The Quant section of the GMAT is NOT a ‘math test’ – it’s a ‘critical thinking test’ that uses math as the subject through which you can prove your critical thinking skills. While the Quant section does require that you complete lots of basic calculations as you work through the section, the GMAT will NEVER require that you complete complex calculations to get to the correct answer… so if you CHOOSE to approach questions in that way, then you will likely limit how high you can score. If one of your goals is a Q51, then you would find it really helpful to build up a multitude of Quant skills, instead of focusing on complex, long-winded ‘math approaches’ that often take longer to implement than other more-strategic options and increase the chances of you making little mistakes along the way.
 
The GMAC Official Guide is a fantastic book of practice questions – and if you don’t have a copy, then you should absolutely purchase one for your studies.
 
Consider the following question that appears in the Diagnostic Test of the GMAC Official Guide. It’s question #8 in the Problem Solving section of the Diagnostic – and has appeared in the last several versions of that book:
 
If a certain toy store’s revenue in November was 2/5 of its revenue in December and its revenue in January was ¼ of it’s revenue in November, then the store’s revenue in December was how many times the average (arithmetic mean) of its revenues in November and January?
 
¼
½
2/3
2
4
 
This is a fairly mid-level prompt; it’s a little wordy but the ‘math’ behind it isn’t too difficult. How would you approach it? Would you use algebra? Do you recognize that there are at least two OTHER ways to get to the correct answer (and one of those approaches requires almost no math…)?
 
Take a moment to answer this question in whatever way you choose. Write everything down and – in the next post - we’ll compare your approach to the three options that I’ve hinted at.
 
GMAT Assassins aren’t born, they’re made,
Rich

Note: If you have any questions about anything in this thread, then you can feel free to contact me directly via email (at [email protected])