<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" > <channel> <title>GRE Practice Test – GRE</title> <atom:link href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/tag/gre-practice-test/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /> <link>https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre</link> <description>GRE Prep | Best GRE Test Preparation | Manhattan Prep GRE</description> <lastBuildDate>Tue, 22 Dec 2020 17:46:54 +0000</lastBuildDate> <language>en-US</language> <sy:updatePeriod> hourly </sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency> 1 </sy:updateFrequency> <generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=6.3.2</generator> <item> <title>How To Take a GRE Practice Test</title> <link>https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/how-to-take-a-gre-practice-test/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chelsey Cooley]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sat, 12 Dec 2020 14:47:25 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[GRE Prep]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Practice Tests]]></category> <category><![CDATA[gre]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GRE Practice]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GRE practice exam]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GRE Practice Test]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/?p=12749</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>Regularly taking GRE practice tests (but not too many!) is how you find out whether your studying is working and what to focus on next. But in order to take a practice test perfectly, you need a bit of…practice. Which GRE Practice Test should you take? You have two major options: either the official practice […]</p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/how-to-take-a-gre-practice-test/">How To Take a GRE Practice Test</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-12750 size-full" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2020/03/mprep-blogimages-wave1-53-2-e1583160307870.png" alt="gre practice test" width="1200" height="628" /></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Regularly taking GRE practice tests (</span><a href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/stop-taking-so-many-practice-tests/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">but not too many!</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">) is how you find out whether your studying is working and what to focus on next. But in order to take a practice test perfectly, you need a bit of…practice.</span></p> <p><span id="more-12749"></span></p> <h3><b>Which GRE Practice Test should you take? </b></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">You have two major options: either the official practice tests from the ETS, the folks behind the GRE; or a third-party GRE practice test. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The official practice GRE tests are collectively known as POWERPREP, and </span><a href="https://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/prepare/powerprep/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">you can find them here</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Two of them are available for free, and the other three cost $40 each. The biggest advantage to taking these tests is their official status: the problems, and the scoring algorithm, are as authentic as possible. They also have a similar look and feel to the real GRE; one difference, though, is that these tests lack the fifth “experimental” test section that appears on the actual test. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Also, there are only five official practice tests (and only two, if you don’t want to pay up to $120 for the full set). They also lack some of the analysis tools you’ll find in third-party tests. </span><a href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/analyzing-your-practice-tests-part-1/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Check out this series of articles for the types of analysis you can perform with a Manhattan Prep practice GRE</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Plus, if you’re taking an MPrep course or working with a tutor, MPrep instructors have direct access to all of the info on any practice tests you’ve taken. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">So, I recommend starting with “unofficial” practice tests, then transitioning to the PowerPrep tests when you’re getting close to test day. You’ll get the best insight into your strengths and weaknesses early on—when you’re still working out what to prioritize in your studies—and closer to test day, you’ll have saved the most authentic practice tests as a warmup for the real thing. </span></p> <h3><b>What’s the best GRE Practice Test? </b></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It depends on what you mean! </span></p> <p><a href="http://www.brightlinkprep.com/gre-scoring-algorthm-deciphered/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The GRE scoring algorithm is pretty transparent.</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> This makes the GRE different from other standardized tests you may be familiar with, such as the GMAT. Every question within a given section is worth the same amount, and your score is directly based on the number of questions you get right in each section. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">So, as long as a practice test has well-written questions and an appropriate level of difficulty, it’s tough to mess up the scoring algorithm. I’m obviously biased, but I’m confident in the research that went into MPrep’s practice GRE questions as well: they’re usually designed to test the same math or English skills as one or more official problems, while having significant enough differences that they’ll still require recognition and problem-solving skills. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that our practice tests (or any practice test, including the official ones) can promise to definitively predict your score. </span><a href="https://www.brightlinkprep.com/how-accurate-is-the-gre-power-prep-2-software/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">People have tried to compile data on whether practice GRE scores predict actual GRE scores, with varying levels of success</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. I tend to see practice test scores as a way to track trends (are they generally moving upwards?) and as a way to, very broadly, tell whether you’re in the same ballpark as your goal score. If you’re aiming for a 160/160 on the GRE and you’ve already scored a 165/165 in practice, you definitely have the skills you need to pull it together on test day. If you’ve only made it to the low 150s, you might surprise yourself with a much higher score on the day of, but it’s far from a guarantee. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If you want your practice test scores to be as accurate as possible, and if you want the most effective practice you can get for the real GRE, you </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">can</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> take a practice test in a way that makes it more likely to predict your score. The short version: the more realistically you take the test, the more realistic your score should be, and the more preparation it will give you for test day. For the long version, keep reading…</span></p> <h3><b>Taking your GRE Practice Test the right way</b></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Prepare your environment before you take a practice GRE. Test centers aren’t very stimulating places: you’ll sit at a desk in front of a computer, with nothing to look at except for the GRE questions in front of you. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">So, when you take a practice GRE, don’t let yourself be interrupted. Prepare ahead of time: sit at a desk in a quiet, unstimulating room. Wear headphones or earplugs if you plan to do so on test day. Prepare whatever you’ll eat or drink during your break ahead of time, and don’t eat or drink anything while actually taking the practice test, even water. Close any other programs running on the computer you’ll use for the practice test, and put any other electronics out of sight. Take your breaks at the allotted times, and don’t pause the test or take any extra time to solve tough problems. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Another aspect of preparation is goal-setting. You’ll get more out of your practice test if you know what you want to learn from it. Don’t take a practice test just because you feel like you’re supposed to, or because you think it’s a good way to see new problems. The role of a practice test is to evaluate your performance, and to help you practice test-day-specific skills, like paying attention to GRE questions for hours at a stretch. Before you start a practice GRE, articulate a couple of skills you want to work on. Don’t focus too much on the score. Instead, focus on what you’ll </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">do</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> while taking the test: do you want to try bailing on a couple of questions per section, to see if you can do better on the rest once you have more time? Do you want to work on using the four-step process for every vocabulary question? Think of two or three things that you want to make sure you do, and assess yourself honestly right after you finish the test. </span></p> <h3><b>What to do after your GRE Practice Test</b></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After you finish a practice GRE, take a break! Walk away from the test for a few hours or even a day or two. Overtaxing yourself leads to exhaustion and ineffective studying. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When you return to your practice test, look at it like a scientist would. When you review, you aren’t criticizing yourself for missing problems, or even celebrating your right answers. You’re solely trying to learn whatever you can in order to do better on the real test. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">With that in mind, a good next step is to perfect your GRE problem log. After you take your next practice test, check out these articles on how to review, and get the most you can out of every single question!</span></p> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/quantitative-comparison/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">How to review Quantitative Comparisons</span></a></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/review-gre-vocabulary-questions/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">How to review vocabulary questions</span></a></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/reviewing-gre-practice-test/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Reviewing a practice test</span></a></li> </ul> <p><b><i>Don’t forget that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GRE courses absolutely free. We’re not kidding! </i></b><a href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/classes/free/"><b><i>Check out our upcoming courses here</i></b></a><b><i>.</i></b></p> <hr /> <p><b><i><em><strong><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/chelsey-cooley/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Chelsey Cooley</a><a href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/chelsey-cooley/?utm_source=manhattanprep.com%2Fgre%2Fblog&utm_medium=blog&utm_content=CooleyBioGREBlog&utm_campaign=GRE%20Blog" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img decoding="async" class="alignleft" title="Chelsey Cooley Manhattan Prep GRE Instructor" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2015/11/chelsey-cooley-150x150.jpg" alt="Chelsey Cooley Manhattan Prep GRE Instructor" width="150" height="150" data-pin-nopin="true" /></a> is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Seattle, Washington.</strong> </em></i></b><i><em>Chelsey always followed her heart when it came to her education. Luckily, her heart led her straight to the perfect background for GMAT and GRE teaching: she has undergraduate degrees in mathematics and history, a master’s degree in linguistics, a 790 on the GMAT, and a perfect 170Q/170V on the GRE. </em></i><i><em><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/classes/#instructor/48" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Check out Chelsey’s upcoming GRE prep offerings here</a>.</em></i></p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/how-to-take-a-gre-practice-test/">How To Take a GRE Practice Test</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre">GRE</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>How to Study: Reviewing a GRE Practice Test</title> <link>https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/reviewing-gre-practice-test/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chelsey Cooley]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 08 Dec 2020 18:00:20 +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[Practice Tests]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Study Tips]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Assessment Report]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GRE Practice Test]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/?p=11352</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GRE courses absolutely free. Crazy, right? Check out our upcoming courses here. You’ve been studying for the GRE for a while now, and you’ve taken at least two GRE practice tests. (If not, start with this article instead!) Last time, we started […]</p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/reviewing-gre-practice-test/">How to Study: Reviewing a GRE Practice Test</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-11368" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/02/how-to-study-reviewing-gre-practice-test.png" alt="Manhattan Prep GRE Blog - How to Study: Reviewing a GRE Practice Test by Chelsey Cooley" width="1200" height="628" srcset="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/02/how-to-study-reviewing-gre-practice-test.png 1200w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/02/how-to-study-reviewing-gre-practice-test-300x157.png 300w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/02/how-to-study-reviewing-gre-practice-test-768x402.png 768w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/02/how-to-study-reviewing-gre-practice-test-1024x536.png 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /></p> <p><b><i>You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GRE courses absolutely free. Crazy, right? </i></b><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/classes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><b><i>Check out our upcoming courses here</i></b></a><b><i>.</i></b></p> <hr /> <p><b><i></i></b><span style="font-weight: 400;">You’ve been studying for the GRE for a while now, and you’ve taken at least two GRE practice tests. (If not, start with </span><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/2017/12/14/study-gre-first-two-weeks-1/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">this article</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> instead!) Last time, we started discussing </span><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/2018/02/07/study-second-gre-practice-test/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">how to review a GRE practice test</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> at a high level. This time, we’ll go even further: </span><b>you can learn something from every single question on your GRE practice test</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Here’s how.</span><span id="more-11352"></span></p> <h4><b>How Do I See the Questions from My GRE Practice Test? </b></h4> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If you’ve just taken a Manhattan Prep GRE practice test, your results are on the same page you used to launch your test. Here’s how it looks:</span></p> <p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-11353" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/02/gre-blog-2-9-18-image-1.png" alt="Manhattan Prep GRE Blog - How to Study: Reviewing a GRE Practice Test by Chelsey Cooley" width="628" height="217" srcset="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/02/gre-blog-2-9-18-image-1.png 628w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/02/gre-blog-2-9-18-image-1-300x104.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 628px) 100vw, 628px" /></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Click on ‘review results,’ and you’ll see a list of the sections that appeared on your GRE practice test. When you click on an individual section, you’ll be able to see a list of all of the problems you did. </span></p> <h4><b>Which Questions Should I Review?</b></h4> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ideally, all of them. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But some questions are more important than others. </span><b>The best questions to review are the easiest ones you missed, not the hardest ones</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">. A strong score on the GRE doesn’t come from getting the hardest questions right; it comes from getting as many questions right as possible. Every question in a given section is worth the same amount. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If you put a ton of time into studying the very hardest topics, you might be a </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">little</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> more likely to get those super-hard questions right. But you’d be ignoring the opportunity that’s right in front of you: the questions that you could get right with just a little more work. </span></p> <p><b>Review the questions from topics you’ve already studied</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">. If you haven’t learned your geometry rules yet, you don’t have to review every geometry question on your practice GRE. But if you just studied percents, and then you missed a couple of percents questions, the test is trying to tell you something! </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Finally, </span><b>review every problem that you had to think hard about—</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">not just the ones you missed.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">If a problem was really easy for you, and you got it right, it’s fine to just glance at it when you review. But if a problem seemed tougher, review it regardless of whether you got it wrong. There’s always a chance that you got it right with a lucky guess, or that you missed a faster or easier strategy. </span></p> <h4><b>How Do I Review a Question?</b></h4> <p><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/2017/10/04/how-to-read-a-gre-explanation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Don’t just read the explanations</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Start by clicking on the first problem in the first section. You’ll see a screen that looks like this:</span></p> <p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-11354" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/02/gre-blog-2-9-18-image-2.png" alt="Manhattan Prep GRE Blog - How to Study: Reviewing a GRE Practice Test by Chelsey Cooley" width="1077" height="339" srcset="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/02/gre-blog-2-9-18-image-2.png 1077w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/02/gre-blog-2-9-18-image-2-300x94.png 300w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/02/gre-blog-2-9-18-image-2-768x242.png 768w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/02/gre-blog-2-9-18-image-2-1024x322.png 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 1077px) 100vw, 1077px" /></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">(I’ve blurred out the text to avoid spoiling the problem for anyone who hasn’t taken this GRE practice test yet.) </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">See the ‘show explanation’ button at the bottom left? </span><b>Don’t click on it yet</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Focus on the problem and on your scratch work. Work through the problem again if you’d like. It’s even okay to look up the definitions of words, or double-check your math rules. Your goal here is to figure out the right answer, which might or might not match what you picked originally. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">By figuring it out on your own, instead of just reading the explanation, you’re getting something more out of the problem. You’re making your own brain do the heavy lifting. That kind of hard work is much more memorable than passively reading an explanation.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If you can’t figure it out, you can still get something out of the problem! Try to meet the problem halfway. For instance, you can click the ‘show explanation’ button, just to check what the right answer was. But don’t read the explanation! Instead, try to convince yourself that the right answer is right. Look up the definition of the word, or plug the number back into the math problem. If you can prove that a right answer is right, you’re halfway to finding that right answer on your own next time. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If you read the explanation, do it cautiously. Read the first couple of sentences, then stop and think. Can you take the next step on your own? Use the explanation as a hint or as a guide for your own work, not as an all-knowing oracle. When you take the GRE for real, you won’t have answer explanations to help you—so the more work you can do without them, the better. </span></p> <h4><b>What Should You Learn from Reviewing a GRE Practice Test?</b></h4> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The last step of reviewing a problem is </span><b>always</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> to take notes. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Taking notes isn’t about beating yourself up over errors, or about writing down the exact solution to this particular problem. Taking notes has two purposes: one, it forces you to think about the problem in an organized way. Two, it will help you remember what you’ve learned later on. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Here are three things to include in your notes:</span></p> <p><b>One:</b> <i><span style="font-weight: 400;">In general</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, what did you need to do in order to get this problem right? </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">That doesn’t mean copying down the exact solution. Instead, you might take some notes on the math rules you were supposed to use, or on what made the wrong answers wrong. </span></p> <p><b>Two</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">: </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">How would you know</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> to solve the problem in that way? </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Every GRE problem includes clues. These clues tell a savvy test-taker exactly how to find the right answer. You just need to learn to spot them. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As you review a problem, think about what should have stood out to you. In a Sentence Equivalence problem, you might take notes on the “evidence” in the sentence. In a Quant problem, you might write a description of </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">when</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> to use a particular math rule. </span></p> <p><b>Three: </b><span style="font-weight: 400;">Do you want to do the problem again?</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If a problem was just a bit too hard for you this time, make a note to try it again in a week. If you immediately get it right when you try it again, you’ve learned what you needed to learn! If not, keep it on the redo list. Doing problems over again is a great way to reinforce new things you’ve learned. It’s often even more useful than doing a brand new problem. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Once you’ve finished reviewing, set the GRE practice test and your notes aside for a week or two, and set some new study priorities based on what you’ve learned. But make sure to return to your notes regularly! Review them before your next practice test, and if you don’t repeat any of the same mistakes, you’ll know that you learned as much as you could from this one. ?</span></p> <hr /> <p><b><i>See that “SUBSCRIBE” button in the top right corner? Click on it to receive all our GRE blog updates straight to your inbox!</i></b></p> <hr /> <p><b><i><em><strong><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/chelsey-cooley/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Chelsey Cooley</a><a href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/chelsey-cooley/?utm_source=manhattanprep.com%2Fgre%2Fblog&utm_medium=blog&utm_content=CooleyBioGREBlog&utm_campaign=GRE%20Blog" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignleft" title="Chelsey Cooley Manhattan Prep GRE Instructor" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2015/11/chelsey-cooley-150x150.jpg" alt="Chelsey Cooley Manhattan Prep GRE Instructor" width="150" height="150" data-pin-nopin="true" /></a> is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Seattle, Washington.</strong> </em></i></b><i><em>Chelsey always followed her heart when it came to her education. Luckily, her heart led her straight to the perfect background for GMAT and GRE teaching: she has undergraduate degrees in mathematics and history, a master’s degree in linguistics, a 790 on the GMAT, and a perfect 170Q/170V on the GRE. </em></i><i><em><a id="bloglink" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/classes/#instructor/48" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Check out Chelsey’s upcoming GRE prep offerings here</a>.</em></i></p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/reviewing-gre-practice-test/">How to Study: Reviewing a GRE Practice Test</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre">GRE</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>I Took a Practice Test and My GRE Score Went Down! What’s Happening?</title> <link>https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/i-took-a-practice-test-and-my-gre-score-went-down-whats-happening/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Neil Thornton]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 15 Mar 2016 16:58:09 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[GRE Strategies]]></category> <category><![CDATA[How To Study]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Taking the GRE]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GRE Practice Test]]></category> <category><![CDATA[GRE Score Improvement]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/?p=8908</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>Can’t get enough of Neil’s GRE wisdom? Few can. Fortunately, you can join him twice monthly for a free hour and a half study session in Mondays with Neil. Sorry to hear your score isn’t improving yet. That’s the ugly nature of standardized testing; it’s designed to give you the same score over and over […]</p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/i-took-a-practice-test-and-my-gre-score-went-down-whats-happening/">I Took a Practice Test and My GRE Score Went Down! What’s Happening?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre">GRE</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-8910" src="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2016/03/blog-score.png" alt="Manhattan Prep GRE Blog - I Took a Practice Test and My Score Went Down! What's Happening? By Neil Thornton" width="676" height="264" srcset="https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2016/03/blog-score.png 676w, https://cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2016/03/blog-score-300x117.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px" />Can’t get enough of Neil’s GRE wisdom? Few can. Fortunately, you can join him twice monthly for a free hour and a half study session in <a href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/mondays-with-neil/?utm_source=manhattanprep.com%2Fgre%2Fblog&utm_medium=blog&utm_content=GRE%20Blog%20Mondays%20with%20Neil%20Plug&utm_campaign=GRE%20Blog%20Product%20Push">Mondays with Neil</a>.</strong></p> <hr /> <p>Sorry to hear your score isn’t improving yet. That’s the ugly nature of standardized testing; it’s designed to give you the same score over and over again. You’ve spent a lot of time and effort learning a bunch of new things, but on practice tests, the results aren’t showing up yet. Or even worse, after six weeks of hard work, your score took a major nosedive. That’s okay. You’re not alone. Many, if not most, of our students experience a drop in scores on their second test, and may not see an improvement until test 4 or 5. It happens to lots of people. Don’t be discouraged. You can make your score better. Read on.<span id="more-8908"></span></p> <p><strong>So what happened? What can you do?</strong></p> <p>The first time you took a <a href="//www.manhattanprep.com/gre/resources/practice-gre-test-full.cfm?utm_source=manhattanprep.com%2Fgre%2Fblog&utm_medium=blog&utm_content=GRE%20Free%20Practice%20Test%20Plug&utm_campaign=GRE%20Blog" target="_blank">practice test</a> you didn’t know much. Therefore, the questions you got wrong you got wrong quickly, either because you didn’t know how to do them and made a quick guess, or you fell into the traps fast. You probably finished the test, but with no-so-great accuracy. In some ways, finishing the test is as important as getting questions right. Therefore, you earned a respectable score just by finishing.</p> <p>The next time you took a practice test, you knew a little bit more than you used to, and in the words of Alexander Pope, “A little learning is a dangerous thing.”</p> <p>You saw familiar concepts and tried to apply your newfound knowledge, taking upwards of five minutes to struggle with questions that before you would have skipped. And you still got them wrong. Before you knew it, you were ten minutes behind, forcing you to rush at the end of the test, and rushing at the end of the test is the easiest way to bring your score WAY down. Thus your score was the same or worse, even though you knew more and tried harder.</p> <p>Also, be honest with yourself. Did you fall into old bad habits? How often did you do problems the “old” way? Did you use algebra when you should have used smart numbers? Did you use your ear in sentence correction rather than look for the subject and verb? How’s your scratch paper? Are you crossing off wrong answers, labeling your units, and taking notes on reading comp? Did you predict an answer in reading comp? Scan your test for every missed opportunity and redo those questions the right way.</p> <p>What about those “careless errors?” Don’t dismiss them! Every so-called careless error (x – 7 = 5, therefore x = 2) is a sign of a serious problem that you need to fix: now! One multiplication error is a sign you don’t know your multiplication tables as well as you should, and there’s no excuse for that. Go spend 5 minutes a day for five days learning the times tables. Do every question in the Foundations of Math book; learn every part of speech in the Foundations of Verbal book. Today.</p> <p>And then give yourself a bit of a break. Look at the questions you got wrong again. Maybe those questions (geometry, probability, statistics) are in subjects you haven’t covered yet. Have you improved in the subjects you’ve studied? Bravo! Pat yourself on the back and get back to work.</p> <p>Also, look at the percentile score next to each question on your first test versus the second. You may see that you reached much harder questions on the second test. That’s a great sign of improved skill, but also may be the reason your pacing was off.</p> <p><strong>Now what?</strong></p> <p>Here’s the big secret to a higher score: get more questions right and more questions done. And FINISH! What does this mean on your next practice test?</p> <p>1) If you spend <em>any</em> time on a question, you need to get it right. For any problem you try, you have to work the best strategy: No careless errors, no mistranslations or misunderstanding, no picking the right answers to the wrong question (you solve for x but the question is asking for y). Apply your strategy perfectly and accurately and efficiently and click on the right bubble before 2 minutes have passed.</p> <p>2) For everything else: You spend NO time on the questions you get wrong. You see a problem you don’t quite know how to handle (“Ooh, I should know how to do this,” you say) and you quickly and confidently pick a guess (random or otherwise) and you move on in under 20 seconds. By the way, you can blindly guess on several (some say as many as nine) questions per section and still get a 99th percentile score.</p> <p>So now get your ego out of the way and get ready to fix your score. Take out your scratch paper from the test and open up the review screen. Get ready to redo questions and take some notes. Look at each question. Did you get it right or wrong? How long did it take you: under two minutes or over three?</p> <p><strong>You got it right, quickly. </strong></p> <p>Yay you! Pat yourself on the back and review what you did. Was it a good guess? Great. Why did you guess what you did? Did you solve the problem correctly? Great. What technique did you use? Plan to do that again.</p> <p><strong>You got it wrong quickly.</strong></p> <p>Ok. No big deal. Was it a guess? Pat yourself on the back for guessing quickly and moving on. That’s an extremely important skill. Did you fall for a trap? Okay. Note the trap and vow to avoid those traps in the future. Did you try to solve it and make a mistake? Phew! Be glad you caught that mistake on a practice test. Now figure out what to do next time. Consider alternative approaches. Could you have plugged in smart numbers? Back-solved? Made a chart? Drawn a picture? Can you put this question or a piece of this question on a flashcard? Is there a strategy guide you need to review before you take another practice test?</p> <p><strong>You got it right, slowly.</strong></p> <p>Great! You have a golden opportunity to improve your speed. Don’t look at the explanation or the right answer. Just do it again. Still slow? Do it again. This time, try smart numbers, or back-solving, or some charting set-up strategy. Repeat until you’re confident you can do this question in under two minutes.</p> <p><strong>You got it wrong, slowly. </strong></p> <p>Aha! This question and questions like it are what killed your score. You have two options now. One option is to figure out how to do this question fast. A better option is to recognize that even <em>attempting</em> this question was a massive waste of your time. Learn to recognize questions like it, and in the future don’t even start. Take notes. For example, “From now on, I will guess on tough probabilities, rate problems with variables, and anything with a parabola.”</p> <p><strong>In summary:</strong></p> <p>We wish score improvements happened in a straight line, but they don’t. Instead, your score will improve in lurches and leaps, with frustrating setbacks and demoralizing plateaus. Rest assured you’re not alone, and that we’ve seen it all before. Keep learning, practicing, and playing, and you’ll see that score move soon.</p> <p>When you’re ready to take your next practice test, we’ve got one available to you for free. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f4dd.png" alt="📝" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p> <hr /> <p><strong><em>Find Neil’s guidance helpful? Most do. Don’t forget that you can join him twice monthly for a free hour and a half study session in <a href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/mondays-with-neil/?utm_source=manhattanprep.com%2Fgre%2Fblog&utm_medium=blog&utm_content=GRE%20Blog%20Mondays%20with%20Neil%20Plug&utm_campaign=GRE%20Blog%20Product%20Push">Mondays with Neil</a>.</em></strong></p> <hr /> <p><a href="//www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/neil-thornton/?utm_source=manhattanprep.com%2Fgre%2Fblog&utm_medium=blog&utm_content=ThorntonBioGREBlog&utm_campaign=GRE%20Blog" target="_blank"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignleft wp-image-8659 size-thumbnail" title="Neil Thornton Manhattan Prep GRE Instructor" src="//cdn2.manhattanprep.com/gre/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2016/01/neil-thornton-150x150.png" alt="neil-thornton-manhattan-prep-gre-instructor" width="150" height="150" /></a><strong><em>When not onstage telling jokes, <a href="//www.manhattanprep.com/instructors/neil-thornton/?utm_source=manhattanprep.com%2Fgre%2Fblog&utm_medium=blog&utm_content=ThorntonBioGREBlog&utm_campaign=GRE%20Blog" target="_blank">Neil Thornton</a> loves teaching you to beat the GRE and GMAT. </em></strong><em>Since 1991, he’s coached thousands of students through the GRE, GMAT, LSAT, MCAT, and SAT, and trained instructors all over the United States. He scored 780 on the GMAT, a perfect 170Q/170V score on the GRE, and a 99th percentile score on the LSAT. <a href="//www.manhattanprep.com/gre/classes/?utm_source=manhattanprep.com%2Fgre%2Fblog&utm_medium=blog&utm_content=ThorntonCoursesGREBlog&utm_campaign=GRE%20Blog#instructor/35">Check out Neil’s upcoming GRE course offerings here</a> or join him for a free online study session twice monthly in <a href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/mondays-with-neil/?utm_source=manhattanprep.com%2Fgre%2Fblog&utm_medium=blog&utm_content=GRE%20Blog%20Mondays%20with%20Neil%20Plug&utm_campaign=GRE%20Blog%20Product%20Push">Mondays with Neil</a>.</em></p> <p> </p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/blog/i-took-a-practice-test-and-my-gre-score-went-down-whats-happening/">I Took a Practice Test and My GRE Score Went Down! What’s Happening?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre">GRE</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> </channel> </rss>