McGRAW-HILLs CONQUERING THE NEW GRE MATH
McGRAW-HILLs CONQUERING THE NEW GRE MATH
Robert E. Moyer, Ph.D. Copyright 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. ISBN: 978-0-07-164330-6 MHID: 0-07-164330-3 The material in this eBook also appears in the print version of this title: ISBN: 978-0-07-149595-0, MHID: 0-07-149595-9. All trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners.
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CONTENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Robert E. Moyer taught mathematics and mathematics education at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, Minnesota from 2002 to 2009. Before coming to SMSU, he taught at Fort Valley State University in Fort Valley, Georgia, from 1985 to 2000, serving as head of the Department of Mathematics and Physics from 1992 to 1994.
Prior to teaching at the university level, Dr. Moyer spent 7 years as the mathematics consultant for a five-county Regional Educational Service Agency in central Georgia and 12 years as a high school mathematics teacher in Illinois. He has developed and taught numerous in-service courses for mathematics teachers. He received his Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics Education from the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) in 1974. He received his Master of Science in 1967 and his Bachelor of Science in 1964, both in Mathematics Education, from Southern Illinois University (Carbondale).
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The writing of this book has been greatly aided and assisted by my daughter, Michelle Parent-Moyer.
She did research on the tests and the mathematics content in them, created the graphics used in the manuscript, and edited the manuscript. Her work also helped ensure consistency of style, chapter format, and overall structure. I owe her a great deal of thanks and appreciation for all of the support she lent to the completion of the manuscript.
PREFACE
Recognizing that the people preparing to take the GRE have widely varying backgrounds and experiences in mathematics, this book provides an orientation to the mathematics content of the tests, an introduction to the formats used for the mathematics test questions, and practice with multiple choice mathematics questions. There is an explanation of the quantitative comparison questions and data interpretation questions that are on the GRE. Many of the questions on the test are general problem-solving questions in a multiple choice format with five answer choices.
The mathematics review is quite comprehensive with explanations, example problems, and practice problems covering arithmetic, algebra, and geometry. The mathematics on the GRE is no more advanced than the mathematics taught in high school. The topics are explained in detail and several examples of each concept are provided. After a few concepts have been explained, there is a set of practice problems with solutions. In each of the four mathematics review units, there is at least one multiple choice test covering the concepts of the unit. The answers and solutions to the questions for each unit test are provided in a separate section following the test.
Questions in the GRE formats follow each test. The review materials are structured so that you may select which topics you want to review. The unit tests may also be used to determine what topics you need to review. There are three practice sections modeled after the GRE mathematics sections. Each section is followed by the answers and solutions for the questions on the section. The recommended time limit for the sections is the same as that on the GRE, 35 minutes.
The practice sections are the same length as the actual test, 20 questions. The concepts on the practice sections are similar to those of the actual test and the proportion of questions on each area is also similar to that of the actual test. Information on the most recent changes to the GRE can be found on the www.ets.org website. Use this book to review your mathematics knowledge, check your understanding of mathematics concepts, and practice demonstrating your math skills in a limited time frame. This will help you become prepared for your actual GRE.
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