What should I do if a question takes more than 2 minutes ?

[Eddie Gutia]

Consider the below question OG quantitative review 2nd edition, Q 68, Page 70:

When positive integer n is divided by 5, the remainder is 1. When n is divided by 7, the remainder is 3. What is the smallest positive integer K such that k +N is a multiple of 35?

The way I tried solving this question is by writing the formula dividend = divisor * quotient + remainder. However, 1.5 - 2 mins later I found myself going no where. So another idea popped up which is to test the numbers, 1, 6, 11, 16,... which leave a remainder of 1 when divided by 5. I was secretly confident that I could arrive at the answer soon and had I continued I would have arrived at the answer in 1.5 minutes, making the total time to answer the question 3.5 minutes.

Question: I am confused as to whether the approach I have taken above works on every question. After 2 minutes, should I have skipped the question and went to the next question? While 1.5 minutes for the second approach might seem a bit excessive, I spent most of the time hesitating whether to continue with the question or skip the question.

In summary, what is the best strategy you recommend in such scenarios wherein I find myself taking the wrong approach and 2 - 2.5 minutes later I realize the correct solution? Also assume that I have spent at least 20 seconds in the beginning trying to brainstorm different ideas and went with the first approach described above.

[StaceyKoprince]

It's better to get something wrong in 2 minutes than right in 3.5 minutes. Seriously.

Read this:
http://tinyurl.com/executivereasoning

In general, it's okay to go about 30 to 45 seconds above the average time on a small number of questions, because you will have other questions that you answer more quickly than the average.

On quant, once you get above 3 minutes, your chances of answering correctly diminish greatly. (If nothing else: there is a 2-minutes-or-faster solution for every problem, so if you don't know what that solution is, the chances increase that you may mess up a different solution method.)

That particular question you cite is a nightmare. It's an excellent question on which to guess and move on. :)

Here's your mindset when approaching the GMAT.
1) This is not a school test. (see the article earlier)
2) This is a test of my business skills.
3) Business is all about identifying good opportunities (and taking them!) and dumping the bad opportunities.
4) Business is also all about doing the most you can with your scarce resources.

So. You are now running a division at your company. You're given a quarterly budget. What is your boss going to say to you if you go to her 5 weeks into the quarter and tell her you've already spent your entire budget for that quarter?

Okay, here's another one. It's week 3 of the quarter. Your subordinate Sue asks to go to a conference that's going to cost $1,500 for the fees and travel. She would probably make some good contacts, but if you tell her yes, then you have to tell two other subordinates that they can't go to a local conference that only costs $750 per person. Both of the conferences are about equally useful to the company. What do you do?

There isn't really a right answer to that situation - you just have some trade-offs and you have to make that call.

That's what the GMAT is actually testing you on. Are you just going to blindly try to get everything right without thinking about the overall context of the test? Are you going to forget to manage your scarce resources wisely? (Scarce resources = time and mental energy) If so, you're not going to do super well on the GMAT.

Instead, can you actually evaluate which "opportunities" (problems) are more worth your time and mental energy vs. less - and react accordingly? Can you take a business mindset to this test? That's what they want.

p.s. your second approach - testing the real numbers - would work, yes. If you started with that, you probably would have gotten this done in about 2 minutes. The problem was that you didn't think of that until you'd already used up your time. In the moment, you guess and move on.

After, though, ask yourself: if I see something like this again, what will help me remember to just start writing out the real numbers that work?

[Eddie Gutia]

Wow, pleased with your thoughtful and detailed response. Greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,
Aditya

[StaceyKoprince]

You're very welcome :)