Can You Skip Questions on the GRE?
The GRE is a typical standardized test in some regards. For one, it’s a test of endurance—you will be sitting there for around four hours. It’s also typical in that it is a test of speed—you will face significant time pressure. And it’s a test of skill, of course—you will be tested on content that graduate schools have deemed relevant to their admissions decisions.
Should I Cancel My GRE Score?
When you finish taking the GRE, you’ll be given an option to cancel your score. This may sound like a nice option—if you really think you did terribly, it’s not too late to pretend the whole thing never happened, right? Yes, you can cancel your GRE score. But cancelling your score is not always the best course of action.
What You Do Not Need to Know for the GRE
There’s a pretty complete list of GRE study topics available at the ETS’s website. Here’s the list for Quant, and here’s where to find the corresponding lists for Verbal. These lists can show you what content you definitely need to know for the GRE. But, in this article, I’d like to complement them by doing the opposite: show you what you may think you need to learn for the GRE, but really don’t.
How to Study for the GRE in 2 Days
So you’re taking the GRE in a couple of days and you have no idea where to start. It’s not an ideal situation, but it’s where you find yourself. What do you do?
How to Get a Perfect Score on the GRE
A perfect score on the GRE would be a 170 on each the Quant and Verbal sections and a 6.0 on the Analytical Writing Measure. Perfect scores are incredibly rare—while getting a perfect score in just one of these sections would put you in or close to the 99th percentile for that section, getting a perfect score in all three makes you a unicorn. In other words, you absolutely don’t need to get a perfect score in order to get into your program. I feel confident making that blanket statement. But for all the would-be unicorns out there, below I break down what you can do to get a perfect score in all three sections.
GRE Essays: Should I Care?
As a GRE instructor, I’m often asked, “Do the essays matter?” The answer is that it depends.
5 Quick GRE Vocab Hacks
Perhaps more than any other kind of studying for the GRE, vocabulary practice directly translates into one’s GRE verbal score. For those of you feeling less than enthusiastic about memorizing hundreds of esoteric vocabulary words, take heart: there’s some interesting research that shows your vocabulary continues to grow throughout your life. If you use your GRE study to turbocharge that process, these words will likely stay in your memory through to your eventual senescence. Maybe you’ll use this vocabulary to sound super smart. Maybe you’ll just use it to call out your pretentious friends when they’re showing off.
One way or another, knowing lots of words is a powerful skill. In this entry, I’m going to share 5 quick tips for memorizing vocabulary for the GRE quickly, painlessly, and permanently.
How is the GRE Adaptive, and What Should You Do About It?
When we say that the GRE is an adaptive test, we mean that the questions you are given on it vary depending on your performance. If you answer more questions correctly early on, you’ll subsequently see harder questions. If you answer fewer correctly, you’ll see easier questions. But how does this work exactly, and what does the GRE’s adaptive format mean for you as you’re developing your test-taking strategy?
Why Was My Official GRE Score Lower Than My Practice Scores?
If the title of this article applies to you, I’m sorry that your official GRE score surprised you! It happens to the best of us, and you’re allowed (and even encouraged) to take the GRE twice. But before you do, you should figure out why your official GRE score wasn’t as high as your practice scores.
Preparing for the GRE: What You’ll Really Learn
In a way, preparing for the GRE is your first graduate school experience. It can be infuriating. It can feel completely pointless and utterly unfair. But it can also teach you lessons that have nothing to do with the content—lessons that, if you let them, may stay with you for the rest of your life.