Paperback(9th ed.)
-
PICK UP IN STORECheck Availability at Nearby Stores
Available within 2 business hours
Related collections and offers
Overview
The Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) is a standardized test that is an admissions requirement for most graduate schools in the United States. The GRE aims to measure verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, analytical writing, and critical thinking skills that have been acquired over a long period of time and that are not related to any specific field of study.
GRE For Dummies with Online Practice provides updated resources and preparation strategies to help you score your very best on exam day. So, grab a pen, paper, or your electronic device and get started now!
- Use trusted strategies to score your highest on the exam
- Master verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, and analytical writing sections of the GRE
- Prepare for the big day by answering sample questions and taking practice exams
- Get one-year access to six practice tests online
It’s never been easier or more efficient to prep for the GRE!
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781119550785 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Wiley |
| Publication date: | 04/30/2019 |
| Series: | For Dummies Books |
| Edition description: | 9th ed. |
| Pages: | 400 |
| Sales rank: | 1,109,880 |
| Product dimensions: | 8.40(w) x 10.80(h) x 1.10(d) |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Introduction 1About This Book 1
Icons Used in This Book 2
Beyond the Book 3
Where to Go from Here 4
Part 1: Getting Started with the GRE 5
Chapter 1: Knowing What to Expect with the GRE 7
Signing Up for the GRE 7
Breaking the GRE into Bite-Sized Pieces 8
Scoring Max: 340 Then 6 9
Understanding how the scoring breaks down 9
Calculating your score 10
Confirming that your score is actually good 10
Throwing a mental dart 11
Seeing or canceling your scores 11
Taking advantage of the ScoreSelect option 12
Catching Your Mental Breath: The GRE Intermissions 12
Chapter 2: Owning the GRE: Strategies for Success 13
Making the Best Use of Your Time 14
Budgeting your time for studying 14
Budgeting your time for practice 14
Taking control: Time management tips 15
Plan B: Repeating the Test 15
It Isn’t You: Testing Under Adverse Conditions 16
Using Old Scores 17
Chapter 3: Gearing Up for Exam Day 19
Gathering Your Stuff the Night Before 19
Knowing What Not to Bring 20
Training Physically and Mentally for Test Day 21
Staying active 21
Eating well 22
Relaxing 22
Mastering the Computer Part 22
Bringing the GRE into Your Comfort Zone 23
Getting familiar with what’s on the exam 23
Understanding that the GRE is only one of many admissions requirements 24
Part 2: Tackling the Verbal Section One Word at a Time 25
Chapter 4: What Are They Saying: Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence 27
Clinching Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence Questions 27
Keeping it straight 28
Trying it out 28
Developing Your Skills for Finding the Correct Answers 29
Interpreting the Text 101 29
Getting the gist of the text 30
Taking the Best and Only Approach 30
Interpret the text without looking at the answer choices 31
Complete the text with your own words 31
Eliminate wrong answer choices 32
Interpreting Trickier Sentences 32
Use transition words to get the gist of the phrases 33
Start with the second or third missing word 34
Getting Your Hands Dirty with Some Practice 35
Text Completion questions 35
Sentence Equivalence questions 38
Chapter 5: Getting the Gist: Reading Comprehension 45
Recognizing the Three Reading Comprehension Question Formats 45
Multiple-choice questions: Choose one answer 46
Multiple-choice questions: Choose one or more answers 46
Sentence-selection questions: Choose a sentence from the passage 47
Developing Strategies for Success 47
Using the context as your road map 47
Grasping the gist of the passage 48
Avoiding common traps 48
Answering the question yourself 49
Acing the Three Commonly Tested Reading Comprehension Passages 49
The biological and physical science passage 49
The social sciences passage 52
The humanities passage 55
The social sciences passage redux 57
Chapter 6: Critical Thinking: Argument Analysis Questions 61
Covering the Answer Choices 62
Reading the Question and Understanding What it’s Asking 62
Reading the Passage for What the Question is Asking 62
Identifying the “because” and the “therefore” 63
Finding the unstated assumption 64
Exploring common logical fallacies 65
Answering the Question in Your Own Words 66
Eliminating Each Wrong Answer 66
Leveraging the process of elimination 67
Testing your skills 67
Chapter 7: Expanding Your Vocabulary to Boost Your Score 71
Brushing Up on Prefixes, Suffixes, and Roots 71
Prefixes 72
Suffixes 74
Roots 74
Memorizing the GRE’s Most Common Vocabulary Words 76
Part 3: Math You Thought You’d Never Need Again 91
Chapter 8: Back to Basic Arithmetic 93
Knowing Integers, Factors, and Multiples 93
More Math Terms 94
Prime and Composite Numbers 94
Reading Between the Lines: Absolute Value 95
Remembering the Order of Things with PEMDAS 95
Measuring Up: Units of Measurement 96
Getting to the Point: Decimals 97
Adding and subtracting decimals 97
Multiplying decimals 98
Dividing decimals 98
Fine with Fractions 99
Adding or subtracting fractions 99
Multiplying fractions 100
Dividing fractions 100
Mixed numbers 100
Percentages and Fractions 101
Converting between percentages and decimals or fractions 101
Finding the percent of change 102
Factorials in Fractions 103
Organizing Ratios 104
Considering the total number of items 104
Finding the amounts in the ratio 105
Maintaining the ratio 106
Combining ratios 106
Working the Numbers: Arithmetic Practice Problems 107
Chapter 9: Algebra: Finding What X Really Means 111
Using Bases and Exponents 111
Working with Math Operators and Functions 114
Substituting for the variable in the math operator 114
Substituting for the variable in the function 115
Revisiting Algebra 115
Solving for x 116
Multiplying with the FOIL method 117
Factoring back out 119
Dealing with Square Roots and Radicals 119
Simplifying square roots and radicals 120
Estimating the radical 120
Adding and subtracting radicals 121
Multiplying and dividing numbers with radicals 121
Working radicals from the inside out 122
Plotting it Out with Coordinate Geometry 122
Solving common problems 123
Working with linear equations 125
Solving simultaneous equations 127
Circling back: Graphed circles 130
Recognizing Patterns in Sequential Terms 131
Functioning with f(x) 132
Chapter 10: Getting into Shapes with Geometry 135
Exploring Lines and Angles 135
Lines 135
Angles 136
Recognizing Polygons 138
Determining total interior angle measure 139
Finding one interior angle 140
Understanding Triangles 140
Recognizing triangle types 140
Noting key characteristics 141
Calculating perimeter and area 142
Understanding the Pythagorean theorem 143
Identifying common right triangles 144
Knowing Quadrilaterals 146
Working with Circles 148
Recognizing a circle’s features 149
Mastering essential formulas 151
Tackling shaded-area problems 156
Turning 3-D Shapes 158
Calculating volume 158
Calculating surface area 161
Chapter 11: Putting in a Good Word Problem 163
Just Saying the Word Problem: Step by Step 163
Going Farther with Time and Distance 164
Finding the Average 165
Taking shortcuts: Finding the average of evenly spaced or consecutive integers 165
Solving missing-term average problems 166
Working with weighted averages 167
Working on Work Problems 168
Teaming Up with Team-Work Problems 169
Mixing it Up with Mixture Problems 170
Sorting Out Sets and Groups 173
Using the Venn diagram 173
Using the sets formula 174
Finding the Probability 174
Step #1: Set up the fraction 175
Step #2: Multiply consecutive probabilities 175
Step #3: Add either/or probabilities on a single event 176
Calculating probability in sets and groups 176
Counting the Ways with Counting Methods 177
Basic counting methods 177
When order matters: Permutations 179
When order doesn’t matter: Combinations 180
Chapter 12: Interpreting Data and Graphs 183
Brushing Up on Basic Stats 183
Defining the median 183
Understanding mode 185
Establishing the range 185
Finding the mean 186
Using the standard deviation 188
Eyeballing the standard deviation 189
Using the mean deviation191
Interpreting Tables and Graphs 192
Analyzing Data in Tables 193
Analyzing Data in Graphs 194
Reading different graph types 194
Answering questions with two graphs 198
Estimating graph totals quickly 200
Chapter 13: Comparing Quantities: They Report, You Decide 203
Memorizing Answer Choices that Don’t Change 203
Easy as π: Approaching QC Questions 204
Gotchas and Other Pitfalls: Tips, Traps, and Tricks 205
Remembering that equal appearances can be deceiving but still useful 205
Keeping an eye out for scale 206
Remembering that the rules of math still apply 206
Canceling out identical terms 207
Sorting out identical terms 208
Making the terms identical 209
Estimating the quantities 210
Plugging in the Four Square 210
Throwing down a hundred 211
Mixing up multiple unknowns 212
Deciding On Your Own: Quantitative Comparison Practice Questions 213
Part 4: Penning Powerful Analytical Essays 217
Chapter 14: Writing Analytical Essays on Issues and Arguments 219
Setting Your Sights on the Target: Scoring a Perfect 6 220
What the essay scores really mean 220
Key methods to scoring well 221
Writing the Issue Essay 222
Step 1: Read and understand the prompt 222
Step 2: Start with your supporting info 223
Step 3: Take a position that’s in line with your examples 223
Step 4: Write your Issue Analysis essay 224
Tying everything together with smooth transitions 227
Writing the Argument Essay 228
Step 1: Read and understand the prompt 228
Step 2: Identify the position stated in the argument 229
Step 3: List the reasons given to support the stated position 229
Step 4: Identify the flawed assumptions behind each reason 230
Step 5: Write your essay 231
Chapter 15: Practicing Analytical Writing and Sample Essays 235
Setting the Stage for a Realistic Experience 235
Writing an Analyze an Issue Essay: Some Samples 236
Having trouble getting started? Identifying relevant laws: Some examples 236
Sample essay — score 6 (outstanding) 237
Evaluator comments on the score 6 essay 238
Sample essay — score 4 (adequate) 238
Evaluator comments on the score 4 essay 239
Writing an Analyze an Argument Essay: Some Samples 240
Having trouble getting started? Identifying some faulty assumptions 240
Sample essay — score 6 (outstanding) 241
Evaluator comments on the score 6 essay 241
Sample essay — score 4 (adequate) 242
Evaluator comments on the score 4 essay 242
Part 5: Taking Full-Length Practice Gres: It’s All You 243
Chapter 16: Practice Exam 1 245
Answer Sheet for Practice Exam 1 247
Section 1 251
Section 2 257
Section 3 261
Section 4 267
Chapter 17: Practice Exam 1: Answers and Explanations 271
Analytical Writing Sections 271
Section 1: Verbal Reasoning 271
Section 2: Quantitative Reasoning 274
Section 3: Verbal Reasoning 277
Section 4: Quantitative Reasoning 280
Answer Key for Practice Exam 1 283
Chapter 18: Practice Exam 2 285
Answer Sheet for Practice Exam 2 287
Section 1 291
Section 2 296
Section 3 300
Section 4 305
Chapter 19: Practice Exam 2: Answers and Explanations 309
Analytical Writing Sections 309
Section 1: Verbal Reasoning 309
Section 2: Quantitative Reasoning 312
Section 3: Verbal Reasoning 314
Section 4: Quantitative Reasoning 316
Answer Key for Practice Exam 2 319
Chapter 20: Practice Exam 3 321
Answer Sheet for Practice Exam 3 323
Section 1 327
Section 2 333
Section 3 336
Section 4 342
Chapter 21: Practice Exam 3: Answers and Explanations 347
Analytical Writing Sections 347
Section 1: Verbal Reasoning 347
Section 2: Quantitative Reasoning 349
Section 3: Verbal Reasoning 351
Section 4: Quantitative Reasoning 353
Answer Key for Practice Exam 3 356
Part 6: The Part of Tens 357
Chapter 22: Ten Key Facts about the GRE 359
You May Return to Previous Questions in the Same Section 359
The GRE Doesn’t Penalize for Guessing 360
The GRE Uses a Percentile-Based Scoring System 360
Practice Makes All the Difference 360
You Must Study for the GRE 361
The GRE is Different from the SAT and ACT 361
The GRE Measures Your Stamina and Performance under Pressure 361
The General GRE is Not Program-Specific 361
You Can Practice the GRE on Your Own Computer 361
You Can’t Bring Anything into the Testing Center 362
Chapter 23: Ten Mistakes You Won’t Make (While Others Will) 363
You Won’t Cheat 363
You Won’t Run Out of Steam 363
You Won’t Neglect Your Breaks 364
You Won’t Dwell on Questions From the Previous Sections 364
You Won’t Sweat the Time Limit 364
You Won’t Rush Through the Questions 365
You Definitely Won’t Choke on the Essays 365
You Won’t Fret Over the Hard Questions 365
You Won’t Take the Exam with a Friend 365
You Won’t Change Your Morning Routine 366
Chapter 24: Ten Ways to Build Your Skills with the Online Exams 367
Take an Exam in One Sitting to Build Stamina 367
Recognize the Mistakes You Make Under Pressure 368
Get Used to Others in the Room 368
Make it a Dress Rehearsal 368
Get a Competitive Edge 368
Practice Your Test-Taking Strategies 369
Know the Exam Software 369
Get Used to Starting with the Essays 369
Find Your Areas of Focus 370
Review the Answers and Explanations 370
Index 371