Day 13: Arithmetic

Today, focus was on Arithmetic, after completing some more Geometry questions earlier in the day to review the Geometry topics I covered on Day 12.

Covered the Arithmetic topic in great detail today ... made comprehensive notes and flash cards.

Covered the following:
Properties of integers: (Quotients and Remainders -> y = xq + r ; where x and y are positive integers, q is the quotient, and r is the remainder, 0 ≤ r <>
Fractions: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, memorised main fractions, their decimal and percentage equivalents (for all fractions with denominators from 1 to 10) -> this should help speed up answering some questions !
Decimals: Scientific notation, addition/subtraction/multiplication/division.
Real numbers: Absolute value, and properties of real numbers (associative law, distributive law
Ratios/Proportions
Percents: percent increase and decrease calculations (Note: Percentages are a real favourite of the GMAT question writers. You must be comfortable with them if you are to do well in the test)

Exponents and Radicals: The OG 11th edition covers this topic in a under half a page ... doesnt really go into too much detail on exponents ! For example in the OG 11th guide it doesnt go into mutiplication, division of numbers with exponents. This was covered in the PR "Cracking the GMAT guide" as well as the following tutorial: http://www.prepfortests.com/gmat/tutorials/exponents/multiplication.
I also covered fractional exponents, as well as the rules involving (multiplying/dividing/distributing) exponents as well as radicals. THIS IS ONE AREA I REALLY NEED TO MASTER ... as it is one which will be heavily tested in the GMAT.

Summary/Insights:
The OG 11th Edition Quantitative Review doest go too much into the detail of the maths. It great for the practice questions though.
Key thing to doing well in the Math section of the GMAT is doing the minimum of work as possible. If there is a shortcut, then take it !