Manhattan GMAT Sentence Correction (5th Edition) question

[batman08]

Hi,

I had a question on how to best study from the Manhattan GMAT Sentence Correction (5th Edition) guide.

- Is it important to memorize all the Idioms listed in Chapter 9 or is it okay to only memorize the starred idioms (as per the book, starred idioms are the most important and prevalent on the GMAT) ?

- Is it necessary to read the Chapters after Idioms that deal with advanced concepts: Odds & Ends, GM/S-V/Parallelism: Extra, Pronouns & Modifiers: Extra, Verbs & Comparisons: Extra ?

I am running a bit short on time, hence asking these questions.

Please advice. Thanks!

[RonPurewal]

It's unlikely that you'll have to study idioms at all.

Some years ago (probably 6-7+ years ago by this point), the GMAT tested somewhat obscure idioms more heavily, as a way of making distinctions within a pool consisting largely of native speakers of English.
When PearsonVue took over the test from ETS, though, they noticed that two things were happening:
"- These questions were discriminating heavily against non-native speakers of English.
"- People memorizing long lists of idioms were gaining an advantage from doing so.

Both of these observations were anathema to the test makers. The test is meant to be fair to test takers from different backgrounds, and is designed to give as little leverage as possible to those who have simply memorized large quantities of material.

So, in recent years, the test has no longer tested idioms, beyond the most common ones. (If you see anything else, either (a) it's a distraction or (b) it isn't an idiom issue and is actually testing something else.)

So, you definitely shouldn't look past the ones with stars, and even those you shouldn't spend too much time on.
If they test idioms, they'll be things you almost certainly know already (e.g., between ... and ..., more ... than ..., etc.)

[ManishH404]

So, in recent years, the test has no longer tested idioms, beyond the most common ones. (If you see anything else, either (a) it's a distraction or (b) it isn't an idiom issue and is actually testing something else.)

So, you definitely shouldn't look past the ones with stars, and even those you shouldn't spend too much time on.
If they test idioms, they'll be things you almost certainly know already (e.g., between ... and ..., more ... than ..., etc.)

Hey Ron - without doubting your knowledge and expertise on this matter (and with risk of coming across as dumb and/or stupid for asking what is already answered), I would like to re-confirm what you are saying here.

Are you saying that we do not need to kill ourselves on memorising Idioms apart from the ones starred / used very frequently? (and assuming that complex idiom = more than one error being tested)

I am not native English speaker so this is big deal for me in terms of saved time and effort which I can invest in mastering other SC aspects.

Thanks
Manish

[ManishH404]

Hey Ron - Please ignore my question.

After posting, I stumbled upon the http://tinyurl.com/ocbvkea blog-post by Stacey, which adds to what you stated in previous post. So that gives me what I wanted.
Again, never doubted on what you said, just needed some re-assurance. I am good now :)

Thanks
Manish

[RonPurewal]

ok. good luck.