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631
18 Jun 2010, 02:28
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Pkit
Disclosure: It is a not a complaint or grievance at all.
I just would like to share a couple of my thoughts and ideas here and would like to hear/(read) yours.
Excuse me, if I somehow have desriminated someone, this was not my intention.
I think that GMAT somehow may discriminate those people, whose english is not native language.
Let me explain:
I believe that, if an indian, chinese or russian would take the gmat in his/her native language, results would be different and probably much better because of language barrier.
Of course I agree that those who want to pursue an MBA degree must know english very well, BUT posessing english very well does mean to be a native speaker. Occasionally, few unknown words may play crucial role.
For example, sometimes (I am feeling so pissed off in such situations), when reading a RC (often biology or history passages) or a CR question, I lose my concentration, self-confidence and understanding, because I did not undersand just a couple of words.
Often just because of not clear understanding of "what a hell is exactly going on here", I fail the question, not because I am not smart/intellegent, but because I did not understand the intended meaning. (once I translated in my native language 10 CR and 10 RC questions that I took wrong, about 60% of fails were due to language barrier).
Thus, non-native speakers often have such huge disbalances like Q45-50, V18-25 (total GMAT score ranging from 530 to 620) and can't improve significantly the verbal raw over a short period of time.
Another example, when reading explanations of tough SC questions, native speakers may crack SC questions just feeling/seeing awkward nuances very quickly.
Please share your ideas, thoughts or may be critics. you may award kudos, if I deserve it.
I just would like to share a couple of my thoughts and ideas here and would like to hear/(read) yours.
Excuse me, if I somehow have desriminated someone, this was not my intention.
I think that GMAT somehow may discriminate those people, whose english is not native language.
Let me explain:
I believe that, if an indian, chinese or russian would take the gmat in his/her native language, results would be different and probably much better because of language barrier.
Of course I agree that those who want to pursue an MBA degree must know english very well, BUT posessing english very well does mean to be a native speaker. Occasionally, few unknown words may play crucial role.
For example, sometimes (I am feeling so pissed off in such situations), when reading a RC (often biology or history passages) or a CR question, I lose my concentration, self-confidence and understanding, because I did not undersand just a couple of words.
Often just because of not clear understanding of "what a hell is exactly going on here", I fail the question, not because I am not smart/intellegent, but because I did not understand the intended meaning. (once I translated in my native language 10 CR and 10 RC questions that I took wrong, about 60% of fails were due to language barrier).
Thus, non-native speakers often have such huge disbalances like Q45-50, V18-25 (total GMAT score ranging from 530 to 620) and can't improve significantly the verbal raw over a short period of time.
Another example, when reading explanations of tough SC questions, native speakers may crack SC questions just feeling/seeing awkward nuances very quickly.
Please share your ideas, thoughts or may be critics. you may award kudos, if I deserve it.
Its like saying I want to fly the plane all over the place but I won't sit in the cockpit.
Why do you think GMAT should be made easy for you or tailored for you?
How are you going to sell your point in the boardroom if you can't prepare for this test. You are going to compete with the natives and steal their jobs(euphemistically) , at least the effort should be made to beat them in their own game.
Good things don't come easy.
Just see the top CEOs Arun Sarin , Vikram Pandit , Rajat Gupta. They have reached the top against all odds. A kite rises against the wind not with it.
18 Jun 2010, 11:52
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AbhiJ
Its like saying I want to fly the plane all over the place but I won't sit in the cockpit.
Why do you think GMAT should be made easy for you or tailored for you?
How are you going to sell your point in the boardroom if you can't prepare for this test. You are going to compete with the natives and steal their jobs(euphemistically) , at least the effort should be made to beat them in their own game.
Good things don't come easy.
Just see the top CEOs Arun Sarin , Vikram Pandit , Rajat Gupta. They have reached the top against all odds. A kite rises against the wind not with it.
I like the last bit about a kite rising against the wind and not with it, that's a good motivational piece. However, to only use members of the South Asian middle and upper classes as your examples of people that have "reached the top against all odds" is unfair, when the odds are they would have studied English from an early age (and I believe in each of those cases, they did, but I could be mistaken).
I agree with the mindset of being able to surmount anything that's thrown at you, but, as a native speaker (and someone who studied the English language in college), I think dedicating as many points as the GMAT does to SC is silly, at best, for native speakers and sets non-native speakers at an unfair disadvantage. Especially when I've never received an e-mail directly from a C-level exec that wasn't riddled with capitalization/spelling/grammatical errors. You hire admins to check your copy. IMO, if you can get the point across as intended, it doesn't matter whether you remember to get rid of all your dangling participles or some other prescriptivist nonsense (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic ... n#Problems). Business in general puts far too high a premium on English grammar, the window dressing, and doesn't nearly pay enough attention to the substance of their communication. Will learning English grammar make you less likely to be judged by your peers? Sadly, yes (the ones that actually know proper grammar, that is). But will learning English grammar make you a more compelling leader and astute business mind? No, absolutely not.
I will say, however, that the CR portion is highly relevant to office work and business life and I think that's one of the parts (perhaps the only part) that the GMAT gets right.
osbornecox
14 Jul 2010, 13:09
Kudos
Bookmarks
coaks
AbhiJ
Its like saying I want to fly the plane all over the place but I won't sit in the cockpit.
Why do you think GMAT should be made easy for you or tailored for you?
How are you going to sell your point in the boardroom if you can't prepare for this test. You are going to compete with the natives and steal their jobs(euphemistically) , at least the effort should be made to beat them in their own game.
Good things don't come easy.
Just see the top CEOs Arun Sarin , Vikram Pandit , Rajat Gupta. They have reached the top against all odds. A kite rises against the wind not with it.
I like the last bit about a kite rising against the wind and not with it, that's a good motivational piece. However, to only use members of the South Asian middle and upper classes as your examples of people that have "reached the top against all odds" is unfair, when the odds are they would have studied English from an early age (and I believe in each of those cases, they did, but I could be mistaken).
I agree with the mindset of being able to surmount anything that's thrown at you, but, as a native speaker (and someone who studied the English language in college), I think dedicating as many points as the GMAT does to SC is silly, at best, for native speakers and sets non-native speakers at an unfair disadvantage. Especially when I've never received an e-mail directly from a C-level exec that wasn't riddled with capitalization/spelling/grammatical errors. You hire admins to check your copy. IMO, if you can get the point across as intended, it doesn't matter whether you remember to get rid of all your dangling participles or some other prescriptivist nonsense (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic ... n#Problems). Business in general puts far too high a premium on English grammar, the window dressing, and doesn't nearly pay enough attention to the substance of their communication. Will learning English grammar make you less likely to be judged by your peers? Sadly, yes (the ones that actually know proper grammar, that is). But will learning English grammar make you a more compelling leader and astute business mind? No, absolutely not.
I will say, however, that the CR portion is highly relevant to office work and business life and I think that's one of the parts (perhaps the only part) that the GMAT gets right.
I think the GMAT verbal section is largely a screener for professional services recruiters (consulting and banking), where presentation trumps all else (okay, stamina in banking is above all, but you get my drift). In these professions, where you place your commas is of paramount importance. This is just a screener.
As for tests being biased... unless it's booby-trapped and it's rigged to fail you (like most hell week tests for frat pledges), it's just a test, and we'll just have to deal with it. Take this from someone who could not perform to potential on the GMAT and has learned to live with it.
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