GMAT Hacks: Improve Your Abstract Thinking Skills

Abstract thinking, as it applies to the GMAT, is the skill of taking what you know about a single case (say, “x is greater than y when x is equal to 7”³) and generalizing it to a variety of cases (“x is greater than y when x is positive”).

When you look at a concept from a more abstract point of view, you often lose track of some of the specifics (if you know what happens when x is positive, does it matter what happens, specifically, when x = 7?), but you gain a broader perspective.

In other words, you do exactly what the GMAT is asking you to do on Data Sufficiency problems. You think about many possible cases at once.

This is an excerpt from a longer article by Jeff Sackmann, originally published at GMAT Hacks.  Jeff has created several valuable GMAT-preparation resources, including Total GMAT Math and Total GMAT Verbal.

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