So, You』re Terrible at Integrated Reasoning Portion of the GMAT

05-05

By: Veritas Prep

Since its release on the June 2012 exam, the Integrated Reasoning portion of

the GMAT has had some test takers stumped. This 30-minute, 12 question section

is oddly scored on a 1 to 8 scale, and no partial credit is given, even for

multi-part, multi-answer questions.

For the past several years, it was a matter of debate on whether business

schools evaluated applicants on the basis of the Integrated Reasoning section.

Admissions offices can be slow to adapt to changes in standardized tests,

waiting for enough points of comparison to consider whether the change

corresponds with other ways that applicants are assessed. But in the past one to

two business school admissions cycles, it has become apparent that admissions

teams are ready to actively add the Integrated Reasoning section as a factor in

their assessments.

But this tough nut of a section is not inundated with years of Official Guide

and test prep company generated questions like the Quantitative and Verbal

sections. After taking a practice test or two, you may find that you are scoring

2/8 or 3/8 and are completely at a loss on how to improve your Integrated

Reasoning score.

The first step you can take to improve your score is understanding what types

of questions to expect on the Integrated Reasoning section and, then, adjust

your approach to each questions with a corresponding appropriate strategy. The

Integrated Reasoning questions can be bucketed into four categories:

1. Table Analysis – sorting given tables and making the most

of information presented

2. Graphics Interpretation – reading and interpreting a

graph

3. Multi-Source Reasoning – using all the given information

to assess statements

4. Two-Part Analysis – determine the correctness of two parts

of a question (with all parts needed to be selected correctly, with no partial

credit given!)

What many test takers fail to recognize that that the IR section is not

necessarily its own, unique section, but rather it is a 「summary」 section, and

you can apply all strategies you have learned for the quantitative and verbal

section to these types of questions. Anticipation, process of elimination, etc.

– the Integrated Reasoning is multi-faceted as should be corresponding

strategies.

The next step is practice, practice, practice with the resources you do have

available. Timing is hands-down the biggest challenge for test takers on this

section, so make sure you』ve completed all the gimmes that the http://MBA.com website

provides (with 48 questions recently released for additional practice). Assess

areas that you have made careless mistakes, ways you could better sort tables

and charts, and other areas where you could have gotten to the conclusion more

readily over being mired down into nitty gritty, and unnecessary, details.

With a bit of understanding and preparation, and figuring out how you are

able to best read, assess, review, and interpret tables and information, you

should be able to edge closer to the coveted 8/8 IR score.

The above GMAT Tip comes from Veritas Prep. Since its founding in 2002,

Veritas Prep has helped more than 100,000 students prepare for the GMAT and
offers the most highly rated GMAT Prep course in the industry.

以上內容摘自：

https://www.clearadmit.com/2018/04/youre-terrible-integrated-reasoning-2/