001 ACT Practice Problems For Dummies, LSAT For Dummies, SAT II U.S History For Dummies, SAT II Biology For Dummies, SAT II Math For Dummies, Catholic High School Entrance Exams For Dummies, and Paralegal Career For Dummies (Wiley) Lisa is currently an independent educational consultant and the president of College Primers, where she applies her expertise to guiding high-school and college students through the undergraduate and graduate admissions and financial aid processes and prepares students for entrance exams through individualized coaching and small group courses She prides herself in maximizing her students’ financial aid packages and dedicates herself to helping them gain admission to the universities or programs that best fit their goals, personalities, and financial resources She graduated with honors in English from the University of Puget Sound and received a master’s degree in humanities with a literature emphasis from California State University She holds a certificate in college counseling from UCLA and is for a member of the Higher Education Consultants Association (HECA) and the Rocky Mountain Association of College Admissions Counselors (RMACAC) Scott received his undergraduate degree from the University of Colorado and his Juris Doctorate from Southwestern University School of Law He is listed in Who’s Who in California and Who’s Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities and is one of the Outstanding Young Men of America as determined by the United States Jaycees He was also a contributing editor to McGraw-Hill’s Judicial Profiler series and The Colorado Law Annotated series published by Lawyers Cooperative Publishing He also served as editor of the Freedom of Information Committee Newsletter and functioned as editor of several national award-winning periodicals His current law books include A Legal Guide to Probate and Estate Planning and A Legal Guide to Family Law in B & B Legal Publication’s Learn the Law series In addition to writing law books, periodical articles, television scripts, and college curricula, Scott was editor of his law school’s nationally award-winning legal periodical, winner of two first-place awards from the Columbia University School of Journalism, and another first-place award from the American Bar Association He also contributed to Los Angeles’s daily newspaper, The Metropolitan News, was an editorial assistant during the formation of the Los Angeles Press Club’s Education Foundation, and served on the Faculty of Law at the City University of Los Angeles Dedication We dedicate GMAT For Dummies to our children, Alison, Andrew, Zachary, and Zoe and to Dan, Paige, and Ryan Welch, Miarra Jackson, and John Gilchrist Our family demonstrated patience, understanding, and editorial assistance while we wrote this book, and we’re very blessed to have them in our lives Authors’ Acknowledgments This book would not be possible without the contributions of Julia Brabant, Hank Zimmer, Jackson Sutherland, Zachary Hatch, and Zoe Hatch, who provided practice test material and helpful input We also acknowledge the input of thousands of our students who have completed our test preparation courses over the last 30 years The classroom and online contributions offered by these dedicated and motivated learners have provided us with a significant amount of information about those subject areas that require the greatest amount of preparation for success on the GMAT Our project organization and attempts at wit were greatly facilitated by the editing professionals at Wiley Our thanks go out to Chrissy Guthrie for her patience and guidance throughout the editing process and to copy editor Christy Pingleton Thanks also to technical editor Bill Kenworthy for his attention to detail and helpful suggestions during the editing process Finally, we wish to thank our literary agent, Margo Maley Hutchinson, at Waterside Productions in Cardiff for her support and assistance and for introducing us to the innovative For Dummies series We thrive on feedback from our students and encourage our readers to provide comments and critiques at info@hatchedu.com Publisher’s Acknowledgments Executive Editor: Lindsay Sandman Lefevere Editorial Project Manager and Development Editor: Christina N Guthrie Copy Editor: Christine Pingleton Technical Editor: Bill Kenworthy Production Editor: Antony Sami Cover Photos: ©phototechno/iStockphoto Take Dummies with you everywhere you go! Go to our Website Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Watch us on YouTube Join us on LinkedIn Pin us on Pinterest Circle us on google+ Subscribe to our newsletter Create your own Dummies book cover Shop Online WILEY END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT Go to www.wiley.com/go/eula to access Wiley’s ebook EULA ... 978-1-119-37408-4 (ebk) GMAT For Dummies®, 7th Edition with Online Practice To view this book's Cheat Sheet, simply go to www.dummies.com and search for GMAT For Dummies 7th Edition Cheat Sheet”... GMAT Chapter 1: Getting the Lowdown on the GMAT Knowing Why the GMAT Is Important Timing It Perfectly: When to Take the GMAT (And What to Bring) Forming First Impressions: The Format of the GMAT. .. Well, you’ve come to the right place GMAT For Dummies, 7th Edition with Online Practice, puts at your fingertips everything you need to know to conquer the GMAT We give you complete math and grammar