Math Strategy-Quant Probability and P&C

Question

Hi Guys,

I am looking for a score of Q49. My recent scores in mock tests are as follows,
GMAT Practice test 1 (April) - Q 39
Kaplan (June 8) - Q46
GMAT Practice Test 2 (July 2)- Q46

My question is, to score Q49, how in depth knowledge of Probability, Permutation & combination one should have? I am weak in these areas.
Is it ok if I don't master these areas?

Please help.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi nilboy,

Assuming that you took your CATs in a realistic fashion, you're closer to a Q49+ than you probably realize. While permutation, combination and probability question can sometimes be quite difficult, the 'standard' versions of those types of questions are typically simple enough to deal with, so you should make sure that you have the basic concepts down. With a Q46 though, those categories would NOT represent the bulk of the missing points that you're after, so some analysis of your CAT performances is in order:

After reviewing the Quant section of your last CAT, how many questions did you get wrong....
1) Because of a silly/little mistake?
2) Because there was some math that you just didn't know how to do?
3) Because the question was too hard?
4) Because you were low on time and had to guess?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

nilboy · Answer

Rich,

Thanks for the response.

Answers to your questions are as follows,

After reviewing the Quant section of your last CAT, how many questions did you get wrong.... I went wrong on 14 questions. 
1) Because of a silly/little mistake?  Yes, the mistakes were silly/ little on few questions. 
2) Because there was some math that you just didn't know how to do? This was not the case  
3) Because the question was too hard?  I didn't feel so, while solving the question. 
4) Because you were low on time and had to guess?  I completed the quant section in 67 min.

Though, one thing to note is that a couple of questions were repeated from GMATCLUB forum.

Regards,
Nilesh

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi nilboy,

Finishing a section more than 5 minutes early is almost never a good thing - you clearly had extra time to spend on certain questions, but you likely 'rushed' through a number of prompts (and in doing so, you didn't take enough notes and likely did too much work 'in your head'). Thankfully, these are easy enough issues to 'fix', but you didn't actually answer the most important question that I asked (and before I can offer you the specific advice that you're looking for, I'll need an accurate answer to that question):

After reviewing the Quant section of your last CAT, how many questions did you get wrong....
1) Because of a silly/little mistake?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

nilboy · Answer

Rich,

3 Questions went wrong because of silly/ little mistakes.

Regards,
Nilesh

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi nilboy,

To start, those 3 little mistakes could have cost you a bunch of points, so you have to increase the amount of work that you do on each question a bit (take more notes, label your work, DON'T do math 'in your head', etc.) so that you can keep those same types of mistakes from happening again.

Second, you also claim that none of the questions were 'too hard' and that you knew how to do the necessary math on all of the questions that you faced. Since you stated that you got 14 questions wrong in the Quant section, then WHY did you get those other 11 questions wrong? Defining those reasons is an essential part of 'fixing' whatever needs to be fixed and raising your score.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

MathRevolution · Answer

Hi,

In order to hit a high score like 49, you should be strong at solving final hard 4-5 questions which are difficult to solve. We call them CMT questions (Common Mistake Type).

In fact, these hard 4-5 CMT questions are given on actual GMAT. If you get 1-2 questions wrong, you can definitely hit 49. Or, if you get 0-1 questions wrong, you can hit 50-51. So, you should get 3-4 right out of hardest 4-5 questions. These questions usually take 4-5 minutes to solve per question. This is a big pressure because we have to solve 37 questions in 75 minutes.

On top of that, you also have to be strong in the 5 key questions -Integer, statistics, probability,inequality, absolute value, which completes 80% of your study for GMAT. You can learn both CMT and the key questions from our course.

If you're interested, from our course All-In-One 51, you will learn our unique approaches and solving questions using the approaches: Variable approach of DS and IVY approach of PS. With our unique approaches, you can solve any questions that normally take 4 minutes in 1 minute and 30 seconds, and 2-minute question in 30 seconds. Moreover, you can solve 100% of DS questions with Variable approach and 30-40% of PS questions with IVY approach, which can boost your score.

Come visit our website below to have a look at our approaches!
https://www.mathrevolution.com/

Please try Trial Pack (4 hour lesson) that reveal our secret approaches of DS+PS core theory that you have never seen. You can test whether you like them or not before you enroll.
If you enroll, we can provide you with extra questions of probability.

Additionally, below are two useful articles featured in GMAT Club for your reference. This will be helpful for you.

· Ultimate Q51 Guide : the-ultimate-q51-guide-209801.html
· Most Updated Math Trend : overview-of-gmat-math-question-types-and-patterns-on-the-gmat-211809.html

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