Author: consultsu

Importance of Analytical Skills for TOEFL, GRE, MBA

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Whether you are getting ready to take TOEFL or doing the legwork for GRE or finishing your business studies, you’ll use your analytical skills. First, you’ll have to communicate, either written or orally, and share your analysis with others. Then, you’ll draw on your creativity such as your flexibility to see a problem from different perspectives or your capability to identify key data.

Possessing the ability to problem solve reveals your analytical skills to others. An interviewer, for example, would notice how you answered a behavioral question. A team, on the other hand, would see your leadership. Finally, a rater on a test would notice the process, logical or not, through how you addressed a prompt. Moreover, in various daily circumstances, analysis is needed.

Analysis helps you assess both simple and complicated problems. It encompasses your being attentive to detail on TOEFL and GRE, your ability to think critically, your capability to make decisions on tests and in studies, and your research skills to find a solution in case studies.

Not only are your analytical skills tested on exams but also in interviews, such as when you are up for a career move or when you put in a university application. During each of these processes, you may be asked to discuss an example to illustrate your professional and/or personal experiences.

Hence, being mindful of everyday problems that you solve, particularly ones that you creatively address, and the process you use to resolve these issues will help you build an analytical response for tests, business, and college studies.

Reflect on these key aspects and how you can highlight your experiences in answering in test situations and/or on campus:

  1. Researching
  2. Critical thinking
  3. Decision making
  4. Being detail-oriented

Researching

One fundamental aspect which shows your ability to draw conclusions around issues is doing research. Skills such as defining, collecting, examining data and deciding on a plan are needed to conduct proper research.

 

 

 

 

Critical thinking

Using your independent mind to evaluate a problem on the GRE or a prompt on TOEFL requires you to break down the argument. Organize your ideas using steps in your process to evaluate the situation. Try to look for patterns, identify facts, and pick up details which permit you to outline your argument and form a solution to the issues presented on the tests.

You need to analyze on the Analytical Writing on the GRE.

As your ability to think critically is essential to college studies, the GRE tests this. You’ll have to evaluate evidence, understand its relevance to the argument, and/or assess the potential bias in the evidence presented in the prompt. You’ll also need to examine the structure of the argument in terms of the evidence given, such as what premise, steps, and/or conclusion are stated. Furthermore, you may be required to distinguish between true and false arguments and notice holes in reasoning.

Let’s contrast the skill in TOEFL.

In TOEFL writing section in the integrated task, the main analysis you’ll need to perform is taking notes as you listen to the speaker focusing on which are the important details that relate to the information in the reading. Then, you’ll use comparison skills to review your lecture notes with your notes from the passage so you can construct your essay with accuracy. Of course, on this integrated task, you will not analyze using your own opinion since you are only focusing on the key details of what you read and mostly presenting what you heard.

In contrast, on the independent writing task, you’ll need to analyze the topic in order to write your opinion on the question, giving a supporting explanation with particular examples and details. You can be creative and make up an opinion if you are in a rush for time.

Moreover, in a professional environment or at the university, this skill comes in handy such as when you are listening to your team or classmates to assess a case.

 

Decision making

Coming to a decision about a specific course of action when different options are presented is essential to getting the best outcome. This skill draws on being careful in your assessment of the situation to be able to predict which choice leads to a successful result. Take the time to reflect on those special moments of key decisions at work or in other important life moments so that you can create vivid stories around those events for your MBA essays and interviews.

This skill comes in handy particularly on TOEFL or GRE. For example, when you respond to a prompt where you need to express your opinion, select an option and analyze making a list of pros or cons.

On multiple choice exams, use the strategy of narrowing down your decision making through a logical process of elimination. On the other hand, in the workplace or at university, take the time to research your selections rather than being too quick to judge.

Focusing on details

If you gain the ability to notice, keep track of and recall details, you’ll be a step ahead of your competitors. So, when you are taking a test, remember to follow directions, avoid written errors, and be careful about evaluating complex ideas. Especially in professional team situations, work needs to be completed in a precise fashion. Emphasizing the earlier example of the integrated writing task on TOEFL, focus on the lecture key points and lecture details related to the reading, which are essential to attaining a higher section score.

A practical detail-oriented work strategy is to be more attuned with your professional environment or with colleagues or classmates to not rush to any conclusions. Take the initiative to speak up to your team, ask detailed questions, and review work to demonstrate a quality approach to resolving any issue.

Whether you are preparing for test taking or the interviewing process, editing your C.V., working professionally, or continuing your studies, you must rely on these skills to enhance your productivity and results. Keep in mind putting these skills into practice each day when you are studying for TOEFL or GRE or getting ready for interviews, so you can land your dream choice.

Paraphrase Power on TOEFL Writing

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A super common issue on the TOEFL integrated writing section is copying words from the text.

Why is this a bad idea?

The poor habit of copying—any kind of copying, such as a few groups of words or just one sentence will hurt your writing score. Sometimes, you may feel like it’s time-consuming or it poses a risk from potential incorrect wording to write your own words in a paraphrase. However, coming up with a paraphrase from the original source in which you may have improper wording is not going to hurt your score as much as copying.

3 Techniques to Rephrase

Let’s go in-depth how to restate the original source sentence with these techniques:        1) changing word order (moving words or phrases around in the sentence)                            2) modifying word forms (changing a noun to a verb or vice versa)                                              3) finding a synonym (adjusting a word/phrase to something similar)

Sample

Original sentence from text:

Humpback whales migrate long distances.

Techniques:

  1. Changing word order:

Choose one or two words to move to a different place in the sentence, and then make sure the sentence keeps the same meaning. Hint: you may need to add a verb.

Paraphrase:

Humpback whales go long distances to migrate.

Notice the three words moved in changing word order were these: migrate long distances.

In this case, moving the verb migrate and placing that idea at the end of the sentence as an infinitive to migrate necessitates adding a new verb go to be grammatically correct.

  1. Changing word form:

Paraphrase:

Humpback whales go long distances for migration.

In this case, moving the verb migrate and placing that concept at the end as a gerund (-ing form) following a preposition (for) in for migration (a prepositional phrase) necessitates adding a new verb, go.

In these techniques of changing the order of the words or modifying word form, the verb form of migrate was changed using the root base “migrat” converting first, into an infinitive (to + verb), and next, into a gerund (-ing) following a preposition in the phrase.

Remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect, but you’ll need to keep the same meaning as the original.

  1. Changing a word to a synonym or words to synonyms:

Paraphrase:

Humpback whales migrate a far distance.

  • The original word long was replaced with the synonym,
  • The original plural word “distances” was adjusted to singular form distance, dropping the plural -s at the end of the word.

With these two minor word changes, one to a similar word, and another to a plural/singular change, a quick proper rephrase has been created.

Now, you try to paraphrase from another phrase below. Use techniques #1, #2, or #3 above.

Original phrase:

In the case of the humpback whales, we may have found the answer: they may be navigating by the stars, much as early human sailors did.

Practice your paraphrasing.

 

 

OK, let’s do a comparison. We can analyze a paraphrased sample to compare to your practice written response.

Possible paraphrase:

We might have discovered a reason, for in the case of these whales, they used stars to navigate just like early sailors.

Which techniques were used to rephrase in the sentence above? Can you point out technique 1, 2, or 3?

 

Word order                       in the case of whales was moved from the beginning to the middle

Word (verb) form          navigating changed to navigate using the root “navigat” from                                                              an -ing verb ending to an infinitive with to + verb.

Word to synonym         found replaced by discovered; may altered to might

Yes, speed and accuracy are essential in paraphrasing! First, you don’t want to waste time thinking too much when writing since you’ll be in a time crunch. Second, you’ll need to have a similar meaning to the original source. That’s why practicing your rephrasing is valuable to improve your skill. With time using any of these techniques, you’ll be faster and more accurate. If you feel like you are rephrasing too slowly, one of the fastest ways to change the word form or synonym quickly is to look at the main verb or any verb form in the original and adjust the main verb or other verb forms. Let’s take a closer look at how this works quickly.

Original:

Humpback whales seem to be intelligent enough to use stars to navigate by.  

Try your hand at paraphrasing the above sentence by adjusting verbs or verb forms.

Your paraphrase practice:

 

Sample Paraphrases:

Humpback whales are intelligent enough using stars for navigation.

Humpback whales are intelligent enough navigating by stars.

 

If you still find it a challenge to speedily change a verb, then change an adjective or a noun.

Alternative Paraphrase:

Humpback whales seem to be smart enough to use constellations to navigate by.

 

After you’re familiar practicing these techniques to paraphrase better and faster, you may be considering how does re-phrasing influence your integrated writing task result. Be confident that proper paraphrasing does positively impact your score…just as copying lowers it.

When you are short on time, remember that your paraphrase does not have to be perfect like the original writing in the passage, which was written by a professional.

To sum up, if you make it a habit to practice paraphrasing words or phrases from the original text, it will lead to better habits of faster thinking and writing in the language. In both tasks of the writing section, it’s important that you are comfortable writing your own words. In an upcoming post, we’ll analyze how to paraphrase the prompt properly in the independent task.

Finally, if you stay calm and focused, your paraphrasing will improve with practice. Before you know it, you’ll ace your paraphrasing technique on TOEFL writing and in professional business interactions.