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iliavko
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Can I skip studying Percents and Interest Word Problems? 10 Apr 2016, 13:44
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Hi everyone!

So long story short, I can't solve percent\interest problems (no19 in gmatclub topics list). I get 95% wrong and I see no improvement what so ever.
I can solve many 700-level Qs like in number properties and some other topics, but word problems in general just aren't my thing. So
to avoid wasting time trying to get something that I might never understand anyways I am eliminating some topics from my study plan.

Do you think that I can skip the percent\interest problems and still get a good score? (by good I mean like 650 Q45+)

I also skipped Mixture problems, same reason, just can't get them, but mix probs seem very unlikely to appear onthe exam.

How many topics can you forgo before you have too many gaps that will prevent you from rising to the high level questions on the actual GMAT exam?

And btw, how many problems you have to get correct (imagine "10 out of 9") before you can say that you have control over a topic, so you can move to the next level of difficulty?

I'd appreciate some thoughts on this :)

Thank you guys!

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OptimusPrepJanielle
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Can I skip studying Percents and Interest Word Problems? 10 Apr 2016, 20:16
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iliavko
Hi everyone!

So long story short, I can't solve percent\interest problems (nº19 in gmatclub topics list). I get 95% wrong and I see no improvement what so ever.
I can solve many 700-level Qs like in number properties and some other topics, but word problems in general just aren't my thing. So
to avoid wasting time trying to get something that I might never understand anyways I am eliminating some topics from my study plan.

Do you think that I can skip the percent\interest problems and still get a good score? (by good I mean like 650 Q45+)

I also skipped Mixture problems, same reason, just can't get them, but mix probs seem very unlikely to appear onthe exam.

How many topics can you forgo before you have too many gaps that will prevent you from rising to the high level questions on the actual GMAT exam?

And btw, how many problems you have to get correct (imagine "10 out of 9") before you can say that you have control over a topic, so you can move to the next level of difficulty?

I'd appreciate some thoughts on this :)

Thank you guys!
Show more

Yes, the mixture problems do not appear much on the test, but the same cannot be said about the percent/interest problems.
You will have to master them in order to achieve a high score on the test as the concepts of percent are not just asked in individual problems but also tested on other problems too.
You will find a heavy usage of the percent concepts in the IR section too.

Regarding the accuracy percentage, 80% would be a good yardstick.
What problems are you facing on these topics? Can you let me know some particular problems so that I can try to help you.
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Can I skip studying Percents and Interest Word Problems? 10 Apr 2016, 21:30
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iliavko
Hi everyone!

So long story short, I can't solve percent\interest problems (nº19 in gmatclub topics list). I get 95% wrong and I see no improvement what so ever.
I can solve many 700-level Qs like in number properties and some other topics, but word problems in general just aren't my thing. So
to avoid wasting time trying to get something that I might never understand anyways I am eliminating some topics from my study plan.

Do you think that I can skip the percent\interest problems and still get a good score? (by good I mean like 650 Q45+)

I also skipped Mixture problems, same reason, just can't get them, but mix probs seem very unlikely to appear onthe exam.

How many topics can you forgo before you have too many gaps that will prevent you from rising to the high level questions on the actual GMAT exam?

And btw, how many problems you have to get correct (imagine "10 out of 9") before you can say that you have control over a topic, so you can move to the next level of difficulty?

I'd appreciate some thoughts on this :)

Thank you guys!
Show more

If you want a 650 score, you cannot skip percentages and that's that.
Interest based problem you can skip but it is an application of successive percentages only so the moment you understand percentages, you will understand interest rate problems too.

Again, you might be ok skipping mixture problems but you certainly cannot skip weighted averages - the concept on which mixtures is based. There are numerous problems you can solve using weighted averages.

Here are some posts that have helped many students:

https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/2011/02 ... rcentages/
https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/2011/02 ... e-changes/

https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/2011/03 ... imple-one/
https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/2015/04 ... -the-gmat/

https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/2011/03 ... -averages/
https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/2011/04 ... -mixtures/
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Can I skip studying Percents and Interest Word Problems? 11 Apr 2016, 03:49
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Karishma and Janielle,

Thank you so much for your replies.

@Janielle, you see, I don't have a specific question I can't solve, it seems that I can't grasp the principles to solve those questions in general. After I see the solution, I understand it, but I can feel that I am not getting the "fundamentals" to solve any percentage-type question, so next time I try a new quetion I don't know how to start. And it loops like this all the time.

karishma, thank you very much for the links, I will check them right now. It's a shame I can't skip the topic so I guess I wil have to give it another go. Interestingly, I can easily solve interest problems, even in my head. But when it comes to other type of % like the ones that involve calculating percentages of X, Y without any concrete values, or "An epidemic is reported to have broken out in Florida. The number of detected instances of a certain disease is reported to have increased by 85% in the last year. What is the lowest number of newly detected instances possible?" I just don't know where to start.

Another question please, I noticed that word problems are more "popular" on the exam in PS format than DS. Do you think it's wise to dedicate most of my time to PS format on WPs? Or should I give it a 50-50 attention allocation for both PS and DS?

Ones again, thank you so much for your feedback!

All the best :)
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Can I skip studying Percents and Interest Word Problems? 11 Apr 2016, 23:48
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Karishma and Janielle,

Thank you so much for your replies.

@Janielle, you see, I don't have a specific question I can't solve, it seems that I can't grasp the principles to solve those questions in general. After I see the solution, I understand it, but I can feel that I am not getting the "fundamentals" to solve any percentage-type question, so next time I try a new quetion I don't know how to start. And it loops like this all the time.

karishma, thank you very much for the links, I will check them right now. It's a shame I can't skip the topic so I guess I wil have to give it another go. Interestingly, I can easily solve interest problems, even in my head. But when it comes to other type of % like the ones that involve calculating percentages of X, Y without any concrete values, or "An epidemic is reported to have broken out in Florida. The number of detected instances of a certain disease is reported to have increased by 85% in the last year. What is the lowest number of newly detected instances possible?" I just don't know where to start.

Another question please, I noticed that word problems are more "popular" on the exam in PS format than DS. Do you think it's wise to dedicate most of my time to PS format on WPs? Or should I give it a 50-50 attention allocation for both PS and DS?

Ones again, thank you so much for your feedback!

All the best :)
Show more

In percentage questions, it often works if you assume the value of base as 100 (in case there are no concrete values). For the problem you mentioned, here is my solution: an-epidemic-is-reported-to-have-broken-out-in-florida-142827.html#p1146177
It doesn't matter if you couldn't think of it as long as you understand it fully now.
As for word problems, they are based on concepts such as percentages, ratios, weighted averages, time speed distance etc. They may be more popular in PS format but either way it makes no difference. Be comfortable with the concepts and you will be able to handle both formats equally well.
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Can I skip studying Percents and Interest Word Problems? 12 Apr 2016, 04:10
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iliavko
Hi everyone!

So long story short, I can't solve percent\interest problems (nº19 in gmatclub topics list). I get 95% wrong and I see no improvement what so ever.
I can solve many 700-level Qs like in number properties and some other topics, but word problems in general just aren't my thing. So
to avoid wasting time trying to get something that I might never understand anyways I am eliminating some topics from my study plan.

Do you think that I can skip the percent\interest problems and still get a good score? (by good I mean like 650 Q45+)

I also skipped Mixture problems, same reason, just can't get them, but mix probs seem very unlikely to appear onthe exam.

How many topics can you forgo before you have too many gaps that will prevent you from rising to the high level questions on the actual GMAT exam?

And btw, how many problems you have to get correct (imagine "10 out of 9") before you can say that you have control over a topic, so you can move to the next level of difficulty?

I'd appreciate some thoughts on this :)

Thank you guys!
Show more

Hi mate,
Welcome to that peculiar corner; between the devil and a hard place.
I suggest you embrace the devil.
It wouldn't kill you.
You can pull it off.
Yes you can.
go to www.gmatprepnow.com click on that silly topic and surprise yourself.
iliavko you can.
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Can I skip studying Percents and Interest Word Problems? 12 Apr 2016, 04:20
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iliavko
Hi everyone!

So long story short, I can't solve percent\interest problems (nº19 in gmatclub topics list). I get 95% wrong and I see no improvement what so ever.
I can solve many 700-level Qs like in number properties and some other topics, but word problems in general just aren't my thing. So
to avoid wasting time trying to get something that I might never understand anyways I am eliminating some topics from my study plan.

Do you think that I can skip the percent\interest problems and still get a good score? (by good I mean like 650 Q45+)

I also skipped Mixture problems, same reason, just can't get them, but mix probs seem very unlikely to appear onthe exam.

How many topics can you forgo before you have too many gaps that will prevent you from rising to the high level questions on the actual GMAT exam?

And btw, how many problems you have to get correct (imagine "10 out of 9") before you can say that you have control over a topic, so you can move to the next level of difficulty?

I'd appreciate some thoughts on this :)

Thank you guys!
Show more

I wouldn't skip. Many other topics which are not percent problems entirely have percent related parts in them.

Check below links for theory and practice on percents:

Percentages, Interest and More

Compound Interest Problems from our Special Questions Directory.

Theory on Percent and Interest Problems

DS Percent and Interest Problems
PS Percent and Interest Problems
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iliavko
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Can I skip studying Percents and Interest Word Problems? 15 Apr 2016, 04:20
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Thank you all for your feedback, there seems to be a unanimous concensus that I should dive into percents head first, thing that I've already done and amazingly I am starting to understnad a few things. Let's hope the trend goes on :)

Karishima, Bunuel your links were very useful, thank you!

One more time, thank you all for your feedback!

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Hi there,
This topic has been closed and archived due to inactivity or violation of community quality standards. No more replies are possible here.
Where to now? Join ongoing discussions on thousands of quality questions in our Quantitative Questions Forum
Still interested in this question? Check out the "Best Topics" block above for a better discussion on this exact question, as well as several more related questions.
Thank you for understanding, and happy exploring!