MGMAT Challenge Archive

[himadribora]

Hi,

I have been trying to solve problems from the MGMAT Challenge Archive.

Problem is that I can hardly solve more than 20% of the problems there. Of those that I could not solve, many were such that I started out early but could not think through fully. Besides, it takes me a lot of time to solve each problem.

I was wondering if others have also faced such problems with the Challenge Archive?

Is there any sense in going through the solutions of these problems??? I don't think I will have the time to think/work through problems such as these.

BTW, I took the GMAT couple of months back and got a 690 (Q47, V38). I used only OG11 & the MBA.com software to prepare. I have now taken up Manhattan to train further...I am aiming at 710 and more.

[henry_yoshida]

Hello,

I'm in week five of a Manhattan GMAT course with no prior GMAT experience and I can't answer the challenge problems either. I am at the point where I can set up the problem, but definitely can not finish in less than two minutes. 690 is a great score and I wish you the best in your quest for 710.

Henry

[himadribora]

Thanks.

I have checked previous posts on this topic and have noticed that the MGMAT instructors have clearly mentioned that the Challenge Archive consists of very tough problems...maybe some are of the 750+ level.

What I am wondering is whether I should try to do more of 700 - 720 type problems or go for the 750+ types, with the hope that when I get the 700+ type problems on the real exam, I should be able to complete them on time - the "high altitude" training philosophy as some of the forum participants put it!

[mikrodj]

IMO some of the problems of the challenge archive are beyond "GMAT knowledge". However, some of them helped understand GMAT concepts. If you want to work with these problems, then I think you should focus on extracting the concept tested in the problem rather than on solving the problem within 2 or 3 minutes.

[StaceyKoprince]

The "high altitude training" concept doesn't really work so well on the GMAT. It's actually better to build *up* rather than down. Also, remember that, because of the way the test works, if you are doing what you need to do to hit a 710, then you will be offered 740+ level questions... but you can get those all wrong and still get your 710. You can't, however, miss too many 700 level problems and still get that 710.

I do like mik's idea, though, of using these to extract key lessons / concepts / things to recognize rather than worrying about the timing or strict computation as much. (A decent portion of the challenge archive problems are difficult for the wrong reason, in my opinion - they're difficult because the calculations are too time-consuming, but that's not usually what makes an official problem extremely difficult.)