Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Icons Used in This Book 2 Beyond the Book 2 Where to Go from Here 3 Part 1: Getting Started with the GRE 5 Chapter 1: Knowing What to Expect with the GRE 7 Signing Up for the GRE 7 Breaking Down the GRE into Bite-Sized Pieces 8 Scoring Max: 340 Then 6 9 Understanding how the scoring breaks down 10 Calculating your score 10 Confirming that your score is actually good 11 Throwing a mental dart 11 Seeing or canceling your scores 11 Taking advantage of the ScoreSelect option 12 Catching Your Mental Breath: The GRE Intermissions 12 Chapter 2: Owning the GRE: Strategies for Success 13 Making the Best Use of Your Time 14 Budgeting your time for studying 14 Budgeting your time for practice 14 Taking control: Time management tips 15 Plan B: Repeating the Test 15 It Isn''t You: Testing Under Adverse Conditions 16 Using Old Scores 17 Chapter 3: Gearing Up for Exam Day 19 Gathering Your Stuff the Night Before 19 Knowing What Not to Bring 20 Taking the Test at Home 21 Training Physically and Mentally for Test Day 22 Staying active 22 Eating well 22 Relaxing 22 Mastering the Computer Part 23 Bringing the GRE into Your Comfort Zone 23 Getting familiar with what''s on the exam 24 Understanding the other admissions requirements 24 Part 2: Tackling the Verbal Section One Word at a Time 25 Chapter 4: What Are They Saying: Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence 27 Clinching Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence Questions 27 Keeping it straight 28 Trying it out 28 Developing Your Skills for Finding the Correct Answers 29 Interpreting the Text 101 29 Getting the gist of the text 30 Taking the Best and Only Approach 30 Interpret the text without looking at the answer choices 31 Complete the text with your own words 31 Eliminate wrong answer choices 32 Interpreting Trickier Sentences 32 Use transition words to get the gist of the phrases 33 Start with the second or third missing word 34 Getting Your Hands Dirty with Some Practice 35 Text Completion questions 35 Sentence Equivalence questions 38 Chapter 5: Getting the Gist: Reading Comprehension 45 Recognizing the Three Reading Comprehension Question Formats 45 Multiple-choice questions: Choose one answer 46 Multiple-choice questions: Choose one or more answers 46 Sentence-selection questions: Choose a sentence from the passage 47 Developing Strategies for Success 47 Using the context as your road map 47 Grasping the gist of the passage 48 Avoiding common traps 48 Answering the question yourself 49 Acing the Three Commonly Tested Reading Comprehension Passages 49 The biological and physical science passage 49 The social sciences passage 52 The humanities passage 55 The social sciences passage redux 57 Chapter 6: Critical Thinking: Argument Analysis Questions 61 Covering the Answer Choices 62 Reading the Question for What It''s Asking 62 Reading the Passage for What the Question is Asking 62 Identifying the "because" and the "therefore" 63 Finding the unstated assumption 64 Exploring common logical fallacies 65 Answering the Question in Your Own Words 66 Eliminating Each Wrong Answer 66 Applying the process of elimination 67 Testing your skills 67 Chapter 7: Expanding Your Vocabulary to Boost Your Score 71 Brushing Up on Prefixes, Suffixes, and Roots 71 Prefixes 72 Suffixes 74 Roots 74 Memorizing the GRE''s Most Common Vocabulary Words 76 Part 3: Math You Thought You''d Never Need Again 91 Chapter 8: An Overview of GRE Math 93 Managing Your Time 93 Typing an Answer 94 Selecting two or more answers 95 Select from three answers 95 Select from more than three answers 95 Selecting the One That''s Greater 96 Chapter 9: Simplifying Numbers and Operations 97 Simplifying Integers, Factors, and Multiples 97 Simplifying Math Terms 98 Simplifying Prime and Composite Numbers 98 Simplifying Absolute Value 99 Simplifying the Order of Operations 101 Simplifying Fractions 101 Adding and subtracting 101 Multiplying 103 Dividing 103 Mixed numbers 104 Cross multiplying 104 Variations on cross multiplying 104 Simplifying Decimals 105 Adding and subtracting 105 Multiplying 105 Dividing 106 Simplifying Percents 108 Converting 108 Percent of change 109 Simplifying Factorials 111 Simplifying Ratios 112 Total numbers of items 112 Amounts in the ratio 113 Maintaining the ratio 114 Combining ratios 116 Chapter 10: Solving Algebra and Functions 119 Solving Bases and Exponents 119 Solving Math Operators and Functions 122 Math operators 122 Functions 123 Solving for X 124 Solving for x with a number 124 The FOIL method 125 Factoring back out 128 Solving Square Roots and Radicals 129 Simplifying 130 Estimating 131 Adding and subtracting 131 Multiplying and dividing 132 Working radicals last 133 Solving Coordinate Geometry 133 Common questions 134 Linear equations 136 Two linear equations 138 Graphed circles 142 Solving Patterns in Sequential Terms 143 Solving f(x) functions 144 Chapter 11: Drawing Geometry 147 Drawing Lines and Angles 147 Lines 147 Angles 148 Drawing Polygons 151 Total interior angle measure 152 Finding one interior angle 152 Drawing Triangles 153 Three types of triangle 153 Key characteristics 154 Perimeter and area 155 The Pythagorean theorem 158 Identifying common right triangles 159 Drawing Quadrilaterals 162 Drawing Circles 164 Parts of a circle 164 Circumference and arc 166 Drawing areas that overlap 172 Drawing 3-D Shapes 174 Drawing a cylinder 174 Drawing a rectangular solid 175 Drawing a cube 176 Chapter 12: Simplifying Word Problems 181 Simplifying the Steps 181 Simplifying Time and Distance 182 Simplifying Units of Measurement 183 Simplifying Averages 184 Simplifying missing-term averages 184 Simplifying evenly spaced integers 185 Simplifying weighted averages 186 Simplifying Work Problems 187 Simplifying Team-Work Problems 188 Simplifying Mixture Problems 190 Simplifying Sets and Groups 192 Simplifying the Venn diagram 192 Simplifying the sets formula 193 Simplifying Probability 194 Step #1: Set up the fraction 194 Step #2: Multiply consecutive probabilities 195 Step #3: Add either/or probabilities on a single event 196 Simplifying probability in sets and groups 197 Simplifying Counting Methods 198 Basic counting methods 198 When order matters: Permutations 199 When order doesn''t matter: Combinations 200 Chapter 13: Interpreting Data and Graphs 203 Interpreting Basic Stats 203 Interpreting the median 203 Interpreting the mode 205 Interpreting the range 205 Interpreting the mean 206 Interpreting standard deviation 208 Eyeballing standard deviation 209 Interpreting mean deviation 212 Interpreting Tables and Graphs 213 Interpreting Tables 214 Interpreting Graphs 214 Different types of graphs 215 Interpreting two graphs 220 Estimating graph totals quickly 222 Chapter 14: Comparing Quantities 225 Comparing Static Answer Choices 225 Comparing Steps 226 Comparing with Strategies 227 Comparing equal appearances 228 Comparing drawings 228 Comparing concepts 230 Comparing identical terms 231 Comparing ranges 235 Comparing estimates 236 Comparing with Four Square 237 Comparing with a hundred 239 Comparing multiple unknowns 240 Part 4: Getting the Essays Right 243 Chapter 15: Writing the Essays Well and Fast 245 Setting Your Sights on the Target: Scoring a Perfect 6 246 What the essay scores really mean 246 Key methods to scoring well 247 Writing the Issue Essay 248 Step 1: Read and understand the prompt 248 Step 2: Start with your supporting info 249 Step 3: Take a position that''s in line with your examples 249 Step 4: Write your Issue essay 250 Tying everything together with smooth transitions 253 Writing the Argument Essay 254 Step 1: Read and understand the prompt 254 Step 2: Identify the position stated in the argument 255 Step 3: List the reasons given to support the stated position 255 Step 4: Identify the flawed assumptions behind each reason 256 Step 5: Write your essay 257 Chapter 16: Practicing and Reviewing Sample Essays 261 Setting the Stage for a Realistic Experience 261 Writing an Issue Essay: Some Samples 262 Having trouble g.