Tantamount means, “equivalent, as in value, force, effect, or signification.”

The word is often used to say that something is 99.9% as bad as something really bad, as in, “The dictator’s call to action is tantamount to a declaration of war.”

Here’s the mnemonic:

“This gymnastics equipment is about as good as the other gymnastics equipment. I would say it’s tanta-MOUNT.”

Yikes, that was pretty bad.

Jen Dziura

Jennifer Dziura is Manhattan GRE’s Blog Editor and Lead Content Developer. She writes books and curricula for the GRE, and is the author of Manhattan GRE’s 500 Essential Words and 500 Advanced Words flashcard sets. Also a GMAT and SAT expert, Jennifer uses her obviously copious spare time to co-host an adult spelling bee in a bar and travel to colleges and universities to give humorous talks about philosophy and punctuation. She is working on a book about speed mathematics.

 

The perimeter of an equilateral triangle is 1.25 times the circumference of a circle.

 

Quantity A

 

The area of the equilateral triangle

 

Quantity B

 

The area of the circle

See the answer choices and submit your pick over on our Challenge Problem page.

Did you know that our acclaimed GRE Strategy Guides are also available in the eBook format? You can now enjoy the full weight of the knowledge contained within our strategy guides without having to lug around the full weight of the books! It’s win-win!

To celebrate digital GRE prep, we’re giving away a complete set of our 8 Manhattan GRE Strategy Guides in the eBook format and, so you have something to read them with, we’re also giving away a brand new iPad along with them!

To enter to win, all you need to do is go to our Facebook page and “Like” our status about this giveaway. We’ll pick a winner at random from the list of people who “liked” that staus on May 15th at noon, EST.

Good luck!

Countenance is both a noun and a verb, and means something pretty different in each case. Check it out:

Want to adopt 1,000 new flashcards? Visit our store here.

When I make an error, I get excited. Seriously – you should be excited when you make errors, too. I know that I’m about to learn something and get better, and that’s definitely worth getting excited!

Errors can come in several different forms: careless errors, content errors, and technique errors. We’re going to discuss something critical today: how to learn from your errors so that you don’t continue to make the same mistakes over and over again. First, let’s define these different error types.

Careless errors

Remember those times when you were sure you got the answer right, only to find out that you got it wrong? For a moment, you even think that there must be a mistake in the answer key. Then, you take a look at the problem again, you check your work, and you want to slap yourself on the side of the head. You knew exactly how to do this problem and you should have gotten it right, but you made a careless mistake!

By definition, a careless mistake occurs when we did actually know all of the necessary info and we did actually possess all of the necessary skills, but we made a mistake anyway. We all make careless mistakes (yes, even the experts!); over 3+ hours, it’s not reasonable to assume that we can completely avoid making careless mistakes. Our goal is to learn how to minimize careless mistakes as much as possible.

Content Errors

“Content” is the actual knowledge we need to know in order to answer a question. What’s the formula for the area of a circle? What does the word “serendipity” mean? Content errors typically come in two forms: knowledge you did know but forgot, and knowledge that you didn’t know, or didn’t know well enough, in the first place.

Technique Errors

Beyond the content itself, we can typically work through any quant, text completion, or sentence equivalence problem in multiple ways; the particular solution method we choose to use is what we call the technique. For reading comprehension, of course, all we have is technique; no actual facts (that aren’t given in the passage) are being tested on reading comp. We also need to employ timing strategies, in terms of both individual questions and the overall section.

The Error Log

Your first step is to create an error log. You can do this in a notebook or an electronic file, but have one consistent place where you can record your errors. I typically record careless mistakes separately from all other mistakes, but you can organize things however you want, as long as the organization is consistent. Then, you can use the error log to learn from your errors!

For each problem, keep track of this data:

1) The basics: where the problem can be found again in your materials, the question type to which the problem belongs (as specifically as possible), the content category being tested (if applicable), the time you spent, and the current date.

2) The error: describe the error in specific detail; if applicable, actually copy into your file the part of the work where you made the error. (Note: one problem could have multiple mistakes; include them all.)

3) The reason: figure out WHY you made this error and write that down; if there are multiple reasons, note them all. The next step hinges on this step, so make sure you really dig deep to figure out why! If you can’t figure out why, then you can’t figure out how to fix the problem. (See more on this, below.)

4) To Do: figure out what habits you need to make or break in order to minimize the chances of making that particular mistake again. For example, you might:

• create flashcards to help you memorize some content or technique that you didn’t know or messed up
• re-write your work for this problem in its entirety and try the problem again in a week
• do several problems of the same type, or drill certain skills, in order to build a new, good habit
• decide that whenever you see a certain type of hard and relatively infrequent problem, you’re just going to make an educated guess and move on (then learn how to make an educated guess and practice moving on)

Whatever it is, do the necessary work to create good habits and jettison bad ones. (There’s a GRE word for you!)

5) Review and reinforce: at least once a week, review your log. Are there certain types of mistakes you tend to make repeatedly? Are you continuing to make mistakes that you’ve made in the past and already tried to fix? Go back to steps 3 and 4 again.

The simple fact that you’re now aware of your tendencies will allow you to notice when those kinds of problems pop up on the test. When you’re already aware, then it’s easier for you to double-check the parts of your work where you’re most likely to make a mistake – or, if necessary, to let the problem go.

WHY did I make that mistake?

Let’s talk more about figuring out why you made a mistake. Careless mistakes will usually be pretty obvious. When you’re looking through your work, something will jump right out at you. You added when you should have subtracted. You thought something out in your head instead of writing it down, or you didn’t check the proof in the passage. You calculated area instead of circumference. You missed the word “not,” which totally changed the entire problem or answer choice.

Quant content errors tend to be more straightforward, but quant technique errors can sometimes be tricky to fix. Don’t assume that the first technique you tried is the one you have to use. Read the explanation, talk to your teacher or fellow students, check out some online forums, and try to find different, better ways of tackling the problem.

Verbal errors can be even trickier to understand. Whenever you pick a wrong answer (or you guessed and got lucky), ask yourself several things:

1) Why did I pick the wrong answer? Unless I picked entirely randomly, something about it looked good; something about it made me think it was right. What was that thing (or those things)? Now I know those aren’t good reasons to choose an answer.*

2) Why did I eliminate the right answer? Something about it looked wrong. What was that thing (or those things)? Now I know those aren’t good reasons to eliminate an answer.*

3) Why is each wrong answer wrong? (As specifically as possible!) Why is the right answer right? (Sometimes, the answer to that is: it’s the only one left!)

*Note: if you didn’t know a vocab word, then the reason why is obvious and the fix is straightforward (though not necessarily easy): learn that vocab word!

There’s one type of careless error I want to address specifically: when we meant to choose one answer (the right one!) but accidentally chose another. It’s especially disheartening when this happens, and it often happens because of sloppy scrap paper technique.

On quant, it is critical to write down what the problem asks for you to solve. For multiple-choice or fill-in-the-blank questions, I leave a little space for myself to do the work, and then I write what I want to find and circle it. Then I go back and do the work in the space I left above. When I’m done with the work, I run right into my “x =___?” circle and I’m much less likely to, for example, pick the answer that actually represents y. On quantitative comparison questions, the answer choices never change, so instead I focus on organizing my work. I write the info down the way it’s shown on the screen (two columns, possibly with some additional given info above) and I write down ABCD so that I can cross off answers as I go.

On verbal, it is critical to keep track of your thinking for every answer choice. First, write down as many letters as you need vertically, based on the answer options given on screen. For example, for a traditional 5-answer choice question, I’d write “ABCDE.” If there are two blanks with three options each, write “ABC” down twice and label the first column “1” and the second column “2.”

Next, you need four consistent symbols. One means “definitely wrong,” one means, “ I have no idea,” one means “maybe…” and one means “right!” As you think through each answer, make the corresponding symbol on your scratch paper. You can use any symbols you want, as long as you always use the same symbol for each category. When you’re ready to choose an answer, circle that letter on your scrap paper, then immediately look up and select the corresponding bubble on the screen.

Okay, you’re ready to learn from your mistakes. Go start that error log right now!

Stacey Koprince

Stacey Koprince is a Manhattan GRE Instructor and Instructor Developer (a fancy title for trainer), as well as the Director of Online Community for the sister company ManhattanGMAT; she also teaches the GMAT and the LSAT. Besides spending her spare time taking standardized tests for fun, she is learning French (and, as such, is incredibly impressed with all of her students who do not speak English as a first language - she can't imagine taking the GRE in French!). She is also a Taekwando novice but expects to earn her yellow belt shortly - so you'd better do your homework.

Try this Data Interpretation problem set with five questions.

Ninth-Grade Students at Millbrook High School



1. What fraction of the girls are enrolled in Spanish?

2. What fraction of the students are boys who are enrolled in Spanish?

3. What is the ratio of 9^th grade girls not enrolled in Spanish to all 9^th grade students at Millbrook Middle School?

4. If x% more students are not enrolled in Spanish than are enrolled in Spanish, what is x?

5. If 2 of the boys not enrolled in Spanish decided to enroll in Spanish, and then 8 new girls and 7 new boys enrolled in the 9^th grade at Millbrook Middle School and also in Spanish, what percent of 9^th grade students at Millbrook would then be taking Spanish?

Record your answers on paper before continuing!

Solutions:

First, read the title of the chart: everyone accounted for in the chart is a ninth-grader at Millbrook Middle School. So, when problems mention “9th grade,” you don’t have to figure out how many people involved are ninth graders — everyone in the chart is.

When given a chart that depends on addition (boys plus girls = total students and those enrolled in Spanish plus those not enrolled in Spanish also = total students), it can be helpful to sketch a quick version of the chart on your paper and to add a total column. (If the chart is large and this would be too time-consuming, just imagine that the “Total” row and “Total” column are present, and only calculate what you need.) For example:

Now add down and across:

1. There are 29 total girls and 13 are enrolled in Spanish. The answer is 13/29.

2. There are 60 total students and 12 boys enrolled in Spanish. The answer is 12/60, which reduces to 1/5. (Read carefully! “What fraction of the students are boys who are enrolled in Spanish?” is NOT the same as “What fraction of the boys are enrolled in Spanish?”)

3. There are 16 girls not enrolled in Spanish and 60 total students. The answer is 16/60, which reduces to 4/15.

4. 35 students are not enrolled in Spanish and 25 are. The question can be rephrased as, “35 is what percent greater than 25?” Using the percent change formula (Percent Change = Difference / Original, multiplied by 100), the percent change is 10/25, or 2/5, multiplied by 100, which gives us 40%.

5. Sketch a new chart to reflect the changes. Switch 2 of the boys from “not enrolled” to “enrolled.” Then, add 8 new girls and 7 new boys to the “enrolled” groups, like this:

Update the Total rows and columns as well. You will see that both “Boys” and “Girls”, as well as “Enrolled in Spanish” and “Not Enrolled in Spanish,” now add to a total of 75.

What percent of 9^th grade students at Millbrook are now taking Spanish? Since 42 out of 75 students are enrolled in Spanish, enter 42/75 into your calculator, then multiply by 100 to convert to a percent. The answer is 56%.

Jen Dziura

Jennifer Dziura is Manhattan GRE’s Blog Editor and Lead Content Developer. She writes books and curricula for the GRE, and is the author of Manhattan GRE’s 500 Essential Words and 500 Advanced Words flashcard sets. Also a GMAT and SAT expert, Jennifer uses her obviously copious spare time to co-host an adult spelling bee in a bar and travel to colleges and universities to give humorous talks about philosophy and punctuation. She is working on a book about speed mathematics.

In 2012, attendance at an annual sporting event was 5% greater than it was in 2011 and 20% greater than it was in 2010. What was the percent increase in attendance from 2010 to 2011?

See the answer choices and submit your pick over on our Challenge Problem page.

There are two aspects to consider: whether you would have a significant scoring advantage on one test versus the other, and whether certain schools have shown a preference for one exam over the other. We’re going to address the first aspect in this article; we’ll leave the second consideration for the admissions consultants.

Both exams consist of multiple-choice quantitative and verbal sections, as well as an essay-writing section. The GMAT also includes an Integrated Reasoning section. Let’s take a look at the structures of the tests and discuss what is tested.

Quant

The two exams test high-school level math (including number properties, algebra, geometry, and statistics) and have some similar question types. Both tests have standard “problem-solving” questions – the basic math multiple choice questions that appear on any multiple-choice math test. The tests also have questions that combine elements of quant content and mathematical logic; on the GMAT, these are called Data Sufficiency and, on the GRE, these are called Quantitative Comparisons. Within its quant section, the GRE also includes a small number of Data Interpretation questions, which include a table or graph, as well as some “pick all that apply” and “fill in the blank” question formats.

The general consensus is that GRE quant is easier than GMAT quant; I’ve taken both exams and agree. If math is your weaker area, then put a “plus” in the GRE column. (This is especially true if we also take into account the new Integrated Reasoning section on the GMAT; more on this topic down below.)

Verbal

The Reading Comprehension questions on the GRE correspond fairly well to the Reading Comprehension and Critical Reasoning questions on the GMAT. The rest of the GMAT verbal section, though, tests grammar (via sentence correction questions) while the GRE tests vocabulary (via text completion and sentence equivalence questions).

If verbal in general is your weaker area, then decide based on this. Is your grammar great? The GMAT may be easier for you. Is your vocabulary so awesome that your friends regard you as their personal dictionary? The GRE is your test.

Integrated Reasoning

This section is specific to the GMAT. It consists of a cross between quantitative and verbal reasoning skills – one question may ask us to infer something, similar to Critical Reasoning or Reading Comp, while another may ask us to calculate two values, x and y, given various parameters. The actual material tested (math formulas and rules, reasoning skills, etc.) is the same as on the quant and verbal portions of the test, but the question formats are quite different both from what is currently on the test and from typical standardized test questions that you’ve seen in the past.

If you haven’t taken a look at these yet, you may want to do so before you make up your mind. Do you like this kind of question structure? Are your “executive reasoning” skills strong? Or do the questions hurt your brain? (Note: expect them to hurt your brain at first: you haven’t studied these yet, so you shouldn’t find them super-easy. If, on the other hand, after examining them a bit, you continue to find them bewildering, you might decide to take the GRE.)

Essays

Of course, nobody cares as much about the essays (because the schools don’t). The GMAT requires one essay while the GRE requires two. Other than that, the only thing I have to say about the essays is this: you aren’t going to base your decision (about which test to take) on the essays, so there’s nothing else for us to discuss!

Take-aways

As a general rule, GRE quant is somewhat easier than GMAT quant. On the verbal side, the GMAT is better for those whose grammar skills are stronger, while the GRE is better for those with a big vocabulary.

Still not sure what to do? Take a practice test! Two, actually. Take both a GMAT and a GRE under 100% official conditions, including the essays. Take them several days apart; don’t give yourself an artificial handicap on one by taking it later in the same day.

Take either the official practice tests provided by the official test writers, or take two tests made by the same company (so that you don’t introduce the possibility that you’ve happened to take a much harder or easier version of one). If there’s a significant difference in your starting percentile ranking, your question has been answered.

Let us know what you decide and how you decided; your fellow students will appreciate your insight. Good luck!

Stacey Koprince

Stacey Koprince is a Manhattan GRE Instructor and Instructor Developer (a fancy title for trainer), as well as the Director of Online Community for the sister company ManhattanGMAT; she also teaches the GMAT and the LSAT. Besides spending her spare time taking standardized tests for fun, she is learning French (and, as such, is incredibly impressed with all of her students who do not speak English as a first language - she can't imagine taking the GRE in French!). She is also a Taekwando novice but expects to earn her yellow belt shortly - so you'd better do your homework.

Rebecca had 288 Facebook friends, and noticed that an equal number of these friends had birthdays in each of the twelve months of the year. Then, Rebecca approved many friend requests at once. After doing so, the number of Rebecca’s friends with birthdays in the last quarter of the year increased by 25%, the number of friends with birthdays in each month beginning with “J” increased by one-third, the number of people with birthdays in February was increased by 12.5%, the number of people with birthdays in March became of the new number of people with birthdays in February, the number of people with birthdays in April became five less than 75% of the new number of people with birthdays in February and March combined, the number of people with birthdays in May increased by 1, and the number of people with birthdays in August became one less than 20% greater than the new number of people with birthdays in May. Finally, September’s total increased to 6% less than one more than the new total for the month with the largest number of birthdays. Assuming no one de-friended her, after approving all her friend requests, how many Facebook friends did Rebecca then have?

See the answer choices and submit your pick over on our Challenge Problem page.

As on the real GRE, both questions use the same set of two charts. The first question is multiple choice; the second requires you to enter your own answer. You may use a calculator.

1. If the five categories of irony were placed in the slice appropriate to them in the first chart, approximately what would be the internal angle of the slice labeled “nostalgia”, in degrees?

a) 7
b) 21
c) 25
d) 57
e) 70

2. If a hipster’s priorities were expressed as a percentage of 500 priority points, what would be the point difference between knowledge of craft beers and ironic attitude, rounded to the nearest tenth?

Give these problems a shot before reading further.

Ready for solutions?

For the first question, the category “irony” in the first chart is exploded outwards in the second chart. Nostalgia makes up 18% of that second chart. If we were to include that as a part of the irony category in the first chart, it would be 18% of 39%, or about 0.07. Because the whole circle is 360 degrees, we simply multiply 360 by 0.07, and get approximately 25 degrees. The answer is C.

Second question: If the top chart represents 500 points, then knowledge of craft beers is simply 0.14 times 500, or 70. To find the percent represented by attitude, we have to take 14% of 39% (because attitude is a subset of irony). So, 0.014 times 0.39 = 0.0546. Then we multiply that by 500, to get 27.3. Finally, 70 – 27.3 = 42.7. The answer is 42.7.

To abase is “to reduce or lower, as in rank, office, reputation, or estimation; humble; degrade.”

Here’s the mnemonic:

Abasement makes you feel so degraded that you feel like you’ve been locked in a basement.

Seriously, that was awful, right? But I’ll bet you remember it.

Jen Dziura

Jennifer Dziura is Manhattan GRE’s Blog Editor and Lead Content Developer. She writes books and curricula for the GRE, and is the author of Manhattan GRE’s 500 Essential Words and 500 Advanced Words flashcard sets. Also a GMAT and SAT expert, Jennifer uses her obviously copious spare time to co-host an adult spelling bee in a bar and travel to colleges and universities to give humorous talks about philosophy and punctuation. She is working on a book about speed mathematics.

This is big news for GRE test takers, and we wanted to give you the full scoop on this new feature.  We had a chance to talk to ETS officials yesterday and we got all the details on this new ScoreSelect option.  Here are our top 3 thoughts on ScoreSelect.

1. Retakes will not be seen by admissions panels

The most obvious impact of this new policy is the ability for students to omit poor scores from their graduate school applications. This should allow students to breathe easy when retaking the GRE.

Our students often ask us if retaking the exam will reflect negatively on their ability or otherwise hurt their application. While retakes (one or two) were never frowned upon by admissions panels, ScoreSelect takes things a bit further by making sure multiple retakes don’t even appear on a score report to be considered.  This featured provides a strong added incentive to take the GRE more than once. We hope that this feature will help lower student anxiety on GRE test day. Now, a bad score won’t haunt you forever. In fact, it won’t haunt you at all!

2. This is a reason to pay for score reports (making the GRE more expensive)

This is the one downside of the new ScoreSelect feature.  As always, students can opt to send up to four score reports for free by choosing institutions on test day that will receive these reports.  However, by sending free reports on test day, students will not get the chance to use the ScoreSelect function.

To review your scores and select your best tests, you will have to pay $25 per score report. This isn’t a fee for the service per se, just a fee for sending your reports late (still a bummer).  In the past, we have always counseled students to send their four free reports on test day, but ScoreSelect provides a compelling reason not to send free reports (in the event that you underperform during that sitting).  Now, taking the GRE might be a slightly more expensive process. (The ETS website also announces a price increase for GRE registration on July 1, 2012 from the current $160 to $175.)

UPDATE - I spoke with someone over at ETS today, and they have clarified that once ScoreSelect becomes available,you will have the option to choose a few FREE ScoreSelect options on test day as well.  After you complete a test, you will see your score, then you can choose to send one of two reports, ALL or MOST RECENT.  So, if you are happy with your most recent test, you can send it on for free, the only reason to wait is if you want to omit that day’s scores from your reports (no free option for that as both ALL and MOST RECENT will include the scores from the most recent test administration that you sat for).  You can read more about these options here: http://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/about/scoreselect

3. No mix-and-match sections

While ScoreSelect will be a boon for students, the feature will have some limits. ScoreSelect will only allow students to send score reports as a whole. This means you won’t be able to mix and match your best math and verbal performances from separate tests to create a super report.  If your best verbal and quant scores come on different tests, you will have to choose to send both tests or just your best test overall. However, you can choose to send only two out of any number of attempts, so it is still a step up from the current system.

So there is the breakdown of this exciting new GRE feature.  We think ScoreSelect will be helpful to students if for no other reason than it should help students calm down a bit on test day (which is a serious benefit). If you have any questions about this new scoring feature, please feel free to email us.

Taylor Dearr

Taylor is the Associate Manager of Marketing and Student Services for Manhattan GRE. Since 2010, he has been helping talk students through the complexities of GRE prep. He is an avid follower of all GRE related news and is always game to hear a GRE related anecdote. If you’d like to share a story or ask a question you can email him or follow him on twitter @ManhattanPrep.

The Credible Hulk! This, of course, is a play on the Incredible Hulk. But what does incredible really mean?

Today, we often use incredible to mean “amazing, awesome!” However, the actual meaning of incredible is not believable. For instance:

No one would have questioned the employee’s sick day if he hadn’t told such _________ story about an exotic illness that sent him to the hospital near-death at 8:30 a.m., and yet was cured completely by evening.

Select two answers.

(Note: When you see six answer choices and square checkboxes, that’s a clue that this is a GRE Sentence Equivalence problem, to which there will always be two correct answers.)

Of course, one of the answers to this question is incredible. But what about the other one?

It’s not incredulous, even though the two words share two roots.

The root “cred” (believe) occurs in many words, such as credit (when someone gives you a credit card, it’s because they believe you’ll pay them back), discredit, creed, and credo. However, incredible and incredulous are not the same.

Compare the following:

Credible – capable of being believed; believable

Incredible – so extraordinary as to seem impossible; not credible; hard to believe; unbelievable

Credulous – willing to believe or trust too readily, especially without proper or adequate evidence; gullible.

Incredulous – not credulous; disinclined or indisposed to believe; skeptical.

While incredible means not believable and thus refers to stories, testimony, etc., incredulous means skeptical and thus describes people or their attitudes.

The other answer to the question is fabulous, which doesn’t really mean “fierce, fashionable, amazing!” It actually means “almost impossible to believe; incredible.”

There’s a really good reason why fabulous means incredible — fabulous shares a root with fable. That is, fabulous means “coming from myths or fables, imaginary.”

Almost incredible, isn’t it?

Jen Dziura

Jennifer Dziura is Manhattan GRE’s Blog Editor and Lead Content Developer. She writes books and curricula for the GRE, and is the author of Manhattan GRE’s 500 Essential Words and 500 Advanced Words flashcard sets. Also a GMAT and SAT expert, Jennifer uses her obviously copious spare time to co-host an adult spelling bee in a bar and travel to colleges and universities to give humorous talks about philosophy and punctuation. She is working on a book about speed mathematics.

Why does propitiate mean conciliate, appease, but propitious means lucky? You’ll have to ask some superstitious Romans (or just read our flashcards). Check it out:

Want to adopt 1,000 new flashcards? Visit our store here.

In recent articles, we’ve discussed how to analyze practice problems when we’re studying, and we’ve also talked about how to read RC passages. (If you haven’t already read those articles, you may want to do so before you continue with this article.)

Today, we’re going to do a question from the Language Power passage that we reviewed in a previous article, and we’re going to analyze that question using the “how to analyze a problem” process. If you haven’t already read this passage (or if it has been a while since you read it), go take a look at the Language Power article first (linked above). Give yourself roughly 3 minutes to read through the passage and take notes, then read the rest of that article.

Okay, finally, you can get started on this article! Below is the full text of the passage followed by the question.

“Sarah Meyers McGinty, in her new book Power Talk: Using Language to Build Authority and Influence, argues that while the simple lingual act of declaring power does not help a powerless person gain influence, well-considered linguistic techniques and maneuvers do. McGinty does not dispute the importance of factors such as expertise and ability in determining stature, but argues persuasively that these power determinants amount to little in a person unable to communicate effectively. Many surveys have shown that the ability to communicate effectively is the characteristic judged by managers to be most critical in determining promotability in the workplace or an academic environment.

“McGinty divides speech into two categories: “language from the center” and “language from the edge”. In McGinty’s words, “Language from the center makes a speaker sound like a leader.” McGinty suggests that language from the center is not only for those in high positions of power, but also for those of lower ranks who wish to gain more power and credibility. A speaker using language from the center exhibits the following characteristics: he directs rather than responds; he makes statements rather than asks questions; he contradicts, argues, and disagrees; he uses his experience persuasively; and he maintains an air of impersonality in the workplace. McGinty suggests that the use of language from the center can alter or create a new balance of power. These assertions are supported by studies that show that people accept leadership from those they perceive to be experts.

“Language from the edge stands in stark contrast to language from the center. Language from the edge is careful, exploratory, and inquiring. It is inclusive, deferential, and collaborative. A speaker using language from the edge responds rather than directs; asks questions; strives to make others feel heard and protected; and avoids argument. The main purpose of language from the center is to claim authority for a speaker, while language from the edge strives to build consensus and trust. McGinty argues that true power comes from a deep understanding of when to use which style and the ability to use both as necessary.

“What distinguishes McGinty’s discussion of effective communication is her focus on communication skills as a way of gaining power; this contrasts with most workplace communication theory, which focuses on communication skills as a way of preventing misunderstandings, avoiding conflict, and fostering interpersonal relationships. McGinty, however, holds that language not only helps maintain relationships but also lends authority. According to Power Talk, effective communication skill “is an understanding of how situation shapes speech and how speech shapes situation” and “an understanding of how speech styles and the forces that affect those styles . . . can build your authority, and enhance your credibility and impact.”

And here’s the problem; give yourself about 1 minute to answer it.

“The primary focus of the passage is on which of the following?

“(A) Demonstrating the effectiveness of a certain framework in the business world

“(B) Explaining the advantages and disadvantages of a proposed approach to business communication

“(C) Analyzing the details of a controversial theory of business

“(D) Presenting a new model of business communication

“(E) Articulating the major differences between two types of language”

Okay, so you’re done with the problem. Now what? Well, the first thing everybody does is check the answer – but, interestingly, the analysis doesn’t depend much on whether we get it right or wrong. We all want to know, though, so go ahead and check the answer; just be aware that this doesn’t change your review process much. The correct answer is D.

Now we’re going to analyze our work. I’ve reproduced the questions from the How To Analyze article below, but in a shorter form. I’ve followed the questions with italicized notes. These notes represent what I would think to myself when analyzing this problem.

Note: I’m going to pretend that I chose answer choice B (so I got it wrong!). Answers A and E are actually the most commonly chosen wrong answers on this problem, with wrong answer B following close behind.

1. Did I know WHAT they were trying to test?

Questions: Was I able to categorize this question? Did I comprehend all the words, vocab, concepts, and answer choices? Do I know what I’m supposed to do for questions of this type?

I knew that this was a main idea question because they ask about the “primary focus.” Main idea correct answers are usually fairly “middle of the road”: they can’t go into too much detail but they also can’t go beyond what the passage actually says.

2. How well did I HANDLE what they were trying to test?

Questions: How was my approach? Did I have the skills to follow through? Did I make any careless mistakes? If so, WHY did I make each mistake? How could I have made an educated guess? Do I understand the traps built into the question, including wrong answers?

Well, I got it wrong, so clearly there’s got to be a better way. : ) The explanation for answer B pointed out that, while the passage does talk about McGinty’s proposed theory in positive terms at times (for example, she “argues persuasively,” according to the passage), the passage never discusses any disadvantages. It just talks about what McGinty’s theory is and how that compares and contrasts with other existing theories. And that’s pretty much what answer D says, but I wasn’t paying that much attention to answer D by the time I read it, because I already thought B was the right answer.

So, how can I avoid making that mistake next time? First, I have to make sure that I haven’t locked myself into an earlier answer so much that I don’t really read the remaining answers. I should have thought of B as “this might be it” rather than “I already found the right answer.”

Next, I need to make sure that I’m paying attention to every word in the answer. I liked B originally because it talked about a proposed approach, which is similar to a theory or hypothesis, and because I felt that the author did like McGinty’s theory and discussed its advantages. I glossed right over the word disadvantages, but I do know that every word has to be supported – and there’s no support in the passage to justify the word disadvantages.

Answer D, on the other hand, is so vague… but that’s precisely what makes it work. The passage does present a new model – McGinty’s model – and it is a model of business communication. Done.

3. How well did I or could I RECOGNIZE what was going on?

Questions: Did I make a connection to previous experience? Can I make any connections now, while I’m analyzing the problem? HOW will I recognize similar problems in the future?

I didn’t have any problem recognizing that this was a main idea question, but I did forget that any details in an answer choice MUST be justified by the passage, or I have to cross that choice off. I knew that already – how am I going to remember that for next time?

Okay, I’m going to go through the wrong answers and articulate exactly why each one is wrong. In A, the word “effectiveness” goes too far; the author presents McGinty’s theory but never shows how effective it is. In B, as I already noted, the word “disadvantages” isn’t justified by the passage; similarly, the word “controversial” in answer C isn’t supported by the passage either. There isn’t any major conflict or controversy in the passage. Wow, all three of those answer choices can be eliminated because one word is “off” or not supported by the passage.

Oh, I can see how E would be really tricky because of the “two types of language” part. It was all about the two types of language! But the major differences between the two types? That’s a detail of McGinty’s overall theory, but that’s not the overall theory, or main point, of the passage, nor is it even the main point of McGinty’s theory. Her main theory is that people can use both types of language in order to develop “true power.” This one’s an example of getting too detailed – this info was in the passage, but it was detail, not the main idea.

In my notes, I’m going to write “main idea = middle of the road” and “must justify each word” as my two main takeaways here. That will help me to remember that I have to make sure that every word is supported by the passage and that I don’t want to fall for a “too detailed” answer. Because the first issue was the biggest problem for me, when I do more RC passages later this week, I’m going to keep a note out that just says “Justify!” in big letters to remind myself to do that when examining the answers. Hopefully, by the end of the week, I’ll have that step burned into my brain as part of my standard answer elimination process for RC.

And there you have it – that’s how to analyze an RC problem. Note that I didn’t answer every single question on the lists of questions. You don’t need to do that (if you tried, you’d be studying each problem for half an hour!). Rather, pick and choose the particular questions that you need based on how things went for each problem. You can also go through some questions more quickly. I knew that I correctly recognized the problem type, so I didn’t spend much time thinking about it. I messed up on evaluating the answers, however, and fell into a trap, so I spent a lot more time examining that part of the problem. On another problem, I might misread the question or misread something in the passage, and then I would spend more time analyzing that aspect of things.

Stacey Koprince

Stacey Koprince is a Manhattan GRE Instructor and Instructor Developer (a fancy title for trainer), as well as the Director of Online Community for the sister company ManhattanGMAT; she also teaches the GMAT and the LSAT. Besides spending her spare time taking standardized tests for fun, she is learning French (and, as such, is incredibly impressed with all of her students who do not speak English as a first language - she can't imagine taking the GRE in French!). She is also a Taekwando novice but expects to earn her yellow belt shortly - so you'd better do your homework.

Georgic means agricultural, or can be a noun referring to a poem on rural life. (As such, the word has a positive connotation.)

Here’s the mnemonic:

George is always going on and on about how he wants to be a shepherd. And sure enough, this vacation he invited us on – look at the meadow! The sheep! The picturesque cottage! It’s positively georgic.

By the way, similar words are pastoral, bucolic, and arcadian.

Jen Dziura

Jennifer Dziura is Manhattan GRE’s Blog Editor and Lead Content Developer. She writes books and curricula for the GRE, and is the author of Manhattan GRE’s 500 Essential Words and 500 Advanced Words flashcard sets. Also a GMAT and SAT expert, Jennifer uses her obviously copious spare time to co-host an adult spelling bee in a bar and travel to colleges and universities to give humorous talks about philosophy and punctuation. She is working on a book about speed mathematics.

Abe, Beata, Cruz, and Dion each collect a different type of condiment packet, and each person only collects one type. Twice the number of ketchup packets in Abe’s collection is 9 times the number of mustard packets Beata has, 7 times the number of soy sauce packets Cruz has, and 15 times the number of barbecue sauce packets possessed by Dion. If each collector owns at least one packet and only whole packets, what is the fewest possible number of packets owned by all four people?

See the answer choices and submit your pick over on our Challenge Problem page.

This one is an allusion to the Beyonce song Run The World (Girls):

If girls really did run the world, you could call it a matriarchy, of course. And then if you didn’t like it, you could carp about the distaff hegemony of our government.

Of course, girls aren’t really taking over the world. Or, if they are, they’ve been sworn to a code of omertà!

Finally, there’s this:

That’s Vogue editor Anna Wintour, of course — she who inspired the draconian boss in The Devil Wears Prada.

In other words, Wintour is not normally known for moving at a glacial — that is, very slow — pace.

However, compared to ur Sec of State sitting in a G-6, even Wintour seems to operate glacially by comparison.

Jen Dziura

Jennifer Dziura is Manhattan GRE’s Blog Editor and Lead Content Developer. She writes books and curricula for the GRE, and is the author of Manhattan GRE’s 500 Essential Words and 500 Advanced Words flashcard sets. Also a GMAT and SAT expert, Jennifer uses her obviously copious spare time to co-host an adult spelling bee in a bar and travel to colleges and universities to give humorous talks about philosophy and punctuation. She is working on a book about speed mathematics.

For Jack, income tax is between 15 and 35 percent of total income after an “exclusion” amount has been subtracted (that is, Jack does not have to pay any income tax on the exclusion amount, only on the remainder of his total income). If the exclusion amount is between $5200 and $9800, and Jack’s income tax was $8700, which of the following could have been Jack’s total income?

See the answer choices and submit your pick over on our Challenge Problem page.

Check out this epic scene from The Social Network:

Gage: Mr. Zuckerberg, do I have your full attention?
Mark Zuckerberg: [stares out the window] No.
Gage: Do you think I deserve it?
Mark Zuckerberg: [looks at Gage] What?
Gage: Do you think I deserve your full attention?
Mark Zuckerberg: I had to swear an oath before we began this deposition, and I don’t want to perjure myself, so I have a legal obligation to say no.
Gage: Okay – no. You don’t think I deserve your attention.
Mark Zuckerberg: I think if your clients want to sit on my shoulders and call themselves tall, they have the right to give it a try – but there’s no requirement that I enjoy sitting here listening to people lie. You have part of my attention – you have the minimum amount. The rest of my attention is back at the offices of Facebook, where my colleagues and I are doing things that no one in this room, including and especially your clients, are intellectually or creatively capable of doing.
[pauses]
Mark Zuckerberg: Did I adequately answer your condescending question?

Oh, snap!

Here are a few Zuckerberg-worthy GRE words:

Hubris: Excessive pride or self-confidence; arrogance. (Adjective: hubristic)

Overweening: presumptuously conceited, overconfident, or proud.

Overweening can be used alone (No one wants to spend time around a fellow as obnoxious and overweening as he), but is often used to intensify a word like pride, as in:

“As he matured, the overweening pride of youth gave way to a more nuanced set of interactions with the world.”

Insolence: Contemptuously rude or impertinent behavior or speech.

Impertinent? Doesn’t that mean not relevant? Well, it can, but that’s not how we’re using it here:

Impertinent: 1. intrusive or presumptuous, as persons or their actions; insolently rude; uncivil: a brash, impertinent youth. 2. not pertinent or relevant; irrelevant

The connection between the two meanings of impertinent is a root for not belonging. So, just as an entire page on how to make hollandaise sauce doesn’t belong in your English paper on Moby Dick, certain types of behavior — especially when practiced by a subordinate towards a person in authority — also simply don’t belong.

(Er, we hope this post captured the “minimum amount” of your attention.)

Jen Dziura

Jennifer Dziura is Manhattan GRE’s Blog Editor and Lead Content Developer. She writes books and curricula for the GRE, and is the author of Manhattan GRE’s 500 Essential Words and 500 Advanced Words flashcard sets. Also a GMAT and SAT expert, Jennifer uses her obviously copious spare time to co-host an adult spelling bee in a bar and travel to colleges and universities to give humorous talks about philosophy and punctuation. She is working on a book about speed mathematics.