Barron's GRE, 18th Edition (2009)

Part 1. INTRODUCTION/DIAGNOSTIC TEST

Chapter 2. Test-Taking Tactics for the Computer-Based GRE

Before studying the specific tips that will enable you to do your best on this computer-based test or CBT, briefly review the key features of the exam:

·        A typical CBT consists of 58 multiple-choice questions in two sections, plus two essay questions.

·        The verbal section contains 30 questions: roughly 9 antonyms, 7 analogies, 6 sentence completions, 8 reading comprehension questions. These appear on screen in no set order: 2 sentence completions may be followed on screen by 2 antonyms.

·        The mathematics section contains 28 questions: 14 are quantitative comparisons, 10 are standard multiple-choice questions, and 4 are data interpretation questions based on tables or graphs.

·        Because the CBT you take will be tailored to your skills, it may vary slightly from the typical test described above.

·        In the multiple-choice sections, you receive more credit for getting a hard question right than you do for answering an easy question correctly.

·        You cannot skip questions; you must answer the question on screen and confirm that you are satisfied with your answer choice before you can proceed to the next question.

·        Once you have confirmed an answer, you cannot go back and change it.

STARTING RIGHT NOW

Begin to Familiarize Yourself with Computer Skills

If you purchase the version of this book that comes with a CD-ROM, use it to familiarize yourself with computerized testing.

Using a Mouse

As you probably know, a mouse is a small electronic device that enables you to send signals to your PC. It sits on a mouse pad, its tail (the electric cord that links it to your PC) pointed away from you. As you move the mouse back and forth along the surface of the mouse pad, you see a pointer or arrow moving on the computer screen. There’s a “button” on the rear surface of the mouse. Click that button to tell the computer to do something.

Here is an antonym question as it would appear on a computer screen. Right now the arrow is off to one side.

To enter your answer to this question, you must move the mouse until the arrow touches the oval next to your answer choice.

Once the pointer is on the oval, click the button. Note that the oval on which you clicked is now black. This means that the computer has recorded your answer choice.

If you decide that you prefer a different answer, simply move the mouse until the arrow is on the appropriate oval. Click the button. The new oval is now black, while the old oval is once more blank.

Once you’re sure of your answer choice, before you can go on to the next question, you have to use the mouse twice more. First, you have to move the pointer until it’s on the box labeled “Next” at the bottom of the screen. Click the button. This signals the computer that you want to move on. Before you can do so, however, you have to confirm that you really want to do that. Up to this moment, you can still change your answer. Once you click on the box labeled “Confirm,” however, the screen will change to show the next question. You can never go back to change an answer you have confirmed.

There are six icons at the bottom of a CBT screen, three to the left and three to the right. They read, in order from left to right, as follows:

Quit
Test

Exit
Section

Time

Help

Confirm
Answer

Next

Because ETS currently refuses to allow other publishers to duplicate its testing tools, we have had to create alternative icons for the computer screens that appear on the CD-ROM accompanying this book. Thus, in place of the CBT icon “Next,” our screen has the icon “Proceed.” Where the CBT tells you to “Confirm” your answer, our screen asks, “Are You Sure?”

Our layout thus reads, from left to right:

Abandon

Leave
Section

Clock

Need
Help?

Are You
Sure?

Proceed

Do not let these minor differences confuse you. The basic layout of the screen is identical, and the functions of the testing tools are the same. Even if our icons don’t match the ones on the CBT exactly, you can depend on what we say about the appearance of the test.

Scrolling Through a Text

Occasionally, to answer a question you may have to consider more information than can fit conveniently on a single computer screen. A 500-word reading passage, for example, takes up too much room for one screen; so do certain charts and bar and line graphs.

In such cases, a vertical scroll bar will appear along the right side of that reading passage or chart. It enables you to control what part of the text you see on screen. Click on the scroll bar’s down arrow, and it will allow you to move down one line to see the next line of text. Keep on clicking on the down arrow and you’ll scroll down even more. Click on the up arrow and you’ll scroll back up. You can scroll line by line; you can also scroll a page at a time. If you hold down the mouse button on an arrow, you can scroll through the text quite rapidly.

The small gray status bar at the top of the pane or little window helps you figure out just where you are in the text. When you’re at the start of the text, it reads “Begin”; when you’re at the end of the text, it reads “End.” When you’re in the middle and can scroll in either direction, it reads “More Available.”

If you’re a rapid reader and are unused to word-processing programs and other software programs that incorporate scrolling, you may find the process a bit awkward at first. Practice on the CD-ROM version of this book until you get the hang of it. When you take the CBT, you’ll have a chance to work through a tutorial that teaches you how to scroll. However, you’ll have an easier time on the test if you come in already comfortable with scrolling techniques.

BEFORE THE TEST

Schedule the test for your best time of day.

When you sign up to take the test on a specific date, you will be given a choice of time slots. Some people are morning people; others work well in the midafternoon. Consider how your energy and alertness levels vary during the course of a day. Also, consider possible transportation problems, such as rush hour. With these and other relevant factors in mind, select the time slot that works best for you.

Allow yourself enough time for the test.

The GRE Bulletin recommends that you allow  hours for the CBT. There are three scored sections on the test. These sections range in length from 30 minutes to 75 minutes each; you must also allow time for a ten-minute break midway through the session, as well as for the untimed tutorial on computer-based testing. You will also need up to half an hour for signing in, during which time you may be photographed and even fingerprinted! If you sign up to take the GRE at 8:00 A.M., do not make a dentist appointment for 12:00. You can’t possibly get there on time, and you’ll just spend the last hour of the test worrying about it.

Look over the test site before the day you are scheduled to take the test.

Do a practice run out to the test center a week or so before you take the test. If you’re going by car, check out the traffic patterns. See whether you’ll need to allow extra time to get to the site, and whether you’ll be able to find parking easily. If you’ll be using public transportation, figure out how to get from the bus stop or train station to the test center. Some testing centers are located in suites in skyscrapers; others, in storefront locations in the middle of busy malls. Also learn where the restrooms are, and the nearest place to buy a quick snack.

Set out your test kit the night before the test.

Avoid sudden panic on the morning of the test. Before you go to bed, set out everything you will need to take with you in the morning. For the CBT GRE, you need two forms of official I.D., at least one of which must include a current photograph; be sure you have these items in your wallet or purse. If you need to wear special glasses when you work at a computer, set them out. Include also your directions to the site, and your CBT authorization voucher, if you have been given one. [If, however, you register by phone for an imminent date and pay via credit card, the Prometric Candidate Services will not send you an authorization voucher; instead, the scheduler will assign you a confirmation number by which you can identify yourself to the test center staff. Have that number with you on the day of the test.]

Also set out the clothes you plan to wear. Choose comfortable, casual clothing. Now is not the time to make a fashion statement; simplicity, not elegance, should be the order of the day. Bring along a sweater, however; you can’t do your best if you’re shivering from the cold.

Don’t bother to set out pencils and scratch paper. The test center will supply you with both. You will not be allowed to take any “testing aids” — calculators, watches with calculator functions, pens, rulers, highlighters, books, handheld PCs — into the testing room.

Get a good night’s sleep.

The way to do your best on any test you ever take is to get a good night’s sleep so you are well rested and alert.

ON THE DAY OF THE TEST

Take as much time as you need to work through the tutorials that precede the actual test.

The computerized GRE makes you work through four tutorials:

·        How to Use a Mouse

·        How to Select an Answer

·        How to Use the Testing Tools

·        How to Scroll

You can’t skip these tutorials; they’re mandatory, even for computer majors. They’re also important; every computer program has its idiosyncrasies, and you need to familiarize yourself with how to handle this particular computer setup.

Proceed at your own pace and don’t worry about how much time you’re taking. The twenty to thirty minutes you spend working through the tutorials before you begin testing will not count against your time for taking the test.

As you work through the tutorials, make sure you know all the test directions thoroughly.

Once the test begins, any time you have to switch screens to look up directions or to get help with scrolling is time you lose from the actual test. The clock keeps on ticking, and, to maximize your score, you’ve got to keep on thinking and clicking. For this reason, be sure you’ve memorized the directions for the different question types you’ll face on the test.

Before you move on from the tutorial section to the actual test, take a break.

Once you’ve finished making your rough answer sheet, don’t be in a rush to click and start the test. Raise your hand to let the proctor know you need assistance, and, when he or she comes up to your carrel, ask for a restroom break. You’ll be escorted out of the computer room and allowed to sign out. You may have spent half an hour or more mastering the material in the tutorials section, and if you’re new to working with a mouse, you may be a bit tired or tense. Feel free to wash your face, nibble a quick snack, stretch, or do anything else that will relax you before you move into the test-taking mode. Any time out you take before the test actually starts is “free”: it doesn’t cost you any of that all important question-answering time.

ONCE THE TEST HAS STARTED

Avoid clicking on the boxes at the bottom left of the screen.

As you will learn in the tutorial, there are six boxes at the bottom of the screen, three to the left and three to the right. They read, in order, from left to right: Quit, Exit, Time, Help, Confirm, Next. Avoid the ones to the left, especially the two leftmost ones. If you click on either of those boxes, you’re abandoning ship, quitting either the particular section on which you’re working or the whole test. There is no point in doing so. Even if you’re dissatisfied with your performance and unwilling to have your scores sent to the graduate schools you selected, you still can use this test as a practice session. Don’t bail out midway. Wait. After you’ve completed all three sections of the test, you will get a chance to indicate whether you want to cancel this test or whether you want to receive a score for your work. Make the decision then. Even if you decide to cancel your test, you’ll still benefit from having had the chance to see what specific questions the computer selected for you. After all, you’ve paid more than $100 to take this test. Get your money’s worth from the experience.

Avoid clicking on the third lefthand box as well, the “Time” box. If you click on it, the information line at the top of the computer screen will stop showing the amount of time remaining in the section on which you’re working. You won’t be able to pace yourself effectively, and you may completely lose track of how much time you have left. Why create problems for yourself? Keep away from those boxes at the bottom left. (If you accidentally click on the “Time” box and hide the time information momentarily, don’t panic; just click on the box a second time to turn the time indicator back on again.)

Keep track of the time.

Your job is to answer correctly as many questions as you can within the time allowed for that particular section of the test. Because of the computer-adaptive nature of the test, you can’t simply skip time-consuming questions or questions that stump you, and hope to return to them if you have time left over. To move on to the next question, you must enter and confirm an answer for the question currently on your screen. Therefore, whenever you decide it’s worth your while to spend time working through a complicated question, you’ve got to keep one eye on the clock to make sure getting this one answer correct isn’t costing you too much time.

Don’t get bogged down by any one question.

Now more than ever it is important for you to avoid getting so caught up in figuring out one question that you lose track of the time. Remember, you can’t move on to the next question until you’ve answered the one on screen. If a question is taking too long, guess at the answer and go on to the next question. This is not the time to prove that you can stick to a job no matter how long it takes.

On the other hand, don’t rush.

Since your score will depend on how many correct answers you give within a definite period of time, speed and accuracy both count. Don’t fall into the common errors born of haste. Read all the answer choices, not just some. Make sure you are answering the question asked and not one it may have reminded you of or one you thought was going to be asked. Write down key words like NOT and EXCEPT to make sure that you do not end up trying to answer the exact opposite of the question asked.

Don’t be trigger-happy: Think before you click.

Once you get into the swing of things, clicking “Next” to indicate you’re ready to go on to the next question and “Confirm” to indicate that you’re sure of your answer, watch out that you don’t start double-clicking automatically. It’s all too easy to fall into a game-playing mode and click twice before you’ve thought things through. The CBT is not a computer game; you don’t win any points here by zapping the enemy blindly. Take a moment to reconsider each answer choice. Then move on to the next question, sure that you’ve given this one your best shot.

Be especially careful answering questions that resemble questions you’ve seen before.

In the GRE, the test-makers test and retest the same concepts. They follow basic patterns, modifying questions subtly or substantially. Thus, in your CBT, you may come across questions that look very much like ones you have previously seen in published GREs or on www.gre.com, the GRE web site. You may even come across some that resemble questions you’ve just seen on an earlier section of your test. Don’t assume that you know the answer to a question because it looks like one you’ve seen before. Read the question closely. Don’t let subtle shifts in wording catch you unaware.

Never rush through the first questions of a section.

Remember, your answers to these initial questions have a greater impact on your score than your answers to the last few questions of the section do.

Always eliminate as many wrong answers as you can.

Deciding between two choices is easier than deciding among five. Even if you have to guess, every answer you eliminate improves your chances of guessing correctly.

Don’t waste time second-guessing yourself.

Once you confirm an answer, that’s it; you no longer have a chance to change that answer. If, later on in a section, you suddenly realize you got an earlier question wrong, don’t sit there kicking yourself. Self-reproach is a waste of time. Remember, the only question you have to worry about is the one now on screen, so concentrate on it.

Similarly, don’t try to second-guess the computer. There’s no point in wasting time and energy wondering whether it’s feeding you harder questions or easier ones. Let the computer keep track of how well you’re doing. You concentrate on answering questions and pacing yourself.

Be alert for the five-minute warning.

Toward the end of each section, a brief flash of the clock will indicate that you have only five minutes left. Even if you have clicked “Time” to hide the remaining time display, the time display will come on automatically at this point. Also, instead of showing just the hours and minutes remaining, the display will change to show seconds as well.

Don’t miss your five-minute warning signal. As you work through each section, be aware of the clock. When you are running out of time, eliminate any answer choices you can and then guess. At that point, even random guessing those last questions is better than leaving them unanswered.