Bocconi Test flashcards
Bocconi Test · Build recall with a focused review session.
32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.
- Main idea question
- A question asking for the passage's central claim. The credited answer must cover the whole passage, not one paragraph and not an isolated supporting detail.
- Valid inference in reading
- A statement that must be true given the passage. It requires no outside knowledge and no extra assumption beyond what the text explicitly or implicitly supplies.
- Vocabulary in context
- The meaning a word carries in its specific sentence, which may differ from its most common dictionary sense. Substituting each option back into the sentence tests it.
- Author's attitude
- The author's evaluative stance toward the subject, revealed through adjectives and adverbs. Extreme options such as contempt or unqualified praise rarely fit measured academic prose.
- Scope words in options
- Terms such as all, never, only, and must. They usually make an answer stronger than the passage warrants, which is a reliable reason to eliminate it.
- EXCEPT question
- An item in which four options are supported by the passage and the credited answer is the one that is not. Each option must be checked against the text separately.
- Contrast markers
- Words such as however, although, yet, and despite. They signal a turn in the argument, and the author's real position usually follows rather than precedes them.
- Argument conclusion
- The claim the argument tries to establish, with all other statements serving as evidence. It usually follows indicator words such as therefore, thus, or clearly.
- Assumption
- An unstated premise that must hold for the conclusion to follow from the evidence. Negating it and checking whether the argument collapses confirms its necessity.
- Negation test
- A procedure for assumption questions: negate the candidate statement, then re-read the argument. If the reasoning becomes invalid, the original statement was a necessary assumption.
- Correlation versus causation
- A flaw in which co-occurrence is treated as a causal link. It is weakened by proposing an alternative cause or reversing the direction of the relationship.
- Representative sample
- A sample matching the population on relevant characteristics. Arguments resting on self-selected, biased, or too-small samples are weakened by pointing out the mismatch.
- Sufficient versus necessary
- A sufficient condition guarantees the outcome, whereas a necessary condition is merely required for it. Confusing the two is a standard flaw in conditional reasoning.
- Percentage versus number
- A percentage increase can occur while the absolute number falls, if the base shrinks. Options that treat the two as interchangeable are standard traps.
- Percentage change
- Computed as (new value − old value) divided by the old value, times 100. The denominator is always the original value, never the new one.
- Successive percentage change
- Two changes of a percent and b percent combine by multiplying the factors (1 + a/100) and (1 + b/100). The result differs from simply adding the percentages.
- Reverse percentage
- Recovering the original value before a change: divide the final value by (1 + p/100) for an increase, or by (1 − p/100) for a decrease.
- Weighted average
- A combined mean in which each group mean is weighted by its group size. It lies between the two means, closer to that of the larger group.
- Combined work rate
- For two workers completing a job in times a and b, working together takes time t where 1/t = 1/a + 1/b, so t is less than either alone.
- Harmonic mean speed
- The average speed when equal distances are covered at speeds a and b, equal to 2ab/(a + b). It is always below the arithmetic mean of the speeds.
- Quadratic formula
- For ax² + bx + c = 0, the roots are x = [−b ± √(b² − 4ac)] / 2a. The discriminant b² − 4ac gives two, one, or no real roots.
- Combinations formula
- C(n,k) = n! / (k!(n−k)!) counts unordered selections of k items from n. Dividing by k! is what removes the effect of ordering.
- Inclusion–exclusion
- For two sets, the size of the union equals |A| + |B| − |A ∩ B|. For three sets, subtract all pairwise overlaps, then add back the triple overlap.
- Inequality sign flip
- Multiplying or dividing both sides of an inequality by a negative number reverses the direction of the inequality sign. Addition and subtraction never reverse it.
- Arithmetic sequence
- A sequence in which each term adds a constant difference d, so the nth term is a₁ + (n − 1)d and the sum is n(a₁ + a_n)/2.
- Independent events
- Events where the occurrence of one does not change the probability of the other, so P(A and B) = P(A) × P(B). Otherwise the conditional form is required.
- Rotation versus reflection
- Rotation preserves a figure's handedness, while reflection reverses it. If the arrangement of features flips orientation, the figure was reflected rather than rotated.
- Alternating series
- A number series that interleaves two independent sequences at odd and even positions. Each subsequence must be tested for its own rule before assuming a single pattern.
- Contrapositive
- 'If A then B' is logically equivalent to 'if not B then not A'. The converse and the inverse of a conditional statement are not equivalent to it.
- Syllogism validity
- 'All A are B' plus 'All B are C' entails 'All A are C'. Statements using 'some' do not convert, so 'some A are B' does not mean 'some B are A'.
- Matrix rule direction
- In figure matrices, test whether the rule changes along rows first, then along columns, then across the whole grid, verifying the rule on every line.
- Counting enclosed regions
- A common abstract-series rule: the number of enclosed areas, intersections, or line segments changes by a constant step or follows a simple sequence.