SC : Crack-GMAT Test Q

[gbyhats]

this can be a virtue, as long as you're willing to change your approach.

I couldn't agree more!

Every time you fail, then you are wrong. Period.

It sounds hilariously simple, but it's true

And I have to say Manhattan's teachers are amazing:

What some GMAT teachers teach are wrong -- you can tell because sometimes you end up eliminating correct answer choice
But you guys won't

--

"ok, i did X amount of prep and failed, so i just need to to 2X amount of the same prep"--then the prognosis is usually pretty dismal.

Well, hahaha, unfortunately, I'm one of them, I've done OG 6 times and countless times on prep -- I've done every SC question I can possibly encounter, but still got 620. Not bad but not the result I want to see.

Then I realized:
When I fail, then I'm wrong. Period

I must have been using wrong approaches in SC, so I started to use Google
(You can't image how ignorance I was: I rarely googled SC questions. If I did, I would had known Manhattan forum. And didn't need to go through such a long detour to get things right)

Reading Manhattan forum helped me a LOT

Spoiler: [I got 720 afterward]

That's why I find Manhattan's teachers are amazing:

What some GMAT teachers teach are wrong -- you can tell because sometimes you end up eliminating correct answer choice
But you guys won't

[RonPurewal]

congratulations on your score.

nb: "spoiler" is not a thing on this forum, because "spoilers" are inaccessible to people on smartphones/tablets (unless they hit "quote" and then search through the quoted text).

[RonPurewal]

What some GMAT teachers teach are wrong -- you can tell because sometimes you end up eliminating correct answer choice
But you guys won't

well, the issue may not be so simplistic.

the key question is "who's the intended audience?"
our audience in general, but especially in this forum, consists largely of VERY high achievers. so, on our forum, it actually makes sense to discuss the kinds of details that we discuss.

on the other hand, for an audience at a more remedial level, or generally lacking in english-language proficiency, the approach we take here would be completely inappropriate.
novices need rules that are simplistic. to make rules simplistic, you have to sacrifice a certain degree of detail and a certain degree of accuracy. (think about explaining manners/social customs to a 6-year-old, vs. to an adult from another country.)

of course, these teachers could also just be bad teachers. (:
but it's always good to look for an alternate explanation before casting such aspersions.

[gbyhats]

nb: "spoiler" is not a thing on this forum, because "spoilers" are inaccessible to people on smartphones/tablets (unless they hit "quote" and then search through the quoted text).

That's interesting! I will figure out another way to "hide" official answers of SC questions next time

the key question is "who's the intended audience?"
our audience in general, but especially in this forum, consists largely of VERY high achievers. so, on our forum, it actually makes sense to discuss the kinds of details that we discuss.

on the other hand, for an audience at a more remedial level, or generally lacking in english-language proficiency, the approach we take here would be completely inappropriate.
novices need rules that are simplistic. to make rules simplistic, you have to sacrifice a certain degree of detail and a certain degree of accuracy. (think about explaining manners/social customs to a 6-year-old, vs. to an adult from another country.)

Oops! You are right! I'm so ignorant to realize this.

Yeah, I can recall six month ago, the first time I get to read your posts, I feel "Whoa! that's a lot of information!"

of course, these teachers could also just be bad teachers. (:
but it's always good to look for an alternate explanation before casting such aspersions.

You are right
I'm sorry...I appear to be rule to say this...

My sentiment is caused by my past experience with a teacher
He probably wanted to give some warns to us (with a good intention), and I misinterpreted it as hostility

So I should forget about it.

[RonPurewal]

no problem.

That's interesting! I will figure out another way to "hide" official answers of SC questions next time

please don't hide the answers.
per the forum rules, just post the official answer-- in plain sight-- along with the problem.

the primary purpose of this forum is to be a reference, not a source of random problems. our readers are presumed to have seen the problems already.

[gbyhats]

please don't hide the answers.
per the forum rules, just post the official answer-- in plain sight-- along with the problem.

Oh! I'm sorry! I almost forget that rule!
Sure thing! I won't do it anymore

[RonPurewal]

thanks.

[TingP565]

IS A correct if we remove which
Why extended is wrong in B & D the sentence is in past tense so why extending and not extended
Also isn't use of extending gives the impression that road is still extending

one thing you need to get straight is that forms ending with -ING are not verbs.
therefore, -ING forms don't have a tense of their own. instead, they adopt the tense of the clause to which they are attached.

consider the following sentences, all of which are correct:
james fell down, fracturing his hand on the concrete.
james had fallen down, fracturing his hand on the concrete, when i saw him.
james falls down, fracturing his hand on the concrete (this version may be spoken by, e.g., a sports announcer)
james will fall down, fracturing his hand on the concrete
etc.

in all of those sentences, "fracturing" just adopts the tense of the main clause. other -ING modifiers behave similarly.

Hi, Ron,
Why isn't A correct if we remove "which"?
The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus was the Incan highway, over 2,500 miles long and extending from northern Ecuador through Peru to Southern Chile.
Is it because "over 2,500 miles long" modifiers Incan highway while " extending" modifiers the preceding clause?
Thanks in advance

[RonPurewal]

"and" still doesn't work, since those are not two separate facts.
rather, they are two ways of describing exactly the same thing, with somewhat more detail in the second one. therefore, the second should be a modifier of the first.

[RonPurewal]

remember-- if "Y" makes sense as a modifier of "X", then "X and Y" will NOT work.

also, conversely, if "X and Y" DOES work, then "Y" should NOT work as a modifier of "X".

basically, if Y is a modifier of X, then Y describes X; if the construction "X and Y" makes sense, then Y DOES NOT describe X.
mutually exclusive.

[harika.apu]

That skeleton doesn't really make sense. When you write "A and B", the "A" and the "B" should be things that actually make sense in parallel"”i.e., "bullet points", or "this and that", or "thing #1 and thing #2".

E.g.,
My brother is Ron and teaches the GMAT.
This sentence is grammatically fine, but "is Ron" and "teaches the GMAT" don't really make sense in parallel. They aren't "bullet points". One is a fundamental identification of who I am; the other is merely something I od.

My brother, Ron, teaches the GMAT and writes articles.
These make sense as "bullet points".

Hello Ron ,
MY brother is Ron, and he teaches GMAT - this would be fine right ?

Thanks

[RonPurewal]

that sentence is fine in a mechanical sense, but it's bad writing.

in a good sentence, the two parallel items should have approximately equal 'priority' or 'significance'. (this is a common-sense notion, so there's no explicit way to define it.)

this example, though, contains two things that have vastly differing significance: 'ron is my brother' is a fundamental part of ron's identity, whereas 'ron teaches the gmat' isn't.
so, a good writer would write this sentence as Ron, my brother, teaches the gmat (or something similar).

again, if you're asking only about mechanics the sentence is 'okay'. but GMAC's correct answers are good writing, so they won't contain anything like it.

[samwong]

Ron,

I'm having problems solving SC efficiently and accurately. In a GMAT Prep exam, even though I got the question below correct, it took me 2:12 to solve it. I’m going to use this question as an illustration of my overall SC general approach.

The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher
Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending from
northern Ecuador through Peru to Southern Chile.

A. Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending
B. Columbus was the Incan highway, over 2,500 miles in length, and extended
C. Columbus, the Incan highway, which was over 2,500 miles in length and
extended
D. Columbus, the Incan highway, being over 2,500 miles in length, was extended
E. Columbus, the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles long, extending

Official Answer: E

You said, in the Study Hall, that the very first thing we need to do in SC is to read the sentence and understand the meaning. We should understand the relationship of all the parts in the sentence before we go through the answer choices. Here is my thought process as I solve this problem:

1) "The greatest road system built in the Americas"
Ok. The subject is "road system". It is singular and it is talking about some kind of streets in Americas. I need to find a singular verb to match the singular noun.

One of the main things that were taught in the MG Advanced SC workshop is the importance of finding the CORE (subject and verb) of the sentence. So, as I read the sentence, the first thing I look for is the subject and verb.

2) “prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus was the Incan highway,”
There is the singular verb that I’m looking for: “was the Incan highway.” The meaning makes sense: The greatest road system was the Incan Highway. That is the core of the sentence.

3) “, which,”
“,which,” does not have anything after it, so A is 100% wrong. But, I still need to focus on the meaning and understand the relationship of the parts.

4) ”over 2,500 miles long and extending from northern Ecuador through Peru to Southern Chile.”
Here comes the problem: is “2500 miles” suppose to referr to the “the greatest road system” or “Incan Highway”? To me, both make sense. The “Greatest” is specific enough to have a distance of “2500 miles”. Same thing could be said about “Incan Highway”.

Second, problem: does “2500 miles” need to be parallel with “extending” or is the “extending” modifying “2500 miles”? Again, both meanings could work but I think since it is talking about a specific distance 2500 miles, “extending” is probably going to modify “2500 miles”. But I’m not 100% certain, at this point.

As you said in the study hall, if you are not 100% sure about an error, move to a different one.

Now, lets go through the answer choices. I know for certain that “,which,” in (A) is wrong, so that is the initial split that I’m going to use. (D) “being over 2,500” is also wrong. I spot that error because I was looking through all the answer choices that repeat the “,which,” in (A). So, now I’m left with (B), (C), and (E). Let’s focus on the core of the sentence because every correct sentence needs a subject and verb. (C) and (E) do not have a main verb to connect “the greatest road system” to “the Incan Highway.” So, they are probably wrong. Wait a second, is the “the greatest road system” a subject or a modifier? Both possibilities are viable. Now, things are getting really complicated because of all these options. I’m not sure about the split in the front and the back of the sentence. Let’s first eliminate (C) because it does not have any verb. I’m left with (B) and (E).

The main core in (B) is “the greatest road system was the Incan Highway and it extended from one location to another”. In contrast, the core in (E) is “the Incan highway was over 2,500 miles.” To me, both interpretations are valid to be the main emphasis of the sentence. Let’s just guess to move on, because I already spent a long time on this question.

I don’t see how you can determine the main emphasis of the sentence from the initial read. The sentence could be telling me (B) that the Incan Highway is the greatest road system and that it extends from one location to another. Or, (E) it could be telling me length of the Incan highway.

Above is the thought process that I had when I did that problem. In general, I have trouble figuring out the relationships in terms of meaning among the parts in the sentence during the first read. The options looked valid in both ways. Then, as I go through the answer choices, I get overwhelm when I find more options that I’m not 100% sure. For example, I thought “the greatest road system” is the subject (it’s a legit subject), but it turns out to be a modifier. I end up spending 2:12 on one SC question.

What do I need to do differently to improve efficiency and accuracy? Ron, I remember you said that even if (A) is incorrect, you should be able to figure out the relationship among the parts in a sentence. Are those relationships obvious to other people but not to me? Can you spot anything from above that I need to focus on or adjust? SC is by far my biggest weakness. According to my official GMAT enhanced score report, my SC raw score is 28 (50%) and the average time spent was 1:30. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

[RonPurewal]

1) "The greatest road system built in the Americas"
Ok. The subject is "road system". It is singular and it is talking about some kind of streets in Americas. I need to find a singular verb to match the singular noun.

here you are thinking about mechanics during your initial reading. this is a mistake. in your initial reading of the sentence, you should NOT think about grammar/mechanics AT ALL. not one single iota.

the point of the initial reading is to determine the message of the sentence.
this is just like ‘normal’ reading—say, reading a book or magazine. if you’re reading a book or magazine, i would bet a very large amount of money that you’re not thinking AT ALL about the grammar of the sentences**. rather, the point is simply to read them and understand what they’re saying.

(**…unless you’re just ‘reading’ with the deliberate purpose of exposing yourself to formal text. this can be a valuable exercise for any adult learner of a language, but it isn’t normal reading.)

of course, books and magazines are not normally riddled with errors. so, perhaps a better analogy is reading e-mails from a coworker whose english is not very good.
imagine doing that.
will there be mistakes? …oh yeah. lots and lots and lots of them.
will there by ANY trouble understanding what your co-worker is trying to say? …almost certainly not.

[RonPurewal]

or consider this sign, from a parking garage in downtown los angeles:
http://s13.postimg.org/ozsh5gx2f/parkingsign2.png

read it quickly.
understand what it says.
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ok, the message is this: if you leave your car in the garage past closing time, you have to wait until the next business day to come get it.
right?
right.

now look at it again, and think about the mechanics.
you’ll notice that, in fact, the sentence says EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE of what it’s supposed to say. (very literally, it says that you can only come get your car UNTIL the next business day starts.)

that’s worth pointing out twice, because it’s so dramatic: the sentence says exactly the opposite of what it’s supposed to say.

…yet, is this ANY barrier to understanding?
nope.

in fact, if you’re like most people, you probably didn’t even notice that the sentence says the wrong thing, until you went back and looked at it a second time.
THIS ^^
THIS is how you should be reading the original sentences. the influence of common sense should be so strong that it supersedes ALL errors in the sentence.
if it is so strong that you don’t even notice the errors, then that’s a GOOD thing. it’s not a bad thing. you’ll have plenty of chances to see the errors when you look at the answer choices.