{"id":13421,"date":"2012-08-01T11:03:09","date_gmt":"2012-08-01T18:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=13421"},"modified":"2012-08-01T11:04:00","modified_gmt":"2012-08-01T18:04:00","slug":"gmacs-official-ir-practice-questions-for-the-new-gmat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/gmacs-official-ir-practice-questions-for-the-new-gmat\/","title":{"rendered":"GMAC’s Official IR Practice Questions for the New GMAT"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nOn June 5, 2012, the GMAT launched a new question type, the\u00a0Integrated Reasoning (IR) question<\/a>.\u00a0 The question format is highly dependent on technology, and unlike traditional Verbal and Quantitative questions, it would be too compromised in a print format.\u00a0 Therefore, instead of putting some compromised practice questions into the OG13, GMAC decided to launch a\u00a0new website<\/a>\u00a0with 50 IR practice questions.\u00a0 When you buy your brand new copy of the OG13, that individual copy will come with an individual access code, which allows you to enter the main area of that website and practice those 50 online questions.<\/p>\n

When GMAC first announced the IR question, it released a few free samples on its\u00a0own website<\/a>, but the format was not finalized at that point.\u00a0 Apparently, the 50 IR practice questions on this new website represents the finalized formats of each of the four IR question types, and the level of difficulty of these questions is comparable to what will appear now on IR sections on live GMATs.\u00a0 This post is a summary of what we know about the IR question formats, including what we can glean from these 50 practice questions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Question Types and Terms<\/h2>\n

Each IR question is one of four formats: (1) Multi-Source Reasoning (MSR); (2) Table Analysis (TA); (3) Graphics Interpretation (GI); and (4) Two-Part Analysis (2PA).\u00a0 If these are unfamiliar to you, you can read about the basics in\u00a0the Magoosh IR eBook<\/a>.\u00a0 On the new website, questions #1-18 are MSR, questions #19-24 are TA, questions #25-34 are GI, and questions #35-50 are 2PA.\u00a0 On this website, they are neatly sorted by question type: we have no idea whether those questions types will be similarly sorted or completely interspersed on the IR section of a live GMAT.\u00a0 We also have no way to guess the relative proportions of each question type to expect on the live GMAT.<\/p>\n

We do know: eight of the 12 questions will count, and the other four will be experimental questions.\u00a0 We do know: whatever block of 8 questions counts, those 8 questions will have the same distributions of question for all test takers.\u00a0 We don't know what that distribution is: let's say, just for simplicity, that it's 2 MSR questions, 2 TA questions, 2 GI questions, and 2 2PA questions.\u00a0 That mix will count for everyone.\u00a0 Now, the four experimental questions don't count, so they could be any mix of problems: it could be one of each type, or two of one type and two of another, or all four of a single type.\u00a0 Suppose Fred happens to get an IR section on which all four of the experimental questions are 2PA.\u00a0 In the course of the 12 questions, Fred would see six 2PA questions: if he were counting, he would realize that the experimental questions would have to be 2PA, but think about it.\u00a0 He doesn't start to realize something is unusually until he gets to his 4th or 5th or even 6th 2PA.\u00a0 At that point, he knows some of those 2PA questions had to be experimental, but he has no way of knowing which two count: the first two? the last two? the third and the fifth?\u00a0 Of course, of six questions, there are 6C2 = 15 different ways the two that count could be distributed among them, and all 15 of those scenarios are equally likely.\u00a0 The upshot is: even if you have an inkling that you are getting more of this question than that, you always have to treat the question in front of you as if it counts.<\/p>\n

Also, let's talk a little about this word \"question\" --- we say the website has 50 practice \"questions\" and the IR section has 12 \"questions\", but I would argue a more accurate term would be \"screens.\"\u00a0 The website has 50 screens, and the IR section of the GMAT has 12 screens.\u00a0 Each screen will be one of four formats --- MSR, TA, GI, 2PA --- and\u00a0almost every screen has more than one question on it<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 Rather than talk about how many questions within each question, for clarity, for the remainder of this post, I will refer to each \"screen\" and how many questions on that screen.\u00a0 Here's a little of what we can glean about the four screen formats from the 50 IR practice screens on the website.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Multi-Source Reasoning<\/h2>\n

This is the only of the four types in which the same content appears across multiple screens.\u00a0 For every other question format, all the relevant content appears on one screen, and none of that content appears on any other screen.\u00a0 Some MSR screens have a single five-choice multiple choice (MC) question: on the whole IR section, this is the only screen type, the only question type, on which there is only one question on the screen.\u00a0 The others, in fact, the majority of MSR screens, have Multiple-Dichotomous Choice (MDC) questions: each MDC screen had three individual MDC questions.<\/p>\n

On the 18 screens devoted to MSR, there were four different prompts, and multiple screens for each prompt.\u00a0 Here's the breakdown:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

Prompt<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

screens<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

# MDC<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

#MC<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

hotels for a conference<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

#1-6<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

4<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

the Nairobi Stock Exchange<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

#7-9<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

sports & broadcasting rights<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

#10-12<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

WHO study of the growth of children<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

#13-18<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

4<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

As we can see, the ratio of MDC to MC is 2:1, which makes me strongly suspect that something like this will be the ratio on the live GMAT: certainly, expect more MDC than MC.\u00a0\u00a0 A bank of six screens on a single topic might be a little excessive: after all, that would be half the IR section right there.\u00a0 I would think of this like the long RC passage in the OG that have, say 6 questions: no RC passage on the live GMAT will have 6 questions, but we get the extra questions in the OG for additional focused practice.\u00a0 Similarly, here, with extra MSR screens.<\/p>\n

All MSR prompts had two cards: none had three cards, so apparently this is the standard.\u00a0 The first and second prompts each involve one card with text and one with a table.\u00a0 The third prompt has nothing but text on both cards.\u00a0 The fourth prompt has text + a table on the first card and text + a graph on the second card.\u00a0 This is the \"integrated\" part of IR: integrating mathematical information with verbal information.\u00a0\u00a0 While an \"all-text\" MSR prompt (like the third one here) may appear, apparently the majority of MSR prompts will involve tables or graphs as well as text.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Table Analysis<\/h2>\n

Few surprises here.\u00a0 Each TA screen contains a verbal prompt and a sortable table. Most of the tables have 7-8 columns, but one had 5 columns and one had 6 columns.\u00a0 On each TA screen, there are 3 MDC questions.<\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n

Graphic Interpretation<\/h2>\n

Each GI screen presents a verbal prompt and a graph.\u00a0 The questions on a GI screen are in the form of two drop-down menus in a fill-in-the-blank format.\u00a0 That is to say, underneath the graph will be one or two sentences, with a total of two blanks: the student \"fills in\" the blank with a choice from the drop-down menu: most of the drop-down menus have 4 choices, although some had 3 choices, and a few had 5 choices. Here are the graphs that appeared:<\/p>\n

#25 = a column chart (i.e. a histogram)<\/p>\n

#26 = a pie chart<\/p>\n

#27 = double-sided* scatterplot<\/p>\n

#28 = a clustered column chart<\/p>\n

#29 = scatterplot with two different populations<\/p>\n

#30 = three timeplots on the same graph<\/p>\n

#31 = double-sided* column chart<\/p>\n

#32 = segmented column charts<\/p>\n

#33 = four timeplots on the same graph<\/p>\n

#34 = a clustered column chart<\/p>\n

For more on column charts, clustered column charts, and segmented column charts, see\u00a0this post<\/a>.\u00a0 It's reasonably clear that they love their column charts!<\/p>\n

By \"double-sided\", what mean is: there are two y-axis scales, one on the left side of the graph, and another on the right side of the graph.\u00a0 For example on screen #27, there are orange dots and black squares on the scatterplot: the orange dots are read on the left y-axis scale, and the black squares are read on the right y-axis scale.\u00a0 It's a slick way of showing the interrelationship of three different variables.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Two-Part Analysis<\/h2>\n

In some ways, 2PA is the most flexible of the four question formats.\u00a0 Individual 2PA screens can be purely verbal (similar to RC and CR questions) or mathematical.\u00a0 This table summarizes these 16 screens according to type and number of answer choices (#A), with some comment on the nature of the \"two parts\" of the question. Here are my codes for the 2PA screen types:<\/p>\n

V = completely verbal<\/p>\n

MA = mathematical, with algebraic\/variable answer choices<\/p>\n

MN = mathematical, with numerical answer choices<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

Screen<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Type<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

#A<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Comments<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

#35<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

V<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

6<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

one true, one false<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

#36<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

MN<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

scenario links the numbers needed<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

#37<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

V<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

one cause, one effect<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

#38<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

MN<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

scenario links the numbers needed<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

#39<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

V<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

6<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

assumption required, possible fact<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

#40<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

MN<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

6<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

largely a verbal question, describing a corporate hierarchy, and the question is about how many people would be involved in different review processes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

#41<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

V<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

a characteristic of pottery, and a prediction possible about group that made the pottery<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

#42<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

MA<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

6<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

a geometry problem<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

#43<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

V<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

6<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

two academics disagree: the two parts play into this disagreement.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

#44<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

MN<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

a distance-rate-time problem<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

#45<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

V<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

one cause, one effect<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

#46<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

MN<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

two terms of a\u00a0recursive series<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

#47<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

V<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

most strengthen, most weaken<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

#48<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

V<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

penalties for missed work time, which merits a verbal reprimand, which merits a written reprimand<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

#49<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

V<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

a ballet company, what will decrease expenses? increase audience size?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

#50<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

V<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

advertising in two cities, what should be done in each city to test a hypothesis?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Of these 16 questions, 10 are verbal and 6 are mathematical in some way.\u00a0 I would take that as an indication of the relative proportions of verbal 2PA screens to mathematical 2PA screens.\u00a0 All have either 5 or 6 choices, and the skills required vary from RC & CR skills on the verbal types to assorted Quantitative skills on the mathematical type.<\/p>\n

Summary<\/h2>\n

This analysis of the 50 practice IR questions on gives us a much more precise idea of what to expect on the real GMAT.\u00a0 Read the Magoosh IR eBook, study this post, work through the 50 questions on the GMAC IR website, and practice the Magoosh IR questions ---- if you do all that, you will be well-prepared for your 12 IR screens on test day.<\/p>\n

This post was written by Mike McGarry, GMAT expert at Magoosh<\/a>\u00a0and originally posted here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On June 5, 2012, the GMAT launched a new question type, the\u00a0Integrated Reasoning (IR) question.\u00a0 The question format is highly dependent on technology, and unlike traditional Verbal and Quantitative questions,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,783,243,544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gmat","category-magoosh-blog","category-blog","category-data-insights","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13421"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13431,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13421\/revisions\/13431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}