Good afternoon,
I understand that we shouldn’t bring any outside information in the essay portion of the GMAT. However if I’m really tempted to, how can I add without ruining the essay. For example, the session 4 lesson was about mid-air collisions. I happen to have a private pilot license and have some knowledge on transponders, and ways to mitigate collisions (one of my biggest concerns as you can’t quite “pull over” after a midair collision). Please provide any advice.
Respectfully,
Rich.
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- RichardR667
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- Chelsey Cooley
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Re: Outside knowledge in the essay...can we do it?
When is it good to bring in outside knowledge: when it helps you construct a logical argument. For instance, if you knew that non-commercial planes weren't required to have transponders (and I have no idea if that's true - I'm not a pilot 
) that would help you notice a big flaw in that particular argument. It only talks about putting transponders in commercial planes, and claims that this would nearly eliminate collisions - but are commercial planes really responsible for all collisions? Or if you had observed a failure of a transponder before, you might immediately think to question the argument based on whether or not we can really be certain the transponders will work.
When is it bad to bring in outside knowledge: when it leads you to make assumptions of your own or take things for granted. For instance, if you knew that non-commercial planes were required to have transponders, you might very well miss the potential counterargument that goes "how do we know that ending collisions among commercial planes would nearly eliminate all midair collisions? What about, for instance, private planes?" After all, even though the argument only talks about commercial planes, you, personally, know that it applies to noncommercial planes as well. The problem is, since the argument doesn't say that, it's still a flaw in the argument. Some of my students have had success pretending that GMAT prompts and arguments aren't actually describing the real world. Instead, they're describing an alternate reality, and the only things you know about that reality, are the things the test tells you.
) that would help you notice a big flaw in that particular argument. It only talks about putting transponders in commercial planes, and claims that this would nearly eliminate collisions - but are commercial planes really responsible for all collisions? Or if you had observed a failure of a transponder before, you might immediately think to question the argument based on whether or not we can really be certain the transponders will work. When is it bad to bring in outside knowledge: when it leads you to make assumptions of your own or take things for granted. For instance, if you knew that non-commercial planes were required to have transponders, you might very well miss the potential counterargument that goes "how do we know that ending collisions among commercial planes would nearly eliminate all midair collisions? What about, for instance, private planes?" After all, even though the argument only talks about commercial planes, you, personally, know that it applies to noncommercial planes as well. The problem is, since the argument doesn't say that, it's still a flaw in the argument. Some of my students have had success pretending that GMAT prompts and arguments aren't actually describing the real world. Instead, they're describing an alternate reality, and the only things you know about that reality, are the things the test tells you.
- Black5879
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Re: Outside knowledge in the essay...can we do it?
To me, outside knowledge can definitely be used in providing convincing examples that bring out your own argument. The only danger with "Outside knowledge" is that some of us tend to end up going off-tangent on our own thought instead of focusing on the premises stated in the question. We will be fine if we stick to the scope of the question!
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