CONSISTENTLY ASK YOURSELF: “Am I spinning my wheels?” Remember, that means doing things that won’t get you to the answer any faster. Are you calculating something that won’t yield one of the five answer choices? That’s not to say that the GMAT is giving you wrong information, but rather that the answer choices restrict your … Read More
Here’s a simple GMAT Fractions trick that will help you out when you see a situation where you have to divide by 9 or 99 or 999, etc. It’s actually a really neat little trick and you’ll see it quite often in questions such as this one: Here is a quick tip for you, you … Read More
Arithmetic–or calculation for calculation’s sake–is a waste of time on GMAT Quant Questions. There–I said it. Allow me to add a premise to my argument: insecurity plays a huge role in GMAT Quant Questions. Chew on that for a moment, and let this sink in: Already the human computer is widely displaced by mechanical … Read More
The Ultimate Guide to GMAT Mixtures Questions Download this entire article in PDF form here! The beauty of Mixtures questions is that they are relatively simple once we get a couple of simple concepts straight. One nice thing about Mixture questions is that they are best learned through example, so let’s jump right in. Let’s … Read More
The Basic GMAT Probability Equations First, we need to establish some sort of general definition for the term Probability itself. You’ll most often hear Probability defined as some variant of: desired outcomes / total outcomes First things first: Probability is always a fraction, which, of course, could also be a percent (because these two statements, … Read More
GMAT Critical Reasoning Strategy Part II: Biases and Fallacies (or Yes, You Are Wrong About That) What we have previously considered is what might be called the “models” that we can use to think properly, but just as important is to realize that we are hopelessly irrational creatures with a lot of bullshit programmed into … Read More
Independent vs. Dependent Probability in GMAT Probability Questions — What is the Difference? It would be really easy to dive into a thoroughly flummoxing explanation of the difference between Independent and Dependent Probabilities, but I’ll spare you that. In other words, a technical proof of this is somewhat mind-bending, so we’ll leave it here with … Read More
I hate the GMAT because it is built to be frustrating. (Among other reasons, of course!) Start with contempt. If you get frustrated enough, the GMAT wins. While it’s nice to really enjoy something and pursue everything “for the love,” let’s be honest–that’s bullshit. At least at the beginning. Let’s start with a little story… … Read More
If your GMAT Score is stuck in the 600s, there’s probably a good reason. And that reason is technique. What is it that the 700+ scorers do that’s so different? One key thing is that they don’t waste time on unnecessary Arithmetic. Rather, knowing the multiplication tables and fraction-decimal equivalents cold plus understanding quick ways … Read More
Is it even possible to use Possessive Antecedent on the GMAT? This is an interesting topic that recently came up on Reddit. So… can you use a possessive antecedent on GMAT? Short answer: YES, but try doing it sparingly. It’s not good writing or good practice. By the way, if you don’t know what a … Read More