Tom Waldrep - Director
Jennie Ariail - Assistant Director
Aptitude Test--CAT
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Four or five sections, scores from only 3
One verbal with 30 minute time limit: reading and vocabulary
One quantitative section: arithmetic, basic algebra, and geometry
One analytical section with 60 minute time limit: logic games and arguments
One wild card section
Number of questions depends on performance, but test has minimum number
Adaptive or interactive, the CAT has fewer items and takes less time than the paper
version. After the first question, the level of difficulty of each succeeding question is
determined by your correct or incorrect answer.
Scored on a scale from 200-800. Each question is worth ten points although the range
of points may be from 0-20 based not on the difficulty of the question but on the number
of questions you answer correctly. You must answer every question. There is no
deduction for incorrect answers.
Verbal
 Sentence completions
 Analogies
 Reading Comprehension
 Antonyms
Quantitative
 Quantitative comparisons
 Discrete quantitatives (word problems)
 Data interpretation (charts and graphs)
Analytical
 Analytical reasoning (games)
 Logical reasoning (arguments)
Writing Assessment Test
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Tom Waldrep - Director
Jennie Ariail - Assistant Director
Strategies for Taking the GRE
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Use the process of elimination.
Guess.
Don’t read the instructions, be familiar with them beforehand.
Practice many times on the computer; speed is important-- the computer will beep
every five minutes.
Verbal
The emphasis is always vocabulary, reading comprehension, and critical thinking.
Strategies for improving vocabulary (Princeton gives 45 most frequently asked words.)
1. Say the word aloud.
2. Study the word by dissecting it—examine the root of the word and the prefix
and/or suffix.
3. Make note cards with definitions and sentences, color coding for positive and
negative attributes.
4. Write a sentence on the note card.
5. Use the word with family and friends; assign characteristics to a member of your
family, for example, all the words that mean gossip, you might assign to your
mother-in-law.
6. Tape your sentences and listen as you exercise or drive.
7. Associate or divide words according to the four humors:
melancholic (gloomily pensive) black bile, earth
sanguine (headstrong and passionate), blood, air
phlegmatic (unemotional and passive) phlegm, water
choleric (bad-tempered and angry) yellow bile, fire
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Tom Waldrep - Director
Jennie Ariail - Assistant Director
Analogies
1. Make a sentence with the pairs. (lack of, type of, part of, place
for, degree of, tool for, sign of, sequence, spurious form of)
2.
If all answers fit the analogy of your sentence, make your sentence
more specific.
3.
If you cannot make a sentence with the question analogy, reverse the
order and check the answers for a possible relationship.
4.
Remember that often the second word is an extreme degree of the first.
5.
Recognize that most pairs are adjectives or nouns and the answer will
have the same pairing.
Sentence Completions
1. This test is a test of overall reading comprehension.
2. As you read, anticipate and supply your own word or words.
3. Often a suggested answer is wrong because it creates a phrase that is
not idiomatic.
4. Another reason to reject a possible answer is that it fails to support the
logic of the sentence.
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Tom Waldrep - Director
Jennie Ariail - Assistant Director
READING COMPREHENSION
Save for last on the verbal part of the exam
Two passages, 3-8 questions each
Skip short passage(if time is a problem) or save it for last, but mark answer sheet
1. Don’t read the passage.
 Read first sentence of each paragraph.
 Read last sentence of passage.
 Write in three words topic of passage.
2. Answer general questions (usually first two; one, on main idea; one, on tone, style or
point of view) using the above method. In answering questions about tone, attitude, or
style, eliminate choices that are too negative, politically incorrect, or express extreme
emotions.
3. Read choices for specific questions, trying to eliminate any answers using the following
hints:
 Eliminate any extreme statement. Key words to look for: must, the best, the first,
only, each, every, all, totally, always, no. Read choices containing these words
very carefully.
 Answers will paraphrase the passage, not quote it exactly. Remember that the answer
will contain some words from the passage, but answers with large chunks of text can
be eliminated.
4.
In trying to answer line-number questions, read at least five lines before and five lines after
the line given.
5. Questions that are numbered I, II, and III are in reality true-false questions. Begin with the
shortest of the statements.
6. Answer the I, II, and III questions and the EXCEPT questions last.
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Tom Waldrep - Director
Jennie Ariail - Assistant Director
QUANTITATIVE
1. Arithmetic, algebra, geometry
2. No calculus, no trigonometry
3. Pay careful attention to capitalized and underlined words.
4. Look for short cuts if the problem is too tedious to work out.
5. Get a tutor if necessary.
ANALYTICAL
1. These are questions that test logical reasoning and your understanding of
argument; again, the emphasis is on reading comprehension.
2. Analytical questions have an initial statement, a questions stem, and
answer choices.
3. The questions are mostly based on inductive reasoning.
4. Your job is to find the conclusion (which may be first, last, or in the middle),
draw inferences, identify assumptions, and strengthen or weaken arguments.
5. Step-By-Step Strategy
a. Read the question. (This tells you what you’re looking for.)
b. Read the entire passage.
c. Find and mark the conclusion (premises and assumptions if
necessary).
d. Answer the question in your own words.
e. Eliminate wrong answer choices using the process of elimination.
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Tom Waldrep - Director
Jennie Ariail - Assistant Director
Written Assessment
In October 1999, a GRE Writing Assessment Test will be added as a separate exam, requiring
test-takers to write two essays. Test-takers will have 45 minutes to write one essay called
“Present Your Perspective on an Issue” and 30 minutes to write another essay called “Analyze
an Argument.” Each of the essays will be graded by two graders, and the scores averaged.
Your score will range from 0 to 6 in half-point increments. Here are some tips for writing great
essays:
 Be organized. Well-organized papers will receive much higher scores than less
organized ones. Separate your essay into paragraphs, use transition words, and use
clear, direct language.
 Use examples. Do not leave arguments unsupported. It will be much more convincing
to the grader if you present well thought out examples clearly and directly. Humor
and rhetorical questions will not help you as the graders do not get much time to read
the essays.
 Proofread. Although one minor error will not affect your score negatively, several
misspellings or grammatical mistakes may ruin your essay. Allow yourself 3 or 4
minutes at the end of the section for proofreading.
 Check out the essay topics ahead of time. The essay topics will be published before
the test is available in October. There will be at least 100 different topics for each of
the two essays. Although you do not want to take the time to write an essay for each
of them, you should spend some time familiarizing yourself with the format and
common features of the topics.
 Remember to analyze your audience. Think about who the readers are and remember
that your job is to meet the expectations of those readers.
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Tom Waldrep - Director
Jennie Ariail - Assistant Director
Important Resources:
Practicing to Take the GRE General Test (contains real tests)
Graduate Record Examinations
Educational Testing Service
Order Services Dept.
CN 6785
Princeton, NJ 08541-6785
(609) 771-7243
http://www.gre.org
Cracking the GRE. Robinson, A. & Katzman, J. Princeton Review (with computer disks),
1998
How to Prepare for the GRE. Bramson M., Selub, M. & Solomon L. Harcourt, Brace,
Jovanovich
GRE Super Course. ARCO, 1997.
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