Quantitative Reasoning in GMAT Focus is 21 questions in 45 minutes: a bit over two minutes each, with no calculator and no geometry — geometry was removed in the Focus edition. It is arithmetic, algebra, word problems, rates, ratios, percentages and statistics, and it is testing how fast you reason rather than how much you know.
Mental arithmetic is a scoring skill here. Not a virtue — a skill. Know your fraction-decimal- percentage equivalents cold (1/8, 1/6, 3/8, 5/6), your squares to 25 and your powers of 2 to 1024. Every one of those saves ten seconds, and the section is decided in ten-second units.
Translate before you solve. Most word problems are one sentence of English that becomes one equation. Write the equation. Students who try to hold the translation in their head make the same three errors: mixing up the two quantities, dropping a unit, and answering the question that was not asked.
The standard set-ups worth knowing by heart:
- Rates — distance = rate × time; when two things work together, add the rates, never the times.
- Averages — sum = average × count. Nearly every average question is easier as a sum.
- Percentage change — a rise of 20% then a fall of 20% does not return you to the start.
- Ratios — turn the ratio into actual parts (3:4 becomes 3k and 4k) and the problem becomes arithmetic.
- Weighted averages — the answer lies closer to the group with more members, which often eliminates two options before any working.
Estimate, then eliminate. With five numeric options, rounding hard usually leaves one or two. Precision is expensive; buy it only when you need it.
Bank the easy ones. Every question carries the same marks. Two minutes lost on a hard question is a question you never reached. Bookmark it and move — the Focus edition lets you come back.