GMAT Prep: This Unreliable Type of Intuition Will Hurt You o

By Manhattan GMAT

Today, we introduce part one of a three-part series on counter-intuition on the GMAT. In this article, we will examine how an unreliable type of test-taker's intuition can disrupt your ability to answer a Draw a Conclusion Critical Reasoning question.

Intuition is a skill that any seasoned businessperson would no doubt rank in his/her top-five list of "success makers." Why, then, do we speak of counter-intuition on the GMAT? First, to clarify, let's recognize that there are different kinds of intuition: There is the intuition that tells the experienced do-er, This situation is similar to one that I've seen in the past, and therefore this is what is going to happen; there is another type of intuition, like a mother's inexplicable knowledge of what is right for her child, which is more akin to a sixth sense. The type of intuition we will be discussing for the next three weeks is the kind that delivers the test taker into the hands of the GMAT test writers. We refer to it as test-taker's intuition. Test-taker's intuition is not the intuition of having done 1000 questions of a certain type and recognizing past patterns (a very favorable thing). It is, rather, the intuition that guides you to an answer choice because it feels or sounds right or because it looks like a good answer. This form of intuition, unfortunately, can get you into a lot of trouble on the GMAT.

We will look at how this false test-taker's intuition manifests itself in one type of Critical Reasoning question that appears on the GMAT--Draw a Conclusion. READ MORE