GRE GRE TIPS

gre_tips.txt

Tips for the GRE exam. 

General tips for the entire exam:
- Make sure to get a good night's sleep the day before. 
- Be relaxed, you prepared. There's people that spend 1-2 weeks in total and still get good scores. You spent way more time.
- Have a bottle of water beside you.
- Have a protein snack beside you. 
- Kill that MF yo!

Quant:
- Do 9-19, 1-8 and then 20. 
- For any question if you find yourself spending more than 45sec, skip and then come back to the question. 
- For QC questions, always try multiple cases:
	- Fractions
	- Zero
	- Positive/Negative values.
- For PS, if it is a word problem, break the question down. In equations or such. 
- If the problem is too hard, mark it and then come back to it later. 
- If there are numerical values in an ascending orders for the answer choices, apply the C -> B-D method.
	-  Try C. If too small, focus on D/E or A/B if too big. 
- For QC questions if there are any common terms for choice A and B, eliminate them. 
- For Geometry Qs, always draw figure and fill in the pieces. Do not try to do everything in your head. 
- WRITE YOUR SHIT DOWN. 
- Normal Distribution: 
	- 0.02 -> 0.014 -> 0.34 -> 0.34 -> 0.14 -> 0.02
	- Cumulative Percentage: 0.02 -> 0.16 -> 0.50 -> 0.84 -> 0.98 -> 1.00
- Number Props:
	- Even/Odd Stuff:
		- Even x Even = Even
		- Even X Odd = Even
		- Odd x Odd = Odd
        	- Even + Odd = Odd
        	- Even + Even = Even
		- Odd + Odd = Even
	- Factors and Divisors are the same thing.
	- To find the num of factors:
		- Prime factor: 6 -> 2^1 * 3^1
		- Add 1 to the powers: 6 => 2^2 * 3^2
		- Multiply the resulting powers: 2 * 2 => 4. 
	- To find LCM:
		- Prime Factor: 12 and 35 => (3 * 2^2) and (5 * 7)
		- Multiply all the gretest amount of factors: 3 * 2^2 * 5 * 7
		- Great! You know have your LCM = 420. 
	- To find GCF: 
		- Prime factor: 12 and 36 => (3 * 2^2) and (2^2 * 3^2)
`		- Find what's common between them: 3 and 2^2. 
		- Voila! You answer is 12. 
	- Integers are => {-2, -1, 0, 1, 2}
	- Natural numbers are => {1, 2, 3}
	- Whole numbers are => {0, 1, 2, 3}
	- Real numbers equal all of the above numbers on top of irrational numbers. 
	- ZERO IS AN EVEN INTEGER.
	- Prime up till 50:
		- 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47.
	- For evenly space sets:
		- To find the total amount of nums: (last - first) / multiple + 1.
			- For ex, find the number of even numbers between 1-200, inclusive.
				-  200 - 2 / 2 + 1 -> 100.
				- Odd would be: 199 - 1 / 2 + 1 => 100. 
		- The total sum would just be: 
			- median * total num of values. For the above example:
				- Even Nums: 100.5 * 100 -> 10050

- Geometry:
	- Triangles:
		- Area of an equilateral triangle: ((3^1/2) / 4) * the length of one side.
		- 45-45-90 -> 1-1-2^(1/2)
		- 30-60-90 -> 1-3^(1/2)-2
		- The sum of all interior angles are 180 degrees. 
		- In an actual triangle, the sum of two sides is always larger than the 
		third side. 
	- Circle:
		- Area: pi * r^2
		- Circumference: 2*pi*r
		- Sector: x (angle) / 360 * pi*r^2
		- Arc length: x (angle) / 360 * 2 * pi * r
		- If there's a line that goes from one end of the diameter to a point then to
		the other end of the diameter, then the angle it forms is 90 degrees. Pull 
		that line down, the angle gets smaller and vice versa. 
	- Volumes/Areas:
		- Cube Vol: side^3
			- Cube area: side^2
			- Surface area: 6 * s^2
		- Rectangle Box Vol: l * w * h
			- Surface area: (2 * l * w) + (2 * w * h) + (2 * l * h).
			- Diagonal: D^2 = L^2 + W^2 + H^2.
		- Sphere Vol: 4/3 * pi * r^3
			- 4 * pi * r^2
		- Cylinder Vol: pi * r^2 * h
			- Sufrace Area: (2 * pi * r^2) + (2 * pi * r * h)
	- Perimeters:
		- Trapezoid: h * ((b1 + b2) / 2).
		- Rectangle: 2*l + 2*w.
			- Area: l * w.
		- Square: 4 * s.
	- The sume of all exterior angles is always 360 degrees.
	- Supplementary, Complementary etc.
	- All exterior angles always add up to 360. 
Verbal:
- SE -> TC -> RC
- For SE:
	- Make the pairs in the words first. If there's words that you do not know, then match them based on the root. 
	- After matching, apply the TC strategy on the blank and choose the appropriate pair. 
- For TC:
	- Leave the 3 blankers for the last. Focus on the 1 and 2 blankers first. 
	- Apply the Math strategy to the TCs:
		- For 1 blankers:
			- Identify support of contrast.
			- Choose the transition phrase.
			- Choose whether to go left or right.
			- Do the math shit.
			- ???
			- Profit. 
		- For 2 blankers:
			- Identify which sentence to work on first.
			- Follow the 1 blanker strat. 
			- Re-apply the Math strat for the other blank. 
		- For 3 blankers:
			- It's kind of the same thing with the 2 blankers but do not prioritize over the other. 
	- After all the problems are done, then attack the 3-blankers. 
- For RC:
	- Read the passage first and then attack the questions.
	- As you're reading through, keep a mental not on what each paragrpah is and a general structure of the talking points -> (M. Idea, SP 1, SP2, Concession, refuting etc.)
        - The order of RCs should be from Short -> Long -> Argument Qs. 
	- For the argument Qs, REFRAIN FROM LOOKING AT THE ANSWER CHOICES.
		- Figure out the conclusion.
		- Look for the evidence the passage provides.
		- Refute their claim. The refution must be reasonable and within the parameters of the passage. 
 
Issue Essay:

Step 1: Pick a stance. (Strongly/Mostly Disagree or Strongly/Mostly Agree).

Set up the structure: 
	- Introduction:
		- Hook
		- Shift to the prompt
		- State your thesis	
		- Go to structure (For the 2/3 following reasons)

	- Body (2 para if mostly agree, 3 if strongly agree):
		- Topic Sentence (part of your thesis).
		- Example (Hypothetical/Real life example from any subject).
		- Explain how the example relates back to the thesis.
	- Conclusion: 
		- If you put strongly "", have a concession. Acknowledging the opponent's argument but quickly shoot it down. 
		- If mostly "", explain that the issue is nuanced and that more factors need to considered in order slove this particular issue. 
		- Restate your thesis and wrap up.




Argument Essay: 
Step 1: Identify the main conclusion,  evidence points. 

Step 2: Identify the unstated assumptions. Use these unstated assumptions as the questions that need to be answered.  

Step 3: Structure: 
	- Introduction:
		- State the prompt of the essay. Rephrase the conclusion of the prompt.
		- State your thesis: "Before we can consider this suggestion seriously, The three unwarranted assumptions
		made by tht author must first be considered."
	- Body (for each paragraph):
		- Topic Sentence - identify the assumption.
		- "This might not be the case."
		- Example 1 (Maybe).
		- Example 2 (Maybe).
		- Explain the effect on the argument if the Maybes are true. 
	- Conclusion:
		- Restate the conclusion and say for the above mentioned questions, the arugment is flawed. 
		- Explain what can happen if the questions can be answered. 
		- The argument is strengthened.