Help with QR

[optmania]

Hey guys Im taking my OAT in three days. Im doing horrible in QR. what do you recommend I do? Im getting really nervous because I'm horrible in Math. Especially the word problems. Is the OAT saturated with world problems? I'm using the OAT destroyer do you think thats good enough for the QR?

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[mathcod]

For me, the material in QR wasn't hard at all. The biggest challenge is the amount of time you're given though. I'm sure you know the material well because it's mostly just basic alegbra and trig (highschool, even junior high stuff).

Try to save time by 1) estimating and 2) reduce numbers when multiplying/dividing large numbers.

If you aren't good with the material, just keep practicing. I had a blast doing practice problems, much funner than sudoku.

 

[optmania]

would you say the material is just like the OAT destroyer? A little harder?

 

[mathcod]

The only review materials I've used was the Kaplan 2009-2010 OAT Test book. The difficulty was slightly harder than the real OAT. Practice working fast! Each question is designed with a shortcut to make it possible to spend an average of 50 seconds per question. My opinion is that, given 2 hours of testing time, everyone with a highschool diploma can get a 400 on this section.

Here was an awkward question on my exam: Calculate the volume of a dodecahedron (12-sided polygon with faces of an equilateral pentagon) given the length of a side is L meters.

Sounds difficult right? Even approximating its volume to a sphere is difficult. The correct answer was looking at the answers, noting that only one chocie had the correct units of cubic length. There were a handful of weird questions like this, but a majority of them were basic alegbra (solve for X) or involved fractions (rank the following in increasing value: 5/7, 36/43, 504/680) or trig.

I recommend knowing the values of square root 2, 3, and 5.

 

[zyg0te]

I had a blast doing practice problems, much funner than sudoku.

HAHAHAAH, I actually felt the same way

The only review materials I've used was the Kaplan 2009-2010 OAT Test book. The difficulty was slightly harder than the real OAT. Practice working fast! Each question is designed with a shortcut to make it possible to spend an average of 50 seconds per question. My opinion is that, given 2 hours of testing time, everyone with a highschool diploma can get a 400 on this section.

Here was an awkward question on my exam: Calculate the volume of a dodecahedron (12-sided polygon with faces of an equilateral pentagon) given the length of a side is L meters.

Sounds difficult right? Even approximating its volume to a sphere is difficult. The correct answer was looking at the answers, noting that only one chocie had the correct units of cubic length. There were a handful of weird questions like this, but a majority of them were basic alegbra (solve for X) or involved fractions (rank the following in increasing value: 5/7, 36/43, 504/680) or trig.

I recommend knowing the values of square root 2, 3, and 5.

I don't recall anything that required you to know the square root of any of those numbers.

Glancing at the answers real briefly before you work the problem always helps. It lets you know if you need to be exact with the answer, or if you can do some rounding.
Know the special triangles, 3/4/5, 5/12/13, 30/60/90, 45/45/90.

One problem I had went something along these lines.... "A rectangular garden has a length that is 4 feet longer than it is wide, the total area is xxxxxx. What are the dimensions?"
After working the problem out and not getting an answer that worked, i looked at the possible solutions, and only one actually had L = W+4

 

[optmania]

What study material did you use? and did you have alot of word problems or alot of algebra?

HAHAHAAH, I actually felt the same way

I don't recall anything that required you to know the square root of any of those numbers.

Glancing at the answers real briefly before you work the problem always helps. It lets you know if you need to be exact with the answer, or if you can do some rounding.
Know the special triangles, 3/4/5, 5/12/13, 30/60/90, 45/45/90.

One problem I had went something along these lines.... "A rectangular garden has a length that is 4 feet longer than it is wide, the total area is xxxxxx. What are the dimensions?"
After working the problem out and not getting an answer that worked, i looked at the possible solutions, and only one actually had L = W+4

 

[mathcod]

How did it go?

 

[pienfoo]

http://www.amazon.com/ARCO-GMAT-Math-Review-Gmat/dp/0768918316

one stop to the QR section.
buy this, do all the problems - ESPECIALLY CHAPTER 4!!!!!!!! you will score well. i'd say, a 380 or somethin' at least.
did i mention you should really look at chapter 4.
chapter 4. 4!!!!!!

good luck.