How have recent students best utilized the Challenge Problems? These questions are clearly good practice, however it seems to me that they involve quite a few more steps than typical problems in the Official Guides and therefore not indicative of the level of difficulty (timing constraints) on the actual GMAT. Also, the Challenge Problems seems to focus on advanced concepts such as logic, abstraction, probability and combinatorics, all of which are great practice, but don't represent the majority of the question on the real test. Any advice on how to use this tool would be much appreciated.

thanks

Great question! Most people shouldn't use these actually. At least half (if not more) of the Challenge Problems are harder and / or more time consuming than anything you can expect to see on the test - and even the ones that represent something you might see on the test are at the very hardest levels - you'd only see something like them if you were scoring a 750+.

They really exist for people who are extremely strong in Quant and need something that's beyond their current level to help push themselves further (by giving them access to problems that are too hard even for them). If you do fall into this category, even then, save these for the tail end of your prep.

Good luck! :)

Thanks for the quick response, Stacy.

I took the GMAT a week or so ago and scored a 45Q, I believe that with some diligence that score could be raised to the 48-51 range. What strategies have other students employed toward this pursuit? Also, does MGMAT produce a product similar to the Challenge Problems for the verbal section? I realize this question isnt in the genre of GMAT math, so I'm happy to post it elsewhere.

thanks again,

eric

We don't have an equivalent Challenge Problem bank for verbal - something we're working on.

FYI Quant 51 is pretty much the highest score you can get (technically the score range goes up to 60, but for some reason they don't actually assign scores that high). So scoring that well generally either means (a) you're naturally fantastic at standardized tests and can just do that or (b) you do a large amount of very targeted study, often via a course or private tutor, to the point that you could teach others yourself or write passable questions by the time you're through. In other words, it's doable but highly challenging.

Ericuva,

When I first started studying for the GMAT, I hadn't seen math related topics questions for a number of years. I had always been reasonably strong at high school math, so catching up wasn't too difficult.

When I first took an MGMAT CAT (without studying), I scored a 41Q. Within a couple of months, I managed to raise my quant score to 43. Finally, 3/4 months later, I was averaging 47/48. This is when I started looking at some of the Challenge questions and I found them difficult! What it definitely helped me realise were my strengths and weaknesses for upper level questions.

So, in your situation, I would go through all the (fantastic) MGMAT math guides and just try to get better at math. Learn the rules, understand how/when to apply them and why, and practise with as many questions as you can (the 15 problems for each chapter of the guides are amazing...and the last few are sometimes very challenging). Then, when you feel like you have made reasonable advancement, I would attempt the Challenge questions.

At the end of the day though, I would strongly urge you to do the Challenge Q's - the explanations provided can teach you SO much about math.

Hope this helps!

Whoops, sorry, that post above was by me, GMAT 5/18, not ericuva. :)