A common trick on the Quantitative section

This post is part of the Sunday Series for Compelling GRE Workshops.

Many people fall in to the trap in doing math operations in one direction, but never practice doing them in the reverse direction. 

Imagine a 45-45-90 triangle.
Its two short legs are of length "x".
The SAT and GRE both require you to know that the hypotenuse is sqrt(2)*x. 

This is basically a short-hand method of the Pythagorean Theorem, allowing you to do the math faster and save time.

Many students know this, so the GRE test creators will instead give you a 45-45-90 triangle and give you a nice whole number for the hypotenuse (for example: 3) and then require you to calculate the length of each leg. 

Now this would take a student longer to figure out, wasting precious time. 

The answer of course is that each leg is 3/(sqrt(2)). 

It is the reversal of the operation that the GRE test makers like to throw at students as one component of a single problem.  And since you only have 40 minutes for thirty problems, you have to hurry!

Make it a great day!
-Daniel

Certified Microsoft Office Specialist!

This post is part of the Sunday Series for GRE Prep by TOTAL Learning Results.  Enjoy!


I successfully completed the requirements for the Certified Microsoft Office Specialist for Microsoft Word 2010 on Saturday at a testing center in San Francisco!  I'm very happy about this and will continue to pursue my development in all areas to become a better workshop instructor.


This blog will soon be improved to include daily blog posts about GRE topics, more in-depth strategies, and metrics analysis.


Make it a great day!
-Daniel

GRE Results from this Saturday

This post is part of the Sunday Series for GRE Prep by TOTAL Learning Results.  Enjoy!


I took the GRE again this Saturday at the Prometric test center in San Jose, and the results were very good:


Quantitative:  800
Verbal:  770
My essays were both well written and I get those results 18 days after taking the test.


The biggest difference between this test and the last was my preparation for the essays and math practice;  after proving to myself that I could handle the easy problems, I started just doing problems that were answered correctly by less than 50% of all GRE test takers.  This meant that I was only focusing on the hard problems and it paid off.  


Effort and proper techniques pay off on the GRE!


Make it a great day!
-Daniel

GRE Scores required for California Universities

This post is part of the Sunday Series for GRE Prep by TOTAL Learning Results.  Enjoy!

The average GRE score required for Stanford, Santa Clara, and San Jose State are listed below.  A higher GRE score will significantly boost your chances.

For Santa Clara, the a composite score of 1200 is considered strong enough to be a competitive candidate for admissions.

For San Jose State University, the following requirements apply:

Aerospace Engineering
Only required if undergraduate degree is not from an accredited U.S./Canadian university. Combined score in Verbal and Quantitative must be equal or greater than 1100, and Analytical Writing Score must be 3.5 or above

Biological Sciences
Required if undergraduate degree is not from an accredited U.S./Canadian university. All applicants in the Molecular Biology and Microbiology concentration must submit general test scores and Advanced Subject Test score in Biology or Molecular Biology

Biotechnology
General test score required. Advanced Subject Test score in a relevant subject of your choice required

Chemistry
General test score required

Child and Adolescent Development
General test score required

Communication Studies
General test score required, beginning Fall 2009

Computer Engineering
Only required if undergraduate degree is not from an accredited U.S./Canadian university. Quantitative score must be 650 or better, minimum combined score must be 1000 or better. Analytical score must be 4.0 or better

Computer Science
Check the Computer Science webpage for current requirements

Electrical Engineering
Quantitative score must be 650 or better, minimum combined score must be 1100 or better. Analytical score must be 3.5 or better

English and Comparative Literature
General test score required

Environmental Studies
General test score required

Journalism and Mass Communications
Combined minimum score of 1000 and at least a score of 550 on the verbal section required

Justice Studies
General test score required

Mechanical Engineering
Only required if undergraduate degree is not from an accredited U.S./Canadian university. Combined score in Verbal and Quantitative must be equal or greater than 1100, and Analytical Writing Score must be 3.5 or above

Occupational Therapy
Combined minimum GRE score of 1000, minimum GRE verbal score of 450, and minimum writing score of 3.5. A score of 400 or above on the Miller Analogies Test recommended

Psychology (Experimental)
General test score required.

Psychology (Industrial/Organizational)
General test score required

Public Health
General test score required

Quality Assurance
Combined minimum score of 1000 required

Software Engineering
Check the Software Engineering webpage for current requirements

Urban and Regional Planning
General test score recommended but not required

For Stanford University, the following GRE scores are recommended:

Quantitative:  720

Verbal:  600

The Verbal is generally considered the more challenging of the two components, especially for engineering majors who have a reading deficit that their counterparts in English and History majors do not have.  

Make it a great day!
-Daniel

Help With Analogies

This post is part of the Sunday Series for GRE Prep by TOTAL Learning Results.  Enjoy!

The analogies section of the GRE tests for the breadth of one's knowledge of vocabulary and also for secondary meanings of some words.

The best way to go about answering them is come up with a sentence that uses the first given word to accurately describe the second given word.  Then apply that sentence to the five possible answer sets and discard the word combinations that don't make sense.

If you are left with two or more viable choices, reverse the order of the prompt words and create a new sentence to describe the words.  Then apply this "bridge" to the answer sets in reverse order and see which choices can now be discarded. 

If you still have two choices left, you are probably misinterpreting the meaning of the one of the words and will be forced to guess.

Lastly, remember that some words have secondary meanings that are usually related to vocational/job related things.  Below are a few examples:

Green:  1) the color or 2) inexperienced.

Husband:  1) The male half of a marriage or 2) to tend lovingly and diligently, as in: to husband crops.

Make it a great day!
-Daniel