GMAT 5-Hour Quick Prep For Dummies

Lisa Zimmer Hatch, MA, and Scott A. Hatch, JD, help students excel on standardized tests. They have authored numerous test-prep texts and curricula. Sandra Luna McCune, PhD, is professor emeritus at Stephen F. Austin State University. She’s currently an author and statistics consultant.

• Start Here 1About This Book 1Foolish Assumptions 1Icons Used in This Book 2Where to Go from Here 2Block 1: GMAT Overview in 20 Minutes 3Signing Up for the GMAT 3Deciding where to take the test 3Registering for the GMAT 4Knowing What’s on the Test 4Checking out how the GMAT is structured 5Knowing what you’re being tested for 5Navigating the computerized test 6Preparing for the GMAT 7Getting Up to Speed on GMAT Scoring 8Interpreting your score 8Deciding whether to retake the test 9Block 2: Vanquishing the Verbal Section 11Acing the Reading Comprehension Questions 11Knowing what reading comprehension questions look like 11Approaching reading passages 12Sticking to the subject: Types of passages 13Approaching reading comprehension questions 14Reading comprehension practice questions with answer explanations 20Sharpening Your Critical Reasoning Skills 25Focusing on “critical” concepts: An overview 25Making a case: Essentials of informal logic 26Thinking inside the box: Question types 29Stalking your prey: How to approach each question type 30Critical reasoning practice questions and answer explanations 41Block 3: Conquering the Quantitative Section 47Juggling Numbers and Operations 47Just your type: Kinds of numbers 47It’s not brain surgery: Basic operations 48Working with bases and exponents 52Checking out the ancestry: Roots 54Following the order of operations 55Splitting up: Fractions, decimals, and percents 56Making comparisons: Ratios and proportions 61Playing the numbers: Scientific notation 62Considering All the Variables: Algebra 63Defining the elements: Algebraic terminology 63Mastering algebraic operations 65Extracting information: Factoring polynomials 70Minding your Ps and Qs: Functions 71Putting on your thinking cap: Problem solving 75Seeing is believing: The coordinate plane 87Slip-sliding away: Slope and linear equations 89Manipulating Statistics and Sets 91Joining a clique: Groups 92Setting up sets 93Dealing with permutations and combinations 94Meeting in the middle: Mean, median, and mode 97Solving range and standard deviation problems 99Predicting the future: Probability 101Tackling Problem-Solving Questions 105Block 4: Excelling on the Data Insights Section 107Knowing What to Expect: Four Key Integrated Reasoning Question Types 107Understanding what the IR questions are all about 107Approaching each question type 110Extracting Insights from Graphic Data 122Mastering graphics-focused questions with five simple steps 122Translating information in tables 123Making comparisons with bar graphs 123Honing in on histograms 126Looking at line graphs 127Perusing stem-and-leaf plots 130Clarifying circle graphs (also known as pie charts) 130Venturing into Venn diagrams 131Taking on Data Sufficiency Questions 133You don’t need the solution to find the answer 133Steps to approaching data sufficiency questions 134Block 5: Taking a (Shortened) Practice Test 139Section 1: Data Insights 140Section 2: Quantitative 145Section 3: Verbal 148Answer and Explanations 152Section 1: Data Insights 152Section 2: Quantitative 155Section 3: Verbal 159Answer Key 162Block 6: Ten Tips for Scoring Higher on the GMAT 163Pace Yourself 163Guess and Move On 164Take Advantage of the Review and Edit Option 164Finish It! Completing Each Section 164Give Each Question Equal Treatment 165Make Time for the Last Ten Questions 165Use the Process of Elimination to Improve Your Odds 166Maintain Your Focus 166Take Time to Read the Questions 166Don’t Sink All Your Time into the Hard Questions 167Index 169