Guest Blogger: 河野太一のGMAT OG12解説 SC10

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


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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。


SC10
下線部の 前後だけで解けそうに見えるが、センテンスの基準となる時制を見抜くために、実は全体に目を通さないといけない問題。can endureのcan、because they haveのhaveを見ると現在時制が基準になっているのが分かる。what would otherwise beは「そうでなければ〜になるであろうもの」という「仮定」で、wouldは「可能性の遠さ」を示す過去形助動詞。内容的に「現在通用する一般論、真 理」になっていることも考慮に入れる必要がある。

(A)　先行詞がa heat-exchange networkと「事物」であること、制限用法で使われていることから、whichとthatのどちらでもOK。「現在通用する一般論、真理」を語るのに 過去時制はおかしい。

(B)　thatはOK。keepsの現在形もOKで、これが正解。

(C)　whichはOK。 現 在完了形は、現在に足場を置きながら過去に視線を投げ、過去から現在までを見渡す「歴史的視点」。「現在通用する一般論、真理」を語るには現在の一点だけ 見ればよく、過去にまで視野を広げる理由がない。

(D)　thatはOK。(C)と同じ理由で、（現在完了形の一形態である）現在完了 進 行形がマズイ。

(E)　完了形をVing化したもので、これもダメ。


-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。

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


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.
------------------

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.

 ---------------------------------
I want to thank Tuck 2011 for taking the time to answer my questions.
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス

NEED MBA ADMISSIONS CONSULTING?
If you are looking for a highly experienced admissions consultant who is passionate about helping his clients succeed, please feel free to contact me at adammarkus@gmail.com to arrange an initial consultation. To learn more about my services, see here. Initial consultations are conducted by Skype or telephone. For clients in Tokyo, a free face-to-face consultation is possible after an initial Skype or telephone consultation. I only work with a limited number of clients per year and believe that an initial consultation is the best way to determine whether there is a good fit. Whether you use my service or another, I suggest making certain that the fit feels right to you.


ビジネススクール MBA留 タック・スクール・オブ・ビジネス

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
アダム

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
アダム 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

–

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.