WHAT KIND OF MATH DOES THE GRE ROUTINELY TEST?
The good news is that the GRE’s Math sections don’t test anything that you learned after your sophomore year of
high school, so the concepts aren’t extremely advanced.
The bad news is that the GRE’s Math sections don’t test anything that you learned after your sophomore year of high
school, so it may have been a long time since you studied them.
That’s largely why this book was written: to help you build up an impressive canon of math knowledge that will help
you score your best on the quantitative portion.
The GRE supposedly was written so that graduate schools might get a better sense of an applicant’s ability to work in
a postgraduate setting—a goal that is lofty and unrealistic at best. The test doesn’t even measure how intelligent you
are; if you take a test-prep course and your score improves, does that mean you’re any smarter? Nope. Yet you can
improve your score just by learning about what to expect on the GRE.
All the GRE really tests is how well you take the GRE.
Succeeding on the quantitative portion of the GRE—or any standardized math test, for that matter—is as much about
relearning math concepts as it is about modifying the way you think. There are several very important skills to
cultivate when you’re preparing to take the GRE, and each of them is attainable with the right guidance, a strong
work ethic, and a healthy dose of optimism.
We’ll discuss the math basics you’ll need for the GRE, but if you need a quick reference, consult the glossary at the
back of the book.
The Layout of the Test
Let’s talk about the different sections of the GRE.The GRE contains five scored sections:
• one 60-minute Analytical Writing section, which contains two essay questions
• two 30-minute Verbal sections, which contain approximately 20 questions each
• two 30-minute Math sections, which contain approximately 20 questions each
The first section will always be the Analytical Writing section, followed by the Math and Verbal sections, which can
appear in any order. You will get a 1-minute break—enough time to close your eyes and catch a breath—between
each section. You will also get a full 10-minute break after the first multiple-choice section. Be sure to use it to visit
the bathroom, take a drink of water, refresh your mind, and get ready for the rest of the exam.
Your Scores
You will be able to see your Verbal and Math scores immediately upon completion of the test, but you will have towait about two weeks before your Analytical Writing section is scored.
Scores are given on a scale from 130 to 170, in 1-point increments. The questions within each section are always
worth the same amount of points. So the easy questions in a section are just as important to get right as the hard
questions in a section.
Once you’ve completed one scored Math or Verbal Section, the GRE will use your score on that section to determine
the difficulty of the questions to give you in the next scored Math or Verbal section. This does not really affect how
you will approach the test, so don’t worry about it too much.
Experimental Section
In addition to the five scored sections listed above (one Analytical Writing, two Math, two Verbal), you may also
have an unscored experimental section. This section is almost always a Math or Verbal section. It will look exactly
like the other Math or Verbal sections, but it won’t count at all toward your score. ETS administers the experimental
section to gather data on questions before they appear on real GREs.
Thus, after your Analytical Writing section you will probably see five—not four—multiple-choice sections: either
three Verbal and two Math, or two Verbal and three Math, depending on whether you get a Verbal or Math
experimental section. These sections can come in any order. You will have no way of knowing which section is
experimental, so you need to do your best on all of them. Don’t waste time worrying about which sections count .
Remember, the Analytical Writing section will always be first, and it will never be experimental. In the above
example, the two Verbal sections will be scored, but only two of the three Math sections will be scored. One of the
three is an experimental section, but we don’t know which one. Of course, on your GRE you might see three Verbal
sections instead, meaning one of your Verbal sections is experimental, and they may come in any order. Be flexible,
and you’ll be ready for the test no matter the order of the sections. In fact, on occasion the test makers may not even
include an experimental section! If so, count your lucky stars that you didn’t have to waste your time on a
meaningless section.
Research Section
At the end of the test, regardless of if you’ve seen an experimental section or not, you may also have an unscoredResearch section. At the beginning of this section, you will be told that the questions in the section are part of an
unscored Research section, used only to help develop and test questions for the GRE. If you want to skip it, you have
the option of skipping it. They normally offer some sort of financial incentive, such as entering your name into a
drawing for a gift card, to induce people to take it, but by that point in the test you will probably be exhausted. Take it
if you like, but also feel free to just go ahead and decline, get your scores, and go home.
A Quick Word About Answer Choices
On the real GRE, answers will be designated by a circle, square, or numeric entry box. For the purposes of explaining
concepts and answers to questions in this book, we are going to label all answer choices with a corresponding letter
(A, B, C, D, E, etc.). So, for example, when we say the correct answer is (C), you know that the correct answer is the
third option. It is useful to think about your answer choices in terms of these letters, as it will help keep you organized
and allow you to eliminate answers efficiently.
MATH OVERVIEW
There are three main skills that we emphasize throughout this book: Don’t do the math in your head, take the easy test
first, and be prepared to walk away. These are not necessarily what you would naturally do while taking a test, so
you’ll have to force yourself to apply these skills as you work through the problems in this book and as you take
practice tests. If you do, you’ll find that once you get to the real test your body and brain already know how to tackle
each question, and you’ll be able to breathe a bit easier.
Don’t Do the Math in Your Head
Many students are guilty of trying to solve GRE math questions by doing some quick calculations in their heads, or
phantom drawing information relevant to the question on the test screen. This is what the test makers want you to do.
They know if you do this, you will likely make careless and avoidable mistakes.
Remember, your goal on the GRE is to get as many points as possible by answering questions correctly. There are no
style points for getting the correct answer by doing all the calculations in your head.
On test day, you will be provided with six pieces of scratch paper. To avoid careless mistakes and to maximize your
score on the Math section, it is important that you use that scratch paper. When you see an equation, rewrite it on the
paper. When there is a geometry figure, draw the figure on the paper. When you are doing calculations, chart the steps
on your paper.
Below is an example of a piece of scratch paper for two particular problems. This example is meant to provide an idea
of how an organized piece of scratch paper may look. This student has written the question number and the answer
choices on the left-hand side of the paper and left the remainder to show their work. If this example is a useful
template for you, then we would suggest recreating it. But, if you have another method that you are more comfortable
with, you should use that method. The method you use to track your problems is less important than making sure you
always use the paper and avoid doing the math in your head.
0 σχόλια :
Post a Comment