Limited quant background, need high quant score. Where to begin?

[Lulu_]

 I'll start by saying I actually love Math, but my undergrad degree was not quant heavy. Now that I have work experience under my belt I'm thinking of going to grad school. Knowing what I know now about what I want to do with my life, I wish I had majored in econ or something. Hindsight is 20/20! I have to make the best of it.

 

I have about 8 months to prepare and could devote 15-20 hours a week to this if I want. Also, my job gives me the summer off so I will have TONS of time. How do I use this to my advantage without frying my brain?

 

Where to start?

I'm thinking of CliffsNotes Math Review for Standardized Tests?

 

I need a plan of action! HELP.

 

[Brent@GreenlightGRE]

To improve your quantitative score, I believe that you should compartmentalize your learning and take the time to master each topic (e.g., percents, ratios, exponents, statistics, etc.).  This means that, for each topic, you should:

1) Learn the underlying concepts (rules, attributes, notation, etc.)

2) Learn GRE-specific strategies related to that topic

3) Practice dozens of questions all related to that one topic.

4) Don't stop working on that topic until you have mastered it

 

Then, and only then, move on to the next topic.

 

I hope that helps. 

 

Cheers,

Brent - Greenlight GRE

[makingmoves]

To improve your quantitative score, I believe that you should compartmentalize your learning and take the time to master each topic (e.g., percents, ratios, exponents, statistics, etc.).  This means that, for each topic, you should:

1) Learn the underlying concepts (rules, attributes, notation, etc.)

2) Learn GRE-specific strategies related to that topic

3) Practice dozens of questions all related to that one topic.

4) Don't stop working on that topic until you have mastered it

 

Then, and only then, move on to the next topic.

 

I hope that helps. 

 

Cheers,

Brent - Greenlight GRE

I tried this approach with Magoosh's compartmentalization video strategy. I would move on to the next topic after I thought I had mastered one, four topics down the road I would forget the strategies I learned from earlier. Nonetheless I took the GRE and didn't do so well. Is learning an iterative process, as in... if I forget the topic, keep returning to it and it will eventually stick?  

[OCD or Perfection?]

My first thought---EIGHTS MONTHS IS TOO LONG for GRE. If you have that much time, there are much better uses for it; like appearing for it twice, focusing on your statement of purpose, narrowing in on your programs, CONTACTING ALUMNI of the programs you're interested in.

 

I am mad at the GRE with a passion. To give some perspective, I will delve into some detail about my experience with it. Since I hadn't studied Math since O levels (grade 11- twelve years ago), I decided to register for two administrations within a month thinking, "I'll just give it the first time to see what the exam hall conditions etc etc are like". The conditions were awful-I thought I'd be able to use the restroom between sections and I wasn't...this is not good for me and I cannot concentrate for jack when I need to go.

 

I studied LIKE MAD for three weeks the first time around and my scores were:

160 V, 153 Q, 5 AWA. 

 

Since I was applying to top-tier education leadership programs and the GRE was the only thing in my control, I decided to give it the second time also. The second time was in just three weeks. However, I was so burnt out and undecided about whether or not to give it that I ended up studying for only three days.

However, I had got wise for the second administration. I took no caffeine, and practically only a half glass of water before the test. Also, I trained my OCD brain to move on from a question within a certain time limit. After never having studied mathematics since grade school, it took me much longer than engineering, computer science majors to figure out some of the more complex logic questions on the GRE. However, I currently teach gifted and talented middle school math students and the quant section is ALMOST EXACTLY the stuff they study---only the analytic and logical portion of questions could be on steroids. Anyway, the second time, under much better conditions and thinking, what the heck-I reappeared for the GRE and my new scores are:

 

161 V, 162 Q, 5 AWA. 

 

These are good scores and I'm happy. But I'm really happy that students like us are under so much pressure for a "standardized" test that is so not standardized. My quant percentile increased by THIRTY ONE percentiles...being a teacher, I know that is not supposed to happen. On a standardized test, within three weeks, and without ANY preparation, that should NEVER happen!

 

Having said that, I feel I might be in a position to offer some insight on the GRE. The specific list of things I found successful for someone like me (undergrad in humanities with not an ounce of math and no math in my career until the last six months when I had to teach middle school math) is too cumbersome to bore every one. If you would like some free help from an actual examinee in a situation similar to yours, please private message me and I'll be glad to help.

[AuldReekie]

Having said that, I feel I might be in a position to offer some insight on the GRE. The specific list of things I found successful for someone like me (undergrad in humanities with not an ounce of math and no math in my career until the last six months when I had to teach middle school math) is too cumbersome to bore every one. If you would like some free help from an actual examinee in a situation similar to yours, please private message me and I'll be glad to help.

 

I think this is a problem faced by many people, let the advice out

[med latte]

My first thought---EIGHTS MONTHS IS TOO LONG for GRE. If you have that much time, there are much better uses for it; like appearing for it twice, focusing on your statement of purpose, narrowing in on your programs, CONTACTING ALUMNI of the programs you're interested in.

 

I am mad at the GRE with a passion. To give some perspective, I will delve into some detail about my experience with it. Since I hadn't studied Math since O levels (grade 11- twelve years ago), I decided to register for two administrations within a month thinking, "I'll just give it the first time to see what the exam hall conditions etc etc are like". The conditions were awful-I thought I'd be able to use the restroom between sections and I wasn't...this is not good for me and I cannot concentrate for jack when I need to go.

 

I studied LIKE MAD for three weeks the first time around and my scores were:

160 V, 153 Q, 5 AWA. 

 

Since I was applying to top-tier education leadership programs and the GRE was the only thing in my control, I decided to give it the second time also. The second time was in just three weeks. However, I was so burnt out and undecided about whether or not to give it that I ended up studying for only three days.

However, I had got wise for the second administration. I took no caffeine, and practically only a half glass of water before the test. Also, I trained my OCD brain to move on from a question within a certain time limit. After never having studied mathematics since grade school, it took me much longer than engineering, computer science majors to figure out some of the more complex logic questions on the GRE. However, I currently teach gifted and talented middle school math students and the quant section is ALMOST EXACTLY the stuff they study---only the analytic and logical portion of questions could be on steroids. Anyway, the second time, under much better conditions and thinking, what the heck-I reappeared for the GRE and my new scores are:

 

161 V, 162 Q, 5 AWA. 

 

These are good scores and I'm happy. But I'm really happy that students like us are under so much pressure for a "standardized" test that is so not standardized. My quant percentile increased by THIRTY ONE percentiles...being a teacher, I know that is not supposed to happen. On a standardized test, within three weeks, and without ANY preparation, that should NEVER happen!

 

Having said that, I feel I might be in a position to offer some insight on the GRE. The specific list of things I found successful for someone like me (undergrad in humanities with not an ounce of math and no math in my career until the last six months when I had to teach middle school math) is too cumbersome to bore every one. If you would like some free help from an actual examinee in a situation similar to yours, please private message me and I'll be glad to help.

 Your quant score really jumped!  What books, resources etc did you use for study?

[fataorgana]

Wow , thats amazing! I have about four months to study and currently focusing on the vocabulary right now. Im terrified of the quant. section - throughout highschool and college I was in all remedial classes for math. I have some old textbooks that go over in detail on the basics but what are some really good books I could use to help?

[Lulu_]

Do you guys think a combination of the Cliff's, Manhattan series, and Powerprep is enough? Should I take a practice test now before I begin?

 

 

 

My first thought---EIGHTS MONTHS IS TOO LONG for GRE. If you have that much time, there are much better uses for it; like appearing for it twice, focusing on your statement of purpose, narrowing in on your programs, CONTACTING ALUMNI of the programs you're interested in.

 

I am mad at the GRE with a passion. To give some perspective, I will delve into some detail about my experience with it. Since I hadn't studied Math since O levels (grade 11- twelve years ago), I decided to register for two administrations within a month thinking, "I'll just give it the first time to see what the exam hall conditions etc etc are like". The conditions were awful-I thought I'd be able to use the restroom between sections and I wasn't...this is not good for me and I cannot concentrate for jack when I need to go.

 

I studied LIKE MAD for three weeks the first time around and my scores were:

160 V, 153 Q, 5 AWA. 

 

Since I was applying to top-tier education leadership programs and the GRE was the only thing in my control, I decided to give it the second time also. The second time was in just three weeks. However, I was so burnt out and undecided about whether or not to give it that I ended up studying for only three days.

However, I had got wise for the second administration. I took no caffeine, and practically only a half glass of water before the test. Also, I trained my OCD brain to move on from a question within a certain time limit. After never having studied mathematics since grade school, it took me much longer than engineering, computer science majors to figure out some of the more complex logic questions on the GRE. However, I currently teach gifted and talented middle school math students and the quant section is ALMOST EXACTLY the stuff they study---only the analytic and logical portion of questions could be on steroids. Anyway, the second time, under much better conditions and thinking, what the heck-I reappeared for the GRE and my new scores are:

 

161 V, 162 Q, 5 AWA. 

 

These are good scores and I'm happy. But I'm really happy that students like us are under so much pressure for a "standardized" test that is so not standardized. My quant percentile increased by THIRTY ONE percentiles...being a teacher, I know that is not supposed to happen. On a standardized test, within three weeks, and without ANY preparation, that should NEVER happen!

 

Having said that, I feel I might be in a position to offer some insight on the GRE. The specific list of things I found successful for someone like me (undergrad in humanities with not an ounce of math and no math in my career until the last six months when I had to teach middle school math) is too cumbersome to bore every one. If you would like some free help from an actual examinee in a situation similar to yours, please private message me and I'll be glad to help.

 

Please post on here, I'm sure others could use the insight : )   I've done all that other prep work for my application. I'm taking it in August and I'll apply in December so it gives me time. Personally, I like the freedom of getting through material slowly and having as much time as I want off without feeling panic, stress, or guilt. I don't like the whole "100 vocab words a day" approach. I hate these types of tests so I want to avoid having to sit through one twice. I'm going to give it my absolute best shot and go home with no regrets.  Also, some of the programs I talked to put emphasis on nailing the GRE the first time around. One of the ladies at an IV told me adcoms literally raise their nose at people with multiple tries! lol

[Lulu_]

I tried this approach with Magoosh's compartmentalization video strategy. I would move on to the next topic after I thought I had mastered one, four topics down the road I would forget the strategies I learned from earlier. Nonetheless I took the GRE and didn't do so well. Is learning an iterative process, as in... if I forget the topic, keep returning to it and it will eventually stick?  

 

Thanks for sharing your experience. Just curious, was Magoosh the only prep material you used?

[OCD or Perfection?]

Hi guys. So I'm going to give a rather detailed analysis of my GRE journey since some of you have asked. I hope it can help as many as possible. If there's one thing my experience as a teacher has taught me, it is that every kid learns completely differently, so before you go on to try my approach, you'll have to know my background and know what I am as a student. That will serve as your pinch of salt.

 

All about me before the GRE:

I'm a GT student with a 4.0 gpa I got while working full time. I have OCD though I like to call it perfectionist  (doesn't every OCD?). I have 4 years of teaching English creative writing, a decent vocabulary and solid command over the language. Because I was educated in the British system, I tend to write very languidly which was a terrible challenge for me while taking the GRE. If I cannot take my time with some, and have freedom of # of words, I will probably write shoddy. Give me time and I'll come up with something decent. 

I was always good at math, but I hadn't studied any Math since 2002. Since teaching math, I've learned that math is really two things, calculations (+,-, X, /) or things we use everyday and computational (the reasoning part of Math-converting fractions, seeing patterns, game theory stuff). I have always been excellent at calculations, and because I'm not a mathematical thinker, SUCKED at computation. The fact that I'd had no practice for 11 years coupled with my OCD means I was a nervous wreck about this anyway.

I also have a hyperactive bladder which never helped me in exams, interviews or the first three dates. I paid a heavy price for it on my first administration of the GRE. So, now you know me.

 

The materials I used:

Nothing but the Kaplan book my brother already had. It sucks. Its tests suck (they are way easier than what you see on test day). Its techniques are o-kay. But the online portion, which includes ten practice sets for each section, and five full-length (and easier) tests are very convenient.

Magoosh's free app. This was great. The only thing I learned for vocabulary was the 6 lists of the most common words on GRE (for a total of 300 words). I already knew about 200 of these, and retained at least 98 out of 100 new ones on test day. 

I downloaded the two free tests from the test-makers. You'll have to download the powerprep. Good news, here's the link:

https://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/prepare/powerprep2

These were realistic and the layout most realistically replicated the drab layout of the actual GRE. Save these for last.

 

Let's get AWA out of the way first:

I wrote 10 essays, five of each assignment, always timed. With no one to grade them, I asked my wife to look at them for me and gave her the scoring guide. Because she is my wife, she is very critical, so naturally she told me they all sucked. Because I love her, I had to prove her wrong and got 5.0 both times . If you are a strong writer, I STRONGLY recommend taking timed sets because strong writers tend to be verbose. Don't be verbose, this is a test of analytic ability and command of syntax-they already designed the Verbal to test your vocab remember.

 

Verbal:

This might be a horror story for a lot of students but for me, this was the strongest part. I don't have a lot of advice to offer here except, download the GRE magoosh app and use it every time you use the toilet. If you use the toilet as much as I do, you spend at least twenty minutes a day there. In one month, that's 600 bloody minutes. In 2 months, that't 1200 minutes. In 1200 minutes, you can easily memorize 300 words. The lists you have "mastered", you still need to check in with them at least once a week. Think of them as that ex you contact when you don't have any other plans for the weekend. On the toilet seat, they're your only hope of entertainment. If you already went to undergraduate school, you should not waste your time on more than 300 words.

The fifty most common words are non-negotiable. You can find them here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K2NDRaL4G0. I listened to this video once and then on the way to the test in the car on test day.

There are strategies like active reading, elimination etc etc, but you can read those anywhere else.

 

Welcome to the fun-Quant:

It is very easy to spend a disproportionate amount of time on the quant. So know what score makes you comfortably within your range. My program at Harvard publishes its average GREs and the quant score is 156. So, know your score and consistently try to get at least 3 points higher on the practice tests. Don't try to be Pythagoras or Einstein---you're probably never gonna see your examiner in real life, and she's not a hot chick anyway.

With that beautiful piece of advice addressed, remember that the quant section is just your middle school math and probably first couple of years of HS. My GT math class takes a crack at the hardest practice questions I had and do well. So you know all the material, you just need to brush it up.

There are some non-negotiables here:

1. THE GRE IS NOT ONLY ABOUT PERMUTATIONS AND COMBINATIONS even though every study guide wants you to think so. After spending two full days trying to learn them together and still getting them all wrong on test day, I decided to skip these for the second test and make educated guesses (more later).

2. Do not try to memorize formulae. There are too many of them. Rather, just try to study their proof (easily available on most study guides and through youtube videos). For example, the formula for the hypotenuse of a 1:1:underroot2 has a very simple proof if you know the Pythagorean theorem. Read it, it will stick. Also, the ratios for 3:4:5, there are too many to remember, just solve them all once and they will stick-I promise.

3. Pacing; I don't recommend spending over 180 seconds on any question. After 180 seconds (which is already very long) mark it for review, and then come back to it if you have time left (which you wont so I'm saving your time for the questions you will be able to get right-promise).

 

The most important thing I learned for the quant is: how to make educated guesses. Know the patterns of all questions for example that the values are written out in increasing order. If a question has five choices a-e, values will be a)5 b)7 c)8 d)10 e)12. If you're particularly stuck on a question, eliminate at least two choices which are not possible. If you know that a and b are too small, or that a and e are not possible, you've already reduced your chances of making a mistake by 40%. A 33% chance of getting is right is already far improved over your original 20% chance. Get it down to 1/3 potential choices and then GUESS! All questions have an equal score and there is no negative marking. It never hurts to guess. Feel safe, do it.

 

Use the calculator sparingly, you will probably be clicking numbers on it and that increases computational errors, especially towards the end of the test. For longer numbers (in comparisons- A or B questions) that calculators cannot perform, remember to first divide both sides by 10,000. Just moving decimals along does wonders. In your practice sessions, don't use your own calculator, use the one the screen provides, it will be good practice.

 

Overall impressions:

DO EVERY PRACTICE TIMED. This is as much a test of endurance as it is of everything else they tell you they're testing. 

The exam conditions are hostile at best, dress loosely. The noise blockers are intimidating and do not help with blood flow-make sure you take them off during the breaks.

USE THE BREAKS. Even in the section breaks, stand up and stretch your legs.

 

Test day:

Do not study beyond 9p.m. on the eve of the test. You wont be able to sleep anyway, don't crowd your brain too much. Rest. Watch a movie.

Don't overdose on caffeine. Have a hearty breakfast. Keep a gum in your mouth. Keep a snickers bar and a gatorade in your locker. Eat  jolly rancher before you step in. Hard, sour candy is very good for sensory integration, helps you stay focused.

 

 

Remember that you are stressing out over the GRE because this is the only thing in your control at this time The application committees take "holistic" looks at these things

[Calamari2013]

@education leadership: a realistic and honest approach to the GRE. Thanks and good luck with your applications.