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Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We\u2019re not kidding! <\/i><\/b>Check out our upcoming courses here<\/i><\/b><\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n <\/i><\/b>I was teaching online with another instructor a few days ago when he told a story about retaking the GMAT (as we instructors often do). He and another woman were riding up in an elevator to the testing facility, and they struck up a conversation. When she found out that he was a Manhattan Prep GMAT instructor, she said, \u201cQuick, tell me something I just HAVE to know for the test!\u201d Talk about pressure!! So, I started thinking about how I would answer that question. Here are the five quick GMAT tips I would tell you during an elevator ride. This is by no means meant to replace actual studying!! These are just quick GMAT tips to keep in mind. (By the way, the other instructor\u2019s answer is below, too\u2014read on.)<\/span><\/p>\n The GMAT loves to test \u201cpeanut butter words.\u201d Actual grammatical term? No. Easy way to remember a concept? Yes. Peanut butter words stick to the noun in front of them, with very few exceptions. Get it, stick? Like peanut butter! The peanut butter words are <\/span>who<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>whose<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>which<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>when<\/span><\/i>, and <\/span>where<\/span><\/i>. Memorize them, and ANY time you see one of them underlined, you better check and see if it\u2019s modifying the noun in front of it correctly.<\/span><\/p>\n You decide:<\/span><\/p>\n The analysts predicted a severe drop in profits, which made the shareholders unhappy.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Right or wrong?<\/span><\/p>\n Well, the peanut butter word \u201cwhich\u201d is stuck to \u201cprofits.\u201d Are the profits the thing or things that made the shareholders unhappy? Nope. Bad modifier! So, this is an incorrect use of the word \u201cwhich.\u201d A correct use of the word would look like this: <\/span>I am eating a cupcake, which is my favorite type of dessert<\/span><\/i>. Not only is this a correct use of a peanut butter word, it\u2019s also true. Mmm, cupcakes.<\/span><\/p>\n The most common error I see on Data Sufficiency is forgetting that either a definite yes or a definite no is sufficient to answer the question. People get a \u201cno\u201d and, without thinking, they decide that the statement is insufficient. But they\u2019re wrong to do so. <\/span><\/p>\n For example, let\u2019s say the question is \u201c<\/span>Is x > 1?<\/span><\/i>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Statement 1:<\/span> x = -2 Of course, the GMAT wouldn\u2019t give such a simple question, but this is just for the illustration. If we look at Statement 1, we know that <\/span>x<\/span><\/i> is DEFINITELY NOT greater than 1. The answer to the question is a DEFINITE NO. So, this statement is sufficient. <\/span><\/p>\n Then, we move on to Statement 2. If <\/span>x<\/span><\/i> is less than or equal to 1, then it is DEFINITELY NOT greater than 1. So again, this statement is sufficient. The correct answer to this question would be \u201cD,\u201d either statement alone is sufficient. I can\u2019t tell you how many times I see people do the right math and then put the wrong answer because they confused NO with not sufficient. Be careful!<\/span><\/p>\n If I told you that I stopped eating pizza recently, what could you infer?<\/span><\/p>\n Here are answers that I get in class all the time:<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019m on a diet. What do you think? Are any of those proper inferences? Spoiler alert: Those are all wrong!! In the real world, we use the word <\/span>inference<\/span><\/i> to mean that we should read between the lines. Like, what could be true? Why might I not eat pizza anymore? This is the WRONG way to approach Inference questions. You instead should think of an inference as asking you, WHAT MUST BE TRUE?<\/span><\/p>\n So, let\u2019s try again. If I tell you that I stopped eating pizza recently, WHAT MUST BE TRUE?<\/span><\/p>\n The ONLY thing that must be true is that I must have eaten pizza at some point before now. If I don\u2019t eat pizza anymore, then the only thing you know is that I used to eat it. That\u2019s it!! You don\u2019t know anything about why I stopped eating it or how I feel about it. So, remember GMAT inferences are different from the way we use inferences in the real world. Also, the GMAT is often tricky because the test-makers don\u2019t say the words \u201cinference\u201d or \u201cmust be true\u201d very often. Instead, they\u2019ll say stuff like, \u201cWhat does the passage <\/span>suggest<\/span><\/i>?\u201d or \u201cWhat does the author <\/span>imply<\/span><\/i>?\u201d They use these loosey-goosey words when they really mean WHAT MUST BE TRUE? I put these words in all caps several times, so you know that I feel strongly about this!<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ve referred to the five deadly pronouns before (in <\/span>Good GMAT Student Vs Bad GMAT Student<\/span><\/a> and also in <\/span>My GMAT Class Just Ended – Now What?<\/span><\/a>), so clearly, I think this is an important topic. In fact, this is what that instructor told the woman in the elevator. So, pay attention!<\/span><\/p>\n Anytime you see <\/span>it<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>its<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>they<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>them<\/span><\/i>, or <\/span>their<\/span><\/i> underlined in a sentence, you better check and see if the word is being used correctly. How do you do that? You need to see if you can properly identify the antecedent (the noun that the pronoun is taking the place of) and that it matches in terms of singular or plural.<\/span><\/p>\n You decide:<\/span><\/p>\n The football team won their game and all the fans cheered<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n So, you see the word \u201ctheir,\u201d one of the five deadly pronouns, and you look for the antecedent. Whose game? The football team\u2019s. Well, there is only ONE team, so the sentence should actually read: <\/span>The football team won ITS game and all the fans cheered.<\/span><\/i> Whaaaa? Nobody talks this way. And the GMAT knows that nobody talks this way, so that\u2019s how they try to get you. Reminder\u2014don\u2019t listen to your ear! Don\u2019t care about what sounds right! You need to know your RULES.<\/span><\/p>\n I have some students who loooooooove algebra. I also have some students who hate algebra. You know what they have in common? They both try to use algebra when it\u2019s totally unnecessary, and in fact, more difficult to do so. Regardless of your prowess with algebra, you should think about using <\/span>Smart Numbers<\/span><\/a> (picking a number in place of any variables or unknowns) when you see certain scenarios pop up.<\/span><\/p>\n The Scenarios:<\/span><\/p>\n Did you know there are 39 questions in the 2017 Official Guide that can be done with Smart Numbers?! That\u2019s a lot of questions to struggle through long or annoying algebra when you don\u2019t have to. If you want to know exactly which questions they are, email me at <\/span>eloh@manhattanprep.com<\/span><\/a> and I\u2019ll send you a list!<\/span><\/p>\n In summary, I hope you end up in a long elevator ride with a Manhattan Prep instructor. But should that not happen, these 5 quick GMAT tips will get you pretty far. Make sure you practice them! <\/span><\/p>\n Want more GMAT tips? Don\u2019t forget to follow us on\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Facebook<\/i><\/b><\/a>,\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Twitter<\/i><\/b><\/a>, and\u00a0<\/i><\/b>LinkedIn<\/i><\/b><\/a>!<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We\u2019re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here. I was teaching online with another instructor a few days ago when he told a story about retaking the GMAT (as we instructors often do). […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":156,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[873,929,52871,930,2,8,9,10],"tags":[52927,53196],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-14952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-for-current-studiers","category-gmat-prep","category-gmat-strategies","category-gmat-study-guide","category-how-to-study","category-quant-on-gmat","category-taking-the-gmat","category-verbal-on-gmat","tag-last-minute-tips","tag-quick-gmat-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/156"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14952"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14976,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14952\/revisions\/14976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14952"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=14952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n1. Sentence Correction – Peanut Butter Words<\/b><\/h4>\n
2. Data Sufficiency – Don\u2019t Confuse \u201cNO\u201d with Not Sufficient<\/b><\/h4>\n
\n<\/span><\/i>Statement 2: <\/span>x is less than or equal to 1<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n3. Reading Comp and Critical Reasoning – An Inference MUST BE TRUE<\/b><\/h4>\n
\n<\/span>I became lactose intolerant.
\n<\/span>I don\u2019t like pizza.
\n<\/span>I\u2019m trying to lose weight.
\n<\/span>I\u2019m crazy (because who doesn\u2019t eat pizza?).<\/span><\/p>\n4. Sentence Correction – The Five Deadly Pronouns<\/b><\/h4>\n
5. Problem Solving – The Four Scenarios for Smart Numbers<\/b><\/h4>\n
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\n![\"Manhattan](\"https:\/\/d27gmszdzgfpo3.cloudfront.net\/gmat\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2017\/01\/elaine-loh-150x150.png\")
Elaine Loh<\/a>\u00a0is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Los Angeles, California.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/i><\/b>She graduated from Brown University with a degree in psychology and a desire to teach others. She can\u2019t get enough of standardized tests and has been a test prep tutor and teacher for over half her life.\u00a0<\/em><\/i>Check out Elaine\u2019s upcoming GMAT courses here<\/a>.<\/em><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"