Challenge Problems

[stephanie.yeung]

Hi -

I feel comfortable with OG quant problems and MGMAT quant question bank problems. However, I am only getting 1/3 - 1/2 of the archived challenged quant questions correctly.

What's the issue here? And, how can I improve on that?

Thank you.

Regards,
SA

[RonPurewal]

Hi -

I feel comfortable with OG quant problems and MGMAT quant question bank problems. However, I am only getting 1/3 - 1/2 of the archived challenged quant questions correctly.

What's the issue here? And, how can I improve on that?

Thank you.

Regards,
SA

those challenge problems are what we like to call "900-level questions".

they are MUCH MUCH harder than just about anything that you will ever see on the exam. in fact, this is the biggest reason we stopped writing them, removed them from their previous position on the company's main web page, and archived them: because, for the most part, they're so hard that they straddle the border between "test preparation" and "entertainment for quant geeks".

therefore, unless (a) you've got everything else pretty much in line and (b) your goal score is right around 800, you probably don't have to worry much about these.

finally, let me add this: if you're getting 1/2 of the challenge problems correct, then you will almost certainly have minimal issues with the quant section.

--

re: the other problems, what is "comfortable"?

what % of these problems are you getting right? and (at least for the question bank problems), at what difficulty level?
if you are consistently getting almost all of the mid-level problems, and a solid majority of the high-level problems, correct, then you should have few to no Quant issues to speak of.

[stephanie.yeung]

Hi. Thank you for your feedback. My average right answer quant level is 630/640 for PS/DS for CAT 1.

What's the best way to improve my NP skills?

[niitorious]

I had the same question when I came to this forum today!

So Stacey it seems like you're saying the challenge problem archive won't be too helpful? I am testing in the 700+ range right now. My aim is 750+.
I have problems with CATs because a succession of hard problems throws me off time.

[StaceyKoprince]

Ron was actually the one who said that, but I agree. :)

The challenge problem archives are generally good only if you're already scoring 95+ percentile on quant (and some of them aren't good even if you're already scoring 99th percentile on quant - they're so long and convoluted that they're just not that representative of what's on the real test).

Stephanie, are you using our Number Properties book already? And are you in one of our classes? (Need to know what resources you have so I can advise on how best to improve in that category.)

niitorious, you're never going to be able to answer everything in the given time. The test is always going to throw some stuff at you that's just too hard / takes too long. The way you deal with this: learn to recognize when something is just too hard, make an educated guess (eliminate any answers you can tell are wrong before guessing), and move on at or before the time limit. For most people, this applies 4-7 times per section, though at the highest levels (750+), it doesn't happen as frequently (though it still happens!). So just change your mindset here: your goal is NOT to learn how to answer every single thing in 2 minutes. Your goal is (a) to answer every thing that you can in the generally accepted timeframe and (b) to recognize when you can't (and let those go).

[stephanie.yeung]

Hi Stacey,

I am taking the class and using the book already. I seem to understand the concept, but I often find myself not able to recognize what to use to solve problems.

Pls advise.

Regards,
Stephanie

[StaceyKoprince]

I agree that NP problems can be the hardest to recognize, because they disguise / obscure the way in which they present the info.

I would actually start to do some analysis based upon the OG problem sets listed for every chapter at the back of the book. Start with some of the lower numbered problems. You know what chapter they're in, so you already have an idea of what the problem is testing. Work through the problem to identify exactly what topic it is testing in that chapter (or read the explanation if you need help), and then do a "reverse translation."

Basically ask yourself, "Okay, now that I know this problem is testing the concept of prime, what were the words in the problem or the set-up of the problem that could have signaled to me that this was, in fact, about prime?" Keep a notebook or file on your computer and have two columns: "If I see" and "Then I know"

If I see:
factors that multiply to produce an unknown number
and
those factors have to be greater than 1

Then I know:
I probably need to figure out whether that unknown number is prime or not prime.

How do I know? Prime numbers are only 1*themselves, while non-prime numbers have some factors that are neither 1 nor themselves. So a non-prime number, eg 9, can be produced by multiplying two factors greater than 1 (eg 3*3). A prime number, eg, 5, cannot be produced by multiplying two factors greater than 1 (because one factor always has to be 1).

(This works for more than just NP, by the way. It's a good exercise for any topic on which you struggle to recognize what's being tested.)

You can / should also ask your teacher for additional ideas! :)

[stephanie.yeung]

Thanks!

[StaceyKoprince]

good luck - let us know how it goes!