Make Sure to Go Beyond Memorizing to Understanding Underlying Concepts

Many concepts, such as the slots method for answering a combinations question, can be somewhat tricky to remember, and preparing for the GMAT can involve learning many such concepts. How do you remember them and keep them all straight? Yes, an approach may seem clear the week you learn about it, but what about a month later?

One answer is to go beyond memorizing concepts, formulas, and strategies, to seeking to fully understand what underlies them. For instance, if you understand how the parts of a formula relate to each other, you will remember the relationship much more easily than you would were you to simply memorize the formula. When you understand what underlies concepts, the concepts become almost unforgettable.

In fact, if you forgot something, such as the formula for rate-time-distance, but understood how to derive it, you could simply derive it yourself rather than looking up the formula. After a while, derivation and recitation would become practically one and the same. If you were not quite sure of some detail of a formula or approach, within seconds, you could confirm what is correct.

Generally speaking, the more deeply you understand something, the more its details will be clear in your mind, and the more your memory of it will be self-supporting. So, as much as is practical, seek to understand what underlies any GMAT-related idea that you want to remember.

Warmest regards,

Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder & CEO, Target Test Prep