Published: February 21, 2012
GMAT Tips: Number Properties in GMATPrep
Today’s GMAT tip comes from test prep firm ManhattanGMAT. In this article, they provide helpful tips on studying number properties in preparation for the GMAT. Read on to see what they have to say!
What are number properties? This concept covers things that we often call “basic” – topics that we learned in middle school (or earlier): divisibility, factors and multiples, odds and evens, positives and negatives, and so on. It’s also true, though, that this material can become quite complex. For example, fundamental counting principles are included in number properties, and the more complex problems of this type are something called Combinatorics… which most of us hate. In addition, we've all come up against very challenging problems testing a supposedly "simple" concept, such as divisibility.
We face two big challenges in dealing with number properties:
(1) On the one hand, we think of most number properties concepts as “basic” concepts, things that we learned before we ever learned the more “advanced” algebra and geometry. The test writers purposely find ways to test the truly basic material in disguised ways – this is how they make the material harder.
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