After teaching GMAT preparation in New York for 3 years, I transferred to Kaplan’s London Center.  While working out of the London Center, I taught classes in Ireland, Germany and Italy, in addition to the United Kingdom, and have discovered a few major differences between taking the GMAT in the United States and in Europe.  These differences can be broken down into two categories: GMAT content and test administration.

While GMAT content is the same no matter where one takes the exam, students who hail from outside the States often have very different concerns than American test takers, especially in the verbal section.  Students whose native language is one other than English often worry about the sentence correction portion of the test.  However, though most would expect a native speaker to have the advantage on a test of grammar, one must remember that native speakers, for the most part, did not actually learn much grammar formally when they learned the language.  Non-native speakers, who have been taught grammar rules from the outset of learning the language, can actually have an easier time approaching sentence correction problems in a systematic manner – a manner far more effective at leading to the correct answer than simply finding the choice that “sounds” right.

Similar concerns often arise for British students when learning that idioms are tested on the GMAT.  An idiom is a commonly accepted combination of words that has no specific grammatical underpinning.  Basically, it is right because the GMAT says it is right.  However, in Britain the commonly accepted phrase is often different from the one accepted in the States.  For example, most American students would say they are enrolled in a Kaplan course, while most British students would say they are enrolled on a Kaplan course.  While dealing with idioms can be a bit tricky initially, it generally just requires some memorization to get around, which is why Kaplan provides a list of the most commonly tested idioms in our GMAT preparation materials.

The second big difference is in test administration.  Just as is the case in the United States, Pearson Vue administers the GMAT in Europe.  However, students in Europe are much more limited in the number of test location/time/date options.  For this reason, it is even more important for student outside the United States to make sure they sign up for a test date as soon as they know when and where they would like to take their exam.  Remember that, just as in the United States, you can change your test date after signing up, as long as you do so more than five business days before your exam; also, keep in mind that the GMAC will charge you US$50 for this service.

From previous posts, I’ve discussed the need to understand certain grammar concepts on the GMAT in order to do well.  As you continue to study for the GMAT, make sure you focus on these specific grammar areas.  Additionally, on any given question, the GMAT is often testing several of these concepts.  Thus, as we teach in our Kaplan classroom course, make sure you have a great strategy to keep all the moving parts organized.  The following conceptual topics appear often on the test:

Verbs: The GMAT is often testing your ability to match up subject verb agreement.  If you see a verb in the underlined portion of the sentence, make sure you ask yourself “to what subject is this verb referring” (note that more difficult questions have ambiguous subjects).

Pronouns: If you ever see a pronoun underlined on the GMAT, always ask yourself whether the pronoun unambiguously refers to the noun it is replacing.  Additionally, ask yourself whether the pronoun refers correctly to the singular or plural noun.

Modifiers: Modifiers can be tricky.  Note the following example: “I love you.”  If we wanted to add the modifier “only” to this sentence we need to be careful where we place it.  We can place it in several places:

“I love only you.”  - Meaning that I don’t love anyone else but you.  OR,
“I only love you.”  - Meaning that I love you but I don’t like you much. OR.
“Only I love you.” – A quite depressing meaning – that no one but me loves you.
A modifier can severally change the meaning of a statement.  On the GMAT, always put the modifier next to the word that it modifies.

Parallelism & Comparisons: The GMAT tests parallelism in several ways:  1) Make sure that if you have a list of entities, you always make the phrases parallel. 2) Additionally, if you are comparing items, you must make sure the forms are parallel as well as the concepts that you are comparing.

Style & Idioms: Here is the area that gives even the best test takers some concerns.  Style and idiomatic usages on the GMAT generally means using concise business language and commonly accepted words and phrases.  I’ve met many individuals who identify themselves as grammar kings and queens – many of them have trouble with GMAT style and idioms.  While we can complain and argue about the virtues of competing styles, we are better severed if we simply learn and practice the specific GMAT idioms and style that are tested.  I’ll write more on style and idioms later on – at this point, simply accept the ones that you agree with and memorize the ones you may not.

These five topics are the extent that the GMAT is testing your grammar.  In general, while there are many things within each of these categories that could be tested, we want you to focus on looking for these five things in the underlined part of the question.  Thinking about what to look for (instead of just hoping you hear the problem), is more than half the battle.  Good luck with sentence correction!