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achloes
Using PEMDAS as taught by Manhattan Prep, I tried working inside out by solving the denominator first, however, got the wrong answer as my conjugates turned out to be positive.

In such questions, how does one figure out where to start when there are two division operations involved?
As long as you're good on official GMAT questions, I wouldn't worry about it, achloes.
It's highly likely that if such an awful expression was presented on the GMAT (and that's a big IF), approximation would eliminate four answer choices.
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achloes
Bunuel avigutman ScottTargetTestPrep EMPOWERgmatRichC

Using PEMDAS as taught by Manhattan Prep, I tried working inside out by solving the denominator first, however, got the wrong answer as my conjugates turned out to be positive.

In such questions, how does one figure out where to start when there are two division operations involved?

Thanks in advance!

Hi achloes,

This is clearly an 'ugly-looking' fraction, but based on how the answer choices are written, it's likely that we'll end up with a square root in our solution and a fraction (with a 3 in the denominator). When dealing with these types of calculations, your first 'step' should almost always be to 'simplify' what you've been given. Focusing on the denominator of this fraction was the proper first move, so the question then becomes "what did you choose to multiply both parts of the denominator by?"

Can you go into more detail about your first few 'math steps?'

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Rich

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