Magoosh FAQs

Link

https://gre.magoosh.com/questions/2540

Question

I still can't understand blank 1. Why did we choose C? I'm having a lot of trouble following the first half of the text.

Answer

Let's simplify the first half of this text--relevant to the first blank--and see it that makes it a bit clearer. Here's what we should understand:

- Watching a film by Torneau is like going inside his mind. - His way of thinking is very different from a "normal" person's, - His unique thinking doesn't __________, even though Torneau can't escape his own mind.

This is very tricky, because there's a lot of meaning in this blank and not very strong clues for it. In the context of *going inside his mind* and *comparing different ways of thinking,* the last piece is the most helpful.

Torneau can't escape his own mind, BUT ____________ . The most sensible prediction given the context is that we can go in his mind, as stated in the very first sentence.

So his strange thinking doesn't "preclude a connection," i.e. prevent us from understanding his thinking.

prompt_id=2540

Many students think of several types of mistakes when they hear the words "silly mistake." If any of the following sound familiar to you, read on and we'll teach you a bit about how to avoid them:

Making small calculation errors

Forgetting to keep track of positive or negative numbers

Rounding errors

Forgetting to look out for FOIL or order of operations

Other small details

Most times these errors are even more frustrating because you understood the concept, you thought through the problem and planned your attack, and you felt confident that you were doing everything right. Hence we call them silly mistakes, even stupid mistakes.

Do not despair! With a little reflection and focus, we can eliminate these errors.

The important thing to remember is that these mistakes are only stupid or silly mistakes if you don'tlearn from them! Keeping track of these mistakes is the first step to stopping yourself from making them again. Because of this,using an error log is one of the best things you can do. For every silly mistake you make, make an entry in your log (a small notebook, Word document, spreadsheet, or whatever works best for you!) with the following information:

What type of question was this? Quant, verbal? What concepts were tested?

What was the small mistake you made?

Did the small mistake you made trick you into choosing the wrong answer choice?

Have you made this mistake before?

Once you've finished writing these down, take a moment to think about the problem a little more in depth.

For one, ask yourself where the error happened. Was it at the end of the problem or at the beginning of a problem? Many times I see students make errors right at the end of the problem. This is a natural human tendency that we have to fight. How many times have we seen a team winning an entire game only to lose in the final minutes or a runner ahead in the race who loses in the final stretch? This all comes from the same tendency: we drop our guard when we see the finish line. We relax. We drop our focus. We rush. All of which does not help us to succeed.

So the first rule: when you see the finish line, when you are nearing the end of the problem, focus even more. Don't rush. Don't drop your guard. Know that everyone has the tendency to slack off near the end. Don't be that person.

Second, are you tired when you make these errors? Have you had a power session of studying? If so, taking a short break to stretch, move around, and drink water might be all that you need to refocus. Obviously you won't be able to take a stretch break in the middle of the test, but you should absolutely do so during your study periods. For every hour of study, let your mind drift off to somewhere else for 5 minute. Then return to answering problems.

As for test day, closing your eyes momentarily can offer a nice break. Keep them closed and count to 10 or 20. Try to push all thoughts out of your mind and just focus on taking long, purposeful breaths. This will help to fight off any exhaustion.

I would also recommend reading the following blog post about how to stay focused during the test. Some of these tips can be applied to your study time as well:

http://magoosh.com/gre/2011/how-to-stay-focused-on-the-gre-both-old-and-new/

So, in summary, here's what to keep in mind:

It's only a stupid mistake if you don't learn from it!

Rest your brain, and stretch your legs when you do!

Focus on a basic pattern such as breathing or your heart rate to get rid of extra distractions.

Additionally, here's some other basic ideas to incorporate into your study routine and paradigm that will help you to learn more about how you focus and learn best:

Pick your favorite study spot: pick a place that fits your favorite noise levels and where you can focus on work being work. Many students have found that a place resembling a testing center helps, and you should also ensure that you think of that place asthe place where you get your studying work done.

Don't multitask: several studies have shown thatmulti-taskers consistently underperform their peers in terms of memory capacity and attention span. Don't shoot yourself in the foot by taking on too many things at once!

Get a good night's sleep: by getting a good night's sleep, you'll drastically improve your memory and retention of what you're learning and working on. This is a super simple and easy way to improve your test performance in general!

I hope that you find these tips useful. Good luck with your studies and stay diligent!

Question

Does the approach of simply squaring each value hold every time? In other words, 2 times root of 13 squared etc. This way I got values 52, 48, 50 and 54 which helped me to line them up correctly.

Answer

Yes, this works, because all the numbers are positive. Obviously, if one or more of the numbers were negative, squaring them would result in positive numbers, which could change the order. But, yes, as it is, with positive numbers, this will always hold.

One other thing - make sure you square both the value inside and outside the root.

Link

http://gmat.magoosh.com/questions/726

There's several reasons to answer questions in Magoosh twice, but let's start with the most important one:students who answer Magoosh questions 2 or 3 times increase their scores more than our students who answer our practice questions only once. There are biological and psychological reasonswhy this works: spaced repetition and conversion of important concepts from temporary to long-term memory are the key factors.

You might think that you'll remember the answers to questions you've already answered and, sometimes, that's true! Butit's not true most of the time. Most students forget what they learn and write within 3 days, and, because of that, redoing questions has immense value! Whenyou redo a problem, youhave to recall the concepts (or vocabulary or verbal strategies!) required to solve it, and you'll have to use your problem solving skills, which reinforces those concepts and strategies. So get ready to reset your stats and practice questions and dive back in to a fresh poolof practice tests and questions :)

Unfortunately there's no magic formula that will get you the prime factors each time, but you can work through the process systematically! :)

To find the prime factors of a large number, you can make something called a "factor tree"perhaps you learned about this when you were younger, or perhaps you've come across it as you try to master prime factorization for a test. Let's find the prime factors of 14000to show how this works.

Step 1: Find any two numbers, any at all, that multiply to make 14000.

Make it easy! If you can only think of a factor like 2 or 3, that is completely fine! I'm just going to pick 14000 = 14 * 1000 for my first set of factors.

Step 2: With each factor we just found, repeat that process.

Express each factor from the first step as as the product of two smaller factors. I had 14000 = 14 * 1000, so now I want to break apart both 14 and 1000.

14 = 2 * 7

1000 = 10 * 100

So, now I can combine these newly broken apart factors. My tree is now coming along nicely:

14000 = 14 * 1000 14000 = (2 * 7) * (10 * 100)

Step 3: Continue to repeat Step 2 until you have a set of only prime factors.

2 = prime

7 = prime

10 = 2 * 5

100 = 10 * 10

14000 = 14 * 1000 14000 = (2 * 7) * (10 * 100)14000 = (2 * 7) * (2 * 5) * (10 * 10)14000 = (2 * 7) * (2 * 5) * (2 * 5)* (2 * 5)

Step 4: Group all of the prime factors together and rewrite with exponents if desired.

14000 = 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 5 * 5 * 5 * 7 14000 = (2^4) * (5^3) * (7)

To find the exponents, you see how many of each number there are (for example, 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 = 2^4 because there are four 2s). If you do this systematically, you can easily find all the prime factors of large numbers and then use the prime factors to solve a variety of problems about factors. :)

We don't currently have a 60 day daily schedule, however there are a few things you could do:

1. Follow our 2 month, weekly schedule, found here. While this schedule does not give you daily instructions (only weekly), it still covers all the necessary concepts, and is designed for 8 weeks of study.

2. Modify one of the 90 day schedulesto do this, you'll need to cover 3 weeks of the schedule for every 2 weeks you have to study. This sounds a little complicated, but it's really not, if you first visualize your new schedule on paper. For example, you could do the following:

Do "double days" every other week: for one week, cover 2 days of schedule for each day of your studying. Then, the next week, follow the schedule as normal. (Your week 1 = Weeks 1 and 2 of the study plan, Your week 2 = Week 3 of the study plan, Your Week 3 = Weeks 4 and 5 of the study plan, and so on). Since the original plan only requires about 1-2 hours of studying a day, this is definitely doable.

3. Much easier than the above, you could also just follow our one month plan and take 2 days for every one day on the study plan. This will definitely still allow you to cover all of the topics you'll see on the exam. :) And since the 30 day plan require about 3-4 hours of studying a day, if you spread this out over 2 months, you'll still be studying about 2 hours a day.

Thank you for asking a good question! It's easy to miss, but sharing accounts is against our terms of service. We designed the Premium account for one student only, and we believe it works best that way!

Let's look at why it won't work as well with multiple students:

Features like note-taking, lesson marking, etc. will not be personalized to just your needs and learning.

The score predictor on the dashboard will not be accurate, since you wouldn't be the only one answering questions.

We won't be able to help you as well as we'd like, because your answer data will not be personalized and our advice won't necessarily apply to you.

Taking tests or doing practice sessions will be trickier as the system may think you have answered questions that were actually answered by someone else. In other words, you'll miss out on some of the material!

If we do see that you are sharing your account, we won't be able to offer the support that many of our students love most about Magoosh. And we don't want to do that!

In summary, Magoosh is much, much more effective if you have your own account. It is a self-study platform that helps you monitor your personal progress and find insights in data, which works best individually. :)

Question

Can you help me to better understand what the sentence means?

Answer

Now, this is definitely a tricky sentence, partly because it has a slight double negative and there's a bit of ambiguity.

That is, "not lost on" means that the audience did see or understand something. What did they see? The effect she had on others. But what is that effect?

We don't immediately know what "the effect she had on others" refers tothis is the ambiguity. Is it a positive effect? A negative effect? Well, we know the audience members are standing up to leave, so they must see some negative effect. But what exactly is that effect, and who are the "others"? Probably audience members, although it's very general, and again, ambiguous. The trick is that we don't need to understand the whole story; we just need to understand the relationships between blanks!

All that matters is that the comedian has a negative effect, the audience sees that and leaves, trying to ________ (send a message), but the comedian is so ___________ (oblivious) that she can't _________ (discern) the audience's reaction.

Link

http://gre.magoosh.com/questions/2535

Once you send your scores, it will take about 10-15 days to reach the schools you're applying to :)

Let's say you're doing a math practice problem that involves finding the number of "even, positive integers" within a particular interval.

One of the biggest questions you might have while you're solving those types of practice problems might be whether or not to include 0 in your list. Because of that, dealing with 0 can definitely be confusing since there are so many special properties to remember.

But don't fret! :D Here are some important facts to know about zero for test day. :)

1) Zero is even (never odd)

2) Zero is neither positive nor negative (the only number with this property)

3) Zero is an integer (and must be considered when question limits choices to integers)

4) Zero is a multiple of all numbers (x*0 = 0, so 0 is a multiple of any number, x)

5) Zero is not a prime number (neither is 1; smallest prime number is 2)

6) No number can be divided by 0 (including 0 itself), but 0 can be divided by any number (0x = 0,but x0or 0/0 is undefined)

7) Any number to the power of 0 equals 1 (x^0 = 1)

8) 0! = 1! = 1

Any credit or debit card with a Visa, Mastercard, American Express, or Discover logo should work-- you may want to call your bank to pre-authorize the transaction, especially if you are purchasing from outside of the US. You may also want to try using a different card altogether.

Alternatively, you can also pay via Paypal if you have a Paypal account-- just click the Paypal icon on the payment page.

If you still cannot make a payment, email us at [email protected]!

So sorry about that!!We've had some users in India have trouble with signing up as the RBI has placed certain restrictions on PayPal (which handles all of our payment processing). In addition to recommending that our users in India call their bank or card company to pre-authorize the transaction, we've also had users have success with borrowing the credit card of a friend or relative who lives in another country.

I hope that helps! Feel free to let us know if you have any additional questions, and email us at [email protected] if you still cannot make the payment! :)

You can flag a question either on the page of that individual question (next to the timer at the top right) or on the Review page (on the right side of each question row). Flagging is an easy way for you to mark a question that you want to review later. You can also create a custom practice session with questions that you've flagged :)

What is an Error Log?

One of the most important parts of test prep islearning from your mistakes. To do that, of course, you need to remember your mistakes. Anerror log is a great way to record, review, and remember missed answers. This kind of log is also sometimes called amistake journal. In an error log/mistake journal,you make note of specific questions you've missed. You also record details about question format and content, and details about why you missed each question. For general tips on error logging, read this Magoosh article.

How to Format Your Error Log

Now, a lot of test preppers log their missed questions in a spreadsheet, with columns for section, question type, academic concepts in the questions, and so on. But Magoosh actually recommends a more in-depth approach.

In other words, we recommend a log that's more "journal-format." When you make note of your mistakes, don't just indicate what the question was and what your answer was. To truly learn from your mistakes, you should go a few steps further in your error log. For any missed question, think about what actually went wrong, and make note of your exact mistake. What was the flaw in your thinking or approach? And what can you differently when you encounter similar questions in the future? Also really take time to think about and note the exact concepts and strategies involved in your missed questions.

As you journal your mistakes in detail, you should see a pattern of errors emerge. A well-designed error log creates a profile of the kinds of mistakes you most frequently make. Such a mistake journal also allows you to map your path to success. By making note of the reasons you miss answers and the things you could do differently next time, you identify your weaknesses and find the best ways to address them.

Be sure to also record the source of each question, whether it's a web link, a screenshot, or a page number in one of your test prep books. As you review your error log, it's good to have fast, direct access to the question in full.

Mistake Journal Templates: Two Sample Error Logs

There are two different, common, and useful formats for error logging. There is the "long format" error log, which looks at individual questions in great detail. Then there's the "short format" error log. The shorter format gives you a briefer overview of each missed question, while still covering all the most important info. Which one is best for you? That depends a lot on your own learning needs and preferences. Some students even switch between the two formats, depending on what they're studying and what kind of progress they've been making.

Below is a template for each format. While these templates deal with GRE and GMAT questions, they really do work for just about any standardized test. (NOTE: To access one of the Google Doc templates below and use it to create your own error logs, go to File>Make a copy in the Google Doc. Once you've made your own copy, you can alter it as needed. :) )

Long format error log template

Short format error log template

Special thanks to Matthew Slayton (Magoosh Subject Matter Expert) and Andrew Furney (Magoosh student) for filling the templates with great actual notes!

Link

http://gre.magoosh.com/questions/213

Question

Can we use the sum of sequences formula?

Answer

While in a way we can use the same strategy as shown in the sum of sequences video, we can't simply use the formula of (n(n+1))/2, because neither of these sequences are of consecutive integers 1,2,3,4.... That formula is limited to sequences of integers starting from 1 and increasing by 1.

In this case, since we're looking atevenandoddintegers, we can't just apply the formula. But there's an FAQ under that lesson video which explains a strategy. We'll copy-paste that here for easy reference:

Q. How can I use the formula for a sum of n consecutive integers(found at 2:39) to find the sum of numbers in a non-consecutive series, such as {2,4,6,8...100} or {3,5,7,9...101}?

A. Using the formulas in this lesson for solving problems involving the sum of non-consecutive series may be a more efficient strategy than memorizing formulas for specific series, such as the even and odd series.

Looking at the even series 2 + 4 + 6 + 8 + ... + 100, we can break this down into 2 x (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + ... + 50). In other words, we can factor out a 2 from each term. Using the sum of n consecutive integers formula, we can calculate the sum of 1 through 50: 50 x 51/2 = 25 x 51 = 1275. And we multiply that by 2 (the number we originally factored out). 1275 x 2 = 2550. This approach will work for all even numbered series.

For the odd series, well take a slightly different approach since we can't just factor out a number. We know how to calculate the sum of the numbers from 1 to 100. And we also know how to calculate the sum of the even numbers from 1 to 100. So we can do the following:Sum of odd consecutive integers from 1 to 100 = (Sum of all consecutive integers from 1 to 100) - (Sum of even consecutive integers from 1 to 100).

Sum of odds = (100 x 101/2) - [2 x (50 x 51/2)] = 5050 - 2550 = 2500.Now, the set {3,5,7,9...101} requires us to consider 3 to 101 not 1 - 100. So we subtract 1 and add 101 to 2500 and get 2600.

So in this question, we would find that the sum of the first 30 positive even integers would be 2 * (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + ... + 30). Using the formula, we can work that out:

2 * 30(30 + 1)/2 30(30 + 1) 30(31) 930

For the odd numbers, we need to see what the total list would be if both odds and evens were included, all the way up to the 31st odd number. We find that the 31st odd number must be 61. So using the sum of sequences formula, here's what we get:

61(61 + 1)/2 61(62)/2 61(31) 1,891

Subtract out the even sum, 930, and we're left with an odd sum of 1,891 - 930 = 961.

Finally, 961 - 930 = 31.

And here's another approach to the same idea:

Let's start with X, (1+3+5+...+57+59+61). If we add the first and last numbers in the series, we get 1+61 = 62. Similarly, adding the second and second-to-last numbers gives us 3+59 = 62. Next, 5+57 = 62. As we move inward, adding each pair of numbers, we get 62 every time. We know there are 31 numbers in this set, so we can use 15 pairs of numbers. 15*62 = 930.

But in the middle of that set, there's one more number without a partner, 31. When using this strategy, if there's a number left in the middle, it's always half the sum of each pair. That sum was 62, so the number in the middle is 31. So now we have 930 + 31 = 961.

For the even numbers, Y, we follow the same process using (2+4+...+58+60), and we get (60+2) * 15 = 930.

And that means we have our answer:

X - Y = 961 - 930 = 31

prompt_id=213

This article originally appeared as a blog post by Mike McGarry.

Two trains starting from cities 300 miles apart head in opposite directions at rates of 70 mph and 50 mph, respectively. How long does it take the trains to cross paths?

This is a classic problem that sends chills up students' collective spines.I'mnow going to add another bone rattling element: The Empty Box.

Thats rightthe GRE will have a fill-in-the blank/empty box math problem. Therewon'tbe too many, judging from the ETS Revised GRE book, but even a few should be enough to discomfit most.

Solution

Lets go back, and attack the above problem the following way. When you have any two entities (trains, bicyclists, cars, etc.) headed towards each other you must add their rates to find the total rates. The logic behind this is the two trains (as is the case here) are coming from opposite directions straight into each other.

This yields 120 mph, a very fast rate (which accounts for the severity of head-on collisionsdont worry the trains in the problemwon'tcollide).

To find the final answer, we want to employ our nifty old formula: D = RT, where D stands for distance, R stands for rate, and T stands for time.

Weve already found R, which is their combined rate of 120 mph. They are 300 miles apart so that is D. Plugging those values in, we get 300 = 120T. Dividing 120 by both sides, we get T = 2.5 hrs.

Now we can confidently fill that box in, and let the trains continue on their ways.

Many students think that to get a great score on the GMAT, they need to answer every question correctly. Although its logical to think that way, thats not necessarily true! For example, consider these two hypothetical students:

Student 1 answers every question correctly, but they take 4 minutes per question to do so and have to guess for half of the questions.

Student 2 only answers 75% of the questions correctly because they guess on some questions, but uses solution behavior to make educated guesses.

Obviously student 2 would get the higher score, but many students fall into the trap that the optimal strategy is to answer every question correctly. If the student can work fast enough, this should be the case; however, most studentsaren'tgoing to be able to work through every question on the GMAT in enough time, so adopting a pacing strategy is crucial to test day success.

Of course, having a pacing strategy and executing said strategy can be tough! Here are some things you should do during your practice to ensure you have enough time on test day.

Adopt the right mindset!

Most GMAT test takers who score 700+don'tget every question right, nor do they expect to. You can reach your target score by missing a few problems. If you focus too much on trying to get every question correct, you can easily fall behind your goal pace, which may lead to you taking random guesses on questions at the end. This can actually lead to more incorrect answers on your test than if you just skipped a few problems throughout the test.

Know the pacing guidelines.

For quant, this is straightforward: two minutes per question.

For the verbal section, youll want to follow these guidelines for each question type:

Sentence Correction: 60-90 seconds

Reading Comprehension: 6 minutes for a set of 3 questions, 8 minutes for a set of 4 questions, including 2-4 minutes to read the passage.

Critical Reasoning: 90 seconds-3 minutes

For integrated reasoning you should spend two minutes and 30 seconds (2:30) per question set.

Log the time you spend on each question in practice.

This can go in your error log ! One of the great things about Magoosh is that we track how long it takes for you to answer each question, so you can just write that time in. If youre using other material, make sure to use a stopwatch. Keep track of how much time you were off of the suggested time to finish each question above, and make notes of how you can not just complete the question correctly, but more quickly if you were to see it again.

Almost all of your practice should be timed.

It may seem counterproductive at the beginning of your prep -- especially when youre just learning the concepts -- to time all your questions. However, since pacing is an integral part of GMAT success, the sooner you can start developing an internal clock, that will help keep you on track during the actual test.

You should almost always practice as though youre taking the actual test, time limits and all! At the end of a set of questions, you should always review your mistakes, and if you need to skip a question, its OK to review it and work through it then.

It can be really, really hard to get away from tough questions onceyou'veinvested an amount of time in them. The more you develop a sense of when you need to move on from a question, the easier it will be to pace yourself on test day.

Dont be afraid to guess early.

If youcan'tfigure out a way to get the question correct in the first 25-30 seconds, youre better off eliminating as many answers as you can, making a guess, and moving on. You want to give yourself the opportunity to answer as many questions as you know how to answer quickly, so if a question completely confuses you, tell yourself that by moving on, you're sticking to a strategy to get you the highest score possible on the GMAT.

Dont rush through the first 10 questions.

If youre aiming for a 600+ score, the first 10 questions you see will most likely contain the easiest questions youll see on the test. Missing these easy questions will be damaging to your score, sodon'thurry through! Take a few seconds afteryou'veanswered each early question and be sure you didnt make a silly error.

Break the test up into ten question sub-tests.

Youdon'twant to check the time after each question: later in the test it can become hard to see if youre on track or not, and checking the clock too often wastes precious seconds! Instead, you should break the math and verbal sections up into quarters. After sets of 10 questions, you should have the following times left:

Math: 40-20-2

At question 11, you should have at least 40 minutes left.

At question 21, you should have at least 20 minutes left.

At question 31, you should have 2 minutes left, since you're on the last question.

Verbal: 45-27-10

At question 11, you should have at least 45 minutes left.

At question 21, you should have at least 27 minutes left.

At question 31, you should have 10 minutes left.

Lastly, STAY POSITIVE!

A positive mindset is just as important as any formula or grammar rule you need to know for the test! Its important to not think of your mistakes during prep as signs youwon'thit your school and career goals: think of them as mistakes youll be sure not to make on your GMAT. Going off that thought,don'tthink of the questions you skip and guess on during the actual test as mistakes in the making: think of them as an integral part of your strategy for success on test day!

The GMAT can be a pressure cooker of stress. However, the more you practice your pacing strategy heading into test day, the better youll be able to know when to guess and move on from a question, improving your odds of hitting your target score!

Yes. And no. It depends. Sure, not the sort of wishy-washy answer you want to hear, but the truth is the answer depends on your own specific case. While I couldnt possibly account for every case, below are some questions that apply to most. And how you answer them will determine whether you should retake the GRE.

How hard did you prep?

A little bit of math and some reading passages. No big deal, right? Well, oftentimes students of mine have dabbled in the GRE, picking up a book here and there, and figuring the reading comprehension will take care of itself, andthen they end up coming to me the second time around, well-aware that dabbling is not going to cut it. So if you only gave it a 50% or even 70% effort, then you may want to retake the test, especially if you are willing to prep hard.

How much time do you have?

Even if the prior question resonated with you, committing the time and dedication to studying might not have been possible. Unless, you feel you are ready to attack GRE prep with a newfound vigor and intensity, you may want to reconsider taking the test.

Another way of interpreting this question is from the standpoint of deadlinesyou need to apply to a program by a certain date. Unlike the old GRE, the new GRE requires you to wait 21 days before you can retake the test. If applications are due, retaking the test may not be feasible and you may not have a choice but to stick with your current score.

How did you prep?

Preparing for the new GRE is no easy feat. To make things worse the web is veritable blitzkrieg of quick fixes and ultimate vocabulary lists. Off-line thingsaren'tmuch better most books give you the false impression that by simply reading them, your score will automatically go up.

The truth is a lot more complicated to reach your potential you should prep with a variety of resources, both online and paper-based. Even then, some sources are helpful whereas others are harmful. So if you used a Kaplan GRE book (or Princeton Review or even Barrons for that matter) and were shocked test day both by the content of the test and your final score you are not alone. There are better ways to prep. So if you do not use a combination of the best prep resources, you should definitely consider retaking the GRE.

Then of course, there are the classes. About half of all of the students Ive tutored are casualties of the one-size-fits-all, read-from-a-script test prep classes. While you may be in this group, and feel really scammed after all the money you spent (or at least filled with this dread that you are no good at standardized tests), taking a classisn'tnecessarily going to help your reach your maximum potential. There are great tutors, great on-line forums, and great study materials (like Magoosh !) to make retaking the GRE well worth your while.

How was test day?

First time walking into a testing room? The staff made you feel as though you were about to serve a ten-year jail sentence? Overcome with test jitters? (Its natural). Hungover? (shame on you!) There are many reasons for a less than optimal score. So ask yourself, is there something unexpected that happened test day that I could somehow anticipate this time around? Even if it is simply a good nights sleep versus four hours of fitful sleep, retake the test.

What was your score?

If you scored above the 90th percentile and youre a perfectionist shooting for the ultimate score whenyou'vealready qualified for the program youre most interested in, your time may be better spent working on the rest of your application (essays, letters of recommendation, etc.), especially if youre strapped for time as deadlines approach! If you scored significantly lower than you had been performing on your practice tests and you know that theres a lot of room for improvement if you were given a second chance, then Id say you should buckle down and go for it. Focus on getting a solid grasp on the material, but also work on pacing and other strategies to make sure you can score to your full potential on the day of the exam.

To retake or not to retake?

Depending on how you answered these questions, you may seriously want to reconsider taking the test. The worst thing to do is to know you could have done much betterbut never gave yourself the opportunity to prove this so.

We know that things can unexpectedly get busy. We know that plans change. That's why, we are happy to put your account on hold until you have the time to study.

If you would like to pause your subscription, send an email to [email protected] with the subject line, "Need to pause my account."

If you've already sent us a message, be sure to leave your request open and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.

This is a good question that has two different answers. Let's look at each one!

The difference between raw scores and scaled scores

While you can estimate a scaled score from a raw score, there is not a 1-to-1 correspondence. For example, if you have 20/40 on quant, this does not guarantee that your scaled score will be 130 + 20 = 150 points. ETS says:

"The equating process accounts for minor variations in difficulty among the different test editions as well as the differences in difficulty introduced by the section-level adaptation. Thus a given scaled score for a particular measure reflects the same level of performance regardless of which second section was selected and when the test was taken."

By taking difficulty into account in the process, this means that they also introduce hidden analysis into the creation of the score. So while a raw 20/40 gives us some insight, it is better to estimate a 10 point range from approximately 145 to 155.

The difference between projected scaled scores (at the end of the test) and the real scores

The difference was usually much greater when the test first came out, since ETS wasn't sure exactly what the score distribution on the revised GRE would be. But now they've had time to collect plenty of data on student performance, which means there should not be a big difference (if there's even one at all) between the score you saw at the end of your exam and the one you'll see on the official score report, aside from the added AWA score.

Hopefully that helps, and let us know if you have any other questions about this. :) We know the scores are the most important part of this whole process, after all!

What is a concession point?

A concession point is the part of your issue essay where you acknowledge another argument. The point is to show that you have thought about all sides of the issuein depth and that you can anticipate why someone would disagree with you.So, you are basically arguing against yourself in order to show that you understand the whole issue and can think about possible alternatives, even while showing that your argument is strongest!

How do I write the concession point?

The concession point should usually be in your third body paragraph (the fourthparagraph overall). It cantake up a whole paragraph, butit doesn't need to it can be just a few sentences. Check out how Chris incorporates his concession point in his sample issue essay. The concession point (in the fourth paragraph) makes its point without being very long.

You will notice that almost none of the prompts explicitly ask you to write a concession point, however they do typically hint that they want you to discuss what you might say to someone who disagrees with the point you want to make. Here's an example:

"Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position."

Why is the concession point helpful?

Essays that deal with concession point do better because they are fully responding to the prompt! Showing that you have thought about the many facets of the issue and why someone would disagree with you shows critical thinking and broad-mindedness. And critical, broad-minded thinking is something that the GRE purports to test, and that graduate schools expect. :)

Note: this article originally appeared as a blog post by Mike McGarry.

See if you can crack this problem in less than 2 minutes.

Ready, set, go!

Problem:

Mike paints a fence in 9 hours.

Marty can paint the same fence in 5 hours.

Column A

Column B

The time it takes Mike and Marty,

working at a constant rate, to

paint the fence

3 hours

Work rates are one of my favorite problems to teach. Students usually have a formula in their heads that they vaguely remember. Even if they know the formula, they take awhile to put the numbers in the correct places. Assuming theydon'tmake a mistake, the problem can take them 2 minutes to finish.

What if I could show you a way to finish the problem in less than 15 seconds?

And thats with no messy formulas.

Okay first things first lets conceptually work through the problem.

Ask yourself, how much of the job does each person finish in one hour. With Mike, he finishes 1/9 of the job in one hour, because it takes him 9 hours to finish the entire job. With Marty he finishes 1/5 of the job in one hour. Add those two rates together, 1/9 + 1/5 = 14/45 and then Flip It! and you get 45/14. That is greater than 3, so the answer is (A).

Not bad. No cumbersome x and y, or Work Rate 1 and Work Rate 2, Total Work Rate, as many books on the market show you.

But imagine an even faster way. Ready?

All you have to do is multiple the hourly rate to find the numerator and add the rates to find the denominator.

Or more succinctly put, multiply the top; add the bottom.

9 x 5 = 45, 9 + 5 = 14. 45/14.

Its that easy.

Lets try two new numbers.

Mike = 15 hrs, John 5 hrs.

Now heres all you have to do: multiply the top; add the bottom. In other words, multiply the time it takes Mike to do the job by the time it takes John to do the job. Then divide that by the sum of the time it takes Mike to do the job and the time it takes John to do the job.

(15 x 5)/(15 + 5) = 75/20 = 3 hrs.

Because its so easy try the next numbers:

7 hrs and 4hrs, Combined work rate: (Dont look below tillyou'vesolved it)

Ans: 28/11 hrs

I told youno need to get worked up!

Learning vocabulary can be tricky, and there are pros and cons to the various methods that students use to expand their vocabulary. Some prefer the flashcard method, which is incredibly useful because you can learn a large number of words in a fairly short period of time. However, flashcards don't provide you context, within which, you would find the particular word that you are studying. Reading for vocabulary is useful because it does provide that context! However, alone, reading is a very slow method of learning and retaining new vocabulary words. We recommend that you use both methods to expand your vocabulary! =D

How to Use the Magoosh Flashcard App

What is nice about our flashcards is that we eliminate the the arduous task of creating and organizing your cardsinto a coherent deck of vocabulary words. Our desks are ready to go, as is, no questions asked (unless you want to ask us a question about them, using the green 'help' button =D)!

When using our flashcards, try to be honest with the system. If you know that you understand a word, select "I know this word," and our system will generate that word less often than newer words while you are practicing. It's a fairly practical system: we don't want you spending an inordinate amount of time working on words that you already know! =D

Once you have mastered many decks, if you want to review past decks, you might like to reset your progress so the system can once again sort out words you know and words you don't know, in order to repeat the unknown words more often. You can reset your decks by going to the top right of the screen within Magoosh flashcards and clicking Account-->Flashcard Settings-->Reset All Decks.

Remember to pace yourself! In general, it's very hard to learn more than a few new words per day, so don't try to go through multiple decks in one sitting! If you have seen more than 5 or 10 new words in a day, it's almost definitely too much to really remember. =D

Reading to Improve Your Vocabulary

As mentioned earlier, reading for vocabulary improvement is an incredibly useful (and necessary) technique for the GRE. It's extremely important to see the words in real, natural English, which means doing a lot of reading. We generally recommend reading for about 1 hour per day, if you have time! If you're working with a tight schedule, try to read at least 30 minutes per day. As a general rule, the more you read, the better. =D

As you read, make flashcards of the vocabulary words that you don't know. Pause every so often, and recap the main message in your own words. This will help you retain the words that you see as you read.

There are a lot of materials to read out there, but we have found that the 5 materials that are listed below are the gold standard of reading for the GRE:

The New York Times

BBC

The Economist

Art & Letters Daily

The New Yorker

We have found that these resources most accurately replicate the rigor of the reading found on the actual GRE! Moreover, these materials use exquisite vocabulary: I would be willing to bet that you can't read through a single article in one of these materials without finding a GRE vocabulary word.

For some specific articles suggestions, I'd recommend browsing through our "GRE Article of the Month" series. About once a month, Chris selects an GRE-level article and provides both GRE vocabulary for you to focus on as you read, as well as a brief discussion of the piece.

I know, I know! You're thinking that "I would much rather read a good book than an article from The Economist." To that, I say "To each his/her own!" For you book-lovers,check out this post for fiction and non-fiction book recommendations!

There is more to reading for vocabulary than just picking up some literature and thumbing through it for vocabulary. I don't want to skim over these details, so for tips on how to use these reading sources to learn really vocabulary in context, check out these blog posts:

Vocabulary in Context

Reading Vocabulary in Context: Where Should I Start?

GRE Vocabulary Word HighlighterAlso, to help you identify important vocabulary words as you read, Magoosh has a Google Chrome extension that highlights high-frequency GRE words on any website! =) By using this tool at the sites recommended earlier, you can quickly identify real-life examples of the words found on our list of the 1000 Most Important GRE Words. Then, by examining the surrounding context, you can gain a deeper understanding of how these words are actually used.

I like to treat our vocabulary highlighter like it's a game (yes, I have it installed in my computer browser too). Here's how you play:

Treat every sentence that contains a highlighted word as if it is a Text Completion question. Pretend that the highlighted word is a blank space in the question. Read through the sentence, and insert your own word to complete the sentence. The object of the game is to insert your own word, such that you don't change the meaning of the sentence. Then, go back and reinsert the highlighted word. Does the sentence that you created have the same meaning as the original sentence? This is a great way to attach a simplified vocabulary word to some of the more complex vocabulary words that the GRE expects you to know! Try it out! Remember that you can usesites such as wordnik.com or vocabulary.com to look up the actual definition and see additional example sentences of the highlighted word in use. =D

It's also good to employ this strategy whenever you come across unfamiliar words that aren't highlighted! Again, you ultimately want to be a "word detective" as you read, using the surrounding clues to help you determine the meaning of any words you don't know. This is exactly what you're asked to do on the GRE, so it's a great thing to practice as you read! =)

Between the flashcards and regular reading, and ideally some mnemonics, too, you'll be building your vocabulary as efficiently as possible! =D

Whether or not you should take notes while reading GMAT RC passages is a divisive subject. If you're still learning how to hold the most important points of a passage in your mind, we recommend taking notes primarily as a tool to learn how to map the information in the passage.

In this blog post, Mike explains that the best approach is to make a mental map of the passage as you read it. This is something that you can do in your head, by taking "mental notes" on a passage. Your "mental map" should consist of the passage's main idea, and each paragraph's main idea.

Mike also explains that taking physical notes on a passage is a good way to practicing making a "mental map" of the passage. So practice reading passages, and write down brief notes. As you do this, you will get better and better at picking out the important pieces of information from the passage. Then you'll be ready to start making "mental maps" of passages without taking actual notes that you write down.

When you're taking notes as a way to practice, here is what you should do:

1. Take notes at the end of each paragraph

Pause at the end of each paragraph to quickly write down themain point from that paragraph. The idea is to have brief notes that you can reference from the passage.

2. Keep it brief

Try to limit yournote to just a few words. The longer your notes, the more time you're using and the less you're training yourself to remember in your mind, rather than having to write it down. In terms of moving toward being able to read actively and, eventually, to stop taking notes entirely keeping your notes brief is very important.

3. Review your notes to see the main idea of the passage

After you have read the entire passage, look at your notes and ask yourself, "why did the author write this?" This is the main idea.

If you'd like to see an example of the notes you might take on a GMAT passage, I'd suggest taking a look at this video. In the video, Kevin explains how he took notes on this practice GMAT passage.

Notice that after reading the passage, Kevin can use his notes to answer any kind of question he gets. If the question is asking about a specific detail, these notes will help him find the detail in the passage. If the question is asking about the tone or main idea, he can use these notes to help him answer the question in his own words before looking at the answer choices.

But remember: ideally, you should work toward being able to remember these main paragraph ideas without writing anything down. That's called making a "mental map" of the passage (or active reading ).

We generally recommend using flashcards instead of word lists. However, we do understand that word lists can occasionally help with quick review. We've created a PDF of the words from our flashcard app, and you can find it by clicking here. We hope that helps!

For more on flashcards vs. word lists, check out this lesson video.

Some students study for months on end, painstakingly master every single concept, see drastic improvements in their practice test scores, but then end up overwhelmed at the sight of the computer screen that the test is about to appear on. There are a lot of factors that end up producing test stress and test anxiety, but we have tried-and-true methods of dealing with both the biological and psychological underpinnings of these problems and want to share them with you!

Step 1: Fight the Biological Basis of Stress

Managing your breath is one of the biggest and easiest steps you can take towards beating test stress. There's a few reasons for this, but the most important one is that managing your breath allows you to tap into your autonomic nervous system and to engage anti-stress mechanisms. Theautonomic nervous system has two parts: thesympathetic nervous system (SNS) and theparasympathetic nervous system (PNS).Let's learn a little more about both of these halves:

Sympathetic nervous system: The SNS is also known as yourfight-or-flight system. When it turns on, your body produces adrenaline, cortisol, and other stress signals. Your heart rate goes up, your breathing becomes more shallow and faster, muscle tension increases, and your outer muscles receive more blood and oxygen (meaning your brain receives less). Turning on the SNS for very brief periods can be beneficial, but learning to turn it off on test day is critical.

Parasympathetic nervous system:The PNS is also known as yourrelaxation response. The important thing to remember is that it is what allows you to access a state ofrelaxation, focus, recall, and insight. It serves to downregulate production of adrenaline and cortisol; it also slows your heart rate and breathing, reduces muscle tension, and ensures that brain oxygenation is prioritized over your outer muscles.

Clearly, thePNS is the system you want to stimulate on your test day. A little bit ofSNS activation is okay (after all, you don't want to fall asleep on test day!), but you want to be calm, cool, and collected. So, what's the on switch for the PNS?

The on switch for the PNS is your breathing. While you can't consciously direct your SNS to shut off, by breathing deeply, slowly, and from your gut and belly, you can stimulate your PNS. By practicing meditative or deep breathing during your travel to work and in stressful conversations (such as one with your boss, for example), and during non-stressful situations, you will learn to stimulate your PNS and to calmly breathe to fight off fear on test day.

Another way to deal with biological stress is tobe aware of your stress and of irrational responses.One great method of doing this is the practice ofmindfulness.Mindfulness is open-ended awareness. If we move through our lives with mindfulness, we are curious, perceptive, and present to our present circumstances. To practice the skill of mindfulness, you might, for example, try to notice one new thing on your way to work each day, or try to notice each day one new sight or perspective in a place you ostensibly know very well. Mindfulness can be externally focused on the environment, and can also be internally focused: how does your body feel right now? What is the quality of your breath? Are your muscles relaxed? What emotions are passing through you? What thoughts are running through your head? Asking yourself these questions on test day can help you access a less stressful state of mind, and can also serve as a self-control mechanism to help you stimulate your PNS.If you develop a mindfulness practice, enough to have some familiarity with it before you sit for your test, then you will be able to walk into that test and read each question with the same careful eye and open-ended curiosity you have been practicing elsewhere. Your mind will be clearer, and you will feel less stress.

Step 2: Fight the Psychological Basis of Stress

When it comes to psychological stress, you're fighting a battle of your thoughts versus you. Students who take these sorts of tests tend to be educated (at least at a high school and usually at a collegiate level) and successful in their academic or professional career. Our minds tend to have brought us success, but that's a big part of the problem. Whether or not we need to think, the mind secretes and creates thoughts 24/7. Not all of these thoughts are high-quality or even true, and some of them are based on extremely improbable or on unreliable or nonexistent evidence. Ironically, these "junk" thoughts are the ones that frequently trigger our emotions, especially the stressful ones. Becoming an appropriately confident student involves mastering the process of listening to the important non-junk thoughts, especially when it comes to defeating test stress and anxiety. Here's a few ways you can do this:

Create space:

Just as one can be mindful of ones body or ones breath, one can be mindful of ones thoughts. This means simply watching the thoughts as a stream, as a passing parade. When one feels ones self starting to get engulfed in the rollercoaster of a particular thought-pattern, one simply steps back and labels it thought. By that label, we are not saying it is true or false, simply a thought, no more.

If this is new to you, then at first, it will seem next to impossible. Much more than other forms of mindfulness, mindfulness of thought requires tremendous perseverance and conscientiousness. One might find visualization and related tricks helpful for example, imagining an unpleasant scene in your head getting smaller and smaller, or imagining turning down the volume on a troubling voice in ones head. At first, one simply realizes in retrospect, I had that thought, and then I went on that whole emotional ride when I didnt have to! With practice, though, one creates space: space between ones self and the entrance to the rollercoaster, space to insert a more positive thought or space simply to be mindful and breathe deeply. Imagine being able to walk into your test day with that kind of inner spaciousness! Imagine being able to approach your career like that!

Practice: Moments when the mind is apt to be idle are the best times to put effort into this practice: in the shower, commuting time, standing in line, waiting for an appointment, etc. Of course, the very best practice would be a full-blown daily meditation routine. Many of the stress-reducing benefits of meditation simply have to do with enabling folks no longer to ride the thought rollercoasters theydon'twant to ride. In addition to the myriad health and psychological benefits of meditation, such a practice would enable you to approach your test day, or any analogous challenge, with one-pointed clarity and balance. If you can commit to daily meditation, you will see some benefits even in your test a month or two away, and you will see more and more benefits in both your personal life and career as the practice deepens over time. Short of developing a full daily mediation practice, if you just practice mindfulness of thoughts consistently, in the odd empty moments of each day, you will make significant progress derailing the thought rollercoasters thatdon'tserve you, thereby becoming that much more calm and confident at the moments when you need to be on for example, when you take your test.

Another set of thoughts you might encounter arethoughts related to your future and your standardized test. For more on this, check out this great article from our own Mike McGarry. The gist of it is that detaching yourself from stories you imagine about your future is a really important skill to practice. If your future success depends on you getting a certain test score in one of these mental stories, then that's not a story you should be thinking about while practicing for your test or on test day!

Step 3: That Sounds Great, but I Need a Few Clear Steps

Sure thing! We've given you a lot to read about. Here's a short and sweet outline of how to tackle stress using the methods we've described.

Deep breathing throughout the day:Take slow, full breaths during all parts of your day (especially during "in-between" moments).

Cut down on excitement:Excitement and stress feel different, but they both turn on the SNS.A little excitement is fine, but if you chase a lot of excitement, you are asking for a lot of stress. To practice one is to practice the other. This is precisely why a diminutive Zen Master was famous for saying: Adventure heh. Excitement heh. A Jedi craves these things not.

Lower SNS stimulation:This is a tough one. No TV. Very few action movies. No video games. No thrills that turn on adrenaline production. Stay "unplugged" as much as you can -- this is a great way to remove excess mental stimulation from your life.

Sleep:You need 8 hours of sleep each night. You're more likely to turn on your SNS when you're not sleeping well, and you need at least 8 hours of sleep with 1.5 hours of REM sleep to properly encode new concepts you've learned too!

Exercise:Exercise also reinforces concepts you've learned, and helps to clear away dead neurons and to build fresh vasculature in your brain!

No stimulants:Use caffeine and coffee sparinglyat most. Absolutely no energy drinks are acceptable. No recreational drugs and minimal alcohol use is also very important. All of these tamper with your nervous system in ways that can make your test stress much worse.

Eat healthily:More fresh fruits and veggies, fewer processed foods. Drink plain water - not any liquid, but plain water - at least eight big glasses of water a day as a minimum; 3-4 liters per day would be better. Use a sauna or sweat lodge, if you have access to one (drink even more water if you do this).

Insofar as you have the possibility, spend quiet time in Nature, daily if possible:That could be a walk in the woods or walk on the beach if those are close to where you live. It can be looking up at the Moon and night sky in a relatively quiet place. For folks in intensely urban areas, with essentially no easy access to pristine Nature, it even can be as minimal as sitting and staring at potted flowers, or feeling the wind or rain on your skin. - In the STAR WARS movies, the Force was described as flowing from Nature, from living things, and all the planets that played a significant role in defeating the Evil Empire were forest or jungle planets. The human mind spontaneously enters a calmer and more spacious emotional place when we spend some time walking around in Nature. Whatever else the Force is, it is about stimulating relaxed mindful awareness of the PNS.

For mindfulness practice, start the habit of noticing one new thing in each familiar environment of your life: your office, your own living space, familiar stores, friends houses, etc. Each time you are there, force yourself to notice something you have never noticed before: it may be an object, or color, or scent, or sound. It may be just a perspective or point of view. It may be a quality of light & shadow at a particular moment of the day. It may be intuitive, a vibe about the place. Force yourself to notice something new every day, or every time you are there. At first, it may feel like there are only a few possibilities, and you will run out in a week or so, but the more you practice this, the more you realize: even the most familiar place offers a veritable infinitude of new discoveries.

Practice curiosity and wonder:This is not so much inquisitiveness, needing to know the answer to things. Its more about opening up questions that may not have any clear answer. Be curious about what other peoples experience might be like, all the minor characters in the film of your life. Be curious about natural things: plants, birds, patterns of water flow, etc. Be curious about histories and stories of people and things. Every day, challenging yourself to entertain genuine curiosity about something which, previously, it never occurred to you to find interesting in the least.

If you feel ambitious about practicing mindfulness, read one of the respected authors: Jon Kabat-Zinn, Mark Epstein, Jack Kornfield, and Joseph Goldstein. If you feel particularly ambitious about becoming a Jedi Master, then start a daily meditation practice.

Step 4: Check Out These Helpful TED Talks

1. The Optimism Bias

Did you know having an optimistic outlook can actually change your future? Well, kinda. According to Tali Sharot in this TED Talk, most people are naturally inclined toward what she calls the Optimism Bias, which is great news because having a positive outlook on life can lower stress and boost your motivation. That leads to better real life outcomes for you and a healthier lifestyle. A little dose of positivity can go a long way on test day.

2. The Skill of Self Confidence

Dr. Ivan Joseph, the Athletic Director and head varsity soccer coach at Ryerson University, explains why self confidence is important on and off the playing field.

3. Inside the Mind of Champion Athletes

Yes, its more confidence advice from a sports perspective, but stay with us here. Theres something to be said for athletes who are able to master a skill and get in the zone. Youll also want to be able to enter a similar kind of flow state on test day, but youll need to get your mind right first!

In this TED Talk, Martin Hagger discusses specific techniques that athletes and coaches use to get psychologically prepared for game day, and how those techniques could be used to maximize performance. (As you listen to this one, replace game day with test day and we promise youll see some parallels.)

4. Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are

This is one of the more popular Ted Talks so maybeyou'veheard it before, but its definitely still worth adding to the list. In this one, Amy Cuddy gives everyone some quirky advice for boosting your confidence on important days: power posing.

Thats right, getting big and striking a Superman pose right before your test could change the way you think about yourself and get you in the right mindset for total domination. Give it a try! (But you might want to do it in the bathroom you know, where peoplecan'tsee you.)

5. How to Stop Screwing Yourself Over

In this TED Talk, Mel Robbins reminds us how incredible it is that you and I even exist. (Did you know we beat a one in four-hundred trillion chance to be here today? Thats nuts.) She encourages us be confident and push the boundaries of our comfort zones in order to achieve great feats. Youll walk away feeling like the ability to change your own life and your test score is totally in your hands.

In Summary...

Learning to control your PNS and your negative thoughts by implementing healthy physical and mental habits is a surefire way to conquer your test stress and anxiety. Even working on just a few of these at a time can be extremely helpful! Additionally, check out this feature article from a fellow student who also struggled with test stress and learned to master it. Finally, if you have any doubts about this or need some extra encouragement, just drop us a line from your Dashboard or at [email protected] :) Good luck!

Here at Magoosh, we always strive to answer your questions as quickly, fully, and accurately as possible :D You may not realize it, but you play an important part in our achievement of that goal! A well-formulated question sets us on a path to success. Below are a few quick question-writing tips that help us, help you. :D

Let us know who you are. If youre sending in a question via the Help button in Magoosh, then weve already got you covered. :D If youre writing in to [email protected], make sure that youre using the same email account that you use to sign in to Magoosh, or provide us with the email linked to your account if youre writing from a different address. That way, we can already see your account andwon'thave to ask you for that information before answering your question. :D

For academic questions, give us context. Again, if you use the Help button on the page of a Magoosh question or lesson you need help with, well already know where youre coming from :D But if youre asking about a question from official materials (i.e. something from ETS PowerPrep, GMAC GMAT Prep etc.), its very helpful to include the full text of the question and answer choices. Screenshots or pictures work well! Please note that we do not answer questions about outside sources. In order to keep our prices affordable for students, we prioritize Magoosh and officially released ETS materials.

Provide as much detail as possible. If you need help with a practice question or lesson, what approach did you take and where are you stuck? If you need clarification on something said in a video, at what point in the video did it occur? If youre having a technical problem, what device/browser are you working on? If youd like to inquire about an extension, how much more time do you need? Asking a detailed question helps us give you a detailed answer, right off the bat. :D

Happy studying, and we look forward to helping you along the way!

Question

Can I solve this by using 2 as positive integer x divided by 11?

Answer

This is pretty trickyif we have 2 divided by 11, the remainder is actually 2. The remainder is 2 because the quotient is 0 (11 goes into 2 zero times). The "remainder" is what's left after you multiply the 0 by 11 and subtract from 2.

Basically, just like 14/3:

quotient = 4

remainder = 14 - (4 x 3) = 2

2/11:

quotient = 0

remainder = 2 - (0 x 11) = 2

This pattern is the same for any x < 11 (the remainder will just be equal to x). So the remainder will always be smaller than the divisor.

Link

http://gre.magoosh.com/questions/218

Question

Can the "trick" taught in the videos be used to find the number of odd positive divisors, including 1? After prime factorization of 540, I'm left with 2^2 * 3^3 * 5^1. Now to get odd divisors, I understand we must remove 2 and consider 3^3 * 5^1. Can I use the 'trick' which says the number of positive divisors = (power+1)(power+1)? In this case it'll be (3 + 1)(1 + 1) which gives the correct answer 8. Is that just a coincidence or is the trick valid even for finding odd divisors after removing 2?

Answer

It turns out that the "trick" can be used the way you mentioned to find the number of odd positive divisors, including 1.

So to find the total number of factors, we can add one to each to power in the prime factorization of an integer, then multiply all the (power + 1)s together. For 540, we would have (2 + 1)(3 + 1)(1 + 1) = 24 factors.

To find the number of odd factors (which includes 1), we can exclude any power of 2 and do the same. For 540, we have (3 + 1)(1 + 1) = 8 odd positive factors.

To find the number of even factors, we can multiply the number of odd factors by the power of 2 (not the power of 2 + 1!!!). For 540, we have (3 + 1)(1 + 1)(2) = 16 even factors.

Of course, also note that the total number of factors = the number of even factors + the number of odd factors.

Let's take 6300 as another example, for which the prime factorization is:

2^2 * 3^2 * 5^2 * 7

We have (2 + 1)(2 + 1)(2 + 1)(1 + 1) = 54 total factors

We have (2 + 1)(2 + 1)(1 + 1) = 18 odd factors

We have 18 * (2) = 36 even factors

Link

http://gre.magoosh.com/questions/309

Question

If abc/def = a/d * b/e * c/f, then why doesn't (a * b)/c = (a/c)(b/c)? The quiz solution says (a * b)/c = (a/c)b...but shouldn't b have a denominator of c?

Answer

Dividing by a value is the same as multiplying by its reciprocal. So dividing by 2 is the same as multiplying by (1/2), or for this problem, dividing by c is the same as multiplying by (1/c). One way you could think about the a*b/c term is to split it up with parentheses into a set of multiplications:

a*b/c = (a) * (b) * (1/c)

Since you can re-order multiplications, all these are equivalent statements:

(a)(b)(1/c) = (a)(1/c)(b) = (a/c) * (b)

If you want, we can try plugging in some numbers to make sure that (a * b)/c = (a/c) *b

For example, let's try a = 3, b = 4, and c = 6

(a * b)/c = (3 * 4)/6 = 2

(a/c) *b = (3/6) * 4 = 2

2 = 2

However, for ab/c=(a/c)(b/c), we can't separate out both (a/c) and (b/c). Let's try it with the same numbers above:

a = 3, b = 4, and c = 6

(a * b)/c = (3 * 4)/6 = 2

(a/c)(b/c) = (3/6)(4/6) = (1/2) * (2/3) = 1/3

2 does not equal 1/3

When you simplify fractions, there are a few rules you have to stick to regarding numerators and denominators,the following video lessons may be of help:

operations with fractions

fraction properties

Link

http://gre.magoosh.com/questions/2619

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While the ETS Pool of Argument Topics seems impossibly large, there is actually a lot of overlap and duplication! There are only 8 different instructions, and each prompt can appear with multiple sets of instructions.

First, here is a breakdown of the 8 different sets of instructions. Note that each of these instructions is essentially asking you to do the same thing. You can read more about this here: How do I Deal with Different Argument Task Prompts.

Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument. (52 times)

Write a response in which you discuss one or more alternative explanations that could rival the proposed explanation and explain how your explanation(s) can plausibly account for the facts presented in the argument. (11 times)

Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation is likely to have the predicted result. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation. (21 times)

Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted. (50 times)

Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation. (24 times)

Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the prediction and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the prediction. (14 times)

Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be addressed in order to decide whether the conclusion and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to the questions would help to evaluate the conclusion. (2 times)

Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the advice and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the advice. (2 times)

It is also important to realizethat there are sometimes duplicate prompts. Consider these two:

The following appeared in a letter to the editor of a local newspaper.

"Commuters complain that increased rush-hour traffic on Blue Highway between the suburbs and the city center has doubled their commuting time. The favored proposal of the motorists' lobby is to widen the highway, adding an additional lane of traffic. But last year's addition of a lane to the nearby Green Highway was followed by a worsening of traffic jams on it. A better alternative is to add a bicycle lane to Blue Highway. Many area residents are keen bicyclists. A bicycle lane would encourage them to use bicycles to commute, and so would reduce rush-hour traffic rather than fostering an increase."

Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.

The following appeared in an editorial in a local newspaper.

"Commuters complain that increased rush-hour traffic on Blue Highway between the suburbs and the city center has doubled their commuting time. The favored proposal of the motorists' lobby is to widen the highway, adding an additional lane of traffic. Opponents note that last year's addition of a lane to the nearby Green Highway was followed by a worsening of traffic jams on it. Their suggested alternative proposal is adding a bicycle lane to Blue Highway. Many area residents are keen bicyclists. A bicycle lane would encourage them to use bicycles to commute, it is argued, thereby reducing rush-hour traffic."

Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.

The prompt is the same, but the instructions are different. There are several examples of this sort of duplication in the Pool of Argument topics.

When you take a closer look at the list of argument prompts, patterns and categories begin to emerge which can help you to break down the AWA task and prepare more effectively for the Argument essay.

The information in this article originally appeared as a blog post by Chris Lele.

They may only have one blank, but that does not mean text completions of this kind are easy. On the contrary, one-blank text completions can sometimes be more difficult than their two-blank, and even three-blank, counterparts. So, unless you want to be lulled into complacency, follow the strategies below.

Look for Clues

Your enemy on text-completions, regardless of the number of blanks, is the answer choice. Sure, I know, they are tempting. All you have to do is plug them into the blank, and see how they sound. Falling into this trap, however, can lead you to miss a question you could answer correctly, if you had just plugged in your own word.

Instead, you should always look for the clue, which is a word or phrase that tells you what the blank is about. If there were no such words, then the blank could be about anything. Indeed, you would be playing a game called Mad-libs, in which any word can fit in the blank. With the new GRE, however, there will always be one and only one answer. To find out what that is, you must look for the clue.

Come up with Own Word

Your own word doesnt have to be an eloquent one, or even a GRE word, for that matter. In fact, sometimes a simple word is your best option. As long as your word matches up with the clue, then you are halfway there.

Match Words with Clues

The final step is to just find your word with the clue. Sometimes, you may be left with more than one answer choice. Other times, you have eliminated both answers. In either case, go back and make sure your word matches with the answer.

Practice Problem

With characteristic _____, H.L. Mencken skewered the sacred cows of his time, criticizing social trends and government institutions with equal asperity.

(A)hauteur

(B)playfulness

(C)vitriol

(D)civility

(E)dash

Approach

The clue here iscriticizing. Sure, it helps to know what sacred cows (they are cherished beliefs) and asperity (bitterness) are, but you should still be able to come up with your own word based on criticizing. My word is criticizing-ness. I know it is not an actual word. But, thats the whole point you only have to get the meaning of the blank and the meaning of criticizing-ness is clear.

Now, lets go through the answer choices. Hauteur may be unfamiliar to you, but you should notice it comes from the word haughty, which means arrogant (this is a very common GRE word, and is, infact, used to define more difficult GRE words, such as supercilious). Arroganceisn'tquite criticizing-ness.

Next we have (B), butplayfulness clearly doesnt work. Then, we have (C) vitriol, the most difficult word of the bunch, and the GRE knows this. In fact, they are offering answer choices that kind of fit the clue, like hauteur, but not really. (D) civility is not one of these words, but (E) dash is. If you do something with dash, you do it with flair. Couldnt you criticize something with flair? Sure. The only problem is, there is no clue that is word or phrase that supports dash.

Of course, knowing asperity helps. Asperity, meaning bitterness, matches up perfectly with vitriol, which means bitter criticism.

Even had you not known this, successfully eliminating three of the five answers gives you a 50-50 chance of guessing correctly. Plugging in the answer choices into the blanks, on the other hand, does not increase your odds.

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Question

Should the interest in the 36th month be far greater than the interest of $200 in the first month?

Answer

Great question! It will be greater, but it won't be far greater.

Even if we round up to 40,000 and increase by 10% every year for three years, we have:

1.3 * 40,000 = 52,000

This is because we add 10% to our principle of 40,000 every year for 3 years, at the end of the 3 years we will have 30% more principle than we started with, or 1.3 times the principle.

And .5% of 52,000 is about 250still less than 300, not even close to 714, which is the next largest answer choice.

I took .5% (not 5%) because that is the monthly interest. Remember, it's 6.2% interest compounded monthly, so we have:

6.2 (or about 6) / 12 = .5% interest per month.

Of course, it would be fine to use the calculator here to multiply something like:

40,0001.06 * 1.06 * 1.06.5 / 100 = 238

40,000 is the principle, increasing about 6% per year, so we multiply by 1.06 (100% + 6%) three times. Then, we multiply by .5/100 because our monthly interest rate is .5%.

Link

http://gre.magoosh.com/questions/4206

Within ETS's pool of issue tasks, you might see some that look like this:

Claim: The surest indicator of a great nation must be the achievements of its rulers, artists, or scientists.

Reason: Great achievements by a nation's rulers, artists, or scientists will ensure a good life for the majority of that nation's people.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim and the reason on which that claim is based.

These prompts might seem different from the others, but the strategy for writing the essay is essentially the same as in any issue task. To write the essay, you first need to choose a side (agree or disagree), then provide a few reasons why your opinion is the more sensible one, and briefly look at how the other side could be tempting but is ultimately not the right path.

In the prompt that asks about a claim and a reason, the main idea which you must either support or contradict is the claim. The reason given just provides you with material for your reasons. If the given reason is weak, then you have an opportunity to explain why it is weak and therefore how you came to your own conclusion about the claim. If you agree with the reason, then you can expand it further with concrete examples.

Most important,you need to either agree or disagree with BOTH the Claim AND the Reason. When you write your response and argument, you must take into account the reason and specifically focus your area around that reason.

For more information on this task, please check out our blog post about it:

http://magoosh.com/gre/2013/gre-claim-and-reason-issue-essay/

Unfortunately, we don't havean essay or speech review service, at least not fornow. That said, we do havevideos that show, with examples,exactly what a good response should have.Our lesson videos also cover, in detail,how to write and speak onthe TOEFL.

You can evaluate your own responses by comparing them to our sample responses. Check out this page for more information on grading your own responses :)

Wait, don't worry!

Getting a lower test score on a practice test isn't necessarily a sign that you aren't improving or that you're getting worse. This back to your earlier tests... were you more accurate, or were you a lucky guesser? This may not be true in every case, but it happens a lot!

If that doesn't sound like you, then something else is happening. Like the situation below.

Learning takes time

There is a learning curve to new material (not just test material). This means that at first, once you have started using a new approach or applying new information, your speed decreases and your accuracy tends to dip, too.Have you ever had to completely organize a room, so first you had to take everything out of drawers, boxes, etc.? It looks like a disaster (worse than before you started!) for a while until you finally start to see improvement. The same thing happens when studyingthere is a period where new information and strategy significantly slows the test taker's thinking and can even reduce accuracy. You have to push through this and get to the improvement side.

You may be passing through the period where your mind is bogged down with new strategies and tips; you have to think very hard through each step and you have not internalized and mastered the additional strategies (yet)! You'll be okay, though. We promise. :)

In summary

Our practice tests are pretty accurate, yes, but it's actually very common for students to drop a bit in score at some point in their studies. This might because they're focusing on new, maybe less comfortable things, or just because they had a bad day. But as you keep practicing, anything new you've learned (test strategy, math skills, verbal techniques) will become more comfortable and your score will improve. The trick is to keep doing test-like, timed practice. If you are anywhere near the date of your test (less than a month), then from now on, try to make every bit of practice as test-like as possible).

In a sense, structure is everything in GMAT SC. If the structure is wrong-- either in terms of word form, word choice, or missing words-- the answer choice is wrong.

It's not that hard to spot structure errors in shorter sentences. Indeed, in a short sentence, you may recognize errors very swiftly, perhaps even instinctively.

But "swift and instinctive" isn't the approach you want to take with GMAT SC. There, you want to take a little more time to really look at the "deep structure" of long, complicated sentences. You want to be grammarconscious, rather than justreacting to grammar.

To do this, you need to be aware of the kinds of phrases, clauses, and other structures that act as the building blocks of sentences. Below, we'll review those structures.

Review of Phrases

There are three types of phrases you should pay close attention to in GMAT SC: noun phrases, verb phrases, and prepositional phrases. As you look at the definition of these phrases below, remember that "phrase," in grammar terminology, can mean a single word. A noun phrase can be just one noun, or a noun plus other words that modify it. And a verb phrase or prepositional phrase can also be one word long or contain multiple words. Also remember that one smaller phrase can be contained inside another. A verb phrase can contain a smaller prepositional phrase, a prepositional phrase can contain a noun phrase, and so on.

Types of phrases

Noun phrase: A noun, plus any other structures (such as determiners, adjectives, or prepositional phrases) that modify the noun.

Examples:dogthe dogthe big dogthe big dog in the house

Verb phrase: A verb, plus any other structures that modify the verb

Examples:runsconstantly runsconstantly runs with great speed

Prepositional phrase:a preposition, plus any words that modify the preposition

Examples:inin the kitchenin light of the fact that she needs exercise

These three phrase types can be combined in different ways to form sentences. Here are a few example sentences made from the examples above:

The big dog constantly runs, in light of the fact that she needs exercise.

The dog runs in the kitchen.

The dog runs.

The big dog in the house constantly runs.

Some of these example phrases have other smaller phrases inside them. "The big dog in the house" is a noun phrase that contains the smaller prepositional phrase "in the house." In turn, "in the house" contains the noun phrase "the house" as its prepositional object. Look at the other example phrases above. How many times can you find a phrase-within-a-phrase in the examples?

Diagramming phrasesOften, GMAT SC will "hide" a mistake inside a small phrase within-a-phrase. So when one phrase contains other phrases, you need to be able to notice this. Check for problems in both the bigger phrase and the smaller "contained" phrases. To practice this skill, you can diagram phrases, identifying and labeling their elements.

Here is a "plain text" diagram of the phrase "the man on the hill":

[[[the man (<main noun) [[on [the hill](<noun phrase)](<prepositional phrase)](<entire noun phrase)

That diagram is relatively simple. You could also differentiate between individual words, such as the preposition (on), and the determiners (the). Use as much detail as you need in order to study effectively and understand the structures within a phrase.

The diagrams above use brackets, parenthesis, and italics to label the parts of the phrase. You can also visually diagram a phrase by using pen and paper or a whiteboard computer program (such as MS Paint). Here's a more visual diagram of"the man on the hill":

this Magoosh GMAT Blog post

Many incorrect SC answers involve phrases that are incomplete, unclear, or improperly formed. So the information and practice activities we've just gone over are very important on the GMAT.

Phrases in GMAT SC sentencesNow, let's look at what phrase structure looks like in a typical GMAT SC sentence. Here is an example sentence from Magoosh GMAT practice:

Original sentence: China perennially has been the world's leader in tea production, and its fascination with tea has deep historical roots, as exemplified by the tea ceremony, which has analogs in Japan and Korea.

That same sentence, with phrases diagrammed:

Follow-up practice

Try diagramming the phrases in a few GMAT sentences of your own. You could use highlighting and bullet points as seen above. Or you could do a more visual diagram of the sentence, using pen and paper or a whiteboard, as seen in the earlier diagram of the phrase "the man on the hill."

Review of Subjects, Predicates, Sentences and Clauses

You (probably) don't use grammar terminology in everyday conversation. So let's start start with a quick review of the key grammar terms at hand.

subject: the main noun phrase in a clause or sentence

predicate:the main verb phrase in a sentence or clause; modifies the subject of a clause or sentence

clause: any grammar structure that contains a subject and predicate

sentence: a complete, self-contained statement, marked in writing by a capital letter at the beginning, and either a period, exclamation point, or question mark at the end. (In GMAT SC, the punctuation at the end of a sentence will nearly always be a period.)

The relationship between subjects, predicates, clauses, and sentences

Both a clause and sentence have a subject and predicate.(Sentences with more than one clause will contain more than one subject and predicate.)

Ex: The dog chased the cat. (The dog is the subject; "chased the cat is the predicate; "The dog chased the cat." is both a clause and a complete sentence.)

A predicate can take many forms, such as:

Verb only: The dog ate. (The predicate is most likely to be verb-only when the verb or verb phrase is intransitive.)

Verb and direct object: The dog ate the meat.

Verb and prepositional phrase: The dog ate from a plate.

Verb and adjective: The dog is big.

Verb and direct object and prepositional phrase: The dog ate the meat from the plate.

And so on.

In GMAT SC, wrong answers will often feature a mistake between the subject and predicate. For instance, the subject could be missing, or a verb could be missing from the predicate. Or there could be a contradiction between the subject and predicate, such as a singular noun in the subject but a plural verb in the predicate. There are other possibilities too, so be aware of subjects and predicates and be ready to check them with care on the GMAT.

The difference between a sentence and a clause

As I mentioned earlier, a sentence is marked as complete and self-contained, because it begins with a capital letter and ends with final punctuation.

On the other hand, as I said, a clause is any string of words that has both a subject and a predicate. A complete sentence can be a clause.However, other clauses are just part of a larger sentence.The two types of clauses

There are two types of clauses:independent clauses anddependent clauses

Independent clauses could form their own sentence if they were written with a capital letter at the beginning and punctuation at the end. A complete sentence is an independent clause, but many other complete sentences consist of independent clauses with other phrases or clauses attached to them.

Ex: Its raining outside. (In this case, the independent clause is the entire sentence.)

Ex: Its raining outside, which is unfortunate. (Here, the independent clause is the opening part of the sentence, and it is followed by a dependent clause.)

Ex:Its raining outside, and I forgot my umbrella. (In this case, two independent clauses are joined by the conjunction and.)

Ex: At the moment,it's raining outside.(A prepositional phrase is attached to the front of the independent clause. This could also be re-worded as "It's raining outside at the moment.")

Dependent clauses, if isolated,don'twork as complete sentences. They can only be part of a larger sentence, and they add information to an independent clause.

Ex: Because she had a meeting after work, she got home late. (Because makes the dependent clause unable to stand on its own as a sentence. If youdon'tadd an independent clause, the reader is left to ask Because what?)

Ex: The music played until the CD player was unplugged. (Here, until places the clause inside a prepositional phrase. Any clause inside a prepositional phrase is dependent.)

Ex: It is important they be allowed to participate. (Here they be allowed to participate is a dependent clause, written in subjunctive mood.)

There are many different grammar forms that create dependent clauses. Whats important is to be able to recognize a dependent clause when you see it in a sentence, regardless of the reason the clause is dependent. Remember the real litmus test for a dependent clause: if you capitalized the clause and gave it end punctuation, would work as a complete sentence? If the answer is "no," then you have a dependent clause.

In SC on the GMAT, watch for dependent clauses that are wrongly being used as independent clauses. And watch for independent clauses that aren't properly marked, or have a missing subject or missing verb. And in general, be aware of where clauses begin and end, so you can properly analyze all structures in the sentence.

Follow-up practice

Quickly recognizing and analyzing clauses is an essential GMAT SC skill. You can build this skill by diagramming GMAT SC sentences to mark the clauses. Again, you can diagram these on a computer by using highlighting,bold type labels, bullet points etc. Or you can diagram such sentences with the pen/paper or whiteboard method. In some cases, you may want to reproduce and separately diagram a dependent clause. Below are some example SC sentences from Magoosh GMAT, diagrammed:

Applying Knowledge of Each Grammatical Feature to Real SC Questions

So far, we've looked atsentences, but not entire GMAT SC questions with multiple answer choices. But in this final part of the tutorial, we'll make the leap from grammar theory to grammarapplication. Below, we'll go through a full Magoosh GMAT SC question, answer choices and all. Step-by-step, I'll show you how to solve this SC problem using your knowledge of noun phrases, verb phrases, prepositional phrases, predicates, clauses, and sentences.

Example Question

An increase in the number of protons, when unaccompanied correspondingly by an increase in the number of neutrons, almost always produce an unstable isotope of an element higher on the Periodic Table.

A. when unaccompanied correspondingly by an increase in the number of neutrons, almost always produce

B. when not accompanied by a corresponding increase in the number of neutrons, almost always produce

C. when that is unaccompanied correspondingly by an increase in the number of neutrons, almost always produces

D. if not accompanied by a correspondingly increased number of neutrons, almost always produce

E. if not accompanied by a corresponding increase in the number of neutrons, almost always produces

Solving the Example Question with Grammar Principles

So how do we find the right answer, using grammar knowledge? Lets start by applying all of this grammar knowledge to answer choice (A). Is (A) correct, based on proper use of noun phrases, verb phrases, subjects, predicates, and dependent/independent clauses?

Prepositional phrases: You should notice in (A) that when neutrons is a prepositional phrase. This phrase is closed off by commas.

Clauses: The prepositional phrase when neutrons stands in the middle of the of a clause in (A), which is: An increase in the number of protons almost always produce an unstable isotope of an element higher on the Periodic Table. A quick inspection shows that this clause is the only clause in the sentence, and its independent. So basic clause structure in (A) is OK.

Subjects and predicates: The GMAT loves to test improper or incomplete subject predicate pairings. So the next thing you should do is identify the subjects and predicates in the sentences independent clause. Here, the subject is An increase in the number of protons. The predicate is almost always produce an.

Noun phrases and verb phrases: Remember, subjects consist of noun phrases. Predicates consist of the verb phrase, plus anything that follows the verb phrase. The noun phrase of this sentences clause is again An increase in the number of protons. The main verb phrase in the predicate is almost always produce, with almost and always as adverbs, and produce as the verb. But wait a minute. In the noun phrase, the main noun is an increase." (Since the other noun phrase, the number of protons is actually inside the subjects modifying prepositional phrase.) Increase is a singular noun. Produce is a plural verb. This is an error! You can eliminate answer(A).

So, by applying knowledge of all grammar forms, you can identify and examine the subject and predicate of this GMAT SC sentence. You can recognize that produce modifies the subject, and modifies it incorrectly.

Based on your grammatical analysis of (A), you can also eliminate answers (B) and (D). These choicestoo have the verb produce incorrectly modifying the noun increase.

This leaves (C) and (E). Lets look at those choices again, complete with the sentence that surrounds the answer choice. Then, lets apply grammar knowledge once more to see which of these two are correct. Here's the prompt again, followed only by the answers we haven't eliminated yet:

An increase in the number of protons, when unaccompanied correspondingly by an increase in the number of neutrons, almost always produce an unstable isotope of an element higher on the Periodic Table.

C) An increase in the number of protons, when that is unaccompanied correspondingly by an increase in the number of neutrons, almost always produces an unstable isotope of an element higher on the Periodic Table.

E) An increase in the number of protons, if not accompanied by a corresponding increase in the number of neutrons, almost always produces an unstable isotope of an element higher on the Periodic Table.

If you look at (C), you can see that the prepositional phrase has been changed so that it contains a full clause, beginning with that is. The word that serves as a demonstrative pronoun-subject. (You can see details on demonstratives in .) So in this clause, whats the verb phrase? Its is unaccompanied correspondingly. Is unaccompanied is the verb, and correspondingly is the adverb. But wait in English, the normal position of the adverb is before the verb, not after it. So we have some awkwardness here. This may eliminate (C). But lets apply grammar knowledge to (E) before we make up our minds.

In (E), we have an if clause instead of a prepositional phrase. At first, it seems like this clause is incomplete. Theres no subject. But remember, in if-clauses, the phrase it is can be contracted. This means the subject and verb it is can be left out but implied. So the subject and predicate are both there in the clause, but are contracted and implied. So the if clause has an acceptable structure here. Next, lets look at the prepositional phrase inside the if" clause, the one that starts with by a. Remember that in GMAT rules, only a noun phrase can be a prepositional object. Were OK here in (E), because increase is a noun. The same goes for the smaller prepositional phrase within by neutrons. This phrase, with the preposition in is has number for an object, and number is a noun. So (E) is correct!.

Follow-up activity

Go through additional SC questions. Use your knowledge of prepositional phrases, verb phrases, and noun phrases to locate and examine the clauses, subjects, and predicates in each sentence. Then apply that knowledge and select the correct answer choice.

Let's first discuss the termabsolute value. The absolute value is fundamentally aboutthe distance between two values, depending on the expression contained within the absolute value sign. For example, the distance between two numbers x and y can be written as |x y|. Therefore:

|x|=|x 0|is the distance of x from 0, the origin.

|x 5|is in fact the distance of (x 5) from the origin. So another way of interpreting this is that|x 5| is the distance between x and 5

Let's look at some more examples:

|3 5| = |-2| = 2. In other words, 3 and 5 are a distance of 2 units apart.

|-2 6| = |-8| = 8. In other words, -2 and 6 are a distance of 8 units apart.

|4 (-7)| = |4 + 7| = |11|. In other words, 4 and -7 are a distance of 11 units apart.

To summarize,the distance between two numbers x and y is defined by a subtractive relationship: |x y|. Thus, when our 'y' term is positive (like 5), the distance between x and 5 is simply |x 5|. When our 'y' term is negative (like -5), the subtraction sign getsconverted to a plus sign, and the distance between x and -5 can be written as: |x (-5)| = |x + 5|.

For further reading on absolute values, consider the following:

Magoosh Blog: Absolute Values

Let's say you're doing quantquestions for the GMAT and you encounter a diagram that looks like a square - but is it really a square? If it doesn't explicitly say it's a square in the question, can you safely assume it is or not?

Guessing at what you can or cannot assume for a diagram can take a lot of time and energy. It can also be confusing and frustrating when you're trying to solve practice problems efficiently! Don't worry, though! :D Here, you'll find information about what you can and cannot safely assume is true for diagrams on the GMAT. :)

Important note: What you can and cannot assume will depend on the type of practice problem you're doing. Diagrams in Data Sufficiency questions will have different assumptions than diagrams in Problem Solving questions on the GMAT.

Things you can comfortablyassume for DS and PS questions:

1. Any line or line segment that is drawn to look straight is straight. This means there is no hidden bend or curve to the figure. It it looks straight, rest assured that it is straight! In addition, if points lie on the line (For example, a line goes through points A, B, and C) then you can say that those points are "collinear" or that they lie on the same straight line. Be careful, though: this doesn't mean a given line or segment is horizontal or vertical.

2. Any information given in the question prompt is in the diagram.If information about the figure is given in the question prompt (lengths, angles, etc), then you can assume this is reflected in the diagram.

3. If a given figure is named (For example, Figure A is a rectangle) you can assume the figure has all the properties of that type of shape. This meansits important to know the theorems and the defined properties of shapes. You should know what it means if something is an equilateral triangle or a rhombus, so brush up on your geometry rules! In addition, if you're told that a figure is a polygon - you can assume that it is aclosed shape and aconvex shape.

GRE Geometry Diagram Assumptions

Things you can assume for DS questions only

1. The diagram is not drawn to scale.The diagram will only reflect what's written in the question prompt. It will not necessarily reflect the information that's given in the two statements. For example, if we're told that ABCD is a parallelogram in the question prompt, then the diagram will reflect this. However, if Statement 1 for the practice problem says angle ABC is 80 degrees, then it might not be accurately represented in the diagram.

Things you can assume for PS questions only

1. Most figures are drawn to scale.Diagrams on GMAT Problem Solving questions are basically drawn to scale. The only time that this isn't true is if there is a note that says "Diagram not drawn to scale" or "Diagram not necessarily to scale". If you do see a note like that then you can't really conclude a lot about how a figure looks. However, if there is no disclaimer - then you have a diagram that's drawn to scale. :) However, drawn to scale only means that it is drawn as accurately as possible. It does not mean that the diagrams are drawn 100% perfectly and accurately. Allow me to explain more below:

Even though the diagram is drawn to scale (which is really useful overall!) - you cannot assumeexact angle measurements, exactline lengths, or whether a pair of lines is parallel or perpendicular. You can onlyvisuallyapproximatethose things.

For example, the diagram above definitelylooks like a square. However, none of the angles are actually 90 degrees and the sides aren't all the same length. Therefore, it's not actually a square. However, we can visually approximateand assume that these angles and lengths are similar for the purposes of a PS question - estimating this information will allow us to eliminate answer choices and verify whether an answer is in a reasonable range. In other words, these diagrams are useful when you are approximating, but not necessarily when you need a true, exact answer. :)

Things you should never assume for DS and PS questions:

1. Lines are parallel or perpendicular.Even if the lines look parallel or perpendicular, you cannot assume either on the GMAT unless it explicitlysays in the question or diagram.For example, the question prompt will have the "//" symbol for parallel, the square symbol in the corner for a 90 degree angle between lines, or the "perpendicular" symbol. If they're present, then you can use all of the special geometry theorems that work for parallel or perpendicular lines. :D

For example, these two lines above look parallel. However - they aren't! They're actually 1/10 of 1 degree off of parallel - and that means that they are not. Therefore, you would not be able to use any of the special properties or theorems for parallel lines even though the linesappearto be parallel.

2. Exact measurements for lengths or angles.For example, you can't assume an angle is a right angle unless the diagram is marked with the square symbol in the corner or you're told that the diagram is a specific shape that has right angles. Similar to parallel and perpendicular lines, you can only use the geometry properties for right angles if it is actually a right angle. It will not work for an angle that is "almost a right angle" or an angle that "looks like a right angle". In addition, lengths may not be the same even if they look the same.

For more information about what you can and cannot assume on GMAT diagrams and some example problems, please refer to our blog posts about it! :)

GMAT Trick: "Drawn as Accurately as Possible" - This blog post specifically discusses PS problems and the diagram assumptions you're allowed to make for those particular questions.

- This particular blog post mentions the GRE,but the same logic applies to the diagrams in GMAT DS questions. :D

Link

https://gre.magoosh.com/questions/213

Question

How did you get to 61?

Answer

We could use a formula if you like memorizing things, but this just relies on a bit of critical thinking. Every time we go to the next even (or odd) number, we are adding 2. That means the nth positive even number is going to be 2 times n. In the list of 2,4,6, and 8, for example, the first number, 2, is 1*2, the second number, 4, is 2*2, the third number, 6, is 3*2, etc.... So we can quickly say that the 30th number will be 30*2 = 60.

The list of odd numbers is very similar, but always 1 less. For example, the fourth number in 1,3,5,7 is (4*2) - 1 = 7. That means the 31st number in a list of odd numbers must be 31*2 - 1 = 62 -1 = 61.

The formula basically does the same thing, but if you're interested here it is:

t = value of nth term in sequence a = first term in sequence n = number of terms in sequence d = difference between terms in sequence

t = a + (n-1)d.

So in the 31st odd number example, we plug in like this:

t = 1 + (31-1)2 t = 1 + (30)2 t = 1 + 60 t = 61

prompt_id=213

Question

Why can't I calculate the average speed for the entire trip by using the average rate of the two trips?

Answer

We can only average the rates of two trips when the time for both trips is the same. In this problem Clyde is traveling at an average speed of 90 mph for twice as long as he is traveling at 60 mph. So the average rate should be closer to 90 mph than to 60 mph.

To use an extreme example to illustrate this: Let's say I drove 100 mph for 10 hours and then 2 mph (in horrible traffic) for about 5 minutes. Is my average speed now (100 + 2)/2 = 51 mph?

No, of course not! My average speed is actually very close to 100 mph, because I was traveling at 100 mph for MUCH longer than I was for 1 mph. We need to take into account the amount of time that I am traveling at both speeds.

Therefore, unless both times are the same, we need to add up the total distance and then divide by the total time to find the average rate.

Link

http://gre.magoosh.com/questions/174

If you've answered ALL of the Magoosh questions, and then take a practice test, yes, you will see repeated questions. However, if you haven't answered all of the questions, yourunansweredquestions will be the first to show up in the practice tests. :)

Although an absolute value must be non-negative, it would be short-sighted to claim that absolute values are "always positive." Remember that absolute values are essentiallyabout the distance between two values. Say we wanted to find the distance of 0 from the origin. We could express this as:

|0| = 0

Notice that our output here isnot positive. As you continue your studies, keep the following in mind: positive(> 0) and non-negative ( 0) are two different concepts, and you must be careful with their usage.

As for |x| = -x, recognizethat '-x' does not necessarily imply a negative number. It simply means "the opposite of x."

Imagine that 'x' is itself a negative value, like -4. In this case, we could state:

|x| = -x

|(-4)| = -(-4)

|-4| = 4

As you can see, |x| = -x is a totally valid statement for cases where x 0 (or "non-positive").

On the GMAT, you need to worry about extraneous roots only when doing one of two things:

Squaring a variable

Getting rid of the absolute value of a variable.

How to work through these calculations is covered in the relevant lesson videos :)

If the equation you're given already includes the squared variable (and you don't multiply by the variable yourself), then you don't need to worry about the extraneous root. Both solutions will be correctbecause the variable was already squared.

You only need to worry about the extraneous root in the case of a quadratic equation if youmade the equation quadratic by multiplying by a variable. Any time you square a negative number or a variable (which may be negative), you risk losing information bymaking it positive. That means that, if you square a variable (watch out especially for variables on both sides of the equation, which can easily hide a negative) or a negative number, you should always do a quick plug-in and check.

Here's a post that furthercovers the topic of extraneous roots:

GMAT Math: Algebra Equations with Radicals

Studying vocabulary for the GRE can feel daunting. There are thousands of rare words that mayappear on the GRE in a text completion or sentence equivalence question. So how do you prepare?

First, let's make one thing clear: how many words you need to learn depends on your background and situation. Unfortunately, there isn't a definite answer that works for everybody. Studying 1,000 flashcards can certainly be helpful, but it might not be a good idea in all cases. Every student starts from a different place in terms of vocabulary. Some studentsmight need only a little bit of vocabulary work, whereas others might need to spend a large portion of their studying on vocab.

Whether the Magoosh Flashcards are enough for you personally or not depends on your starting vocabulary. The GRE tests many, many words that are not in our flashcards (or any vocabulary lists). That's why it's important to read as much possible as part of your studies! This is true no matter what level your vocabulary is at.

Know thatstudying vocabulary will only help you to a certain point. You might be a human dictionary and know every single word on the test, but if you don't have the reading experience, logicskills, and test-taking practice, you can still fall shortof your target score. Studying vocabularyhelps, yes, but it's not the end of the story, and it takes a very long time to memorize thousands of words. So don't fall into the common trap of learning4,000 words by rote memorization butdoing little reading and few practice questions. This is because the GRE tests you on your ability to understand English generally,not just your knowledge of "GRE words."

Throughout the verbal section, you'll face twisted, complicated sentence structures that may use only easy vocabulary. You need to be able to decipher these structures. That's why reading extensively is VERY important, regardless of your lexical range. The benefit of this is that you'll improve your reading comprehension as well. :)

So read a LOT.Try to read for at least 1 hour each day.Here are some recommended sources:

Vocabulary in Context: The New York Times, The Economist, The Atlantic Monthly, and the New Yorker

GRE Vocabulary Books: Recommended Fiction and Non-Fiction

If the materialyou're reading is of good enough quality, you'll encounter new words fairly often. If you'd like help identifying these, you can install the Magoosh Chrome extension - it highlights high-frequency GRE words on any website! This is a great tool that will draw your attention to real-life examples of the words that are onour list of the 1000 Most Important GRE Words.

As you read, make flashcards of words you're unfamiliar with and review them periodically, remembering the context they were used in. There's no specific number of words to learn this way, but the more you do this, the better prepared you will be to tackle the verbal section.

Of course, our flashcards are a great tool for memorizing new words. They include1000 of the most commonly seen words on the GRE. Make it a goal albeit not the most important goal to go through these and learn the words you don't already know. That might be 900 of them, or it might only be 200. But don't get stuck doing only that! Keep doing focused test-taking practice and reading challenging texts.

With thismulti-faceted approach to studying,tackling the seemingly impossible GRE verbal sectionwill become much morefeasible.

Happy studying!

Yes, you definitely can reset your stats :) Just click the "Reset Stats" button to the right of "Results Summary" on the Dashboard.

Resetting your stats removes your answer data, marks your answered questions unanswered, and resets the score predictor. You will no longer be able to see how many questions you've answered, and you cannot reset only certain questions. However, we at Magoosh can still see how many questions you've done, so resetting your stats does not affect the score guarantee :)

Resetting your stats will not erase your notes and flags. While you won't be able to filter for them in Review ("Only Flagged", "Only with Note") after the reset, you will still be able to filter for them in Practice!

1. Try to relax :) Your anxiety about the essays may be preventing you from tapping into your store of ideas!2. I'd recommend doing a few essays without giving yourself a time constraintif it takes you two hours, then so be it. Give yourself as much time as you need to brainstorm, plan the structure of your essay, write it out, and give it quick proofread. Once you've done this a few times and feel comfortable with the process, then start timing yourself so you can get used to a quicker version of this process when you're under pressure. Do several timed essays in this way, so that on the day of the exam, you're completely familiar with the approach of writing these essays, and it feels like just another practice essay you wrote at home.3. Coming up with examples on the spot is definitely hard to do! What I like to do to combat this is have several topics on hand. By this, I mean that you should do a general brainstorm to come up with several topics you can easily write abouttopics that you are an "expert" on, if you will.For example, I love history. So, before test day I'd make a list of several important historical figures, events, documents, etc, and have these examples in my arsenal. Isaac Newton- inventive! Julia Child- a pioneering woman! The Emancipation Proclamation- groundbreaking! Now, of course I would think more about the influence these people/things had on the world, and of course consider how they fit into the context of questions I may be asked on the exam. But, just knowing that I can immediately recall several examples will ease my nerves, and this will likely also lead me to remember other facts that I can use as examples (I remember why Julia Child is important, and then I remember the era in which she rose to fame, and then I think about the 1960s and the events that happened in this decade, and then I think about women's rights, and so on and so forth). These first examples will work almost like a memory catalyst, and pretty soon I'll have a whole web of examples to use.So, what interests you most? I'd recommend thinking up examples that have to do with history, gov, society, technology, education, law, and topics along these lines. Pick a few, do some brainstorming, and you'll have several examples at the ready.

I'll leave you with two resources from our blog that will help you brainstorm.

Brainstorming for the Issue Essay

Brainstorming for the Argument Essay