Best non-OG high difficulty math problems

[Woozler]

As most people here know, the quant problems in the OG, apart from a handful in the 240's, are quite simple: I have just finished doing probs 150-169: not a single one required out of the box thinking, it was all just drudgery. This is not what most people here are going to find on the actual test.

So, I'll try to assemble the best high difficulty non-OG math practice tests in this thread for those who are hoping to score 47+ on the quant part of the test.

1. Manhattan GMAT practice tests (free with purchase of any of their prep books) - heard many good things about those and their difficulty level. Reasonably priced ($26 gets you one of their books plus 6 full online tests plus 25 additional problems).

2. GMATClub tests ($79 for 200 problems marked 'difficult'): any comments on how good those are?

3. Something called "300 hardest GMAT math questions with solutions" : there's still no answer on whether any of them are from GMAT prep (can be downloaded from a link a few threads below).

4. A collection of questions by Bunuel

Comments/advice on the above? Additional sources for TOUGH math problems (tough as in tricky)?

[arora007]

Manhattan GMAT practice tests : the math section is as tough as it can get on the real test. the only thing is.... some of the problems are too lengthy/time-consuming.

GMATClub tests, math section...well I got a chance to use the math tests on a couple of free days(eg. thanksgiving day, 4th July etc..) these tests are real-time hard. I would surely recommend them, if you are targetting 50-51.

"300 hardest GMAT math questions with solutions" I found the difficultly level on those too good.. 50ish, since the source in a few questions maynot be not standard/w/o a complete explanation, if u have very less time do not go all out for it.. or don't lose heart if you get a few wrong. These questions are good for practice, but do not take them as an indicator of your skill level, insead be ready with ur notebook to note down new things u learn while practice.

"questions by Bunuel" haven't seen those.. could u share the link? please comment a bit about the kind of source as well..

[VivianKerr]

I agree about MGMAT - some of its tough. It may sound silly but I recommend creating a WordDoc on your computer and then adding to it by copy/paste every time you come across a really hard question online, either from these forums or elsewhere.

Question (copy-paste)
Answer
Why Correct?
Content-Area Tested
Why Difficult?

Kind of like an Error Log, except it lets you break down what makes a particular question "hard." Usually it is (1) combining content-areas or (2) requiring many steps to solve.

If you do a simple Google search like "hardest GMAT questions" so many come up! This thread is a good idea, by the way!

Best,
Vivian

[bblast]

Also the 122 toughest maths problems in a wordfile is nice.
All 700+ level Q's well compiled. Its there on a few threads available for download at btg.

[HPengineer]

Do you think the OG questions are enough to prepare someone to get a 600-650 on the real test?

[bblast]

Yes, u can easily cross the 600 barrier if you are able to solve the og questions confidently, but solving OG alone would not give u the learning and the Armoury to confidently tackle sudden unseen questions on the real gmat, so u need to backup OG with a little "upper level stuff" so that ur overall thinking is sharpened to attack the tricky gmat questions.

I m assuming ur question was directed only to the quant section.

[HPengineer]

Your suggestion is the exact strategy i have employed. I do the OG problems then supplement with material from BTG and MGMAT.

I found the beat the gmat video questions to be more difficult then the OG for sure.

[HPengineer]

I know this is a tough question to answer but if im scoring 42, 43 in MGMAT quant CAT should i expect a higher score on real exam or roughly the same?

[bblast]

Depends, i got roughly 44-45 in all mgmat's and ended up with a Quant 47 in gmat prep 1; with some more work I wish to get up to 48. All this in less than a month(in fact 18 days), have used kaplan 800(only Q),og12+supplement and mgmat(all 5 guides).
jist of the discussion is do questions from everywhere but as u approach the real day switch to official questions so that u are in the mode of solving the tricky subtle stuff and not in a mode for complex questions which involve intense computation.

hope this helps.
Thanks
Pushkal