How to Translate a Question
GMAT glossary · Playbook
Definition
A three-step meta diagnostic used on every fresh Quant stem before choosing a Playbook method: name the engine, locate the constraint trigger, deploy the matching tool.
How to Translate a Question in plain English
Pull How to Translate a Question on every fresh Quant stem, before choosing a tool. This is a meta diagnostic, not a diagram of its own. Step 1: Identify the engine (counting, probability, overlapping sets, rates, number properties, and so on). Step 2: Locate the constraint trigger that points to a named method (cannot -> Total Minus Unwanted; adjacent -> Glue-Block; minimum all-three -> Complement Extreme; two binary axes -> Double-Matrix). Step 3: Deploy and match the tool, then execute its blueprint. Jumping into algebra without naming the engine wastes the first minute on the wrong diagram. Micro-example: "Ana and Ben cannot sit together in a row of 5." Engine = combinatorics arrangements; trigger = cannot be adjacent; tool = Total Minus Unwanted via Glue-Block on the forbidden set.
Sign up free: all 257 GMAT terms as flashcards, plus practice questions with full explanations →
Related GMAT terms
GMAT practice questions · GMAT flashcards · GMAT study guide