Is it OK to skip sequences?

Question

Hi everyone,

Do you think its fine to skip the sequences? I can't understand those things. Stuff related to statistics and counting evens from x to y, I can do it, but when it comes to the "pure" sequence questions my brain just rejects them. I don't know where to start and honestly I can't make myself to become interested, it's just one of those topics I'm not managing to become interested in.

Are they important? Or are sequences like Mixture questions, so you can skip those? On my 2 GMATs I don't remember to have seen one single question on sequences.

Thank you!

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear iliavko , I'm happy to respond. :-)

My friend, I am sorry to have to tell you this, but I believe you are selling yourself short. It is not a good sign to "give up" on any content area because it is too hard. In the business world, people who "give up" when something becomes too hard wind up setting an artificial ceiling for their financial success. The question that leads to mediocre results is " can I just skip this topic and see how I do ?" The question that leads to excellence is "ho w do I need to push myself, to challenge myself, to make sense of this difficult topic ?" It may seem more manageable to settle for the mediocre, but the grounds for regret are huge when you don't push yourself to do your best. Remember, your potential is always more than you can understand or appreciate at any moment. I want to reflect to you that you are capable of more than you think. It's important for you to appreciate the deep interconnection of mathematical ideas. If you find sequences hard and decide to ignore them, chances are very good there are modes of mathematical understanding which you do not grasp and which will impact a variety of other topics. Conversely, if you take the steps to master sequences, I strongly suspect your understand of a few other topics in mathematics will be thereby deepened, simply because of the increase in sophistication of your mathematical understanding. On the topic of sequences, see: Sequences on the GMAT GMAT Practice Problems: Sequences The idea of sequences is actually closely related to the idea of functions . In a way, sequences are functions in which the input is always in the form of positive integers. I would suggest: find sequence problems here on GMAT Club, ready the threads carefully, and then ask whatever you have to ask. Spell out very specifically what you get and what you don't get. Don't pose a lame lily-livered question, such as, " I don't get this. Please explain ." Instead, post the most sophisticated and detailed questions you possibly can. See: Asking Excellent Questions Asking excellent questions is another of the habits of excellence. When you ask such a question on any of these threads, feel free to solicit my input, using the "mention this user" button. The super-genius Bunuel is also an excellent teacher. Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

iliavko · Answer

Hi, Mike!

Thank you for your reply!

I totally agree with you when you say that it's about being persistent and not giving up on a topic, it just happens that I am really short on time, I will have to do the exam in the next two weeks or so. I've been studying for 6 months now and this will be my 3rd attempt, so now I've been brushing up my "core" skills such as algebra, word problems, etc and I also studied the topics that I previously skipped due to lack of time and because they were unlikely to be tested. Well, guess what, the "exotic" topics (I won't name them, I think I can't name topics that were tested in the real GMAT exam) were HEAVILY tested on my last GMAT. And I got a Q44! So don't think that I was fighting for a Q51 or something, my performance was average and still I got loads of exotic topics, so this "strategic skipping" hurt my score. This to say that skipping s*cks!

But here I have to do damage control ones again, because I don't have the time for everything, so I have to chose something to cut out! And sequences look like a good candidate, so that's why I was wondering.. Probably it would be the only topic I'd skip now, so I am like 95% equipped for my 3rd go.

And thank you a lot for your input!

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear iliavko , My friend, it sounds as you understand your situation and are making informed decisions. Trust your judgment. Don't come here looking for justifications for what you already know is right. If you know it is right, then just do it. Period. In relying on yourself, you need to have the heart of a lion. The modern business world is not a nurturing place: you need to stand on your own feet and have profound trust in your own judgment. You richly deserve all the rewards that come from trusting yourself. Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

iliavko · Answer

Gotcha! You are a wise person

Have you thought of opening a psychological GMAT counseling service in Magoosh? :D Cheers!

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear iliavko , Thank you for your kind words and good luck on your upcoming exam! Mike :-)

ccooley · Answer

I think it's fine to skip super-hard sequence questions, but mostly just because it's fine to skip any super-hard question. There are easy sequence questions out there, though, and skipping one of those would mean probably missing a question below your level - never a good idea. That said, with only two weeks to go, I wouldn't spend a lot of time  mastering  sequences, since they're far from the most common topic on the GMAT. I think what you need is a dose of confidence, and a simple, intuitive way to handle  easy  sequence problems.

What works for most of my students is to practice rephrasing the complex part of a sequence problem in plain English. If the problem tells you 'a_n = a_(n-1) + 3', you want to train yourself to read that as 'each term is three greater than the term before it.' If it says 'a_n = a_(n-1) + a_(n-2)', that actually says, 'each term is the sum of the two previous terms'. At first, this sort of translation will feel stilted and time-consuming, but see if you can work out a way to make it happen. That might help you on the problems where the math itself is actually easy, but you're thrown off because of how the question is phrased.

Is it OK to skip sequences?

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards