Tag: test preparation

Davis: Hey everybody, this is GRE Bites. My name is Davis, and I’m an educator with over ten years of experience.

Orion: And I’m Orion, the founder of StellarGRE.

Davis: We’re here to bring you your weekly bite-sized episode on GRE prep and grad school admissions. Check out our top-rated GRE self-study program at stellargre.com. And don’t forget, you can use the code “BITES” for 10% off any membership.

Okay, so the GRE is a long test with many questions and many sections. Simple question here: Do you need to answer every question? What’s the consequence for not answering questions?

Orion: Yeah, great question. This comes up a lot with beginner students. First of all, there is no penalty for not answering a question. There’s also no penalty for answering a question incorrectly. When you put those two facts together, at the very least, every student, even if he or she is running out of time, should make sure that every single question on the test is answered, even if it’s a random guess. Because, hey, who knows? It’s like a free pull of the slot machine with much better odds, actually, since most questions give you a roughly 20% chance of getting it right.

Davis: You know, that’s not bad for Vegas.

Orion: So, because there’s no penalty for leaving questions blank or answering questions incorrectly, you should answer every single question. However, that’s not really the spirit of this question. I think the real question is, “Should I genuinely attempt every problem within the time limit?” For many students, especially when starting out, that’s not a realistic goal. If we’re aiming to answer every quantitative problem within the time limit, considering there are 20 problems and the section lasts 35 minutes, that equates to a minute and 45 seconds per question.

Most students, initially, cannot answer most questions at that pace. So, they might not be able to genuinely attempt all 20 problems. To those students, I say: that’s okay. In the beginning, it’s more beneficial to focus on accuracy rather than efficiency. At the very least, a student should aim to have a better chance of answering a question correctly than incorrectly.

In other words, your accuracy rate should exceed 50% before you begin to emphasize efficiency. Once you’re more likely to answer correctly than incorrectly, then it’s rational to tackle more questions. But until then, your focus should be on securing the points you can earn. I’ve worked with students who initially answered zero questions correctly. This podcast caters to individuals like them, as well as those who are already answering 19 out of 20 correctly before seeking my help. So, this guidance is primarily for those scoring lower initially. One reason they might score low is their attempt to maintain pace. These individuals need more time per question, and that’s acceptable. The priority should be on earning points before trying to answer more questions within the given time.

Davis: No, that makes a lot of sense.

Orion: And this is, you know, doing a practice test for the first time and putting yourself in the context of taking the GRE, or even just a section of the GRE. I can totally see the reality of that, saying, “Okay, I’ve got 35 minutes; I need to finish all 20 questions,” and then half-heartedly answering each question because I think I need to get to every one. In doing so, I haven’t really learned how to do the test better at all. Whereas the strategy you’re suggesting, as you said, is a bit more rational. If I sit down and focus on actually getting the question right, then I’ll have a better foundation for what I need to improve in order to actually get the target score that I want.

Davis: Yeah, that’s well said.

Orion: So, in the beginning, if you’re scoring very low on your initial diagnostics, I would recommend that you skip aggressively. You want to proactively skip to try to find questions that are recognizable to you. These could be questions that you already feel naturally competent to solve or questions that you’ve reviewed in the stellar program.

Remember, all the chapters are ranked in descending order of base rates, so we present the most common question types first. When you go into a new practice set or a practice test, you can skip until you find a question that you recognize. For instance, “Oh, this is a circle problem because there’s a circle. I studied circle problems, so I might be able to solve this one.” If you look at a question and, within five seconds or so, you can’t figure out even what type of problem it is, just skip it. That might not be the point for you right now. Does that make sense?

Davis: Yeah, so to be clear, we’re discussing whether students should attempt to answer every question. Orion is breaking it down: if you’re taking the GRE after going through an entire study program and there are a few questions you haven’t answered, provide an answer. You’ll have a better chance of earning some credit for it. But now, we’re discussing whether one should answer every question in practice tests to better develop the skills needed to excel at the test overall.

What you’re highlighting, Orion, is logical. In the initial phases of tackling the GRE and gaining exposure to different practice sets and sections, it’s wise to aggressively skip certain questions. Focus on accuracy first; this strategy will guide your study most effectively. Once you’ve reached a point where you’re more likely to answer a question correctly than incorrectly, then you can shift your focus to efficiency.

Orion: Now, in the beginning, let’s say you’re answering six questions within the time limit. Your next run-through on a practice set or a mock exam, try to answer eight questions within the same limit. You need to titrate and scaffold your performance throughout your prep; you’re not going to go from answering six to all 20 in one step. So with every subsequent practice set or practice test, try to answer one or two questions max more per that run-through. And that’s how you move reliably in the direction of your goals.

Finally, most students don’t need a perfect score, right? So you need to figure out what score you need to get what you want in this grad school admissions process. It’s probably not a perfect score, which means that you have some wiggle room. Even higher-performing students need to take this into consideration. Even at a lot of programs, if you can score around the 160 to 163 level, that’s a competitive application, which basically means that you have to answer around 17 questions in each set within the time limit. So you actually don’t even have to answer all the questions if you are a high-performing student trying to get into a competitive program. But that’s something that you need to do the due diligence on beforehand to know how much room you have to give with respect to your actual performance.

Davis: I appreciate that fresh perspective as well in terms of taking the final test relative to what program you’re trying to get into.

Thanks, everybody, for tuning in. We’ll be back next week with another bite-sized episode of GRE Bites. If you have a topic you’d like discussed on a future episode, let us know at stellargre@gmail.com. And if you’re ready to take your prep to the next level, check out our top-rated GRE self-study program at stellargre.com. You can use the code “BITES” for 10% off all memberships there. Talk to you soon.

Davis: Hey everybody, this is GRE Bites. My name is Davis, and I’m an educator with over ten years of experience.

Orion: And I’m Orion, the founder of StellarGRE.

Davis: We’re here to bring you your weekly bite-sized episode on GRE prep and grad school admissions. Check out our top-rated GRE self-study program at stellargre.com. And don’t forget, you can use the code “BITES” for 10% off any membership.

Alright, let’s get to it. We’ve previously tried an in-person live walkthrough of a problem from the verbal section. Now, we’re going to try one on the quant section. We look forward to any feedback from our users and listeners. So, let’s dive right in. Orion, we’ve got a question prepped for you. I can read it, or you can.

Orion: Okay.

Davis: And then, let’s discuss the strategies.

Orion: Great.

Davis: So, let’s try to do a live run-through of a quantitative reasoning problem here on air. It’s a bit challenging because you can’t see the question with me, but I’m here to walk you through my thought process. Hopefully, that’s not too much of a handicap. When this question pops up, I notice it’s only two sentences long. So, it’s not a paragraph. Looking at the answer choices, I see it’s a “choose one” type, and there are no graphs. I’m going to tackle this right then and there.

Orion: It seems to be a “choose one” type. There are clearly variables in the answer choices; I see x, y, and w variables. This means that, within a few seconds, I can already anticipate that I should be plugging in values for this problem. With that in mind, I’ll begin to read the question, plugging in concrete values for variables as needed and solving continuously as I go.

Davis: What’s the first number you’re going to plug in?

Orion: Let’s find out. It kind of depends on the question itself. So let’s take a look. It says a certain movie theater sells W adult tickets for X dollars. Okay. Because I’m doing this even in my head, we’re going to use some numbers that are really simple. Let’s say that the theater sold 10 adult tickets for $4 each. So, 10 for $4 each. Okay. And Y child tickets for 25% less than the adult price. Okay. So, 25% less is a quarter less than $4. A quarter of $4 is $1. So, 25% less would be $3. So they sold those child tickets for $3 each. And let’s say they sold two child tickets for $3 each. So, all told, 10 adults at $4 each is $40. Two child tickets at $3 each comes to $6. Let’s keep going. Which of the following expressions represents the theater’s total income? That would be $40 plus $6, or $46. That’s the answer to the question.

So, now all I have to do is go to these answer choices and plug those values into the variables to see which of these five answer choices is really my target number, or $46 in disguise.

Let’s take a look. The first one says wx + 0.25xy. Okay, so xy would be 4×2, that’s 8.25% of that is 2, plus wx which is 4×10, that’s 40. So, 40 plus 2 is 42. That doesn’t work.

Davis: Okay?

Orion: Next, we have x×(w+1.25y). y is 2, and 1.25 is going to be a fractional amount, which probably won’t work because we have integer values here. So, we can pass on that for now.

Let’s move on to the next one: wx+0.75xy. Okay, so that would be 4×2, that’s 8.75% of 8 is 6. w×x is 10×4, which equals 40. So, 40 plus 6 is 46. Bing, bing, bing! That’s the number we’re looking for.

But because we’re plugging in values, we do have to go through all the answer choices just to be sure. Let’s keep going. The next one is x×(w+1.75y). y again is 2, and 1.75×2 is a non-integer, so that’s not going to work. Finally, we have 1.25wxy. w×x is 40, and 40×2 is 80, which is way too big.

We can stop right there. So, C is the only answer choice that correctly gives us back our target number. I did that only reading the question once, with fairly easy, small positive integers. I could do all of the math in my head. I also stopped solving for some of these problems once I realized that it was unlikely to give me back my target number.

And, you know, I spoke that in complete English sentences too. So, with a little practice, you can certainly accomplish this in less than 60 seconds.

Davis: And for a question like this, can you briefly explain why? This question seems easy enough that if someone was familiar with algebra, they could go in and say, “Oh, I know W represents this, X represents this, and Y represents that, and 25% is 0.25.” So, they might think they can solve it without ever plugging in. But can you give us a hint as to why that type of mindset might lead someone astray?

Orion: Yeah, that’s a good question. The algebra here is not super advanced. However, it might be complex for some students. For those students, we’re definitely going to sidestep the algebra and move to plugging in as quickly as possible. But here’s the thing: even for more advanced students who feel quite comfortable with the algebra, I generally say this: I have yet to meet a student who is more accurate and efficient with algebra than with arithmetic.

No matter who you are, or how proficient you are with algebra, you’ve been doing arithmetic longer. If we’re aiming for top percentile scores, which these high performers can certainly achieve, and if you can get the algebra correct 98% of the time under a time limit but can get the arithmetic right 99% of the time under the same limit, why not choose arithmetic? We’re trying to find the solution that uses the fewest cognitive resources and is the most reliably accurate over the greatest number of questions to ensure efficiency.

Lastly, when we try to solve questions by creating algebra from scratch, dealing with abstractions can sometimes lead to overlooking details. This is less likely when working with concrete, actual numbers. Using algebraic abstractions may increase the likelihood of careless errors.

Davis: I think that’s a great response. Going straight to algebra might be enticing for people who feel comfortable with it. However, as you mentioned, it’s more mentally energy-intensive and can be prone to errors due to the level of abstraction you’re discussing. This discussion also underscores that the GRE isn’t necessarily testing understanding of concepts. Instead, as you pointed out, it’s evaluating efficient and accurate problem-solving within a time limit. Having a clear, delineated strategy, like the one demonstrated today, can alleviate much of the mental strain and indecision.

Orion: I hope everyone found this beneficial.

Davis: Thanks, everybody, for tuning in. We’ll be back next week with another bite-sized episode of GRE Bites. If you have a topic you’d like discussed on a future episode, let us know at stellargre@gmail.com. And if you’re ready to take your prep to the next level, check out our top-rated GRE self-study program at stellargre.com. You can use the code “BITES” for 10% off all memberships there. Talk to you soon.

Davis: Hey everybody, this is GRE Bites. My name is Davis, and I’m an educator with over ten years of experience.

Orion: And I’m Orion, the founder of StellarGRE.

Davis: We’re here to bring you your weekly bite-sized episode on GRE prep and grad school admissions. Check out our top-rated GRE self-study program at stellargre.com. And don’t forget, you can use the code “BITES” for 10% off any membership.

Okay, so I’ve taken the GRE, maybe I’ve already done the tutoring program, and I’m great. But I have my target applications that I’m sending out, and I’m a little nervous. What I’m worried about is one thing: on the application, I have to supply my undergraduate GPA, and I’m not too happy about that. So, what are my options? What can I do? Talk to me.

Orion: Yeah, I have many students come to me with this very issue. Interestingly, they don’t usually approach it in the order you just described. Often, when students are concerned about their undergrad GPA, they say, “I have to perform really well on the GRE to compensate for my low GPA.” At this point, I often share some disappointing news: a performance on a four-hour test (soon to be a two-hour test) cannot negate years of academic performance. Four years is a significant duration, and the GPA is an average from numerous classes over this extended period, making it a reliable metric. In contrast, the GRE represents a singular performance in time. Graduate school admissions won’t weigh these two metrics equally; they’ll give more weight to the undergrad GPA.

To me, these are the only two quantifiable, objective metrics on a grad school application. This is why admissions personnel value them: they offer a rationale to reject otherwise qualified applicants based on these numbers, one of the few remaining aspects of an application that isn’t subjective or demographic-based. Does that make sense?

Davis: Yeah, that makes sense. So, I’m reminded of other things we’ve talked about earlier in the podcast. You’re right that the order of operations best serves a person when they’re looking at their potential places they want to go. Is it true, for example, that you’ve recommended looking at the median GRE score of successful applicants for whatever program you’re considering? Is that kind of data available? Is it also a good waypoint to determine whether I could even apply to a place if I have a GPA that’s lower than, say, the median average of people who were successfully accepted before?

Orion: Yeah, so programs will also generally publish their median GPAs along with that GRE data. And that’s something to keep in mind. You obviously can apply, but the more your GPA deviates negatively from that median, the more you’re fighting an uphill battle. There are a few things you can do. Personally, I never thought I would go back to school after I graduated with my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in drama all those years ago. And I didn’t take undergraduate school all that seriously either.

So I didn’t have an abysmal GPA, but I didn’t put as much effort into that course of studies as I subsequently did when I went to grad school. So it was on the lower side, though I think I had like a 3.0 or 3.4. So with very little background in psychology, I took one introductory psychology class and got a B-minus in it. So I did not have a very good academic pedigree with respect to graduate study in psychology. So there are a few things that folks can do. One of them is, it’s possible to take classes at university continuing education departments; a lot of major universities have a college or a department specifically devoted to adult learners, and these are legitimate classes. You will enroll and you will get a grade, and that can be factored into your undergraduate GPA to kind of increase your average over time. So if you spent a year taking eight classes at this level and you aced them all, you can dramatically improve your undergraduate GPA, and potentially get rid of a number of prerequisite classes that may be required if you didn’t major in the field that you subsequently want to study in.

Davis: No, that’s really a helpful and useful hack. I hope everyone was paying attention to that. It’s something I’ve taken advantage of before, as well as continuing education. And while studying what you want may not go towards a degree, if you’re set on graduate school, or if you’re just interested in the material in general, it’s a great option. As noted by Orion, it can positively offset your GPA. Now, regarding the GRE, for example, you mentioned in your case, going into a psychology grad program having taken very few psychology classes previously. Is that level of detail in your transcript a reference point for admissions personnel to look at and say, “Oh, he only had a 3.4. But let’s see what it was in relation to the relevant material.” Some applications split up the GPA; they state, “Here’s my overall GPA, and here’s the GPA relative to my major.” Some applications do that. And if they don’t, you can always include an explanatory note with your application. This is something I also encourage people to do.

Orion: Well, you can write a brief note, probably not more than a paragraph, explaining your GPA. You can parse it out in different ways. For instance, maybe you aced your major-specific classes and you want to point that out, but you didn’t really put a lot of effort into some other courses, which lowered your overall GPA. If this distinction isn’t provided in the application, you can clarify it for them. Additionally, you might have a legitimate reason why your GPA suffered.

The idea here is to provide an explanatory note for circumstances like serious illness, or perhaps a family loss, which most would consider extenuating circumstances. In this case, you’d write a paragraph saying something like, “I recognize that my GPA isn’t as stellar as it might be. Here’s the reason why.” In the following sentence, you would address why that reason no longer impacts you, either because time has passed or you’ve taken measures to resolve the issue. Then, express your hope that you can demonstrate your excellence in this program in the future. You don’t want to overemphasize the issue, but you also don’t want to ignore it.

One more thing I will say: when I mentioned continuing education, you were actually very generous. When someone presented that option to me, I thought, “I may have to go back to school before I can go back to school? There’s no way I’m doing that.” So it’s a path that some people can take, but I wasn’t prepared to do that.

There’s another thing you could potentially do. For example, most of the programs I applied to required six or seven psychology prerequisite courses. I had taken none of them. However, they also provided a loophole: if I scored above a certain point on the Psychology GRE Subject Test, I could bypass all seven of those prerequisite courses, essentially saving me a year of time and tuition. So, I spent a month or two preparing for the Psych GRE Subject Test, achieved the score I needed, and effectively bypassed all of those prerequisites. This also made my application more compelling. Many people aren’t aware that GRE Subject Tests exist in around eight fields. These tests can both exempt you from prerequisites in numerous programs and enhance the appeal of your applications, especially if you didn’t major in the field or if your GPA isn’t so hot.

Davis: That is some great information, Orion. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks, everybody, for tuning in. We’ll be back next week with another bite-sized episode of GRE Bites. If you have a topic you’d like discussed on a future episode, let us know at stellargre@gmail.com. And if you’re ready to take your prep to the next level, check out our top-rated GRE self-study program at stellargre.com. You can use the code “BITES” for 10% off all memberships there. Talk to you soon.

Davis: Hey everybody, this is GRE Bites. My name is Davis, and I’m an educator with over ten years of experience.

Orion: And I’m Orion, the founder of StellarGRE.

Davis: We’re here to bring you your weekly bite-sized episode on GRE prep and grad school admissions. Check out our top-rated GRE self-study program at stellargre.com. And don’t forget, you can use the code “BITES” for 10% off any membership.

Alright, so the question of the day is: Letters of recommendation for getting into grad school. How do you go about it? Orion, what’s your recommendation on the process of obtaining a good letter of recommendation?

Orion: It’s a great question. It is an essential element of almost every graduate school application. Most programs require three letters of recommendation, and I’m going to talk about how to go about getting them. First of all, you have to plan ahead. The people from whom you’re asking these letters are genuinely busy professionals. This is a professional courtesy they’re offering you. They’re not getting paid for their time, so it’s a good idea to give them as much warning as you can and to make the process as easy as possible for them.

Davis: Is the typical candidate pool for letters of recommendation comprised of previous professors, right?

Orion: It depends on how long you’ve been out of undergrad. If you just graduated from your undergraduate program a few years ago, it makes sense to get at least a couple of letters of recommendation from former professors. But if you’ve been out of school for 10 years, that’s probably not the case. There’s also a balance to consider: for more academic programs, like PhDs, you’d generally want more academic letters of recommendation. For other programs, like law or MBA programs, it might be more useful to get letters of recommendation from professional supervisors.

Davis: Great. So, let’s say I’ve chosen the people I want to ask for a letter of recommendation. I make sure I’ve planned in advance and have plenty of time. I’ve asked them, but now do I give them hints? Do I provide an outline of what I’m looking for? How does this work even better?

Orion: So, once you reach out to your prospective recommenders and they agree to write you a letter, your response should be something like this: “Great! I’m so happy that you’ve decided to do this. I have taken the liberty of drafting the letter for you. You’ll find it attached. Feel free to change anything that you want. I know that you’re a busy professional, and I wanted to make this as easy for you as possible.”

Now, when I recommend that students take this approach, some are taken aback. They ask, “Are you suggesting that we should write our own letters of recommendation?” On some level, my answer is yes. There are a few reasons for this. As soon as I got to grad school, nearly every single professor and supervisor asked me to do just that.

At a certain level, the people from whom you are seeking these letters will likely ask you to do this anyway. They might have several reasons: for one, they are indeed very busy. But also, they might not know you as well as you know yourself. They receive such requests dozens of times a semester and don’t have the opportunity to form deep relationships with all the students they teach. If they’re willing to write you a letter, they’re indicating that they like you and want to help you succeed. You can assist them by drafting a letter that provides more insight into who you are than what they might currently know. Of course, the understanding is that they can modify anything they want, especially since it will bear their name and signature at the end. This approach is just a way to help them along.

Davis: That makes a lot of sense. I’ve had some experience with the same thing. I do have a question: In this draft letter that you’re sending to them, with the proviso that they can change anything they want, of course, are you also addressing particulars about the program to which you’re looking to apply in that draft letter?

Orion: I think that a good letter of recommendation has three parts. We can think of them as three separate paragraphs. The first paragraph is essentially about the recommender. We need to know who this person is. What is their position, experience, and status? This way, I can gauge the extent to which I should take their word seriously. The first paragraph is very easy for the recommender to write since it’s all about them. The next two paragraphs are about you, but they address slightly different capacities.

I would encourage you to have one paragraph that showcases either your academic or professional excellence. So, if you’re asking a professor for a recommendation, this person should discuss, for instance, your honors thesis, or the way you managed the final project, or a presentation you gave to the class. They should provide specific details to demonstrate that you did an excellent job and that you went above and beyond the academic expectations. If it’s a professional recommender, they might detail a problem faced at work and how you overcame it. These examples should be more demonstrative and possibly quantitative, aiming to highlight your excellence.

Now, the third paragraph is really important and often overlooked, which is that it should be some sort of anecdote that shares and demonstrates a positive personality characteristic of you. It’s all well and good for you to be competent, but there are a lot of competent people that we might not ever want to share a room with, let’s put it that way. The way that grad school works is that you’re being picked for a cohort for goodness of fit.

So, people have to like you, and they have to want to work with you closely, sometimes for years. And if you show a paragraph that demonstrates a positive personality attribute—maybe you’re easygoing, maybe you’re friendly, maybe you are attentive to detail, maybe you are considerate—and there’s some sort of anecdote that you can share that manifests and demonstrates that attribute, people are going to see a bit more of a human side of you, and it’s going to make it easier to select you from a pool of, let’s face it, every other letter is going to talk about how competent the student in question is.

So, if you have to choose among applicants where everyone is competent, why not choose the friendly, competent person, or the considerate, competent person, or the hardworking, competent person, etc.? So that’s what I recommend doing: give those recommenders plenty of time—at least a month or two—to get this process settled.

Davis: That really helps. So, three paragraphs: first is about the recommender. In your draft, you’re supplying some, you know, mock-ups in your outline for the professor or the professional. They can change or adjust that. The second one is about competency, and the third one is about a positive personality trait that sets you up as someone good to work with and join for a good fit.

Orion: You got it.

Davis: Thanks, Orion, for that feedback. I hope it helps anyone who’s struggling, looking, or investigating how to get letters of recommendation out and might be seeking a good strategy.

Thanks, everybody, for tuning in. We’ll be back next week with another bite-sized episode of GRE Bites. If you have a topic you’d like discussed on a future episode, let us know at stellargre@gmail.com. And if you’re ready to take your prep to the next level, check out our top-rated GRE self-study program at stellargre.com. You can use the code “BITES” for 10% off all memberships there. Talk to you soon.

Davis: Hey everybody, this is GRE Bites. My name is Davis, and I’m an educator with over ten years of experience.

Orion: And I’m Orion, the founder of StellarGRE.

Davis: We’re here to bring you your weekly bite-sized episode on GRE prep and grad school admissions. Check out our top-rated GRE self-study program at stellargre.com. And don’t forget, you can use the code “BITES” for 10% off any membership.

Okay, so something we haven’t talked about before, which I’m excited to discuss, is transfer errors. Transfer errors refer to situations where, while taking the GRE with your scratch paper, you either mistakenly transfer the problem from the screen onto your scratch paper or you mistakenly transfer the answer you arrived at back onto the screen when clicking. Orion, do you have any suggestions on how to avoid these types of mistakes?

Orion: I sure do. That’s why we’re talking about it today. So, transfer errors are, in my opinion, the second most common type of careless error that students face, especially on the quantitative section. These are very frustrating because, all other things being equal, students generally solve the question correctly and then end up hitting the wrong button, which is infuriating. At the end of the day, the GRE is simply a button-pressing task. You get credit for pushing the right button, and that’s it. The problems are just hints as to which button to press. So, if you don’t press the right one, you won’t get the point that you deserve. At some point, students get so frustrated with their own repeated transfer errors that they decide, “I’m ready to do whatever it takes to never miss a point like this again.” And that’s when they make a real change in the direction of accuracy.

Davis: No, I appreciate that. That’s not even an analogy. It’s a button-pressing test. And there’s also something here. So, you’re speaking mostly of transfer errors: going from an accurately solved problem back to the page. But also, it’s a button-pressing test, and it’s within a time limit. If I mistakenly transfer the problem from the screen to my paper, solve it correctly, and then go back to find that my correct answer isn’t even among the answer choices, it’s devious. There’s no button for this one. So, it’s a waste of time. So, without further ado, how do we eliminate this type of error?

Orion: Yeah, there are three very simple, low-tech strategies for mitigating this type of error. First, with respect to transfer errors—where people incorrectly copy the information from the screen onto their paper—this generally happens because they switch their attention too much. They look at the screen, then look down at their page, then back at the screen, and again down at their page. Every time they break their visual focus, there’s an opportunity for them not to return to the exact same place. This distraction makes it possible for them to not see things as carefully and clearly as they might if they maintained a single visual focus. To eliminate this type of error, just look at the screen. Don’t shift your attention back and forth between the screen and your scratch paper. Instead, look at the screen and write with your hand. You can discern what you’re writing while you’re doing it.

So, you should maintain an unbroken visual focus on the screen while writing with your hand. You might even consider softly saying what you’re writing out loud to yourself. This provides an extra sub-vocal self-talk failsafe to ensure that the numbers you’re seeing are the numbers you’re writing.

Davis: So far, so good. Yeah, this is still hint number one: low tech. Use your eyes; you have them, so keep them trained. And for your mouth and speech, say it out loud sub-vocally so you’re not distracting anybody else. Doing so ensures you’re registering with multiple senses to verify the accuracy of what you’re writing down.

Orion: You listen, that’s great. Davis, you’re an excellent listener.

Davis: All right, here’s another low-tech solution to this problem. This one addresses the transfer error where you have the correct answer on your scratch paper but mistakenly hit the wrong button. This solution is low-tech; it’s entirely analog.

Orion: One thing I do if it’s a math problem is solve it all the way to the end, and then I put a box around the result. Let’s say the answer is eight. I’ll put a little box around the number eight. Then, I’ll take my left index finger and place it on the number eight, and I will use my right index finger to point to the answer choice on the screen that contains the number eight. It may sound silly, but by doing this, I’m creating an unbroken analog circuit with my body, from the paper to the screen. This method makes it much less likely that I’ll make a transfer error. I recognize that I might look odd when I take the test, but I’ve come to understand that the main reason I get questions wrong is due to my own carelessness. So, a significant portion of my strategy during the test is designed to combat my tendency toward mindlessness. While some of these tactics might seem unnecessary or odd, I think it’s equally silly to lose points that you’ve rightfully earned. Alright, that’s step number two: box the answer and create an unbroken circuit from the left index finger to the right index finger to ensure accuracy.

Davis: Right.

Orion: That’s also low tech.

Davis: Right? But you said there was three, what’s the third one?

Orion: Yeah, the third one has to do with the calculator, which is a source of transfer carelessness on the quantitative section. One thing that I do when using the calculator is say the digits out loud, digit by digit, not the entire number, as I input it into the calculator and as I transfer it out of the calculator. So, for example, if I want to multiply the number 8246 by 12, I wouldn’t say that as I’m putting it in. I would say, “eight, two, four, six, times one, two, equals whatever that is,” and then I would read that off digit by digit as I transfer it out of the calculator. This method also helps reduce the likelihood of making a careless error using the on-screen calculator.

Davis: That’s great; this is comprehensive. So, we’ve talked about getting it off the screen onto your page and transferring the correct answer from the page back onto the screen. But now, we’re discussing how, while you’re working on your page, there’s another screen, which is your calculator. And there can be transfer errors from one to the other.

Orion: Exactly. So, using the low-tech tool of subvocalization—saying it out loud as you watch the numbers being pressed into the mini screen of the calculator, digit by digit, not as an entire chunk—can be a really helpful tool.

Davis: Alright, any other closing thoughts about how to avoid transfer errors? I mean, you mentioned earlier that the test is really about regulating and addressing one’s own shortcomings with regard to carelessness, mindlessness, or endurance in paying attention.

Orion: And so, as we said, these are low-tech, meaning you don’t, you know, need some grand technique. It’s really just utilizing the resources we have – our senses – and bringing multiple senses to bear so that we maintain the continuity of attention on the given task at hand. These methods also shouldn’t take any additional time. We have to work with the resources we have in the testing facility, and we have to work within the time limits. So, no failsafe should detrimentally impact your efficiency, but it should significantly influence your performance.

Davis: Exactly. For example, I noticed that one of his three recommendations was not to double-check your work. If you do these three things, you can avoid the necessity to double-check your work and spend that extra time going over your answers, so to speak.

Thanks, everybody, for tuning in. We’ll be back next week with another bite-sized episode of GRE Bites. If you have a topic you’d like discussed on a future episode, let us know at stellargre@gmail.com. And if you’re ready to take your prep to the next level, check out our top-rated GRE self-study program at stellargre.com. You can use the code “BITES” for 10% off all memberships there. Talk to you soon.

Davis: Hey everybody, this is GRE Bites. My name is Davis, and I’m an educator with over ten years of experience.

Orion: And I’m Orion, the founder of StellarGRE.

Davis: We’re here to bring you your weekly bite-sized episode on GRE prep and grad school admissions. Check out our top-rated GRE self-study program at stellargre.com. And don’t forget, you can use the code “BITES” for 10% off any membership.

Alright, so today we have another listener request: an email from Crystal. I’m really excited to get into this one. Crystal says, “Hi, I’ve been listening to your podcast religiously. However, you mention high-performing students all the time and how a score of 160+ is attainable for them. However, I get massive testing anxiety, and I wouldn’t consider myself a high-performance testing student.” So, Crystal’s question is, “Is it possible for those of us who aren’t high-performing to still get a 160+?” I love this question. Orion, what are your immediate thoughts?

Orion: Yeah, it’s absolutely possible for the vast majority of students to achieve at least a 160 on the GRE. It’s well within the capacities of the majority of students. However, it does require some prep, and some may need training to address test anxiety, especially if it’s extreme. But, absolutely, it’s achievable. In fact, sometimes students who approach the material from a lower-scoring perspective are actually much easier to work with.

As the old saying goes, “It’s hard to pour into a cup that’s already full.” Oftentimes, students who, for whatever reason, feel very confident with the verbal or the quant section, often come with their pre-existing notions of how they should engage with the test. For the most part, these strategies work for them. That’s why they are often very reticent to give up those strategies, even if those methods aren’t elevating them to their highest possible performance. In contrast, lower-scoring students often don’t have this issue. They approach the material with an attitude of “I don’t know, just teach me. I’m open; just tell me what to do, and I will try it.” This attitude is actually fantastic for students to have. Approaching material with that novice mindset, being open and willing to try out what the master teacher suggests, often leads to significant progress. Many lower-scoring students are open to this kind of feedback and, as a result, they often make faster and more significant progress than those who are already scoring at a higher level.

Davis: Now, I definitely appreciate and can relate to that exact issue from my educational experience. To restate what you said reflectively, students who come in, already confident in their intelligence or their ability to tackle problems, think they know it all. Therefore, when they encounter a new strategy that doesn’t immediately make sense to them, they resist it. On the other hand, students who come in recognizing, “Hey, I don’t know how to do this and I want to learn,” tend to have a more adaptable mentality which allows for faster improvement. For reference, I understand that until the GRE, StellarGRE is the only test prep out there with empirical evidence of improved scores. So, in your 10 or 15+ years doing this, what’s the lowest score you’ve seen and the highest score improvement you’ve seen?

Orion: I mean, I’ve always given students an initial diagnostic test when they first come to me, either for the classes I used to teach or as private students. I’ve had students who literally answered zero questions correctly on their diagnostic test. And that wasn’t because they didn’t try. I mean, they attempted the questions, but they didn’t get a single question right. I’ve worked with them over just a couple of months, and one of them, I recall, started with an initial score of one question correct on the quantitative section, and they improved to around 16 or 17 correct answers.

Davis: Right.

Orion: On a similar version, within just two or three months. I mean, that’s about the entire spectrum of the scoring of the entire test. You can’t really see a bigger improvement than that.

Davis: Is that usual?

Orion: I don’t know. I mean, there aren’t many students who start by getting zero or one question right on their diagnostics, to be honest. But it wouldn’t be the first time that has happened. So that’s probably the most significant score improvement I’ve ever seen. And the good news is, if you’re answering 0-2 questions correctly on your diagnostic, the pressure’s off. You’re not going to do worse; you can only improve. So engaging in prep is a very low-risk endeavor because, really, what’s the worst that could happen? You’re already starting from the lowest point.

Now, I’ll continue to say that lower-scoring students tend not to have that cognitive willfulness that some of the higher-performing students possess. Instead, they face a different challenge: they’re burdened by historical perceptions of their abilities. Comments like, “I’m just not good at math. I’ve never been, and it’s not how my brain works,” can be self-fulfilling. It’s okay to acknowledge past difficulties with a test section or subject, but you should remain open to the possibility of success. If you firmly believe you can’t achieve something, you’re right. And if you believe you can, you’re also right. Your mindset and expectations often influence your performance more than we realize.

Davis: Now, I really appreciate that you took that subject right out of—you know, right out of—my mouth. I was going to ask about exactly this, which is, you know, what can you say about how negative belief structures affect performance. But also, I’d like to get a few closing remarks from you on just the—you know—reflecting that the GRE is not a subject mastery test. It’s a general aptitude test, you know, and we talked about in other episodes what its exact purpose is for in terms of admissions. And so, with this idea of a low-performing student, and this not being a subject mastery test, can you kind of sum up your thoughts on, you know, negative belief structures, and then the structures that a person can have, and also what the point of this test is?

Orion: Well, yeah, that’s one way to look at it. The GRE is essentially a metric that measures itself; it’s not correlated with intelligence or even attrition rates for graduate programs. It simply measures how well you do on the GRE. Understanding that can help you realize there’s no basis for any pre-existing prejudices about your performance on the test. It’s distinct from other experiences, like your high school math class. While you need some math knowledge, likely from middle school, the GRE doesn’t truly test math mastery. It evaluates a different skill entirely, one you might not be familiar with. So, any negative expectations you have based on past academic experiences might not be justified.

Davis: I really appreciate that. That’s an open door for everyone to jump in and see how the test-taking strategies available at Stellar can improve your ability to perform on the test. Thank you, everyone, for tuning in. Thanks for the question, Crystal.

Thanks, everybody, for tuning in. We’ll be back next week with another bite-sized episode of GRE Bites. If you have a topic you’d like discussed on a future episode, let us know at stellargre@gmail.com. And if you’re ready to take your prep to the next level, check out our top-rated GRE self-study program at stellargre.com. You can use the code “BITES” for 10% off all memberships there. Talk to you soon.

Davis: Hey everybody, this is GRE Bites. My name is Davis, and I’m an educator with over ten years of experience.

Orion: And I’m Orion, the founder of StellarGRE.

Davis: We’re here to bring you your weekly bite-sized episode on GRE prep and grad school admissions. Check out our top-rated GRE self-study program at stellargre.com. And don’t forget, you can use the code “BITES” for 10% off any membership.

In a previous episode, we had an email come in asking for a question. We have another listener question that we’d love to address, similar but with some differences. All right, let’s get into it.

Nick says, “Hi, Orion, I hope this email finds you well. I wanted to express my appreciation for the valuable insights and information I’ve gained from GRE Bites. I’m planning to take the GRE, have started preparing, and have been listening to your weekly podcasts on Spotify. The GRE seems to be like climbing Mount Everest for me, especially having an arts background. You can relate to this, Orion. My basics in math are very weak. I’m spending most of my time brushing up on concepts and working on the knowledge part. I feel I’m very slow for the test. Plus, I’m making a lot of silly calculation errors. Another challenge I face is remembering so many rules, concepts, properties, etc. It would be interesting to also discuss strategies for how to organize those rules.”

Continuing, Nick says, “I’ve got a few questions. Is it possible for a student like myself to get a target score of 320, which would be 160 on each section? Or are such scores only achievable by students with advanced math skills? If it is possible, what should be the general approach for a student like me? Thanks in advance.”

Alright, Orion. There are a few points in there. Let’s pick up wherever you want, and we’ll get through it.

Orion: Well, thanks for reaching out, Nick. I can sympathize with where you’re coming from. Keep in mind that I also have an arts background, which is what Davis was alluding to. I have a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts with a focus on drama. I never thought I’d go back to grad school, especially for psychology. I took one intro to psych class and earned a B-minus. So, I never imagined I’d return to academia. My GPA wasn’t stellar, and I didn’t specialize in math. I worked hard to achieve my grades in high school math and science classes.

However, this isn’t necessarily a drawback. Sometimes, art students are more creative and cognitively flexible than those who are more rule-bound and algorithmic, like many found in math or hard sciences. This creativity can be advantageous when answering certain GRE questions. As we mentioned in the previous episode, is it possible for someone like you to score a 320, with 160 on each section? Absolutely. Most students have the capacity for such scores. It may require dedication over a few months, but it’s achievable. Your arts background may allow you to approach the material with an open mind and a willingness to experiment. You won’t know if something works until you try. So, give it a good faith effort. You might see significant improvement in a short span.

Davis: Thank you, Orion, for that feedback on not needing a specific technical or hard science background to do well on the GRE. The fact that coming from an arts background can have its advantages, as you said, is enlightening. For me, knowing that I could creatively tackle the writing section was important. Now, for the math section, I know Nick mentions some of the troubles he’s having with remembering rules, concepts, properties, etc. Do you have any quick feedback you can give in this episode here on how to organize that?

Orion: Sure. I mean, you don’t need to know very much about math to excel. Everything you need to get a perfect score on the quant section was probably taught in seventh, eighth, and ninth grades. You could likely write all the essential formulas on the front and back of a regular-sized sheet of paper. I highly encourage you to do that. This is what some refer to as a “cheat sheet.” I’ve discussed this in previous episodes. Consolidating all the crucial information into one place helps with memory retention. Carry that cheat sheet with you and review it for five to ten minutes every day.

Consistency is key, as repetition ingrains those formulas and concepts into your long-term memory. You don’t need a vast amount of knowledge, but what you do need to know is vital for success. You’ll recognize your progress when you can instantly recall relevant material. If you haven’t reached that point, keep at it. Use mnemonics if needed. Sometimes rote memorization is essential. You don’t need to grasp the rationale behind the Pythagorean theorem, just remember that a2+b2=c2, and that ‘c’ is the hypotenuse. That’s it. No one will ask you to prove it. Just know the formula, how to apply it, and when to use it. Move on to the next concept.

So, I do sympathize with you. But, in reality, there are maybe 50 mathematical concepts, at most, that you need to master. Ask yourself, how badly do you want to succeed? Find a method to internalize the information, review it daily, and continue working hard. You can do it.

Davis: Thank you, Orion. And I think it’s important to point out here that having gone through the StellarGRE process myself, it can sometimes feel overwhelming to say, “Okay, there are 50 mathematical concepts, and now I just need to memorize them all.” But the beauty of it, you know—Nick, you ask for what’s a general approach for students like me?—having a systematic approach that walks you through with opportunities for practice and repetition, and that teaches you when to apply, how to recognize what type of question is what, what material you need, which mathematical formulae are applicable in this instance, and not practicing over time in an organized fashion can really help take away that stress of being like, “There’s so much, and it’s overwhelming.” So in terms of a general approach, Orion, just to kind of close up here, how would you sum up StellarGRE’s general approach?

Orion: Well, reviewing what Nick talked about, Nick is addressing a problem that all students face. What does he say? He spends most of his time brushing up on concepts and working on knowledge. Then he mentions, “I feel very slow.” Additionally, he notes that he’s making many silly calculation errors. This is a common experience for many.

There are three steps to GRE mastery. First, you must answer the question correctly. Without the requisite knowledge, this isn’t possible. If you haven’t achieved this yet, it’s premature to concern yourself with the later steps. Why focus on the third step when you haven’t progressed past the first? The primary objective is to correctly answer the question, which requires consolidating the relevant knowledge.

The second step is to answer that question correctly within 90 seconds or less. Once you consistently answer most questions accurately, it’s time to introduce this additional challenge. This entails employing the effective strategies and techniques discussed in the Stellar course. It also means pushing yourself to work faster and trusting in your abilities. Ultimately, you should believe that, given equal conditions, you can succeed.

But even that’s not enough. Once you get the question right in 90 seconds or less, you then have to answer them correctly 100 times in a row. Well, actually, with the new tests, maybe it’s more like 50 in a row. That’s still challenging. Then, you have to incorporate strategies to avoid carelessness, which relate to your error log and the fail-safes. We’ll discuss those in future episodes.

So, tackle one problem at a time, and tackle them in that order: first, getting the question right (which relates to knowledge), then getting the question right in 90 seconds or less (which concerns pacing and technique), and finally getting the question right in 90 seconds or less 50 times in a row (which pertains to mindful attention and reducing carelessness).

Davis: Thanks, everybody, for tuning in. We’ll be back next week with another bite-sized episode of GRE Bites. If you have a topic you’d like discussed on a future episode, let us know at stellargre@gmail.com. And if you’re ready to take your prep to the next level, check out our top-rated GRE self-study program at stellargre.com. You can use the code “BITES” for 10% off all memberships there. Talk to you soon.

Davis: Hey everybody, this is GRE Bites. My name is Davis, and I’m an educator with over ten years of experience.

Orion: And I’m Orion, the founder of StellarGRE.

Davis: We’re here to bring you your weekly bite-sized episode on GRE prep and grad school admissions. Check out our top-rated GRE self-study program at stellargre.com. And don’t forget, you can use the code “BITES” for 10% off any membership.

So, with the GRE changing, there are these options called GRE Subject Tests. These have also changed, and now there are significantly fewer: namely, math, physics, and psychology. Orion, I’d love to get your feedback on GRE subject tests in general and on these new ones. When is it appropriate to focus on these or use these as an option?

Orion: Sure, so first of all, let’s talk about what they are. A lot of people don’t even know that there are subject tests for the GRE. And as you mentioned, there used to be a lot more of them. I remember there were some on English literature, chemistry, economics, and apparently they don’t exist anymore. I don’t remember when they got rid of those tests. I don’t think it has to do with the recent changes. I don’t believe they were discontinued just a few weeks ago, though they did change certain aspects of their administration a few weeks ago in tandem with the changes to the general test.

Davis: So, as you mentioned, there are three subject tests currently offered by ETS: mathematics, physics, and psychology. These tests are really only applicable to folks who are applying to graduate school programs in those fields. If you’re not applying in those fields, this podcast episode isn’t for you. Just wait until next week, alright? So, why bother taking these tests? Now you’re studying for two high-stakes standardized tests. What’s the issue?

Orion: First of all, the Subject Tests and the general tests are very different from each other. The general test is an aptitude test; it measures your general competence in a future achievement context. The Subject Tests are achievement tests; they’re testing your knowledge base in specific fields. For example, in the mathematics test, you’ll be asked calculus questions to solve. In the psychology Subject Test, which I took many years ago, you’ll be asked questions about the history and theory of psychology. There is a right or wrong answer, and it’s usually based on factual evidence. The tests used to be paper-based and were only administered a few times a year in major metro areas, which was inconvenient.

However, starting last month, the GRE Subject Tests are now administered in a computer-delivered format. They’re also a bit shorter than they used to be. The Subject Tests, like the general tests, have transitioned to computer formats and are now available at regular testing centers, making them more accessible. They are multiple-choice tests and do have a guessing penalty. This means if you answer a question incorrectly, you lose a quarter of a point. Therefore, the strategy for answering questions is different for Subject Tests compared to the general tests. On the general tests, where there is no guessing penalty, there’s no reason to ever leave a question blank. However, on the Subject Tests, there is a reason to leave questions unanswered. So far, so good?

Davis: Yeah, thank you. So, if you’re considering entering a field and you aim to enroll in a graduate institute, not only might you need an aptitude test as part of the application process, but sometimes they also require, or perhaps it’s often voluntary, the Subject Test. I believe it’s pretty rare for grad programs to require a Subject Test. I’m sure they exist, but it’s more commonly encouraged. Taking one can certainly enhance the strength of your application. If you’re applying to a program in one of these specific fields and achieve a high score on one of these subject tests, it demonstrates a degree of competence that will set you apart from your competition, okay?

Orion: Now, one reason it makes your application stronger is if you can achieve a good score on one of these tests. But another practical reason is that it can potentially exempt you from a number of prerequisite classes. That’s why I took the psychology GRE back in the day. When I first considered going back to grad school for psychology and was doing my research, it seemed like I would have to go back to school just to prepare to go back to school. This was because I didn’t have a bachelor’s in psychology.

Some programs required up to seven prerequisite classes in various subjects. I would have had to attend a community college or earn an associate’s degree, likely spending a year or more just completing the prerequisites before I could even apply to grad school. Considering grad school is about a five-year experience to obtain a doctorate, the idea of going back to school just to prepare for more school seemed daunting. I thought, “Nuts to that.”

Fortunately, my top choice program and several others had, in their fine print, a waiver that said students could bypass those prerequisites if they weren’t part of their undergraduate curriculum, provided they could score at or above a certain level on the psychology GRE Subject Test. I looked into it, and while it was a decent score requirement, it wasn’t a top percentile score. This option was far more cost- and time-effective. I dedicated two months, procured specialized materials, hit the books, and familiarized myself with various facts about psychology and its history. It took me two months instead of two years. I spent a few hundred dollars on the test and the prep materials. This allowed me to bypass seven prerequisites, saving me thousands of dollars and, more importantly, one or two years of work. This expedited my progress toward my career aspirations.

In my opinion, the best reason to take a GRE Subject Test is to bypass prerequisites and expedite the application process. Additionally, it can help distinguish you from your competition, especially if you’re applying in one of these three fields, which often see intense competition.

Davis: Thank you, Orion, for sharing your personal experience. Also, I appreciate your demonstration of the differences between taking the GRE General Test versus a Subject Test. They serve very different purposes and yield different outcomes. So, thank you for that.

Thanks, everybody, for tuning in. We’ll be back next week with another bite-sized episode of GRE Bites. If you have a topic you’d like discussed on a future episode, let us know at stellargre@gmail.com. And if you’re ready to take your prep to the next level, check out our top-rated GRE self-study program at stellargre.com. You can use the code “BITES” for 10% off all memberships there. Talk to you soon.

Davis: Hey everybody, this is GRE Bites. My name is Davis, and I’m an educator with over ten years of experience.

Orion: And I’m Orion, the founder of StellarGRE.

Davis: We’re here to bring you your weekly bite-sized episode on GRE prep and grad school admissions. Check out our top-rated GRE self-study program at stellargre.com. And don’t forget, you can use the code “BITES” for 10% off any membership.

Alright, so Orion, you just recently returned from about a month in Japan. As you know, since we’ve conversed outside of the podcast, I have a special place in my heart for Japan and its culture. I’ve traveled there many times in the past and have even taken a group of students there as part of my education initiatives.

One thing anyone familiar with riding on Japanese trains might notice, especially when sitting near the conductor’s car (and there are videos online which we’ll link to in the description below), is a method called “Point and Call.” The conductor, or the director of the train, will point to different instruments or indicators and verbally confirm whatever he’s observing or the direction they’re heading, as he physically points to it. Japan is renowned for its reduction in accidents across its extensive railroad and public transit systems. It’s a fascinating concept.

Orion, as a psychologist and an educator, and specifically with reference to the GRE, can you explain how this “Point and Call” method can be a powerful tool in test-taking?

Orion: Absolutely, I love Japan. It’s my favorite culture in the world. I also adore the trains. If you’re into trains, Japan boasts one of the best train cultures in the world. The network of trains, both national and local, is unparalleled, and the integration is phenomenal. Taking the Shinkansen, or the bullet trains that reach speeds of about 250 miles an hour, is like flying without leaving the ground. It’s an exhilarating experience. These trains quickly connect people from various parts of the country. Despite operating for at least three decades, they’ve never had a serious accident. They’ve never derailed or collided with another train, which is truly astounding. Especially when you consider that these trains run every three minutes, on the dot. The logistical operations behind this are incredible.

And obviously, if there are accidents, it’s not only a terrible thing, but it also slows everything down. It messes with people’s ability to get to where they need to go, and many different lives are disrupted as a result. So Point and Call is really cool. They implemented this system a decade or so ago, and they saw an 85% reduction in carelessness. As a consequence of using this, it takes some getting used to because you kind of look like a maniac when you’re doing it. You’re pointing at everything in this really exaggerated fashion. You’re stating the obvious, basically saying out loud what you’re looking at and describing it. It took a bit to overcome the resistance of some of the operators, but I think they cottoned on to it pretty quickly because of the obvious benefits it provided for themselves and for others. As a person riding on the train, I’m glad they’re doing it.

It’s like the Checklist Manifesto with doctors. Some doctors say that if surgeons just followed these 15 steps and checked that they did them, it would significantly reduce iatrogenic episodes. However, many surgeons think, “I don’t need to follow a checklist.” If I were having open-heart surgery, I would want my surgeon to follow that checklist and ensure that he’s doing these things.

So, it’s the little things that tend to make a big difference, especially when you’re working at those speeds. These are 250 miles an hour and at that frequency, every three minutes. In that way, it’s very much like the GRE. You do have to answer these questions in 90 seconds or less. And you have to do them one after the other. It’s not enough to just get it right once; you have to get it right consistently, over and over again, at very high speeds. For that to occur, you need help. Everyone needs help because we all have cognitive blind spots, and attention can waver. The reality is we can be very unfocused; a person’s attention can waver for just a split second and create, unfortunately, lifelong consequences for themselves and others. The disparity between the consequences of not paying attention and the rewards for paying attention is not balanced. So, what we’re trying to do is avoid accidents. We’re trying to avoid careless responding on the GRE.

Davis: So, just to map this out and paint the picture for everybody: as you mentioned, Orion, like an exaggerated gesture where you’re pointing at your instruments and reading out something as simple as a compass heading or how fast you’re going, or identifying the next station with an exaggerated arm movement and speaking it out loud while looking at the instrument and hearing yourself speak. It provides opportunities for cognitive dissonance. If you accidentally have an attention slip, you now have both a physiological response — you’re moving your body in space — and you’re saying it out loud.

So, you’re activating muscles and brain pathways to speak the information. You’re also hearing yourself speak while you’re looking at it. This means you have all your different sensory systems engaged. It might seem obvious, but this approach provides you with five different ways to catch mistakes. By doing this habitually as part of a general protocol, you enhance your chances of catching errors. I loved your point about doctors. I don’t want to send anyone down a YouTube rabbit hole, but there’s a concerning number of surgeons who leave instruments inside patients after performing surgery. I can’t help but wonder if a point-and-call system, like checking the tray for missing instruments, would help.

On a less serious note, but still vital for a student taking the GRE, it’s beneficial to get into the habit of using these cues. This includes protocols like visualizing, pointing with the pencil, looking from the screen to your page where you’re doing your scratch work and back, subvocalizing (so you’re not disrupting the testing environment), and still activating mouth movements. These steps create opportunities for safeguards and checks.

Orion: We do a lot of that. Yes, sub-vocal self-talk is the master key when it comes to reducing carelessness on the GRE. It’s also a vital component of the “point and call” method we discussed in a previous podcast about reducing transfer errors. This method involves creating an unbroken loop: you point to the question on your scratch paper, answer on that same paper, and then point to its corresponding answer choice on the screen. This creates an analog continuity from your paper to the screen to minimize errors.

When I take the test, I might seem like a maniac — talking to myself and gesturing wildly — but I do that because I recognize that I am the most likely reason for getting a question wrong. At this point, I have my strategy down and I know the formulas. If I miss a question, it’s usually because I’m moving too quickly or I’m not using some of these fail-safes. The key is to use them even when you think you don’t need to. Train conductors do that — they’re professionals, not amateurs. Many have been driving trains for years, if not decades. Just because you don’t use a fail-safe doesn’t guarantee there will be an accident. However, when there is an accident, it’s often because someone didn’t use their fail-safes.

So, the fail-safes are only useful if you use them. The idea here is that when you think you don’t need to use them, that’s when you’re most vulnerable and when you most need to use them. The idea is to get into the habit of doing them, whether you think you need to or not. The question of “Do I need to do that?” should be removed from your consciousness. It’s not a useful question for you; it’s just wasting time. You should do them anyway, regardless of the answer.

Davis: Thank you, Orion, for that contextual application to the GRE and also for addressing the psychological resistance some people have to engaging in these things.

Thanks, everybody, for tuning in. We’ll be back next week with another bite-sized episode of GRE Bites. If you have a topic you’d like discussed on a future episode, let us know at stellargre@gmail.com. And if you’re ready to take your prep to the next level, check out our top-rated GRE self-study program at stellargre.com. You can use the code “BITES” for 10% off all memberships there. Talk to you soon.

Davis: Hey everybody, this is GRE Bites. My name is Davis, and I’m an educator with over ten years of experience.

Orion: And I’m Orion, the founder of StellarGRE.

Davis: We’re here to bring you your weekly bite-sized episode on GRE prep and grad school admissions. Check out our top-rated GRE self-study program at stellargre.com. And don’t forget, you can use the code “BITES” for 10% off any membership.

Alright, let’s get to it. We’ve done a few of these episodes before where we’ve done live walkthroughs of how to solve questions. It’s still an experimental format, so please let us know via email or in the comment section if you find these useful. Today, we’ll tackle a verbal question. I’ll go ahead and hand it over to Orion. After reading the question, he’ll walk us through how he would approach it.

Orion: Absolutely. So we’ve already done a live walkthrough of a sentence equivalence question. Now, we’ll tackle a text completion question, the other vocab-based problem. The workflow is very similar. The only major difference pertains to the elimination strategy associated with examining the answer choices. For this episode, we’ll focus on a single-blank text completion question from my product.

As usual, when a vocab-based question appears on the screen—which is evident at a quick glance at the answer choices, due to the vocabulary words—we’ll address it during our first pass through any verbal section and save the reading comprehension questions for our second pass. The moment this question appears, it takes me less than a second to recognize that I’m dealing with a vocab-based question. Additionally, the design of the buttons helps me discern whether I’m faced with a text completion, where you choose one answer per blank, or a sentence equivalence, where you select two answers for one blank.

Within a second, I should recognize that I’m dealing with a vocab-based question, specifically a text completion question. In this case, it’s identifiable as a text completion due to the shape of the buttons. On the product, they appear as circles, but on the actual mock tests and the GRE itself, they’re not circles. Instead, the words are inside rectangular buttons, and you would click the entire rectangle containing the words to indicate your selection. By contrast, sentence sequences have small square radio buttons next to the vocab words.

For this text completion question, we’re going to look at the answer choices first. We go straight to the answer choices because we’re choosing one word for one blank. We can eliminate any words that are synonymous with each other. We’re doing this not only to ensure that we understand most of the words (which justifies the time we’re spending), but also to possibly eliminate some answers before even reading the question. In this case, there are five options, as there always are for a single-blank text completion. The choices are speculative, enigmatic, adamant, hypothetical, and inane. Right off the bat, I can eliminate 40% of those answer choices because speculative and hypothetical are sufficiently synonymous that I can discard them. Remember, we don’t need perfect synonyms; we need synonyms that are roughly 70% similar, meaning they convey a similar idea with roughly the same intensity.

So, great! I got rid of two out of the five answer choices. Now, I have a forced choice between “dogmatic,” “adamant,” and “inane.” Let’s assume that we know what those words mean. Now we go up and read the actual question. We’re going to read this intentionally; we’re going to read this with purpose. The purpose is to employ the word search technique. Just like in sentence completions, we’re going to be looking for keywords, and we’re going to be looking for trigger words. Keywords are the words that directly relate to the word that goes in the blank, and the trigger word is the word, phrase, or punctuation that indicates the direction of that relationship.
So here we go. Most people who claim to have seen UFOs recant their stories once presented with compelling evidence to the contrary. However, Jerome wouldn’t even consider an alternative explanation, remaining blank in his position. As is often the case, it’s usually easier to see triggers than keys. Here, a very clear trigger that stands out to us is “however.” This word, beginning the second sentence, indicates a change in direction.

Davis: So, we can then use that trigger to reverse engineer the key. So, what do we want to change from?

Orion: Well, the answer to that question is going to be our key word. If most people recant, which means to take back their stories, and Jerome is doing the opposite of that – he’s sticking to his guns, he’s staying with it. Come hell or high water. Go for it, Jerome!

Davis: Maybe he’s in on those… like, are they the Mexican aliens that were recently “discovered”?

Orion: Right, maybe Jerome was behind that. We want the opposite of someone who takes back their stories: someone who sticks with their stories. We have a forced choice which is “enigmatic.” That doesn’t mean “to stick with.” It’s a psychological association trap answer associated with UFOs, conspiracy theories, and the like. It’s mysterious but has nothing to do with “sticking with.” “Inane” means silly; that could be a judgment about UFO believers.

Again, that’s a trap answer. The third option is “adamant,” which means strong and unyielding. That’s a great fit for the word that we’re looking for: someone who sticks with their stories, even when there’s compelling evidence to the contrary. We’re going to choose “adamant” and move on with our lives. So, that was me talking through the entire thought process with full sentences, explaining other contextual parts of the strategy that you should just have ingrained in you. And that was, you know, three minutes. With practice, without speaking to yourself in full sentences, and knowing exactly what you’re doing and why you’re doing it in the workflow, you can easily answer this question in less than 60 seconds, which is really what our goal is for all vocab-based questions.

Davis: Thanks, Orion, for that clear walkthrough. A couple of interesting points to tease out—maybe interesting points to point out—you can give us some facts on these. You mentioned a “pat response,” like a psychological “trap association.” And you also mentioned “trigger words.” So, for example, there were, you know, “UFOs,” and then there was “enigmatic,” and there was, you know, “someone who believes in UFOs.” And there was “inane” as “silly.” But the real trigger words were relating to the verb, either “recounting their positions after evidence.” And then, however, Jerome does the opposite: he changes his position. Can you talk just briefly about those?

Orion: Yeah, so most of the trap answers on a vocab-based question relate to the surface narrative of the story and don’t address the deeper structure of the problem. This question, in fact, has nothing to do with UFOs. We could eliminate that language entirely or replace it with something unrelated, like “most people who claim to be serious about politics” or those who are “interested in becoming surgeons.” These topics are not trivial. However, if “recant their stories” remains a part of the text, then the opposite of “recant” will remain the same, regardless of Jerome’s beliefs or the topic under consideration. That’s why we use the word search technique: to cut through unnecessary verbiage.

Davis: I really appreciate that. I hope everyone found this beneficial. Hopefully you could follow along in this audio format.

Thanks, everybody, for tuning in. We’ll be back next week with another bite-sized episode of GRE Bites. If you have a topic you’d like discussed on a future episode, let us know at stellargre@gmail.com. And if you’re ready to take your prep to the next level, check out our top-rated GRE self-study program at stellargre.com. You can use the code “BITES” for 10% off all memberships there. Talk to you soon.