Hi everybody I'm Melody with Magoosh and today I'm here to discuss with you ways
that you can prepare for the Quant section of the GMAT especially if you haven't done
any math or taken a math class in a long long time or even if just math was never
your favorite or your best subject I've got some tips that can help you feel
more comfortable and confident getting started preparing for the Quant section.
Before we begin I want to welcome you to our channel we've got a large library of study tips
and practice problems here on our channel and a lot more helpful videos coming soon so please make
sure you subscribe so you don't miss out on any of that good stuff I hope you like this video and
consider sharing with your friends if they could benefit from it too so some students are very
overwhelmed by the thought of taking a math test like the Quant section on the GMAT or even the GRE
other standardized tests and that's completely understandable when we're looking at graduate
school we may have been away from school for a very long time or maybe you've been taking classes
in the university in any subject but math and either way you're feeling a little bit rusty with
your math skills if that's you then I'm here to tell you that it is very common to feel that way
you're in very good company and you can absolutely be very very successful in the GMAT Quant section
let's discuss some reasons why getting back to math after years can feel so intimidating
that'll help us make a plan for overcoming those obstacles first of all it has been a long time
since you've learned some fundamental math skills and properties by the time we're in our 20s or 30s
or older it's been years maybe even decades since you first learned maybe how to work with fractions
or how to round decimals or what a prime number is so sometimes the most basic math skills can
seem particularly difficult if they're the one ones we learn the longest to go second each of
us has different strengths and weaknesses in our knowledge and our skills you spent many
years studying math in school and most likely you didn't master every topic to the exact same level
maybe some of your teachers weren't very clear in explaining things I work with some students
who learned hardly anything from an entire year of math class sometimes because they
didn't learn well from that particular instructor and sometimes we don't learn everything going on
in school because we're not feeling well or you're distracted or you're feeling stressed and if we're
being honest maybe some of us didn't always work our hardest and do everything we could to learn in
each math class we took so whatever the reasons may be it's very realistic to say that probably
you have some gaps in your knowledge and some gaps in your memory from different math classes you've
taken over the years most of us do third there's an old saying if you don't use it then you lose
it and that is definitely true for arithmetic and algebra skills skills we haven't used in a
while can become weak or can become slower it might even seem that they're fully forgotten
because they're buried so far back in our memory do any of these challenges ring a bell for you
the good news is none of these things have to prevent you from doing well in the GMAT Quant
section so let's talk about some solutions how to overcome these things you should expect that
you're going to need to review some mathematical skills some facts some properties some formulas as
part of your preparation for the GMAT even some that seem pretty basic or fundamental
a lot of these things will come up and come to your attention as you're working on practice GMAT
problems and some students may find that they need to do quite a bit of content review before they're
ready to start working on practice problems it all depends on your individual needs and your personal
knowledge so you should be paying attention to which subjects you come across that you need to
review and make sure you give yourself the time to do so fully try not to be too frustrated or
impatient while you're reviewing it can take a little bit of time to fill in all of those gaps
but that is time very well spent and you're going to find that some skills you will remember things
you used to be really good at we'll come back to you you'll learn other things for the first
time and it's going to feel awesome because as you do that you can feel that you're making progress
while you're studying I recommend making your own custom study guide some people might call that a
cheat sheet you can collect math vocabulary terms like what really is an integer formulas different
facts and properties you need all in one place you can add in different hints and strategies that
have helped you as you've become exposed to them and you can keep adding to this sheet as you make
progress even if you've got some great pre-made formula sheet resources that you're working from
making your own version in your own handwriting is a powerful memory aid that gives you a way to
physically interact with the information and it strengthens your memory I suggest keeping this
guide nearby and referring to it frequently when you're working on practice problems so that the
more often you're reviewing it that'll help you to remember the information you've picked out
and when test day comes it'll all be fresh and clear in your mind ready for you to use
now it's very important you know that the GMAT does not allow you to use a calculator at all
on the Quant section any calculations you have to make why there have to be done in your head or on
your scratch paper so while you're preparing it's important to get used to doing that math without
a calculator some of the basic arithmetic we can do mentally are on our scratch paper
some calculations are faster and easier if you apply some different tricks and some
tips for mental math and sometimes you see a question that feels like it's just too big the
numbers are too overwhelming to ever be done without a calculator if you come across that
situation it's a good moment to pause and think about what's really going on is it possible you
could solve that problem by estimating or does it even really need to be calculated
maybe you're working on a data sufficiency problem and all you need is to know that the number can be
calculated but not what the actual value is bottom line you will not be fully prepared for the Quant
section if you've been relying on a calculator in your practice so make sure that you're doing
that working on math without a calculator and there are some great tips in our playlist on
GMAT math tips check out some of the videos there and you'll see some great examples of
how you might be able to do some of that math with no calculator available so my friends now you've
got an idea of how you can get started preparing for the Quant section you need to identify gaps
in your personal knowledge and memory and fill those in by reviewing the content you need to
make your own study guide of the things that you personally have learned and need to review and
remember make sure you're using it and reviewing it regularly and you need to make sure you're
practicing without a calculator because that'll help you be GMAT ready so it's time for you to
go dive in be patient put in the time put in the work and very soon you'll be feeling a lot
more comfortable doing math again you'll be well on the way to an awesome GMAT score good luck!