First practice test

[AcidThinking]

Today I did the first practice test. I got a 71. I desperately need to get an 80 on the test. During the first hour of the test I wasted a lot of time because I was panicking and stressed.

How far can I push my score? I still have a month.

[YKM]

hi my friend, it is a tough question. The only way to get good scores in math is by practicing more (I am sure you know).

You may or may not know below source, but hope you find it useful.

You got four practice exams here
http://people.ucsc.edu/~astathis/GRE/

You got six more practice exams from
"GRE Mathematics Test" by REA (search it from amazon).

Good luck and all the best.

[owlpride]

71st percentile is a good score for the first try - it indicates that you know the relevant material and your problem-solving skills are up to par. Now it's mostly a matter of getting familiar with the test format. I personally found that 80% of the questions on my real GRE were almost identical to questions I had seen on one of the four past released exams. I suggest that you work through the past exams very carefully and make sure that you know how to answer EVERY SINGLE question (including and especially the more obscure-looking ones!).

One more thing: do not touch the REA book. Their practice exams are basically a review of obscure math theorems and nothing like the real thing. You'll be scared into wasting a lot of time studying material that won't help you on the GRE.

[YKM]

Thanks for the useful comments. I will need to switch my focus, I do found the problems from REA a bit strange and hard compared to the four practice exams.....

[Adarsh Raj]

Hi Owlpride,

I wished to seek your opinion on 'ARCO - Advanced Test in Mathematics' by Morris Bramson. It has 5 AGRE Tests. Are they worth taking (as in, are they a true reflection of the actual Test)?

Thanks.

[owlpride]

I am afraid that I am not familiar with that book. Maybe someone else can chime in?

[YKM]

Hi Owlpride,

I wished to seek your opinion on 'ARCO - Advanced Test in Mathematics' by Morris Bramson. It has 5 AGRE Tests. Are they worth taking (as in, are they a true reflection of the actual Test)?

Thanks.

Just a personal opinion, any practice exam is worth trying given you have the time. But first, you need to be familiar with the 4 practice exam given by ETS, then you can select similar questions from your 'ARCO - Advanced Test in Mathematics'. Don't need to try every question, just focus on those that are similar with ETS.

[owlpride]

I agree! It won't hurt to do more problems from another source, but not until you are completely comfortable with all 4 of the past released subject test exams.

If you are shooting for a top score and want to be challenged, take a look at the Berkeley Problems in Mathematics. It's a book with past preliminary exams (testing undergraduate math material) from the PhD program at Berkeley. They are a fair bit harder than the GRE but good practice for grad school. In fact, Berkeley says that they are paying so much attention to GRE subject test scores because GRE scores are a good indicator of a student's likelihood to pass the preliminary exam.

[Adarsh Raj]

Thank You both for your Opinion. Much Appreciated.

[linoush]

Are there solutions available online for the four exams that are published already?

Thanks much