Guest Blogger: 河野太一のGMAT OG12解説 SC9

This is another post from Taichi Kono, author of two textbooks on TOEFL and one on TOEIC and a highly experienced TOEFL, TOEIC, and GMAT instructor. Most of his posts will be in Japanese. This post is on GMAT sentence correction. His other posts can be found here.
-Adam


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河野塾代表の河野太一です。年来の友人である Adam Markusさんのご厚意で、"The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition"の解説ブログの内容の一部をこちらにアップさせていただくことになりました。オリジナルは河野太一のGMAT OG12解説でご覧いただけます。なお、オリ ジナルのほうは予告なく内容を変更することがあり、ここに上げたものと相違があることがありますのでご了承ください。私のこれまでの記事やGMAT以外の 話題についてはこちらをご覧ください。


SC9
「類似」の 前置詞likeと「イコール」の前置詞asの優劣と、呼応関係を問う問題。主節の主語との呼応だけを見て瞬殺しよう。

(A)　 Like ...の比較対象は主節の主語。the idolizationという「物事」とJames Joyce and Virginia Wolfという「人物」では比較にならない。

(B)　Asのコアの意味は「イコール」。theはBrontës（ブロンテ姉妹）と Brownings（ブラウニング夫妻）の両方にかかっている。この人たちはそもそもJames Joyce やVirginia Wolfとイコールではないわけだが、ここでは所有格でidolizationにかかっており、「物事」と「人物」の比較になっているから、ますますダ メ。Asを「～として」と解釈すればそのおかしさが分かる。OG解説はasを接続詞と最初から決めてかかっているが、前置詞用法があるのを知らないのだろ うか。

(C)　Like thatのthatは代名詞でthe kind of venerationを指しているのだろうが、主節の主語は「人間」だから比較が成り立たない。

(D)　解説不要。itはthe kind of venerationを指したいのだろう。

(E)　「人物」対「人物」でこれが正解。わざわざthe ...-sと複数形になっているのがイヤラシイが、まあ問題なく解けるでしょう。


-河野太一


河野塾で はTOEFL/IELTS/GMATの個人授業を提供しております。なかなかスコアが上がらずにお悩みの方、きめの細かい効果的な個人指導をお求めの方 は、ぜひinfo@konojuku.comまでお気軽にお問い合わせください。

Interview with Dartmouth Tuck Class of 2011 MBA Student

A Japanese member of the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth's class of 2011 was kind enough to answer my questions.  "Tuck 2011" is a former client and one of the organizers of Tuck's 2010 Japan Trek.  As a matter of disclosure, I was one of the 2009 and 2010 Treks' sponsors.
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Adam:   What has your first year at Tuck been like?
Tuck 2011: It has been extremely busy year for both studying and job hunting. It's unbelievable that academic is year is about to end.

Adam: How do you like life in Hanover?
Tuck 2011: I love it. Since my hobby is to play sports, I enjoyed ice hockey in winter and golf in summer. If you would like to make close friends, I think Hanover is the best place since you would spend most of time with friends from your school. (In other words, there are not too many other people to spend time with.)
 
Adam: What is the Tuck community like?
Tuck 2011: The Tuck community is like family. Literally for those who live on campus since they spend most of time together. Everybody is friendly and you don't need to worry about making friends here. From an academic point of view, collaboration between students is highly emphasized in Tuck and you will experience and learn to work together with others.

Adam:  I know you played a major role in organizing the Japan Trek, but did you actually have time for other extracurricular activities?  If so, which ones are you active in?
Tuck 2011: In addition to preparation for Japan Trek, which I spent about 5 hours a week n, I played ice hockey about 3 hours a week. Other than that, I couldn't have participated extracurricular activities so far. What has prevented me from participating in such activities is job hunting. For Japanese students, job hunting starts in fall when no American students are doing it.  School gives us large amount of homework assuming students are not starting recruiting. Thus, fall term was extremely rigorous for Japanese students looking for job. I also did recruiting in winter too since some consulting companies start their recruiting in winter.
 
Adam: Are there any common characteristics you find amongst your classmates?
Tuck 2011: Friendly, collaborative and loves Tuck!

Adam: Do you have any specific advice for those considering application to Tuck?
Tuck 2011: One should confirm that you actually fit to Tuck community both in terms of personality and in regards to Hanover from an  environmental perspective. If they fit to you, emphasize so in the application process.

Adam: As you know, Tuck really emphasizes leadership and making contributions in its application essays, so do you have specific advice on either topic for applicants?
Tuck 2011: In Tuck many of activities such as Admitted Student Weekend are organized by students. I would recommend applicants to specify what they can contribute not just by following what students have done before but by finding overlap between your interest and contribution to the community. For example, one of colleague just started Sales Club since she is interested in sales and she thinks sales is one of the most important functions in companies.

Adam: Anything else you would like to tell us?
Tuck 2011: I hope applicants would not give up if they really want to go to MBA. I, myself, spent a few years for the application process. If you quit, you will never be able to go.

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I want to thank Tuck 2011 for taking the time to answer my questions.
-Adam Markus
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Attend my Free MBA Reapplication Webinar

On April 28th at 9pm PST/April 29th at 1pm Japan time, I will be presenting a webinar titled "MBA Reapplication for Success" as part of the AIGAC Graduate Admissions Virtual Summit.  I will be taking questions as part of that webinar. Space is limited, but still available.  For details, see http://www.aigac.org/summit/2010.  A  recording of the webinar will be available (details to follow).
-Adam
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Knewton: Probability vs. Combinatorics on the GMAT

My blog's sponsor and English language GMAT content provider has provided me with the following post on the Quantitative Section. If you have not done so, consider taking a free trial of Knewton GMAT.
-Adam
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Knewton Tips: Probability vs. Combinatorics on the GMAT 

Rich Zwelling is one of Knewton's expert GMAT prep instructors. He enjoys using the word “com­bi­na­torics” in everyday conversation.

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A friend and I were recently analyzing a particular GMAT problem. Since we’re both standardized-test geeks, the discussion naturally turned into an extended investigation into GMAT strategies. Some topics are just too fascinating to avoid!

The problem in question went like this:

Melinda and Mindy both work in a department consisting of six total employees. Their boss specifies that two workers in the department will be chosen at random to take part in a company survey. What’s the probability that both Melinda and Mindy will be chosen for the survey?

As with many GMAT problems, this problem can be solved in a variety of ways. Turns out that my friend and I chose entirely different methods—but we both ultimately arrived at the same (correct!) answer. As it turns out, our divergent strategies highlighted some key distinctions between probability and combinatorics as used on the GMAT.

1. My friend decided to go with probability to solve the problem. Here’s his thought process:

The chance that Melinda will be selected first is 1/6. If that happens, there will be 5 workers left. The probability that Mindy is the next person chosen is 1/5. Thus, the probability of Melinda being the first person chosen, and Mindy being the second person chosen, can be found by multiply 1/6 * 1/5 = 1/30.

In addition, however, we must factor in the possibility that Mindy is the first person chosen and Melinda the second. This will lead to the same probability: 1/6 * 1/5 = 1/30.

Since we’re only interested in these two possibilities (and nothing else), we add the two probabilities in order to arrive at our final answer.

1/30 + 1/30 = 1/15. This is the probability that both Melinda and Mindy will be chosen for the company-wide survey.

2.  Unlike my friend, I decided to use combinatorics to solve the problem. Here’s my train of thought:

With a group of 6 people, there are 15 possible combinations of 2 people that you can choose. This can be calculated using the combination formula, namely:

n! / [k! * (n-k)!]

In this problem, n = 6, because there are six people in all, and k = 2, since we’re looking for a sub­group of two people.  Therefore, we can figure out that:

6! / (2! * 4!) = 6 * 5 / 2 = 15 total combinations of 2 people.

So, out of these 15 possible combinations, we’re only interested in one: Melinda and Mindy. Remember, since this is a combination, order does not matter (as opposed to a permutation, where order must be taken into account). Melinda and Mindy is the exact same combination as Mindy and Melinda, since the same two people are involved.

(To explain this further: an example of a permutation would be if Melinda and Mindy were in a cycling race, and there were different prizes awarded for 1^st and 2^nd places. In that case, Melinda finishing first is a different scenario from Mindy finishing first. But in our problem, we don’t care who’s picked first, but only about who is in the group of 2; therefore, we don’t need to worry about order.)

So, back to the question. We’re interested in only one combination, Melinda and Mindy, out of a total of 15 combinations. Therefore, the final answer is 1/15—the same answer that my friend came up with using probability.

When we talked about this, though, my friend interrupted me. “But wait,” he said, “since it’s a combination, order shouldn’t matter, right? Melinda and Mindy is the same exact combination as Mindy and Melinda. So—how come in my solution, we added different probabilities for Melinda-Mindy and Mindy-Melinda? Order shouldn’t matter here—but it did!”

After a little bit of discussion, we realized that the order had mattered in my friend’s solution because he had looked at the situation as two different events, not two different combinations. Melinda and Mindy is the same combination as Mindy and Melinda—so if we were restrict­ing our­selves to find­ing infor­ma­tion that was solely about com­bi­na­tions, then order wouldn’t matter.

However, in this case, we were also interested in probability. The situation of Mindy and Melissa being chosen first and second, respectively, for the survey, is a distinct event from if Melissa and Mindy were chosen first and second. So, even though we know that both events concern the same combination of people, the events are different.

Problems like this can be a little bit hard to follow, as they can involve both probability and combinatorics, making it easy to confuse the two. It’s important to remember that, on their own, combinatorics deal only with finding the number of combinations or permutations in a given set of data, while probability deals with discerning the likelihood that an event or events will happen. 

TOEFL AND IELTS Minimums at Oxford Said MBA

My post analyzing Oxford's  MBA application essay questions can be found here.


For applicants who are required to demonstrate their English proficiency, the new TOEFL and IELTS standards for Fall 2010 admission imposed at Oxford University's Said Business School pose a serious hurdle:

	Minimum score
TOEFL - Internet	109
TOEFL - Computer	267
TOEFL - Paper	630
IELTS	7.5

 

Oxford Said now requires the same TOEFL level as HBS. For advanced English speakers, this is no problem, but for many non-native applicants, this is a barrier to entry.  Given Said's decline in the Economist ranking from 27th in 2008 to 47th in 2009, this could not have come at a worse time. 

Last year, when I heard about the new requirements at Oxford, I had  assumed that they were imposed on the Business School and this does appears to be the case. Oxford has university-wide English requirements for postgraduate studies. See here.   Oxford has both "Standard Overall Score" and "Higher Overall Score" English requirements.  The MBA, as a taught course falls under the "Higher Overall Score" requirements of 109 TOEFL or 7.5 IELTS. 

For applicants, especially those coming from countries where getting a 109 or higher is difficult (Japan, South Korea, China, and Taiwan being the ones that immediately come to my mind), this is good and bad news. It is clearly bad news for those with scores under 109 because clearly Oxford is no longer an option. For East Asians with TOEFL scores over 109,  suddenly the number of highly competitive applicants coming from their region is likely to drop significantly.

I think this is especially unfortunate for my clients in Japan, not only because it will eliminate many strong applicants from applying, but because it will likely damage the ability of Oxford to build a strong network here. Given the large percentage of company-sponsored applicants who don't have TOEFL 109 level English,  I think it is fair to say that Oxford will see a significantly reduced number of Japanese with strong professional backgrounds in the coming years.   Consider that IESE (Economist Rank 1), IMD (Economist Rank 2), LBS (Economist Rank 8), Cambridge (Economist Rank 11), IE (Economist Rank 16), and  INSEAD (Economist Rank 23) have much lower English requirements.  Even INSEAD only requires a 105.  There is actually a significant difference between the 105 and 109 level.  Cambridge Judge, which Oxford is most often compared with, only requires 100 TOEFL or 7 on IELTS. 

To confirm that Oxford was indeed following these new requirements, I contracted them directly by sending an email to their mba-enquiries system. I posed as an applicant with 108 TOEFL score.  Here is the response I received:

"If you are a non-native English speaker, proven proficiency through TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) or IELTS (International English language Test Scheme) is a requirement for admission to the MBA programme.

Please see below details of the required minimum scores:

TOEFL (minimum score required):

109 Internet based
267 Computer based
630 Paper based

IELTS (minimum score required): 7.5

The TOEFL/ IELTS test can only be considered valid if they were taken a maximum of two years prior to the application deadline for the stage in which you are applying."

Unless Oxford admissions is simply unwilling to state flexibility on this, I assume they are not flexible. Given that they are flexible about GMAT (see here),  I assume they are actually stating inflexible TOEFL/IELTS minimum scores.

If any readers of this post are admitted to the fall 2010 entering class with less than 109 TOEFL or 7.5 IELTS, please let me know.

-Adam Markus

Questions? Write comments or contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. Before emailing me questions about your chances for admission or personal profile, please see "Why I don't analyze profiles without consulting with the applicant." If you are interested in my graduate admission consulting services, please click here.

-Adam Markus
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オッ クスフォード大学のビジネススクール MBA留学