GMAT Club
Week 5 of 12 Stay Organized 10-15 hrs

Work & Rates, RC Foundations & Tables

Nothing here is too difficult conceptually. It’s more about staying organized and not losing track as the question builds.

Stay organized: set up the table before you solve
0/6 this week

Global Resources

Your daily launcher

One tap to any tool the plan uses. Bookmark this page, and Error Log & Analytics next to it, for your daily habits.

Daily practice

Questions

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Tests & mocks

Weeks 3 · 6 · 9 · 11

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Recommended books

Print or eBook

Buy the Official Guide new, not used. Each copy ships with a single-use code for the online question bank, and used copies usually arrive with that code already redeemed. Manhattan and PowerScore books are fine to buy used.

My notes

All weeks, one place
Private to you, saved on this device with your progress. In the full version this becomes its own page, synced to your account.

Error Log & Analytics

Tracking system · every week

The same tracking system runs across all 12 weeks: log every miss, review the pattern, redo it. Two tools, one daily habit.

Minimum fields to track

Use the built-in error log tracker above, the Analytics portal, or a customized Excel/Google Sheets spreadsheet, whichever you'll actually keep up with.

  • Topic:

    fractions, ratios, percent, CR conclusion, etc.

  • Error type:

    concept gap / setup error / calculation slip / rushed reading.

  • Trigger:

    what in the prompt pulled you off track.

  • Fix:

    one-sentence rule you will apply next time.

Redo rule

Redo rule: redo every missed question after a fixed frequency (recommended: after each week) without looking at the solution.

Analytics: what to check before wrap-up

  • Accuracy by topic: which sub-skills are still under 80%.
  • Timing by topic: where you're consistently over 2 min/question.
  • The trend across your last few sessions, not just one bad day.

Week 5 Overview & Rules

Group Rules

Hope you survived last week’s marathon 🙂

This week will be slightly lighter, so you can also use the time to catch up on anything that’s pending.

That said, the questions this week can get a bit longer. Work and rate won’t always finish in two steps, RC will test your patience and DI tables can look simple until you miss one condition, or miss out appropriate sorting and everything goes off.

Nothing here is too difficult conceptually. It’s more about staying organized and not losing track as the question builds.

Weekly time budget: 10 to 15 hours total

Week 5 rules (so the group stays aligned)

  • Quant:

    no calculator

  • Timing ramp still applies

  • Error log continues

  • New rule:

    If you feel rushed, slow down. These topics punish speed more than slowness.

Week 5: Work & Rate and Distance & Speed

Quant Track

This is the week where GMAT checks whether you actually understand rates or you’ve just been memorizing formulas.

What this week is really about

By the end of Week 5, you should be able to:

  • Set up work and rate problems cleanly without panic
  • Stop mixing units (hours, days, jobs, people... pick one)
  • Know when to use variables and when to plug numbers
  • Avoid overcomplicated tables when a simple equation works
  • Stay calm when problems look long but aren’t actually hard

Book reference (if you have it)

Manhattan GMAT Quant + DI Ch. 22

Read carefully: Chapter 22: Rates and Work.

Find it on Amazon

Videos

Click to watch inline
Time & Work Problems: 2 Methods that Unlock Every Question | Aditya Kumar LiveGMAT Club
GMAT Crash Course EP15: Rates and Conversions Questions on the GMAT QuantGMAT Club
GMAT Ninja Quant Ep 12: Conversions & Rates IGMAT Ninja
GMAT Ninja Quant Ep 13: Rates IIGMAT Ninja
Free GMAT Prep Hour: Rates & Work - WorkManhattan Prep
Free GMAT Prep Hour: Rates: Distance & Work Questions in GMAT QuantManhattan Prep
How to Master Distance/Rate and Work/Rate Problems in GMAT Quant?GMAT Club

Watch enough to understand setup logic. You don’t need six different explanations saying the same thing.

Practice Sets

Phase 1: Easy-mode practice80% accuracy on 20 questions or a streak of 15 correct

You have two ways to do this. Pick the one that fits how you usually study.

Forum = Click the links below, sort by Kudos and solve questions directly on the forum. Quiz = preset Forum Quiz (subscription or rewards points).

Distance and SpeedForum Quiz
Work and RateForum Quiz

Goal is the same as Option A: 80% on 20 or a streak of 15 · Do small sets (15 questions). Review after each set.

Timing ramp for Phase 1
  1. Set 1: Untimed

    (focus on setup and accuracy)

  2. Set 2: Soft-timed

    (generous time, still process-focused)

  3. Set 3: Normal pacing

    only after accuracy is stable

Phase 2: Official-style questions (only after Phase 1 feels comfortable)90% accuracy on 30 questions or a streak of 20 correct

Once the practice sets feel comfortable, it's good to start testing yourself on official-style questions:

Distance and SpeedForum Quiz
Work and RateForum Quiz

Common traps to actively watch for

  • Mixing units mid-problem
  • Solving before defining the rate
  • Treating work problems like memorized templates
  • Overcomplicating something that just needs one equation

GMAT doesn’t reward heroic algebra here.

What’s coming next week

Overlapping Sets, Mixtures, and Sequences

Reading Comprehension – Foundations

Verbal Track

This week we’ll start working on RC, one of the most important parts of Verbal.

This week is not about speed. It’s more about getting comfortable with how to read a passage without forcing it.

A lot of issues in RC come from trying to remember every detail. That’s not the goal. Focus more on understanding how the passage is structured and what the author is trying to say.

What you should get out of this week

By the end of the week, you should be able to:

  • You’ll read passages more calmly
  • You’ll stop rereading the same line three times
  • You’ll know where to go back when a question asks something specific
  • You’ll feel less pressure to memorize details

Book Reading

Manhattan Prep – GMAT All the Verbal Ch. 10 & Ch. 11 & Ch. 12

Read carefully: Chapter 10: The Foundation; Chapter 11: Breaking Down the Passage; Chapter 12: Mapping the Passage.

Find it on Amazon

Read these slowly. RC is about mindset, not tricks.

Videos

Click to watch inline

Choose whichever style clicks for you.

How to Understand GMAT RC Passages Clearly & Answer Confidently (with GMAT 805 Tutor)GMAT Club
no-BS approach to GMAT RC | GMAT Ninja RC Series - Part 1GMAT Club
Reading Comprehension: Why You Forget What You Read—and How to Fix It | GMAT NinjaGMAT Club
GMAT Ninja RC Ep 1: How to approach GMAT Focus Reading ComprehensionGMAT Ninja
GMAT Crash Course EP1: Reading Comprehension Strategies for a 655+ ScoreGMAT Club
Most Effective Reading Strategies for #GMAT Reading Comprehension | #GMATVerbalGMAT Club

Practice sets

This week's RC work:

  • Read 4 to 6 passages total this week
  • Untimed only
  • Focus on passage structure, author tone, and the purpose of each paragraph
Don’t worry about accuracy yet. Worry about control.
What’s coming next

G&T - Tables

DI Track

Tables don’t really trick you with difficult math, most of the time the issue is that you end up clicking too fast without fully processing what’s given. One unchecked filter or an ignored column is enough for things to go off, and suddenly every answer starts looking almost right and it becomes hard to figure out what you missed.

Book Reading

Manhattan Prep: GMAT All the Quant + DI Ch. 8

Read carefully: Chapter 8: Table Analysis.

Find it on Amazon

Videos

Click to watch inline
Table Analysis: Embracing Excel Gone (sorta) Wrong: GMAT Ninja Data Insights EP3GMAT Club
5 Hardest Table Analysis Questions | Data Insights Series EP3, GMAT Focus EditionGMAT Club
Data Insights Ep. 4: Table Analysis -- This is Pretty Much ExcelGMAT Ninja

Practice Sets

Phase 1: Easy-mode practice80% accuracy on 20 questions or a streak of 15 correct

You have two ways to do this. Pick the one that fits how you usually study.

Forum = Click the links below, sort by Kudos and solve questions directly on the forum. Quiz = preset Forum Quiz (subscription or rewards points).

Goal is the same as Option A: 80% on 20 or a streak of 15 · Do small sets (15 questions). Review after each set.

Timing ramp for Phase 1
  1. Set 1: Untimed

    (focus on setup and accuracy)

  2. Set 2: Soft-timed

    (generous time, still process-focused)

  3. Set 3: Normal pacing

    only after accuracy is stable

Phase 2: Official-style questions (only after Phase 1 feels comfortable)90% accuracy on 30 questions or a streak of 20 correct

Once the practice sets feel comfortable, it's good to start testing yourself on official-style questions:

End-of-week self-check

Focus on:

  • Sorting carefully
  • Tracking units
  • Avoiding careless clicks

Error Log & Group Discussion Guidelines

Error Log

Continue the same structure from Week 1.

Post your stats, get a progress check

Need feedback, not sure whether you're ready to move on, or just stuck? Post these stats in your study group and a Moderator will give you an evaluation of your progress.

Reading sources & Time spent:
Quant questions solved:
Quant accuracy: work & rate __% | distance & speed __%
Verbal questions solved:
One RC habit you’re trying to break:
DI questions solved:
DI accuracy: tables __%
One question link I want discussed (include your full attempt):