{"id":15218,"date":"2024-07-03T10:20:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-03T10:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/blog\/prep\/?p=15218"},"modified":"2024-07-03T15:26:31","modified_gmt":"2024-07-03T15:26:31","slug":"gmat-test-quantitative-section","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/gmat\/gmat-test-quantitative-section\/","title":{"rendered":"What&#039;s Tested on the GMAT: Quantitative Section"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The GMAT Quantitative Section is designed to test your quantitative reasoning\u2014your ability to think logically about quant concepts. It covers basic math concepts, including arithmetic, algebra, statistics, and more but it\u2019s not truly a math test (though it can certainly feel like it). The section contains only one problem type: Problem Solving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You will need to relearn many of the quant skills you first learned in high school (or earlier!). And you\u2019ll need to learn strategies for approaching Problem Solving questions, as efficiently as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, you <strong>do not get a calculator<\/strong> on the Quant section of the GMAT\u2014so you will have to do your math work by hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>What is the Breakdown of GMAT Quant questions?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Time limit: 45 minutes<\/li><li>Number of problems: 21<\/li><li>Average time per problem: 2 minutes<\/li><li>Problem type: Problem Solving<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>You\u2019ll have 45 minutes to answer 21 Quant problems or an average of 2 minutes per problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[ <strong>RELATED:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/gmat\/practice\/gmat-practice\">GMAT Practice Tests<\/a> ]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>What Math Skills are Tested on the GMAT?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Arithmetic, including number properties, percents, fractions, and ratios<\/li><li>Algebra, including exponents, linear equations, quadratics, and functions<\/li><li>Statistics, including mean, median, and standard deviation<\/li><li>Story problems and number properties<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Problems may be written in \u201cpure math\u201d form or in \u201cstory\u201d form, so you\u2019ll also need skill in translating a story into the necessary math concepts to solve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While you do need to know various rules and formulas, the GMAT is explicitly designed to allow you to take advantage of shortcuts\u2014estimation, testing out a few real numbers, and so on. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/gmat\">The GMAT<\/a> isn\u2019t all that interested in precise calculations; rather, the test mimics the real-world usage you can expect in business school and the working world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, business schools are interested in knowing whether you understand quant concepts well enough to do some quick back-of-the-envelope calculations to determine a rough answer to the CEO\u2019s question\u20147,500 is good enough; 7,462.39 is unnecessary. Or whether you are able to realize that the sales forecast numbers your coworker just handed you don\u2019t make logical sense\u2014even though you haven\u2019t performed the precise calculations yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[ <strong>RELATED:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/gmat\/courses\/foundations-of-gmat-math\">GMAT Math Basics<\/a> ]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<h4 class=\"has-text-color\" style=\"color:#ab0c78\"><strong>FREE PREMIUM CONTENT<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"has-col-240-f-6-e-color has-text-color\">GMAT Math Quicksheet<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlock access to our free GMAT Math Quicksheet<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-background\" style=\"background-color:#ab0c78\" data-sumome-listbuilder-id=\"3dd243db-2e5a-4156-a79f-5a651d2fdb0d\">Get Access<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2>How Problem Solving Works<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Problem Solving (PS) is the classic multiple-choice math problem: They give you some info, they ask you a question, and they give you five answer choices with numbers or variables in them.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike DS, you are actually going to have to solve the math to get to the answer. But PS will at least feel a lot more familiar right from the start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Be careful, though! Because PS problems feel more familiar, you\u2019re going to be more tempted to use the textbook solution methods you learned in school. But a lot of PS problems can be solved <em>much<\/em> more efficiently by using various test-taking strategies\u2014estimating, testing out some real numbers, trying the answers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Standardized tests are literally built (on purpose!) for you to take advantage of these strategies to save time. In fact, someone who tries to solve all of the math problems in the \u201cold school\u201d way will most likely run out of time before they can finish the test. The GMAT is not <em>really<\/em> a math test. In the real world, it\u2019s good enough to know that revenues were up approximately 10% this quarter; if you take the time to calculate and tell your boss that revenues were up 9.843% this quarter, she\u2019s going to think that you\u2019re wasting your time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>How to Train Yourself to Think Like an Executive<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>As you get ready for the GMAT, train yourself out of your \u201cold school\u201d mentality and into your \u201cexecutive mindset\u201d mentality: What\u2019s the quickest, easiest way to get to the answer\u2014without making a mistake?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Problem Solving GMAT Practice Question<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>At a particular school, 65% of the students have taken language classes. Of those students, 40% have studied more than one language. If there are 300 students at the school, how many have studied more than one language?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>(A) 78<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>(B) 102<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>(C) 120<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>(D) 150<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>(E) 195<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First, read the question and jot down the information given:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>300 total<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>65% \u2192 LC (abbreviation for language class)<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>40% OF 65% \u2192 more than one LC<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Glance at the answers (before doing any work.). They\u2019re pretty spread apart, indicating that you can estimate at least a little.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first step is to figure out how many students take language classes. 65% is a little less than two-thirds (or 66.7%), so use two-thirds to estimate. Two-thirds of 300 is 200, so approximately 200 students have taken language classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Is that value, 200, a little bit of an overestimate or a little bit of an underestimate?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because the real percentage (65%) is a little <em>less<\/em> than the percentage actually used (two-thirds, or 66.7%), the value of 200 is a little bit greater than whatever the exact 65% figure would be. In other words, 200 is a little bit of an <em>over<\/em>estimate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Next, here\u2019s the source of one of the trap answers. The 40% who have taken more than one language class is <strong>not<\/strong> 40% of the total number of students. Rather, it\u2019s 40% of just the 65% who\u2019ve taken language classes. So the next step is to take 40% of the 200 figure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s not a terribly hard calculation to do\u2026but get out of your \u201cold school math\u201d mindset. Don\u2019t do calculations that you don\u2019t absolutely have to do! 40% is less than 50%, so 40% of 200 has to be less than 100.<\/p>\n\n\n<div  class=\"togglecontainer   toggle_close_all  avia-builder-el-0  el_before_av_sidebar  avia-builder-el-first \" ><section class=\"av_toggle_section\"  itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BlogPosting\" itemprop=\"blogPost\"  >    <div role=\"tablist\" class=\"single_toggle\" data-tags=\"{All} \"  >        <p data-fake-id=\"#toggle-id-1\" class=\"toggler \"  itemprop=\"headline\"    role=\"tab\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-controls=\"toggle-id-1\">Answer and Explanation<span class=\"toggle_icon\" >        <span class=\"vert_icon\"><\/span><span class=\"hor_icon\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>        <div id=\"toggle-id-1\" class=\"toggle_wrap \"  >            <div class=\"toggle_content invers-color \"  itemprop=\"text\"   ><p><strong data-rich-text-format-boundary=\"true\">The correct answer is (A). 78.<\/strong> <strong>Only one answer choice is less than 100.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>What if the answers had instead been these:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>(A) 65<\/li>\n<li>(B) 78<\/li>\n<li>(C) 92<\/li>\n<li>(D) 108<\/li>\n<li>(E) 120<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In that case, you can still do the first estimation (using two-thirds rather than 65%), but calculate more precisely on the second step. Here\u2019s how:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>40% of 200 is the same as 4(10%) of 200<\/li>\n<li>10% of 200 = 20<\/li>\n<li>4(10%) of 200 = (4)(20) = 80<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">80 is a little bit of an overestimate (since you overestimated on the first step), so the correct answer in the second set of answers is the one that\u2019s a little less than 80\u2014answer (B) 78.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To calculate percentages quickly, find benchmarks like 50%, 10%, 5%, 1% first, and then multiply or add them up to get to the percentage that you want. If you needed 12%, for example, then you could find 10% and 1% and then add up 10% + 1% + 1%.<\/span><\/p>\n            <\/div>        <\/div>    <\/div><\/section>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>[ <strong>RELATED:<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/study\/gmat\/simple-quantitative-strategies-for-the-gmat\/\"> Quantitative Strategies for the GMAT<\/a> ]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>How GMAT Scoring Works<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The GMAT Quantitative section is scored on a scale from 6 (low) to 51 (high). Most schools want to see a score of at least 40 and the most competitive schools are typically looking for a Quant score of 45 or higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Your Quant, Verbal, and Data Insights scores are also combined into your Total score, which ranges from 205 (low) to 805 (high). The Total score is the score that schools care about most (followed by your Quant score, for most schools). An average GMAT score is about 545; top-10 business school programs report average scores for their students in the 665 to 695 range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Review <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/study\/gmat\/whats-a-good-gmat-score\/\">What&#8217;s a Good GMAT Score<\/a> to learn how to determine what kind of goal score will help to make you competitive at your target programs.<\/p>\n\n\n<div  class='avia-builder-widget-area clearfix  avia-builder-el-1  el_after_av_toggle_container  avia-builder-el-last '><div id=\"text-76\" class=\"widget clearfix widget_text\">\t\t\t<div class=\"textwidget\"><p><span data-sumome-listbuilder-embed-id=\"70f62512b89832cc8e7fcd96b9d03245c2794cf0b7170fa257f26acec72436d9\"><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div><div id=\"text-77\" class=\"widget clearfix widget_text\">\t\t\t<div class=\"textwidget\"><p><span data-sumome-listbuilder-embed-id=\"71160db829b51adcc3539815988485f372b020407413c2957efe50cfe72ea639\"><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The GMAT Quantitative Section is designed to test your quantitative reasoning\u2014your ability to think logically about quant concepts. It covers basic math concepts, including arithmetic, algebra, statistics, and more but it\u2019s not truly a math test (though it can certainly feel like it). The section contains only one problem type: Problem Solving. You will need [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46944,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[55],"tags":[56,80],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15218"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15218"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46945,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15218\/revisions\/46945"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}