GRE Quant for the Math illiterate

[KEIM]

For those of you who are nearly completely illiterate in Math...how were you able to get your quant scores up to 150? The last math course I took was in 2011 (stats).  I took a practice test with ETS (i guessed on 99% of the quant questions) I didn't even make it to 140! I am fairly certain I have dyscalculia but I have no idea how to go about get tested for it. Or that would even make a difference.  I'm not sure where to start to brush on my math skills...I've done so much research online and nothing seems to help and mathematical concepts "click" for me. 

I've looked over the ETS Review, subscribed to Magoosh, watched GreMats videos (REALLY GOOD!) and nothing seems to help. Magoosh is awful if you have no math skills. It becomes very confusing especially when they try to explain all of the tricks you should use on the exam. I have two weeks left until the GRE exam but I feel that my dreams of entering grad school are down the drain if I don't meet the 300 combined score. Any tips would be appreciated. 

[bibliophile222]

Have you tried Khan Academy videos? They've been pretty helpful for me in the past. However, I also consider myself to be average at math, so I'm not sure if they would be helpful for you.

Some schools do have hard GRE cutoffs, but others don't require the GRE and many others would PREFER certain scores but might not care too much about your quant score if verbal and writing are good. One girl in my cohort got in with, as she called it, an "embarrassingly low" quant score, so it can definitely be done! It's just one piece of your application, and probably the least important one. Just stay away from schools with hard cutoffs!

Edited November 20, 2019 by bibliophile222

[mckennahslp]

Hi! I am also pretty math illiterate, but actually ended up getting a 148 on the quantitative section (still not amazing, but amazing to me). One of my math sections was SO easy. I'm talking reading basic graphs, mean, median, mode, and basic word problems. Keep in mind, the GRE quantitative section isn't literally to test you on how well you can solve equations, etc., it's to test your ability to critically think. MANY of the problems can be solved by just understanding basic properties of math and common sense. 

As far as preparation for the quantitative section goes, I have heard Magoosh is far too difficult compared to the real test and I would 100% agree. The only real mode of prep I used was practice tests. I also got plenty of sleep the night before and ate a good meal before the test so I wasn't hungry during. I took pre-calculus just this past summer which I am sure somewhat contributed to my score because a lot of the information was still "fresh" to me, but I have friends who didn't study at all and did just fine. Just read the questions carefully and about a week before the exam, take an actual practice test in a library or something as if you were taking the REAL test. That helped me understand some strategies I could use on the real test.

GOOD LUCK!

[sleepyslp2be]

HI! Just dropping in to give you some encouragement! I am someone who would certainly identify as "math illiterate" as well?. However, between my first GRE and my second GRE I raised my quant score by 5 points! I literally only studied Gregmat videos on YouTube and other test taking strategies. I didn't study any math "content" at all. I did the same for the verbal section and went up 6 points! I'm a firm believer that strategies of the GRE test can be learned, so don't sweat too much!

[KEIM]

On 11/20/2019 at 7:37 AM, sleepyslp2be said:

HI! Just dropping in to give you some encouragement! I am someone who would certainly identify as "math illiterate" as well?. However, between my first GRE and my second GRE I raised my quant score by 5 points! I literally only studied Gregmat videos on YouTube and other test taking strategies. I didn't study any math "content" at all. I did the same for the verbal section and went up 6 points! I'm a firm believer that strategies of the GRE test can be learned, so don't sweat too much!

Oh wow, that's pretty impressive!  You didn't study any actual concepts or memorize formulas?

I was watching one of Gregmats Quant walkthrough videos  today and I would get lost on why he would decide to use certain numbers to figure out problems. I seem to get confused very easily. Are there any specific quant videos you recommend by him? Thanks. 

[CorazonDeSLP]

seconding alot on this thread. I scored floor level math.. and thats sometimes typical of people in slp programs.. "speech path math" so its called. I think studying strategies and process of elimination are the way to go. This test does not measure how well you can actually do math. it measures your analytical skills. I still basically bombed it .. however my verbal was higher and so was writing. Call the school and ask if they have a GRE cutoff.

[sleepyslp2be]

6 hours ago, KEIM said:

Oh wow, that's pretty impressive!  You didn't study any actual concepts or memorize formulas?

I was watching one of Gregmats Quant walkthrough videos  today and I would get lost on why he would decide to use certain numbers to figure out problems. I seem to get confused very easily. Are there any specific quant videos you recommend by him? Thanks. 

I looked over the most commonly used vocabulary words a few times when I was bored. Otherwise, I pretty much just studied test taking strategies. For math, I used Gregmats quant strategies playlist on his YouTube channel, I think there are like 5 videos. Other than that, I had a very rough understanding of basic formulas (area of a triangle, diameter of a circle, and the annoying sine/cosine/tangent stuff) going into the test from a little bit of review.