Self-Diagnosis Guide for Self-Taught Candidates — A Set of Structured and Precise Review Language

Author: Dustin Yuchen Teng

Foreword: A Self-Diagnosis Guide for Self-Study Test Takers — A Structured, Precise Review Language

Dear GMAT test takers, Dustin has always emphasized the importance of “review”. Those who are less effective don’t review, they just drill questions. Average test takers (90%) review, but only focus on the story content of the immediate question, which has little meaning! Because the practice questions you do will never appear on the actual test again. Only the top performers (10%) know how to identify their blind spots by comparing their thought process with the solution’s thought process, and then strengthen them with targeted actions, such as correcting problem-solving procedures, reviewing relevant resources, and practicing specific question types, ultimately achieving knowledge transfer from one question to the next unknown one.

Dustin hopes all test takers will always adhere to first principles—moving away from old rules of thumb and towards deconstructing the essence of things. Deconstructing the superficial act of getting a question wrong into the various factors of “why it was wrong” is the true opportunity for your improvement. Beginners should also revisit the three core GMAT Verbal fundamentals before deep-diving the labels.

Therefore, Dustin has decided to open-source the complete diagnostic label dictionary. With this dictionary, when you compare your work with the detailed solutions, you won’t just understand “how to solve this question,” but you’ll also be able to further reflect on “why I got it wrong,” allowing you, when discussing your GMAT prep plan with instructors or mentors, to enable them to provide more precise guidance based on your skill gaps.

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General Tag Definitions

Before looking at the specific problem tags for each question type, please first understand two general concepts:

• Error vs. Difficulty (Obstacle): This is key to distinguishing the nature of the problem.
  • Error: Means you made a judgment, but the direction or outcome of that judgment was wrong. You weren’t stuck; you just thought in the wrong direction.
  • Difficulty / Obstacle: Means you couldn’t figure it out, got stuck, or your mind went blank.

【CR】Critical Reasoning

Stem Understanding

• Stem Vocabulary Misinterpretation (CR_STEM_UNDERSTANDING_ERROR_VOCAB) You recognize a certain word in the stem, but you misunderstand its meaning, leading to a deviation in your understanding of the question.
  • Example: You misinterpreted “sanction” (制裁) in the stem as “approval” (批准), causing the entire logical direction to be reversed.
• Stem Grammar Misinterpretation (CR_STEM_UNDERSTANDING_ERROR_SYNTAX) You understand all the individual words in the stem, but because the sentence structure is too long or complex, you misinterpreted their combined meaning.
  • Example: The sentence is “No less than A is B,” but you understood it as “A is less than B.”
• Stem Logic Misinterpretation (CR_STEM_UNDERSTANDING_ERROR_LOGIC) You understand each individual sentence in the stem, but you cannot connect the relationships between the sentences, misunderstanding the main point or the direction of inference for the entire passage.
  • Example: The author first presents a phenomenon, then a possible explanation, but you mistook the “possible explanation” for the author’s accepted “factual conclusion.”
• Stem Domain Knowledge Error (CR_STEM_UNDERSTANDING_ERROR_DOMAIN) You have no problem understanding the language of the passage itself, but because the content involves a specific domain unfamiliar to you (e.g., science, history, economics), you made a judgment based on incorrect background knowledge.
  • Example: The passage discusses inflation, and you reasoned based on the incorrect common sense that “price increases are absolutely bad for everyone,” ignoring the complexities in economics.
• Stem Question Requirement Misinterpretation (CR_STEM_UNDERSTANDING_ERROR_QUESTION_REQUIREMENT_GRASP) You misunderstood what the question was actually asking.
  • Example: The question asks you to find an option that can “explain the paradox,” but you found an option that “strengthens the conclusion.”
• Stem Vocabulary Difficulty (CR_STEM_UNDERSTANDING_DIFFICULTY_VOCAB) When you see a certain word in the stem, you don’t recognize its meaning at all and get stuck.
  • Example: When you see the keyword “tenuous” (薄弱的), you have no idea what it means, making it impossible to judge the strength of the relationship between the premise and the conclusion.
• Stem Grammar Difficulty (CR_STEM_UNDERSTANDING_DIFFICULTY_SYNTAX) You understand all the individual words in the stem, but because the sentence structure is too long or complex, you can’t understand it, and your mind goes blank.
  • Example: A sentence containing multiple parenthetical phrases and inversions makes you read it repeatedly, yet you still can’t figure out the subject and verb.
• Stem Logic Difficulty (CR_STEM_UNDERSTANDING_DIFFICULTY_LOGIC) You understand each individual sentence in the stem, but you just can’t connect them into a meaningful whole, not knowing what the main point is.
  • Example: After reading a passage, you only remember a few scattered pieces of information but cannot summarize the author’s core argument.
• Stem Domain Knowledge Difficulty (CR_STEM_UNDERSTANDING_DIFFICULTY_DOMAIN) You have no problem understanding the language of the passage itself, but because the content involves a specific domain unfamiliar to you (e.g., science, history, economics), you are completely unable to understand what it is saying.
  • Example: In an article discussing “quantum entanglement,” even if you recognize every word, you still can’t understand the physics concept it’s trying to convey.

Choice Understanding

• Choice Vocabulary Misinterpretation (CR_CHOICE_UNDERSTANDING_ERROR_VOCAB) You recognize a certain word in the option, but you interpreted it as something else.
  • Example: You interpreted “compromise” (損害) in the option as “concession” (妥協).
• Choice Grammar Misinterpretation (CR_CHOICE_UNDERSTANDING_ERROR_SYNTAX) You understand all the individual words in the option, but because the sentence structure is complex, you misinterpreted the meaning of the entire sentence.
  • Example: An option with a double negative, which you interpreted as an affirmative meaning.
• Choice Logic Misinterpretation (CR_CHOICE_UNDERSTANDING_ERROR_LOGIC) You failed to effectively organize the information within the option, misunderstanding the true logic it intended to convey.
  • Example: The option states “When A happens, B also happens,” but you interpreted it as “A is the sole cause of B.”
• Choice Domain Knowledge Error (CR_CHOICE_UNDERSTANDING_ERROR_DOMAIN) Due to a lack of background knowledge in a specific domain, you misinterpreted the meaning of the option’s content.
  • Example: A finance-related option mentions “short selling,” which you mistakenly thought was simply “unable to sell.”
• Choice Vocabulary Difficulty (CR_CHOICE_UNDERSTANDING_DIFFICULTY_VOCAB) When you see a certain word in the option, you don’t recognize its meaning at all, making it impossible to judge.
  • Example: There’s a keyword “exacerbate” (使惡化) in the option that you don’t recognize, so you can’t determine if this option weakens or strengthens.
• Choice Grammar Difficulty (CR_CHOICE_UNDERSTANDING_DIFFICULTY_SYNTAX) You understand all the individual words in the option, but because the sentence structure is complex, you completely can’t understand what it’s saying.
  • Example: The option is a lengthy conditional sentence, and you’re stuck trying to clarify its conditions and results.
• Choice Logic Difficulty (CR_CHOICE_UNDERSTANDING_DIFFICULTY_LOGIC) You failed to effectively organize the information within the option, not knowing what it intended to convey.
  • Example: The option provides an analogy, but you can’t see how this analogy relates to the stem.
• Choice Domain Knowledge Difficulty (CR_CHOICE_UNDERSTANDING_DIFFICULTY_DOMAIN) Due to a lack of background knowledge in a specific domain, you completely can’t understand what this option is saying.
  • Example: A biology option mentions “mitochondrial DNA,” and you have no concept of it, thus unable to connect it to the stem.

Reasoning Process

• Logical Chain Analysis: Premise-Conclusion Relationship Error (CR_REASONING_ERROR_LOGIC_CHAIN_ANALYSIS_PREMISE_CONCLUSION_RELATIONSHIP) When analyzing the logical chain of the stem, you misunderstood the relationship between premises and conclusions, for example, mistaking a cause for an effect.
  • Example: The stem says “Because A, therefore B,” but you understood it as “Because B, therefore A.”
• Abstract Logical Terminology Misinterpretation (CR_REASONING_ERROR_ABSTRACT_LOGIC_TERMINOLOGY_UNDERSTANDING) You developed an incorrect understanding of logical terms (e.g., assumption, consideration, fallacy) appearing in the stem or options.
  • Example: You mistook “assumption” (假設, an unstated premise) for a general “supposition” (猜想).
• Prediction Direction Error (CR_REASONING_ERROR_PREDICTION_DIRECTION) After reading the stem, your pre-thinking about the answer direction was wrong, leading you to filter answers in the wrong direction from the start.
  • Example: The question asks to weaken, and you pre-thought that you should attack the conclusion, but the correct answer actually attacks the link between the premise and the conclusion.
• Core Issue Identification Error (CR_REASONING_ERROR_CORE_ISSUE_IDENTIFICATION) You failed to accurately grasp the conclusion or main point of contention (proposition) in the stem, leading to an incorrect analytical foundation.
  • Example: The conclusion of the stem is that “the ‘profit’ of this plan will decrease,” but you interpreted it as “the ‘revenue’ of this plan will decrease.”
• Choice Relevance Judgment Error (CR_REASONING_ERROR_CHOICE_RELEVANCE_JUDGEMENT) In the first round of filtering options, you made an incorrect judgment about whether an option was relevant or whether its direction was positive or negative.
  • Example: The stem discusses the situation “last year,” but you mistakenly considered an irrelevant option discussing “ten years later” as a relevant one.
• Strong Distractor Option Confusion Error (CR_REASONING_ERROR_STRONG_DISTRACTOR_CHOICE_CONFUSION) When making the final choice between two options, you were misled by the highly confusing strong distractor option and chose the wrong one.
  • Example: The correct answer is an “alternative cause,” but you chose a distractor that seemed related but was actually just “repeating a premise.”
• Specific Question Type Weakness (CR_SPECIFIC_QUESTION_TYPE_WEAKNESS_NOTE_TYPE) This question happens to be a specific question type that you commonly get wrong (e.g., Weaken, Assumption, Evaluate, etc.). You can note it here to identify your consistent weaknesses.
  • Example: You found that 70% of the CR questions you got wrong were Assumption questions.
• Abstract Logical Terminology Difficulty (CR_REASONING_DIFFICULTY_ABSTRACT_LOGIC_TERMINOLOGY_UNDERSTANDING) When you see logical terms (e.g., assumption, consideration, fallacy), you get stuck, not knowing what they mean.
  • Example: The question asks “Which of the following is a premise…”, and you get stuck on the word “premise” (前提).
• Prediction Direction Missing Difficulty (CR_REASONING_DIFFICULTY_PREDICTION_DIRECTION_MISSING) After reading the stem, your mind goes blank, and you are completely unable to pre-think what the answer might look like or which direction it might go.
  • Example: After reading the stem of a weaken question, you have no ideas and can only look at the options one by one, hoping to stumble upon the correct one.
• Core Issue Identification Difficulty (CR_REASONING_DIFFICULTY_CORE_ISSUE_IDENTIFICATION) You read the stem, but you can’t grasp what its conclusion or main point of contention (proposition) actually is.
  • Example: You read a dialogue but can’t distinguish which sentence is A’s viewpoint and which is B’s viewpoint.
• Choice Relevance Judgment Difficulty (CR_REASONING_DIFFICULTY_CHOICE_RELEVANCE_JUDGEMENT) After moving to the options, you cannot effectively perform the first round of filtering, finding it difficult to determine which options are relevant and which are irrelevant.
  • Example: All five options seem somewhat related to the stem’s topic, and you don’t know where to start eliminating.
• Strong Distractor Option Analysis Difficulty (CR_REASONING_DIFFICULTY_STRONG_DISTRACTOR_CHOICE_ANALYSIS) You get stuck when making the final choice between two options, not knowing how to distinguish the subtle differences between them, and unable to make a decision.
  • Example: Two options remain, one weakens and one is irrelevant, but you compare them repeatedly and still can’t tell the difference.

【RC】Reading Comprehension

Passage Comprehension

• Reading Comprehension Vocabulary Error (RC_READING_COMPREHENSION_ERROR_VOCAB) You recognize a certain word in the passage but misunderstand its meaning.
  • Example: The passage uses “novel” as an adjective meaning “new/innovative,” but you consistently interpreted it as the noun “novel.”
• Long and Complex Sentence Analysis Error (RC_READING_COMPREHENSION_ERROR_LONG_DIFFICULT_SENTENCE_ANALYSIS) You understand all the individual words in a complex long sentence in the passage, but you misinterpreted the meaning of the entire sentence.
  • Example: A sentence describes “A is not like B, B will do X,” but you understood it as “Both A and B will do X.”
• Passage Structure Misinterpretation (RC_READING_COMPREHENSION_ERROR_PASSAGE_STRUCTURE) You incorrectly judged the relationships between paragraphs, failing to correctly understand the author’s writing structure and the way ideas are developed.
  • Example: The author presented a counterexample in the second paragraph to question the viewpoint in the first paragraph, but you thought the second paragraph was elaborating on the first.
• Key Information Location Misinterpretation (RC_READING_COMPREHENSION_ERROR_KEY_INFO_LOCATION_UNDERSTANDING) You found the corresponding location in the original text for the question, but you misinterpreted the meaning of that sentence or passage.
  • Example: The original text states “the research results are inconclusive (無定論的),” but you understood it as “the research results are negative.”
• Vocabulary Bottleneck Difficulty (RC_READING_COMPREHENSION_DIFFICULTY_VOCAB_BOTTLENECK) Because you don’t recognize a certain keyword in the passage, you can’t understand the related sentences and get stuck.
  • Example: The verb in a sentence is “underscore” (強調), which you don’t recognize, leading you to misunderstand the author’s attitude towards the sentence.
• Long and Complex Sentence Analysis Difficulty (RC_READING_COMPREHENSION_DIFFICULTY_LONG_DIFFICULT_SENTENCE_ANALYSIS) You understand all the individual words in a complex long sentence in the passage, but because the structure is too complex, you are completely unable to parse its meaning.
  • Example: In a sentence spanning five lines, the subject and verb are separated by several clauses, and you simply cannot find the main clause of the sentence.
• Unclear Grasp of Passage Structure Difficulty (RC_READING_COMPREHENSION_DIFFICULTY_PASSAGE_STRUCTURE_GRASP_UNCLEAR) Although you can understand individual sentences, you cannot clarify the relationships between paragraphs, and after reading the entire passage, you have no concept of its overall structure.
  • Example: After reading the passage, you only remember fragments, and if asked “What is the function of the second paragraph?”, you are completely unable to answer.
• Lack of Specific Domain Background Knowledge Difficulty (RC_READING_COMPREHENSION_DIFFICULTY_SPECIFIC_DOMAIN_BACKGROUND_KNOWLEDGE_LACK) The language of the passage itself is not difficult, but because the topic is a domain completely unfamiliar to you (e.g., astronomy, biology), you cannot understand it due to a lack of background knowledge.
  • Example: The passage discusses plate tectonics; although there are no unfamiliar words, because you know nothing about this concept, it is difficult to read.
• Mindset Block Difficulty (RC_READING_COMPREHENSION_DIFFICULTY_MINDSET_BLOCKED) Under the stressful conditions of the exam, even though it’s a passage you would normally understand, you are flustered and unable to process the words right in front of you.
  • Example: You stared at a paragraph for thirty seconds, only to realize you hadn’t absorbed a single word, still thinking about the answer to the previous question.

Question & Locating

• Question Focus Misinterpretation (RC_QUESTION_UNDERSTANDING_ERROR_FOCUS_POINT) You misunderstood what the question was actually asking.
  • Example: The question asks “Which of the following viewpoints does the author agree with?”, but you found a “fact mentioned in the passage.”
• Locating Skill Error (RC_LOCATION_SKILL_ERROR_LOCATION) You understood the question, but when you went back to the original text to find the answer, you located the wrong place.
  • Example: The question asks for details about the “19th century,” but you located a paragraph in the passage describing the “20th century.”
• Question Focus Grasp Difficulty (RC_QUESTION_UNDERSTANDING_DIFFICULTY_FOCUS_POINT_GRASP) You can’t understand what the question is asking, getting stuck on the question itself.
  • Example: The question is “The author mentions X primarily in order to…”, and you get stuck, unsure if the question is asking for purpose or detail.
• Locating Skill Inefficiency Difficulty (RC_LOCATION_SKILL_DIFFICULTY_INEFFICIENCY) You understood the question, but when you went back to the original text to find the answer, you couldn’t find the corresponding information like a headless fly, or you found it very slowly.
  • Example: The question asked for a keyword, and you scanned the passage three times from beginning to end before finding where that keyword was.

Reasoning & Choice Analysis

• Inference Error (RC_REASONING_ERROR_INFERENCE) You found the relevant sentence, but when making an inference based on the original information, you drew an incorrect conclusion. Your expectation differed from the correct answer.
  • Example: The original text says “most employees received a raise,” but you inferred “all employees received a raise,” which is an over-inference.
• Choice Analysis Vocabulary Error (RC_CHOICE_ANALYSIS_ERROR_VOCAB) You misinterpreted a certain keyword in the option.
  • Example: You interpreted “skeptical” (懷疑的) in the option as “supportive” (支持的).
• Choice Analysis Grammar Error (RC_CHOICE_ANALYSIS_ERROR_SYNTAX) You understand all the individual words in the option, but because the sentence structure is complex, you misinterpreted the meaning of the entire sentence.
  • Example: You confused the meaning of a double negative sentence like “A is not an un… C.”
• Choice Analysis Logic Error (RC_CHOICE_ANALYSIS_ERROR_LOGIC) You incorrectly judged the logic that the option itself intended to convey.
  • Example: The option is an extreme statement containing “all,” “never,” “only,” but you ignored its absolute nature and thought it might be correct.
• Choice Analysis Domain Error (RC_CHOICE_ANALYSIS_ERROR_DOMAIN) Due to a lack of background knowledge in a specific domain, you misinterpreted the meaning of the option’s content.
  • Example: As above, a biology option mentions “mitochondrial DNA,” and you made an incorrect judgment because you didn’t understand it.
• Choice Relevance Judgment Error (RC_CHOICE_ANALYSIS_ERROR_RELEVANCE_JUDGEMENT) You mistakenly considered an option that was irrelevant to the original text or had an opposite direction as a relevant option.
  • Example: The passage discusses “plants,” but you chose an option discussing “animals” simply because it used similar vocabulary to the passage.
• Strong Distractor Option Confusion Error (RC_CHOICE_ANALYSIS_ERROR_STRONG_DISTRACTOR_CONFUSION) When making the final choice between two options, you were confused by the strong distractor option that seemed correct, and ultimately chose the wrong one.
  • Example: The correct answer is a “rephrasing” of the original text, but you chose a trap option that was “almost a verbatim copy of the original text but subtly changed a keyword.”
• Specific Question Type Handling Method Error (RC_METHOD_ERROR_SPECIFIC_QUESTION_TYPE_HANDLING) This question happens to be a specific question type that you commonly get wrong (e.g., Main Idea questions, Inference questions, etc.), and your method for handling this type of question might inherently be flawed.
  • Example: When doing “Main Idea questions,” you are always confused by the details at the beginning of the passage and fail to grasp the overall structure of the passage.
• Slow Inference Speed Difficulty (RC_REASONING_DIFFICULTY_INFERENCE_SPEED_SLOW) You found the relevant sentence and understood its meaning, but you spent too much time in the process of thinking and inferring the answer.
  • Example: For an inference question, you stared at the original text and options, comparing them repeatedly for three minutes, before uncertainly choosing an answer.
• Choice Analysis Vocabulary Difficulty (RC_CHOICE_ANALYSIS_DIFFICULTY_VOCAB) Because you don’t recognize a certain keyword in the option, you cannot judge this option.
  • Example: The verb in the option is “refute” (反駁), which you don’t recognize, leading you to not know if this option supports or opposes.
• Choice Analysis Grammar Difficulty (RC_CHOICE_ANALYSIS_DIFFICULTY_SYNTAX) Because the sentence structure of the option is too complex, you cannot parse its meaning.
  • Example: An option uses an appositive structure like “… a notion that…”, and you get stuck trying to parse what “notion” refers to.
• Choice Analysis Logic Difficulty (RC_CHOICE_ANALYSIS_DIFFICULTY_LOGIC) You cannot clarify the logical relationship that the option itself intends to convey.
  • Example: The option makes a comparison, and you get stuck trying to determine what is being compared and what the standard of comparison is.
• Choice Analysis Domain Difficulty (RC_CHOICE_ANALYSIS_DIFFICULTY_DOMAIN) Due to a lack of background knowledge in a specific domain, you completely can’t understand what this option is saying.
  • Example: As above, an option mentions a proper noun, and you have no concept of it, thus unable to judge.
• Choice Relevance Judgment Difficulty (RC_CHOICE_ANALYSIS_DIFFICULTY_RELEVANCE_JUDGEMENT) You find it difficult to determine whether the content of the option is related to the located information in the original text.
  • Example: The passage discusses “causes,” and the option discusses “effects,” and you get stuck trying to determine if this counts as relevant.
• Strong Distractor Option Analysis Difficulty (RC_CHOICE_ANALYSIS_DIFFICULTY_STRONG_DISTRACTOR_ANALYSIS) You get stuck when making the final choice between two options, unable to distinguish the subtle differences between them.
  • Example: Both options seem correct, and you cannot decide which one “better” fits the question.

【PS】Problem Solving & 【Q】Quant Math Questions

• Reading Comprehension Error (Q_READING_COMPREHENSION_ERROR) You thought you understood the text description of the question, but in reality, your understanding was incorrect.
  • Example: The question states “A is 3 more than B,” but you understood it as “A = B – 3.”
• Concept Application Error (Q_CONCEPT_APPLICATION_ERROR) You understood the question, but you used the wrong mathematical formula or concept to solve it.
  • Example: The question asked to calculate permutation, but you used the formula for combination.
• Calculation Error (Q_CALCULATION_ERROR) Your concepts and formulas were correct, but you made a careless mistake in the final calculation step (e.g., wrong addition, misreading numbers, missing a zero).
  • Example: When solving an equation, you moved “+5” from the right side of the equals sign to the left, but forgot to change it to “-5.”
• Reading Comprehension Difficulty (Q_READING_COMPREHENSION_DIFFICULTY) You get stuck on the text description of the question, unable to understand what the question is saying.
  • Example: For a long word problem, after reading it, you don’t know what the question is asking for or what conditions were given.
• Concept Application Difficulty (Q_CONCEPT_APPLICATION_DIFFICULTY) You understood the question, but your mind went blank, and you didn’t know which mathematical formula or concept to use to solve it.
  • Example: You saw a geometry problem, knew all the conditions, but just couldn’t remember which theorem to use (e.g., Pythagorean theorem, similar triangles).
• Calculation Difficulty (Q_CALCULATION_DIFFICULTY) Your concepts and formulas are correct, but the calculation process is very complex, causing you to get stuck and unable to proceed, or to calculate very slowly.
  • Example: You need to calculate the square root of a very large number, but because the number is too complex, you made a mistake midway or simply gave up.
• Foundational Mastery Instability (Q_FOUNDATIONAL_MASTERY_INSTABILITY_SFE) The concept tested in this incorrect question is actually simpler than other math questions you got right. This indicates that your mastery of this mathematical concept is still unstable and needs strengthening.
  • Example: You correctly solved complex factorization problems but made a mistake on a simple integer parity judgment question.

【DI】Data Insights, 【GT】Graphics Interpretation, 【MSR】Multi-Source Reasoning, 【TPA】Two-Part Analysis

Comprehension & Interpretation

• Reading Comprehension Vocabulary Error / Difficulty (DI_READING_COMPREHENSION_ERROR/DIFFICULTY__VOCABULARY) For text descriptions other than charts, you either misinterpreted a certain vocabulary word or didn’t recognize it at all (difficulty).
  • Example: The text mentions “median” (中位數), but you interpreted it as “mean” (平均數) (error); or you simply don’t know what “median” is (difficulty).
• Reading Comprehension Grammar Error / Difficulty (DI_READING_COMPREHENSION_ERROR/DIFFICULTY__SYNTAX) For text descriptions other than charts, you understand all the individual words, but because the sentence structure is complex, you either misinterpreted the entire sentence or couldn’t parse it (difficulty).
  • Example: A sentence says “City A’s B data is not lower than City C’s,” but you understood it as “City A’s B data is higher than City C’s” (error).
• Reading Comprehension Logic Error / Difficulty (DI_READING_COMPREHENSION_ERROR/DIFFICULTY__LOGIC) For text descriptions other than charts, you understand individual sentences, but you cannot connect them, misunderstanding the main point of the entire passage or being unable to clarify its logic (difficulty).
  • Example: The text describes a filtering criterion, but you misunderstood the “AND” and “OR” relationships between the criteria (error).
• Reading Comprehension Domain Error / Difficulty (DI_READING_COMPREHENSION_ERROR/DIFFICULTY__DOMAIN) Due to a lack of background knowledge in a specific domain, you either misinterpreted the text content or couldn’t understand it at all (difficulty).
  • Example: A text about the stock market mentions “volatility” (波動性), and you either misunderstood this financial concept due to unfamiliarity (error) or completely didn’t understand it (difficulty).
• Graph Interpretation Error (DI_GRAPH_INTERPRETATION_ERROR__GRAPH / __TABLE) Your text comprehension is fine, but when interpreting graphs or tables, you misread data or misunderstood the meaning of the graph’s axes.
  • Example: You read the Y-axis unit of the chart as “dollars” instead of “million dollars,” leading to a calculation result that was off by a factor of 1 million.
• Graph Interpretation Difficulty (DI_GRAPH_INTERPRETATION_DIFFICULTY__GRAPH / __TABLE) Your text comprehension is fine, but you can’t understand the graph or table itself, don’t know how to extract information from it, and get stuck here.
  • Example: You see a Box Plot but have no idea what the lines on it (maximum, minimum, quartiles) represent.
• Multi-Source Integration Difficulty (DI_READING_COMPREHENSION_DIFFICULTY__MULTI_SOURCE_INTEGRATION) (Primarily for MSR) You are unable to effectively connect and integrate information from different tabs or sources; the information feels fragmented.
  • Example: The first tab discusses Company A’s policy, the second tab provides market data, and the third tab contains customer reviews, but you cannot combine these three to answer the question.
• Reading Comprehension Mindset Block Difficulty (DI_READING_COMPREHENSION_DIFFICULTY__MINDSET_BLOCKED) Under the stressful conditions of the exam, even though it’s text or a chart you would normally understand, you are flustered and unable to process it.
  • Example: You stared at a complex table for a long time, but your mind kept thinking about running out of time, preventing you from effectively extracting data.

Math & Logic

• Math Concept Application Error (DI_CONCEPT_APPLICATION_ERROR__MATH) You understood all the information, but when solving the problem, you used the wrong mathematical concept or formula.
  • Example: The question asked to calculate the weighted average, but you only calculated the arithmetic mean.
• Math Concept Application Difficulty (DI_CONCEPT_APPLICATION_DIFFICULTY__MATH) You understood all the information, but you couldn’t remember which mathematical concept or formula to use for the calculation.
  • Example: You extracted all the correct data from the table, but you got stuck, not knowing which formula to use to calculate the “annual growth rate” requested by the question.
• Non-Math Logical Reasoning Error (DI_LOGICAL_REASONING_ERROR__NON_MATH) All your information input (text, charts) and mathematical concepts were fine, but you made a mistake in the intermediate logical reasoning step.
  • Example: The question asked you to find the “only option that meets all conditions,” but you found an option that only met some conditions and selected it directly.
• Non-Math Logical Reasoning Difficulty (DI_LOGICAL_REASONING_DIFFICULTY__NON_MATH) All your information input is fine, but you get stuck on how to perform logical reasoning, not knowing what to think next.
  • Example: The TPA question provides two judgment fields, and you get stuck not knowing which field to judge first, or what the logical relationship between the two fields is.
• Math Calculation Error (DI_CALCULATION_ERROR__MATH) Your understanding, concepts, formulas, and logic are all correct, but you made a careless, basic mistake in the final calculation step.
  • Example: You accidentally wrote 24 instead of 28 for 4 x 7 on your scratch paper.
• Math Calculation Difficulty (DI_CALCULATION_DIFFICULTY__MATH) Your understanding, concepts, and formulas are all correct, but the calculation process is very tedious, causing you to get stuck and unable to proceed.
  • Example: You need to perform multiplication and division with multiple three-digit numbers, and you get stuck or simply give up because you find it too troublesome.
• Foundational Mastery Instability (DI_FOUNDATIONAL_MASTERY_INSTABILITY__SFE) The concept tested in this incorrect question is actually simpler than other DI questions you got right. This indicates that your mastery of this concept is still unstable and needs strengthening.
  • Example: You solved a complex multi-source reasoning question but misread data on a simple chart reading question.

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