IMPORTANCE OF MENTAL MATHEMATICS IN GRE QUANT
Nowadays students are aware that GRE quant sections have an online basic calculator which can be handy to do simple mathematical sums. Looking at the syllabus of GRE quant, many students become overconfident that they will be able to solve these problems without a lot of practice. Only after they have given their first attempt do they realise that these exams require extensive practice than assumed in the first place. Reading the following blog one might understand the basic steps that are required to get a good GRE quant score.
GRE quant section has 20 questions which need to be solved in 35 minutes. That gives the student roughly one minute 45 seconds for each question. Though this might seem to be quite sufficient time one must understand that each problem might not be solved with this given time frame. One must not only focus on practising problems under varied topics but also try to improvise and reduce the time taken to solve these problems every time. When practice is done with this aim in mind, it will ensure better score in the quant section.
The first thing that one should look into is to improve their mental mathematical abilities that will save them crucial seconds in per problem which amounts to couple of extra minutes towards the end. Saving time helps in two ways. First, the student gets sufficient time in the end for rechecking all the answers. Second, students don’t have to double guess themselves about their calculations as they are confident about it with their practice. Mental mathematics involves numerous things like conversion of fractions to decimals, multiplication of single-digit and two-digit numbers, finding out squares of numbers, etc. Though all of them might not be easily solvable at the first attempt, its practice will make things easier for students to cope up and improve their abilities.
There are various steps to improve this trait. Students can keep practising regularly and look into various available solutions for every type of problem before narrowing down to the fastest solution. One must try to understand the steps involved, the methodology used, shortcuts and tricks employed to arrive at the answer in the shortest possible time. Certain tips like remembering the conversion of common fractions to decimals and vice versa will be useful, for eg. ½ is 0.5 and 0.25 is ¼. Similarly, it is important to pay attention the units used in the problem and not misread between dollars and cents, hours and minutes, etc.
Another aspect which students could focus on is dedicating separate time for mental mathematics only. For this particular exercise, I would like to suggest an application ‘Math Tricks’ available on Google Play. The link for the same is given at the end. This helps in practising problems of various types including basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division tips, finding squares and other powers as well as percentage calculations. The link for the application is:
At Imperial, we train students not just for brushing up these concepts but also provide them with tips and tricks to be employed in similar problems and to emerge victorious.
Rahul Bhat
Sr. Counsellor and Trainer
