Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Icons Used in This Book 2
Beyond the Book 2
Where to Go from Here 3
Part 1: Getting Started with the Gre 5
Chapter 1: Knowing the GRE 7
Knowing the GRE Sections 8
Knowing the GRE Scores 9
Calculating your score 10
Checking your score 10
Seeing or canceling your scores 11
Taking advantage of the ScoreSelect option 11
Bringing the GRE into Your Comfort Zone 11
Getting familiar with what's on the exam 11
Understanding the other admissions requirements 12
Using Old Scores 12
Chapter 2: Planning Your Time 13
Planning Your Prep Time 13
Planning your study time 13
Planning your practice time 14
Planning Your Exam Time 14
Planning your question time 14
Throwing a mental dart 15
Planning your intermission time 15
Planning your computer time 16
Planning Your Mental and Physical Time 17
Staying active 17
Eating well 17
Relaxing 17
Scheduling Your Exam 18
Scheduling for the testing center 18
Scheduling for home 18
Chapter 3: Planning for Exam Day: Everything Outside the Exam 21
Planning the Night Before 21
Knowing what to bring 21
Knowing what not to bring 22
Planning for Contingency 23
It's Them, Not You: Testing under Adverse Conditions 24
Part 2: Tackling the Verbal Section One Word at a Time 27
Chapter 4: Upping Your Best GRE Verbal Score 29
Building Your Core Skills 29
Managing Your Time 30
Chapter 5: What Are They Saying: Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence 33
Clinching Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence Questions 33
Keeping it straight 34
Trying it out 34
Developing Your Skills for Finding the Correct Answers 35
Interpreting the Text 101 35
Getting the gist of the text 36
Taking the Best and Only Approach 36
Interpret the text without looking at the answer choices 37
Complete the text with your own words 37
Eliminate wrong answer choices 38
Interpreting Trickier Sentences 38
Use transition words to get the gist of the phrases 39
Start with the second or third missing word 40
Getting Your Hands Dirty with Some Practice 41
Text Completion questions 41
Sentence Equivalence questions 44
Chapter 6: Getting the Gist: Reading Comprehension 51
Recognizing the Three Reading Comprehension Question Formats 51
Multiple-choice questions: Choose one answer 52
Multiple-choice questions: Choose one or more answers 52
Sentence-selection questions: Choose a sentence from the passage 53
Developing Strategies for Success 53
Using the context as your road map 53
Grasping the gist of the passage 54
Avoiding common traps 54
Answering the question yourself 55
Acing the Three Commonly Tested Reading Comprehension Passages 55
The biological and physical science passage 55
The social sciences passage 58
The humanities passage 61
The social sciences passage redux 63
Chapter 7: Critical Thinking: Argument Analysis Questions 67
Covering the Answer Choices 68
Reading the Question for What It's Asking 68
Reading the Passage for What the Question Is Asking 68
Identifying the because and the therefore 69
Finding the unstated assumption 70
Exploring common logical fallacies 71
Answering the Question in Your Own Words 72
Eliminating Each Wrong Answer 72
Applying the process of elimination 73
Testing your skills 73
Chapter 8: Expanding Your Vocabulary to Boost Your Score 77
Brushing Up on Prefixes, Suffixes, and Roots 77
Prefixes 78
Suffixes 80
Roots 80
Memorizing the GRE's Most Common Vocabulary Words 82
Part 3: Math You Thought You'd Never Need Again 97
Chapter 9: Raising Your Best GRE Math Score 99
Managing Your Time 100
Typing an Answer 100
Selecting Two or More Answers 101
Choosing among three answers 101
Choosing among more than three answers 102
Selecting the Quantity That's Greater 102
Chapter 10: Working with Numbers and Operations 105
Working with Integers, Factors, and Multiples 105
Working with Math Terms 106
Working with Prime and Composite Numbers 106
Working with the Units Digit 107
Working with Absolute Value 108
Working with one absolute value 109
Working with two absolute values 109
Working with Order of Operations 110
Working with Fractions 111
Adding and subtracting 111
Multiplying 113
Dividing 113
Working with mixed numbers and improper fractions 113
Cross-multiplying 114
Working with Decimals 115
Adding and subtracting 115
Multiplying 115
Dividing 116
Working with Percentages 118
Converting 118
Calculating percentage of change 119
Working with Factorials 121
Working with Ratios 122
Working with total numbers 122
Working with amounts in the ratio 123
Maintaining the ratio 124
Combining ratios 126
Chapter 11: Solving Algebra and Functions 129
Solving Bases and Exponents 129
Solving Math Operators 132
Solving for X 133
Solving for x with a Number 134
Solving with the FOIL method 135
Factoring back out 137
Solving Square Roots and Radicals 139
Simplifying 139
Adding and subtracting 140
Multiplying and dividing 141
Simplifying first 142
Solving Coordinate Geometry 142
Solving common problems 143
Solving linear equations 145
Solving two linear equations 147
Solving graphed circles 151
Solving Patterns in a Sequence 152
Solving f(x) Functions 153
Chapter 12: Drawing Geometry 157
Drawing Lines and Angles 157
Drawing lines 157
Drawing angles 158
Measuring Polygons 161
Measuring total interior angles 162
Measuring one interior angle 162
Drawing Triangles 163
Drawing three types of triangles 163
Measuring key characteristics 164
Drawing perimeter and area 165
Measuring with the Pythagorean theorem 168
Drawing common right triangles 169
Drawing Quadrilaterals 172
Drawing Circles 174
Drawing parts of a circle 174
Drawing the circumference and area 176
Drawing the arc and sector 178
Drawing overlapping shapes 182
Drawing 3D Shapes 184
Drawing a cylinder 184
Drawing a rectangular solid 185
Drawing a cube 186
Chapter 13: Simplifying Word Problems 191
Simplifying the Steps 191
Simplifying Time and Distance 192
Simplifying Units of Measurement 193
Simplifying Averages 194
Simplifying missing-term averages 194
Simplifying evenly spaced integers 195
Simplifying weighted averages 196
Simplifying Work Problems 198
Simplifying Team-Work Problems 199
Simplifying Mixture Problems 201
Simplifying Sets and Groups 203
Simplifying the Venn diagram 203
Simplifying the sets formula 204
Simplifying Probability 204
Step #1: Set up the fraction 205
Step #2: Multiply consecutive probabilities 205
Step #3: Add either/or probabilities on a single event 206
Simplifying probability in sets and groups 207
Simplifying Counting Methods 208
Basic counting methods 208
When order matters: Permutations 210
When order doesn't matter: Combinations 211
Chapter 14: Interpreting Data and Graphs 213
Interpreting Basic Stats 213
Interpreting the median 213
Interpreting the mode 215
Interpreting the range 215
Interpreting the mean 216
Interpreting standard deviation 219
Eyeballing standard deviation 220
Interpreting mean deviation 222
Interpreting the distribution curve 223
Interpreting Tables and Graphs 223
Interpreting tables 224
Interpreting graphs 225
Chapter 15: Comparing Quantities 235
Comparing Exact Answer Choices 235
Comparing Steps 236
Comparing via Strategy 237
Comparing similar appearances 238
Comparing drawings 238
Comparing concepts 240
Comparing identical terms 241
Comparing ranges 245
Comparing estimates 246
Comparing with Four Square 247
Comparing with a hundred 249
Comparing multiple unknowns 250
Part 4: Getting the Essays Right 251
Chapter 16: Writing the Essays Well and Fast 253
Setting Your Sights on a Perfect 6 254
What the essay scores really mean 254
Key methods to scoring well 255
Writing the Issue Essay 256
Step 1: Read and understand the prompt 256
Step 2: Identify examples you already know about the issue 257
Step 3: Take a position that's in line with your examples 257
Step 4: Write your Issue essay 258
Tying everything together with smooth transitions 261
Writing the Argument Essay 262
Step 1: Read and understand the prompt 262
Step 2: Identify the position stated in the argument 263
Step 3: List the reasons given to support the stated position 263
Step 4: Identify the flawed assumptions behind each reason 264
Step 5: Write your essay 265
Chapter 17: Practicing Your Essays 269
Setting the Stage for a Realistic Experience 269
Writing an Issue Essay: Some Samples 270
Having trouble getting started? Begin by identifying some relevant laws 270
Sample essay - score 6 (outstanding) 271
Evaluator comments on the score 6 essay 272
Sample essay - score 4 (adequate) 272
Evaluator comments on the score 4 essay 273
Writing an Argument Essay: Some Samples 274
Having trouble getting started? Begin by finding the faulty assumptions 274
Sample essay - score 6 (outstanding) 275
Evaluator comments on the score 6 essay 276
Sample essay - score 4 (adequate) 276
Evaluator comments on the score 4 essay 276
Part 5: Full-length Practice Exams: Show Time 279
Chapter 18: Practice Exam 1 281
Answer Sheet for Practice Exam 1 283
Section 1 287
Section 2 293
Section 3 297
Section 4 303
Chapter 19: Practice Exam 1: Answers and Explanations 307
Analytical Writing Sections 307
Section 1: Verbal Reasoning 307
Section 2: Quantitative Reasoning 310
Section 3: Verbal Reasoning 313
Section 4: Quantitative Reasoning 316
Answer Key for Practice Exam 1 319
Chapter 20: Practice Exam 2 321
Answer Sheet for Practice Exam 2 323
Section 1 327
Section 2 332
Section 3 336
Section 4 341
Chapter 21: Practice Exam 2: Answers and Explanations 345
Analytical Writing Sections 345
Section 1: Verbal Reasoning 345
Section 2: Quantitative Reasoning 348
Section 3: Verbal Reasoning 350
Section 4: Quantitative Reasoning 353
Answer Key for Practice Exam 2 356
Chapter 22: Practice Exam 3 357
Answer Sheet for Practice Exam 3 359
Section 1 363
Section 2 369
Section 3 372
Section 4 378
Chapter 23: Practice Exam 3: Answers and Explanations 383
Analytical Writing Sections 383
Section 1: Verbal Reasoning 383
Section 2: Quantitative Reasoning 385
Section 3: Verbal Reasoning 387
Section 4: Quantitative Reasoning 389
Answer Key for Practice Exam 3 392
Part 6: the Part of Tens 393
Chapter 24: Ten Key Facts about the GRE 395
You May Return to Previous Questions in the Same Section 395
The GRE Doesn't Penalize for Guessing 396
The GRE Uses a Percentile-Based Scoring System 396
Practice Makes All the Difference 396
You Must Prepare for the GRE 397
The GRE Is Different from the SAT and ACT 397
The GRE Also Measures Your Stamina and Performance under Pressure 397
The General GRE Is Not Program-Specific 397
You Can Practice the GRE on Your Own Computer 397
You Can't Bring Anything into the Testing Center 398
Chapter 25: Ten Mistakes You Won't Make (While Others Will) 399
You Won't Cheat 399
You Won't Run Out of Steam 400
You Won't Neglect Your Breaks 400
You Won't Dwell on Questions from Previous Sections 400
You Won't Worry about the Time Limit 400
You Won't Rush Through the Questions 401
You Definitely Won't Choke on the Essays 401
You Won't Fret Over the Hard Questions 401
You Won't Take the Exam with a Friend 402
You Won't Change Your Morning Routine 402
Chapter 26: Ten Ways to Build Your Skills with the Online Exams 403
Take an Exam in One Sitting to Build Stamina 403
Recognize the Mistakes You Make under Pressure 404
Get Used to Others Being in the Room 404
Make It a Dress Rehearsal 404
Get a Competitive Edge 404
Practice Your Test-Taking Strategies 405
Know the Exam Software 405
Get Used to Starting with the Essays 405
Find Your Areas of Focus 406
Review the Answers and Explanations 406
Index 407
