Quantitative ESL professionals are not math experts, but some schools call upon them to teach the problem solving and data sufficiency questions students will face on the GMAT quantitative section. Many English teachers would initially balk at this. However, as teaching professionals and university graduates, most can review enough mathematics to lead their students to high scores. With a strong review, most students have the math skills to perform well, but many have problems with the tricks and decoys of the test as well as the language. They tend to show an increased improvement if they study English vocabulary and phrasing of mathematics.
Some vocabulary is unfamiliar or easily confused by non-native speakers.
Students do not need to know how many feet are in a mile. Likewise, one needs to know dollars and cents, the vocabulary for mixture and work problems, and terminology for cards and dice which are used in probability questions. Regularly confused terms like ratio and fraction are more problematic than new vocabulary. About half of the sections in the quantitative section are word problems. For example, rate, time, and distance problems and interest problems are frequently tested on the examination.