![\"Manhattan](\"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2018\/05\/sucking-juice-gmat-quant-problems-patrick-tyrrell.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Remember how you\u2019d finish off a Capri Sun pouch by twisting it up, trying to get out every precious drop of those 6 ounces of happiness? Capri Sun always left you wanting more\u2026 something never said about a Judd Apatow movie.<\/span> The learning process usually flows in this 4-stage continuum:<\/b><\/p>\n Exposure \u2192 Partial Ability \u2192 Effortful Competence and Functional Understanding \u2192 Effortless Competence and Total Understanding<\/p>\n Stage 1: We feel clueless and don\u2019t know what to do or think.<\/span> Effortless Competence<\/b> refers to the calmness and confidence you feel within 30 seconds of reading the problem: you understand what sort of problem this is and have in mind at least one plan for how you could attack it. You can execute the mechanical steps quickly and easily.<\/span><\/p>\n Total Understanding<\/b> means that you recognize any traps the test writers had in mind. You can connect this problem to some other problem you\u2019ve done. You could write your own version of this problem, in which the details could all be changed but the concept being tested would be the same.<\/span><\/p>\n GMAT Quant problems vary a great deal in terms of what content knowledge is needed to get the correct answer on <\/span>that <\/span><\/i>problem, but you can usually harvest all the available GMAT skill points available in a problem by running down this checklist:<\/span><\/p>\n —<\/p>\n Every time we review a GMAT Quant problem, we want to do an inventory of all its stats. Pick your metaphor:<\/span><\/p>\n If you\u2019re an outdoor kid, think of each problem as a baseball card or basketball card. You gotta break down where that problem went to school, how tall\/heavy that problem is, what season of its career that problem is in, and, of course, what that problem\u2019s slugging average was last year.<\/span><\/p>\n If you\u2019re an indoor kid, think of each problem as a <\/span>Magic: the Gathering <\/span><\/i>or <\/span>Pokemon<\/span><\/i> card. You gotta break down that problem\u2019s hit strength, defense rating, available potions, and special spells.<\/span><\/p>\n If you\u2019re a fashionista, think of each problem as an outfit in an editorial shoot. Who designed that problem\u2019s jumpsuit? What ankle-length boots is that problem wearing? <\/span>How much <\/span><\/i>does that problem\u2019s handbag cost?! Who can afford that? Who <\/span>are <\/span><\/i>these problems that are wearing $5000 outfits?! Sorry, I\u2026 I lost myself there for a second.<\/span><\/p>\n —<\/p>\n Wanna hear another cool learning science term? \u00a0<\/span>T h e \u00a0\u00a0f l u e n c y \u00a0i l l u s i o n<\/span><\/i>. This refers to the idea that <\/span>in the moment<\/b> of learning how to do something, we understand how to do it. This gives us the <\/span>illusion <\/b>of being <\/span>fluent <\/b>at the task.<\/span><\/p>\n Imagine you\u2019re a teenage driver with his first flat tire. You watch your mom or the driver from AAA replace your tire and feel like <\/span>now<\/b> you understand how to replace a flat. Maybe in the case of your parent, it\u2019s even <\/span>you <\/span><\/i>who replaces the tire, with your parent\u2019s instructions. You feel pretty good about yourself. You think, <\/span>So what if you can\u2019t grow facial hair yet, Patrick\u2014I mean, Hypothetical Character. You just changed a tire. <\/span><\/i>ADULT <\/i><\/b>looks good on you, sir!<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Now for the thought experiment: let\u2019s say your next flat tire doesn\u2019t come until two years later. You\u2019ve seen it done once before. Are you going to be able to remember how to fix the flat?<\/span><\/p>\n Probably not! You thought you knew how to fix it, but that was the fluency illusion. In reality, you have Partial Access (stage 2). You\u2019re definitely better than clueless, but you can\u2019t quite get the job done on your own.<\/span><\/p>\n So what if the flat tire had only been one year later? Still pretty doubtful for me that I\u2019d recall it. One day later? Sure. One week later? Sure. One month later? Yeahhhh?<\/span><\/p>\n Our goal is to schedule ourselves <\/span>redo appointments<\/b> around the fringe of when we think we\u2019d probably start to forget something we\u2019ve learned. The most efficient way to build strong retrieval strength for a memory is to \u2018wake it up\u2019 right when it\u2019s getting close to having decayed so much that it\u2019s hard to access anymore.<\/span><\/p>\n If I had that 2<\/span>nd<\/span> flat tire about two months after I had changed my first flat, I would probably still possess enough memory of the first exposure that if I really struggled I could remember all the things I was supposed to do (stage 3).<\/span><\/p>\n When we connect back to the past like that (like <\/span>closing the loop<\/span><\/i> in the movie <\/span>Looper<\/span><\/i>, but not involving self-murder), we basically create a long-term, rather than a short-term, memory. Having that 2<\/span>nd<\/span> flat tire a couple months after the first one would probably allow me to remember how to change a flat for the next five years.<\/span><\/p>\n So what is the decay-rate we expect of GMAT Quant problems? How long should we wait to schedule our <\/span>redo appointments<\/b>?<\/span><\/p>\n If the problem was at stage 1, you could do it 2-4 days later.<\/span> How are you going to remember to perform all these erratically-timed redo problems?<\/span><\/p>\n YOU\u2019RE GOING TO START A REDO CALENDAR, <\/b>and it\u2019s going to be the most important habit you have in your GMAT practice. As you\u2019re reviewing GMAT Quant problems, you should always have this calendar handy. Evaluate for yourself what stage of learning you feel like you\u2019re at for this problem, and set an appropriate redo appointment on your calendar.<\/span><\/p>\n A redo appointment just looks like this: PS147<\/span><\/p>\n If I put PS147 on my calendar for May 25<\/span>th<\/span> (and a 2<\/span>nd<\/span> redo 15-20 days later on June 12<\/span>th<\/span>), then when those dates roll around and I look at my calendar for the day, I know that Problem Solving #147 is one of the problems I\u2019m scheduled to redo that day.<\/span><\/p>\n The Redo Calendar is for revisiting the holistic experience of doing that problem. However, there is a much more obvious and famous tool for drilling down on the discrete bytes of content from each problem: <\/span>FLASHCARDS<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n The first five ingredients in the Recipe for Mastery were all about the Recognition stage. If we try a problem and find that we were lacking on any of those first five questions, then we need to make a flashcard (hard copy or virtual one on our phone\/computer).<\/span><\/p>\n The sixth ingredient was about mechanical mastery of arithmetic \/ algebra \/ breaking down to primes \/ performing exponent rules \/ etc. Some of those moves are definitely flashcard-friendly, but often having a deficiency here means less about memorizing one <\/span>specific<\/b> move and more about assigning ourselves some foundational \u201crinse and repeat\u201d practice on whatever topic \/ operation we were struggling through. The Foundations of Math question banks in the Manhattan Prep Student Center (click on the circled \u201c?\u201d icon, if you have Atlas access) are a great source of 10Q drill sets on a variety of mundane but important topics.<\/span><\/p>\n The last four ingredients were more about our overall savvy when it comes to GMAT Quant problems. To drill down on <\/span>these <\/span><\/i>big-picture awareness skills, put down your pencil. Take about 15-30 minutes and flip through PS and DS problems, focusing only on questions like these:<\/span><\/p>\n Problem Solving:<\/span><\/p>\n – Could I <\/span>Make Up My Own Numbers <\/b>on this problem?<\/span> Data Sufficiency:<\/span><\/p>\n – Does it seem like there is some <\/span>rephrasing \/ simplifying \/ <\/b>or other <\/span>upfront organizing<\/b> we would do with this problem, or would we just dive into the statements?<\/span> In conclusion, your goal is to harvest all the available value from every OG Quant problem you try. So make sure you\u2019re performing these steps:<\/span><\/p>\n In Part 2 of this article (coming next month), we\u2019ll take a handful of OG GMAT Quant problems and subject them to the 10 Questions together. ?<\/p>\n Want some more GMAT tips from Patrick? Attend the first session of one of his\u00a0<\/i><\/b>upcoming GMAT courses<\/a>\u00a0<\/i><\/b>absolutely free, no strings attached. Seriously.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Remember how you\u2019d finish off a Capri Sun pouch by twisting it up, trying to get out every precious drop of those 6 ounces of happiness? Capri Sun always left you wanting more\u2026 something never said about a Judd Apatow movie. Let\u2019s do the same thing with OG GMAT Quant problems. In order to extract […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[873,929,52871,930,2,8],"tags":[53412,53413,53416,53415,53414],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-15739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-for-current-studiers","category-gmat-prep","category-gmat-strategies","category-gmat-study-guide","category-how-to-study","category-quant-on-gmat","tag-gmat-quant-problems","tag-og-problems","tag-recipe-for-mastery","tag-redos","tag-the-fluency-illusion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/117"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15739"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17007,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15739\/revisions\/17007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15739"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=15739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Let\u2019s do the same thing with OG GMAT Quant problems. In order to extract all the potential value from doing an OG problem, you\u2019re going to need to deeply review it, and then (in the vast majority of cases), you\u2019re going to need to <\/span>redo <\/span><\/i>it once or twice a later date. Why?<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>Stage 2: We recognize some aspects or know some related moves\/properties\/formulas, but can\u2019t seem to solve this one.<\/span>
\n<\/span>Stage 3: We solved this one, but we did so with low confidence or only after taking well over 2 minutes.<\/span>
\n<\/span>Stage 4: Let\u2019s discuss.<\/span><\/p>\nThe Recipe for Mastery<\/b><\/h4>\n
\n
\n<\/span>If the problem was at stage 2, you could try it 5-7 days later.<\/span>
\n<\/span>If the problem was at stage 3, you could try it 15-20 days later.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>– Could I <\/span>Work Backwards <\/b>from the numbers in the answer choices?<\/span>
\n<\/span>– Are the <\/span>Answers<\/b> Spread Apart<\/b> so much that estimation would be good enough?<\/span>
\n<\/span>– Are any answer choices just repeating a number in the problem or showing me one-move mental math using numbers in the problem? (These are good answers to avoid when guessing.)<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>– Does either statement on its own seem obviously insufficient?<\/span>
\n<\/span>– Is this a C trap? Is it too obvious that if we had both statements, we would have enough info?<\/span><\/p>\n\n
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\n![\"patrick-tyrrell\"](\"https:\/\/cdn2.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2018\/03\/patrick-tyrell-150x150.png\")
Patrick Tyrrell<\/a>\u00a0is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Los Angeles, California.<\/strong>\u00a0He has a B.A. in philosophy, a 780 on the GMAT, and relentless enthusiasm for his work. In addition to teaching test prep since 2006, he\u2019s also an avid songwriter\/musician.\u00a0Check out Patrick\u2019s upcoming GMAT courses here!<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"