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Level of Difficulty Grading in the OG

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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Thu Aug 01, 2013 5:15 pm
The questions in the Official Guide are arranged in ascending order of difficulty. It's hard to say exactly which questions are 500-600, 600-700 etc.

If you want to know where you stand, I suggest that you take an official practice test: https://www.mba.com/the-gmat/download-fr ... tware.aspx

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by [email protected] » Thu Aug 01, 2013 5:29 pm
Hi adigmat2013,

You'll probably find it more useful to figure out if there is a particular category of Quant or Verbal that you're having trouble with, as opposed to a particular level or question.

Once you're comfortable with all the content, then focus on fixing any "silly" mistakes that you're making (and consider your pacing).

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by adigmat2013 » Fri Aug 02, 2013 6:19 am
Thank you.

My GMAT exam had to be preponed unfortunately and I am now left with 20 days less than my initial study plan. I am not intending to practice any questions above the 700+ difficulty level from the OG as I am now aiming a score of 650-700. I am often getting stuck with questions in the OG and wondering whether these are 700+ difficulty (for e.g. in the data sufficiency section, questions after No. 120, page 285 onwards). If anyone can give me a sense whether these are 700+, then I will skip these questions and only practise the ones before them.

Any help is appreciated. (exam on 13 August 2013)
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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Fri Aug 02, 2013 7:22 am
If your target score is in the 650-700 range, you should still be looking at 700+ level questions. The truth of the matter is that there isn't a huge difference between a 680-level question and a 730-level question. Also keep in mind that different test-takers have different strengths and weaknesses, so the difficulty rankings do not apply to everyone.

Also, if you're scoring in the 650-700 range, and then correctly answer a few questions in a row, you'll start seeing 700+ level questions. So, you might as well practice with them. If your target score were in the 500-600 range, I'd suggest that you skip the 700-level questions. But, with your target score, you should practice all difficult questions.

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by lunarpower » Tue Aug 06, 2013 12:50 am
adigmat2013 wrote:Hello,

Can anyone advise how can I find out the level of difficulty (i.e. 500-600 or 600-700 etc) of each question in OG, so that I know which difficulty banding I am struggling with?

Regards
Adi
don't do this to yourself. just try to solve the problems. if you get defeated, shrug your shoulders and move on to the next problem.

there's clearly some gradient to the "difficulty" of the OG problems, but let's not fool ourselves here -- no one really knows for sure.
... apparently not even GMAC themselves, in some cases. (there are some math problems that appear in the first 1/3 of the OG13 chapter, even though they were in the last 10% in OG12).

i wrote about this here:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/quadrilatera ... tml#686611
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