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		<title>Quantitative Comparisons? What&#8217;s that mean?</title>
		<link>https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/quantitative-comparison-whats-that-mean/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Manhattan Prep]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 05 Nov 2024 12:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
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		<category><![CDATA[qualitative comparisons]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/?p=5018</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Let&#8217;s just put it right out there: the Quantitative Comparison (QC) question type is bizarre. If you&#8217;re just starting out, you&#8217;re probably thinking, What is this thing? Even if you&#8217;ve been studying for a while, unless you really like math, you likely feel a little uncomfortable whenever a QC question pops up on the screen. [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/quantitative-comparison-whats-that-mean/">Quantitative Comparisons? What&#8217;s that mean?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre">GRE</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img decoding="async" fetchpriority="high" class="alignnone wp-image-12788 size-full" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2020/03/mprep-blogimages-wave1-76-e1585058983726.png" alt="GRE at home" width="1200" height="628" /><br />
Let&#8217;s just put it right out there: the Quantitative Comparison (QC) question type is bizarre. If you&#8217;re just starting out, you&#8217;re probably thinking, <em>What is this thing?</em> Even if you&#8217;ve been studying for a while, unless you really like math, you likely feel a little uncomfortable whenever a QC question pops up on the screen.</p>
<p>Why? Because we all realize that we could completely mess up a QC question and still get to one of the 4 answer choices, clueless that we&#8217;ve messed up. It&#8217;s not like the questions with the 5 regular answers, where at least I know when I mess up because my answer isn&#8217;t in the answer choices!<span id="more-5018"></span></p>
<h3>What is QC?</h3>
<p>The GRE isn&#8217;t <em>really</em> a math test. These kinds of tests are actually trying to test us on our executive reasoning skills—that is, how well we make decisions and prioritize when faced with too many things to do in too short a length of time.</p>
<p>Quantitative Comparison questions test our ability to (quickly) analyze some information and figure out how two quantities compare to each other. Imagine your boss dumping a bunch of stuff on you and saying, &#8220;Hey, our client wants to know whether Product A or Product B is better liked in the marketplace. Can you answer that question from this data? If so, which is it: A is better, B is better, or people think they&#8217;re about the same?&#8221;</p>
<p>We do, of course, have to do some math—and sometimes that math is quite annoying. We usually don&#8217;t, however, have to do as much as is necessary on the more normal quant questions.</p>
<h3>How does QC work?</h3>
<p>If you already feel comfortable with the basics of QC, you may want to skim or skip through this particular section of the article.</p>
<p>QC questions will always give us two columns labeled Quantity A and Quantity B. There also might be additional information up above the two columns; if so, this information is a given that we have to consider when evaluating the problem.</p>
<p>The overall question, every single time, is: <strong>which Quantity is bigger</strong>?</p>
<p>For example, we might see this:</p>
<p>Oliver is 4 years older than Sam</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Quantity A</span>                                          <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Quantity B</span></p>
<p>Oliver&#8217;s age now                                Sam&#8217;s age in 5 years</p>
<p>Which Quantity is bigger? Can we tell? And is that answer <em>always</em> true? In this case, let&#8217;s say that Oliver is 10 today. If so, then Sam is 6 right now, using the information contained in our given. How old will Sam be in 5 years? He&#8217;ll be 11, or 1 year older than Oliver today. For at least this one example (Oliver = 10), then, Quantity B is bigger.</p>
<p>There are four possible answers. Can we eliminate any based on what we&#8217;ve found out so far?</p>
<p>(A) Quantity A is always bigger than quantity B.</p>
<p>(B) Quantity B is always bigger than quantity A.</p>
<p>(C) The two quantities are always equal.</p>
<p>(D) I can&#8217;t tell, or there isn&#8217;t an always one way relationship</p>
<p>Answer A can&#8217;t be right, because we&#8217;ve just found one example where B is bigger. Answer C can&#8217;t be right for the same reason. So we&#8217;re down to two possible answers: B and D.</p>
<p>So, will this relationship always be true? Will the quantity in column B always be bigger? Or are there other possibilities?</p>
<p>No matter how old Oliver is right now, Sam is always 4 years younger. In 5 years, then, Sam will always be 1 year older than Oliver is right now. Quantity B will <em>always</em> be bigger, so answer B is correct.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s a shorter way to remember the four answer choices to the question <em>Which one is bigger?</em></p>
<p><strong>A</strong>: Quantity A always</p>
<p><strong>B</strong>: Quantity B always</p>
<p><strong>C</strong>: Equal always</p>
<p><strong>D</strong>: None of the above</p>
<p>Notice the theme? The first three answers are <em>always</em> answers. If we don&#8217;t have an always situation, then the answer must be D.</p>
<h3>Try another one</h3>
<p>Here&#8217;s another problem to try; what answer do you get?</p>
<p align="center"><em>x</em><sup>2</sup> – 9 = 0</p>
<p align="center"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Quantity A</span>                                          <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Quantity B</span></p>
<p align="center">3                                                          <em>x</em></p>
<p>We don&#8217;t have much to do for the two quantities; A gives us a plain value and B gives us a plain variable. Here we have to do some work with the given:</p>
<p>(<em>x</em>+3)(<em>x–</em>3) = 0</p>
<p><em>x</em> = –3, <em>x</em> = 3</p>
<p>Alternatively, you could solve this way:</p>
<p><em>x</em><sup>2</sup> = 9</p>
<p><em>x</em> = +3 and x = –3</p>
<p>The two possible values for <em>x </em>are 3 and –3. If Quantity B is 3, then the two quantities are equal, and A and C can&#8217;t be the correct answers. If, on the other hand, Quantity B is –3, then Quantity A is bigger, and B can&#8217;t be the correct answer. Because we don&#8217;t have an always situation, the correct answer is D.</p>
<h3>What&#8217;s my overall QC strategy?</h3>
<p>A new question pops up on the screen. Now what?</p>
<p>(1) Write down ABCD (your answer grid)</p>
<p>(2) Read the problem. Write down any givens. If there&#8217;s any way to manipulate or simplify that information, do so.</p>
<p>(3) Look at the two statements; write them down in some form. Your real goal here is to figure out how to <em>compare</em> the information, not necessarily find some specific value for each one. (As we saw with the Oliver and Sam question, we still might be able to determine an always relationship even when we don&#8217;t know specific values for the quantities in question.)</p>
<p>There are lots of different strategies to tackle this comparison<span style="font-weight: 400;">—</span>too many to list in one article, unfortunately<span style="font-weight: 400;">—</span>but some ideas about what to do are below (just after we finish step 4 of our full process).</p>
<p>(4) Cross off answers as you can eliminate them; either pick when you get down to one, or guess and move on when you get stuck.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">How to Compare Quantities:</span></p>
<p>First, notice anything that&#8217;s similar about the two quantities:</p>
<p>&#8211; Do they both contain the same variables or refer to the same item, or person, etc.?<br />
&#8211; If the problem includes a given, is there a way to use that given to find a connection between the two quantities?</p>
<p>Next, try to simplify the quantities. If both are complex, see whether you can simplify them at the same time. You can perform the same manipulations to the two quantities as long as they are legal manipulations for <em>inequalities</em>:</p>
<p>&#8211; You can add or subtract the same quantity from both sides</p>
<p>&#8211; You can square both sides; you can also take the square root as long as you know both quantities are positive</p>
<p>&#8211; You can multiply or divide both sides by the same amount as long as you know that both are positive</p>
<p>For example:</p>
<p align="center"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Quantity A</span>                                          <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Quantity B</span></p>
<p align="center"><em>x</em><sup>2</sup> <span style="font-weight: 400;">–</span> 4<em>x</em> + 2                                          <em>x</em><sup>2 <span style="font-weight: 400;">–</span></sup> 6<em>x</em> + 9</p>
<p>Both sides contain an <em>x</em><sup>2</sup> term; subtract it from both sides:</p>
<p align="center"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Quantity A</span>                                          <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Quantity B</span></p>
<p align="center"><span style="font-weight: 400;">–</span>4<em>x</em> + 2                                                <span style="font-weight: 400;">–</span>6<em>x</em> + 9</p>
<p>We can also add 4x to both sides:</p>
<p align="center"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Quantity A</span>                                          <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Quantity B</span></p>
<p align="center">2                                                      <span style="font-weight: 400;">–</span>2<em>x</em> + 9</p>
<p>The simpler comparison becomes: Which is bigger, 2 or <span style="font-weight: 400;">–</span>2<em>x</em> + 9?</p>
<p>Well, let&#8217;s see. If <em>x</em> = 10, then Quantity B becomes -11, so Quantity A is bigger. Cross off answers B and C on your answer grid.</p>
<p>But there are no restrictions on the possible values of <em>x</em>. What if it&#8217;s negative? If <em>x</em> = <span style="font-weight: 400;">–</span>10, then Quantity B becomes 29, so Quantity B is bigger. Cross off answer A on your answer grid.</p>
<p>The correct answer is D.</p>
<h3>Okay, these are weird. What can I do to get better?</h3>
<p>An enormous amount, actually. This article barely scratches the surface of DS. There are all kinds of great strategies out there<span style="font-weight: 400;">—</span>how to test numbers, how to prove answer D, how to use theory vs. real numbers, and so on. If you&#8217;re taking a class or using some kind of a test-prep book, then you should be getting this strategy as part of your regular program. If you&#8217;re not, then you should make sure to seek out Quant Comp strategies during your preparation; such strategies will change the game for you!</p>
<p><a href="//www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/gre-quantitative-comparisons-tips/">Here&#8217;s one article to get you started</a>; browse <a href="//www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/#.UPdAGKE4IbA">our blog</a> for more.</p>
<p>Finally, of course, you&#8217;ll have to learn a bunch of math. The above, though, should help you get started on this kind-of-bizarre question type in the first place!</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/quantitative-comparison-whats-that-mean/">Quantitative Comparisons? What&#8217;s that mean?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre">GRE</a>.</p>
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		<item>
		<title>What&#8217;s a Good GRE Score?</title>
		<link>https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/good-gre-score/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Manhattan Prep]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 22 May 2024 11:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Current Studiers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[GRE Strategies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Study Tips]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Taking the GRE]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Good GRE Score]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[GRE Score]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/?p=12313</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Any answer to the “what’s a good GRE score?” question should come with a disclaimer. Do you want a good GRE score for a PhD program in medieval history, or for an EMBA at your state university? Do you have weak college grades but ten years of work experience, or are you a current student [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/good-gre-score/">What&#8217;s a Good GRE Score?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre">GRE</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-12326" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2019/03/whatsagoodgrescore.jpg" alt="Manhattan Prep GRE Blog - What's a Good GRE Score? by Chelsey Cooley" width="1200" height="628" srcset="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2019/03/whatsagoodgrescore.jpg 1200w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2019/03/whatsagoodgrescore-300x157.jpg 300w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2019/03/whatsagoodgrescore-768x402.jpg 768w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2019/03/whatsagoodgrescore-1024x536.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Any answer to the “what’s a good GRE score?” question should come with a disclaimer. Do you want a good GRE score for a PhD program in medieval history, or for an EMBA at your state university? Do you have weak college grades but ten years of work experience, or are you a current student with a 4.0 GPA? The real question to ask is “what’s a good GRE score </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">for me</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">?”—and the simple answer is, a good score is whatever score will impress the programs you’re applying to!</span><span id="more-12313"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But how good does your score need to be in order to do that? Most of my students are taking the GRE in order to get into MBA programs. Assuming that you’re one of those students, you’re probably reading this article because:</span></p>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">you want to know what GRE score to target as part of your MBA application.</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">you’re wondering whether to take the <a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/gre-or-gmat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">GMAT or GRE</a>. </span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">you’re curious about how good a certain GRE score is, relative to the average. </span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We’ll address all three of those points in this article, starting with a deep dive into how GRE scoring works. (And if you’re not an MBA applicant, start with </span><a href="https://www.kaptest.com/study/gre/average-gre-scores-for-top-grad-school-programs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">this article from Kaplan</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> instead!) </span></p>
<h3><b>What Makes Up a Good GRE Score?</b></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Your GRE score isn’t just one score, it’s three. Schools can see your Quant score, your Verbal score, and your Analytical Writing score. You could have a good Quant score and a bad Verbal score, or vice versa—even on the same test!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">By the way, you can’t submit only your Quant score, or only your Verbal score, to a school. You have to send all of the scores from a certain GRE together. You can submit results from multiple GREs, but schools generally won’t pick and choose your highest sections—they’ll look at each test as a whole. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Your GRE Quant score will be a number from 130 to 170. About 6% of test takers earn a perfect Quant score. At the opposite end, very low Quant scores are rare: only about 6% of test takers score in the bottom quarter of the range (140 or below). </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A perfect GRE Verbal score is much rarer than a perfect GRE Quant score. The Verbal scale also goes from 130 to 170, but only 1% of test takers score a 169 or 170, and only 4% earn a 166 or higher. Almost all of us will score between 135 and 165 on Verbal.  </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Finally, your writing score will be a number from 0.0 to 6.0. Very high and very low GRE writing scores are uncommon. A 4.0, 4.5 or 5.0 is a good GRE writing score, and a 5.5 or 6.0 is exceptionally good. Even a slightly lower score might not seriously affect your applications, as long as you can demonstrate your writing skills in another way.</span></p>
<p><iframe title="What&#039;s a good GRE score and how do I get it? | GRE FAQ" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zPS8Bn_Ojwg?list=PLYZACiD6j3Vvb6aoZ6h9xZVgd1a2EhYJV" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<h3><b>How Common is a Good GRE Score?</b></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The ETS provides </span><a href="https://www.ets.org/s/gre/pdf/gre_guide_table1a.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">data about how common or rare each GRE score is</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. This can give you a broad sense of what counts as a good score. Here’s a summary of the data for GRE Quant, based on scores from 2019 to 2022. </span></p>
<p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-13022 size-full" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2021/02/quant-score-edited-table-black.jpg" alt="" width="632" height="208" /></p>
<p>So, 168 is certainly a good GRE Quant score: only one test taker out of every eight has a score that high. For comparison, in 2023, <a href="https://dqydj.com/income-percentile-calculator/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">one out of every eight people in the United States earned more than $122,000</a>.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Here’s the data for GRE Verbal: </span></p>
<p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-13023 size-full" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2021/02/verbal-score-edited-table-black.jpg" alt="" width="632" height="207" /></p>
<p>Only one out of every hundred test takers scores a 169+ on Verbal, which is as rare as an individual in the US earning $420,000 a year.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The ETS doesn’t publish data on combined, or overall, GRE scores. However, schools that publish their average GRE scores will typically publish the Quant and Verbal scores separately, so you can compare them to your own scores.  </span></p>
<h3><b>Do You Need a Good GRE Score for Top MBA Programs? </b></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A 168 on GRE Quant is a one-in-eight score, while a 165 is one-in-four. Those are both good GRE scores, since they compare well against the scores that most people earn. But in order to get into a great MBA program, do you need to be one out of eight, or is one out of four good enough? </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As the GRE becomes more popular for MBA applicants, a number of top programs have started publishing their average scores online. </span><a href="https://poetsandquants.com/2018/04/12/average-gre-scores-for-top-mba-programs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">This article from Poets &#038; Quants</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> analyzes the data. Here’s a sample of the average GRE scores earned by successful applicants to top MBA programs.</span></p>
<p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-13024 size-full" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2021/02/college-scores-edited-table-black.jpg" alt="" width="633" height="328" /></p>
<p>On average, successful applicants to top-10 MBA programs have both GRE scores in the low 150s to mid 160s. For most top-50 schools, a good GRE score is in the high 150s to low 160s on both sections. Based on this data, an overall GRE score of 315 to 320 is a good GRE score for MBA applicants, while a score of 325 is excellent.</p>
<h3><b>What’s Better: A Good GRE Score, or a Good GMAT Score? </b></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">There are a couple of different ways to compare a GRE score to a GMAT score. For instance, you could look at the percentile that corresponds to your GRE score and find the GMAT score that’s at the same percentile. A 156 on GRE Quant is a 50</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">th</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">-percentile score; a 50</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">th</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">-percentile score on GMAT Quant, correspondingly, is a 44.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">However, that would give you the wrong impression of your results. Percentiles compare you to everyone who takes a certain test. That’s fine when you’re taking the GMAT, since most people who take the GMAT are MBA applicants. But MBA applicants are only a minority of GRE test takers. Comparing your score to everyone else’s is like comparing apples to oranges.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">One alternative is to use this tool, created by the ETS, to </span><a href="https://www.ets.org/gre/institutions/admissions/interpretation_resources/mba_comparison_tool" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">compare GRE and GMAT scores</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. It isn’t perfect, but it does suggest something interesting: schools seem to be accepting applicants with “lower” GRE scores, compared to their GMAT counterparts. </span><a href="https://www.mbacrystalball.com/blog/2015/06/19/average-gre-scores-mba-business-schools/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Here’s an article that analyzes the GMAT or GRE scoring question in greater depth</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Does that mean that weaker test takers can use the GRE to get admitted to top programs? Possibly, but you should be skeptical.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">First, the statistics can’t tell you whether </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">you</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> would get a good score on the GRE or GMAT. Across a large population, some people will perform better on the GMAT, and others will perform better on the GRE. If you’re stronger at the GMAT, your “GMAT advantage” will more than cancel out any “GRE advantage” in applications.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It’s also possible, without more data, that the GRE applicants were better than the GMAT applicants in other ways—aside from their test scores. The number of people submitting GRE scores to most top schools is relatively small, and we don’t know exactly what those applicants look like outside of their scores. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Your best bet is actually to decide which test to take independently: the </span><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/mbamission-manhattan-prep-gmat-vs-gre-infographic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">GMAT or the GRE</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">? Take your target schools’ average scores for both tests into consideration, but don’t assume automatically that you’ll have better chances with the GRE.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Once you’ve picked your test, research the score data for the schools you’re applying to. Start with the average score for admitted students. Then, set a target right around that average—or a few points higher or lower, depending on the rest of your application. For instance, if you’ve gotten weak grades in Quant-related classes in the past, you might aim for a slightly-higher-than-average GRE Quant score to show that you’ve mastered the subject.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">What if your situation is more complicated, and you really don’t know what a good GRE score is for you? Consider contacting an admissions consulting service, such as </span><a href="https://www.mbamission.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">mbaMission</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">—they’ll even do a free half-hour phone call with applicants. Take a look at our </span><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/study-gre-first-two-weeks-1/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">guide to starting your GRE studies</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> to learn what’s involved in taking the GRE, and consider signing up for a </span><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/classes/free/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">free trial session of any Manhattan Prep GRE course</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span></p>
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<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/good-gre-score/">What&#8217;s a Good GRE Score?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre">GRE</a>.</p>
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		<title>Your GRE Study Calendar</title>
		<link>https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/gre-study-calendar/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Manhattan Prep]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Feb 2021 08:15:28 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Current Studiers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[GRE Prep]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[GRE Strategies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[How To Study]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life Hacks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Study Tips]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[GRE Study Calendar]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/?p=12008</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Studying for the GRE on your own? Load up your GRE study calendar right now—it’s time to get organized. GRE Studying: The Big Picture Start by filling in your test date. Not sure when you’ll take the test? Just pick a date that’s in the right ballpark. Plan to spend the two days before your [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/gre-study-calendar/">Your GRE Study Calendar</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre">GRE</a>.</p>
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										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-12024" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/10/your-gre-study-calendar-chelsey-cooley.png" alt="Manhattan Prep GRE Blog - Your GRE Study Calendar by Chelsey Cooley" width="1200" height="628" srcset="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/10/your-gre-study-calendar-chelsey-cooley.png 1200w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/10/your-gre-study-calendar-chelsey-cooley-300x157.png 300w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/10/your-gre-study-calendar-chelsey-cooley-768x402.png 768w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/10/your-gre-study-calendar-chelsey-cooley-1024x536.png 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Studying for the GRE on your own? Load up your GRE study calendar right now—it’s time to get organized. </span><span id="more-12008"></span></p>
<h4><b>GRE Studying: The Big Picture</b></h4>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Start by filling in your </span><b>test date</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Not sure when you’ll take the test? Just pick a date that’s in the right ballpark. Plan to spend the two days before your test relaxing, mentally preparing for test day, and doing some light, easy review problems. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Next, mark down any travel or commitments you have coming up. Be realistic about what will and won’t affect your ability to study. You don’t want your whole plan to revolve around studying hard during your beach trip, only to realize once you get there that it’s not going to happen. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Count backwards from your test date by about one week, and choose a day for your </span><b>dress rehearsal</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">. This is your last practice test, so choose a day when you’ll be able to give it your full attention. On dress rehearsal day, do everything exactly how you’ll do it on test day: timing, scratchwork, breaks, everything. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Next, count backwards another two weeks. </span><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/2017/11/29/how-many-practice-tests-before-gre/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">You should take and review a GRE practice test about every 14 days—and no more often than every 10 days</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Since the GRE is a long test, for many of us, that’ll mean taking a practice test every other weekend. </span><b>Put these practice tests on your GRE study calendar now</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Also, give yourself </span><b>at least three hours</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> (ideally, over two study sessions) to review each test. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Think of your GRE studying as coming in three phases. </span><b>Early in your studies</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">, you’ll be spending most of your time learning content. </span><b>Close to test day</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">, you’ll be spending most of your time practicing problem-solving and staying sharp with what you already know. </span><b>In the middle</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">, you’ll be doing both of those things—brushing up on a few topics, but also practicing your problem-solving skills. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Here’s what you might have on your calendar right now, if you’re starting it on August 25:</span></p>
<p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-12009" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/10/cc-80-image-1.png" alt="Manhattan Prep GRE Blog - Your GRE Study Calendar by Chelsey Cooley" width="651" height="681" srcset="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/10/cc-80-image-1.png 651w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/10/cc-80-image-1-287x300.png 287w" sizes="(max-width: 651px) 100vw, 651px" /></p>
<h4><b>Filling in the Gaps with Your GRE Study Calendar</b></h4>
<p>Don’t get overwhelmed: start by only filling in the first two weeks of your GRE study calendar. Your needs and goals will change as you take practice tests and learn more about your performance.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Start by analyzing your most recent GRE practice test. Your goal is to find the areas that are currently </span><b>high-value</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> for you. That means: </span></p>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Areas where you’re missing easy problems and need to brush up on the basics;</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Areas that showed up frequently on your practice test (think Fractions or Sentence Equivalence, not Combinatorics or Logical Reading Comprehension). </span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Areas that are just a </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">little</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> too tough for you right now, or that take you just a little too long.</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Choose about 3-5 focus areas to start with. That seems like a lot, but it’s actually better for your brain in the long run if you jump around between topics, rather than just working on one until you’re exhausted. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Here’s what you might do to study each of these areas: </span></p>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Read the </span><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/store/strategy-guides/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Manhattan Prep Strategy Guide</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> chapters on the topic. </span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Do the end-of-chapter problems in the Strategy Guide. </span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Do some problems from the relevant chapter in the </span><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/store/strategy-guides/5-pound-book-gre-practice-problems/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">5lb. Book of GRE Practice Problems</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Watch the relevant lesson in </span><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/prep/on-demand/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">GRE Interact</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, and/or do the Drill It problems on the topic from Interact.  </span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">You don’t have to do every one of these things for every single topic you study! Use what works best for you. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Unless you only have a short time to study on a particular day, try to include two different topics. You should also go back to previous topics on later days. That’s called interleaving, and it helps promote memory formation. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">On top of that, dedicate at least one day each week to reviewing </span><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/2017/06/14/your-gre-problem-log-and-the-myth-of-practice-makes-perfect/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">your problem log</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and redoing problems you missed in the past.  </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Okay! Now we’re ready to zoom in on the first two weeks of our example GRE study calendar. Suppose that this student was much stronger on Verbal than on Quant, but also missed a lot of Reading Comprehension problems. In Quant, she did pretty well on word problems, but found that she’d forgotten the basic algebra and geometry rules.</span></p>
<p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-12010" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/10/cc-80-image-2.png" alt="Manhattan Prep GRE Blog - Your GRE Study Calendar by Chelsey Cooley" width="660" height="546" srcset="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/10/cc-80-image-2.png 660w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/10/cc-80-image-2-300x248.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px" /></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This student is starting her first week, once she finishes reviewing her practice test, by brushing up on the rules for Algebra, Reading Comprehension, and Geometry. As the second week starts, she mixes in more GRE problems on the topics she was weak on. She also builds in two review sessions before her second practice test. Importantly, she takes two days completely away from studying.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Your GRE study calendar will look different, depending on your own strengths and weaknesses and how much time you have before test day. But, you should use the same general ideas from this example: mix up your studies across different days, build in a lot of time for review (and use it!), and be realistic about days you won’t be able to study. The more you plan your studying ahead of time, the less stressed you’ll be when it comes time to actually sit down and do the work.</span></p>
<h4><b>What Happens in a <a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/locations/online/free-events/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">GRE Trial Class</a>?</b></h4>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Your GRE trial class is the first session of our regular GRE course—you&#8217;ll be attending right along with the students enrolled in that course. You&#8217;ll learn <a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/what-is-the-gre/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">what&#8217;s on the GRE</a> and <a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/good-gre-score/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">how the GRE is scored</a>, including the implications for how to get ready to take the test. You&#8217;ll also learn about <a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/gre-quantitative-comparisons-tips/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Quantitative Comparisons</a> (the often-baffling Quant question type that was invented for the GRE) and how to study vocabulary and meaning in complex sentence structures—the most critical skill for the Verbal section of the exam.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If you like the teacher and course structure, you can join the class; if you don&#8217;t or aren&#8217;t ready yet, no worries. The trial is no-strings-attached / no credit card is required.</span></p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/gre-study-calendar/">Your GRE Study Calendar</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre">GRE</a>.</p>
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		<title>Most Common GRE Vocabulary Words</title>
		<link>https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/common-gre-vocabulary-words/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Manhattan Prep]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Feb 2021 01:40:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Current Studiers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[GRE Prep]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[How To Study]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life Hacks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Study Tips]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Verbal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vocabulary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Common Vocabulary Words]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gre vocabulary words]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/?p=12383</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>The most common GRE vocabulary words are rare but reasonable. The vocab questions don’t test the simplest GRE Vocabulary words, like cat or go. They also don’t test the hardest GRE Vocabulary words, like conodont or acnestis. The words tested on the GRE fall between these two extremes. They aren’t words that you see every [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/common-gre-vocabulary-words/">Most Common GRE Vocabulary Words</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre">GRE</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-12385" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2019/04/mostcommongrevocabularywords.jpg" alt="Most Common GRE Vocabulary Words" width="1200" height="628" srcset="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2019/04/mostcommongrevocabularywords.jpg 1200w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2019/04/mostcommongrevocabularywords-300x157.jpg 300w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2019/04/mostcommongrevocabularywords-768x402.jpg 768w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2019/04/mostcommongrevocabularywords-1024x536.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The most common GRE vocabulary words are </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">rare but reasonable</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. The vocab questions don’t test the simplest GRE Vocabulary words, like </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">cat</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> or </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">go</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. They also don’t test the hardest GRE Vocabulary words, like </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conodont" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">conodont</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> or </span><a href="https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/acnestis" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">acnestis</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. The words tested on the GRE fall between these two extremes. They aren’t words that you see every day, but you’ll eventually run into them if you read plenty of high-quality writing—which is one thing the GRE is testing for! </span><span id="more-12383"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The most common GRE vocabulary words are “academic” words, of which English has many, and pretty much any academic word is fair game on the GRE. Odds are, you won’t see any of the same vocabulary words as someone who takes the GRE a month later. That makes it futile to try to list the “most common GRE vocabulary words”: since there are so many different possibilities, and since everyone sees different problems on the GRE, there’s no way to predict which words you might see! However, you’re not out of luck. If you choose your study resources wisely, you can maximize the odds that you’ll know the words you need. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A good starting place for GRE vocabulary is the 500 Essential GRE Words. </span><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/store/practice-materials/gre-flash-cards-essential-words/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">You can get this set of words as a stack of paper flashcards here</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, and that’s a good choice if you’re planning to </span><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/gre-vocabulary-tips/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">add your own imagery and examples to your flashcards</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To develop this list of words, we started with the words that had appeared in published official GRE problems. Then, we analyzed those words and found that they had a number of common characteristics. Based on this, we were able to add additional words that might not appear in the </span><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/store/official-guides-for-gre/official-guide-gre-revised-general-test/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Official Guide to the GRE</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, but that were very likely to appear on the GRE in general. To boost your GRE vocabulary, start with this set of words, then move to the </span><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/store/practice-materials/gre-flash-cards-advanced-words/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">500 Advanced GRE words</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, which are rarer but still useful. You can also use the Manhattan Prep GRE app, which contains both!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">What follows is a sample of common GRE vocabulary words that have appeared in published problems in the past. That doesn’t mean that they’ll appear on </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">your</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> GRE. However, this list will give you a sense of what you might see on your GRE—and how much vocabulary you need to learn! Look at these words as a sampling of GRE vocabulary—enough to get a taste of what to expect. We’ve divided them up based on the difficulty of the problems in which they initially appeared.  </span></p>
<h4><b>Basic Common GRE Vocabulary Words</b></h4>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Imminent: </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Something that’s </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">imminent</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is about to happen in the near future. You might have heard the phrase “imminent danger”: it refers to danger that’s immediately present, as opposed to danger that might cause problems in the future. An approaching tidal wave is an </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">imminent</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> danger, while rising sea levels are less imminent.</span></p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Extraneous: </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">A long, dull textbook might contain a lot of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">extraneous</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> information: information that’s not really relevant to the topic. Extraneous means irrelevant or unrelated.</span></p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Erroneous:</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> This word is related to the word </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">error</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. In fact, it means “wrong.” One common phrase is “erroneous judgment”: an erroneous judgment is an incorrect one. For instance, you might make an erroneous judgment of someone’s character based on their appearance.</span></p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Insular</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">: This GRE vocabulary word generally refers to a group of people, such as a community or a family. An </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">insular</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> group is one that doesn’t welcome people or ideas from the outside. The word comes from the same root as </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">island</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">peninsula</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">: think of an insular group as being similar to an island, where it’s difficult for new people and ideas to come in and out.</span></p>
<h4><b>Medium Common GRE Vocabulary Words</b></h4>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Prosaic: </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Something that’s </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">prosaic</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is ordinary and everyday. This word is the opposite of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">glamorous </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">or </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">exciting</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, and it could be a synonym of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">quotidian</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> or </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">humdrum</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. It comes from the same root as the word </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">prose</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">: prose is ordinary, everyday writing, as opposed to poetry.</span></p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Partial</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">: This looks like a straightforward word, but it’s on this list because of its second definition. Partial can refer to a part of a whole, but it can also serve as the opposite of the word </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">impartial</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. In that sense, </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">partial</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> means ‘biased’ or ‘favoring one side over the other.’ Judges are supposed to be </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">impartial</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">; a </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">partial</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> judge would probably do a poor job. You can associate this word with the words </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">partisan</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">prejudiced</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, which are near-synonyms.</span></p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ubiquitous: </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">A </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">ubiquitous </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">thing is something that shows up frequently and is all over the place. For instance, coffee shops and rain are both </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">ubiquitous</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in Seattle. Smartphones and the internet are </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">ubiquitous</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. An experience or a phenomenon can also be described as ubiquitous: a </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">ubiquitous</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> danger is one that’s always lurking around the corner no matter what you’re doing.</span></p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Propagate</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">: This word literally refers to breeding something, such as an animal or plant. However, the GRE often uses it in a more metaphorical sense. To propagate an idea or a belief is to spread it widely around to other people. In this sense, </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">propagate</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is a synonym of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">disseminate</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">promulgate</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p>
<h4><b>Tricky Common GRE Vocabulary Words</b></h4>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Quotidian: </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">This word is the big brother of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">prosaic</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, which we saw earlier in the list. Literally, it refers to something that happens every day. However, it is typically used to describe something as mundane, ordinary, or unglamorous.</span></p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Restive</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">: </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Restive</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> tricks a lot of GRE test-takers because of its resemblance to words like </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">rest</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">restful</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. However, </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">restive</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is actually related to </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">restless</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">! It refers to something or someone that’s fidgety, on edge, tense, or unable to keep still. You may see this word used to refer to a </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">restive crowd</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, which is a crowd that’s starting to lose its cool and become confrontational.</span></p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Pernicious</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">: This word means </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">harmful</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">. However, it’s worth your while to learn exactly how it’s used. Something that’s pernicious isn’t just harmful; it’s typically harmful in a particular way. It’s not outright dangerous or violent, but rather, it causes a subtle or gradual type of harm. A blow to the head isn’t </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">pernicious</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, but something like heart disease or the influence of social media might be. A good synonym for </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">pernicious</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">insidious</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p>
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Diffident</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">: This word refers to a type of personality. A </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">diffident</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> person rarely speaks up; he might be described as timid or reluctant.</span></p>
<p><b>Learning GRE Vocabulary</b></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Learning GRE vocabulary words is a tough but important task. Your next step should be to read our </span><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/gre-vocabulary-tips/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">tips for learning GRE vocabulary</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Find a good source of words to learn—the 500 Essential GRE Words are a good starting place!—and go through and remove the ones you already know by heart. Then, read about the </span><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/hack-the-gre-vocab-use-spaced-repetition-to-get-maximum-results-with-minimum-time-investment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">spaced repetition strategy</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> to learn how and when to study words effectively. If you start now, you can master 50 or more new words per week between now and test day.</span></p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/common-gre-vocabulary-words/">Most Common GRE Vocabulary Words</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre">GRE</a>.</p>
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		<title>Top 10 GRE Quantitative Comparisons Tips</title>
		<link>https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/gre-quantitative-comparisons-tips/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Manhattan Prep]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Apr 2019 19:38:35 +0000</pubDate>
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		<category><![CDATA[Study Tips]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[GRE Quantitative Comparisons Tips]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[<p>Good news: GRE Quantitative Comparisons aren’t like anything you had to do in math class. Mastering these tricky problems is a quick way to improve your GRE Quant score without a ton of computation. Get started with our 10 best GRE Quantitative Comparison tips! Then, once you’re done reading, check out the GRE Math Strategy [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/gre-quantitative-comparisons-tips/">Top 10 GRE Quantitative Comparisons Tips</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre">GRE</a>.</p>
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										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-12372" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2019/04/top10tipsforgrequantitivecomparisons.jpg" alt="Top 10 GRE Quantitative Comparisons Tips" width="1200" height="628" srcset="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2019/04/top10tipsforgrequantitivecomparisons.jpg 1200w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2019/04/top10tipsforgrequantitivecomparisons-300x157.jpg 300w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2019/04/top10tipsforgrequantitivecomparisons-768x402.jpg 768w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2019/04/top10tipsforgrequantitivecomparisons-1024x536.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Good news: GRE Quantitative Comparisons aren’t like anything you had to do in math class. Mastering these tricky problems is a quick way to improve your GRE Quant score without a ton of computation. Get started with our 10 best GRE Quantitative Comparison tips! Then, once you’re done reading, check out the </span><a id="bloglink" href="https://amzn.to/3JHdU62" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">GRE Math Strategy Guide</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> for even more.</span><span id="more-12368"></span></p>
<h4><b>1. Memorize the answer choices on GRE Quantitative Comparisons.</b></h4>
<p><a href="https://www.ets.org/gre/test-takers/general-test/prepare/content/quantitative-reasoning.html#accordion-eb7b696bc8-item-a0c181a566" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The answer choices are always the same!</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> If you save ten seconds on each Quantitative Comparison (QC) problem by not rereading them, that’s more than a minute saved per Quant section.</span></p>
<h4><b>2. (D) doesn’t stand for ‘don’t know.’</b></h4>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">On GRE Quantitative Comparison problems, answer choices (A),(B), and (C) are pretty straightforward. Then, choice (D) comes out of left field with this: </span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The relationship cannot be determined from the information given.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">How are you supposed to prove that you </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">can’t</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> determine something? Here’s the secret: you aren’t. You can imagine that (D) says this, instead:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Quantity A is bigger sometimes, and Quantity B is bigger sometimes.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Thinking about it this way will keep things concrete and straightforward. Is Quantity A </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">always</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> bigger, no matter what you do? Then pick answer (A). Is Quantity B always bigger? Pick answer (B). But does it go one way in one situation and the opposite way in another? Pick answer (D). (</span><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/gre-quantitative-comparisons-the-equal-different-method/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">By the way, you should also pick (D) if the quantities are sometimes equal and sometimes not equal</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">!)</span></p>
<h4><b>3. Make smart, fast guesses on GRE Quantitative Comparisons.</b></h4>
<p><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/guessing-on-the-gre-moving-on/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">You’re going to guess on the GRE.</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> The number-one trick for guessing on Quantitative Comparisons? Know which answers to eliminate before you guess. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">On some GRE QC problems, the two quantities are definite values. They might be values that you and I can’t calculate, like in this problem:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><b>Quantity A: </b><span style="font-weight: 400;">79</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><sup>43</sup></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><b>Quantity B: </b><span style="font-weight: 400;">80</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><sup>31</sup></span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Even though those are huge numbers, they’re both just numbers, not variables or expressions. If both quantities refer to specific numbers, choice (D) can’t be the right answer! Either one of the numbers is bigger than the other, or they’re both equal. Eliminate answer (D) and make a guess.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In some cases, you can also tell that the answer shouldn’t be choice (C). Maybe you have no idea whether 79</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><sup>43</sup></span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is bigger or smaller than 80</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><sup>31</sup></span><span style="font-weight: 400;">. But with some logic, you can tell that they </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">can’t</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> be equal. After all, 80</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><sup>31</sup></span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> has to end in a 0, and 79</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><sup>43</sup></span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> definitely doesn’t. Eliminate choice (C) before guessing.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Finally, this might seem silly, but be careful not to guess any answer you’ve already eliminated. Suppose that you’re working on a tough Quantitative Comparison problem, and you’ve figured out that Quantity A is </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">sometimes</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> bigger. Now you’re running out of time, and you can’t decide whether Quantity B is sometimes bigger, too. You need to make a guess, but don’t make a guess that contradicts what you already figured out. Since A is sometimes bigger, you can definitely eliminate answers (B) and (C) before guessing.</span></p>
<h4><b>4. Simplify everything.</b></h4>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To start any GRE Quantitative Comparison problem, </span><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/careless-mistakes-on-the-gre-go-slow-to-go-fast/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><b>breathe and simplify</b></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. That’s not a meditation mantra! It’s actually a problem-solving technique. A lot of Quantitative Comparison problems are hard because the information is given to you in an overly-mathematical or complicated form. Simplify the given information and each quantity as much as possible. A good starting point is to try making the two quantities look as similar as possible. For instance, if one contains decimals and the other contains fractions, convert both to the same form before you keep working.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Once everything is simplified, the answer might jump out at you! But if it doesn’t, keep reading…</span></p>
<h4><b>5. Try to prove (D).</b></h4>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If you’ve simplified as much as you can, and it isn’t clear which quantity is greater, the next step is to try proving answer (D). The method for doing that is called </span><b>case testing</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">. You do it by considering different situations and thinking about which quantity would be greater. Here’s an example:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">3<em>x</em></span><span style="font-weight: 400;">²</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> + 5<em>y</em></span><span style="font-weight: 400;">²</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> > 200</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">x</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">²</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> + <em>y</em></span><span style="font-weight: 400;">²</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> = 61</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><b>Quantity A</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">: <em>y</em></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><b>Quantity B</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">: 3</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Remember tip number 4 first: simplify! You can simplify the given information into a single inequality: </span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">3<em>x</em></span><span style="font-weight: 400;">²</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> + 5<em>y</em></span><span style="font-weight: 400;">²</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> > 200</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">3(61–<em>y</em></span><span style="font-weight: 400;">²</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">) + 5<em>y</em></span><span style="font-weight: 400;">²</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> > 200</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">183 + 2<em>y</em></span><span style="font-weight: 400;">²</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> > 200</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">2<em>y</em></span><span style="font-weight: 400;">²</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> > 17</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">y</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">²</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> > 8.5</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It looks a lot better, but the answer isn’t completely obvious. The next step is to look at different cases, and the goal when you do that is to prove answer (D). That means proving that Quantity A is bigger sometimes, and Quantity B is bigger other times (alternatively, that they’re sometimes equal, and sometimes different).</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">You already know that <em>y</em></span><span style="font-weight: 400;">²</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> has to be bigger than 8.5. Start by showing that y can be bigger than 3, since that’s easier! <em>y</em> could definitely be 100, 1,000, or even 1,000,000. So, in some cases, <em>y</em> is bigger than 3. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The next step is to try to show that <em>y</em> could be smaller than, or equal to, 3. It turns out that <em>y</em> can equal 3, because 3</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">²</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is greater than 8.5. At this point, you’ve successfully proven answer (D): <em>y</em> is sometimes equal to 3, and sometimes greater than 3, and since it can go either way, (D) is the right answer. Keep moving!</span></p>
<h4><b>6. Get organized.</b></h4>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Case testing is sometimes a lot more complicated than that. Get organized about it by creating a chart on your scratch paper. </span></p>
<p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-12369" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2019/04/cc-89-image-1.png" alt="Manhattan Prep GRE Blog - Top 10 GRE Quantitative Comparisons Tips by Chelsey Cooley" width="455" height="354" srcset="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2019/04/cc-89-image-1.png 455w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2019/04/cc-89-image-1-300x233.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 455px) 100vw, 455px" /></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Keep everything neat and clear by creating a column on your paper for each value you might have to calculate, and a different row for each case you test. If you need to do additional math, do it off to one side, or above or below your chart.</span></p>
<h4><b>7. Simple first, then weird.</b></h4>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Start by testing a simple scenario, whatever is easier to prove or makes the math more straightforward. We did that in the problem from tips 4 and 5, when we said that </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">y</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> could equal 100 or 1,000. Those are simple, round numbers, and since they’re very large, it’s easy to tell that <em>y</em></span><span style="font-weight: 400;">²</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is large as well. Don’t think that you need to come up with really exciting cases to test right away. Start with a simple case and just see what happens, then eliminate as many answers as possible on that basis.</span></p>
<h4><b>8. Weird cases? Try ZONEF for QC problems.</b></h4>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Not sure what values to test while solving a GRE Quantitative Comparison problem?</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> ZONEF is a mnemonic that stands for “zero, one, negatives, extremes, fractions,” and it can help remind you which cases are most likely to help you prove answer (D).</span></p>
<h4><b>9. Compare, don’t calculate.</b></h4>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">You can solve some GRE Quantitative Comparisons problems with much less math than you’d expect. Here’s an example:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">A certain class consists of 14 undergraduate students and 9 graduate students. The undergraduates earned an average grade of 70% on the final exam, and the graduates earned an average grade of 80%. </span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><b>Quantity A: </b><span style="font-weight: 400;">The average grade earned by the entire class on the final exam</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><b>Quantity B: </b><span style="font-weight: 400;">76%</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">You don’t need to know the exact average grade: you only need to know whether it’s higher or lower than 76%. Before you calculate, pause and reason about the problem. The average should be closer to 70% than to 80%, because there were more undergrads than grads. So it’ll definitely be lower than 76%, and the answer has to be (B).</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In some GRE Quantitative Comparison problems, you have no choice but to calculate! But in a lot of them, you can get away with just comparing the two values. It doesn’t matter what the exact values are if you can tell which one has to be bigger. Put that calculator away!</span></p>
<h4><b>10. Pay attention to constraints…and non-straints.</b></h4>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A “constraint,” in a GRE Quantitative Comparison problem, is any extra piece of info that you’re given about the values involved. For instance, “<em>y</em> is even” is a constraint. So are “<em>x</em> is a positive integer” and “<em>k</em> is less than 1.” There are even implied constraints: if somebody has </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">b</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> bananas or </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">c</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> children, you can safely assume that </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">b</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">c</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> are integers!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If a QC problem includes a constraint, always jot it down on your paper. Many of these problems are designed so that the answer comes out differently if you ignore the constraint! The test writers are hoping to trap people who don’t notice, or forget about, a constraint. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">You should also train yourself to notice constraints that </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">aren’t</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> there. If a problem doesn’t tell you that </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">x</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">y</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> have to be positive, it’s possible that something interesting will happen when you make them negative! If a problem doesn’t say that all of the numbers are integers, check what happens when you use fractions! And if there isn’t a constraint, anything is fair game, and a great test taker knows when to get creative.</span></p>
<p><b>Bonus: </b><span style="font-weight: 400;">Quantitative Comparisons are usually pretty short problems. That makes it tempting to dive into a problem without slowing down and thinking it through first. But, in our experience, slowing down at the beginning of a GRE Quantitative Comparison problem pays off. Take the extra few seconds to tidy your scratch work and really read everything in the problem. It might make you a little slower on each problem, but it’ll pay off when you avoid getting confused and bogged down.</span></p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/gre-quantitative-comparisons-tips/">Top 10 GRE Quantitative Comparisons Tips</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre">GRE</a>.</p>
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