McMenamin Catherine - CliffsNotes GRE General Test Cram Plan

GRE General Test

2nd Edition

Carolyn Wheater, Jane R. Burstein, and Catherine McMenamin

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2011930283
ISBN: 978-0-470-87873-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-118-04859-7 (ebk)

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Editorial

Acquisition Editor: Greg Tubach

Project Editor: Elizabeth Kuball

Copy Editor: Elizabeth Kuball

Technical Editors: Mike McAsey, Mary Jane Sterling, Barb Swovelin

Composition

Proofreader: Sossity R. Smith

Wiley Publishing, Inc., Composition Services

CliffsNotes GRE General Test Cram Plan, 2nd Edition

About the Authors

Carolyn Wheater teaches middle-school and upper-school mathematics at the Nightingale-Bamford School in New York City. Educated at Marymount Manhattan College and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, she has taught math and computer technology for 30 years to students from preschool through college. Jane Burstein is currently an instructor at Hofstra University. Educated at S.U.N.Y. Stony Brook and Hofstra University, she taught English at Herricks High School for 36 years. She is an author of CliffsNotes SAT Cram Plan, CliffsNotes ACT Cram Plan, CliffsNotes GMAT Cram Plan, and CliffsNotes AFQT Cram Plan. Catherine McMenamin has an M.A. in art history from Columbia University. She lives and teaches in New York City.

Acknowledgements

Carolyn would like to thank Elizabeth Kuball, who is everything an author could hope for in an editor. She is also grateful to her daughter, Laura Wheater, who proofreads the math and catches the mistakes, and to her husband, Jim Wheater, for his infinite patience. Jane thanks her husband for his patience; her children for their often humorous suggestions; her friend and colleague Barbara Hoffman for her assistance; and her editor, Elizabeth Kuball, for her expertise.

Introduction

If youre preparing to take the GRE, this is not your first encounter with standardized testing. Youve likely taken the SAT or ACT for your undergraduate admission, so you have some expectations for the GRE. From your previous test-taking experience, you probably realize that the goal is to test your reasoning and critical-thinking skills, and the content, whether verbal or mathematical, is only the vehicle for that assessment. Without firm control of that vehicle, however, you wont be able to demonstrate your reasoning skills effectively. To approach the GRE with confidence, you need to review the content and practice the style of questions youll find on the test. CliffsNotes GRE General Test Cram Plan is designed to help you achieve your best possible score on the GRE, whether you have two months, one month, or one week to prepare.

About the Test

The GRE is comprised of three sections:

Analytical Writing: Within the Analytical Writing section, youll be asked to complete two writing tasks: an Analyze an Issue task and an Analyze an Argument task.

Verbal Reasoning: The Verbal Reasoning section includes critical-reading questions, text completions, and sentence equivalences.

Quantitative Reasoning: The Quantitative Reasoning questions may appear as multiple-choice, quantitative-comparison, or numeric-entry questions.

In the answer keys for the Diagnostic Test and Full-Length Practice Test, youll find spaces to enter your responses to some of the Quantitative Reasoning questions. On the computer-based test, youll simply type your answer into a box on-screen. On the paper-based test, youll be asked to enter your answer in a grid, filling in an oval or square for each digit or character in your answer. Read the directions for filling in those grids carefully, and remember that although there are boxes above the grid in which to write your answer, you must also fill in the ovals or squares to receive credit for the answer.

The format of the GRE

Most people will take the GRE on a computer. For those geographical areas where the computer-based test is not available, the paper-based test is offered.