How to Analyze a Practice Problem
When we study practice problems, our overall goal is to master the problem we’re working on right now. What does mastery mean? It means that, when we see a future different practice problem that tests the same thing as this current practice problem, we will realize that the future problem has certain things in common with this current problem, and we will know what steps to take as a result—we will, literally, recognize what to do on the future different practice problem, a problem we’ve never actually seen before.
It’s necessary to get to this level of mastery because the problems we study will never be the actual problems we’re expected to do on the test. But we will see similar problems—problems that have something in common with problems that we’ve already studied. If we can recognize what to do, then we will be faster (which is always important on this test), and we will be more effective—we’ll be more likely to get it right because we’ll know that the method we’re using actually worked the last time we saw a similar practice problem.
This mastery we’re talking about—the ability to recognize what to do on a new, different-but-similar problem—comes from the analysis we do after we’ve already finished trying a new practice problem for the first time. So how do we do that?
The Math Beast Challenge Problem of the Week – March 12th, 2012
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Each week, we post a new Challenge Problem for you to attempt. If you submit the correct answer, you will be entered into that week’s drawing for two free Manhattan Prep GRE Strategy Guides.
In a school of x students, 36 are in the honors program, and x% of the 35 female students are in the honors program. If 15 male students are in the honors program, what fraction of all the non-honors students are female?
The Math Beast Challenge Problem of the Week – February 26th, 2012
Each week, we post a new Challenge Problem for you to attempt. If you submit the correct answer, you will be entered into that week’s drawing for two free Manhattan Prep GRE Strategy Guides.
Identical blocks are stacked in rows to create a tower 24 rows tall. If the top row of the tower consists of four blocks, and each row below the top row consists of eight more blocks than the row directly above it, how many blocks are in the entire tower?
The Math Beast Challenge Problem of the Week – February 13th, 2012
Each week, we post a new Challenge Problem for you to attempt. If you submit the correct answer, you will be entered into that week’s drawing for two free Manhattan Prep GRE Strategy Guides.
The regular 3 by 3 grid of dots above consists of evenly spaced rows and columns, in which the rows are perpendicular to the columns. How many different ways can a line segment be drawn from one dot in the grid to another, without intersecting any other dot?
The Math Beast Challenge Problem of the Week – February 6th, 2012
Each week, we post a new Challenge Problem for you to attempt. If you submit the correct answer, you will be entered into that week’s drawing for two free Manhattan Prep GRE Strategy Guides.
x, y, and z are three consecutive multiples of 3 such that x < y < z.
Quantity A Quantity B The remainder when the sum of x + 1, y “ 2, and z + 3 is divided by 9
2
The Math Beast Challenge Problem of the Week – January 16th, 2012
Each week, we post a new Challenge Problem for you to attempt. If you submit the correct answer, you will be entered into that week’s drawing for two free Manhattan Prep GRE Strategy Guides.
Quantity A Quantity B x + 5 (x “ 2)2
The Math Beast Challenge Problem of the Week – January 9th, 2012
Each week, we post a new Challenge Problem for you to attempt. If you submit the correct answer, you will be entered into that week’s drawing for two free Manhattan Prep GRE Strategy Guides.
Per Serving of: Calories Cost Snack A 200 $1.70 Snack B 350 $0.60 Choosing from the snacks in the table above, a group consumes 3250 calories of snacks that cost a total of $11.
Quantity A Quantity B The number of servings of Snack A the group consumed 4
The Math Beast Challenge Problem of the Week – January 2nd, 2012
Each week, we post a new Challenge Problem for you to attempt. If you submit the correct answer, you will be entered into that week’s drawing for two free Manhattan Prep GRE Strategy Guides.
The pharmaceutical division’s interest on debt expense is 4 times that of the chemical division. What percent of the chemical division’s payroll expense is the pharmaceutical division’s payroll expense, rounded to the nearest whole percent?
The Math Beast Challenge Problem of the Week – December 19th, 2011
Each week, we post a new Challenge Problem for you to attempt. If you submit the correct answer, you will be entered into that week’s drawing for two free Manhattan Prep GRE Strategy Guides.
If the pharmaceutical division spends $720,000 on legal expenses, and the chemicals division spends between a third and a half as much on legal expenses as the pharmaceuticals division does, which of the following could be the total expenses of the chemical division
The Math Beast Challenge Problem of the Week – December 5th, 2011
Each week, we post a new Challenge Problem for you to attempt. If you submit the correct answer, you will be entered into that week’s drawing for two free Manhattan Prep GRE Strategy Guides.
Quantity A
abcQuantity B
h(a2+b2)
