GMAT Quantitative Study Plan

GMAT quant study plan

GMAT quant section comprises of 37 questions. Questions are roughly divided in to 3 sections which are problem solving, data sufficiency and data interpretation. Before you start with the preparation, clear out one thing from your mind. There are NO questions based on calculus. So do not waste time practicing those chapters. Technically speaking, even a high school graduate can appear for GMAT quant section because all the chapters that will be tested are the ones that you have already learnt during your school days. Thus, it makes sense to start off your preparation by brushing up with the concepts. Get hold of some school books and revise all the basics.

Problem solving questions comprise of the algebra and geometry. The pre-requisite here is to know all the formulae at the tip of your tongue. One good way to achieve this is to prepare your own flash cards. Make sure you go through those cards once every one or two days. Remembering as many tables as you can along with the squares and cubes will go a long way in deciding your performance on the D day.

The ‘100 Math Tips’ of THE BIG CD can be very handy especially during early stages. It comprises of well constructed concepts and formulae followed by the application of those concepts. Some questions come with the “Did you notice” bar which points out the trap laid or some exception handling. In questions such as these, guess work can be very useful. If say your answer is roughly around 85% and the nearest answer choice is 83% while other options are far off, you do not even need to solve the question. At times, backtracking method can also yield rich dividends.

The data sufficiency section tests your ability to reason quantitatively. The focus is not much on the computation part. The answer choices comprise of 5 ditto answer choices so memorizing those choices will save you precious seconds. Here, the Elimination technique is very useful. The 5 choices are:

A-only I is sufficient

B-only II is sufficient

C-both are required

D-any one of them is sufficient

E-data insufficient

Thus, if you eliminate either of A or B options, D automatically gets ruled out.

In data sufficiency question sets, it is not a bad idea to just analyze the given data for a minute and identify the relationship between the variables. You can rely on visual clues unlike the geometry questions. If the options are far off, approximation technique will save your time. Also, these questions require you to get a hand over percentages and fractions, so make sure you accomplish that.

The study material of OG is useful in the early stages. Once you are comfortable with that, move on to Kaplan series for more challenging problems. The mock tests are equally important. Start off with the PowerPrep series. All About Gmat Computer Adaptive Test from THE BIG CD is also useful. It features 5 tests with no repetition of questions. If you want more challenging test papers, go for Kaplan. But do not take the scores of Kaplan to your heart. You will score less here than you do in other tests.