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27 Oct 2016, 16:18
Kudos
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Hi everyone,
I am in the midst of my GMAT study, week 6. My last mock was Q44, up from a Q40 a week before. The first few weeks were a complete waste and I just went through MGMAT books without making any significant improvement. Reality start to set in a few weeks ago when I was still at Q40 after going through all the MGMAT books so I signed up for Magoosh and have been studying fanatically for the last two weeks. First week I saw significant improvement in my score (From Q40 - Q44), and got a lot more confidence doing questions. But after reviewing my mistakes I learned a few very important things. Most of the questions I missed were very easy and doable questions, in fact I got some of the tougher questions but missed some of the easier ones which shouldn't be happening.
The mistakes I am making are avoidable but I am running into the same problem. Its hard for me to see the pattern (like sum or difference of square hidden in the question) or (easy fraction setup). Sometimes I am stuck reading the question a few times before I really get what its asking before I tackle it.... This isn't generally the case with verbal or in other exams so this is leading a to huge waste of time and then rushing to find a solution and missing obvious steps.
For instance, I came across the breaking branches question and was stumped .... (Kim finds a 1-meter tree branch and marks it off in thirds and fifths. She then breaks the branch along all the markings and removes one piece of every distinct length. What fraction of the original branch remains?) I sort of made a branch, divided it into 1/5s, then 1/3s but never made the connection to do find a common denominator to make things easier..... Also a very easy question I missed:
If x and n are integers, is the sum of x and n less than zero?
(1) x + 3 < n – 1
(2) -2x > 2n
Also while doing practice questions, I have been stumped by prime factorization questions or a sum of square hidden in a geometry question... A lot of this could be due to fatigue or stress. But is there a strategy people have to sort of recognize patterns? The math itself isn't the hard part its find the right way to solve the question to make it easy. Anyone have any tips to sort of get over this hump? A checklist of sort or a technique?
Thank you
I am in the midst of my GMAT study, week 6. My last mock was Q44, up from a Q40 a week before. The first few weeks were a complete waste and I just went through MGMAT books without making any significant improvement. Reality start to set in a few weeks ago when I was still at Q40 after going through all the MGMAT books so I signed up for Magoosh and have been studying fanatically for the last two weeks. First week I saw significant improvement in my score (From Q40 - Q44), and got a lot more confidence doing questions. But after reviewing my mistakes I learned a few very important things. Most of the questions I missed were very easy and doable questions, in fact I got some of the tougher questions but missed some of the easier ones which shouldn't be happening.
The mistakes I am making are avoidable but I am running into the same problem. Its hard for me to see the pattern (like sum or difference of square hidden in the question) or (easy fraction setup). Sometimes I am stuck reading the question a few times before I really get what its asking before I tackle it.... This isn't generally the case with verbal or in other exams so this is leading a to huge waste of time and then rushing to find a solution and missing obvious steps.
For instance, I came across the breaking branches question and was stumped .... (Kim finds a 1-meter tree branch and marks it off in thirds and fifths. She then breaks the branch along all the markings and removes one piece of every distinct length. What fraction of the original branch remains?) I sort of made a branch, divided it into 1/5s, then 1/3s but never made the connection to do find a common denominator to make things easier..... Also a very easy question I missed:
If x and n are integers, is the sum of x and n less than zero?
(1) x + 3 < n – 1
(2) -2x > 2n
Also while doing practice questions, I have been stumped by prime factorization questions or a sum of square hidden in a geometry question... A lot of this could be due to fatigue or stress. But is there a strategy people have to sort of recognize patterns? The math itself isn't the hard part its find the right way to solve the question to make it easy. Anyone have any tips to sort of get over this hump? A checklist of sort or a technique?
Thank you
27 Oct 2016, 16:42
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi jkolachi,
Many Test Takers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before they hit their 'peak' scores, so it's likely that you just have not put in enough time and effort yet to quickly recognize all of the potential patterns that you might face on Test Day. This is meant to say that you should naturally improve as you continue to study and work through additional practice materials. It's also important to remember that every question that you face was written by a human who was basing the question on one (or more) patterns. You KNOW that a pattern will be there, so you should think in those terms as you read through the prompt. For example, when a question uses words such as "odd", "even", "negative", etc. then the patterns involved are almost certainly going to be Number Property patterns. In that way, the 'design' of the prompt can help you to narrow down the subjects that you should be thinking about.
1) How have you scored on each of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?
2) What is your goal score?
3) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Many Test Takers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before they hit their 'peak' scores, so it's likely that you just have not put in enough time and effort yet to quickly recognize all of the potential patterns that you might face on Test Day. This is meant to say that you should naturally improve as you continue to study and work through additional practice materials. It's also important to remember that every question that you face was written by a human who was basing the question on one (or more) patterns. You KNOW that a pattern will be there, so you should think in those terms as you read through the prompt. For example, when a question uses words such as "odd", "even", "negative", etc. then the patterns involved are almost certainly going to be Number Property patterns. In that way, the 'design' of the prompt can help you to narrow down the subjects that you should be thinking about.
1) How have you scored on each of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?
2) What is your goal score?
3) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
29 Oct 2016, 08:40
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi jkolachi,
Believe it or not your situation is quite common amongst GMAT test-takers. GMAT success is related, in part, to a) one's ability to quickly recognize the concepts being tested in a given GMAT question and b) being able to then quickly attack that question. However, developing those abilities does not come overnight. To gain such abilities, you might consider a study routine that consists of focused learning and practice. For instance, I imagine that at some point you studied Number Properties. However, when studying that topic, were you able to first learn everything possible about that topic? Concepts such as LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, remainders, etc? After that, were you able practice with a lot of questions (50 or more) just on Number Properties to reinforce what you learned? If not, it’s possible that you did not fully learn that topic and thus have been unable to efficiently attack all Number Properties questions that you encounter. Although Number Properties is just one example, ideally you should follow this method of focused learning and practice for all GMAT quant topics.
Let’s further highlight this idea with a basic quant example question.
20^2 + 21^2+ 22^2+ 23^2+ 24^2+ 25^2 = ?
A) 3,055
B) 2,060
C) 3,066
D) 3,704
E) 3,077
Upon seeing this question, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Do you want to grab a calculator and add up the values in the expression? Are you spending 20 to 30 seconds thinking about how this question should be solved? Or do you quickly recognize that you are likely being tested simply on patterns in units digits?
If you were able to recognize that you are being tested on patterns in units digits, it’s a good sign that you have mastered (or are at least on the road to mastering) some concepts related to units digits, and, in the bigger scheme, how to recognize and attack a quant problem.
Solution:
Because each answer choice has a different units digit, instead of finding the actual sum, we can just find the units digit of the sum. Let’s use the units digits of each square to determine the units digit of the sum.
- The units digit of 20^2 must be 0, since 0^2 = 0
- The units digit of 21^2 must be 1, since 1^2 = 1
- The units digit of 22^2 must be 4, since 2^2 = 4
- The units digit of 23^2 must be 9, since 3^2 = 9
- The units digit of 24^2 must be 6, since 4^2 = 16
- The units digit of 25^2 must be 5, since 5^2 = 25
With this, we can sum the units digits: 0 + 1 + 4 + 9 + 6 + 5 = 25. Thus, the units digit of the correct answer is 5.
Answer: A
Although this is just one example (of many), you see that you must have the tools in your toolbox to efficiently attack each GMAT quant question that comes your way.
If you would like to practice more questions similar to the one above, I welcome you to take my free 37-question quant diagnostic. After completing the diagnostic, you will be provided with a detailed analysis of your proficiency level in all GMAT quant topics, as well as an opportunity to discuss your diagnostic results with me or another TTP instructor/coach.
If you have any further questions, feel free to contact me directly. Keep working hard! You’ll reach your goal!
Believe it or not your situation is quite common amongst GMAT test-takers. GMAT success is related, in part, to a) one's ability to quickly recognize the concepts being tested in a given GMAT question and b) being able to then quickly attack that question. However, developing those abilities does not come overnight. To gain such abilities, you might consider a study routine that consists of focused learning and practice. For instance, I imagine that at some point you studied Number Properties. However, when studying that topic, were you able to first learn everything possible about that topic? Concepts such as LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, remainders, etc? After that, were you able practice with a lot of questions (50 or more) just on Number Properties to reinforce what you learned? If not, it’s possible that you did not fully learn that topic and thus have been unable to efficiently attack all Number Properties questions that you encounter. Although Number Properties is just one example, ideally you should follow this method of focused learning and practice for all GMAT quant topics.
Let’s further highlight this idea with a basic quant example question.
20^2 + 21^2+ 22^2+ 23^2+ 24^2+ 25^2 = ?
A) 3,055
B) 2,060
C) 3,066
D) 3,704
E) 3,077
Upon seeing this question, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Do you want to grab a calculator and add up the values in the expression? Are you spending 20 to 30 seconds thinking about how this question should be solved? Or do you quickly recognize that you are likely being tested simply on patterns in units digits?
If you were able to recognize that you are being tested on patterns in units digits, it’s a good sign that you have mastered (or are at least on the road to mastering) some concepts related to units digits, and, in the bigger scheme, how to recognize and attack a quant problem.
Solution:
Because each answer choice has a different units digit, instead of finding the actual sum, we can just find the units digit of the sum. Let’s use the units digits of each square to determine the units digit of the sum.
- The units digit of 20^2 must be 0, since 0^2 = 0
- The units digit of 21^2 must be 1, since 1^2 = 1
- The units digit of 22^2 must be 4, since 2^2 = 4
- The units digit of 23^2 must be 9, since 3^2 = 9
- The units digit of 24^2 must be 6, since 4^2 = 16
- The units digit of 25^2 must be 5, since 5^2 = 25
With this, we can sum the units digits: 0 + 1 + 4 + 9 + 6 + 5 = 25. Thus, the units digit of the correct answer is 5.
Answer: A
Although this is just one example (of many), you see that you must have the tools in your toolbox to efficiently attack each GMAT quant question that comes your way.
If you would like to practice more questions similar to the one above, I welcome you to take my free 37-question quant diagnostic. After completing the diagnostic, you will be provided with a detailed analysis of your proficiency level in all GMAT quant topics, as well as an opportunity to discuss your diagnostic results with me or another TTP instructor/coach.
If you have any further questions, feel free to contact me directly. Keep working hard! You’ll reach your goal!
