GRE 2022 For Dummies with Online Practice

Ron Woldoff founded National Test Prep to help students reach their goals on college entrance exams. He created the programs and curricula for these tests from scratch, and he has taught his own test prep programs at various Arizona high schools, colleges, and universities.

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 What to Expect with the GRE 7

Signing Up for the GRE 7

Breaking Down the GRE into Bite-Sized Pieces 8

Scoring Max: 340 Then 6 9

Understanding how the scoring breaks down 10

Calculating your score 10

Confirming that your score is actually good 11

Throwing a mental dart 11

Seeing or canceling your scores 11

Taking advantage of the ScoreSelect option 12

Catching Your Mental Breath: The GRE Intermissions 12

Chapter 2: Owning the GRE: Strategies for Success 13

Making the Best Use of Your Time 14

Budgeting your time for studying 14

Budgeting your time for practice 14

Taking control: Time management tips 15

Plan B: Repeating the Test 15

It Isn’t You: Testing Under Adverse Conditions 16

Using Old Scores 17

Chapter 3: Gearing Up for Exam Day 19

Gathering Your Stuff the Night Before 19

Knowing What Not to Bring 20

Taking the Test at Home 21

Training Physically and Mentally for Test Day 22

Staying active 22

Eating well 22

Relaxing 22

Mastering the Computer Part 23

Bringing the GRE into Your Comfort Zone 23

Getting familiar with what’s on the exam 24

Understanding the other admissions requirements 24

Part 2: Tackling the Verbal Section One Word at a Time 25

Chapter 4: What Are They Saying: Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence 27

Clinching Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence Questions 27

Keeping it straight 28

Trying it out 28

Developing Your Skills for Finding the Correct Answers 29

Interpreting the Text 101 29

Getting the gist of the text 30

Taking the Best and Only Approach 30

Interpret the text without looking at the answer choices 31

Complete the text with your own words 31

Eliminate wrong answer choices 32

Interpreting Trickier Sentences 32

Use transition words to get the gist of the phrases 33

Start with the second or third missing word 34

Getting Your Hands Dirty with Some Practice 35

Text Completion questions 35

Sentence Equivalence questions 38

Chapter 5: Getting the Gist: Reading Comprehension 45

Recognizing the Three Reading Comprehension Question Formats 45

Multiple-choice questions: Choose one answer 46

Multiple-choice questions: Choose one or more answers 46

Sentence-selection questions: Choose a sentence from the passage 47

Developing Strategies for Success 47

Using the context as your road map 47

Grasping the gist of the passage 48

Avoiding common traps 48

Answering the question yourself 49

Acing the Three Commonly Tested Reading Comprehension Passages 49

The biological and physical science passage 49

The social sciences passage 52

The humanities passage 55

The social sciences passage redux 57

Chapter 6: Critical Thinking: Argument Analysis Questions 61

Covering the Answer Choices 62

Reading the Question for What It’s Asking 62

Reading the Passage for What the Question is Asking 62

Identifying the “because” and the “therefore” 63

Finding the unstated assumption 64

Exploring common logical fallacies 65

Answering the Question in Your Own Words 66

Eliminating Each Wrong Answer 66

Applying the process of elimination 67

Testing your skills 67

Chapter 7: Expanding Your Vocabulary to Boost Your Score 71

Brushing Up on Prefixes, Suffixes, and Roots 71

Prefixes 72

Suffixes 74

Roots 74

Memorizing the GRE’s Most Common Vocabulary Words 76

Part 3: Math You Thought You’d Never Need Again 91

Chapter 8: An Overview of GRE Math 93

Managing Your Time 93

Typing an Answer 94

Selecting two or more answers 95

Select from three answers 95

Select from more than three answers 95

Selecting the One That’s Greater 96

Chapter 9: Simplifying Numbers and Operations 97

Simplifying Integers, Factors, and Multiples 97

Simplifying Math Terms 98

Simplifying Prime and Composite Numbers 98

Simplifying Absolute Value 99

Simplifying the Order of Operations 101

Simplifying Fractions 101

Adding and subtracting 101

Multiplying 103

Dividing 103

Mixed numbers 104

Cross multiplying 104

Variations on cross multiplying 104

Simplifying Decimals 105

Adding and subtracting 105

Multiplying 105

Dividing 106

Simplifying Percents 108

Converting 108

Percent of change 109

Simplifying Factorials 111

Simplifying Ratios 112

Total numbers of items 112

Amounts in the ratio 113

Maintaining the ratio 114

Combining ratios 116

Chapter 10: Solving Algebra and Functions 119

Solving Bases and Exponents 119

Solving Math Operators and Functions 122

Math operators 122

Functions 123

Solving for X 124

Solving for x with a number 124

The FOIL method 125

Factoring back out 128

Solving Square Roots and Radicals 129

Simplifying 130

Estimating 131

Adding and subtracting 131

Multiplying and dividing 132

Working radicals last 133

Solving Coordinate Geometry 133

Common questions 134

Linear equations 136

Two linear equations 138

Graphed circles 142

Solving Patterns in Sequential Terms 143

Solving f(x) functions 144

Chapter 11: Drawing Geometry 147

Drawing Lines and Angles 147

Lines 147

Angles 148

Drawing Polygons 151

Total interior angle measure 152

Finding one interior angle 152

Drawing Triangles 153

Three types of triangle 153

Key characteristics 154

Perimeter and area 155

The Pythagorean theorem 158

Identifying common right triangles 159

Drawing Quadrilaterals 162

Drawing Circles 164

Parts of a circle 164

Circumference and arc 166

Drawing areas that overlap 172

Drawing 3-D Shapes 174

Drawing a cylinder 174

Drawing a rectangular solid 175

Drawing a cube 176

Chapter 12: Simplifying Word Problems 181

Simplifying the Steps 181

Simplifying Time and Distance 182

Simplifying Units of Measurement 183

Simplifying Averages 184

Simplifying missing-term averages 184

Simplifying evenly spaced integers 185

Simplifying weighted averages 186

Simplifying Work Problems 187

Simplifying Team-Work Problems 188

Simplifying Mixture Problems 190

Simplifying Sets and Groups 192

Simplifying the Venn diagram 192

Simplifying the sets formula 193

Simplifying Probability 194

Step #1: Set up the fraction 194

Step #2: Multiply consecutive probabilities 195

Step #3: Add either/or probabilities on a single event 196

Simplifying probability in sets and groups 197

Simplifying Counting Methods 198

Basic counting methods 198

When order matters: Permutations 199

When order doesn’t matter: Combinations 200

Chapter 13: Interpreting Data and Graphs 203

Interpreting Basic Stats 203

Interpreting the median 203

Interpreting the mode 205

Interpreting the range 205

Interpreting the mean 206

Interpreting standard deviation 208

Eyeballing standard deviation 209

Interpreting mean deviation 212

Interpreting Tables and Graphs 213

Interpreting Tables 214

Interpreting Graphs 214

Different types of graphs 215

Interpreting two graphs 220

Estimating graph totals quickly 222

Chapter 14: Comparing Quantities 225

Comparing Static Answer Choices 225

Comparing Steps 226

Comparing with Strategies 227

Comparing equal appearances 228

Comparing drawings 228

Comparing concepts 230

Comparing identical terms 231

Comparing ranges 235

Comparing estimates 236

Comparing with Four Square 237

Comparing with a hundred 239

Comparing multiple unknowns 240

Part 4: Getting the Essays Right 243

Chapter 15: Writing the Essays Well and Fast 245

Setting Your Sights on the Target: Scoring a Perfect 6 246

What the essay scores really mean 246

Key methods to scoring well 247

Writing the Issue Essay 248

Step 1: Read and understand the prompt 248

Step 2: Start with your supporting info 249

Step 3: Take a position that’s in line with your examples 249

Step 4: Write your Issue essay 250

Tying everything together with smooth transitions 253

Writing the Argument Essay 254

Step 1: Read and understand the prompt 254

Step 2: Identify the position stated in the argument 255

Step 3: List the reasons given to support the stated position 255

Step 4: Identify the flawed assumptions behind each reason 256

Step 5: Write your essay 257

Chapter 16: Practicing and Reviewing Sample Essays 261

Setting the Stage for a Realistic Experience 261

Writing an Issue Essay: Some Samples 262

Having trouble getting started? Identifying relevant laws: Some examples 262

Sample essay — score 6 (outstanding) 263

Evaluator comments on the score 6 essay 264

Sample essay — score 4 (adequate) 264

Evaluator comments on the score 4 essay 265

Writing an Argument Essay: Some Samples 266

Having trouble getting started? Start with finding the faulty assumptions 266

Sample essay — score 6 (outstanding) 267

Evaluator comments on the score 6 essay 267

Sample essay — score 4 (adequate) 268

Evaluator comments on the score 4 essay 268

Part 5: Full-Length Practice Exams: Show Time 269

Chapter 17: Practice Exam 1 271

Answer Sheet for Practice Exam 1 273

Section 1 277

Section 2 283

Section 3 287

Section 4 293

Chapter 18: Practice Exam 1: Answers and Explanations 297

Analytical Writing Sections 297

Section 1: Verbal Reasoning 297

Section 2: Quantitative Reasoning 300

Section 3: Verbal Reasoning 303

Section 4: Quantitative Reasoning 306

Answer Key for Practice Exam 1 309

Chapter 19: Practice Exam 2 311

Answer Sheet for Practice Exam 2 313

Section 1 317

Section 2 322

Section 3 326

Section 4 331

Chapter 20: Practice Exam 2: Answers and Explanations 335

Analytical Writing Sections 335

Section 1: Verbal Reasoning 335

Section 2: Quantitative Reasoning 338

Section 3: Verbal Reasoning 340

Section 4: Quantitative Reasoning 343

Answer Key for Practice Exam 2 346

Chapter 21: Practice Exam 3 347

Answer Sheet for Practice Exam 3 349

Section 1 353

Section 2 359

Section 3 362

Section 4 368

Chapter 22: Practice Exam 3: Answers and Explanations 373

Analytical Writing Sections 373

Section 1: Verbal Reasoning 373

Section 2: Quantitative Reasoning 375

Section 3: Verbal Reasoning 377

Section 4: Quantitative Reasoning 379

Answer Key for Practice Exam 3 382

Part 6: The Part of Tens 383

Chapter 23: Ten Key Facts about the GRE 385

You May Return to Previous Questions in the Same Section 385

The GRE Doesn’t Penalize for Guessing 386

The GRE Uses a Percentile-Based Scoring System 386

Practice Makes All the Difference 386

You Must Study for the GRE 387

The GRE is Different from the SAT and ACT 387

The GRE Measures Your Stamina and Performance under Pressure 387

The General GRE is Not Program-Specific 387

You Can Practice the GRE on Your Own Computer 387

You Can’t Bring Anything into the Testing Center 388

Chapter 24: Ten Mistakes You Won’t Make (While Others Will) 389

You Won’t Cheat 389

You Won’t Run Out of Steam 389

You Won’t Neglect Your Breaks 390

You Won’t Dwell on Questions From the Previous Sections 390

You Won’t Worry About the Time Limit 390

You Won’t Rush Through the Questions 391

You Definitely Won’t Choke on the Essays 391

You Won’t Fret Over the Hard Questions 391

You Won’t Take the Exam with a Friend 391

You Won’t Change Your Morning Routine 392

Chapter 25: Ten Ways to Build Your Skills with the Online Exams 393

Take an Exam in One Sitting to Build Stamina 393

Recognize the Mistakes You Make Under Pressure 394

Get Used to Others in the Room 394

Make It a Dress Rehearsal 394

Get a Competitive Edge 394

Practice Your Test-Taking Strategies 395

Know the Exam Software 395

Get Used to Starting with the Essays 395

Find Your Areas of Focus 396

Review the Answers and Explanations 396

Index 397