ApexGRE
0If you are interested in attending graduate school, you may have already started considering taking the GRE exam. This is a standardized exam that not only tests your knowledge and skills but also reveals your potential when applying to graduate schools. If you want to earn a high score, you have to consider different aspects during your preparation, including useful strategies to use on the day of the test. Below you can find our top 5 GRE tips to keep in mind during the exam!
1. Answer every question
There is no negative marking on the GRE. This means that you will face no penalty if you guess on some of the questions. If you aren’t sure about a particular question, it would be better to guess what the correct answer is rather than leave the question unanswered. Try to make a quick, but also educated guess. Even though it may not be the correct answer, by trying you can only gain points. In comparison, leaving a question unanswered will definitely bring you no points. Try your chance, it may be your lucky day, and you may even get it right!
2. Starting with the easy questions
All GRE questions in one section are worth the same points. Thus, you should start answering the questions that you are sure of and collect the “easier” points first. Whenever you come across a hard question, skip it for the moment and go back to it later. You can always use the marking function during the GRE exam to indicate which questions aren’t answered yet. When you are done with the rest of the questions in the section and have earned “all the easy points”, complete your marked questions. Then, review the questions you were unable to answer since you may be able to answer them when you return to them a second time.
3. Use the process of elimination
When you are not sure of the correct answer to a particular question, use the process of elimination. When you eliminate the incorrect answers you are closer to getting the correct answer. This increases your odds of picking the correct answer and getting some extra points from the question.
4. Read every question carefully
Reading your questions carefully and understanding what you are expected to do is crucial for success on the GRE exam. Many students often make careless reading mistakes which result in awkward answer choices. Some of them include misreading a word like “not” or “except” or formatting an answer to a math problem in the wrong way. All this can be avoided if you adopt the essential GRE tip of reading closely!
5. Keep your pace
You have to keep an eye on the time and have a clear plan on how to organize it while taking the GRE test. The Verbal and Quant sections have 20 questions each. The Verbal section is 30 minutes long, which means you have about 1:30 minutes per question. The Quant section is 35 minutes, meaning you have about 1:45 min per question. You may want to practice sticking to these time limits so that you can ensure that you will have enough time for every question. Some questions may take you longer, but still, this is a good general guideline to follow in order to organize your time effectively.
To Review
Learning useful GRE tips and tricks for solving the exam can become a game-changer and help you skyrocket your score. Here at Apex, we know that preparing for the GRE exam day may be a challenging task. For this reason, we are more than happy to support you on your GRE journey and assist you in every step of the process. You can sign-up for a 30-minute complimentary consultation call with one of our instructors who can help you ace your GRE exam!
Contributor: Diana Materova
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