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Quant approach

Problem Solving — algebra and arithmetic (GMAT Focus Edition)
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Quant approach

by Pedros » Sun Feb 28, 2010 1:26 pm
Guys ,I have a technical question about the quant section.

A friend of mine suggested a studying technique which entails practicing until I find a question that I cant solve ( or solve incorrectly) , let it be an exponent question for instance, he says I should stop there , review exponents ,and then solve every exponent question I can put my hands onto.

Another friend , debating with the former one, suggests something different. He says that If I understand the basics of exponents, I should only understand how that incorrectly solved question is answered, and then move on with my practice.

I have been following the first approach for a while now, since it sounds more convincing to me , but i found out that i havent touched geometry for a month now. So what do you think ?

I would appreciate your opinion on this issue.

Thanks
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by ajith » Sun Feb 28, 2010 2:06 pm
Pedros wrote:Guys ,I have a technical question about the quant section.

A friend of mine suggested a studying technique which entails practicing until I find a question that I cant solve ( or solve incorrectly) , let it be an exponent question for instance, he says I should stop there , review exponents ,and then solve every exponent question I can put my hands onto.

Another friend , debating with the former one, suggests something different. He says that If I understand the basics of exponents, I should only understand how that incorrectly solved question is answered, and then move on with my practice.

I have been following the first approach for a while now, since it sounds more convincing to me , but i found out that i havent touched geometry for a month now. So what do you think ?

I would appreciate your opinion on this issue.

Thanks
Well Here's my 2 cents

First approach is useful when you have a lot of time in hand and when you are in the initial stages of preparation. At this time, the idea is to build concepts and get it right the first time. While this technique might be effective it could also be time consuming.

Second approach is useful when you brushed up all the concepts and when you covered almost all of them. In that case, finding the root cause and eliminating it would help.
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by lunarpower » Sat Mar 06, 2010 6:08 pm
Pedros wrote:Guys ,I have a technical question about the quant section.

A friend of mine suggested a studying technique which entails practicing until I find a question that I cant solve ( or solve incorrectly) , let it be an exponent question for instance, he says I should stop there , review exponents ,and then solve every exponent question I can put my hands onto.
i think that "solve every exponent question you can get your hands on" is a little bit extreme, but you should DEFINITELY solve groups of official problems that are related by topic. you don't want to solve all of them, though, because then you won't have any left for future use.

also, unless you are VERY weak on a certain topic -- to the point where you can't even remember the basic rules and/or formulas -- "reviewing the topic" is somewhat overrated.
for instance, the basic rules involved in exponent questions are quite elementary, but that doesn't stop the gmat from creating problems that are extremely challenging -- even though they don't usually go beyond those basic rules. in light of this fact, most people's idea of "review exponents" would amount to little more than going over rules that they already understand.

instead, the primary difficulty of the problems lies not in the material itself, but, rather, in the very clever and ingenious ways in which that material is tested. given this fact, SOLVING the problems is not actually the primary emphasis; REVIEWING the problems IS the primary emphasis.

see the next post for more on this.
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by lunarpower » Sat Mar 06, 2010 6:09 pm
Another friend , debating with the former one, suggests something different. He says that If I understand the basics of exponents, I should only understand how that incorrectly solved question is answered, and then move on with my practice.
nuh-uh. no way. that's an extremely ineffective way of studying.

always keep in mind that you are never going to see these particular problems again.
as such, the particular solution to this specific problem at hand DOES NOT MATTER in the big picture. the only thing that matters is the ASPECTS of that solution that can be GENERALIZED to a point where you can APPLY THEM TO OTHER PROBLEMS.

see the following post, where i discussed in detail the correct way to review problems:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/need-tips-fr ... tml#107595
Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.

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Pueden hacerle preguntas a Ron en castellano
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On peut poser des questions à Ron en français
Voit esittää kysymyksiä Ron:lle myös suomeksi

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