GMAT Problem Solving
With Data Sufficiency moved to Data Insights, Problem Solving is the only question format in GMAT Quant: a question, five options, one answer. The difficulty is in the wording and the clock rather than the mathematics.
Two techniques that beat the algebra
Backsolving — where the options are numbers and the question asks for a value, test an option. Start in the middle: too large eliminates three at once.
Picking numbers — where the options contain variables, choose a convenient value, compute the answer, and see which option produces it. Avoid 0 and 1, which make several options agree.
- Percentages — pick 100.
- Fractions — pick the lowest common denominator.
- Two options surviving — test a second number to separate them.
Pacing without a calculator
- Read the question to the end before calculating — many ask for a difference or a remainder rather than the value you are about to find.
- Estimate first where the options are far apart; exact arithmetic is often unnecessary.
- Bookmark anything that has taken ninety seconds and move on.
- Use the three-answer review allowance on the bookmarked ones.
The absence of a calculator is a design choice, not an obstacle: questions are built so that clean numbers appear if your setup is right. Ugly arithmetic usually means the setup is wrong.
Problem Solving — FAQs
2 questions
No, it is in Data Insights.
Up to three per section, using the bookmark and review feature within the section time.
More quantitative question types
Sources
Written from the test board's own published material and checked on 1 October 2026.