**Warning: During this article, I\u2019m going to stop you periodically and ask you to perform some basic math and logic \u2018tasks.\u2019 The work that you do on earlier tasks WILL impact your understanding of later tasks.**<\/p>\n
During the Quant section of the GMAT, you\u2019ll be asked to deal with averages on a few questions - sometimes you\u2019ll be asked to calculate an average or an average speed, sometimes you\u2019ll be given an average and asked to figure out something else. You will probably handle all of those questions just fine, but you would be amazed how many GMATers mis-apply the \u201cconcept\u201d of averages when deciding on their \u2018goals\u2019 for Test Day and their application plans.<\/p>\n
Your first task is pretty straight-forward\u2026<\/p>\n
Task #1: Do you know how to calculate an average? Right now, in the simplest way possible, describe how to calculate an average\u2026<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re thinking something along the lines of \u201cthe sum of the terms divided by the number of terms\u201d, then you are correct. This is essential information and is the basis for ALL averages that you will perform on the GMAT and beyond.<\/p>\n
Task #2: If you\u2019re told that the average of 3 numbers is 100, then can you come up with a few different examples of what those 3 numbers COULD be? With an average of 100, does that mean that all 3 numbers have to be 100?<\/p>\n
There are many different examples that you could come up with (especially since I didn\u2019t say that the numbers had to be integers and I didn\u2019t say that they had to be positive). Here are some examples:<\/p>\n
100, 100, 100
\n99, 100, 101
\n.1, .9, 299
\n0, 100, 200
\n0, 0, 300
\n-100, -100, 500
\nEtc.<\/p>\n
My guess is that you handled these first two tasks with ease. Now let\u2019s see what you think about these next concepts\u2026<\/p>\n
Task #3: How much time should you spend on EACH GMAT Quant question? And why do you THINK that\u2026?<\/p>\n
Many Test Takers WANT to spend less than 2 minutes per Quant question, but have you ever really stopped to think about WHY they think that?<\/p>\n
You have 75 minutes to answer 37 Quant questions on Test Day, so assuming that you use the entire 75 minutes and answer all of the questions, the AVERAGE amount of time that you will spend per question is a little over 2 minutes. But does that mean that you should spend 2 minutes on EACH question?<\/p>\n
Certain Quant questions can be answered relatively quickly (in under 30 seconds), while others are wordy and complex \u2013 these questions will require 3 minutes of your time (and that\u2019s if you KNOW what you\u2019re doing. If you don\u2019t know what you\u2019re doing, then these questions will take you 5 minutes each AND you\u2019ll end up getting them wrong anyway).<\/p>\n
Thus, the answer to that prior question is NOT \u201cless than 2 minutes per question.\u201d The correct answer to the question in Task #3 is \u201cwhatever amount of time is necessary for me to answer the question in the most efficient way possible, without wasting time or making any silly mistakes. Trying to answer every question in under 2 minutes is a silly idea and I\u2019m not in the habit of doing silly things.\u201d<\/p>\n
That last part is difficult for many Test Takers to accept \u2013 that THEY are ultimately responsible for their own efficiency and accuracy. Part of your GMAT training MUST involve finding those efficiencies and learning to do work in an organized, strategic fashion.<\/p>\n
At a certain point in this grand process, you have to decide that your Official GMAT score is competitive enough for you to be \u2018done\u2019 with the Test, then you have to choose your Schools and get to work on your applications.<\/p>\n
Task #4: If Harvard\u2019s incoming MBA class last year had an average GMAT score of 720, then does that mean that everyone who got accepted had a 720? Does that mean that you MUST have a minimum of 720 just to apply? Does that mean that if you have a minimum of 720, then you will get in?<\/p>\n
At this point, the prior work that you\u2019ve done throughout this blog post should be \u2018kicking in\u2019 \u2013 with an average of 720, some invitees clearly scored higher than 720, some scored 720 exactly and others scored less than 720\u2026 So the answer to ALL 3 of those questions in Task #4 is NO. Hundreds of people got into Harvard last year with scores that were BELOW AVERAGE FOR HARVARD.<\/p>\n
Let THAT fact \u2018sink in\u2019 for a moment\u2026 You DON\u2019T necessarily need to hit that average score to get an acceptance letter. YES, you still need a strong OVERALL application and YES, a higher GMAT score is better for you than a lower one, and if you\u2019re after scholarship money, then you might need a higher GMAT score\u2026but having a score that is slightly \u2018below average\u2019 for a given School\/Program will not necessarily keep you out of consideration.<\/p>\n
This is all meant to say that you should strive for excellence in your studies and put together the best performance possible. If your score is a little lower than you want it to be though, then you still have a chance at your dream School. The averages say so!<\/p>\n
GMAT assassins aren\u2019t born, they\u2019re made,
\nRich<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
**Warning: During this article, I\u2019m going to stop you periodically and ask you to perform some basic math and logic \u2018tasks.\u2019 The work that you do on earlier tasks WILL…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":156,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,243],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-blog","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/156"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28789"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28845,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28789\/revisions\/28845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}