“I’m Bad at Math” And Other Lies You Tell Yourself
“I’m just not a math person” is probably the most common thing GMAT students tell me about themselves on the first day of class. I’m here to tell you the same thing I tell each of those students: Odds are, you’re totally wrong.
You Do Math Every Day
I’ve worked with students who made it through high school, then never took another math class. I’ve worked with students who haven’t even made it to high school, much less through the math courses. And in every single case, that student has been much much better at math than they think they are. Here’s an example of a recent conversation I had with a student who told me she’s never been able to do math.
Question: If x is 40% of y and 50% of y is 40, then 16 is what percent of x ? (Source: All the Quant; Chapter 5 Drill Set; Question 3.)
Student: This is way too confusing. There are too many variables and percents. I don’t know how to make the equations.
Me: Ok, then forget about equations. You said the percents are the confusing part. I see 40% and 50%. Which one is easier for you to deal with?
Student: The 50%; that’s the same thing as saying half.
Me: I totally agree. It makes me think of a big half-off sale. So instead of saying 50% of y is 40, imagine that you pick up something at a sale. You don’t know the original price, but you know it’s half-off, so now it’s $40. Can you figure out the original price?
Student: Sure, it’s $80.
Me: Exactly. So 50% of 80 is 40.
Student: Oh, so y is 80. And I guess you can write an equation to get to x ?
Me: Yeah, you could if you wanted to and were comfortable with it, but you don’t have to. Stick with our scenario. You’re still holding that original $80 thing, but now you discover it will actually only cost you 40% of the original — same as saying 60% off. What does that mean?
Student: Well, now it’s less than $40. So maybe $30?
Me: Nice estimation. 40% of the price will definitely be less than 50% of that same price, so going lower than $40 is the right move. Depending on the answer choices, saying it’s about $30 could be enough to pick the right answer, but let’s imagine we need to be more precise. You’ve probably never calculated 40% of something except in school, but you were fine with 50%. What other percents do you regularly use?
Student: Uhm, I’m not sure.
Me: Think about going out to a nice restaurant.
Student: Oh, tip! I figure out 20%.
Me: How?
Student: Move the decimal over one, then double it.
Me: Ok, so can you tell me what 20% of $80 is?
Student: Well, that would be 8 doubled, so $16?
Me: Perfect. So if 16 is 20% of 80, what do you think 40% of 80 might be?
Student: Double again? So 32?
Me: Absolutely. So you’ve just computed x to be precisely 32. Look back at what this question is asking. You can rephrase it now to 16 is what percent of 32?
Student: So now we need to make an equation?
Me: Nope. Treat it like a discount. The thing was $32, now it’s $16. What’s the sale?
Student: Half-off. Oh, so it’s 50%!
Me: Totally right.
Notice that at no point did I ask the student to do math she doesn’t regularly do. We all do mathematical computations every day, we just don’t put pen to paper and write out an equation so we don’t recognize it as math.
Why is GMAT math so much harder?
Most of it isn’t. There are a few new things you’ll have to learn, but much of it doesn’t require math you don’t regularly do or couldn’t easily do with a little refresher. It just feels harder because it makes you feel like you’re back in school when the teacher wanted you to do intense computations in very particular ways.
The good news is that the GMAT doesn’t care how you get to the answer. You get the same value from a mathematically rigorous derivation that you would from a lucky guess. So pull from what you know. Pay attention to what math you’re already comfortable with, even though you don’t realize you’re doing it, and reframe the quant questions to be more realistic.
How Can You Learn Math You Didn’t Even Understand in School?
There are a few things you’ll have to learn, and it’s possible they will be things you have no memory of or remember being very bad at. If you were bad at it then, there’s no chance you’ll get it now, right?
Wrong. One of the unfortunate features of many modern school systems is that they emphasize quantity over quality. So in any given year, your class may have had to learn ten different units, and the teacher would be forced to move from one to another whether or not you were comfortable with the previous lesson. Add to that the fact that math is cumulative, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster. If you miss a major idea in one unit (and haven’t we all?), you can’t understand the next unit because it’s building on that idea. Every lesson from that point forward will be building on information you don’t have, and unless you or your teacher was great at spotting that gap, you probably just decided you have no mathematical skill and simply can’t do math.
What this means for you is that if you try to learn math now, knowing it’s just a matter of finding and eliminating those gaps, you’re much more likely to be successful. There’s a relatively small quantity of mathematical concepts on the GMAT, so you can emphasize quality. Don’t settle for just learning the mechanics. Yes, it’s true that cross multiplication involves moving the denominators of the fractions over to the opposite side, but why? What does that mean? What does that represent? What’s a real life example that shows how those fractions are related and therefore proves that cross multiplication is the right method?
Are You Bad at Math?
Probably not. But even if you are (or at least have convinced yourself that you are), study after study has shown that intelligence is malleable. For everything you are currently good at, there was a point in your life when you were bad at it. At one point, you were bad at cooking, at driving, at speaking, and even at eating. You learned. And we don’t lose that ability to learn: to change our weaknesses into strengths.
You are not naturally bad at math. You just haven’t learned the easiest way to do it yet. Remind yourself that there is no such thing as being bad at math. All intelligence, including mathematical intelligence, can change.
UP NEXT: “I’m Bad at Grammar” And Other Lies You Tell Yourself
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Emily Madan is a Manhattan Prep instructor located in Philadelphia, Pa. She has a master’s degree in chemistry and tries to approach the GMAT and LSAT from a scientific perspective. These tests are puzzles with patterns that students can be taught to find. She has been teaching test prep for over ten years, scoring a 770 on the GMAT and 177 on the LSAT. Check out Emily’s upcoming LSAT courses here.