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the answer 4 · Fri Mar 02, 2007 5:58 pm

Hi, I would like opinions on the level of difficulty for the Problem Solving questions found in the GMAT Review.

I have gotten through about 110, just under half, of the Problem Solving questions and haven't found many to be difficult. All but 2 of the questions I got wrong were due to carelessness, as opposed to being stuck and not knowing what to do. (I'm getting ~93% correct). I find these questions good for building basics but I took a Kaplan test the other day and found many more multi-stage, intricate questions on that test. (Maybe the mixture of Data Sufficiency and Problem Solving affects my perception�) I want to spend time on Data Sufficiency since I'm pretty weak in that area but before I move on I want to ensure I am comfortable with Problem Solving.

How do others rate the GMAT book Problem Solving questions in terms of difficulty? Hard, medium, easy, and are they representative of the questions someone trying to score in the 700s would see on test day? (Yes, I know the questions were taken from old exams�) Are the questions later in the section, like #180 through #240, harder? Depending on the responses, it may be a better use of time to skip the rest of the GMAT Review book and start working on the Kaplan 800 problems�

Your response is appreciated. Best of luck to all.

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the answer 4 · Fri Mar 02, 2007 6:02 pm

Oops, one last thing. Thoughts on Data Sufficiency questions in the GMAT Review book --> Hard, medium, easy? Representative of questions a 700 scorer will see on test day?

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Stacey Koprince · Tue Mar 06, 2007 1:14 am

According to the people who wrote the book, the questions in the official guide do get harder as the question numbers get higher. (I assume you are talking about OG when you say "GMAT Review" below.)

So, yes, you've been doing the easier questions and they should be getting harder the further you get into the book.

It's great that you've been doing the earlier ones, though. You can learn a TON on the earlier "building block" questions that will then make it much easier to do the more intricate, multi-level questions that appear later in the book. (And I'm not just talking about math principles - I'm also talking about standardized test-taking principles.) And it's easier to learn these principles from easier questions than from the hardest ones.

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