Fast arithmetic beats clever maths. The AceUCAT method for Quantitative Reasoning, step by step.
Quantitative Reasoning rarely needs hard maths — it needs fast, accurate arithmetic and careful reading of tables and charts. The calculator is available, but reaching for it on every step is slower than a trained mental-maths toolkit.
Spend a few seconds understanding the units, axes and totals of the table or chart. Most errors are misreads, not miscalculations.
Build any percentage from 10%, 5%, 1% and 25%. Need 35%? That's 25% + 10%. Need 3%? That's 1% × 3. It's faster and less error-prone than the calculator for round figures.
Always change ÷ original, not change ÷ new. A rise from 120 to 150 is 30 ÷ 120 = 25%, not 30%.
Apply changes one after another, not by adding them. A 10% rise then a 10% fall is not back to the start — it's ×1.1 then ×0.9 = 0.99 of the original.
Find the value of one 'part' or one 'unit of time' first, then scale. Keep units written down so you don't multiply when you should divide.
Use it for ugly division and multi-digit multiplication; do the round stuff in your head. Keep one hand on the keypad and estimate first so you catch a fat-finger answer.
Estimate before you compute — if the option list has a value miles from your estimate, you've misread the data.
Beware unit traps: thousands vs millions, per month vs per year, % vs percentage points.
Flag long table questions early; a 90-second question is two others you didn't reach.