| Introduction | 1 |
| About This Book | 1 |
| Icons Used in This Book | 2 |
| Beyond the Book | 2 |
| Where to Go from Here | 3 |
| Part 1 | Getting Started with the GRE | 5 |
| Chapter 1 | Knowing the GRE | 7 |
| Knowing the GRE Sections | 7 |
| Seeing the Scores | 9 |
| Calculating your score | 9 |
| Checking your score | 10 |
| Seeing or canceling your scores | 10 |
| Taking advantage of the ScoreSeiect option | 11 |
| Bringing the GRE into Your Comfort Zone | 11 |
| Getting familiar with what's on the exam | 11 |
| Understanding the other admissions requirements | 12 |
| Chapter 2 | Planning Your Time | 13 |
| Planning Your Prep Time | 13 |
| Planning your long-term study time | 13 |
| Planning your short-term study time | 15 |
| Planning your last-minute study time | 16 |
| Planning your practice time | 16 |
| Planning Your Exam Time | 17 |
| Planning your question time | 17 |
| Throwing a mental dart | 17 |
| Planning for no break time | 17 |
| Planning your computer time | 18 |
| Planning Your Mental and Physical Time | 18 |
| Staying active | 19 |
| Eating well | 19 |
| Relaxing | 19 |
| Scheduling Your Exam | 19 |
| Scheduling for the testing center | 20 |
| Scheduling for home | 20 |
| Chapter 3 | Planning for Exam Day: Everything Outside the Exam | 23 |
| Planning the Night Before | 23 |
| Knowing what to bring | 23 |
| Knowing what not to bring | 24 |
| Planning for Contingency | 25 |
| It's Them, Not You: Testing under Adverse Conditions | 26 |
| Part 2 | Tackling the Verbal Section one Word at a Time | 27 |
| Chapter 4 | Upping Your Best GRE Verbal Score | 29 |
| Building Your Core Skills | 29 |
| Managing Your Time | 30 |
| Chapter 5 | What Are They Saying: Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence | 33 |
| Clinching Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence Questions | 33 |
| Keeping it straight | 34 |
| Trying it out | 34 |
| Developing Your Skills for Finding the Correct Answers | 35 |
| Interpreting the Text 101 | 35 |
| Getting the gist of the text | 36 |
| Taking the Best and Only Approach | 36 |
| Interpret the text without looking at the answer choices | 37 |
| Complete the text with your own words | 37 |
| Eliminate wrong answer choices | 38 |
| Interpreting Trickier Sentences | 38 |
| Use transition words to get the gist of the phrases | 39 |
| Start with the second or third missing word | 40 |
| Getting Your Hands Dirty with Some Practice | 41 |
| Text Completion questions | 41 |
| Sentence Equivalence questions | 44 |
| Chapter 6 | Getting the Gist: Reading Comprehension | 51 |
| Recognizing the Three Reading Comprehension Question Formats | 51 |
| Multiple-choice questions: Choose one answer | 52 |
| Multiple-choice questions: Choose one or more answers | 52 |
| Sentence-selection questions: Choose a sentence from the passage | 53 |
| Developing Strategies for Success | 53 |
| Using the context as your road map | 53 |
| Grasping the gist of the passage | 54 |
| Avoiding common traps | 54 |
| Answering the question yourself | 55 |
| Acing the Three Commonly Tested Reading Comprehension Passages | 55 |
| The biological and physical science passage | 55 |
| The social sciences passage | 58 |
| The humanities passage | 61 |
| The social sciences passage redux | 64 |
| Chapter 7 | Critical Thinking: Argument Analysis Questions | 67 |
| Covering the Answer Choices | 68 |
| Reading the Question for What It's Asking | 68 |
| Reading the Passage for What the Question Is Asking | 68 |
| Identifying the "because" and "therefore" | 69 |
| Finding the unstated assumption | 70 |
| Exploring common logical fallacies | 71 |
| Answering the Question in Your Own Words | 72 |
| Eliminating Each Wrong Answer | 72 |
| Applying the process of elimination | 73 |
| Testing your skills | 73 |
| Chapter 8 | Expanding Your Vocabulary to Boost Your Score | 77 |
| Brushing Up on Prefixes, Suffixes, and Roots | 77 |
| Prefixes | 77 |
| Suffixes | 80 |
| Roots | 80 |
| Memorizing the GRE's Most Common Vocabulary Words | 82 |
| Part 3 | Math You Thought You'd Never Need Again | 97 |
| Chapter 9 | Raising Your Best GRE Math Score | 99 |
| Managing Your Time | 100 |
| Typing an Answer | 100 |
| Selecting Two or More Answers | 101 |
| Choosing among three answers | 101 |
| Choosing among more than three answers | 102 |
| Selecting the Quantity That's Greater | 102 |
| Chapter 10 | Working with Numbers and Operations | 105 |
| Working with Integers, Factors, and Multiples | 105 |
| Working with Math Terms | 106 |
| Working with Prime and Composite Numbers | 106 |
| Working with the Units Digit | 107 |
| Working with Absolute Value | 108 |
| Working with one absolute value | 109 |
| Working with two absolute values | 109 |
| Working with Order of Operations | 110 |
| Working with Fractions | 111 |
| Adding and subtracting | 111 |
| Multiplying | 113 |
| Dividing | 114 |
| Working with mixed numbers and improper fractions | 114 |
| Cross-multiplying | 114 |
| Working with Decimals | 115 |
| Adding and subtracting | 116 |
| Multiplying | 116 |
| Dividing | 117 |
| Working with Percentages | 118 |
| Converting | 119 |
| Calculating percentage of change | 119 |
| Working with Factorials | 121 |
| Working with Ratios | 122 |
| Working with total numbers | 122 |
| Working with amounts in the ratio | 124 |
| Maintaining the ratio | 124 |
| Combining ratios | 126 |
| Chapter 11 | Solving Algebra and Functions | 129 |
| Solving Bases and Exponents | 129 |
| Solving Math Operators | 132 |
| Solving for X | 134 |
| Solving for x with a number | 134 |
| Solving with the FOIL method | 135 |
| Factoring back out | 138 |
| Solving Square Roots and Radicals | 139 |
| Simplifying | 140 |
| Adding and subtracting | 141 |
| Multiplying and dividing | 142 |
| Simplifying first | 142 |
| Solving Coordinate Geometry | 143 |
| Solving common problems | 143 |
| Solving linear equations | 146 |
| Solving two linear equations | 148 |
| Solving graphed circles | 152 |
| Solving Patterns in a Sequence | 153 |
| Solving f(x) Functions | 154 |
| Chapter 12 | Drawing Geometry | 157 |
| Drawing Lines and Angles | 157 |
| Drawing lines | 157 |
| Drawing angles | 158 |
| Measuring Polygons | 161 |
| Measuring total interior angles | 162 |
| Measuring one interior angle | 162 |
| Drawing Triangles | 163 |
| Drawing three types of triangles | 163 |
| Measuring key characteristics | 164 |
| Drawing perimeter and area | 166 |
| Measuring with the Pythagorean theorem | 168 |
| Drawing common right triangles | 169 |
| Drawing Quadrilaterals | 172 |
| Drawing Circles | 174 |
| Drawing parts of a circle | 174 |
| Drawing the circumference and area | 176 |
| Drawing the arc and sector | 178 |
| Drawing overlapping shapes | 182 |
| Drawing 3D Shapes | 184 |
| Drawing a cylinder | 184 |
| Drawing a rectangular solid | 185 |
| Drawing a cube | 186 |
| Chapter 13 | Simplifying Word Problems | 191 |
| Simplifying the Steps | 191 |
| Simplifying Time and Distance | 192 |
| Simplifying Units of Measurement | 193 |
| Simplifying Averages | 194 |
| Simplifying missing-term averages | 194 |
| Simplifying evenly spaced integers | 195 |
| Simplifying weighted averages | 195 |
| Simplifying Work Problems | 198 |
| Simplifying Team-Work Problems | 199 |
| Simplifying Mixture Problems | 201 |
| Simplifying Sets and Groups | 203 |
| Simplifying the Venn diagram | 203 |
| Simplifying the sets formula | 204 |
| Simplifying Probability | 204 |
| Step #1 | Set up the fraction | 205 |
| Step #2 | Multiply consecutive probabilities | 205 |
| Step #3 | Add either/or probabilities on a single event | 206 |
| Simplifying probability in sets and groups | 208 |
| Simplifying Counting Methods | 208 |
| Basic counting methods | 209 |
| When order matters: Permutations | 210 |
| When order doesn't matter: Combinations | 212 |
| Chapter 14 | Interpreting Data and Graphs | 213 |
| Interpreting Basic Stats | 213 |
| Interpreting the median | 213 |
| Interpreting the mode | 215 |
| Interpreting the range | 215 |
| Interpreting the mean | 216 |
| Interpreting standard deviation | 219 |
| Eyeballing standard deviation | 220 |
| Interpreting mean deviation | 223 |
| Interpreting the distribution curve | 223 |
| Interpreting Tables and Graphs | 224 |
| Interpreting tables | 224 |
| Interpreting graphs | 225 |
| Chapter 15 | Comparing Quantities | 235 |
| Comparing Exact Answer Choices | 235 |
| Comparing Steps | 236 |
| Comparing via Strategy | 237 |
| Comparing similar appearances | 237 |
| Comparing drawings | 238 |
| Comparing concepts | 240 |
| Comparing identical terms | 241 |
| Comparing ranges | 246 |
| Comparing estimates | 247 |
| Comparing with Foursquare | 248 |
| Comparing with a hundred | 250 |
| Comparing multiple unknowns | 250 |
| Part 4 | Getting the Essay Right | 253 |
| Chapter 16 | Writing the Essay Well and Fast | 255 |
| Setting Your Sights on a Perfect 6 | 256 |
| What the essay scores really mean | 256 |
| Key methods to scoring well | 257 |
| Writing the Essay | 258 |
| Step 1 | Read and understand the prompt | 258 |
| Step 2 | Identify examples you already know about the issue | 259 |
| Step 3 | Take a position that's in line with your examples | 260 |
| Step 4 | Write your essay | 260 |
| Tying everything together with smooth transitions | 263 |
| Chapter 17 | Practicing Your Essay | 265 |
| Setting the Stage for a Realistic Experience | 265 |
| Writing an Essay: Some Samples | 266 |
| Start by identifying some relevant examples | 266 |
| Sample essay - score 6 (outstanding) | 267 |
| Evaluator comments on the score 6 essay | 268 |
| Sample essay - score 4 (adequate) | 268 |
| Evaluator comments on the score 4 essay | 269 |
| Part 5 | Full-Length Practice Exams: Show Time | 271 |
| Chapter 18 | Practice Exam 1 | 273 |
| Answer Sheet for Practice Exam 1 | 275 |
| Analytical Writing | 276 |
| Chapter 19 | Practice Exam 1: Answers and Explanations | 291 |
| Analytical Writing | 291 |
| Section 1 | Verbal Reasoning. | 291 |
| Section 2 | Quantitative Reasoning | 293 |
| Section 3 | Verbal Reasoning | 295 |
| Section 4 | Quantitative Reasoning | 297 |
| Answer Key for Practice Exam 1 | 300 |
| Chapter 20 | Practice Exam 2 | 301 |
| Answer Sheet for Practice Exam 2 | 303 |
| Analytical Writing | 304 |
| Chapter 21 | Practice Exam 2: Answers and Explanations | 319 |
| Analytical Writing Sections | 319 |
| Section 1 | Verbal Reasoning | 319 |
| Section 2 | Quantitative Reasoning | 321 |
| Section 3 | Verbal Reasoning | 322 |
| Section 4 | Quantitative Reasoning | 324 |
| Answer Key for Practice Exam 2 | 327 |
| Part 6 | The Part of Tens | 329 |
| Chapter 22 | Ten Key Facts about the GRE | 331 |
| You May Return to Previous Questions in the Same Section | 331 |
| The GRE Doesn't Penalize for Guessing | 332 |
| The GRE Uses a Percentile-Based Scoring System | 332 |
| Practice Makes AH the Difference | 332 |
| You Must Prepare for the GRE | 333 |
| The GRE Is Different from the SAT and ACT | 333 |
| The GRE Also Measures Your Stamina and Performance under Pressure | 333 |
| The General GRE Is Not Program-Specific | 333 |
| You Can Practice the GRE on Your Own Computer | 333 |
| You Can't Bring Anything into the Testing Center | 334 |
| Chapter 23 | Ten Mistakes You Won't Make (While Others Will) | 335 |
| You Won't Cheat | 335 |
| You Won't Run Out of Steam | 336 |
| You Won't Scramble That Morning | 336 |
| You Won't Dwell on Questions from Previous Sections | 336 |
| You Won't Panic Over the Time Limit | 336 |
| You Won't Rush Through the Questions | 337 |
| You Definitely Won't Choke on the Essay | 337 |
| You Won't Fret Over the Hard Questions | 337 |
| You Won't Take the Exam with a Friend | 338 |
| You Won't Change Your Morning Routine | 338 |
| Chapter 24 | Ten Ways to Build Your Skills with the Online Practice Exams | 339 |
| Build Your Stamina by Taking a Practice Exam in One Sitting | 339 |
| Recognize the Mistakes You Make under Pressure | 340 |
| Get Used to Others Being in the Room | 340 |
| Make It a Dress Rehearsal | 340 |
| Get a Competitive Edge | 341 |
| Practice Your Test-Taking Strategies | 341 |
| Know the Exam Software | 341 |
| Get Used to Starting with the Essay | 342 |
| Find Your Areas of Focus | 342 |
| Review the Answers and Explanations | 342 |
| Index | 343 |
