GRE Math is a bit like high school math, without some of the hardest parts: for instance, you don’t have to write proofs or show your work! Here’s a quick rundown of the GRE Math skills required to conquer the Quant section, along with some of our best GRE Math tips. Read more

I’ve spoken with multiple students lately who received a disappointing (lower than they were expecting) score on the quant section and who all said that the quant felt relatively easy or straightforward. How is that possible?

First of all, thinking that a test like the GRE is easy is actually a warning sign: unless you are poised to get a perfect score, chances are you’re missing something. Some of the questions are really very challenging and they should feel hard even to someone like me (who did get a perfect score on this test! 🙂 ).

Second, the test writers are phenomenal at writing questions that don’t seem all that complicated but are in fact your worst nightmare. My worst nightmare is not an impossible question “ I know I can’t do it, so I just pick an answer and move on. My worst nightmare is a question that I think I can do, and I spend a decent chunk of time doing it, and then I get it wrong anyway “ even though I’m sure I got it right!

The problem I’ve chosen is actually a GMAT problem; I chose it because it perfectly illustrates the point that I’m trying to make, and it is actually in the same form as GRE problems. Try this GMATPrep problem and you might see what I mean. Set your timer for 2 minutes. and GO!

*  Of the 3,600 employees of Company X, 1/3 are clerical. If the clerical staff were to be reduced by 1/3, what percent of the total number of the remaining employees would then be clerical?

 

(A) 25%

(B) 22.2%

(C) 20%

(D) 12.5%

(E) 11.1%

What’s hard about this one? It looks completely straightforward!

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