Stuck at Q40, advice on getting to mid 40s

Hi there, thanks for the quick replies!

Well I am basing this off a CAD I wrote a couple weeks ago. I just feel l am not making much progress and that if I were to write again, I wouldn't improve much. My hit-rate for harder questions ( plus 100 questions in OG and quant review) in both DS and problem solving under time conditions is not very good. I understand all the explanations after, but I can't seem to apply it to similar questions thereafter. Maybe I am not being thorough enough in reading explanations?

And sorry, it was an official practice test I wrote.

Hi sdiazl,

I think your questions are representative of a lot of students. Getting from 40 to 45 on quant is doable, but requires a thorough understanding of the questions that can be asked so that you know how to approach them. That's why practice is so helpful, it gives you experience and exposure to problems. The goal is to never see a question on the exam and be totally dumbfounded as to how to proceed. (although this happens to the best of us).

If you want to make sure you understand the concepts after reading explanations, try doing the exact same problem with different numbers and seeing how to solve it. Then try examining the numbers to see how the answer could change given different numbers were provided. If you can get to this level of comfort and mastery of problems, you'll start to think like the testmakers and see the traps that they are laying out for you.

The exam has a finite number of concepts it's testing, and if you're already getting Q40 you've got the basics down, it's just a question of applying your approach consistently and efficiently.

Hope this helps!
-Ron

Solution to your problem IMHO is that you have got the basic right but not great.My suggestion to you will be to out maximum efforts on DS questions.These questions make you think quickly and push your brain to limit.There is 700 quant series PDF,which can be downloaded from gmatclub forum.Now those questions are real hard and are likely to be seen when you are touching 50 level on quant.Attempt these questions and then see the solutions.This will raise your comfort level to a great extent.After doing certain sections,attempt OG questions and see how you are doing.Again remember ,trick to do well on Quant is to make sure you get the DS right.PS will eventually follow.