Manual for gmat

As demonstrated in the example with Amy and Brian, how you perform at the beginning of the section greatly affects your final score. Your score can fluctuate dramatically depending on how many questions you get right or wrong.

By the end of each section, however, the computer has already determined the possible range for your final score. Your score will fluctuate only within a narrow range. What does this mean in practical terms? The earlier questions are the most important, so slow down and do your best on them.

If it were the case that you could work the first half of the questions, guess on the second half, and get a great score, everybody would take that approach. To separate examinees into scoring levels, the GMAT confronts you with more questions than most people can comfortably complete in the time allowed. It rewards those who not only complete the early questions correctly, but also those who complete a greater number correctly.

Expect to feel pressed for time when you take a test. Know that this is normal, and stay calm. The test penalizes you if you do not answer every question in a section. Remember that the total number of questions answered affects your score. If you leave a question unanswered, you did not complete it, nor did you get it right. Therefore, the penalty for leaving any question blank is quite severe.

Finish the section, even if it means that you have to guess randomly at the end of the section. Granted, if you randomly answer questions, your score will not be as high as that of someone who correctly answers those questions, but it will still be higher than if you left those same questions blank.

You can and many do score in the s and still guess on a few questions. If you answer questions correctly, the subsequent questions get increasingly harder. You are virtually guaranteed to see a few questions that you will not be able to solve.

Take your best guess and move on. Spend your time on questions that you can solve. Do not leave anything blank. While individual needs vary, plan to take your exam no more than one month after your final Princeton Review class session. Remember your grammar handbook from middle school? It was huge. The number of rules that the GMAT could possibly test is infinite.

The good news is that the GMAT tests only a limited number of grammar rules. In class, your instructor will discuss how the GMAT tests each rule and show you the best way to attack the questions. In order to discuss the rules of grammar, you need to be familiar with a few concepts. This section reviews the building blocks of sentences and introduces some grammar rules related to subjects, verbs, and pronouns.

The GMAT tests only a few basic grammar rules. The basic parts of the sentence are the main subject and main verb. Look at an example of a very simple sentence: Julian reads. The main subject is Julian, and the main verb is reads. Subjects The main subject is the noun that performs the main action. The subject can be a single word or a group of words. The examples below illustrate different types of subjects.

Single noun Gerund Infinitive Noun clause The cloak was made of velvet. Sleeping for eight hours a night is important to me. To learn how to read music requires diligence. That the dog had bitten her gave her reason to fear it. The main verb in a sentence is the word that expresses the main action.

This example tells us much more about who Julian is, what he reads, how he reads, and why he reads. Nouns Nouns are people, places, and things. Subject nouns, like Julian, perform an action. Object nouns, like assignments, receive the action or are objects of prepositions see below. Assignments is the object of the verb reads. Manual is the object of the preposition in. We will discuss the various kinds of nouns in more detail later.

Pronouns Pronouns take the place of nouns and are used to avoid repetition. Like the nouns they replace, pronouns can function as either subjects or objects. In the sentence above, he is the subject of wants. Modifiers Modifiers describe, or modify, other words in a sentence. Adjectives describe nouns. In the sentence above, important and pre-class modify assignments. Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.

They usually provide information about where, when, or how something happens. In the sentence above, dutifully modifies reads, very modifies dutifully, and extremely modifies important. Prepositions Prepositions are the little words that show relationships between other words or phrases. They usually create prepositional phrases that act as modifiers. In the sentence above, in is a preposition, and in this manual is a prepositional phrase that modifies assignments.

Manual is the object of the preposition. Conjunctions Conjunctions connect words or parts of sentences. In the sentence above, because connects he wants to improve his GMAT score with Julian very dutifully reads the extremely important pre-class assignments in this manual.

Phrases A phrase is a group of words that acts as a part of speech, not a complete sentence. Modifying phrases take on the role of adjectives or adverbs. The prepositional phrase in this manual acts as a modifier in our earlier example. It describes the location of the pre-class assignments. Noun phrases can be the subject or object of a sentence, as illustrated in the examples below. Preparing for the GMAT requires hard work. Allen wanted to leave. In the first example, the phrase preparing for the GMAT is the subject.

To leave is the object of the second example, and it tells us what Allen wanted. Clauses A clause is a group of words that has a subject and a verb. Main clauses can stand alone as complete sentences. Dependent clauses cannot stand alone as complete sentences.

In the example above, Julian very dutifully reads the extremely important pre-class assignments in this manual is the main clause, and Because he wants to improve his GMAT score is the dependent clause. Clauses can also act as subjects, objects, or modifiers. Conjunctions such as and, but, and or often link two independent clauses to create one sentence: I went to the movies, and she went to the library.

Notice that each of the clauses expresses a complete thought and could stand alone as a complete sentence. On the other hand, a dependent clause does not express a complete thought, even though it has a subject and a verb. A dependent clause functions as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. She is the woman who was wearing the leopard-skin coat last night.

Notice that these clauses cannot stand alone as sentences; they depend on independent clauses to form grammatically complete thoughts.

The first dependent clause functions as an adjective modifying woman. In the second example, the clause is the object of the verb know.

Dependent clauses begin with that, whether, if, because, or the words we use to begin questions who, whom, whose, what, where, when, why, which, how. What you see is what you get. The unexamined life is not worth living. Commuting by bicycle helps people enjoy the benefits of fresh air and exercise. His courage as a pilot of a U2 spy plane earned Gary Powers a posthumous citation. Made from a single log, a dugout canoe draws very little water.

Felicia and Tim went to the same high school. The basic rule for subject-verb agreement is straightforward. Singular subjects take singular verbs, and plural subjects take plural verbs. Abstract Nouns Some nouns describe a quality, idea, or state of being. These abstract nouns, such as sadness, truth, laughter, poverty, and knowledge, represent a single thing. Abstract nouns are singular. Justice always prevails. Wealth is nice, but happiness is better.

Collective Nouns Collective nouns name a group of things, animals, or people. Collective nouns are singular. The committee votes on the budget this week. The school of fish swims around the reef. The family that just moved in next door is nice. Verb Forms as Nouns The -ing form of a verb also known as the present participle can be used as a noun, and in such cases it is called a gerund. When the to form of a verb acts like a noun, we call it an infinitive noun.

Gerunds and infinitive nouns are singular. Walking is great exercise. To err is human; to forgive is divine. Assignment 1 Nouns That End in -s Most of the time, a noun that ends in -s is plural, but some singular nouns end in -s. Hint: country names are always singular. That species has a number of interesting habits.

Economics is one of my favorite subjects. The Netherlands is a country in Europe. Not all nouns that end in -s are plural. Singular Pronouns Some singular pronouns, such as everybody or no one, are easy to mistake for plural pronouns. Even though we often treat these as plural words in everyday speech, the GMAT writers use more formal rules and define them as singular.

Each of the witnesses was questioned by the police. Everyone in the senior class is sick with the flu. Either of the restaurants is fine with me. In the first example, the subject is Each, not witnesses. Witnesses is the object of the preposition. Similarly, Either is the subject of the third example, not restaurants. When the subject of a sentence is a pronoun followed by a prepositional phrase, the pronoun is the main subject.

Make sure the pronoun, not the object of the preposition, agrees with the verb. Either and neither are singular when they serve as the subject of a sentence. Any pronoun that ends in -body, -thing , or -one is singular. These pronouns are singular and take singular verbs: no one someone everyone anyone none nobody somebody everybody anybody each nothing something everything anything Compound Subjects When a subject includes more than one noun, we call it a compound subject.

My best friend and her sister are very similar in personality. When and joins two subjects, you must use a plural verb. However, compound subjects joined by or, either.

In these cases, the verb agrees with the noun closest to it. Neither the bride nor the groom was able to remember the names of all the guests. Neither Joe nor his cousins were happy on the first day of school. The number of bad movies showing this summer is unbelievable. A number of my friends are going to the beach this weekend. Gloria and Calvin are, is no longer friends. The number of times I have told you I do not want to go to the concert with you amaze, amazes me.

Samantha, in addition to Carrie, Charlotte, and Miranda, is, are going to the beach on Saturday. Neither Mark nor his neighbors is, are able to open the doors to the patio. Next month, Jack and Chrissy, along with Janet, is, are moving to the larger apartment upstairs.

Each of the boys is, are overwhelmed by the amount of work to be done. Every one of the golf balls has, have been hit into the sand trap. This sandwich is the only one of all the sandwiches made at the deli that is, are inedible.

Skiing is an example of a sport that is, are best learned as a child. In the previous sentence, the word they replaces the word pronouns. Some pronouns function as subjects, while others function as objects. Another set of pronouns indicates possession. He has invited many friends and family.

She has promised him that it will be chocolate. Each pronoun agrees with the noun it replaces. He, his, and him all refer to Matt. She refers to Teresa. It replaces cake. Just as subjects and verbs must agree, pronouns must agree in number with the nouns they replace.

The noun a pronoun replaces is called the antecedent. Use a singular pronoun to replace a singular noun, and use a plural pronoun to replace a plural noun. The same types of nouns that make subject-verb agreement tricky can cause problems for pronoun agreement. Look at the following examples: Everyone should do their homework.

The golden retriever is one of the smartest breeds of dogs, but they cannot do your GMAT homework for you. In both examples, the use of their or they is incorrect. Since everyone is singular, it must be paired with a singular pronoun, such as his or her. Either his or her would be considered correct in this case since we have no in formation about gender.

In the second example, they refers to the golden retriever. Since the antecedent retriever is singular, the pronoun it should be used in the second clause. If the pronoun could conceivably refer to more than one noun, you face the problem of pronoun ambiguity.

Pronouns must unambiguously refer to a single noun. Look at the following example: Lisa Marie was supposed to meet Jen at the museum at eleven, but she was late. It is unclear to whom she refers, Lisa Marie or Jen. The sentence should be rewritten to clear up the confusion. If Jen were the one who arrived late, the corrected sentence would read: Lisa Marie was supposed to meet Jen at the museum at eleven, but Jen was late. Pronoun Consistency Pronoun usage must also be consistent.

Look at the following example: One should watch your purse on a crowded subway. The sentence seems to be saying that some unknown person should be on the lookout for your purse on a crowded subway. For the purposes of the GMAT, sentences that refer to an undefined person can use either you or one, as long as a single pronoun is used consistently.

You should watch your purse on a crowded subway. Quick Quiz: Pronoun Agreement Correct the pronoun agreement in the following sentences. Not all sentences have an error. Each of the chefs makes their own special dish. I still keep my diary and scrapbooks from childhood because they remind me of my youth.

A student must see their advisor before turning in his thesis. The person who stole my bicycle is a thief. One should always look where he is going when you cross the street. In , the Netherlands agreed to limit fishing in certain Atlantic Ocean beds, but in , they terminated the agreement.

The flock of seagulls flew overhead before it swooped down and settled on the water. Assignment 1 Who vs. The detective knows who committed the murder. To whom should I speak about the matter? If you find yourself struggling with the choice between who and whom, try replacing the pronoun with she or her.

If a sentence should use she, use who. If a sentence should use her, choose whom. Present Past Future I study, I am studying, I have studied I studied, I had studied, I was studying I will study, I will be studying, I will have studied The variations within the basic categories of past, present, and future allow us to express ideas more precisely.

If a tense uses a helper verb, such as a form of to be or to have, use the helper verb to determine the tense. For example, I was walking is in the past tense because was denotes the past. I am walking is in the present because am denotes the present. Present The simple present expresses a habitual action, a fact, or something that is happening now.

Beth runs three miles every morning. Both baseball games are on television right now. The kids on the playground are laughing loudly. This tense uses the helping verb has or have followed by the past participle. Astrid has read a book a week since she was twelve.

I have never been to Spain. Past The simple past indicates a completed action or condition. I wrote my final paper over the weekend. Use past progressive to describe an action that was ongoing in the past. We were sleeping when the fire alarm went off. Use the past perfect when you want to make it clear that one action in the past happened before another. This tense requires the helping verb had. Before she began college last fall, she had never been more than twenty miles from home. In the example above, the past perfect action was cut off by an intervening event in the more recent past.

The past perfect cannot stand alone as the only verb in a sentence. Future Simple future, as you would expect, describes an action that will take place in the future. This tense requires the use of the helper verb will. I will clean my room tomorrow. Use future progressive to describe an ongoing action that takes place in the future. The tense is formed by using the future form of the helping verb to be plus the —ing form of a verb.

I will be cleaning my room when you arrive. Use future perfect to indicate an action that will be completed by a specified time in the future. We will not have finished dinner by the time you arrive. Assignment 1 Quick Quiz: Verb Tense Choose the correct verb tense in the parentheses for each sentence below. Yesterday afternoon, clouds rolled in, the sky grew ominous, and thunder was, is heard in the distance. Before the union leadership even began salary negotiations, it had made, made up its mind to stand firm in its position.

The Boy Scouts love, loved their new clubhouse, which they built last summer. My new co-workers had been, were very friendly to me until they learned my salary was considerably higher than theirs. Roberts already finished, had finished the experiments by the time Fuller made the discovery in his own laboratory. Since , several economies in developed nations are experiencing, have experienced declines and recoveries.

The belief in vampires was first recorded, had first been recorded in the early fifteenth century. By the time Spanish explorers first encountered them, the Aztecs have developed, had developed the calendar. Unlike the brown sparrow, the passenger pigeon was slaughtered indiscriminately, had been slaughtered indiscriminately and became extinct in A number is plural.

Whom is an object pronoun. Quick Quiz: Subject-Verb Agreement The subjects are in italicized text, and the verbs are underlined. Gloria and Calvin are no longer friends. The number of times I have told you I do not want to go to the concert with you amazes me. Samantha, in addition to Carrie, Charlotte, and Miranda, is going to the beach on Saturday.

Neither Mark nor his neighbors are able to open the doors to the patio. Next month, Jack and Chrissy, along with Janet, are moving to the larger apartment upstairs. Each of the boys is overwhelmed by the amount of work to be done. Every one of the golf balls has been hit into the sand trap. This sandwich is the only one of all the sandwiches made at the deli that is inedible.

Skiing is an example of a sport that is best learned as a child. Quick Quiz: Pronoun Agreement If a correction was needed, the original pronoun has been crossed out and replaced with the correct pronoun. Each of the chefs makes their his own special dish. The pronoun here refers back to the noun each. You could also use her. No error. They replaces both diary and scrapbooks. A student must see their his advisor before turning in his thesis.

The student must be male, because it is his thesis, therefore it must also be his advisor. Who is the subject of the clause who stole my bicycle and is used correctly.

One should always look where he one is going when you one crosses the street. Be consistent. In , the Netherlands agreed to limit fishing in certain Atlantic Ocean beds, but in , they it terminated the agreement.

The Netherlands is a single country. It agrees with the noun flock. Quick Quiz: Verb Tense The correct verb is underlined. Yesterday afternoon clouds rolled in, the sky grew ominous, and thunder was heard in the distance. There is no reason to switch verb tense, and all the other verbs rolled, grew are in the past tense.

Before the union leadership even began salary negotiations, it had made up its mind to stand firm in its position. Past perfect is the correct tense here because, while both actions occurred in the past, one action had made occurred before the other. The Boy Scouts love their new clubhouse, which they built themselves last summer.

My new co-workers had been friendly to me until they learned my salary was considerably higher than theirs. Past perfect is the best tense here because both events happened in the past, but one happened before the other. Roberts already had finished the experiments by the time Fuller made the discovery in his own laboratory.

Since , several economies in developed nations have experienced declines and recoveries. Present perfect is the best tense because the declines began in the past and continue into the present.

The belief in vampires was first recorded in the early fifteenth century. The simple past is best here because the sentence describes an action in the past that has been completed.

By the time Spanish explorers first encountered them, the Aztecs had developed the calendar. Unlike the brown sparrow, the passenger pigeon was slaughtered indiscriminately and became extinct in Many questions on the GMAT are unanswerable unless you know what these terms mean. Do you know these terms? Fill in as much of the chart as you can before turning the page to check the answers.

Integers can be negative, positive, or 0. The difference of 7 and 2 is 5. The product of 2 and 7 is A number that is divisible only by itself and 1. The absolute value is always positive. Assignment 1 Use the definitions to solve the problem below. If x and y are distinct negative integers greater than —10, what is the greatest possible product of x and y?

The only numbers that work are —9, —8, —7, —6, —5, —4, —3, —2, and —1. The question asks for the product, the result of multiplying x and y. A negative times a negative is positive, so any two of these numbers multiplied together will be positive. The answer is C. Answers to all questions are found at the end of each chapter.

Circle one: 1. The factors of 12 are 1 and 12, 2 and 6, and 3 and 4. You can also think of factors as the numbers you multiply together to get a product. A multiple is the product of some positive integer and any other positive integer. For example, the multiples of 12 are 12, 24, 36, 48, The largest factor of any number, and the smallest multiple of any number, is always the number itself. What is the sum of the distinct, prime factors of 60? The factor tree is a great tool for figuring out the prime factorization of a number.

Learning these rules will save you precious time on the test. A number is divisible by 2 3 4 5 6 9 10 12 Rule It's even i. If a number is divisible by 15, then it is also divisible by factors of 15, i. Just looking at the rule of divisibility for 3, A , B , and D are out.

So by POE, the answer must be C. Integer —1 0 1 2 3 0. Solve expressions in parentheses first. E stands for exponents. Solve expressions with exponents next. M stands for multiplication, and D stands for division.

Do all the multiplication and division together in the same step, going from left to right. A stands for addition, and S stands for subtraction. Do all the addition and subtraction together in the same step, going from left to right. A variable is a letter, such as x, that represents an unknown amount.

Equations with One Variable The simplest equations have no exponents and are called linear equations. Do the same thing to both sides of an equation. The process may require multiplication, division, subtraction, or addition of different numbers. Assignment 1 Try this one on your own before you read the explanation.

The question gives us the value of b. However, we have to solve the first equation in order to find the value of a. Solve by cross multiplying. All we have to do is perform a substitution. Solve single-variable inequalities in exactly the same way as you do singlevariable linear equations, with one additional rule: If you multiply or divide an inequality by a negative number, you must flip the inequality sign.

These are known as simultaneous equations. Begin by stacking the equations. If we add the equations, the quantity 3y drops out of the sum. The rule above does not by itself tell you how to solve for the variables, but it does tell you whether you have enough information to solve for each of the variables, which is very useful for working data sufficiency questions.

We have two equations with the same two variables. Assignment 1 Do you have enough information to solve for x and y? Two equations are not distinct if one is a multiple of the other. You will frequently encounter word problems that test your ability to translate between English and math. Avoid this trap by translating word problems in bite-sized pieces.

Taken as a whole, the sentence might make your head spin. A product is the result of multiplication, so the product of x and y means xy. Four times as much as means multiply by four. Less than tells us to subtract, so we need to subtract five from the last part of the expression. Dan has 9 fewer pencils than Jeff does.

Half of x is Register Now Disability Accommodations. Before the Exam. Plan for Exam Day. After the Exam. Ability to work on your pacing. Customizable practice sets.

Choose the type, difficulty level, and number of questions you want to answer to target your ability level. Opportunities to learn from your mistakes.

Review your responses to practice exams and questions sessions to understand the reasoning behind the questions and evaluate your areas of weakness. Debe regresar de los descansos a tiempo. El examen solamente se aplica en computadora, lo cual garantiza su coherencia y equidad. Nos gusta concentrarnos en lo que puede hacer como se menciona arriba en vez de lo que no puede hacer.

Sin embargo hay algunas cosas que necesita evitar. Algunas infracciones pueden incurrir en consecuencias adicionales. Los resultados se reportan en intervalos de 1. Si las respuestas son correctas 3. Los resultados se reportan en intervalos de El percentil es otra manera de compararse con las otras personas que presentaron el examen GMAT, ya que le indica el porcentaje de los examinados que tuvieron un puntaje inferior al de usted.

No se alarme con los cambios en su percentil. Para que sus resultados sean enviados a programas adicionales, vaya a mba. No hay excepciones a esta regla. Nosotros investigaremos su inquietud tan pronto como sea posible y le proporcionaremos una respuesta.