02-Algebra

1) The correct order of operations is: Parentheses-Exponents(Multiplication/Division)-(Addition/Subtraction). Multiplication and division are
in parentheses because they are on the same level of priority. The same is
true of addition and subtraction.
2) Three step method for solving absolute value equation:
a) Isolate the expression within the absolute value brackets.
b) Once you have an equation of the form | x | = a with a > 0, you know that
x = +_ a. Remove the absolute value brackets and solve the equation for
2 different cases
c) Check to see whether each solution is valid by putting each one back into
the original equation and verifying that the two sides of the equation are
in fact equal.
3) Check to see whether each solution is valid by putting each one back into the
original equation and verifying that the two sides of the equation are in fact
equal.
4) If you are told that x = x2, you know that # must be either 0 or 1.
5) A base raised to the 0 power equals 1. The one exception is a base of 0.0 is
undefined. Thats because 0/0 is undefined.
0 cube /0 cube= 0*0*0/0*0*0=0/0 which is undefined
6) Something with a negative exponent is just one over that same thing with a
positive exponent.
7) Factoring out a common term:
a) If two terms with the same base are added or subtracted, you can factor
out a common term.
b) On the GMAT, it generally pays to factor exponential terms that have
bases in common.
c) If x 4^20 + 4^21 + 4^22, what is the largest prime factor of x?
d) x = 4^20 + 4^21 + 4^22
x = 4^20(1 + 4' + 4^2)
x = 4^20(1 + 4 + 16)
x = 4^20(21)
x = 4^20(3 x 7)
8) In fact, there is an important relationship: for any x,

^2)
= | x | . In both

cases X has two values.

9) Also note that not all equations with even exponents have 2 solutions. For
example:
X^2 + 3 = 3. By subtracting 3 from both sides, you can rewrite this equation
as x2 = 0, which has
only one solution: 0. X^2 + 9 = 0 => X^2 = -9?
Squaring can never produce a negative number!
This equation does not
have
any solutions.
10)
You must be careful if 0, 1, or 1 is the base (or could be the base),
since the outcome of rising those bases to powers is not unique. For instance,

0^2 = 0^3 = 0^29 = 0. So if 0^x = 0^y, you cannot claim that x=y.
Likewise, 1^2 = 1^3 = 1^29 = 1, and (-1)^2 = (-1)^4 = (-1)^even = 1,
while (-1)3 = (-1)5 = (-1)^odd = -1. Fortunately, the GMAT rarely tries to trick
you this way.

A) Note that square-rooting the square of something is the same as taking the
absolute value of that thing.
B) You cannot multiply or divide an inequality by a variable, unless you know the
sign of the number that the variable stands for. The reason is that you would
not know whether to flip the inequality sign.
C) Adding inequalities together is a powerful technique on the GMAT. However,
note that you should never subtract or divide two inequalities. Moreover, you
can only multiply inequalities together under certain circumstances.

1) Only multiply inequalities together if both sides of both

inequalities are positive.
2) We can extract a standard formula for interpreting absolute value.
When | x + b | = c, the center point of our graph is - b. The equation
tells us that x must be exactly c units away from -b. Similarly, for the
inequality | x + b \ < c, the center point of the graph is - b, and the
less than symbol tells us that x must be less than c units away from
b.
3) Never forget that the value of x^2 is greater than 0
4) When a Data Sufficiency question asks for a combination of variables,
dont try to solve for the value of each variable. Manipulate the
statements to solve directly for the combination. (COMBO Problems)
5) When a Data Sufficiency question contains an equation in the question
stem, isolate the wanted variable and create the simplest combo you
can. i.e., whenever posed with an equation, manipulate the equation
such that just the unknown variable is on one side of the equation.
Now, check for sufficiency in the options provided. (Combos and
Equations)
6) One of the most important lessons to take away from Combos and
Mismatches is this: do not make assumptions about sufficiency based
on the number of variables/equations. Sometimes one statement can
provide sufficient information about two variables, and sometimes two
statements together are still not enough to find the value of one
variable.(Combos and Mismatches)
7) If x2- x < 0, x^2 <x, so 0 < x < 1

8) Whenever provided with an equation in DS question, simplify

it as much as possible
9) To solve complex absolute value problems such as |x-2|=|2x-3|, use
+-.++.--.-+ strategy but just two of them would solve the equations.
Remember to check the validity of the solutions.
10)
Use discriminant to find the number of roots
11)
Linear growth:y=mx+b
12)
Exponential growth y(t)=y0k^t
13)
Read extra inequalities strategies after some time

03- Word Problems

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Profit ($) = Revenue ($) - Cost ($)

Rate*Time=Distance
Rate*Time=Work
For relative rates, create a third RT=D relation
Opposite directions..add speeds; the bodies reduce/increase the distance
between themselves at s1+s1 speed
6. Same direction..subtract speeds; the bodies reduce the distance between
themselves at s1-s2 speed
7. If Car X is initially 40 miles behind Car Y, and they both travel until Car X
catches up to Car Y, then the distance between them will have decreased by
40 miles
8. For average rate, take a smart number as distance, which is a multiple of two
rates, and calculate total distance and total time.
9. RA+RB=RA+B and RT=W even for complex problems
10.Always add rates not time
11.A.n=S i.e., Average*No. of terms = sum of terms
12.Weighted average will be closer to the number with the bigger weight
13.Weighted averages differential1*weight1+differential2*weight2=0. Refer
the book for more details
14.SD indicates how far from the average the data points typically fall
15.A low SD means that the set is clustered closely to the average
16.A high SD means that the set is spread our widely with some points
appearing far from the mean
17.How to calculate SD?
a. Consider the set thats given to you
b. Calculate Mean
c. Create a new set that hosts the difference between mean and the
actual values of the set
d. Calculate Mean of this new set SD
18.Variance is the square of SD
19.For evenly spaced sets, the arithmetic mean and median are equal to each
other

20.For evenly spaces sets, the arithmetic mean and median are equal to the
average of first and last elements of the set.
21.The number of terms between two numbers can be determined by (lastfirst)/increment + 1. For example, number of multiples of 7 between 100 and
150. Last=147, first=105, then (147-105)/7+1=7.
22.If the average of the k consecutive integers is divisible by k then k vis odd.
23.For Overlapping sets- if the problem has three sets then opt for venn diagram
else opt for 2 set matrix or venn basing on the problem at hand
24.For 2 set matrix, the rows and columns should host mutually exclusive sets.
For example: Good and not good as columns and Christmas and Not
Christmas as rows
25.

Notice that Statement 2 actually tells you exactly what you need to know. If
there are more
classes in School X, then the average number of students
per class will be less than 29. The statement 2 is sufficient, so the correct answer
is (B).
26.Avg. tends towards the value with more weight
27.If possible refer to extra lessons in book 3.

04-Geometry
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)

In a parallelogram, opposite sides are equal and opposite sides are equal
In a rectangle, opposite sides are equal and all angles are 90
In a rhombus, all sides are equal and opposite angles are equal
In a square, all sides are equal and all the angles are 90
Rhombus and Rectangle are special types of parallelogram
A square is a special type of parallelogram that is both a rectangle and
rhombus
7) The sum of interior angles of a polygon is (n-2)*180
8) Remember that when you are fitting 3-d polygons into 3-d polygons, knowing
the respective volumes isnt enough. You need to know l, b and h to
determine whether the objects can fit without leaving any gaps
9) If you are given two sides of a triangle, the 3 rd side must lie between the
difference and sum of two given sides
10)
Triangles are defined as similar if all their corresponding sides are in
proportion and all their angles are equal
11)
If the angles are equal between two triangles then their sides must be
in proportion
12)
If two similar triangles have sides in the proportion a:b then their areas
will be in the proportion a^2:b^2.
13)
For similar solids whose sides are in proportion of a:b, the volumes will
be in the proportion of a^3:b^3
14)
What is the height of the longest cylinder that can fit in a rectangular
box? Diagonal
15)
An inscribed angle is half of central angle
16)
The rule to remember is that if one of the sides of an inscribed triangle
is diameter of the circle then the triangle must be a right triangle where the
inscribed angle is 90 degrees
17)
Two angles that sum upto 180 degrees on the straight are
supplementary angles
18)
Rise by run is the slope of the line. It means that the amount of rise the
line has w.r.t the distance the line moved x-axis wise
19)
A vertical line has undefined slope whereas a horizontal line as a zero
slope
20)
The x-intercept is the point at which y=0
21)
The y-intercept is the point at which x=0
22)
Horizontal lines are expressed with the form y=k
23)
Vertical lines are expressed with the form x=k

24)
When a circle, 3 0 -6 0 -9 0 triangle, or a 45-45-90 triangle appears in a
Data Sufficiency question, remember how much other information you can
know without actually performing the computation. Having one of these
shapes is like having a nuclear weaponyou shouldnt actually use it, just
know that you could!
25)
Any right angle triangle inscribed in a circle should have its hypotenuse
as the diameter of the circle
26)
Look at chapter 6, 7th question

05- Number Properties

1) A number is said to be divisible by 4 if the last two digits of the number are
divisible by 4 or twice by 2
2) A number is said to be divisible by 8 if the last three digits of the number are
divisible by 8 or thrice by 2
3) 0 is a multiple of every number since any number *0=0
4) An integer is both a factor and multiple of itself
5) 1 is a factor of every integer
6) Factor foundation Rule: If a is a factor of b and b is a factor of c then a is a
factor of c. For eg: 6 and 12 are the factors of 72 and 2,3 are the factors of 6;
this implies that 2,3 are also the factors of 72.
7) A prime box is used to test whether a number is divisible by another. In other
words, whether a number is a factor of another
8) In a venn diagram, the GCF is the product of the numbers in the intersection
part and LCM is the product of all the numbers in the diagram.
9) If the numbers have no primes in common, then the GCF is 1 and the LCM is
the just the product of those two numbers
10)
Remainders on GMAT can be expressed in three forms. 1) integer 2)
decimal 3) fraction. In the number 4.35, .35 is the decimal that equals
35/100=> 7/20. Here .35 is the remainder in decimal form and 7 is a
remainder in fraction form. Any of the multiples of this number is the
remainder of the division in question.
11)
(Dividend/Divisor)=Quotient+(Remainder/Divisor)
12)
There are some important problems at the end of chapter 1. Make sure
you revisit them
13)
If you see the sum of two primes as odd then one of them must be 2.
The same applies to difference.
14)
Never multiply or divide by a variable in an inequality without knowing
the sign of that variable
15)
Or means add; and means multiply
16)
The number of arranging n distinct objects is n!
17)
The above formula works when the objects are distinct
18)
If m members of the group are identical then divide the number of
possibilities by m!; n!/m!

19)
Decision makingand, or
20)
Arrangementsn!
21)
Arrangements with repetitionn!/m! (m repetitions)
22)
Combination of decision making and arrangements
23)
To solve the above problems use anagram grid. The grid always
contains as many columns as members of the group. Give values to each
member and calculate the arrangements
24)
Always stick to anagram grid