For many students, GMAT number properties is one of the most daunting sections of the exam. But it doesn’t have to be that way. The GMAT number properties section is just like any other difficult section during a standardized test:it can be mastered. The key to mastering a standardized test is knowing how to take one. Remember the SAT or ACT back in High School? Learning how to the take those exams was crucial to a high score. Fortunately, those rules that you learned for those examinations still apply. Therefore, being prepared for the GMAT number properties portion is all about understanding and reviewing very basic math concepts in order to save time. Below is a review of very basic mathematical definitions:
Integers
Integers are numbers sans a fractional part such as 3, 2, 1. A number like 2.25, which is a decimal, is not an integer. Integers can also be negative, such as -3,-2,-1 but do not have a fractional part as well. Positive integers are defined as being whole numbers. The 0 is also an integer but is considered to be positive or negative.
Factors
Factors are considered to be numbers that divides equally into another number. For example the number 3 is a factor of 12 because 12/4=3. It is also a factor of 6 because 6/2=3 or 9 because 9/3=3.
Primes
Prime numbers are whole numbers that only have two divisors, the actual number itself and one. For example, the number 7 is a prime number because its only two divisors are 7 and 1.
Greatest Common Factor
The Greatest Common Factor or GCF for short is the largest number that divides two numbers evenly. In order to determine the Greatest Common Factor is by setting up a prime factorization of two numbers and comparing common factors. The largest common factor between the two numbers is the GCF.
Least Common Multiple
To find the least common multiple, you perform a prime factorization in the same manner as one would do for the GCF. However, the least common multiple is the smallest number of a multiple of two numbers.
Units Digits
Unit digits are the number to the right of the tens position. For example, the units digit for the number 364 is 4.
After reviewing basic topics such as the ones previously described, creating a study schedule with practice questions is a good way to see where your strengths and weaknesses are. Once, you know where your weaknesses are, study accordingly.
GMAT reading comprehension questions are often the most overlooked when future test takers are preparing for the exam. There seems to be a certain level of comfort with these questions that instills a false sense of security. This overconfidence is probably because similar questions appear on the SAT, ACT, and most standard state exams. If a person takes a practice GMAT exam, it is likely that, from a percentage correct standpoint, the reading comprehension questions are where they fare best.
Why then would anyone be reluctant to prepare for these questions and build on their strong suit? The answer is most likely boredom. Let’s be honest. Many GMAT reading comprehension questions are flat-out boring. You start by reading a long tedious passage about a topic for which you care very little. Then, you are asked to recall certain things from the passage. The problem is that you can’t recall much of anything, but your instinct tells you to try and answer the questions anyway. This is how incorrect answers are born.
Here are some quick tips for handling any GMAT reading comprehension passage:
It’s an Open-Book Test
Use the computer screen to refer back to the passage to locate the exact spot in the GMAT reading comprehension passage where the answer can be found. If an answer choice cannot be directly supported by the passage, it is incorrect and should be eliminated from consideration. If you are certain the answer choice must be correct, and yet still cannot find support for it at a specific place in the passage, then it is a really good wrong answer. The test writer should be congratulated.
Read the Context
When heading back to the passage to find the answer to each question, spend some time reading several of the lines above and below the portion where you expect to find the answer. A clever test-writing technique is to include words in a question that can be misinterpreted by only re-reading the one line of the passage containing those words. Read for context, and not just for key words.
You Have the Answer
After reading a GMAT reading comprehension question and returning to the passage, express an answer to yourself in your own words. This is a powerful tool. With practice, you will find that this will allow you to eliminate all but the correct answer simply by comparing each one to what you came up with yourself.
When you see a GMAT sentence correction question pop up on your screen, there are several things you can do to boost your score. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:
Time is the Enemy
The biggest enemy on the GMAT test is time. If you had all weekend to take the GMAT, it would be a walk in the park. With the clock ticking down, each strategy you employ on the GMAT sentence correction questions must be designed for maximum accuracy and maximum efficiency.
For instance, the first answer choice is always just a restatement of the sentence as written above. While this answer has the same odds of being correct as any of the others, it is not worth the time and brain power reading that sentence again in your head. Although this will only save seconds, on the GMAT seconds count.
Separate the Wheat from the Chaff
At first glance, the answer choices to most GMAT sentence correction questions may provide you with another time-saving strategy. If you notice that there is a similarity in two or three of the answer choices that does not appear in the others, start your grammatical analysis of the sentence there. If you are able to figure out which construction is correct for that small part of the sentence, you can freely eliminate the answer choices that contain the improper structure.
The brain has a tough time thinking about five things at once. That is why standardized tests do not really need to contain content that is too terribly difficult to still result in a normal distribution. Most folks review each answer choice one at a time, eliminating them as they go. When time is the enemy, this is too inefficient. Do yourself a favor and look for those similarities.
Prepare
Business schools take GMAT scores very seriously. You would not walk into a potential employer’s office for a job interview and scribble down a resume in the waiting room, would you? Mastering the GMAT sentence correction questions are a great way to increase your score. Just like a math problem, there is always one right answer and four wrong ones It is quite unlike the Reading Comprehension and Critical Reasoning portions of the exam that ask you to pick the “best” answer. If you don’t prepare a GMAT sentence correction question strategy before you take the GMAT, you may give away points that would have been easy to grab.
In Argonia the average rate drivers pay for car accident insurance is regulated to allow insurance companies to make a reasonable profit. Under the regulations, the rate any individual driver pays never depends on the actual distance driven by that driver each year. Therefore, Argonians who drive less than average partially subsidize the insurance of those who drive more than average.
The conclusion above would be properly drawn if it were also true that in Argonia
- the average accident insurance rate for all drivers rises whenever a substantial number of new drivers buy insurance
- the average cost to insurance companies of insuring drivers who drive less than the annual average is less than the average cost of insuring drivers who drive more than the annual average
- the lower the age of a driver, the higher the insurance rate paid by that driver
- insurance company profits would rise substantially if drivers were classified in terms of the actual number of miles they drive each year
- drivers who have caused insurance companies to pay costly claims generally pay insurance rates that are equal to or lower than those paid by other drivers
Highlight to see answer: B
Please post your explanations in the comments below!
A company’s personnel director surveyed employees about their satisfaction with the company’s system for awarding employee performance ratings. The survey data indicated that employees who received high ratings were very satisfied with the system. The personnel director concluded from these data that the company’s best-performing employees liked the system.
The personnel director’s conclusion assumes which of the following?
- No other performance rating system is as good as the current system.
- The company’s best-performing employees received high ratings.
- Employees who received low ratings were dissatisfied with the system.
- Employees who receive high ratings from a performance-rating system will like that system.
- The company’s best-performing employees were motivated to perform well by the knowledge that they would receive performance ratings.
Highlight to see answer: B
Please post your explanations in the comments below!
