GRE test strategy (guessing vs. answering the most correctly

[sumina13]

Although many GRE prep books mentioned that there is penalization for questions we don't answer on both verbal and quantitative sections of the test, I am concerned about timing.
Would it be better if I concentrated on answering the first 10-15 questions of the sections correctly and after that guessing on questions, especially in math, that would take me londer to answer, even know I could, so that I could complete the session rather than leave 7 or so questions answered? Or is it better to answer 21 questions in math but garanteeing that I get those right and hence loosing points for the 7 questions I never got to?
Another question I have is: does the exams on the CD follow the method of the real GRE, where I do get an easier question if I make a mistake. More importantly, are my scores generated the same way they would in the actual GRE?
thank you kindly for your time and support,
best wishes,
sumina

[Torsten]

Hi, it's probably best if you try and keep a balance between spending more time on difficult questions and speeding up by guessing the answers to other questions. The GRE has been designed to simulate a situation in which you are under a certain amount of pressure to assess your ability to solve a task within a given time frame. In 'real life' you will often find yourself in similar situations: You have to do something as fast as possible which means you have to decide very quickly how much time you spend on which particular task.
That's why it's good if you analyze your speed and try to increase it.
As for your second question, most GRE prep materials simulate the actual exam.
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[sumina]

thanks for the reply. I did some research myself and discovered that the GRE wants to know the highest level in which you can answers questions correctly. Hence, I think it is better to spend time answering questions you know you can get right and then guessing the last 5 questions or so if you need to. the GRE also penalizes you more for not answering a question than for getting it wrong.
In other words, it seems that I do want to answer as many hard questions as possible or as many questions correctly in a role as I can, even though the level of difficulty and also the time it would take me to answer the question may rise, it is better to get 17 out of 20 questions right and guess the last 8 than to get 24 questions right but take a guess on the hard questions I know would take me longer to answer.
Do you think this strategy makes sense?
You mention one should know when to spend time on a question or not. The truth is, particularly in math, I can answer most questions right if given the time, but since I am limited to 45 minutes, I then have to think of a strategy in case I am running out of time during the test.
Henceforth, I thought that guessing on questions I knew would take me a long time to answer was a good idea as I could probably get other questions right faster. But it turns out the GRE also look at the level you can answer questions at and thus, may prefer you to keep getting hard questions right and blow through the last 5 questions. Do you have any insight about this?
thanks again for your reply and attention.

[Torsten]

Sumina,

It certainly is better to answer as many hard questions as possible because those questions carry more weight than less difficult questions. So yes, your strategy makes sense. However, if you still have enough time to prepare for the GRE you can try and improve your overall perfomance to a degree that will allow you to answer most of the questions correctly. That way you will be under less time pressure during the exam and your level of confidence will rise.
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[sumina13]

thanks.
here is a response I got from kaplan:
"Wrong answers near the end of the test will have the same effect on your score as wrong answers at the beginning, as the test adapts continuously in calculating your score."
so the best strategy is to pace oneself and really answer all questions, paying enought time to get them right.
it is important to know that questions in the end can still do a lot of damage to your score b/c most places speak of the first 5 questions as if they had a higher impact on your score. The truth seems to be they do, but not much more than the other questions. Therefore, don't blow the last 5 questions...pace yourself and finish it strong.
thank you for your replies.

[GRE HELP 1]

After studying kaplan books and courses, I found out that those people are generalists. They do not like to take responsibility. When you pay 1000 dollars for a course you expect that this center will provide you with tricky tactics insight on what to expect. However they restate commercial books and drills. They suck and do not provide enough help. They do not have workshops. My advise, do not looks for centers like kaplan. Look for centers that provide the most of the time in training as practice is the key to success.

[GRE HELP 1]

Yes, it is imortant to pace yourself.

Math is a better place to practice this. If you know that you can solve a math problem and that it will take you 2 minutes to get correct answer....DO It, because there might be another one that is difficult that you will guess in 10 seconds....so make sure you do not guess both. In other words, solve as much correct as you can, speed or slow while keepin track of the clock. At the end, if you see difficult question and you have 2 minutes left, guess them and go to the next, if you see an easy try to solve...guess ..solve..guess solve is the thing that you should do at the end of the test as this will keep the gains that you did at the first half of test.

In general, you should leave 30-45 seconds to answer all remaing questions at the end of the test. do not leave unanswered question, you will get a negative weight in the total average equation...a penalty.

I suggest that you do pacing with reading comprehension too...works like math as it wastes your time.

As for vocablary: my only suggestion is memorize as much words as you can...1000....2000...10000 as you can. it is a life time process but all techniques will fail if you do not know the stem word meaning.

Graphs, i usggest that get the wall street journal or econnmist and look at graphs, get familiar with how multiple graphs work. that is very imortant.

Learn how you deal with percentages, how can you get percentages of percentages, ratio of percentage to another, the percentage of differenc of percentages.....

hth

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