Many a true word is said in jest.—I don’t know, but I heard it from my mother.

I moved to Los Angeles, to a little bungalow in Laurel Canyon, the day before the Northridge earthquake.  Timing is everything, just like on the GRE.  I woke up around 3 in the morning.  Because the bungalow was jumping up and down.  As a stupid easterner, I thought, Oh, it’s an earthquake.  They have them here.  I didn’t know it was The Medium One.  (It was amazing to see the damage—piles of rubble on Ventura Boulevard and in Hollywood, and the I-10 ramp to the 405 fell down.)  As long as I was awake, I decided to go to the bathroom.  The first big aftershock threw me into the door frame.  It’s unsettling not to have a firm foundation under your feet.  You feel out of control and at the mercy of forces larger than you.

And that’s the way students feel about the GRE.  And for the same reason, metaphorically speaking.  In every GRE class I’ve taught, most of the students were bewitched, bothered, and bewildered by the shakiness of their foundation knowledge.  The ground was not firm beneath their feet.  It paralyzed them.  They understood the concepts of the problems and the relevant strategies to employ, but could not then solve the problems in a timely manner, if at all.  Especially on the quant side, the GRE tests a logic system—be precise, don’t assume, pick the choice that must follow.  The arithmetic and algebra are the moral equivalent of reading English.  You would like to be able to take those skills as much for granted as you do reading words.  When I say 7 times 13, you say 91.  Think of it as a rap.  When you see .625, you say 5/8.  Woot.  All seriousness aside, people waste 30 seconds a question in the quant because they don’t know their times tables or squares or the fractional decimal percentage equivalencies.  Or their algebra isn’t smooth and silky.  Think about how much time that uses up during the section.  How do you fix that?  How do you get to Carnegie Hall?  Practice, practice, practice.  That’s a New York joke—LA classes hate it.  Having that mastery frees you to identify the type, the approach, and the traps—to do what has to be done to score well.

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Wait, is that a typo? Maybe I meant Confucius, the Chinese teacher and philosopher?

I actually do mean confusion. ; ) Journalist Annie Murphy Paul recently contributed a post to KQED’s Mind/Shift blog: Why Confusion Can Be a Good Thing.

Go ahead and read it “ I’ll wait. It won’t take you more than 5-10 minutes. Take particular note of item 2 on her 3-item list.

Why Is Confusion Good?

Ms. Murphy Paul supports her thesis with an important point: When we don’t know the right way to do something, we open up our minds to many potential paths “ and sometimes an alternate potential path is better than the official path.

We’ve all had the experience of reading an official solution and thinking, Seriously? That’s how you have to do this? only to find a better way on an online forum or via discussion with a teacher or fellow students.

Further, as far as a test like the GRE is concerned, the discomfort inherent in figuring out that best path allows us to determine why a certain approach is preferable. That knowledge, in turn, helps us to know when we can re-use a certain line of thinking or solution process on a different (but similar) question in future.

How Can I Use Confusion To Help My Prep?

Murphy-Paul offers three suggestions (quotes below are from the article; the rest is just me):

(1) Expose yourself to confusing material

On the GRE, you have no choice: you’re going to be exposing yourself to confusing material every day! So I’ll tweak Murphy-Paul’s suggestion slightly: embrace the confusion. Instead of feeling annoyed or frustrated when that feeling of confusion creeps in, tell yourself: okay, I’m on track here. I’m going to figure this out “ and, when I do, I’m going to remember it because my current confusion is actually going to help me remember better once I do know what I’m doing!

(2) Withhold the answers from yourself

What’s the first thing you do after finishing a problem or problem set? If you’re anything like my students, you look at the answer to see whether you got it right. Is that really the best move?
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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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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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Here are the free GRE events we’re holding this week (All times local unless otherwise specified):

3/11/13– Online- Mondays with Jen– 9:00PM- 10:30PM

3/12/13– Washington, D.C.- Free Trial Class- 6:30- 9:30 PM

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

We’ve very excited because our latest book, the 5 lb. Book of GRE Practice Problems, has just hit the shelves! 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.

Let’s try out one of the problems! Give yourself about 2 minutes to answer this Logic-Based Reading Comprehension (Logic RC). Afterwards, we’ll solve the problem and also discuss how to approach Logic RC questions in general. Read more

Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GRE courses absolutely free? We’re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here.

Studying vocabulary was probably my least favorite part of preparing for the GRE. Nope, that’s not true. It was definitely my least favorite part. The first time I took the GRE, I thought I could roll in cold and knock it out of the park. That’s another nope. My math score was killer, but my lack of esoteric vocabulary knowledge killed me.

So I had to learn it, and learn I did—all the way to a 1600. We all know some of the good vocabulary learning tricks covered in the Manhattan Prep GRE Strategy Guides, like sorting words into groups, sharing words through social media, and labeling items or rooms in your house. But here are other ways you might learn vocabulary — some weirder than others.

1. Replace words in songs you know. Music is a great learning tool because it contains sets of words that we already have memorized. When your vocabulary words offer up a synonym, try to think of a song you know that features that word, and just swap in your GRE word. If you aren’t that into songs, you can do the same thing with famous quotes.

2. YouTube video-search the word. Sometimes, hearing a word in context can really make it stick. Try doing a YouTube search for the word you have in mind. A YouTube search for inchoate makes me aware of the phrase inchoate crimes, which I can hear in context and internalize. A search for laud reveals a number of songs containing the word. The list goes on!

3. Take your flashcards to the gym. The repetition of many fitness activities, from running on the treadmill to doing push-ups, makes them perfect for studying vocabulary. Plus, with your body moving, your brain is better activated. I like to pick a word at a time and repeat it, with its various definitions, 10 or 20 times along with my movements. After the first read, try doing the rest of the repetitions from memory.

4. Put a face or motion with each word. Some people learn kinetically, and most of us benefit from learning in more than one way. Reading, writing, listening, and speaking are the four classic ways to learn language, but adding in motion and other sensory learning methods can really help. Associating a word with a grimace, a disgusted face, a sigh, a huge smile, a growl, a sly look, or a jump into the air can help cement its meaning in a way that memorization can’t. Try it!

5. Use Google Images search to “picture” words. A general Google search is of course a great learning tool, but don’t forget about Google Images. An image may stick in your mind in a way that words don’t. Image-search a word such as lavish or luminous, and it will stick with you. You can even print out an image that really helps you and put it on your flashcard—for this test, that’s often definition enough.

6. Color-code or sticker your flashcards or notes. Sometimes you come across a word on the GRE that you know you knew. Once upon a time, you read and defined the word, but it’s not cemented in your memory. In those cases, even a glimmer of the word’s meaning can make a difference. Think about putting all the “bad” words in red and all the “good” words in green. Or putting smiley-face stickers on all the words that define something positive or pleasant. At any convenience store, you can buy a pack of round label stickers in red, green, yellow, and blue—why not assign those colors to mean bad, good, happy, and sad?

7. Match a stack of words to a collection of items. For me, forcing vocabulary words into categories helps me to understand them. It makes me tell a story, which causes me to think about the word in a new way. Sorting words is one great way to do this. But for a different take, try taking a collection of items and assigning each word to one of the items. This might mean you dump out a box of crayons or the contents of your spice rack, and then force yourself to assign each vocabulary word to one of those items for whatever reason you can come up with! The collection doesn’t have to be physical items—it could be your list of Facebook friends or the contacts in your phone. Searching your mind for qualities that each word’s definition shares in common with an item or person in the collection helps form connections that stay with you.

8. Write the word in a way that shows its definition. Writing is often neglected as a learning tool, especially with more students printing or buying pre-made flashcards than ever before. But if you’re stuck on a word, try writing or doodling it in a way that mixes the word with the meaning. Maybe you turn the “o” in loquacious into an open mouth, talking and talking. Maybe you write the word lethargic long and melting along the bottom the page, or the word inimical covered in spikes.

9. Label a magazine or newspaper with vocabulary words. Whether you print your trouble words on actual labels or just crack open a magazine with a pen, try putting those words on other words, images, or ads that evoke the correct meaning. When you go through the process of searching for words or images that match the word and meaning you have in mind, you are actively using the words and their definitions—and that’s the best way to long-term memory!

10. Post your top-ten hit list where you’ll see it. Despite all the unique, multifaceted ways you find to study vocabulary, there will probably be some words that elude them. Pick ten of the worst offenders, and give them each a one-word definition. Then, put those words and their definitions on a Post-it note, and put that note somewhere you can see it. Sticking it on the bathroom mirror and reviewing it while you brush your teeth is a great option, or posting it by your computer at work. Once you feel you’ve mastered those words, make another hit list. Short, manageable chunks and lots of repetition are key.

If you have other ways that have helped you learn vocabulary, please share them with us! ?

Want more guidance from our GRE gurus? You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GRE courses absolutely free! We’re not kidding. Check out our upcoming courses here. 

We’re very excited because our latest book, the 5 lb.Book of GRE Practice Problems, is about to hit shelves! 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.

Let’s try out one of the problems! 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 guess). Afterwards, we’ll solve the problem and also discuss how to approach these in general

A taxi driver makes $50 an hour, but pays $100 in rent per day of use for his taxi and has other costs that amount to $0.50 per mile. If he works three 7-hour days and one 9-hour day and drives a total of 600 miles in one week, what is his profit?

(A) $700

(B) $800

(C) $1,100

(D) $1,200

(E) $1,500

© ManhattanPrep, 2013

Translation questions are the bane of most test-takers’ existence. (Don’t know the word bane? That’s a great GRE word “ go look it up!) First, we have to figure out how to re-write a paragraph in mathematical terms, and then we still have to do the actual math!

A number of techniques can help us with these tasks. We’re going to start with one discussed in our main Translations article: make it real. (Follow the link to the main, 2-part article, if you haven’t already read it.)

Make the story real

The problem no longer says taxi driver. Instead, your name is sitting there “ you’re the taxi driver. Now, what do you need to know in order to figure out how much money you get to keep at the end of the week?

Well, let’s see. First, I’d figure out how much I made, but then I’d have to subtract all of my costs. That’s how much I get to take home: my profit.

Revenue “ Cost = Profit

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We’ve very excited because our latest book, the 5 lb Book of GRE Practice Problems, is about to hit shelves! 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.

Let’s try out one of the problems! This Text Completion (TC) problem has just one blank, so give yourself approximately 45 seconds to get to your answer. Afterwards, we’ll solve the problem and also discuss how to approach TC questions in general.

After many years of war and bloodshed, some become ____________ suffering, casting a blind eye to scenes of misery around them.

inured to

exempted from

dominant over

effusive towards

maudlin over

© ManhattanPrep, 2013

 

There are several important steps that help us to answer TC questions both effectively and efficiently.

(1) Read only the sentence

Read all the way to the period, but do NOT then jump to the answer choices. Instead

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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.

Quantity A

Quantity B

a + 4b

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