Manhattan Geometry Question Bank Difficulty

Question

Hi ,
I am finding difficulty in Solving geometry question( Manhattan Question bank) within 2 minutes. Are Geometry questions generally like that ? or the questions in MGMAT geometry difficult ones ? I missed the time atleast in 40% of the questions .

1. could you please advise/share your experience ? do you guys follow any strategy to tackle these problems in general .

2.Any one has idea about the share of geometry question ( probable)

truth is that I find no time after finding 2 -3 parameters.

bb · Answer

Before we get into the details - what book have you used to study Geometry?

Snowingreen · Answer

Hi BB , I used Manhattan Geomety Strategy guide to prepare.

Snowingreen · Answer

I just reworked on the problems without timing and I was able to solve most of them around 2 - 2 1/2 min ( I was doing leisurely) . so I guess 80 % of them are fine. I think am not thinking fast when in pressure .

bb · Answer

Sorry did not get back with you. I pinged MGMAT tutor and he'll be in touch (probably monday).

In my experience, there were only a few Geometry questions on the gmat - between 1 and 3.

mdinerstein · Answer

Hi Snowingreen,

Right now, Emily's in break and won't be back until Wednesday. However, I'd be glad to help address this question in a more general manner.

First off, the number of Geometry questions you receive on the test is going to vary from sitting to sitting. The computer adaptive algorithm requires exposure to a Geometry question, but the actual number of Geometry questions you receive will depend on the question pool that month and your performance the day of the test. However, 1 -3 is not a bad assumption to hold when it comes to the sheer number of Geometry questions you'll be exposed to on test day.

In terms of Geometry strategy, I should admit that I'm not particularly well-suited to answer this question since I'm not a Manhattan GMAT Instructor! Generally, I would say that it's especially important to use your scratch pad for these question types. If the GMAT provides you with a sketch, try to re-draw it to scale. It's also important to know Geometry basics cold so that you can save time thinking about how to calculate basic shape properties such as the area of a circle and spend more time focusing on applying that knowledge to the rest of the problem.

I apologize I can't be of more assistance! I sent this thread to Emily, who will get back to you this coming Wednesday with more concrete information.

Good luck studying!

Best,

Michael Dinerstein
Manhattan GMAT

Snowingreen · Answer

Ohhh..thanks BB..I never thought we would get replies from MGMAT ..I mean its fast comparatively..you know what I mean.

Thanks Michael. I pretty much get to the point , that we need to get the basics sorted (faster calc and imagination). 
Problems are kinda easy when you are given the diagram .

#1 - I was trying to visualise the diagram to answer quickly and I make err 
#2 - Problems involving shapes and then comparing or finding the volume of other ( mix of geometry and bit of arithmetic looks time consuming).

and I guess when we have formula on ur tip, it will help (e.g I always derive the Surface area of cylinder )

Let us see some comments from emily .

esledge · Answer

Hi Snowingreen,

In my opinion, the keys to Geometry questions are (1) a picture drawn rather large and as close to scale as possible, and (2) a good memory for the formulas available to you,  in that order .

The picture is so important because
(a) imagining a shape/picture/etc. is usually more time- and energy-consuming than just drawing it,
(b) you can often add info to the picture: not only given measurements, but also others you infer from the givens,
(c) more often than you might expect, only 1-2 choices are in the ballpark, and you can eliminate 3-4 answers for being suspiciously too big or small-- but only with the aid of a picture !

As for memorizing the formulas, there is no magic bullet. If you count all the formulas in our book (all that you need to know), there are around 40. However, most of the more obscure formulas are based off of the ones you probably already remember (e.g. your derivation of the cylinder surface area formula from the sum of the area of two circles and a rectangle). You might want to think about the derivation of some of the other formulas. Not that you should derive on test day, but if you do some deriving now, the resulting formulas are more likely to stick in your memory later. Plus, you give yourself a safety net if the formula escapes you during the test.

And just to echo Michael's estimate: Geometry problems are not the most common on the test, so don't overemphasize this topic unless it is your only weakness on Quant.

Snowingreen · Answer

I just missed this. thanks for the explanation. And am seeing this now. Kaplan math workbooks gives 100 pages of importance to Geometry. god knows why . Arithmetic around 90 , algebra meagre 30 pages

bb · Answer

I fully agree that there is a lot more coverage of Algebra, Arithmetic, and Word problems than Geometry. 
However, you are making 2 wrong assumptions here:
1) Same amount of materials fits per page of Arithmetic and Geometry
2) GMAT covers the same number of topics from Arithmetic as it does from Geometry

Both of these are not true.

Snowingreen · Answer

Honestly speaking..I expected that someone would give me answer # 1 as you did

looks like critical reasoning :wink:

but got confirmed ..thanks.

vraptor · Answer

But are they worth a buy? I have used #1 and #3 and I am satisfied :-D

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Manhattan Geometry Question Bank Difficulty

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