Need Help with Quantitative Reasoning!!!

[Dental Hopeful]

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Hi Everyone!
I was wondering if anyone had any advice on this. Quantitative reasoning was by far my worst score (15 🙁 ) Does anyone have any advice on how to bring this grade up??? I'll try anything!! I don't consider myself bad at math, so I don't understand why I have so much trouble with this! Please help! Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated!

 

[DMD_hopeful]

Hi Everyone!
I was wondering if anyone had any advice on this. Quantitative reasoning was by far my worst score (15 🙁 ) Does anyone have any advice on how to bring this grade up??? I'll try anything!! I don't consider myself bad at math, so I don't understand why I have so much trouble with this! Please help! Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated!

I was having similar trouble. My approach...

I did the problems that I could do fast -- really fast. If the answer didn't immediately come to me (with minor calculaion), I guessed, marked it and moved on. This way I was sure that I was able to answer all of the easy questions and not waste too much time on the hard ones. When I was done I went back and worked on the marked ones. In my practice exams I moved from a 15 to a 19-20. Even doing the easier calcualtions very fast took a lot of practice. I'm sure this isn't the greatest method in the world but it served its purpose.

 

[Halitosis]

Hi Everyone!
I was wondering if anyone had any advice on this. Quantitative reasoning was by far my worst score (15 🙁 ) Does anyone have any advice on how to bring this grade up??? I'll try anything!! I don't consider myself bad at math, so I don't understand why I have so much trouble with this! Please help! Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated!

try sat math problems. they are a lil harder than the kaplan practice q's so they should really toughen you up.

also, know that the actual test will be easier than the kaplan practice tests. good luck!

 

[jk5177]

Dental Hopeful: Thank you for expressing your honest expression of frustration. I since a strong desire in you to do well. So let give you my suggestions which has helped me excel in the past.

Chill and reflect on why you are missing those questions. None of us know about your specific situation to give you any meaningful advice.

I suggest you ask yourself the following questions for introspection as they will hone your scoring ability. I assure doing well on math has more to do with perspiration than inspiration.

Do you get nervous?
Are you one of the people who were traumatized by math in junior high?
Do you run out of time?
Is it the word problems that trips you over?
Is it your lack of ability to reflect and recognize your own weakness?
Did you over study the less-important topics?
Were you distracted by girls?

I don't know.

Good luck to you, future dentist!

 

[Dental Hopeful]

WOW!!! Thank you so much to everyone who replied!!! It's been really helpful!!! Good Luck to you all!! Thanks again! 😀

 

[JakeMUSC]

WOW!!! Thank you so much to everyone who replied!!! It's been really helpful!!! Good Luck to you all!! Thanks again! 😀

Hey, I had the same problem, made a 14 on QR on my second DAT. Afterwards, I did 12 practice tests, (qr sections twice) just to build up my speed math and attitude. Ace The DAT math questions I thought were awesome practice, needless to say, I practiced, practiced, practiced, and got a 21 on QR on my third DAT!

 

[TX Hopeful]

For those of you who have already taken the DAT, did you see any combinations or permutations on it? ...or were the statistics questions fairly simple (i.e. favorable outcomes/total outcomes)?

Thanks in advance...I have a week to go!

 

[aceking]

For those of you who have already taken the DAT, did you see any combinations or permutations on it? ...or were the statistics questions fairly simple (i.e. favorable outcomes/total outcomes)?

Thanks in advance...I have a week to go!

if there is anything like that is pretty simple you can almost guess your answer

 

[aceking]

I was having similar trouble. My approach...

I did the problems that I could do fast -- really fast. If the answer didn't immediately come to me (with minor calculaion), I guessed, marked it and moved on. This way I was sure that I was able to answer all of the easy questions and not waste too much time on the hard ones. When I was done I went back and worked on the marked ones. In my practice exams I moved from a 15 to a 19-20. Even doing the easier calcualtions very fast took a lot of practice. I'm sure this isn't the greatest method in the world but it served its purpose.

I agree

i think it is the best strategy for QR

 

[BUBBLICIOUS]

Hey,
Sure math can be scary because there will be questions that you won't expect on the DAT. First off, I would try to tackle the algebra because the simple algebra problems like 24x-18/6= 55 should be free points. Practice doing a lot of these kinds of problems by even opening up an old math book. Get in that "math" mode if you know what I mean. Math is one of those things that you can get cold on. So be sharp with the simpliflying/reducing and rearranging the problem so that it is less complex. For example 2^(-5)= 1/(2^5). Once you have accomplished that, you are ready to move on to the the more complex word problems. Kaplan's subject test for math are tough, particularly the word problems. There will probably not be a long wordy problem like that with huge numbers in the thousands, at least from my experience. But learn the basic tactics for solving the the distance and rate problems(ex. Bob trying to catch up with Jim who is going 40 mph), the probability problems, the different ways in which something can be done(standing in line), the work equation, principle interest...Go over your mistakes and do the problem again and again. Honestly I did the subject tests for all subjects at least 10 times. The people who worked there thought I was crazy but it payed off. Most people do the problems early in their course of study and then forget them by the time they take the test. I would say that the best tool for the math is the Kaplan practice exams on the comp , top score, and barrons. That is the level of difficulty and most of the problems I had were similar if not identical to the ones in these sources, particularly Kaplan exams 🙂 Then move on the geometry, learn the basic theorems and rules and then move on the do the practice problems. Learn sin, cos, tan and their reciprocals very very very very well. You will see a problem that will test you on these functions! Don't ignore it. I would advise you to work on the problems that are easy for you first then move on the more complex ones. You don't get more points for the harder questions so nail the easy ones! I have taken practice exams where I ran out of time and the last few question were very simple but I was stuck on a hard question #20. Go through the test and nail the easy algebraic , sin/cos/tan, and simplification questions then go back to the complex questions. Good luck

Hi Everyone!
I was wondering if anyone had any advice on this. Quantitative reasoning was by far my worst score (15 🙁 ) Does anyone have any advice on how to bring this grade up??? I'll try anything!! I don't consider myself bad at math, so I don't understand why I have so much trouble with this! Please help! Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated!

 

[joy2dmd]

Get a book on standard college entrance math like SAT or even GMAT or GRE math. Make sure it has story problems too (algebra types). You have to know some geometry and a little trig so brush up on stanard gometry and trig formulas.

 

[Generallee]

I was looking for a thread like this.....I thought I would reply to bring it back into action for anyone else like me who struggles with the QR section...

 

[DinoDentist]

I was looking for a thread like this.....I thought I would reply to bring it back into action for anyone else like me who struggles with the QR section...

My math score sucked just a few months ago (15 🙁 ). My math was very rusty and I found that I was way to dependent on a calculator. I had a hard time remembering the basic algaebraic procedures. I worked through the following books:
Schaum's Outline of Theory and Problems of Intermediate Algebra, SchaumÆs Outline Of College Algebra, Schaum's Outline of Theory and Problems of Precalculus in that order.
and I just took 2 practice test over the weekend and my scores for the QR section were a 23 and a 22 🙂 . I spent only about an hour each day going through each book and it took me about a month to complete each book. The books are not difficult at all and they start out very basic, but I think it helped me get my speed up and able to recognize problems faster with the amount of repititon in those books.

 

[beannaithe]

I got an algbra study book and did all of the question in it. Yeah, I looked stupid being a college kid using a 4th grader's algebra book, but my QR went from 16 on practices to 20 on the real thing. 👍

Also, try looking at the typical questions that are always on the tests and memorizing how to do them. That would help you to learn how to do questions that are almost guaranteed to appear on the exams.

Good luck.

 

[mochafreak]

I hadn't done basic math since '87, so I got ARCO's GRE/GMAT math review. It's been very helpful. Although it doesn't have trig, it has a great section for word problems. They provide strategy and practice questions for every type of word problem. After each general section there is a longer practice test and there are 8 practice tests which include all the material covered (with explanations).

 

[ddsnp]

GRE/GMAT Kaplan book for 18 dollars..saved me and got me a 20...i suck at math.

 

[jk5177]

It's funny how one has to review like basic algebra for the DAT. I had to do the same.

Yeah, just like everyone has said already, get a algebra text or a GMAT, GRE prep book, and hammer on the word problems. Afterall that will be the hardest aspect of the DAT. Also keep in mind that, there will be times when guessing an answer by eliminating obviously wrong answers will give you the maximum yield. It's okay to guess.