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You are here because you have just started preparing for the GRE and need some information on whether the initial questions in a set are more important than the ones that follow.
Short Answer – All questions NOW carry the same weight.
Long Answer – Read on.
In the previous incarnations of GRE, getting initial questions right was very important – so much so that your result could make or break within the first 20 minutes of each test. Unfortunately, this system puts test-takers at a disadvantageous position, as it creates an extra and unwanted pressure. Moreover, test-takers were learning to ‘game’ the system by spending considerable amount of time on the first 15 questions or so.
What these test-takers didn’t realize was this – by spending too much time on the first few questions, they were neglecting their performance on questions that followed.
So instead, ETS decided to provide test-takers with a solution – an opportunity to mark and review the questions.
So what does this mean for you? Well, within a given set, you can attempt any question at any given time, without it affecting the difficulty level of any question that follows (within the set). So now, when you answer the first question in the verbal or quantitative section – you don’t need to fear about the implications of getting this answer wrong. Other than loss of points in that particular question, you will not lose much else.
This strategy is beneficial for you in more than one way:
- It will reduce the pressure that comes with the first few questions of any GRE section – whether that is quantitative or verbal.
- It allows for clearer focus throughout the exam. Since no one question has higher weight-age than another, you can spend equal time on each and every question in order to score maximum points.
- If you know your strengths and weaknesses, you can increase your test efficiency by spending more time on difficult sections. Marking them in order to review later will help you to concentrate on simpler questions first. I personally exercised this technique in my Verbal question sets, and felt very relaxed during the exam.
Skeptics argue that this technique puts A-level students at a disadvantage, but ETS has been working hard to level the playing field as much as possible, which includes making verbal exam more intuitive. I believe, and many would agree, that any changes that help students are a welcome change – as is the case here.
To sum it up – Yes, initial questions in both verbal and quantitative sections are important. But their importance is spread out evenly throughout the whole paper. The only change in level happens after end of each section, but that is for another day.
If you spend some time online researching on GRE, you will find various information resources that talk about GRE preparation in detail. While this post might not be too different from them, it will be more personal, as I talk about what I did to succeed in my GRE, and if you emulate these (perhaps go a step further), you can definitely secure high scores.
Tip 1: Quit Wasting Time on Prep Course Research. This is the#1 mistake I made. Fortunately it was easily corrected once I started my prep with the Barron’s GRE Prep course. Have you ever heard of information overload? This happens when we spend too much time planning and looking at different avenues. While such an extensive research is useful, it can prove counterproductive. So my recommendation, spend no more than a week to research what you should study, and stick to that. Frankly in my case, Barron’s GRE Prep course worked very well.
Tip 2: Take Action. Take action. Sooner the better. The longer you wait to begin preparing for GRE, the costlier it will get. I spent a little more than a month to prepare for my test, but there are others who spent nearly 6 months in preparation, and scored near perfect score. Therefore if you are serious, start preparing now, even if it means spending 30 minutes a day on new words.
Tip 3: Find Your Strength and Perfect It. Even before I started preparing for my GRE, I knew what my strength was – Quantitative. I relentlessly pursued perfection in this section. Result? Based on the old scoring system, I recorded over 130 point increase in a month. So if you feel there is something you are strong at, spend some time to make it even stronger.
Tip 4: Find Your Weakness and Strengthen It. Ironic, isn’t it? But this is what I did. My verbal skills are better than most, yet still below my Quantitative abilities. What I should have done is worked on this section for 6 months. Still, I worked hard to strengthen this area, and in less than 30 days, recorded a dramatic increase of 90 points.
Tip 5: Evaluate Regularly. If there was something I did perfectly – it was this – Consistent evaluation. While some might argue that spending 4 hours every other day evaluating will not lead to better results, it certainly works to gauge improvement. When I started my GRE preparation, I did one mock exam every 3 days and closer to the exam – every day. I am analytical by nature, so this helped me to implement steps 3 and 4 better.
Tip 6: Focus and Balance. These points apply to anything that I do in life – focus and balance. I have razor sharp focus when I put my mind to things, which showed in my preparation. Moreover, being locked up inside a room with books everywhere can get suffocating, so remember to take breaks. As a matter of fact, I was meeting friends just a couple of days before the exam. This is a great stress buster, so I would definitely recommend keeping your social circle active.
The difference between GRE and other exams is that GRE requires you to focus, rather than know everything. The intensity in the examination hall can put you under undue pressure, and the best way to manage is to concentrate singularly on the task at hand. I practiced this meticulously during the GRE preparation stages. You should too.
Posted in Course Features, GRE, Quant
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As you probably know, in August 2011, ETS introduced the new GRE format a.k.a. the revised GRE. The old GRE underwent numerous changes – many minor ones, and a few major ones. The biggest change however – the change that is set to benefit students the most – is Mark and Review. Let me tell you what I mean.
The GRE in its earlier incarnation was a pure and simple Computer Adaptive Test (CAT). If you want to move onto the next question, you HAD to answer the question that was currently on your screen (you could of course leave it blank, but you won’t get any points!)
The old guard changed in August 2011.
In the new GRE, you are allowed to mark questions so that you can come back and review them later. The new screen navigation allows you to:
- Navigate between different questions by clicking on the Back and Next buttons.
- Mark questions so that you can review them later.
- Click on review to see what questions have been answered and marked for review.
Clearly, the new GRE is much more test-taker friendly. You are now allowed to leave difficult questions for later and go back to check or correct ambiguous answers.
You can now better pace yourself to spend maximum time in getting the easy question(s) right.
Personally, this new format really helped me in achieving the score I eventually got. I wanted to achieve a high score (who doesn’t!), and the new GRE format really allowed me to make my strategy more effective. This is how I handled some of the questions in the exams.
- Reading comprehension questions are my Achilles heel. So whenever I came across a long passage, I quickly jumped between screens to skim through all the questions related to that passage (usually 3 to 4 questions). This allowed me manage expectations when I started reading the passage.
- I struggled with ‘Charts and Graphs’ problems in Quantitative section. These problems are very easy, but if you don’t understand the graphs properly, the questions can seem confusing. So I marked these questions, so that I could answer them at the end, once I had answered all the other easy ones.
- In my practice exams, I noticed that I was getting through the Sentence Completion questions very quickly. Yet, I wasn’t scoring. Turns out, I was over-confident and as a result, was not spending enough time on these questions. With the help of the new format, I made it a point to leave a few minutes at the end to come back and review answers to these questions.
As you can see, you too can strategize to maximize the benefits of the new GRE format. The Barron’s GRE Prep has 4 full length tests with GRE-like questions. The test interface is almost similar to the real GRE. I strongly suggest creating a test like atmosphere before you attempt these tests.
Was this helpful? What is your strategy for the new GRE format?
Posted in Course Features, GRE
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In the GRE quantitative reasoning sections, you can expect anywhere between 15 to 20 quantitative comparison questions. The quantitative comparison questions mainly test your focus. Typically these type of questions also require multiple steps to solve and therefore careful consideration of variables is necessary.
There are many different ways of solving quantitative comparison questions, and through the course of your preparation, you will have to decide on a method that you are comfortable with. In this post, I will outline a method that I found useful – a method that helped me reduce the time it takes to solve some of these questions by more than 50%. Pretty neat..huh? Look at the following example:
Loading ...Click on the view solution for a detailed step-by-step solution script. As you can see, the substitute and eliminate strategy is very effective in solving quantity comparison questions. The solution may seem long-winded, but it really helps you remain focused when solving relatively difficult GRE quantity comparison questions. This strategy is also explained in detail in Barron’s GRE course.
Good luck!
Hi and welcome to the first part of ‘The GRE Experience’ series.
What is The GRE Experience Series?
When I first registered for the GRE, I was unsure of what to expect. Sure, there are many books that give plenty of questions to practice, and then there are many other books that tell you how to manage your time and work effectively.
But all these books lack one essential component – The Human Touch.
If you are one of the students that with prior GRE experience, you will probably nod in approval as you read through this series, as most of it will resonate with your test taking and GRE Prep experience. But let me assure you – not all test experiences are same. Mine was certainly interesting, and a series of comedy of errors, if I look back on it.
Why am I reading this? What Can I Gain from The GRE Experience?
Good question. This series has been written with you in mind. The experiences that will be shared here are mine, and thus, as real as they can be. But it will give you an idea of what to expect: Before, during, and after the GRE.
When I first started, all I was concerned with was the exam, and nothing else. Hindsight is the best type of learning, and needless to say, I underestimated the exam and its implications! Hopefully, this series will help you avoid those mistakes. Here is a quick plan of what this series will cover.
- The Why and How of GRE: Registration
- GRE Preparation
- The Day Before GRE
- Good Morning, Today is the test day
- Getting Started – The Essay Questions
- The ‘Extra’ Test Conundrum – Which Comes First? Must I be Worried?
- Before the 10 Minute Break
- The Final Lap
- Forwarding My GRE Scores to Universities
- The Final Score, and What Next?
If I were you, I would keep an eye out for the next post – as these posts will share funny, interesting and essential GRE aspects – only for your benefit.
Throughout this series, please feel free to ask any questions you may have – about the exam, the preparation and about my future posts on GRE. In order to keep things interesting and build up an interesting story, I will declare my results in the end – after all, that is how I found out. Why should it be any different for you?
Until next time!
PS: Please don’t ask about actual questions in the Test. I signed a confidentiality agreement with ETS (you will too), and I won’t be discussing the questions in this series.
Posted in Course Features, GRE
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