GMAT Tip of the Week Keep Your GMAT Score Safe from the Bowling Green Massacre

The hashtag of the day is #bowlinggreenmassacre, inspired by an event that never happened. Whether intentionally or accidentally (well let you and your news agency of choice decide which), White House staffer Kellyanne Conway referenced the event in an interview, inspiring an array of memes and references along the way. Whatever Ms. Conways intentions (or lack thereof; again well let you decide) with the quote, she is certainly guilty of inadvertently doing one thing: she didnt likely intend to help you avoid a disaster on the GMAT, but if youre paying attention she did. Your GMAT test day does not have to be a Bowling Green Massacre! Heres the thing about the Bowling Green Massacre: it never happened. But by now, its lodged deeply enough in the psyche of millions of Americans that, to them, it did. And the same thing happens to GMAT test-takers all the time. They think theyve seen something on the test that isnt there, and then they act on something that never happened in the first place. And then, sadly, their GMAT hopes and dreams suffer the same fate as those poor souls at Bowling Green (#thoughtsandprayers). Heres how it works: The Quant Sections Bowling Green Massacre On the Quant section, particularly with Data Sufficiency, your mind will quickly leap to conclusions or jump to use a rule that seems relevant. Consider the example: What is the perimeter of isosceles triangle LMN? (1) Side LM = 4 (2) Side LN = 4√2 A. Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) alone is insufficient B. Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) alone is insufficient C. BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient D. EACH statement ALONE is sufficient E. Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient When people see that square root of 2, their minds quickly drift back to all those flash cards they studied flash cards that include the side ratio for an isosceles right triangle: x, x, x√2. And so they then leap to use that rule, inferring that if one side is 4 and the other is 4√2, the other side must also be 4 to fit the ratio and they can then calculate the perimeter. With both statements together, they figure, they can derive that perimeter and select choice C. But think about where that side ratio comes from: an isosceles right triangle. Youre told in the given information that this triangle is, indeed, isosceles. But youre never told that its a right triangle. Much like the Bowling Green Massacre, right never happened. But the mere suggestion of it the appearance of the √2 term that is directly associated with an isosceles, right triangle baits approximately half of all test-takers to choose C here instead of the correct E (explanation: isosceles means only that two sides match, so the third side could be either 4, matching side LM, or 4√2, matching side LN). Your mind does this to you often on Data Sufficiency problems: youll limit the realm of possible numbers to integers, when that wasnt defined, or to positive numbers, when that wasnt defined either. Youll see symptoms of a rule or concept (like √2 leads to  the isosceles right triangle side ratio) and assume that the entire rule is in play. The GMAT preys on your minds propensity for creating its own story when in reality, only part of that story really exists. The Verbal Sections Bowling Green Massacre This same phenomenon appears on the Verbal section, too most notably in Critical Reasoning. Much like what many allege that Kellyanne Conway did, your mind wants to ascribe particular significance to events or declarations, and it will often exaggerate on you. Consider the example: About two million years ago, lava dammed up a river in western Asia and caused a small lake to form. The lake existed for about half a million years. Bones of an early human ancestor were recently found in the ancient lake-bottom sediments that lie on top of the layer of lava. Therefore, ancestors of modern humans lived in Western Asia between two million and one-and-a-half million years ago. Which one of the following is an assumption required by the argument? A. There were not other lakes in the immediate area before the lava dammed up the river. B. The lake contained fish that the human ancestors could have used for food. C. The lava that lay under the lake-bottom sediments did not contain any human fossil remains. D. The lake was deep enough that a person could drown in it. E. The bones were already in the sediments by the time the lake disappeared. The key to most Critical Reasoning problems is finding the conclusion and knowing EXACTLY what the conclusion says nothing more and nothing less. Here the conclusion is the last sentence, that ancestors of modern humans lived in this region at this time. When people answer this problem incorrectly, however, its almost always for the same reason. They read the conclusion as the FIRST/EARLIEST ancestors of modern humans lived And in doing so, they choose choice C, which protects against humans having come before the ones related to the bones we have. First/earliest is a classic Bowling Green Massacre its a much more noteworthy event (scientists have discovered human ancestors is pretty tame, but scientists have discovered the FIRST human ancestors is a big deal) that your brain wants to see. But its not actually there! Its just that, in day to day life, youd rarely ever read about a run-of-the-mill archaeological discovery; it would only pop up in your social media stream if it were particularly noteworthy, so your mind may very well assume that that notoriety is present even when its not. In order to succeed on the GMAT, you need to become aware of those leaps that your mind likes to take. Were all susceptible to: Assuming that variables represent integers, and that they represent positive numbers Seeing the symptoms of a rule and then jumping to apply it Applying our own extra superlatives or limits to conclusions So when you make these mistakes, commit them to memory theyre not one-off, silly mistakes. Our minds are vulnerable to Bowling Green Massacres, so on test day #staywoke so that your score isnt among those that are, sadly, massacred. Getting ready to take the GMAT? We have free online GMAT seminars running all the time. And as always, be sure to follow us on  Facebook, YouTube,  Google+  and Twitter! By Brian Galvin.