GMAT adalah salah satu syarat penerimaan program pascasarjana sejumlah universitas di dunia. Agar kamu meraih skor tinggi, pastikan mengikuti Kursus GMAT sebelumnya.
Seksi Verbal Reasoning dalam GMAT bisa jadi memusingkan dan melelahkan saat dikerjakan. Wajar saja, kamu perlu memahami konteks dalam masing-masing pernyataan. Tidak ada rumus pasti yang dapat diterapkan.
Selama 65 menit, kamu diharuskan menjawab 36 soal pilihan ganda yang terbagi menjadi tiga tipe soal. Di sini proses berpikir benar-benar diuji.
Lantas bagaimana tips mempersiapkan diri menghadapi seksi Verbal Reasoning?
Verbal Reasoning adalah
Verbal Reasoning adalah seksi yang menguji kemampuanmu membaca dan memahami materi tertulis, menganalisis argumen, dan mengoreksi teks. Semua soal disajikan dalam teks bahasa Inggris.
Tipe Soal dalam Verbal Reasoning
Seksi ini terbagi dalam tiga jenis pertanyaan, yakni Reading Comprehension, Critical Reasoning, dan Sentence Correction. Masing-masing menguji kemampuan verbal yang spesifik.
Reading Comprehension
Soal ini bertujuan menguji pemahaman atas makna kata, pernyataan, hubungan logis, mengambil kesimpulan, dan konsep kuantitatif. Kamu diuji untuk mencari gagasan utama, gagasan pendukung, kesimpulan, struktur logika, dan gaya penulisan.
Setiap bacaan disertai pertanyaan tentang interpretasi teks, kesimpulan, atau konteks. Bacaan yang disajikan seputar topik sains, humaniora, fisika, atau bisnis.
Critical Reasoning
Soal ini bertujuan mengukur kemampuan membuat argumen dan mengevaluasi argumen. Kamu akan diberikan pertanyaan berdasarkan bacaan singkat, biasanya kurang dari 100 kata.
Teks singkat ini disertai pertanyaan dengan 5 pilihan jawaban. Kamu dapat memilih memperkuat atau memperlemah argumen, menjelaskan mengapa argumen tidak tepat, mendukung argumen, atau menyanggah argumen.
Sentence Correction
Soal ini bertujuan mengukur kemampuan berbahasa. Pertama, Correct Expression merujuk pada kalimat yang tepat secara tata bahasa. Kedua, Effective Expression merujuk pada kalimat yang menyampaikan suatu gagasan secara jelas dan tepat.
Pada bagian ini, akan disajikan sebuah kalimat. Beberapa bagian kalimat digarisbawahi.
Perhatikan tata bahasa, pemilihan kata, dan struktur kalimat. Pilih jawaban yang membuat kalimat tersebut menjadi lebih efektif.
Tips Mengerjakan Verbal Reasoning
Kesulitan mengerjakan seksi ini? Ikuti tips-tips berikut.
Reading Comprehension
- Buat dirimu tetap skeptis. Carilah pernyataan yang membuat pilihan jawaban menjadi salah. Jangan menganggap pilihan jawaban tersebut benar. Kamu akan menemukan pilihan jawaban yang tepat dengan mudah.
- Fokus pada pemahaman. Jawaban yang tepat biasanya hanya memparafrase kalimat dalam bacaan. Sementara itu pilihan jawaban yang mengutip kata-kata sama persis biasanya justru salah.
- Perhatikan klaim berlebihan. Carilah kata-kata seperti must, always, only, dan lain-lain yang melebih-lebihkan pernyataan.
Critical Reasoning
- Pegang fakta. Jawaban yang tepat dapat disimpulkan berdasarkan fakta yang tertera dalam argumen.
- Perhatikan “dampak” jawaban. Apakah jawaban tersebut memperlemah atau memperkuat argumen? Mana “dampak” yang ingin kamu pilih?
- Perhatikan informasi baru. Jika ada informasi baru yang muncul dalam pilihan jawaban, biasanya tidak relevan dengan argumen.
Sentence Correction
- Carilah kesalahan. Selalu ada kesalahan tata bahasa atau struktur kalimat yang muncul. Kesalahan tersebut dapat berkaitan dengan subject-verb-agreement, modifier, struktur kalimat paralel, dan lain-lain.
- Temukan ambiguitas. Soal-soal dalam bagian ini penuh dengan ambiguitas. Hindari jawaban yang justru menambah ambiguitas tersebut.
- Carilah jawaban yang lebih singkat. Jika kamu kesulitan memilih satu dari dua pilihan jawaban, kemungkinan jawaban yang lebih singkat adalah yang benar.
Contoh Soal Verbal Reasoning
Reading Comprehension
Directions
The questions in this group are based on the content of a passage. After reading the passage, choose the best answer to each question. Answer all questions following the passage on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage.
Passage
Schools expect textbooks to be a valuable source of information for students. My research suggests, however, that textbooks that address the place of Native Americans within the history of the United States distort history to suit a particular cultural value system. In some textbooks, for example, settlers are pictured as more humane, complex, skillful, and wise than Native Americans. In essence, textbooks stereotype and depreciate the numerous Native American cultures while reinforcing the attitude that the European conquest of the New World denotes the superiority of European cultures. Although textbooks evaluate Native American architecture, political systems, and homemaking, I contend that they do it from an ethnocentric, European perspective without recognizing that other perspectives are possible.
One argument against my contention asserts that, by nature, textbooks are culturally biased and that I am simply underestimating children’s ability to see through these biases. Some researchers even claim that by the time students are in high school, they know they cannot take textbooks literally. Yet substantial evidence exists to the contrary. Two researchers, for example, have conducted studies that suggest that children’s attitudes about particular cultures are strongly influenced by the textbooks used in schools. Given this, an ongoing, careful review of how school textbooks depict Native Americans is certainly warranted.
Question
Which of the following would most logically be the topic of the paragraph immediately following the passage?
Choice of Answers
(A) Specific ways to evaluate the biases of United States history textbooks
(B) The centrality of the teacher’s role in United States history courses
(C) Nontraditional methods of teaching United States history
(D) The contributions of European immigrants to the development of the United States
(E) Ways in which parents influence children’s political attitudes
Answer: (A)
Critical Reasoning
Directions
For this question, select the best of the answer choices given.
Statement
The cost of producing radios in Country Q is ten percent less than the cost of producing radios in Country Y. Even after transportation fees and tariff charges are added, it is still cheaper for a company to import radios from Country Q to Country Y than to produce radios in Country Y.
Question
The statements above, if true, best support which of the following assertions?
Choice of Answers
(A) Labor costs in Country Q are ten percent below those in Country Y.
(B) Importing radios from Country Q to Country Y will eliminate ten percent of the manufacturing jobs in Country Y.
(C) The tariff on a radio imported from Country Q to Country Y is less than ten percent of the cost of manufacturing the radio in Country Y.
(D) The fee for transporting a radio from Country Q to Country Y is more than ten percent of the cost of manufacturing the radio in Country Q.
(E) It takes ten percent less time to manufacture a radio in Country Q than it does in Country Y.
Answer: (C)
Sentence Correction
Directions
This question presents a sentence, part of which or all of which is underlined. Beneath the sentence you will find five ways of phrasing the underlined part. The first of these repeats the original; the other four are different. If you think the original is best, choose the first answer; otherwise choose one of the others.
This question tests correctness and effectiveness of expression. In choosing your answer, follow the requirements of standard written English; that is, pay attention to grammar, choice of words, and sentence construction. Choose the answer that produces the most effective sentence; this answer should be clear and exact, without awkwardness, ambiguity, redundancy, or grammatical error.
Question
While larger banks can afford to maintain their own data-processing operations, many smaller regional and community banks are finding that the cost associated with upgrading data-processing equipment and with the development and maintenance of new products and technical staff are prohibitive.
Choice of Answers
(A) cost associated with
(B) costs associated with
(C) costs arising from
(D) cost of
(E) costs of
Answer: (B)
