Misplaced Math Anxiety on GMAT Quant

Here’s the quick answer to “what math is on the GMAT”: mostly algebra, arithmetic, and a few key flavors of word problems, which appear in more than two-thirds of all GMAT quant questions. The topics many students fear most, such as probability, combinatorics, and the infamous two-trains rate problems, appear in less than 3% of official questions each. If you’re spending half your study time on them, your anxiety is pointed at the wrong target.

What do you think is holding your GMAT or Executive Assessment quant score back? If, like many of our incoming students, your mind immediately jumps to:

• Probability
• Combinations
• Permutations; and/or
• “The rate problems with trains coming toward each other”, as many of our incoming students like to put it…

… then you might want to think again.

Which Quant Topics Actually Appear on the GMAT and EA?

Here’s an unglamorous reality: the core of your GMAT and EA quant score consists of algebra (including linear equations, quadratics, and inequalities), arithmetic (including exponents, roots, and estimation), and a few key flavors of word problems (particularly percents, ratios, and algebraic translations).

Since these totally unsexy topics are the backbone of your GMAT or EA quant score, you’ll want to focus on those if you want to achieve consistently high scores on the test.

But let’s go back to the four topics that our students often think of first: probability, combinations, permutations, and a specific type of rate problem (“two trains are coming towards each other…”). Why shouldn’t you worry so much about these topics?

We’re not going to tell you that rate questions aren’t important. We’re also not going to tell you that probability, combination, and permutation questions are irrelevant. But we will tell you that these four topics are never the difference between, say, a 595 and a 645 on the GMAT, or a 150 and a 155 on the EA exam.

Here’s the thing: when you really look hard at the GMAT and EA, none of these four “exotic” topics seem to appear all that often. For example, it’s possible that you’ll see two rate problems out of the 21 quant questions on your GMAT exam, but it’s more likely that you’ll see only one, and it’s exceedingly unlikely that you’d see that particular rate problem that happens to involve two trains. Fortunately, that particular type of rate question is incredibly rare.

Similarly, it’s theoretically possible that you’ll see a combined total of three probability, 

combination, and permutation questions on the GMAT, but it’s also possible that you’ll see exactly none, and in all likelihood, you’ll see just one or two.

Want some data? Probability is featured in fewer than 3% of the 1100+ retired GMAT quant questions that have been released publicly (in official mba.com practice tests and in the GMAT Official Guides, among other sources) for the current version of the GMAT; in total, combinations and permutations appear in less than 3% of those questions, too. And if you look through those 1100+ official questions, you’ll only find four rate questions with trains coming towards each other.

In other words, you’re unlikely to see more than a very tiny handful of these specific question types on your actual GMAT or EA test. But despite their relative rarity, we routinely meet students who seem to spend as much as 50% of their total study time on these topics.

How to Study for the GMAT and EA Quant Sections

Honestly, we think that test-takers tend to focus on these questions because they’re so darned memorable compared with the rest of the questions on the GMAT or EA. You won’t necessarily remember the algebra questions (too boring) or the arithmetic questions (too pedestrian), but the crazy rate questions with two trains headed toward each other seem to stick in our heads much more easily.

But the reality remains that algebra, arithmetic, and certain flavors of word problems form the core of your GMAT and EA quant score. If your accuracy on these three topics is less than stellar, your quant score will also be less than stellar.

Again, we’re not saying that rates, combinatorics, and probability aren’t worth studying. We just think that these question types cause a disproportionate amount of anxiety, and it’s crucial to keep them in perspective. If you’re trying to raise your GMAT or EA quant score past the 90th percentile, you probably need to study the living heck out of everything. But if your goals and starting score are more modest, or if you need to substantially improve your overall composite score, please don’t overemphasize this stuff.

At the very least, make sure that you don’t focus on probability, combinatorics, or “the rate questions with the trains” at the expense of more important topics. If you need to make a big improvement in your GMAT or EA quant score, spend the bulk of your time developing your accuracy on algebra, arithmetic, and word problems. Since those three topics appear in more than two-thirds of quant questions, it would be wise to keep them at the front of your mind as you create your GMAT study plan.