{"id":2813,"date":"2010-04-07T14:29:51","date_gmt":"2010-04-07T22:29:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=2813"},"modified":"2010-04-07T14:29:51","modified_gmt":"2010-04-07T22:29:51","slug":"veritas-prep-gmat-tips-you-want-the-truth-you-can%e2%80%99t-handle-the-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/veritas-prep-gmat-tips-you-want-the-truth-you-can%e2%80%99t-handle-the-truth\/","title":{"rendered":"Veritas Prep GMAT Tips: You Want The Truth? You Can\u2019t Handle The Truth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brian Galvin is the Director of Academic Programs at Veritas Prep, where he oversees all of the company\u2019s GMAT preparation courses<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The truth is a notion synonymous with higher education.\u00a0 Veritas, the Latin word for truth, is the motto of Harvard University, and the centerpiece of the motto for Yale (Lux et Veritas, or Light and Truth) and several other prominent institutes.\u00a0 We\u2019re often told by teachers that our scholastic research is a quest for truth, and even our most basic educational examinations are true\/false quizzes.<\/p>\n

Perhaps, however, we should take a GMAT lesson from the world\u2019s most famous archaeology professor, Indiana Jones, who is famous for having said:<\/p>\n

\u201cArchaeology is the search for fact... not truth. If it's truth you're looking for, Dr. Tyree's philosophy class is right down the hall.\u201d<\/p>\n

To paraphrase Dr. Jones, your job on the GMAT is to select the option that answers the question, which is not necessarily the truth.\u00a0 If truth is what you\u2019re looking for, you may end up getting a degree in philosophy, not business.\u00a0 Here is why:<\/p>\n

Difficult Critical Reasoning questions know that we are predisposed to considering \u201ctrue\u201d and \u201ccorrect\u201d to mean the same thing.\u00a0 An answer that is true must, in our minds, be right.\u00a0 Because of this, the authors will cunningly plant incorrect answer choices that are \u201ctrue\u201d, in the sense that the knowledge you receive is valid, but that do not answer the overall question being asked, and are therefore incorrect. \u00a0Consider the question:<\/p>\n

When grapes are dried in the sun to make raisins, no nutrients are added, and the only element removed from the grapes is water, which contains no calories.\u00a0 Some of the sugar in the grapes is caramelized in the process, and the removal of water greatly reduces the volume of the grape-turned-raisin.<\/p>\n

Which of the following, if true, explains why raisins contain more iron per food calorie than do grapes?<\/p>\n

(A)\u00a0\u00a0 Grapes are bigger than raisins, so it takes several bunches of grapes to produce the same amount of iron as does a handful of raisins.<\/p>\n

(B)\u00a0\u00a0 Because grapes contain a higher water content, the body absorbs nutrients, like iron, more quickly from grapes than from raisins.<\/p>\n

(C)\u00a0\u00a0 Caramelized sugar cannot be digested, so its calories do not count toward the calorie content of raisins.<\/p>\n

Many students will pick answer choice A, because it\u2019s true:\u00a0 grapes are bigger than raisins.\u00a0 You can visualize that, and it makes perfect sense.\u00a0 But it doesn\u2019t answer the question \u2013 the question asks about the iron-per-calorie ratio, whereas choice A only talks about iron by volume.\u00a0 A is true, but it\u2019s incorrect.\u00a0 Similarly, choice B deals with a different ratio, using iron per second (or some type of time) and not iron per calorie.\u00a0 Only choice C, for which the first half may not be as clearly-true, addresses the iron per calorie ratio, and C is therefore correct.<\/p>\n

Notice what the GMAT does here \u2013 it encourages you to note that A is true, which in your mind will seem \u201ccorrect\u201d.\u00a0 Truth doesn\u2019t necessarily mean correctness \u2013 the question stem even provides the disclaimer \u201cif true\u201d, signifying that the statement need not even be true, it just needs to answer the question.\u00a0 Be careful when addressing Critical Reasoning questions; pick the right answer, not just the one that is true.\u00a0 In other words, be true to the question.<\/p>\n

Read more GMAT advice on the Veritas Prep blog<\/a>. Ready to sign up for a GMAT course<\/a>? Enroll through GMAT Club and save up to $180 (use discount code GMATC10)!<\/p>\n

\"Veritas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brian Galvin is the Director of Academic Programs at Veritas Prep, where he oversees all of the company\u2019s GMAT preparation courses. The truth is a notion synonymous with higher education.\u00a0…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2813","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\/101"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2813"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2816,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2813\/revisions\/2816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}