I’ve got an interesting* Reading Comp question for you from our new 5 lb. Book of GRE Practice Problems.

*Well, it’s interesting if you like standardized tests, Reading Comprehension, and astronomy. : )

Let’s try it out! Normally, you’d see several questions associated with an entire passage but I’m only giving you one of the paragraphs and one question. Give yourself up to about two minutes total to read the information and answer the question.

In 1604 in Padua, Italy, a supernova became visible, appearing as a star so bright that it was visible in daylight for more than a year. Galileo, who lectured at the university, gave several lectures widely attended by the public. The lectures not only sought to explain the origin of the star (some posited that perhaps it was merely vapour near the earth), but seriously undermined the views of many philosophers that the heavens were unchangeable. This idea was foundational to a worldview underpinned by a central and all-important Earth, with celestial bodies merely rotating around it.

 

The author mentions which of the following as a result of the supernova of 1604?

 

(A) The supernova created and dispersed the heavy elements out of which the earth and everything on it is made.

(B) Galileo explained the origin of the supernova.

(C) The public was interested in hearing lectures about the phenomenon.

(D) Galileo’s lectures were opposed by philosophers.

(E) Those who thought the supernova was vapour were proved wrong.

© ManhattanPrep, 2013

Just an FYI: the full passage consists of two paragraphs, so you might have taken about 2 minutes or so to read the whole passage. Three questions go along with the entire passage; expect to spend about a minute to a minute and a half on each, depending upon the specific question type.

Italics represent quotes from the passage or questions.

Let’s dive in! The paragraph tells us about an event that happened in 1604: a really bright star appeared; Galileo tried to explain it; some previous views of others were undermined by Galileo’s views; those previous views were foundational to the idea that everything revolved around Earth.

The question asks what the author mentions, so this is a lookup detail question; the answer will appear directly in the passage somewhere. Specifically, what happened as a result of the supernova in 1604?

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Each week, we post a new Challenge Problem for you to attempt. If you submit the correct answer, you will be entered into that week’s drawing for two free Manhattan Prep GRE Strategy Guides.

|a| < |b|

Quantity A

Quantity B

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Here are the free GRE events we’re holding this week (All times local unless otherwise specified):

3/25/13– Online- Mondays with Jen– 9:00PM- 10:30PM (EST)

3/26/13– New York, NY – Free Trial Class- 6:30PM – 9:30PM

Looking for more free events? Check out our Free Events Listing Page.

Took the GRE once and it didn’t go exactly as you planned? Join the club. I’ve always been pretty good at standardized tests, and tests in general. So I thought I could just sort of review the GRE material, show up, and do a great job. But that’s not what happened. I didn’t get a great score. I didn’t even get a good score. I got a terrible score.

The GRE really has a special way of making you feel dumb. The questions look easy, at a glance. You’re just deciding which of two values is bigger, and they’re often expressed in very simple terms. Or you’re picking a word to put in a sentence! And sometimes they are words you’ve heard a thousand times, but you still can’t be quite sure what they mean. It’s not like they’re asking you to build a rocket. And yet there we are, smart, educated people, driven to frustration by this seemingly simple test.

But it’s not simple. You already know that “ presumably, you’re reading this because you’re studying for the GRE. And whether this is the first time you’re taking the test or your getting ready for your next shot, here are a few pieces of advice from someone who’s been there.

Don’t get discouraged.

This might not seem like an important step, but it really is. Succeeding at the GRE takes perseverance, and it’s hard to stick with it if you don’t see success as a possibility.

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Each week, we post a new Challenge Problem for you to attempt. If you submit the correct answer, you will be entered into that week’s drawing for two free Manhattan Prep GRE Strategy Guides.

If the radius of the circle above is 3 and point O is the center of the circle, what is the area of triangle ABC?

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We’ve got another problem for you from our new book, the 5 lb Book of GRE Practice Problems. The book contains more than 1,100 pages of practice problems (and solutions), so you can drill on anything and everything that might be giving you trouble.

This regular problem solving question asks us to pick one correct answer (other variations might ask us to select more than one answer or to type in our own answer). Give yourself approximately 2 minutes to finish (or make a guess).
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Here are the free GRE events we’re holding this week (All times local unless otherwise specified):

3/18/13– Berkeley, CA – Free Trial Class- 6:30- 9:30 PM

3/20/13– Austin, TX – Free Trial Class- 6:30- 9:30 PM

Looking for more free events? Check out our Free Events Listing Page.

Happy Friday! Here’s a roundup of some great grad school tips and news links from the week:

Maximize Graduate School With a Dual Degree (U.S. News Education)

U.S. News details the difference between dual, joint, and interdisciplinary degrees and explains why these options may not be as expensive as you think.

The Best Graduate Schools for 2014: US News Releases the Rankings (Examiner)

U.S. News & World Report’s 2014 edition of the Best Graduate Schools was released online this past week. Here is the scoop on this year’s rankings.

Use These 5 Strategies to Pay for Graduate School (U.S. News Education)

According to U.S. News, one survey reported that almost 60 percent of employers offer some form of tuition assistance for grad students. Continue reading for five helpful strategies to consider when it comes to graduate school funding.
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Grouping to win.

I am not a great vocab learner. I never took Latin in high school, so I don’t know any roots. I did take Spanish “ but I was terrible at it. Ultimately for me, the best way to learn vocab is to learn vague definitions by grouping words together.

Most GRE questions can be better attacked if you know vaguely what a word means than if you have an exact definition memorized but you don’t really understand it. Sure, there are questions that depend on nuance of meaning. But if you have a basic understanding of a word, that’s almost always enough.

I find it easiest to learn vocab words by grouping them together. Two of my favorite groups are presented here. These groups contain a lot of words, so it’s helpful for both memory and for learning synonyms and antonyms.

To talk or not to talk? First, not to talk.

There are a LOT of words on the GRE that have to do with how talkative or quiet someone is. For example, the words reticent, taciturn, terse, laconic and brusque all basically mean not saying much. They are different in meaning from one another, to some extent. But I contend that you can get pretty far on the GRE without knowing that.

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Each week, we post a new Challenge Problem for you to attempt. If you submit the correct answer, you will be entered into that week’s drawing for two free Manhattan Prep GRE Strategy Guides.

If a, b, and c are positive integers such that  is an integer, which of the following could be the value of x?

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