How to Score Perfect on GRE Quantitative
The highest one can score in quantitative section of a GRE test is 800. There are people who do score 800 and a lot of students who score very highly in quantitative. Therefore aiming for a perfect score in GRE quantitative is indeed a realistic target that needs lot of practice, hard work and a tiny slice of luck on the day of the examination.
The scoring dynamics
Most of the top university programs take students with high quantitative scores, even though slightly lower scores in the Verbal section are tolerated. For example, the average GRE quantitative score for Columbia is over 770 while it is just around 750 for University of Pennsylvania and Yale. The score is generally calculated based on the number of questions answered correctly, although it is not uniform. The raw score which is the number of right answers translates into the scaled score on a scale of 0 – 800. You get 200 for answering up to 5 questions correctly. Between 9 to 24 correct questions, you add up almost 30 points to your scaled score. From 24 – 28, you get 20 points for every right answer. 28 is the total number of questions and since it is a bell curve, one gets the maximum benefit and percentile change in the middle.
How to score on the higher side?
Scoring high, to start with, in GRE quantitative needs you to develop 2 exceptional qualities. The first is to develop the speed to solve a major part of quantitative questions in under a minute. This needs you to convert the question into a viable formula that you can remember and then proceed to solve. The second thing is the ability to identify the question that needs to be solved and the question where the answer needs to be deduced, instead of lengthy, complicated math. Read more…
Quantitative reasoning involves knowing about your fundamentals while being able to compare more than compute. Here are some tips to prepare well and score highly in GRE quantitative reasoning.
Practice, practice and more practice
Those who score highly in this section are often those candidates who are good with numbers. Yes, it is true that you have to be comfortable with numbers rather than being strong in maths itself. That would be an added advantage. But you must be able to add, subtract, multiply and divide numbers easily to prove your assumptions and make your quick estimations rather than painfully eke out the answer from a complex equation. So, practice as many comparisons and reasoning problems as possible. The more you practice, the more you will pick up speed and the intuition to spot the right answers. Invariably the reasoning questions have to be answered by substitutions and eliminations, as you would hardly ever need to do the complete math.
Use basic principles to good effect
When you learn the fundamentals you would read a lot of theorems. For example, dealing with bases and indices, angles and side lengths etc. will always help you compare two quantities. So your strategy should always be around generalisations such as the sum of 2 sides of a triangle is always greater than length of the 3rd side. Similarly when the base is same, while multiplying 2 numbers, you can add the powers. Remembering these basic math principles will help you compare better and thereby reason better. Read more…
Quantitative aptitude in GRE is not very tough to be honest. This is the right way because it gives a level playing field for everyone. Therefore students need to go in believing that they have a chance to score well in quantitative section irrespective of whether they have a background in it or not. Here are some tips to approach the section with a positive attitude.
You can work backwards
This is one of the more underrated approaches taken for quantitative questions. That is because a lot of people look at the question try solving it and then look at the options. However, there are quite a few questions, where if you are stuck, you can make hypothetical assumptions with the options available and work your way to the top. This way, if you get lucky you can arrive at the answer pretty quickly with the first or second option you pick. All is not lost even if you are not sure how to get to the answer from the top.
Number crunching shortcuts
It is true that not all of us are good at Vedic mathematics. But there is definitely a good case for understanding the importance of shortening calculations in some smart ways. It is all about application of theories too. A very good example is the formula (a+b)(a-b) = a2 – b2. if you are looking at a seemingly daunting multiplication like 52 X 48, don’t waste valuable time multiplying it. Instead it just becomes (50 + 2)(50 – 2) which equates to 502 – 22. Isn’t that far simpler to solve? There are other short cut calculation techniques for calculating squares, adding numbers and so on and so forth. At the end of the day it is the presence of mind to use these methods which will save you precious minutes towards the end. Read more…
December 25th, 2010
admin
The Quantitative Reasoning section of the GRE General Test measures your ability to:
- Solve problems in a quantitative setting
- Understand basic concepts of arithmetic, algebra, geometry and data analysis
- Reason quantitatively
Quantitative Comparison QuestionsIn these types of questions, you’ll be given two quantities – Quantity A and Quantity B – and four statements about the quantities to choose from, which will always be the same:
A. Quantity A is greater
B. Quantity B is greater
C. The two quantities are equal.
D. The relationship cannot be determined from the information given.
Brenda is the subject matter expert in GRE and she has created a free 30 questions GRE Quantitative Practice test to help you in preparation. The questions have explanations at end to help you analyze your mistake.
We will like to have your feedback on the test.
solve problems in a quantitative setting
