Vince Kotchian GRE Prep

Looking for ETS Powerprep answer explanations but don't want to sit through a 3 to 5 minute video for each question? We've written some detailed answer explanations here for the first half of Test 1.

hi Nic, Here's what I tell my people who are self-prepping - most of this will apply to your situation. Rather than following or adapting a pre-made, one-size-fits-all GRE study plan you find online, I’d highly recommend devising your own, using my advice below for each part of the test. You are the one who needs to figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are, where to spend more time and less time, and what parts of the GRE the programs to which you’re applying care about. Build Foundational Skills I break this down into several areas: Vocabulary – learning new words that the GRE is likely to test. Many verbal reasoning questions will depend on whether you can define the words in the question and / or the answer choices. My #1 recommendation is to learn GRE words daily from GRE Vocab Capacity (the book I co-wrote). We define over 1,200 GRE words with mnemonics to help the definitions stick in your brain. We also have a word root index. I also like both the Manhattan GRE Essential Flashcards and their Advanced Flashcards – they have relevant words, memorable sentences, and synonyms of words – all in an easy to carry box of cards. Ideally, make or use a flashcard for each word you’re learning. Include a pronunciation so you can use it in speech, a brief definition, a mnemonic, a sentence using the word, and any synonyms you also want to learn. See my blog for examples and a chart explaining how to organize your vocab studies. Your daily reading (see below) will also help with GRE vocabulary. Look up words you don’t know; they’ll be easier to learn since you’ve seen them in context. Any words you see in a normal publication are fair game for the GRE to test.Whatever method you use to learn vocab, quiz yourself. It’s easier to retain things if you’re quizzed on them. Reading Comprehension – building your ability to understand the literal meaning of what you’re reading and to understand how different parts of a passage function in relation to the whole. You’ll have to be able to read passages written at a graduate level in areas like the humanities and sciences: this skill is the cornerstone of your GRE verbal prep. The longer you have to prepare, the more important improving reading comprehension becomes. If you don’t have very long before you take the GRE, it can be difficult to improve your reading skill in an appreciable way – it’s usually a skill that takes a while to build. My #1 recommendation is spend 30 min. per day reading academic journals – ETS adapts many passages from academia. Read about all kinds of different topics; you’ll understand a passage better if you’re familiar with its subject matter.Also read anything from Arts and Letters Daily, the New Yorker, or the Economist, which are all written at a high reading level. This will improve your comprehension and passively teach you vocabulary. It will also give you material for the essays! Math – mastering arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and data analysis concepts. Mastery is important, since you’ll also have to reason your way through many questions, not just plug numbers into formulas or solve for x. My top recommendations are to use the Manhattan Prep GRE Set (if you have more time, like 4 or more months) or CliffsNotes Math Review (if you have less than 4 months) to build conceptual knowledge.Use ETS’s math review (which is online here) to build conceptual knowledge, too. Watch my free GRE videos for explanations of the concepts my students ask about the most.Finally, I’ve made a spreadsheet that classifies the math questions in the Official Guide by concept and technique so you can practice applying a concept once you’ve learned it. Learn, apply, rinse, repeat. Make sure you build in review sessions; you want to be reviewing topics when you’re starting to forget them.I’ll get into actual math technique for the GRE in Step 4; by technique, I mean methods for doing certain question types. Essays – learning how to write both the GRE Issue Essay and the GRE Argument Essay. Read everything ETS writes about the essays on its website; it offers lots of good advice. In The Official Guide, as well as in the Verbal Practice book, there are sample essays from real GRE takers. These are great models for your writing since you can see what the ETS graders reward. Next, read and brainstorm the topics for the Issue essay and the topics for the Argument essay; ETS publishes all possible essay topics on its website. Then, write practice essays untimed at first to develop your skills, then write them timed once you’re happy with how the untimed ones look. I highly recommend getting a good writer to look at your essays. They Say, I Say is the best book I know of to improve your writing, since it quickly allows you to incorporate academic writing structures into your own writing. Logic – learning how to solve critical reasoning questions. These are questions that involve strengthening or weakening an argument or explaining a paradox. Comprehension is secondary to logical reasoning here, and these questions demand different skills. My #1 recommendation is to get a copy of the GMAT Verbal Review (any edition) and work on Critical Reasoning questions. The GRE modeled certain questions on the GMAT (the two companies now compete for business school applicants). You will see questions just like these on the GRE, but ETS hasn’t published very many. Learn Technique Each GRE question type can be made easier with good methodology. I’m biased since I AM a tutor, but my #1 recommendation is to find an experienced GRE tutor to help you develop effective technique. I particularly find it’s much easier to teach people good technique through conversation, since I can see what a student is thinking and give her little course corrections. I offer a short, free GRE video course, designed to give you the same robust, flexible verbal and math techniques I teach to my private clients. The long version of the courseis on Lynda.com, to which you might have free access through your university or company. I generally try to talk people out of taking GRE classes: worst-case scenario is getting an inexperienced instructor who teaches from a one-size-fits-all script and who is restricted to his company’s materials. Many GRE courses here in San Diego are inexpensive; think about how much they’re paying the instructor and who would be willing to work for a lower wage. If you’re learning technique from a static source like a book or a video, be prepared to experiment and be flexible. If a technique isn’t working on a certain ETS question, it may be the technique’s fault more than yours. Think about it; talk about it with someone else; try a different way. GRE Practice Material GRE verbal practice and GRE math practice with real (ETS-written) questions is crucial to hone your technique and to get realistic experience. Buy The Official Guide and its Verbal Practice and Quantitative Practicesupplements. These are the most important practice books, since they contain authentic GRE sample questions, which are more complex and realistic than any other company’s. I’ve explained all the Quantitative Practice Book’s questions on my Youtube channel. You can supplement with Barron’s 6 GRE Practice Tests (which I co-wrote) – just make sure you eventually master the ETS problems. First, practice untimed. This is your chance to work on concepts and techniques without time pressure. Timed practice is best done once your skills and techniques are sharper. Always circle troublesome questions or questions you guessed on, so you can review them. Don’t write in your books – when you review questions, they should be blank. You will probably want more than two computer practice tests, so I’d supplement with Manhattan Prep’s online GRE practice tests (which are available with the purchase of any of the books in the Manhattan Prep GRE Set). Don’t analyze Manhattan tests too much – they’re not the real thing. I’d aim for taking 5-8 practice tests during your prep. I’d take the first ETS Powerprep Timed Test about halfway through your prep, and take the second one toward the end of your prep. Analyze both… a lot (see review step below). Don’t forget that there are easy, medium, and hard sections for the second sections of both math and verbal in each test. Here’s an answer key that will enable you to get to them all. My friend Brian has published a thorough guide to using the ETS Powerprep software. A final source of new questions is this ETS practice paper test, but I’d do it last, since it contains some questions from the Powerprep tests. Review – The Most Important Step! Reviewing is where you learn the most about the GRE and the rules it plays by. After each tutoring lesson or study session, review my notes and the problems we/you studied within 48 hours. Review problems, identifying what was tested, ideal technique, and takeaways.Write these things down.You should be reviewing problems you got right as much as you review ones you missed. Keep working with a question until you can explain it to a friend. This will let you get much more out of the ETS books, since it should be taking you at least three times as long to review a question as it takes you to do one. The good news? Review is what makes you better at the test! Review, don’t just do! Now go back and work on concepts and techniques until you’re ready to practice again. A good way to organize your study time is to split it into thirds: one-third concepts (like vocab and math concepts), one-third practice (writing essays and doing practice questions), and one-third reviewing (analyzing previously done questions). Eventually, you’ll want to do questions you got wrong again – from scratch – so don’t write in your books, and wait until you’ve forgotten a question to redo it. Bonus Recommendation: you’re applying to grad school soon, right? I highly recommend reading Graduate Admissions Essays – it’s an intelligent overview of the whole application process, not just the essay. The author, Donald Asher, is an expert on admissions, and I learned a lot even though I’ve been doing this for a long time.

I would call the universities and talk to someone about your application, ideally in the departments to which you were applying. Say something like, "My application wasn't accepted but I'd like to learn from the experience to improve it for the future. Can you give me some honest feedback regarding my application and what I can improve to make it more competitive?" I've had students get some great feedback this way.

There's your answer. If it's higher than their average score, I bet it helps more than if you don't send any GRE score.

You're on the right track. Timed math sections will be important. You'll want to analyze what's going on with individual questions, but also your decision making: are you rushing questions and making careless mistakes? Spending time getting questions wrong that you shouldn't have even attempted? Trying to complete all the questions instead of strategically skipping some? Kaplan tests are not what you should be using to prepare - the questions are way too straightforward. The 5-lb book is for conceptual practice, not for test-taking practice. You need computer tests. I'd use the ETS Powerprep tests in conjunction with the Manhattan Prep computer tests. The ETS tests will be the most important ones to analyze. Keep in mind that, since the Powerprep tests adapt, there is an easy, medium, and hard second section. By using an answer key, you can make sure you get to take all three instead of just one. The ETS tests (and to some extent, the Manhattan tests) will also give you a realistic score (the Kaplan tests will not). Overall, getting in a groove during the last week is more important than chasing down any concepts you don't know. But don't forget to analyze your decision making each time you take a practice test and make the needed adjustments.

Imagine the person whose job it is to write a GRE reading question. Four out of the five choices have to be straight-up wrong. But to make the question challenging, some of those choices must be made attractive to test-takers. As a GRE studier, you should be interested in exactly why these wrong choices are wrong, but also why they might seem right at first. So, I have a challenge for you all that will improve your GRE reading comprehension question skill: Post a specific way the test writers are trying to make a wrong answer choice attractive. Give us an example from an ETS reading question. I'll start: GRE test writers like to use familiar-looking words and phrases from the passage when they write incorrect choices, since some people will pick a choice just because its wording looks familiar. For example, in the ETS Verbal Reasoning Practice Book, pg. 18, #1, choice A is wrong, but attractive (for some) because it uses the word "coincided" - which is also used in the passage and which gets at the timing aspect of the question. You can also post another example of this kind of trick, or find another way they're trying to make wrong answers look right. This is an important drill: the GRE is a standardized test, so anything you figure out about the way the test is written will show up again and again.

I wouldn't use those tests. There may be a lot of them, but the quality looks terrible in terms of question realism.

You want to use the Powerprep drop-down menu to select "Timed Test 1". Sounds like you took the "test preview tool".

I agree - a deeper math foundation will help your quant score. The trouble is, GRE prep books, by nature, don't provide deep foundation. And a deep foundation by nature takes times. However, I bet you can improve your quant significantly by. 1. Doing all ETS questions from scratch in their books and tests 2. Determining, for each question, what concept(s) are tested and the optimal method to solve 3. Defining what can be learned from the question (if anything) to apply to future, similar questions. I might also suggest working through CliffsNotes Math for Standardized Tests, as well as the ETS Math Review to strengthen foundation - they are quicker and better than most other options. For verbal, I wouldn't spend much time on vocab. Instead, analyze ETS questions - why are wrong answers wrong? What justifies the right answer(s)? What can be learned about the rules the test plays by from this questions? And of course, take the ETS practice tests and probably a few other ones as well.

Jule - you might be in good shape already. Or you may not. Take an ETS Powerprep test and compare the score to your goal score. That will give us a way to determine how much work is needed.

I would add that you should do and analyze all the questions in the ETS books as well. Stop using Magoosh; ETS questions are much much better to practice and learn from.

Yep - change your emphasis to doing, then analyzing ETS questions. Doing questions is easy; analyzing and learning from them is not. Identify the best method to solve, why wrong answers are wrong and why right answers are right. The ETS ones are way more valuable than Magoosh / Manhattan / fill-in-the-blank because they're realistic. Make sure you take a few practice tests including the ETS Powerprep ones.

Thanks for the post - I think you touch on something important for others to know: after exhausting the ETS books, cross-train with GMAT and/or LSAT verbal. GMAT math problem solving questions are great cross-training, too.

Sure, I get this question from time to time. You don't mention what you've done so far (which would be helpful to know), but here are a few ideas that will help no matter what, in order of importance: 1. Do all the ETS questions in their books and on the two Powerprep tests. Then review them and determine the optimal way to solve each, what the question is testing, what the reasoning opportunities are to make the question easier, etc. Most people have no problem doing all the questions but very few review them to the point of mastery. For any questions you got wrong, redo them from scratch after you've forgotten the solution. 2. Cross-train with GMAT Problem Solving questions from any old official GMAT guide, and with the last version of the Official SAT Study Guide (don't use the current version). These materials will be invaluable, since both the SAT and GMAT's math questions are written (mostly) about the same math topics and more importantly, reward reasoning to find solutions. Follow my advice about reviewing questions in step 1. 3. Use Manhattan Prep's 5-lb. book of GRE problems. You'll also want to be taking practice GRE tests (via computer) throughout your study time; start with Manhattan's, do a Powerprep midway and the 2nd Powerprep toward the end. Have fun!

Your quant background is typical of many of my students'. Given your background, I'm confident you can improve a lot. How much? How long? There are too many variables involved for me to guess, but I've seen students in your shoes get to 160+ with a few months of (rigorous) studying. I have a whole GRE study plan here, but to summarize: 1. Learn concepts and practice them at a conceptual level. I like CliffsNotes Math Review for Standardized Tests. 2. Learn some math techniques. 3. Apply concepts by practicing with GRE-style questions which test those concepts (ETS's are best, of course; Manhattan Prep's are a distant second). 4. Do mixed practice (all different concepts). 5. Take computer tests. To err on the side of caution, I might suggest devoting more than a few months. It just depends on how quickly you can learn the concepts. But once you're skilled with them, you need experience, which will be gained by doing and reviewing lots and lots of GRE questions until you can confidently say you've found the most efficient way to solve them.

hi guys, I got a question from someone today about whether Magoosh or Manhattan Prep's GRE math practice questions were realistic. I'm posting my response because I want to see if anyone has thoughts on this topic, particularly people who have taken or studied for the GMAT (and also for the SAT). My response: "All the third party questions I've ever seen tend to be less complex than real GRE questions. They will test the same concepts, but when companies like Manhattan try to make questions difficult, they tend to do things that make them difficult in markedly different ways than ETS questions will (for example, making problems very calculation-heavy). For instance, you might see a crazy problem with lots of third and fourth roots - something the GRE probably will never do. Real GRE questions tend to have more of a logical component and tend to be more wordy, which is a different way of making things difficult. However, this way of making questions difficult is much harder to duplicate than just throwing in fourth roots, for example. I know from experience writing test-prep books and making video courses for a few different companies that there is very little quality control or editorial pushback to make questions realistic. Quantity is much more important to companies (a reason Manhattan's 5-lb. book is so popular). Most buyers of test-prep books and products don't have enough experience to discern whether questions are realistic or not, so they often go for the biggest book or the product with the most videos, questions, or tests. A good way to get used to real ETS questions, other than the ETS books, is to practice SAT or GMAT math questions written by the companies that publish those exams. Yep, SAT and GMAT. Since those companies write math questions that are wordy and involve logic, they're a good supplement to ETS GRE. ETS used to write the SAT but no longer does, so the old SAT Official Study Guide is a good source of practice (not the most current version). With all that said, some companies (Manhattan GRE in particular) are good at making sure you know the concepts behind questions, but I wouldn't say it or any other test-prep company writes realistic GRE questions." p.s. This advice probably only concerns people who need 70th percentile math or higher.

It's more than pretty good...it's 97th percentile verbal and 94th for math! Quick question: what percentage of the Magoosh videos do you think you watched? I think there are about 250 total videos in the program. It might be helpful to know which ones you thought were most valuable, too - since I think many people who use Magoosh don't make it through all those videos.

I tutor GRE, SAT, and ACT, and the GRE and SAT are most similar. In fact, up until this year, they were both written by the same company, ETS (which still writes the GRE). Getting good at the test is a combination of acquiring fundamental skills (reading, vocabulary, writing, math), thinking skills (reasoning, logic, critical thinking), and test familiarity (format, rules the test plays by, techniques for certain question types).

Be sure to check out what ETS (the publisher of the test) has to say about it. This practice exam and document should be your primary source of info. There may be companies out there writing practice exams that could give you supplemental practice, but the ETS practice test will be most like the exam you actually take.

Ah - that makes sense - "memorizing content" is not going to get you very far with the GRE. There are no short-cuts or tricks if you want a high score. I have a lot of recommendations on my website for you, and the Magoosh plan is solid - just be prepared to adjust it if you have to in order to fit your schedule. The time spent planning on how to study now will save you a lot of time and frustration over the next few months.

My first tip is check out Graduate Admissions Essays by Donald Asher. So much good advice about the entire process of applying to grad school. I would post a new thread in the appropriate place, since you will get more advice there. I'm not an expert on things like that, though I have worked with enough people to have an opinion about recs. I think the principle is you want someone who knows you well and is enthusiastic (or at least not less than enthusiastic) about writing the rec. To help them, you can give them a draft of your personal statement, meet with them and chat about your plans, give them a few bullet points of things they could emphasize about you, etc.

Ha ha - just a little exaggeration there. Your neighbors probably wouldn't like a Kaplan bonfire. But no, I don't like Kaplan-anything. Their coverage of every part of the test is superficial. Their methods are overly simplified, and though they work on Kaplan-written questions, once you're up against complex ETS-written questions, you'll see the difference. I saw a comment on Amazon about a Kaplan book that, for me, said it all: "The hardest question in the Kaplan book was easier than any of the questions on the real GRE". As nevermind said, Magoosh's recommended books are a good place to start. I have extensive recommendations on my site too.

As a tutor, I agree with nevermind's advice. Also, don't just ditch the Kaplan book: burn it.

It depends on how you're studying. Time spent studying may be time wasted if you're using poor material or ineffective study methods. It might be helpful to tell us exactly how you've prepared and what materials you used.

That particular rule is specific to reflections over the line y = -x. There is a different rule for reflections over the line y = x. And there are rules for reflections over the x and y axes. These are usually rules people memorize, but a good way to check is drawing it and seeing if your reflection of the point seems to be a mirror image of that point. ...and it's quite unlikely in my opinion that the GRE will test that particular concept (reflections).