GMAT Quantitative Fact
The test contains no trigonometry or calculus. It basically deals with high school math. Sounds easy, right? Not necessarily. Although the GMAT Quantitative section deals only with the math you learned in high school, it deals with it in a very sophisticated way. The GMAT Quantitative section is not so much a test of mathematical calculation, but of mathematical reasoning and logic. And the GMAT loves word problems. In fact, over half of all the questions you will see on the GMAT Quantitative section are in the form of word problems.
Most test takers will encounter around 22 Problem Solving and 15 Data Sufficiency questions on the test, in random order. In addition, not all of those questions count. About 25% of the questions on the test are experimental questions that will have no effect on your score. However, there is absolutely no way of knowing which questions are the experimental ones, so you have to treat every question as if it counts.
Mastering the GMAT Quantitative section requires practice. Many test takers who are great at math score poorly on the GMAT, not because they’re not good at math, but because they don’t know how to apply their math knowledge to the types of questions that appear on the test.