Week 1, Day 1: Introduction to the GRE
The GRE Exam
The GRE has three primary measures.
Analytical Writing
2 essays - 30 minutes each
Focus on the skill of directly responding to the presented tasks
Math (Quantitative Reasoning)
2 sections of 20 questions each - 35 minutes each
Focus on basic math concepts & skills
Verbal
2 sections of 20 questions each - 30 minutes each
Focus on reading & reasoning skills
(no other official sections)
1 minute break between all sections except for a 10 minute break after section 3
Labeled research section possible; unlabeled experimental section possible
• Onscreen calculator during Quantitative sections (reduces emphasis on computation, increases emphasis on logic)
• You can change/edit/review answers, i.e. “Mark & Review” feature
• Visit ets.org/gre for news
• Visit “Bulletins & Forms” section
• Official information in the ETS guide
• Review question types, answer types, scoring, and skills.
• An “endurance” test where you are tested for hours.
• Incorrect answers do NOT subtract but do not add to scores either.
• It is best to answer every question – at least guess!
• Once a section is completed, you may not go back through it.
• Scratch paper/noteboards are provided, and you can always request more. Use them on all sections!
• Verbal & Quantitative sections are adaptive; the raw score ≈ number of correct answers; scaled scores are generated by equating questions with difficulty levels and on comparison with the scores of other test-takers in your cohort.
• Scores are reported within 10-15 days after test date. See each exam’s details to see more about how score reports work.
History of Standardized Testing:
Standardized tests are loosely based on the IQ tests developed initially to determine the difference between officers and infantry in the military. Questions that were “easy” should have been answerable by everyone; questions that were “difficult” should have been answerable only by the very intelligent. These produce a bell curve of scores, and the “average” does not “change.”
However, where IQ tests are supposed to measure innate abilities, standardized tests for university programs are supposed to measure acquired skills. In reality, these tests measure one skill: your ability to take a standardized test.
Schools use test results to distinguish between applicants with similar GPAs. A high GPA tends to indicate a hard worker, while a high test score tends to indicate someone with a lot of skills necessary for the school programs. In addition to the scaled score, you also have a percentile ranking, which further differentiates between high-scoring tests.
Do not merely aim for your “best”! This is not a good goal. Good goals are SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-based. In other words, aim to raise your current score by a certain number of points within a specific amount of time, or to increase the number of correct answers you have within the 8-week session we have.
The test makers: ETS = Educational Testing Service
The test customers: Admissions departments and mailing lists!
The test writers & graders: Computers and graduate students
To prepare for standardized tests:
• Have a strategic plan
• Practice regularly, methodically – cramming is worse than useless!
• Take simulated tests on the computer – use the free downloadable “PowerPrep” software from the ETS website
• Pick the order with the “easy” test first – questions you like, concepts you are good at, and then do the others later
• Do NOT approach like a fact-based test
• Learn to think like the test-maker so you can avoid common errors
• Remember that the test has to be predictable, otherwise it would not be standardized, and this means you can improve your test-taking strategies!
• The test uses the same principles for every test-taker, and the changes are normed through exhaustive repetition over random groups of test-takers.
This is an adaptive test:
• Questions will start with medium difficulty level
• If you guess repeatedly, your score will drop dramatically
• Getting several questions right will increase the difficulty level
• Getting several questions wrong will decrease the difficulty level
• There is NOT a one-to-one correspondence between right or wrong answers and changes in difficulty level
• Do not waste time trying to figure out the difficulty level of each question
• Do NOT worry if the questions suddenly seem easier, you will reach an equilibrium
• DO take heart when the questions get more difficult, because this means you are doing well!
• Unanswered questions = WRONG every time
• Pace yourself – never take more than 2 minutes for any question, and remember that all questions are equally important for your score
• Practice at a higher difficulty level than you are at currently to improve your overall level
• Make educated guesses through Process of Elimination (PoE) – this will improve your chances of guessing correctly
• Every answer has an equal probability of being the right answer – do NOT just guess C or the longest answer
• Always check your answers before completing a section
• Verbal does NOT affect Quantitative nor vice versa
• DO NOT CANCEL YOUR SCORES unless you are extremely sick or the building catches fire
Verbal concepts included:
• Analysis of sentences & paragraphs
• Deriving a word’s meaning from context
• More emphasis on context and text-based material
• Detecting relationships among words
• Understanding the logic of sentences & paragraphs
• Drawing inferences
• Recognizing major, minor, and irrelevant points
• Summarizing ideas
• Understanding passage structure
• Recognizing author tone, purpose, and perspective
• Logic & critical thinking
• Pattern recognition
Most basic strategies for all verbal sections:
• Do the “easy” parts first
• Educated guesses/PoE
• USE the scratch paper
• Double-check your answers
• Make sure you are answering the question they asked!
• Leave NO question unanswered
• Read ALL answer choices
• Plug in the answers to test them
• Try to come up with your own answers and test them
• Memorize (turn the memorization sheet into flash cards) word roots and affixes
• Vocabulary flash cards are essential
Chapter 3: Introduction to Verbal Reasoning
Question Types: Text Completion, Reading Comprehension, Sentence Equivalence
Pacing strategy: no more than 2 minutes per question on average (see chart p. 23); use mark and review, easy test first, never leave a question blank!
Chapter 4: Verbal Foundations and Content Review
Improve vocabulary & improve reading comprehension
Improve vocabulary:
* learn words in context
* tell stories about words
* use flashcards
* vocabulary journal
* grouping words & roots
* use all senses
* use other people
* use other languages
* use online resources
* focus on most common GRE words
Improve reading comprehension:
* attack the passage (take notes!)
- ask questions about the passage, interrogate it the way the test does
- focus on key words, argument indicator words, and transition/structure/direction words
- paraphrase as you read, put it in your own words
- take notes to map the passage (topic, scope, purpose, key ideas)
* change your reading habits (think like the test maker)
- don't read the way you would other things
- practice this method in other contexts
- use active reading (taking notes) in school later!
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