Test99This chapter is all about the paper test. Do not apply these trategies to the computer test because they wont work.If you havent picked a format yet, go back and reread chapter 1. You should not read this chapter unless you know without question that you intend to take the paper test.www.test99.com

Test99Most people approach the GRE with one goal in mind: to finish. In other words, I must work on each and every question on this test because if I Dont, I lose potential points. Well, guess what? This thinking is why most people do poorly on the GRE.www.test99.com

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Test99The first thing you have to realize is that you are in the land of ETS, and you cant operate in the land of ETS as you do in the real world. In the real world, the more you do, the better. But in the land of ETS, the more you do, the worse.www.test99.com

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Test99If you read through this book and learn only one thing about the paper test, it should be: The best way to improve your score is not to finish. Tather, it is to work on fewer questions and make sure you get those questions right. Less is actuall more.www.test99.com

ORDER OF DIFFICULTYwww.test99.com

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Test99How? How can doing less actually get you more? It doesnt make a lot of sense yntil you understand how ETS constructs the GRE.www.test99.com

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Test99Basically, there are three types of questions on the GRE: Easy questions, medium questions, and hard questions. What makes an easy question easy? An easy answer.What makes a hard question hard? A hard answer. Well, how do you know which questions re easy and which questions are hard? Its incredibly simple. ETS follows rigid order of difficulty on the GRE. On the verbal sections, the first third of the group of any question type is easy, the next third is medium, and the last third is hard. In othr words:www.test99.com

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Easy sentence completions # 1-2www.test99.com
Medium sentence completions # 3-5www.test99.com
Hard sentence completions # 6-7www.test99.com

Easy analogies #8-10www.test99.com
Medium analoggies #11-13www.test99.com
Hard analogies #14-16www.test99.com

Easy antonyms #28-30www.test99.com
Medium antonyms #31-34www.test99.com
Hard antonyms #35-38www.test99.com

Test99Notice that the one question type not mentioned above is reading comprehension. For reading comprehension, there is no order of difficulty.www.test99.com
Its the only question type doesnt fit the mold.www.test99.com

Test99NO WORD OF YOUR OWN?www.test99.com

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Test99Together the clue and the triggers help you come up with your own word for the blank. There are times, however, when you wont be able to come up with your own word--even though youve found the clue and the triggers. What do you do then?www.test99.com

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Test99You can still use the clue and the triggers to help you. Even though you may not be able to come up with your own word, you can often tell if what goes in that blank is positive or negative. If you know the owrd is positive, then you can liminate any answer choice that contains a negative word. If you know the word is negative, then you can elminate any answer choice that contains a positive word.www.test99.com

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Test99This technique--Positive/Negative- is very powerful, but a word of caution:Dont use it as a crutch. Its going to be very tempting to use this technique instead of coming up with your own word, butyou shhouldnt.www.test99.com

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Test99Your first goal is always to come up with your own word. Only if you cant do thaht should you move on the Positive/Negative. For those times when you do use Positive/Negative, remember that you still need to find the clue and triggers. Otherwise you wont know what should go int he blank. Lets try a applying PositiveNegative, remember that you still need to find the clue and triggers. Otherwise you wont know what should go in the blank. Lets trry applying Positive/Negative to a question.www.test99.com

Test99 Because he did not want to appear---, the junior executive refused to dispute the boards decision, in spite of his belief that the decision would impair employee morale.www.test99.com
(A)-www.test99.com
(B)-www.test99.com
(C)+www.test99.com
(D)-www.test99.com
(E)+www.test99.com
Test99Lets say that cant come up with your own word, which means you need to rely on Positive/Negative. Whats the clue in the sentence? The most descriptive part is refused to dispute. Theres also the triggerBecause.www.test99.com

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Test99Together, the clue and trigger tell you that a negative word belongs in the blank.So what can you eliminate?(C) and (E).www.test99.com
Test99This is a good example why Positive?Negative can be a very powerful technique. You cant figure out exactly what should go i the blank, but you can still manage to eliminate two answer choices. If you were stuck after that, who cares? You now have a one-in-three chance of getting question right.www.test99.com

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Test99Here is what the complete choices looks like:www.test99.com
(A)contentiouswww.test99.com
(B)indecisivewww.test99.com
(C)solicitouswww.test99.com
(D)overzealouswww.test99.com
(E)steadfastwww.test99.com
(C) and (E) are gone because theyre positive words. You cant eliminatewww.test99.com
(A)if you dont know what contentious means.(B)doesnt work because the clue iswww.test99.com
refused to dispute. That doesnt work with indecisive. For the same reason,www.test99.com
(D) doenst work either. SO the best answer is (A). Even though youwww.test99.com
might not know contentious,you can still get to the right answer.www.test99.com

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ACCURACY, NOT SPEEDwww.test99.com
Test99Lets use this knowlegde about order of difficulty to find out why less is more.www.test99.com

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Test99Heres how a typical test take approaches a given sction-well call this typical test taker Joe Bloggs. Joe starts the section with the easy questions.www.test99.com

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Test99How does he do? ( keep in mind that Joes primary goal is to finish.) Joe gets most of the easy questions right. He gets most of the right because after all, theyre easy. However, he also misses some because hes rushing to finish the section- and that causes Joe to make careless mistakes.www.test99.com

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Test99Joe gets to the medium questions. How does he do here?(Again, keep in mind that Joes desire is to finish.) So-so, Joes not stupid, so he gets about half of the questions right. Why does Joe miss the other half? Because the questionswww.test99.com
are getting harder and, more important, because hes still rushing, which cause him to make careless mistakes.www.test99.com

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Test99Joe moves on to the hard questions. On a typical hard question, only 15 percent of the people answering the question get it right. SO how do you think Joe does? He tanks;he bombs. Joe spends the majority of his time trying to answer the hard questions, and he gets them all wrong.www.test99.com

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Test99To review:Joe misses easy questions , he misses medium questions, and he misses hard questions. Whats wrong with this picture?www.test99.com

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Test99Does Joe get more points for answering hard questions than he does for answering easy questions? No. Remember, every correct answer is worth one raw score point. Then why should Joe spend all of his time on the hard questions when hes going to miss them anyway? Why should you spend all of your time on the hard questions when youre going to miss them anyway?www.test99.com

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Test99Joe and you need to focus on what he and you can do, not what he and you cant.www.test99.com

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Test99By slowing down and concentrating on the easy and medium questions, your score is going to improve. Ignore the hard questions. Dont even look at them.www.test99.com
Test99Beating the GRE is all about pacing yourelf correctly. Accuracy is more important than speed.www.test99.com

Sentence Completionwww.test99.com
The Goal: Fill In the Blankwww.test99.com
Your job on any given sentence completion is to pick the answer choice that best completes the sentence by filling in the blank or blanks. Not too hard, right? Well, not too hard if you know what not to do.www.test99.com

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Test99What not to do is pllug and chug, which (unfortunately) is probably the most common thing people do when they hit a sentence completion.www.test99.com

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Heres a typical question:www.test99.com
In celestial mechanics, scientists are required to make------calculations because the astronomical bodies are moving------and many differrent forces are acting at once.www.test99.com
A. precise...obduratelywww.test99.com
B. detailed...auspiciouslywww.test99.com
C. comprehensible...excessivelywww.test99.com
D. complicated...concurrentlywww.test99.com
E. facile...nominallywww.test99.com

Test99When you plug and chug, you just take an answer choice and pop it back into the blank or blanks. How effective is this ? Not very. People tend to plug and chug because they think its the fastest way to answer a sentence completion, but guess what Its not. In fact, its the slowest way, because when you plug and chug, every answer choice sounds good. That is, every answer choice seems as if it could work.www.test99.com

A CLUEwww.test99.com
Test99On every single sentence completion , there must be a clue that tells you what belongs in the blank. Without a clue, there would be no right answer.www.test99.com

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Test99o, anytime you re coming up with your own word for the blank, look for the clue to help you out. In fact, often you cna repeat the clue itself in the blank.www.test99.com

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Test99Keep in mind that clues can show up anywhere in the sentence: at the beginning, in the middle, at the end. If youre having trouble finding the clue, look for the most descriptive part of the sentence.Thats usually where the clue is. Try to identify the clue in the following examplewww.test99.com

Test99Though some of her peers---the theoretical approach she had taken, no one could find fault with her conclusions: not only---but also profound.www.test99.com
(A) disregarded...originalwww.test99.com
(B) applauded...seminalwww.test99.com
(C) exhausted...penetratingwww.test99.com
(D) criticized...insightfulwww.test99.com
(E) ridiculed...mundanewww.test99.com

Test99Lets start with the first blank. What word comes to mind after reading the sentence? The clue is no one could find fault with her conclusions.www.test99.com

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Test99Everybody liked her conclusions, but did everybody feel that way about her theoretical approach? Nope. Lets repeat the clue in the blank. Some of her peers found fault with her theoretical approach. Does (A)work? Not really.www.test99.com

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Test99They had problems with approach;they diddnt ignore it. (B)definitely doesnt work, and (C)just doesnt make sense.What about (D)and (E)?They both could be matches for found fault with, so leave the both in.www.test99.com

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Test99Lets look at the second blank now. Her conclusions were something and profound. The clue for this blank is profound.Well, for your own word, lets just repeat thee clue again. Her conclusions were profound and profound. Is it okey to do this?Sure. The word wont be profound exactly, but itll be something pretty close to it. You already eliminated (A),(B),and (C),so lets move on to (D). Does insightful match profound?Yes--it could work. What about (E)? Does mundane match profound? No--mundane means boring. So the best answer is (D).www.test99.com

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TRIGGERSwww.test99.com
Test99Besides the clue, there are other parts of the sentence that tell you what should go in the blank. THese other parts of the sentence are what we call triggers.www.test99.com

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Test99Triggers are, for the most part, small words. Theyre important, though, because they usually give structure to the sentence: They either keep the sentence going in the same direction, or they change the durection of the sentence.www.test99.com
Test99Lets take a look at two classic triggers:and and but.Fill in the blank for each of the sentences below.www.test99.com
*I dont want to go to the party, and ____www.test99.com
*I dont want to go to thee party,but___www.test99.com

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Test99For the first sentence, you might have come up with something like:I dont want to go to the party, and you cant make me go. For the second sentence, you might have had something aong the lines of I dont want to go to the party, but Ill go anyway.www.test99.com

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Test99Notice the function of and in the first sentence. It continues the flow of the sentence. In contrast, but in the second sentence changes the flow--it takes the sentence in the opposite direction.www.test99.com

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Test99Lets take a look at a question youve already seen to get an idea of how triggers work.www.test99.com

Test99The acttress, though portrayed by the media as an arrogaant prima donna, was,in fact, both charming and ---www.test99.com

(A)improvidentwww.test99.com
(B)graciouswww.test99.com
(C)enthusiasticwww.test99.com
(D)exceptionalwww.test99.com
(E)lithesomewww.test99.com

Test99First, lets stop and look for the clue. The most descriptive part of the sentence is portrayed by the media as an arrogant prima donna.Now lets look for triggers. Do you see any?www.test99.com

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Test99There are not one, but two,triggers in this sentence. The first is the word though and the second is the wordand. The though tells you te sentence is going to change in direction. Therefore, what goies in the blank should be the opposite of an arrogant prima donna. What about the second trigger? The and tells you the sentence is going to continue in the same direction.www.test99.com

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Test99So what goes in the blank should be similar to charming.www.test99.com

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MORE TRIGGERSwww.test99.com
Test99Not all sentences have triggers, but the majority do. The chart below shows some of the most common triggers.www.test99.com
Same-Direction Triggers Changing-Direction Triggers and but,yet since though,although,even though because however so despite,in spite of not only...but also rather,instead thus whereas therefore while consequently notwithstanding hence ironically however的Triggers arent always words. Note that the last two triggers in the same- direction column are punctuation marks.ETS loves to use the colon(:)and semicolon(;), so always be on the watch for them. Take a look at an www.test99.com

example:www.test99.com
Test99Born of the blood of Uranus,the mythic Furies are---creatures: they punish those who have wronged blood relatives,regardless of the perpetrators motivations.www.test99.com
(A) vehementwww.test99.com
(B) unforgivingwww.test99.com
(C) gloomywww.test99.com
(D) quarrelsomewww.test99.com
(E) causticwww.test99.com

Test99The clue is evverything that comes after the colon;the trigger is the colon itself. Therefore, you know that whatever goes in the blank should continue the direction of they punish those who have wronged their blood relatives, regardless of the perpertrators motivation. given the clue and the trigger, a good word for the blank is vengeful. You can elimiate (A)since vehement isnt a good match.(B) looks okey,but lets go through the rest of the answer choices just to make sure. (C)definitely isnt right, and neither is (D). (E)doesnt fiit since caustic means sarcastic, so youre left with (B). Its te best answer.www.test99.com

TWO BLANKSwww.test99.com
Test99So foa the majority of sentence completions weve looked at have been one-blank questions. However, not all sentence completions have only one blank. Some have two.www.test99.com

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Test99For those of you who hate sentence completions, you should thank your lucky stars that at least some have two blanks. Two-blank sentence completions are often easier than one-blank sentence completions because two-blank sentence completions tend to have more clues. After all,each blank in a sentence completion has to have a clue.(It is possible, hhowever, for two blanks to share a clue.)www.test99.com

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Test99The key to two-blank sentence completions is to focus on one blank at a time. Two-blank questions are only hard when you try to do too much at once__i.e.,try to work on both blanks at the same time. To make two -blank questions easy, focus on one blank and then focus on the other.www.test99.com

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Test99Which blank should you do first? It doesnt matter. Whichever one is easier. We will say,however, that you shouldnt always tackle the first blank first blank first. The second blank can be easier at times because by the time you get to the second blank, youve got more information about the sentence.www.test99.com

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Lets try one:www.test99.com
Though the statement released by the press secretayr was deliberately---in neutral languagee, many people were----by its implications.www.test99.com
(A)framed...bemusedwww.test99.com
(B)discounted...enervatedwww.test99.com
(C)couched...perturbedwww.test99.com
(D)phrased...nonplussedwww.test99.com
(E)confounded...incensedwww.test99.com

Test99Lets start with the second blank. The clue for the second blank is neutral language and the trigger is Though. The statement had neutral language, but how did people respond? Not in a positive way, so a good word for the blank might be angry. (A) doesnt make sense if you know that bemused means confused. (B) doesnt make sense either if you know that enervated means weaakened. (C) might work since perturbed could match angry,but(D) doesntwork because nonplussed means perplexed. Incensed means very angry, so (E) might owrk,too. Youre left, then,with (C) and (E).www.test99.com

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Test99Now you can move on to the first blank. Remember, theres no need to lood at (A),(B) and (D) because once one part of an answer choice is wrong, the entire answer choice is wrong. A good word for the first blank is expressed.(C) can still work,but (E) cant because confounded means baffled. The best answer, then, is (C). Its really important that, for every two-blank sentence completion, you focus on one blank at a time. Dont get confused by tying to do too much at once.Once you figure out what should go in one blank, use POE right away.www.test99.com

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Test99If you know one word in an answer choice is wrong, you know the entire answer choice is wrong. Dont even look at that anssswer choice when you come around to look at what should go in the second blank.www.test99.com

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ANALOGIESwww.test99.com

Test99We can divide analogies into two groups:www.test99.com
* Ananlgies where you know both of the stem wordswww.test99.com
* Analogies where you dont know one or both of the stem wordswww.test99.com
Test99Lets start off with the first group: you know both of the stem words. if you know both of the stem words, make a sentence. Now, make a sentence may sound easy,but dont get too confident yet. When we say make a sentence,we mean make a sentence that defines one of the stem words in terms of the other. For example, lets think about what might be a good sentence for this stem pair:www.test99.com
KENNEL: DOG ::www.test99.com

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Test99What do you think of this sentence:When I go on vacation, a KENNEL is where I leave my DOG. If you dont like this sentence, give yourself a pat on the back. This sentence does use both stem words, which is good, but it doesnt define onewww.test99.com
word in terms of the other, which is bad.www.test99.com

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Test99How about this sentence: a KENNEL is a house for a DOG. Not bad,right? In fact, quite good. Whats nice about this sentence is that its concise and to the point. You dont want to write a novel when you make a sentence with a stem pair. Instead, KISS.--Keep It Short and Simplewww.test99.com

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Test99Lets try to make a snetence with another stem pair:www.test99.com
PEBBLE: BOULDER ::www.test99.com

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Test99If you thought of something like :A PEBBLE is a little BOULDER, you are on the rightt track. Again, this sentence is good because its short and simple. Now, you may be thinking,But a PEBBLE isnt exactly a little BOULDER. True. However, the point of an analogy is to convey the relationship between the words. Does lettle get across the relationshipwww.test99.com
between PEBBLE and BOULDER? Yes.www.test99.com