GRE Quantitative tips for beginners

ssat.vn – Do you want to pass the GRE test in order to enroll in a business school but you do not have a knack for Mathematics? This article will show you GRE Quantitative tips for beginners.

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GRE Quantitative: Overview

The Quantitative section is a section in the GRE test that focuses on testing candidates’ Math skills. Most of the Math topics on the GRE are topics you’ve studied since high school. The exercises themselves are not advanced, but the Quantitative section of the GRE emphasizes the students’ thinking, critical and problem-solving abilities. Here are the topics you will see on the GRE test:

Arithmetic

• Number theory/integer properties: factorization, prime numbers, remainders, divisibility, odd/even integers
• Basic operations: addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, and exponents (think PEMDAS), and roots
• Other topics: estimating; percents, ratios, and rates; absolute value, number lines, decimals, and number sequences

Algebra

• Working with expressions and functions: manipulating algebraic expressions (through factoring and simplification); understanding relations, functions, equations, and inequalities
• Solving inequalities and equations: solving linear and quadratic inequalities and equations; solving simultaneous equations and inequalities; using equations to solve word problems
• Coordinate geometry: graphs of functions, equations, and inequalities; intercepts and line slopes

Geometry

• 2-dimensional figures: parallel/perpendicular lines; circles, triangles, quadrilaterals, and other polygons; congruence/similarity; area and perimeter
• 3-dimensional figures: volume and area of 3-dimensional figures
• Other topics: Pythagorean theorem, angles (in degrees)

Data Analysis

• Basic descriptive statistics: mean, median, mode, standard deviation, range, interquartile range, quartiles/percentiles
• Data interpretation: interpreting information in line, bar, and circle graphs; boxplots and scatter plots; frequency distributions
• Basic probability: the probability of both compound and independent events, conditional probability, random variables, probability distributions (like normal distributions)
• Counting methods: permutations, combinations, Venn diagrams

For more: GRE exam preparation for beginners

GRE Quantitative tips for beginners

The best way for you to know GRE Quantitative tips for beginners is that you need to understand the types of exercise in the test and thereby draw your own test-taking experience. Fortunately, we have compiled for you everything you need to know about all of the common types of exercises alongside solutions and explanations of each type for your reference. In the GRE Quantitative test, there will be 4 total types of different exercises:

• Quantitative Comparison: 

Example: 

“Lionel is younger than Maria.

1. Quantity A is greater.
2. Quantity B is greater.
3. The two quantities are equal.
4. The relationship cannot be determined from the information given.”

Explanation:

First, let’s establish what we know from the information provided in the issue. We know that Lionel is younger than Maria, but we don’t know how old they are. He could be 29 and Maria could be 30, or he could be 4 and she could be 40, and so on.

Since we don’t know the ages of Lionel and Maria, they can be any age as long as Lionel is younger than Maria. If Lionel is 2 years old and Maria is 10 years old, twice Lionel’s age is 4, which is younger than Maria’s age. But if Lionel is 19 years old and Maria is 20 years old, then twice Lionel’s age is 38, which is older than Maria’s age.

Whether the number of A or B depends on the actual ages of Lionel and Maria – the information we do not know, hence the answer is D) The relationship cannot be determined from the information given.

Tips for Quantitative Comparison

• Memorize the answer choices
• Simplify the comparison
• Plugin numbers
• If there are no variables in the two quantities—only numbers—never select choice (D)
• 5-Choice Multiple Choice

Example:

“The figure above shows the graph of the function f, defined by f(x) = |2x| + 4 for all numbers x. For which of the following functions g, defined for all numbers x, does the graph of g intersect the graph of f?”

1. g(x) = x – 2
2. g(x) = x + 3
3. g(x) = 2x – 2
4. g(x) = 2x + 3
5. g(x) = 3x – 2

Explanation:

Here we need to find the function g that intersects with function f. Honestly, The easiest and fastest strategy on this problem is probably just to very quickly draw out the functions to see which one intersects with f.

Tips for 5-Choice Multiple Choice

• Answer the question that’s being asked
• Plugin answers
• Always look for ways to apply methods to simplify the process of defining functions.

For more: How to study Chemistry in English well?

• Multiple-Answer Multiple Choice

Example: 

“Each employee of a certain company is in either Department X or Department Y, and there are more than twice as many employees in Department X as in Department Y. The average (arithmetic mean) salary is $25,000 for the employees in Department X and $35,000 for the employees in Department Y. Which of the following amounts could be the average salary for all of the employees of the company?Indicate all such amounts.”

• $26,000
• $28,000
• $29,000
• $30,000
• $31,000
• $32,000
• $34,000

Explanation:

For this question, we have to select all possible averages salary values for the company employees. Since the two departments, respectively, have average salaries of $25,000 and $35,000, we know that the average has to be between those values. 

However, we also know that there are more than twice as many employees in Department X (with the $25,000 average salary) than in Department Y (with the $35,000 average salary). Since there are more employees in X than Y, the average salary has to be closer to $25,000 than $35,000, so we can eliminate all the answers $30,000+ right off the bat.

There are more than twice as many employees in Department X than Y. This means that, at maximum, a little more than ⅔ of the company is in Department X and a little less than ⅓ is in Department Y.

This means that the absolute maximum approximate value of the average would be (⅔)($25,000) + (⅓)($35,000) = $28,332. The only possible average values must be below that. So answers (a) and (b), $26,000 and $28,000, are the correct answer choices.

Tips for Multiple-Answer Multiple Choice

• Always estimate. This is a type of test that requires students to have the skills to qualitatively and quantitatively quantify numbers quickly and accurately.
• Choose the correct number of answers. Since not all questions have only 2 answers, they may require 3 answers in order to be correct, so candidates need to pay attention to their answers.

• Numeric Entry

Example:

“Results of a used car auction:

For the large cars sold at an auction that is summarized in the table above, what was the average sale price per car?”

Explanation:

Don’t get overwhelmed by all the information here—figure out what you need to know and focus on that. You are trying to figure out the average sale price per large car. To figure out the average, you need to know the number of large cars sold and the total sales $ of large cars. So let’s find that information in the table!

We can completely ignore the “Small Cars” column; the question isn’t asking anything about those. We can also ignore the “cars offered” and “projected sales totals.” We want to know the actual number of cars sold, not offered, and we want to know the actual sales, not projected sales.

We can see in the table that 20 large cars were sold. For actual sales totals, we can see $120 in the large cars column—but these are in thousands. Thus, the actual sales total in dollars is $120,00.

We have enough information to calculate the average now. $120,000 total sales / 20 large cars sold = $6000 per car. So, the answer is $6000!

Tips for Numeric Entry:

• Make sure your answer matches the requirements of the question. Many students often forget what the topic is asking for. For example, in the example above, the problem asks for the dollar amount of each large car sold. So your answer must write $6000 or 6000 dollars.
• Be careful when transferring your calculator display: Because the format of the answer is so critical, be sure that the format is correct when you transfer your calculator display. 

Hopefully, through this article, you have learned all of the GRE Quantitative tips for beginners.

For more: How to get high score on GRE?

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