POP QUIZ | BUSINESS

GMAT Makeover
Published: July 22, 2011

Anyone contemplating business school wants to know whether to take the GMAT now or wait until next June, when the integrated reasoning section is introduced. First, ask yourself this: Does an Excel file give you pause? The new section is what came of a 2009 survey of 740 faculty members, who were asked what the GMAT should measure that it didnt. The section will replace one of two essays, and is heavy on data interpretation. As the business environment changes, the business curriculum changes, explains Ashok Sarathy, vice president for the Graduate Management Admission Council, which administers the test. What doesnt change: total test time (at three and a half hours) and the verbal and quantitative sections. Try your hand at this preview, which GMAC created for Education Life. There are four new question types: multi-source reasoning, graphics interpretation, two-part analysis and sorting tables.
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Table 1

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Pop Quiz: Answers (July 24, 2011)

Table 2 Enlarge This Image

Graph 1

MULTI-SOURCE REASONING Can you assimilate information from different sources? Exports to China In 2009, China was the biggest export market for several countries on many continents. Among these countries, Australia sent 21.8 percent, Brazil sent 12.5 percent, Japan sent 18.9 percent and South Africa sent 10.3 percent of its exports to China. Tables 1 and 2 provide another, perhaps more revealing measure of the impact of economic exports to China: the value of exports relative to the Gross Domestic Product (G.D.P.) for many of Chinas major trading partners, including the European Union (E.U.), in 2009.

1. Based on the information provided, which one of the following quantities is closest to the total value, in 2009 U.S. dollars, of Australias and Brazils 2009 exports to China? a. $19 billion b. $31 billion c. $34 billion d. $53 billion e. $64 billion

2. Based on the information provided, which one of the following quantities is closest to the total value, in 2009 U.S. dollars, of Japans 2009 exports to all countries? a. $215 billion b. $320 billion c. $450 billion d. $590 billion e. $640 billion

3. For each of the following countries or regions, determine whether its 2009 exports to China can be shown, based on the given information, to have exceeded $100 billion in 2009 U.S. dollars. Indicate Yes if the exports can be shown to exceed that value. Otherwise indicate No. ____ European Union ____ Japan ____ Nigeria ____ Taiwan

4. Examine each of the following statements and indicate Yes if the statement can be inferred from the information provided. Otherwise indicate No. All amounts are measured in 2009 U.S. dollars. ____ Indias exports to China exceeded Russias exports to China. ____ The amount of exports to China from all the countries of South America combined exceeded $10 billion. ____ Australias exports to China accounted for more than one-fifth of Australias total exports. ____ South Koreas exports to China exceeded Malaysias exports to China.

GRAPHICS INTERPRETATION Can you interpret and analyze visual representations of data? Graph 1 shows the year-over-year sales growth for 12 businesses. For each blank, select the option that most accurately completes the statement based on the information provided. 1. To the nearest 10th of a percent, ___ percent of businesses in the graph had positive growth in both years. a. 0 b. 8.3 c. 33.3 d. 58.3

2. If a company were plotted on the graph at 12 on the x axis and 13 on the y axis, it would indicate that that company had ___ net growth from December 2008 to December 2010.

a. Zero b. Positive c. Negative

3. The business in the graph that had the greatest net percent growth over the period of December 2008 to December 2010 had ___. a. positive growth in both years b. positive growth in one year only c. negative growth in both years

TWO-PART ANALYSIS Can you solve two-part problems? Workers in an office are placed into three groups, each containing 20 workers. All workers are in at least one group. Any two groups have exactly 10 members in common. In the table below, identify two numbers from the list of possible answers that are jointly consistent with the given information: in the first column, mark the row that indicates the total number of workers in the office; in the second column, mark the row that indicates the number of workers who are members of all three groups. Make only two selections, one in each column. Total Workers | Workers in All Three | Possible Answers ___________|___________________|________4 __________|_________________ |________8 __________|_________________ |________10 __________|_________________ |________18 __________|_________________ |________34 __________|_________________|________45

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Pop Quiz | Business: GMAT Makeover (July 24, 2011)

Multi-Source Reasoning: 1. d. 2. d. 3. Yes: E.U., Japan. No: Nigeria, Taiwan 4. No, yes, yes, no.

Graphics Interpretation: 1. c. 2. c. 3. a.

Two-Part Analysis: Total workers = 34 Workers in all three = 4

NYTimes: GMAT Pop Quiz

http://www.mba.com/mbacommunity/MBA_com/b/officialgmat/archive/2011/07/25/newyork-times-education-life-section-features-next-gen-gmat-pop-quiz.aspx The New York Times' Education Life section, which hit newsstands on Sunday, July 24, and is available online, featured in its Pop Quiz a preview of the Integrated Reasoning section that will be part of the GMAT exam beginning in June 2012. Created especially for the Times, the preview includes three of the four new question types that will be part of the new section: multi-source reasoning, graphics interpretation, and two-part analysis. The fourth question type is table analysis. Take the pop quiz and get a feel for what the new integrated reasoning questions are like. Integrated Reasoning tests the ability to analyze information, draw conclusions and discern relationships between data points and from multiple sources, such as charts, graphs, and spreadsheets, just as students must do in business school. The GMAT Verbal, Quantitative and Total Scores will not change. Test takers will receive a separate score for the essay, as they do now, and for the new Integrated Reasoning section. The overall length of the GMAT exam (three and a half hours) will not change. When the Integrated Reasoning section is added, the Analytical Writing assessment will be streamlined to include only one 30-minute essay instead of two. -Bob Ludwig, Director, Media and Public Affairs