GRE For Dummies E-Book

Ron Woldoff

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 598

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

The fast and easy way to score higher on the GRE Does the thought of preparing for the GRE give you goose bumps?Fear not! This new edition of GRE For Dummies with OnlinePractice gives you a competitive edge by fully preparing youfor the GRE exam with subject reviews and tons of practiceopportunities. Written in the accessible and friendly style thathas defined the For Dummies brand for more than twenty years, thishands-on guide helps you assess where you need more study help,gets you up-to-speed on the questions you can expect to encounteron the actual GRE exam, and will have you practicing your way totest-taking perfection by exam day. The Graduate Record Examinations is a standardized test andadmission requirement for most graduate schools in the UnitedStates. THE GRE aims to measure verbal reasoning, quantitativereasoning, analytical writing, and critical thinking skills thathave been acquired over a long period of time and that are notrelated to any specific field of study. If you're an aspiringgraduate school student preparing for this all-important exam,GRE For Dummies with Online Practice gives you everythingyou need to increase your chances of scoring higher. * Includes full-length GRE practice tests and hundreds ofpractice questions to prepare you for test day * Provides trusted GRE test-taking strategies to help you scoreyour highest * Helps you master verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, andanalytical writing * Gives you access to GRE practice questions online So what are you waiting for? Start practicing today--andget into the graduate school of your dreams!

Leseprobe

GRE® For Dummies®, 8th Edition

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GRE® For Dummies®, 8th Edition

Visit www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/gre to view this book's cheat sheet.

Guide

Table of Contents

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Introduction

Welcome to GRE For Dummies, 8th Edition. Don’t take the dummies thing personally — you’re obviously no dummy. You made it through high school with high enough grades and test scores to get into college. You then graduated to join the elite group of approximately 30 percent of U.S. citizens who hold bachelor’s degrees, and some of you already have advanced degrees. And now you’re ready to go further.

Between you and your goal is the GRE: a test designed solely to challenge your ability to remember everything you’ve forgotten since high school — material you haven’t touched in years. To clear this hurdle, all you really need is a refresher course. This book is your refresher course plus; it goes beyond rehashing what you’ve learned (and forgotten) by providing valuable strategies and tips for answering questions efficiently and correctly. You also find plenty of examples, practice questions, and practice tests to hone your skills, identify subject areas you need to work on a little more, and build your confidence for test day.

Like a personal guide, this book reveals the ins and outs of the GRE and secret passageways to reaching your goal: admittance to the grad school of your choice and perhaps a scholarship to help pay your way. The purpose of this book is to provide the skills and strategies that you need to score well on the GRE. Period. You can walk out of your local library with 20 books on the GRE, but that won’t help you. Who has time to read all that? In your hands is a concise, complete reference containing everything that you need for the exam. If you need a fast, effective guide to acing the GRE, you’re holding the right book.

About This Book

In GRE For Dummies, 8th Edition, I cover all the basic math and verbal concepts and introduce GRE-type questions for practice. I also show you how to approach each type of question, spot the traps built into the questions, and master the tricks that help you avoid those traps.

To earn a top score on the GRE, you must achieve two goals:

Primary goal: Master everything the test covers. Read through the whole book. No matter how well you know a topic, you can learn strategies and common traps, and you need to make sure you have the knowledge and skills to handle each section at the GRE level. That you should work on your weakest sections is true, but you need to be ready for anything the GRE may ask you. The exam measures your overall and top skill levels, so building on your strengths is just as important as improving your weakest subject areas.Secondary goal: Strengthen your weak subject areas. Turn to specific sections for targeted information. The organization of this book makes it easy to find the types of math questions you always have trouble with, suggestions for answering Reading Comprehension questions without having finished the passage, and tricks for acing the sentence-based questions.

Not only is this book simple and straightforward enough if you’re rusty with the GRE math and verbal topics, but it’s also detailed and sophisticated enough to deliver the high-level guidance to help you earn truly excellent scores.

As you read through the book, you’ll notice that some words have a style all their own. Each GRE vocabulary word in this text appears in this special font, followed directly by its meaning. A good way to learn a new vocabulary word is to encounter it in regular text and see what it means along with how it’s used. In this way, these pages serve as a combination lesson: You learn the topic of the pages and some vocab at the same time.

Foolish Assumptions

This book is intended to help you prepare for the GRE. I assume that you’re in at least one of these three stages of your GRE planning:

You’ve already scheduled the GRE, or are about to, and you need some preparation before taking it.You have to take the GRE for acceptance into the graduate program at your preferred school.You’re considering a graduate program or school that requires the GRE as part of the application process and want to know what the exam is all about.

Icons Used in This Book

Although everything included in this book is valuable, some tidbits call for special attention. Look for the following icons to quickly spot the most important information in each chapter.

This icon marks practice questions that are relevant to the subject matter being covered. After explaining a concept, I usually follow with an example question to show you how it’s done.

This icon indicates little bits of wisdom to make your GRE experience go more smoothly and improve your success.

This icon marks key points to remember while you’re working the GRE questions, especially anything that’s likely to surprise you on the test. By knowing what to expect, you become better able to handle it.

This icon marks GRE traps and common student mistakes. Discovering these traps before test day is better than being ensnared in them when taking the test.

Beyond the Book

This book is packed with information to help you perform well on the GRE, but you can find even more online, including the following:

Cheat Sheet: At www.dummies.com/extras/gre, you’ll find last-minute details that you’ll want to have at your fingertips, including a rundown of what to expect when you take the GRE, a list of what to bring with you and what to leave at home on test day, tips for taking the computerized exam, and pointers for answering multiple-choice questions.Bonus content: Additional articles take you beyond what’s covered in the book to boost your GRE success. At www.dummies.com/extras/gre, you can find information on how to master the Verbal and Quantitative sections, pointers on writing the essays, advice on deciding whether to retake the exam, and tips for getting in test mode on the big day.400 GRE vocabulary flashcards: Stock your mental word bank and boost your verbal reasoning score by mastering the meanings of 400 words that make frequent appearances on the GRE. These appear online at studyandprep.dummies.com.Nearly 500 practice questions: You’ll find hundreds of GRE-type questions online to help you build your competence and confidence. You can focus on areas where you need more practice and verify that you’re up to speed in other areas. You can answer the questions through untimed and timed quizzes, so you can work at your own speed and gain experience working under pressure. Find these at studyandprep.dummies.com.

To gain access to the online practice, all you have to do is register. Just follow these simple steps:

Find your PIN code.Print-book users: If you purchased a hard copy of this book, turn to the inside front cover of this book to find your PIN.E-book users: If you purchased this book as an e-book, you can get your PIN by registering your e-book at www.dummies.com/go/getaccess. Simply select your book from the drop-down menu, fill in your personal information, and then answer the security question to verify your purchase. You’ll then receive an email with your PIN.Go tostudyandprep.dummies.com.Click on GRE For Dummies, 8th Edition.Enter your PIN.Follow the instructions to create an account and establish your own login information.

Now you’re ready to go! You can come back to the online program as often as you want — simply log on with the username and password you created during your initial login. No need to enter the PIN a second time.

If you have trouble with your PIN or can’t find it, contact Wiley Product Technical Support at 877-762-2974 or go to http://support.wiley.com.

Where to Go from Here

You can approach this book in three ways:

Read it from beginning to end. For most readers, I recommend this approach. Although prepping to take the GRE isn’t a linear process, I present topics from easy to challenging, so they build on each other as you progress through the chapters. I start by providing a feel for the test-taking experience so you know what to expect when that day rolls around. I continue by providing guidance for each section of the exam — verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, and the writing of analytical essays. Practice exams follow, and I wrap things up with some Part of Tens chapters that will stick with you long after you’re done with this book.Skip around. Each chapter is a stand-alone lesson on a specific GRE-related topic. If your study time is limited, skip around to focus on areas where you need the most guidance. For example, you can skip to Chapter 6 to hone your skills at answering argument analysis questions, or skip to Chapter 10 to brush up on geometry. Another strategy is to take one of the sample tests to evaluate your skills and identify areas of weakness and then use that information to develop your plan of attack.Use it as a reference book. Whenever you need information and advice on a specific GRE topic or skill, simply flip to the chapter or section that contains the information and guidance you need. GRE For Dummies offers a refresher course on every topic and skill you need to master to succeed on the GRE.

As you work your way through the book, I recommend you create flashcards to note key concepts and strategies to get the most out of your review. The flashcards will serve as a handy reference while you review your notes.

I’ve been helping GRE students beat the test for years, so not only do I know students’ common questions and mistakes, but I also know how to make the math and verbal questions easier for you to answer. This book distills my tricks and secrets, which I’m pleased to share with you. Your success, after all, is why we’re both here.

How to register

To gain access to additional tests and practice online, all you have to do is register. Just follow these simple steps:

Find your PIN access code:Print-book users: If you purchased a print copy of this book, turn to the inside front cover of the book to find your access code.E-book users: If you purchased this book as an e-book, you can get your access code by registering your e-book at www.dummies.com/go/getaccess. Go to this website, find your book and click it, and answer the security questions to verify your purchase. You'll receive an email with your access code.Go to Dummies.com and click Activate Now.Find your product (GRE For Dummies, 8th Edition with Online Practice) and then follow the on-screen prompts to activate your PIN.

Now you're ready to go! You can come back to the program as often as you want — simply log on with the username and password you created during your initial login. No need to enter the access code a second time.

For Technical Support, please visit http://wiley.custhelp.com or call Wiley at 1-800-762-2974 (U.S.), [phone] (international).

Part I

Getting Started with the GRE

Visit www.dummies.com for free access to great Dummies content online.

In this part …

Get the details about signing up for the GRE, what’s on the exam, and how your score is calculated.Figure out how to schedule your study time in advance of test day and get some pointers if you’re retaking the exam.Know what you need to do to prepare for the exam (beyond studying) and find out what to expect on test day.

Chapter 1

Knowing What to Expect with the GRE

In This Chapter

Fitting the GRE into your schedule

Deconstructing the GRE to better understand what’s on it

Grasping the scoring system

Looking forward to intermissions

One of the easiest ways to reduce your test anxiety and optimize your performance on the GRE is to become familiar with it. Knowing what to expect gives you less to think about and fret over come test day so you can focus on what really matters — the test itself.

In this chapter, I encourage you to schedule your exam early so you can get a time slot that works for you. I also discuss the GRE’s structure and scoring system so you can build your strategies around them. With this guidance, you’re better equipped to avoid surprises that may throw you off your game.

Signing Up for the GRE

In most parts of the world, the GRE is a computer-based test, which makes it easier to administer to individual test-takers. Sign up early so you can choose the day, time, and place that work best for you. If you’re a morning person who’s sharpest at sunrise, you can schedule the test for early morning; if you’re a night owl who tends to sleep in, you can opt for late morning or early afternoon. Actual time slot availability varies according to the testing center, but you have more days and times to choose from than you do with paper-and-pencil tests, such as the LSAT and SAT.

The paper and computer versions of the GRE are slightly different. For example, the paper version has 25 questions per section, while the computer version has only 20. Don’t worry too much about the differences; your only option will most likely be to take the computer version.

To sign up for the GRE, see the current GRE Information and Registration Bulletin (available through most college admissions offices), register online at www.ets.org, or register via phone by calling 800-473-2255. You can also check the GRE testing center locations and available time slots at www.ets.org.

To help you get in the right mindset, take the practice tests at the same time of day you plan on taking the real thing. (Check out the practice tests in Chapters 16, 18, and 20.) I’ve had students use this strategy to become accustomed to the effects that their circadian rhythms (hunger and nap patterns) have on their test-taking abilities. If you’re used to eating or relaxing at a certain time each day, make sure these tendencies don’t sneak up on you during the exam. As I discuss in greater detail throughout this book, one of your goals is to make the GRE as familiar as possible, or rather, to make the test-taking experience as less unfamiliar as possible. (See Chapter 3 for more on how to prepare for the GRE.)

Because the computerized GRE is administered to individual test-takers, testing centers tend to have few seats, and those seats fill up quickly during peak admission deadline months (April and November). If you’re planning to take the GRE around these months (to get your test scores in on time), schedule your test early and secure your ideal time slot. You can always reschedule, but the last thing you need is an inconvenient time or location. One of my students waited until the last minute to schedule his exam, and he had to drive from Phoenix to Tucson (approximately 120 miles) to take his GRE and get his scores in on time. He called me during his drive to review math formulas, but this wasn’t an ideal way to ramp up for the test.

Breaking the GRE into Manageable Pieces

Standardized tests tend to convey a sense of gloom and doom. Telling someone you have to take the SAT, ACT, or GRE usually elicits the same facial expression as saying that you need to have your wisdom teeth pulled. However, breaking the GRE down into its component parts makes it more manageable and less threatening.

Table 1-1 provides a quick overview of what’s on the exam. The essays are always first, but the multiple-choice sections may be in any order.

Table 1-1 GRE Breakdown by Section (Computer-Based)

Section

Number of Questions

Time Allotted

Analyze an Issue

1 essay

30 minutes

Analyze an Argument

1 essay

30 minutes

Verbal Section

20 questions

30 minutes

Math (Quantitative) Section

20 questions

35 minutes

Verbal Section

20 questions

30 minutes

Math (Quantitative) Section

20 questions

35 minutes

Discreetly Unscored Math or Verbal Section (may be earlier in the exam)

20 questions

30 or 35 minutes

At close to four hours long, the GRE challenges your stamina as much as your ability to answer the questions. No matter how solid your math and verbal skills are, you must maintain the concentration and focus needed to do well for four hours, which isn’t easy on a challenging task such as the GRE. You can build your test-taking stamina by practicing in four-hour stretches and taking multiple timed practice tests.

The GRE includes one unscored Math or Verbal section in addition to the scored sections. So you actually have three Math or three Verbal sections, with one of those sections unscored. This unscored section neither helps nor hurts your score. The GRE may indicate that the section is unscored, but usually it doesn’t, so be sure to work all of the sections to the best of your ability.

Unlike other computer-based tests (such as the GMAT and TOEFL), the GRE allows you to skip questions and return to them later, as long as you’re still in the section. When you reach the end of a section, the GRE displays a review screen that indicates any unanswered questions. If you have time remaining in the section, return to these questions and answer them as well as you can. This feature is nice because you can knock out all the easy questions before spending time on the hard ones. (See Chapter 2 for tips on managing your time during the exam.)

In each section, the questions are worth the same number of points, and within that section, they don’t become more or less difficult based on your performance. However, on the computer version of the exam, your performance on the Math or Verbal section determines the overall difficulty level of the next Math or Verbal section. For example, if you do extremely well on the first Math section, the GRE makes the second Math section harder. Even if you don’t get many questions right in the second Math section, your score may be higher than the score of someone who answers more easier questions correctly, because GRE scoring accommodates for the difficulty level of the questions.

So exactly what types of questions and how many of each type can you expect to run into on the GRE? Check out Table 1-2 for the answers.

Table 1-2 GRE Breakdown by Question Type

Type of Question

Approximate Number of Questions

Per Math Section (20 questions each)

Multiple-choice with exactly one correct answer

6

Multiple-choice with one or more correct answers

2

Fill-in-the-blank with the correct answer

2

Data Interpretation (based on graphs)

3

Quantitative Comparisons

7

Per Verbal Section (20 questions each)

Text Completion

6

Sentence Equivalence

4

Argument Analysis

2

Reading Comprehension

8

These question types are mixed throughout their respective sections, so you may encounter them in any order. Sometimes the software groups similar questions at the beginning or the end. For example, if you’re halfway through a Verbal section and haven’t seen a Text Completion question, you soon will.

Scoring Max: 340 and 6

With the GRE, you receive three separate scores: Verbal, Math, and Analytical Writing. Although you get your unofficial Verbal and Math scores immediately after taking the test (as explained in the following section), you must wait 10 to 15 days to get your Analytical Writing score in the mail. The following sections explain in depth some important scoring details you may want to know.

Understanding how the scoring breaks down

On the GRE, you can score a maximum of 340 points on the multiple-choice and 6 points on the essays. Here’s the scoring range for each of the three sections:

Verbal: The Verbal score ranges from 130 to 170 in 1-point increments. You get 130 points if you answer just one question, which accounts for about 80 percent of a job well done. It doesn’t help much, though: You need to score as well as or better than most of the other people who took the test to improve your chances of being admitted to the school of your choice. Refer to the chapters in Part II for the lowdown on the Verbal sections.Math: The Math score also ranges from 130 to 170 in 1-point increments. Flip to Part III for more on the Math sections.Analytical Writing: You get 1 to 6 points per essay, with 6 being the highest. Each essay is graded separately, first by a trained evaluator and then by a computerized essay-grading system. Your score for that essay is the average of the two. If the two scores are very different, then another human grader steps in, and your score for that essay is the average of the two human scores. Finally, the scores of your two essays are averaged for your Analytical Writing score of 1 to 6. Essay responses that are blank or off-topic receive a score of 0. You can discover more information about the essays in Part IV. (The paper version of the GRE essay is scored only by people, not the computerized system.)

So in essence, if you perfectly ace the Verbal and Math sections, you get 170 points for each, for a total of 340. If you’re perfect on the two essays, you can get an essay score of 6. The three scores are separate: You get a Math score and a Verbal score, each from 130 to 170 in 1-point increments, and an Analytical Writing score of 0 to 6, in half-point increments.

On the multiple-choice questions, you earn points only for completely correct answers. If the question requires two or more answers, you have to get all the answers correct; you don’t get partial credit for a partially correct answer. However, you don’t lose any points for wrong answers, so guessing behooves you. See “Playing the guessing game,” later in this chapter, for more on this.

Calculating your score

Within each section, each question counts exactly the same toward your score. An easy question is worth exactly the same as a hard question. Because you can move back and forth within each section, a good strategy is to skip around and answer all the easy questions first; then go back and work the hard questions. Quite simply, in each section, the more questions you get right, the higher your score for that section.

When you complete a practice test from Part V, you can easily estimate your Math and Verbal scores. For the Math score, count the math questions you answered correctly and then add 130 to that number. Because the GRE has 40 math questions (two sections with 20 questions each), this method gives you an approximate score from 130 to 170. You can find your Verbal score the exact same way, because the GRE also has 40 Verbal questions.

The way that the computer version of the GRE calculates your scores is slightly more complicated. It takes into account the difficulty levels of the second Math and Verbal sections, weighing the scores accordingly. For example, if you do very well on the first Math section, the second Math section will be more difficult. In this second section, you may not answer as many questions correctly, but you’ll have a higher score, because the GRE accounts for the increased difficulty level. However, within any section, each question counts exactly the same toward your score. The exams in this book, however, have no such adaptive mechanism, so for these, you can approximate your score by counting the correct answers.

Figuring out how your scores measure up

If you score a perfect 340 or something close to it, you know you did well. If you score a 260, you know you bombed. But what if you score something in between? Did you pass? Did you fail? What do you make of your score? Well, you can’t really tell much about your score out of context. There’s no pass or fail, no A, B, C, D, F — but there is a percentile ranking. To download the complete percentile table, visit www.ets.org, click GRE Tests, and search for “percentile ranking.” Here are some highlights:

A raw score of 165 is typically a 95th percentile ranking in the Verbal and a 91st percentile ranking in the Math.A raw score of 160 is typically an 84th percentile ranking in the Verbal and a 78th percentile ranking in the Math.

Basically, with a range of 40 points, each point counts for a lot. How well you do is relative to how well the other people taking the test perform and the requirements of the graduate program you’re applying to. What’s most important is that you score high enough to get accepted into the program you have your heart set on. Once you’re in your program, the GRE score doesn’t matter.

Your GRE score is only one part of the total application package. If you have a good undergraduate GPA, a strong résumé, and relevant work experience, you may not need as high of a GRE score. On the other hand, a stellar GRE score can compensate for your weak areas.

Playing the guessing game

The GRE doesn’t penalize you by deducting points for incorrect answers, so

If you don’t know the answer, rule out as many obviously incorrect choices as possible and then guess from the remaining choices.Finish the section, even if you must take wild guesses near the end. Wrong answers count the same as not answering a question, so guessing on questions that you would otherwise have left blank can only help your score, not hurt it.

Seeing or canceling your scores

Immediately after finishing the GRE, you have the option of either seeing or canceling your Verbal and Math scores. Unfortunately, you don’t get to see your scores first. If you think you had a bad day, you can cancel, and your scores are neither reported to the schools nor shown to you. However, the schools are notified that you canceled your test. If you choose to see your score, you see it — minus the essay scores — right away.

How much do the schools care about canceled scores? Probably not much, especially if a top GRE score (from when you retake the test 21 days later) follows the notice of cancellation. If you really want to know the impact of a canceled score, check with the admissions office of your target school. Each school weighs canceled scores differently. See Chapter 2 for more about what to do after canceling your GRE score.

Taking advantage of the ScoreSelect option

At the end of the test, you have the option of choosing which test scores to send to your target schools, assuming that you’ve taken the GRE more than once (within five years). You can send the most recent scores, scores from the past, or all your test scores. However, you can’t pick and choose sections from different testing dates. For example, if today’s Verbal score rocked but last fall’s Math score was outstanding, you can’t select only those sections — you have to select the scores from one entire test. Choose to send the scores from today’s test, last fall’s test, or all your tests.

Gimme a Break! GRE Intermissions

The GRE provides an optional ten-minute break after the third section of the exam. However, don’t expect to have the entire time to yourself: Part of that time is for checking in and out while the proctors go through their security procedures to ensure that you’re not bringing in any materials to cheat with. The ten-minute intermission is timed by the computer, which resumes the test whether you’re seated or not. You probably have five minutes to do your business, which leaves little time to grab a bite if you’re hungry. Plan accordingly with snacks and water in your locker so that during your actual five minutes, you can refresh yourself without having to scramble.

Make sure your packed snacks are light and nutritious. Sugar makes you high for a few minutes and then brings you way down. Something heavy, like beef jerky, makes you drowsy. You don’t want to crash right in the middle of a quadratic equation. Take a handful of peanuts, some trail mix, or something light that isn’t going to send all the blood from your brain down to your stomach for digestion.

Between other sections of the test, you get a one-minute break — just enough time to stand up and stretch a bit. You don’t have time to leave your seat and come back before the test resumes. If you absolutely, positively must use the restroom and leave the computer during the test, just remember that the clock keeps ticking.

Recognizing the importance of test prep

Stories abound about how someone’s friend’s cousin’s roommate took the GRE cold (with no preparation) and aced it. This story may be true on a very rare occasion, but you hear only the success stories. Those test-takers who took the test unprepared and bombed it don’t brag about the outcome. As an instructor, however, I hear those other stories all the time.

The GRE doesn’t test your intelligence; it tests how prepared you are for the test. I’d put my money on a prepared dunce over an unprepared genius every single time. Dramatically raising a test-taker’s score, say from the 30th percentile to the 90th percentile ranking, is something I do every day before breakfast, and it’s what I do for you through this book. Being prepared means knowing what to expect on the test and in the questions, which means that the first time you calculate a fraction of a circle had better not be on the actual GRE. Make your mistakes here, in practice, not on the test.

Chapter 2

Owning the GRE: Strategies for Success

In This Chapter

Managing your time before and during the test

Deciding whether to retake the GRE

Taking action if the test isn’t administered properly

Using scores up to five years old

The GRE isn’t an IQ test. Nor is it a measure of your worth as a human being or a predictor of your ultimate success in life. The GRE is designed to assess your ability to excel in grad school by sizing you up in three areas:

Work ethic: How hard you’re willing and able to work to achieve an academic goal — in this case, performing well on the GRE — determines your work ethic. Graduate schools consider this to be a measure of how hard you’ll work in their programs.Study skills: To do well on the GRE, you must master some basic study skills and be able to process and retain new information.Test-taking ability: Your test-taking ability is your ability to perform well on a test, under pressure, which is a separate ability from being able to answer the questions. Exams are an essential part of grad school, so you need to prove that you can take a test without folding under pressure.

This book can’t help you in the first area; that’s all you. As a study guide, however, this book shapes you up in the second and third areas, enabling you to study more effectively and efficiently and improve your overall test-taking skills. By knowing the material and taking the practice tests, you establish a foundation for doing well on the GRE.

This chapter is designed to take your study skills and test-taking ability to the next level. To beat the GRE at its game, you need to maximize the use of your time, focus on key areas, and apply strategies to answer the questions quickly and correctly. This chapter shows you how to do all these things and provides you with a Plan B — what to do if things don’t go so well the first time.

Making the Best Use of Your Time

As soon as you decide to take the GRE, the clock starts ticking. You have only so much time to study, so much time to practice, and suddenly so little time before the exam is tomorrow morning. The good news: I’ve taken many students down this road, with great results, and here I’ve distilled the best of the success strategies. The following sections show you how to optimize your study and practice time so you can answer the test questions more efficiently.

Budgeting your time for studying

As an undergrad, you may have mastered the fine art of cramming the night before an exam, but that doesn’t work on the GRE. This test is based less on memorization and more on skills, which take time to develop. Give yourself plenty of time to absorb all the material you need to study. Here’s what I recommend in terms of total time, the amount of that time you spend working through this book, and the amount of time to set aside per day:

Six to 12 weeks of total preparation: Give yourself plenty of time to work through this book, take practice tests, and review areas where you need extra preparation. Six to eight weeks works well for most people, but more time is generally better. At 12 weeks, you can do extremely well, but after 12 weeks, most people get burned out or lose interest, and they forget things they learned early on.Three to four weeks on this book: Working through this book takes about three weeks, not including the practice tests. The practice tests should each take 2.5 hours (no essays) or 3.5 hours (with essays), plus another hour or two to review the answer explanations.One to three hours per day, five or six days per week: Pace yourself. I’ve seen too many students burn themselves out from trying to master the whole test in three days. Your brain needs time to process all this new information and be ready to absorb more.

If you have only a couple weeks to study, mark your weakest subject areas in the table of contents at the beginning of this book and work through those chapters or sections first. If you’re not sure about your weakest subject areas, take one of the practice tests in the book or use the practice questions online at learn.dummies.com to find out.

This book provides broad coverage of everything you’re likely to encounter on the test, but if taking the practice tests reveals weaknesses in certain areas, you may need to consult additional resources to improve your understanding and skills.

Prioritize your study time and schedule daily review sessions. Otherwise, other activities and responsibilities are likely to clutter your day and push study time off your to-do list.

Budgeting your time for practice

Just because you know a subject inside and out doesn’t mean you can ace a test on it. Test-taking requires a completely separate skill set. Start taking practice tests at least two weeks prior to your scheduled GRE so you have time to hone your skills, learn from your mistakes, and strengthen your weak areas.

Your proficiency with the test itself is as important as your math and verbal skills for attaining a top GRE score. As you take the practice tests, don’t focus exclusively on errors you made in answering specific questions. Spend time evaluating your testing performance. What kinds of mistakes do you make two hours into the exam? Do you still try as hard at the end as you do in the beginning? Do you misread the questions or make simple math mistakes? Do you fall for traps?

In addition to working the practice tests in this book, I recommend working the free computer-based practice tests that Educational Testing Service (ETS) provides at www.ets.org. See Chapter 3 for details.

Beating the clock: Time management tips

Taking the GRE is a little like playing Beat the Clock. The computer provides you with a stopwatch — an on-screen clock — to time each section. Your goal is to answer as many questions correctly as quickly as possible before the clock ticks down to 0:00. You have the option of hiding the on-screen clock, but I don’t recommend this. Instead, make the on-screen timer familiar and comfortable (or rather, less uncomfortable) by using a stopwatch while doing homework and practice tests. Practicing with a stopwatch is part of preparing for the test-taking experience.

The clock changes from hours:minutes to minutes:seconds during the last five minutes; this, of course, means hustle time.

Don’t obsess over giving each question a specific number of seconds, but do know when to give up and come back to a question later. As long as you haven’t exited a section, you can return to questions in that section. Simply click Review, click the question you want to return to, and then click Go to Question. You can also mark a question for review so it’s flagged on the Review Screen. Just keep in mind that while you’re on the Review Screen, the clock still ticks. (See Chapter 3 for more about the computer version of the test.)

Within each section, each question carries the same weight; easier ones are worth just as much as harder ones. A good strategy is to note on your scratch paper a question that you can’t answer quickly so you can answer as many of the easy questions as possible and go back to the harder ones at the end.

Answer every question, even if you have to make a wild guess. You’re not penalized for incorrect answers, so you may as well try. See Chapter 1 for info on how the exam is scored.

Repeating the Test

Upon completing the exam, you have the option of accepting and seeing your scores immediately or canceling the results if you’re convinced you did poorly. If you cancel the results, you have two choices: Retake the test or choose another career path. Most people choose to retake.

Most test-takers who repeat the exam tend to do much better the second time. It’s as if there’s no better way to prepare for the GRE than taking the GRE. Of course, you want to avoid having to take the test a second time, but if the first round doesn’t go so well, don’t lose hope. Also, be sure to schedule your GRE a month before your school needs the scores. That way, if you do have to retake it, you’ll still meet the application deadline. Also, just knowing you have a second chance helps ease your nerves in the first round.

If you think you underperformed on the GRE, consider the following when deciding whether to retake it and when preparing to retake the exam:

Am I repeating the test to get a certain minimum qualifying score? If you have your heart set on a particular graduate school that requires a minimum GRE score, you may not need to take the test again and again until you get that score. Talk to the admissions folks at the school you want to attend. They weigh the GRE score along with your GPA, résumé, and personal interests and have some flexibility when making their decision; if your score is close to the target, they may just let you in. I see it happen all the time.Am I willing to study twice as hard, or am I already burned out? If you put your heart and soul into studying for the exam the first time, you may be too burned out (or enervated) to take on another round of study and practice. After all, scores don’t magically go up by themselves; improvement requires effort.What types of mistakes did I make on the first test? If you made mistakes because of a lack of familiarity with either the test format (you didn’t understand what to do when faced with a Quantitative Comparison question) or substance (you didn’t know the vocabulary words or were baffled by the geometry problems), you’re a good candidate for repeating the test. If you know what you did wrong, you can mend your ways and improve your score. This is one purpose of taking and reviewing the practice tests.