Post your strategies or provide feedback (plz)

Critical Reasoning (CR) Strategy:

The more difficult CR questions tend to have more vague answers. That being said, you can still usually knock off two or three of the answer choices. This is the process that has worked for me:

DO NOT read the information first. Skip down and read the question (i.e. Which of these if true would seriously weaken the argument of X).

Now read the stem. Make note if any parts are bold.

Re-read the question after reading the information.

On your testing center provided pad - list out the answer choices. Next, as you read the answer choices, list how the answer choice addresses the question at hand. Use some form of shorthand to get your notes down quick.

i.e.
+ - na - na
A B C D E

If the above example corresponds to a question that is asking which choice strengthens, your answer is A. If it is asking which answer choice weakens, you will select between B and D.

Using this method will help you establish a streamlined method of approach.

Remember, on standardized tests, there isn't always a "right" answer. With these more subjective questions, your goal is to identify the "best" answer.

Reading Comprehension - Active Reading

One of the biggest complaints people have coming out of a conversation: the person didn't listen to me (i.e. the other person is not an active listener). The same rule applies for reading comprehension, you need to become an active reader to do well on the GMAT.

Rehashing what you just read to someone else is one way of improving your active reading skills. It can be done using any publication.

Example: After reading the newspaper, try to remember some of the headlines.
Example: Two weeks after finishing a book, explain to someone else in 20 words or less what the book is about.
Example: After reading a thesis or research paper, recall both the things you liked about the paper and the things you disliked about the paper.

The question writers on the GMAT ALWAYS have answers that play with your mind. An answer might be verbatim from the passagevand you might think the answer is too obvious. An answer might say all the correct things, but it throws in an "always" or "never" (it's rare that a CR or RC correct option uses extreme words).

Remember, your goal here is to find the "best" answer. It might not be the right answer you thought of, but it's still the best answer.

Something else that works for some people:

Taking notes while reading passages works for some people. The goal behind taking notes is to help you retain key points from the passage and know what information is where (avoid re-reading the entire passage).

The goal is to have one to three sentences per paragraph, with the number of sentences depending on how long each paragraph is and how much information is in each paragraph. The sentences should be high level points (don't write down specific details. i.e. how do you summarize the paragraph into one or two sentences.). This requires a bit of practice, but it also helps you become an active reader.

Another point is taking notes while reading helps some people retain information. By actually writing things down, you can force yourself to process process the information over a longer period of time.

I don't buy into the strategies of:
Skimming, short reading, hunting for key words, etc.

What it boils down to is retaining key information after completing a passage. This will help you answer easier questions, while providing you enough detail to know where to find answer to more difficult question. Best of all, you avoid re-reading the entire passage.

When analyzing the answers, the same strategy used for CR can be used here:



Time management is key throughout the entire exam. Other questions you may have more flexibility with (length of argument stem, short SC problem, etc.), but with reading comprehension, you still need to average 2 mins/problem including reading the passage.

Quant: General Strategies

Many people struggle on the quant section for various reasons. Some of the most notable are as follows:

-Lack of time management (problem the #1 reason people struggle on quant)
-Lack of review/understanding of rules of Algebra (i.e. when you CAN NOT divide by a variable in a quadratic because you might eliminate 0 as an option).
-Word translation
-Lack of understanding of number properties (even/odd, cross multiple, positive/negative, etc.)
-Lack of understand of overlapping sets (Venn diagram) or rate/work problems
-Lack of conversion understanding (tens to tenth, 1x10e^, gram-> kilogram, etc.)
- etc.

Hopefully this post will provide some simple rules to apply across all problems.

1. ALWAYS write everything down. Setting up quant problems is key for the following reasons:
- Ensures you are on the right track to solve for the unknowns needed to solve the problem
- Helps you eliminate obvious incorrect answers (if some are positive and some are negative, by setting up you should know if the answer is positive or negative).
- Creates a systematic pattern for problem approach. Helps streamline problems.

2. The knowns are NOT always clearly stated in the problem. When you write the information down, you can extrapolate the remaining knowns (i.e. complementary/supplementary angles, measurements of embedded angles, lengths of sides, etc.)

3. DON'T PANIC. If you become flustered with a problem - WATCH YOUR TIME. Do NOT let a single problem take up five minutes.

4. Spot check your work as needed. When doing practice problems, check your time and check your approach. This will tell you how often you will need to spot check your work.

5. SLOW DOWN when setting up problems. It's VERY easy to miss a negative sign, or misread a problem and then become very frustrated as none of the options match your answer. Setting up the problem is key to ensure you approach the problem in an appropriate and timely manner.

6. ???

I will edit this post as needed.

Quant: Geometry

Unless you are well versed in proofs and algebra, geometry requires a decent amount of memorization + application of memorized rules. There is no way around this.

That being said, there are things you can focus on which can help target what you need to memorize and can extrapolate out to other problems.

General things to memorize:
-General concepts of circles (area, circumference, embedded angles, etc)
-General concepts of triangles (area, rules for leg length, etc.)
-Rules for special triangles(isosceles and equilateral) <-- KEY TO MEMORIZE. Also make sure you understand the rules for triangles embedded in circles
-General concepts for all polygons ( (# sides-2)*180= measure of inner angles, rules of sides, angles, relation to triangles, etc.)
-How to calculate surface area for 3 dimensional figures
-How to calculate volume for 3 dimensional figures
- Supplementary/Complementary angles
-(others)?

Some problems will only give you variables and the answers will only have variables. You can work through with the variables to come to an answer, the problem is the GMAT writers usually simplify the problem as much as possible and sometimes certain steps are not so "obvious". The only real workaround for this is to plug in numbers. You can ONLY plug in numbers that do NOT violate the rules for the figure in question (i.e. triangle rule: the sum of two legs of a triangle MUST be longer than the third leg). If you use numbers that do not adhere to the rules, you WILL be VERY frustrated with the problems.

The key here is practice the concepts, and then do review problems to apply the concepts. You may have to go back to tactics used in school to help you retain the information (flash cards, notes read throughout the day, etc.). Some of the problems on the real test will mix figures/rules and you will need to be able to figure out what is what.

Quant: Word translations

If you're not an engineer by trade (or some other things that practice word translations), this might be a struggle for you. If you took advanced math or advanced applied science (physics/chemistry) during university days, these will be much easier.

The key for word translation problems is writing everything down and then plugging in the right values/symbols for the words in question.

Example found using Google:



Note: There are three times as many red cars as green cars. This means there are MORE red cars, thus the multiplier should be next to the lower value (green cars).

Identify your variables (this doesn't need to be written down, but make sure variables are kept straight).

r = red cars
g = green cars

First sentence translated: r = 3g
Second sentence translated: 6(g-12) = r+3

Two different equations, two variables. Substitute in and solve.

6(g-12) = r + 3
Substitute 3g for r
6g - 72 = 3g + 3
Isolate the variable
6g - 72 (+72 - 3g) = 3g + 3 (-3g + 72)
=
3g = 75
g = 25

Granted this is an easy problem, but the approach is the same every time:

Write down your known and work to solve the problem.

I will revisit this post for rate problems.

For word translation problems you need lots of practice. They kill your time. You need to know how to solve them there and then otherwise they will suck you in and before you know it 5 mins have passed.

My thoughts anyway.