Kathy A. zahler - Conquering GRE Verbal Reasoning and Analytical Writing

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PART I
GETTING STARTED

PART II
VERBAL FUNDAMENTALS

PART III
ITEM FORMATS AND SOLUTION STRATEGIES

PART IV
GRE ANALYTICAL WRITING AND VERBAL REASONING PRACTICE TESTS

CHAPTER GOALS

Learn about the two Analytical Writing essay-writing tasks.

Learn about the GRE Verbal Reasoning question types.

Study examples of essay-writing prompts and Verbal question types.

The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General Test does not test a specific content area. It tests your comprehension, math, and reasoning skills. Verbal skillswriting and reading and interpreting written materialtake up the lions share of the test. You will read given texts and be asked to respond to questions about them, you will analyze and complete sentences, you will apply your knowledge of English vocabulary in context, and you will write analytically. In other words, you will employ the sorts of critical thinking skills that graduate students use every day, no matter what discipline they undertake.

The GRE revised General Test administered starting in August 2011 is available in two formats: a computer-based test and a paper-based test. The computer-based test is offered in most regions of the world and is given all year. The paper-based test is offered once or twice a year in areas of the world where computer-based testing is not available.

Whether computer-based or paper-based, the GRE includes these sections:

Analytical Writing: This section includes two essay-writing tasks called Analyze an Issue and Analyze an Argument.

Verbal Reasoning: There are two scored Verbal Reasoning sections, each of which includes these question types: Sentence Equivalence, Text Completion, and Reading Comprehension. of this book deals with each kind of Verbal Reasoning question in detail.

Quantitative Reasoning: There are two scored Quantitative Reasoning sections, each of which includes a mix of different kinds of math questions. Some questions are multiple-choice; others require you to calculate your own answer.

The computer-based test is partly computer adaptive. This term means that at certain points in the test, the computer decides what questions to give you based on your performance thus far. Specifically, if you perform well on the first Verbal Reasoning section, the computer will give you a second Verbal Reasoning section that is more difficult than the one you would have gotten if you did not perform well. The same procedure is followed for the two Quantitative Reasoning sections. Within each section, however, the test is not computer adaptive; a specific set of questions is presented in a specific order. Within a section you are free to skip questions or to move forward or backward through the question order as you wish.

FORMAT TIP

To answer a multiple-choice question on the computer-based GRE, first click the oval or square beside your answer choice. Then click either Next to go to the next question or Back to return to the previous question.

You will have 3 hours and 45 minutes to complete the entire test, including the Quantitative (math) section and any unscored sections. You will always begin with the two Analytical Writing tasks. You will complete each essay using the word processor that is part of the GRE software.

The charts that follow show the time breakdown for the sections of the test. Except for the Analytical Writing, which is always first, the sections may appear in any order. If there is an unscored Research section, it will always be last.

The following charts show the formats of the computer-based and paper-based GRE revised General Test.

Typical Computer-Based Revised General Test