Psychology

Hi guys, I have taught the SAT at major and minor test prep academies both in the United States and South Korea. In August of 2009 I moved to a (then) relatively unheard of place called Gangnam, Seoul, South Korea to teach the SAT full-time. I have recently moved back to the United States to earn my PhD. Over the years I've developed a pretty rock solid SAT essay method for non-native speakers (almost always 10/12 or higher). Normally I teach this in class but I decided to put it down on paper and so I need beta testers who have never taken my classes before so that I can check to see if the drills carry over. Please PM me if you're interested. I'll send a PDF with my method and the only stipulation is that you write a review after you're done. Joon

3 or C. Games of chance are designed to win the "house" money. Therefore, the first blank is maintenance, as these games are designed to make the gambler maintain unsuccessful decision strategies, making him/her lose money. None of the other first blank answer choices make sense. The first blank should not be negative because these games are not designed to distort or restrict unsuccessful strategies; these would not misguide players. Nor would a demonstration of their unsuccessful strategies; this would make their money-losing thought process obvious, thus making them change their strategy. D is fairly nonsensical as illusions predict nothing. Thus, C. QED.

Number 6 is from the June 2010 PBT...

Answer is B. Where did this question come from?

It cannot be rejuvenation. There was no need for rejuvenation as there are no clues implying a preceding period of moribundity or stagnation. In addition, the clues momentous and discovery imply that this movement was new and thus, again, no need for rejuvenation. However, rectitude makes sense for two reasons. First, the sentence says affirmations of the confidence which means that they felt their movement was on the right side of history (the rectitude or correctness of their position), possibly in the face of opposition. Second, the tense and time clues intimate that this sentence was written after the 15th century which reinforces the notion that they felt they were right even if their view was not widely accepted at the time.

If you do, I recommend reading and analyzing all the 4, 5 and 6 score essays you can get your hands on. Pay particular attention to the differences between 4 and 5 and 5 and 6. Reading the official comments helps too.

I recommend the prep CD from ETS and the Big Book in addition to what others have said. My method of conquering the silly mistake epidemic (and for learning the strategies) was brute force: 1200+ questions in 3 months.

It depends on the particular university and the particular program within that university. When I applied for M.A. programs in Psychology, I had about 4 different deadlines for 6 applications. If you are asking how to gain admission for Fall 2011 even though it's past the deadline, I'm afraid that you will have to have an "in" with a professor who can pull some strings for you. And even that has limits. Congrats on the score.

1) 14 $4 pen (1) - total amount left to buy pens is $27 $3 pen (1) - total amount left to buy pens is $24 $2 pen (12) - 12 pens may be bought with $24 2) 103 Since we know that a x b = ***5 (some number with singles digit 5), we can safely assume that c = 11. Therefore, a x b = 1995. If we factor out 1995, we get 5, 3, 7, and 19. Since we know that a and b are two digit numbers, we should first multiply 19 x 3, yielding 57. And then multiply 5 x 7, yielding 35. So we have: a = 57 b = 35 c = 11 a + b + c = 103 Someone else please double-check. I haven't done GRE math in about 9 months.

Could the OP transcribe the question correctly please?

D? 108 cubes would fit in as a rectangular solid. In-between the spaces in the arcs and the edges of the solid we would presumably fit 4 more on each side. 4x3(height) = 12 x 4 sides = 48. 108+48 = 156. Just a guess.

E? Perhaps the question has a typo: "Which angle could be 90 degree?" Answer choice "E" says "none of the above" which is clearly incorrect.

Thankfully you don't need much money to do well. All you really need is the willingness to slog through hundreds and hundreds of math problems. Math ability can be gained through hard work and persistence. I would go with the Power Prep concept review first (free). Then I would download a copy of the Big Book and begin doing 30-60 problems a day. This should be an enlightening experience as you will find that certain areas are harder for you than others. This leads to: The Barron's book which has very good problem sets for specific types of questions. Which should lead you right back to the Big Book for more practice. Then you can either use the Power Prep CD for practice, or buy a CD filled with quant questions. Always re-solve missed questions and make note of the strategy needed to solve them. Gather any still confusing problems and ask a friend how to solve them. If GRE material is too hard right now then I actually would begin with SAT math problems. They are slightly easier and less annoying. I've found that proficiency with SAT math does transfer to GRE math (not 100% though).

If I'm not mistaken, D is the correct answer. If it's an equilateral triangle with AC being the bottom edge, then B is the vertex. Draw a straight line down from B to midpoint D and thus >BDC and >BDA are both right angles.

I disagree. Since perfect "Verbal" scores are about 50% less prevalent than perfect Math scores, Verbal is more impressive.

Things to do: 1) Begin reading novels. They don't have to be Ulysses or Swann's Way. In fact, just reading/re-reading adolescent books like the Giver, Hatchet, Maniac Magee, can yield fantastics results. 2) Keep a vocabulary journal. Any word you don't know, write down in a small notebook and look up. 3) McGraw Hill's SAT book is excellent for RC. I'd go over the 9 lessons over, and over, and over again. 4) The Official Guide, is excellent for practice tests. 5) Princeton Review's 11 SATs are great at making you pay attention to details. 6) The GRE Big Book is great for difficult practice. Only to be used once you run out of other materials. 1 and 2 above are the ones that will give you the greatest increase in reading speed. Especially re-reading.

I found it mildly amusing. Is this a test run of a question of the day type thing? Or a test run of that particular question?

My favorite vocab building exercise was doing the analogies and antonyms in the Big Book. I would put a box around words I did not know and then consequently look them up and add them to flashcards. I teach the SAT in Korea to non-native speakers and we give our students Barron's 3500. This seems to be a comprehensive vocabulary list for the GRE as well as the SAT.

Congratulations!!

Hints? Ok. I actually forgot how to solve these, but here's what I remember/think will help. First problem: assume congruent triangles Second problem: special triangles (equilateral- [further hint: 2 radii and the 3rd is already the length of a radius]) The principle for the second problem is very useful: always look for special triangles (equilateral, special right triangles, etc)

PBT was harder than BB, IMO. The real test covered nearly every math concept that I had seen in my GRE prep. You can go whole tests in the Big Book without encountering a certain type of question, but I had to draw on all of my preparation to ace the quant. This is the reason I listed so many resources... I needed all of them. Having said that, if you do enough BB tests, you will see all the concepts tested. The CBT math seemed much easier to me too (in practice; on the real thing I would have choked probably) simply because you get so much more time. I had 10 minutes left in each section to double-check my answers in the Verbal (PBT), but many times I would have to go with my first answer on the Quant. Luckily I had done enough problems to avoid common answer traps. I was stuck at 25/30 for a long time as well. You just have to power through 1200+ problems and you'll have learned all the tricks and traps that they throw at you. It took me at least 600 problems to get to 27/30 and then another 600 to get me to 29,30/30. I have no idea how the PBT is scored, I'm thinking similarly to the BB. Some tests you can miss a few quant and get 800, others you have to ace all the questions. Oh, and don't forget to get good at guesstimating. Sometimes you'll just have to repose your faith on your process of elimination skills based on intelligent estimation. Hit the books hard! Good luck!

Your AWA score is excellent! Even though your quant is great, I do believe that you could and should raise it. I have to imagine that many competing applicants in quant-heavy economics have at least 700, probably 740-800. Also, just by memorizing some vocab, you could probably raise your Verbal as well. Good luck!

None of the resources I listed are perfect, but all of them contributed in some way to my score. The 10th Ed is pretty good... actually it's extremely similar to the Big Book. I think they even took some questions from the Big Book and stuck them in. I mainly used the 10th Ed as timed practice the week before the test. It helped.

The strategies are actually pretty similar for quant because the math is similar. In fact, a question on my PBT was very similar to a question I got on Power Prep. It's just that I find it absolutely necessary to have the problem in front of me on paper. I have a weird mental block about computer tests. I'm sure math naturals have no problem with format but me... Verbal strategies I would say are totally different, but the CAT is not useless for supplemental work. The full answer to your question is on the first page of this thread. Here is a shortened list: Big Book: Tests 1-12 Great for improving speed and figuring out common answer traps, especially for QC's. I timed myself at 30 minutes per section at first, then worked myself down to 25 minutes per section. Got bored after 12 tests and switched materials to: ReadyforGRE website: Advanced GRE questions Great for really tricky questions. First time I got nearly half wrong. I re-assessed and re-solved the questions over and over until I fully got the concepts. For the toughest questions, I asked a good friend to explain. He gave me a quick overview of factorials and how to use them in permutation questions. Barron's: Great for drilling question types. If there's a specific area that's giving you trouble, this is extremely helpful. There are also concept reviews which were useful. Power Prep: I did all the practice sections and tests, multiple times. Especially on the tests if you re-take them, you will find many repeats, but a few new guys thrown in there which will pose a new challenge for you. Again, the way you do problems is the most important thing. If you just solve and then move on without re-solving, I think you will not improve very much. I took particular pains to make sure I re-solved all my misses and to figure out the strategies for that particular type of question. The final hurdle, which you will run into, is the silly mistake epidemic. I tried all kinds of different methods, but in the end, doing massive amounts of problems and learning through pain when I screwed up was the best way for me. It's not elegant or sophisticated, but I got good at GRE math through sheer bulk. Good luck! Let us know how you do.

For quant, I did what I recommended to soffyan. I started studying in April, 2010 and took the test in June, 2010. I did get sick of studying and got so frustrated that I was stuck at 680-720 quant (always some silly mistakes) that I took a month off. But then I decided to go for broke and studied like a mad-man. For Verbal, as I mentioned, I didn't study very much. I did go through all the antonyms and analogies in the Big Book, and (I just remembered) there is a pdf called Real 19 GRE, which contains another 19 tests and I did all the antonyms and analogies in those as well. But honestly, those don't take very much time at all and I mainly used them as a game to learn vocabulary. I also used the Barron's GRE book the same way; just for antonyms and analogies. I'd dedicate 2-4 hours a day. Sometimes I'd take some weekdays off and just stay in on the weekends and do problems until my brain went numb. I always stopped studying when I knew that my concentration was off. Good luck!!