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Purpose of the GMAT
Using This Chapter
Stages
Question Format
Getting to the Answer
Ladder of Difficulty
Scoring and Difficulty
Dry Erase Boards

Purpose of the GMAT

The GMAT is designed to assess how well you will do in business school. Business schools already know your ability to achieve – from other parts of your application they can see your academic and professional success. What they want to learn from the GMAT is your aptitude for solving unique and complex problems.

The test measures your ability to solve problems, not your ability to do calculations. To prepare for the GMAT you can’t simply memorize formulas, you have to become a better problem solver. You need to be able to speak the language of the GMAT by getting familiar with the different question types and the mathematical fundamentals necessary for the Quantitative (math) Section.

The 800Score GMAT Prep Course aims to maximize your achievement on the GMAT, so it is not a generic math review. Our goal is not only to show you the methods necessary for getting the right answers, but also to give you insight into GMAT math so that you will solve problems more efficiently.

Using this Chapter

The strategies and techniques in the rest of this chapter highlight reasoning skills and test-taking tactics. These methods will increase your speed and help you see through some of the tricks on the test.

There are numerous sample questions in this chapter, but many of the techniques are also shown in examples in other chapters. You should use these techniques as you go through all the review sections shown in the Table of Contents.

If you already have a strong math background, you can add these techniques and methods to your toolkit to enhance your reasoning skills and your mathematical intuition.

Stages

Preparation for the GMAT quantitative section has two stages.

• The first stage is reviewing the fundamentals and methods necessary for solving routine problems. These fundamentals include mathematics below trigonometry and calculus, but do include some statistics and probability. For some people, this can require considerable work, while for others it's just a quick review.
  
• The second stage is learning how to solve problems that require complex logic, including learning how to work more efficiently. This means increasing your critical reasoning skills and your mathematical intuition. The GMAT is designed so that simply memorizing math methods and techniques will only help up to a certain point. On an actual test, you will rarely encounter a problem in the exact form that you've studied.

Question Format

The GMAT math section presents 37 questions in 75 minutes.

There are two question types. About two-thirds of the questions are multiple-choice where you will have to select the correct answer from among 5 choices. The remaining one-third are "Data Sufficiency" questions. These questions are also multiple-choice, but instead of asking you to find the solution they ask you to determine if a given statement provides enough information to solve the problem (Data Sufficiency will be explained in more detail in a later chapter).

Getting to the Answer

Your goal when taking the GMAT is to pick the right answers on a multiple-choice exam. The more questions you answer correctly, the better your score.

You are not being graded on style or form. It doesn't matter if you find the answer in the "ideal" fashion or by following the usual routine. In fact, the fastest way to an answer often does not involve using a traditional method, but rather a method geared specifically to the GMAT.

Each question may have several possible approaches. You need to develop an ability to recognize a fast and effective way to solve different questions. Because your objective is to find the correct answer choice efficiently, choosing the right strategies is a very important part of doing well on the GMAT.

Ladder of Difficulty

The GMAT is a Computer-Adaptive Test (CAT), which means that question difficulty will adjust to match your skill level.

Expect the first question to be moderately difficult. From there, question difficulty will go up or down based on whether you answered correctly.

Most questions will be near your skill level. A few questions are experimental questions, which may be above or below your skill level. Some questions will intentionally seem to be much different than your skill level. This is another GMAT trick meant to test your logic and reasoning, so be aware:

• If a question seems unusually easy or quick to solve, double-check that you're not falling for a trap.
• If a question seems unusually hard, look for shortcuts.

The 5 tests for the 800Score GMAT Prep Course include some questions that might seem a little out of your skill level in order to teach you this reasoning skill. We want our tests to truly simulate the actual GMAT experience.

Scoring and Difficulty

The GMAT scoring algorithm is based on three factors:

• how many questions were answered within the time limit
• how many questions were answered correctly
• level of difficulty of the final questions

The GMAT is trying to find your skill level in reasoning and math. It assesses this by using the ladder of difficulty of questions. Remember that difficulty is based on reasoning, not just the math.

The level of difficulty assigned to a question by the GMAT may not be the level of difficulty for you if you know the right technique and have the right strategy. These strategies and techniques are covered throughout the 800Score Prep Guide.

Most GMAT guides say the first question will be "average," but expect it to be slightly more challenging than just "average."

If you get a question right, the difficulty level increases. If you get it wrong, the difficulty level decreases. The difficulty level can make huge swings in the first few questions.

You may not be able to notice a change in difficulty level while you are taking the test. But at some point, you will start consistently getting some answers wrong. Your score is correlated to the level of difficulty of those last questions.

With 75 minutes to answer 37 questions, you will have about 2 minutes per question. But on a Computer-Adaptive Test (CAT), you can't skip a question and return to it later.

To maximize scoring, you should spend a little more than 2 minutes on the first questions and decrease the amount of time spent on later questions. This may seems backward, since later questions are harder. But this minor variation in time management can help you get more correct answers and increase the level of question difficulty, which will raise your score.

You can use the GMAT Pacer while taking the 5 tests included in the 800Score GMAT Prep Course.  It will allow you to practice and use this timing tactic to increase your score.

Dry Erase Boards

To prevent GMAT questions form being "stolen," you won't be allowed to use scrap paper for your calculations. Instead, the test center will provide you with dry erase note boards and marker pens. These can be awkward to use, especially if you usually do detailed calculations. Doing calculations in your head can increase errors, particularly under the pressure of test day. In addition, copying questions also invites errors.

Therefore, it may be helpful to go to an office supply store and get a couple of boards similar to those you’ll be given on test day. Also buy a couple of dry erase markers (thin point) and a box of tissues. Practice doing math problems with these supplies, and you’ll be better prepared for test day.

GMAT Math Introduction Table of Contents Section 1: Introduction   Section 2: The 5 Steps   Section 3: The 7 Techniques    1. Plow    2. Don't Do That Math!    3. Backsolving    4. Plug-In    5. Ballpark    6. Experiment    7. Pattern

	2. The 5 Steps