What kind of math is on the gre?

[Psychology 76]

I'm looking to take my math courses next year and calculus is required for my major. Will pre-calc and calc benefit me for the GRE? I looked it up and it said algebra and geometry and analysis but i'm not sure if that's in calculas? Thank you!

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[Psychology09]

I don't think calculus will directly benefit you because it is beyond the scope of the GRE quantitative section. The pre-cal might help because there is some algebra. I believe the math covered in the GRE is high school level.

 

[Aggieanthony]

Hey,

Algebra will benefit you most of all, as well as geometry and data analysis. A strong grasp of "general arithmetic" also will suit you...
Some stuff I can remember off the top of my noggin' from the GRE includes:

Exponents
First and second degree equations / inequalities
Simultaneous equations
Writing equations to solve word problems
Estimation
Parallel lines
Rectangles, triangles, circles, spheres (Better have those formulae memorized)
Pythagorean Theorem
Geometry w/ coordinates like slope, intercept.
And statistics (data analysis remember?) like mean, mode, median, standard dev., range, etc.

I highly recommend either the Princeton Review or the Kaplan GRE book! I used the latter, and it really helped give me a really good grip on the material (Since they know the test so incredibly well).

Remember, you don't get a calculator on the GRE... at least I didn't, and it wasn't that long ago. So prepare yourself to do computations in your head if necessary, and simple arithmetic stuff in your head. I found that the best preparation was to be comortable (not sweating bullets) with all high school and fresh/soph year of college application of mathematics.

Hope this helps.

 

[cara susanna]

Really, the key is figuring out the trick to each problem. If you find yourself doing complex calculations, you're approaching it wrong. Each question has a "shortcut" and you just have to find it, which is the hard part.

Of course, I didn't do that great on quant, so take this with a grain of salt.

 

[deleted176373]

I'm looking to take my math courses next year and calculus is required for my major. Will pre-calc and calc benefit me for the GRE? I looked it up and it said algebra and geometry and analysis but i'm not sure if that's in calculas? Thank you!

I suck at math, but as Cara said, it's all about knowing which trick to apply to which problem. My result 740 (not great but not bad, 75%.) Learn the tricks and when to apply them, that is where the money is.

Mark

 

[Psychology 76]

Again, thank you all very much! That does clear some things up 🙂 Though I have a problem, my school requires calc for the major in which I would have to take pre-calc because I am bad at math and could not pass the placement exam. But at my school, a psych major can also get an "approved math course" to satisfy the requirement. So, would it be best for me to try and get a high school math type college course to fuffil the requirement? Thank you!

 

[Psychology09]

I agree with the others above that the quantitative section is more about test-taking strategies and reasoning skills than it is about mathematics. I am not sure what the other approved math course would cover, but the math needed for the GRE does not go beyond high school. The entire test is very similar to the SAT.
Other than just a little review, most of my studying time was dedicated to figuring out the test. For instance, about half of the problems are quantitative comparisons, and once I figured out strategies for that type of question my score increased by almost 200 points. (I also only scored at about 75 percentile for quantitative -- it was by far my weakest compared to the verbal and writing sections, as well as the subject test.) I do think more math review would have helped my score, but realistically, studying the test paid off more for me since I only had about one month to study. My brother is studying for it now and I recommended to him to study for at least 2 months.


This is taken from the ETS site:

Quantitative Reasoning — The skills measured include the test taker's ability to

understand basic concepts of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and data analysis
reason quantitatively
solve problems in a quantitative setting

 

[deleted176373]

again, thank you all very much! That does clear some things up 🙂 though i have a problem, my school requires calc for the major in which i would have to take pre-calc because i am bad at math and could not pass the placement exam. But at my school, a psych major can also get an "approved math course" to satisfy the requirement. So, would it be best for me to try and get a high school math type college course to fuffil the requirement? Thank you!

two words: Clep test