Strong on DS. Average on PS

Question

Hey Guys,

I've been working away on the OG. Got through roughly 100 DS and 100 PS problems. My average scores are DS - 91% and PS 70 %. My primary degree is in Computer Science so I have a good background in mathematics. I'm just wondering is there anyone out there with this kind of imbalance in their scoring? I see a lot of posts about people wanting to improve their DS scores.. possibly more so than PS. Is this the case? I'm new to the forum still..

I would also like to hear from people who started off with a PS average like mine and cranked it up to 90%+ . Is this possible if I keep practicing?

Cheers,

Aztec

highhopes · Answer

This would actually make sense to me. A CS background is probably more suited to thinking in terms of logic, which bodes well for DS. I came from an engineering background and physical problem solving was much more commonplace. It's good for you, there are only a select number of types of problems you're likely to see. It seems like they're able to come up with endless DS questions. Though I didn't like DS, so maybe it's all in my mind...

I'd say keep practicing, maybe a GRE book or something simple would help you make sure you have all the concepts.

I'd say keep practicing, maybe a GRE book or something simple would help you make sure you have all the concepts.

bb · Answer

The answer is Maybe.
You need to build a solid foundation in math. Tests will help you with finding holes that you can patch, but books will help you with building a wall that has no holes and does not need patching. Get a good math book that actually teaches you math (even though you have a CS background). Then practice. Also, look into getting an error log - there are many templates circulating on the forum.

Also, if you feel that most practice questions are too easy, try the GMAT Club Tests

icandy · Answer

I find my self on the other side here. I consistently take long time for DS questions even though I am a CS student. I feel that GMAT DS has become more and more trickery to a point where I feel that we are being tested for tricks and not just math. One might disagree, but what is the point in hiding some thing and testing whether the test taker can recognize it. There is virtually no end for the degree of hiding GMAC can resort to. I feel that its high time GMAC has to go back to the drawing board and come up with some thing else. B T W, DS questions encourage guessing, which I absolutely hate. I guess "guess it or lose it" is the mantra.

As far as PS is concerned, you are lucky. Most GMAT PS question types can be seen in OG and GMAT prep and GC. You can easily build on the PS questions as long as you have concepts. I felt that we need concepts and calmness to solve the PS questions. Freaking out seeing 5 line PS work problem or a figure with triangle in circle will make a solvable but tough problem more difficult. If you are confident that you have all the concepts in your brain, You seem to because you are saying that you are good with DS ( concepts + trickery), You should be good with PS sooner or later.

Now My Q to you guys is How to get the DS questions done with success rate (> 90%) with in 2 minutes? I am talking about DS questions that one would call 700+ level Q's. Thats where I loose time and have to chose an answer randomly for the last 2 or 3 questions, esp the ones that involve multiple cases. .

Pathfinder · Answer

Knowing which subjects are tested on GMAT is essential for you. Being good at DS means a lot in the GMAT, but Problem Solving is "the name of the game". There is 22 PS questions and 15 DS, usualy DS are more time cnsuming. Luckily, PS requires significantly less prep time.

First, you have to know exactly which math areas are tested and OG will help you determine that. There is very few questions (if any) spotted on the real thing that are going out of the scope of OG, and those were probably experimentals. It is essential to know which areas are tested, otherwise you are going to lurk around whole math and waste your time.

Second, it is necessary that you determine which areas are your weak spots and than to work on them. For that, you need some good comprehensive guide such as MGMAT or something like that. These books will strengthen your fundamentals, especialy in your weak areas.

Definitely you have some "issues" in your fundamentals - better score in Ps than in DS clearly indicates that. Probably you have some 48+ math subjects but also some 25- Fortunately, improving PS is much easier than DS. For DS you are either talented or not, you can speed up with months of practice, but speeding up in PS takes far less time.

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Strong on DS. Average on PS

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