Quantitatively Impaired.

[objectivityofcontradiction]

I started studying for the math portion of the GRE this week and I'm struggling mightily. I'm honestly wondering if it is worth my team to labor through a full weeks study (about 3-4 hours a day) of math if no progress is to be seen. I feel like I am only going to fry my brain more. I expect to score almost perfect on Verbal and would be very disappointed with anything lower than a 5.5 on Writing. So with that being said, are phil departments going to be pissed if my math score is something like a 140-150?

In trying to get through the math review section of my study book I find myself loosing touch with the tiny bit of math knowledge that i have left. I took a stats class back in 2008, and haven't taken Algebra since 2006 and Geometry since 2005. Any advice?

[v3p011]

Power through it, it gets easier. My advise is to go over your fundamentals briefly and then start practising immediately. You don't really need to know or understand any math for the GRE, you just need to know how to figure out the answers quickly.

Also. keep in mind it's much easier to improve your score in the middle of the distribution than at the high end. For instance, it's much easier to go from 150 to 155 than from 165 to 170 (obviously). But it doesn't seem you're at that point where you start getting diminishing returns.

[SocraticProf]

Also remember that now there is a calculator, so be able to identify the question types where it is faster to just plug in answers until you find the correct one than it is to just solve it. I wasted a lot of time trying to solve one problem before I realized I could just plug in my options.

[HaruNoKaze]

depending on the phil department/program, some want high/above average GRE math scores. some don't care at all.

[thelonious23]

Depends on your interests too. If you're doing something logic related, a high math score would be really helpful. Otherwise I think the verbal is much more highly emphasized.