Budgeting your time for practice
Just because you know a subject well doesn’t mean you can ace it on the GRE. Test-taking requires a completely separate skill set. Start taking practice tests at least two weeks prior to your scheduled GRE so you have time to hone your skills, learn from your mistakes, and strengthen your weak areas. I once had a group of financial advisors struggle with the math portion. When I asked about this, they told me that they use Excel for everything!
In addition to working the practice tests in this book, I recommend working the free computer-based practice tests that Educational Testing Service (ETS) provides at www.ets.org. See Chapter 3 for details.
Taking control: Time management tips
Taking the GRE is a little like playing Beat the Clock. The computer provides you with an on-screen timer for each section. Your goal is to answer as many questions correctly as quickly as possible before the clock reaches 0:00. You have the option of hiding this timer, but I don’t recommend that. Instead, make the timer familiar and comfortable (or rather, less uncomfortable) by using a stopwatch while doing homework and practice tests. Practicing with a stopwatch is part of preparing for the test-taking experience.
Don’t obsess over giving each question a specific number of seconds, but do know when to give up and come back to a question later. A rule of thumb is about a minute per question. As long as you haven’t exited the section, you can return to any questions in that section. Simply call up the Review Screen by clicking Review, click the question you want to return to, and then click Go to Question. You can mark a question for review so it’s flagged on the Review Screen, or you can write the question number down on your scratch paper. Just keep in mind that while you’re on the Review Screen, the clock still ticks. (See Chapter 3 for more about the computer version of the test.)
Plan B: Repeating the Test
Upon completing the exam, you have the option of accepting and seeing your scores immediately or canceling the results if you think you did poorly. If you cancel the results, you can always retake the test. Most schools consider only your highest exam score, or you can choose to send only that highest score (see the ScoreSelect discussion in Chapter 1), so only cancel if you really think something went south on test day that isn’t normal for you.
If you cancel a score and later have second thoughts about that cancellation, you can reinstate the canceled score up to 60 days after the test date. As of this writing, the service costs $50, and reinstatement takes up to two weeks.
If you proceed with your exam score and it isn’t so hot, don’t fret: Most test-takers who repeat the exam tend to do much better the second time. It’s as if the best way to prepare is by taking the actual GRE. Of course, you want to avoid having to do this, but if the first round doesn’t go so well, it’s okay, and it happens.
If you think you underperformed on the GRE, consider the following when deciding whether to retake it and when preparing to retake the exam:
What went wrong here? If you made mistakes because of a lack of familiarity with either the test format (you didn’t understand what to do when faced with a Quantitative Comparison question) or substance (you didn’t know the vocabulary or the geometry), these are easy gaps to close, and you’re a good candidate for doing better the second time.The practice tests are designed to help you address these issues ahead of time: If you know what you did wrong, you can mend your ways and improve your score.After taking the actual GRE, you don’t get to review the correct and incorrect answer choices. However, you can get a good sense of the types of mistakes that you’re likely to make by going through the practice tests in this book and reviewing your wrong answers afterward.
Was there something beyond my control? Maybe your nerves were acting up on the first exam, you were feeling ill, or you didn’t get enough sleep the night before. In that case, by all means repeat the exam. You’re bound to feel better the next time. If the test was administered poorly or in a room full of distractions, you really should consider a retake. (See the later section “It Isn’t You: Testing Under Adverse Conditions” for details.)
Did I choke? This happens all the time, especially on the essays at the beginning. Or you could have panicked on a thorny math question, spending several minutes and frazzling yourself for the rest of the test. Fortunately, choking doesn’t usually happen again. Almost every test-taker I’ve seen choke does phenomenally better on the next try.
Did I run out of steam? Stamina is a key factor of success on the four-hour GRE. If you don’t practice writing the essays when taking the practice tests, you won’t be prepared for the extra hour of work before the Math and Verbal sections. Also, because you’re amped on test day, you’re likely to crash faster than usual. Knowing what to expect and preparing for it could boost your score on a retest.
Am I eligible to retake the GRE? As of this writing, you have to wait 21 days before retaking the exam, and you can’t take it more than five times per rolling 12 months. If you try to take the test more often than that, you won’t be stopped from registering for or taking the test, but your scores won’t be reported.
Can repeating the exam hurt you? Typically, no. Most schools consider only your highest score. Find out from the individual schools you’re interested in whether that’s their policy; it isn’t the same for every school. If you’re on the borderline, or if several students are vying for one spot, sometimes having taken the exam repeatedly can hurt you (especially if the recent score took a nosedive). On the other hand, an admissions counselor who sees several exams with ascending scores may be impressed that you stuck to it and kept trying, even if your score rose only slightly. In general, if you’re willing to invest the study time and effort and take the repeat exam seriously, go for it.
All your test scores for the past five years are part of your record, but you can choose which scores to send using the ScoreSelect option, as I explain in Chapter 1. For example, if you did great in October but not so well in April, you can tell ETS to send just the October scores to the schools.
It Isn’t You: Testing Under Adverse Conditions
Your test isn’t