How to Read a GRE Explanation
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If you’re using the 5lb. Book of GRE Practice Problems, you’ve probably noticed that every single problem has a detailed explanation in the back of the book. They were written by our own Manhattan Prep instructors, who worked hard to keep them clear, realistic, and helpful.
But you know what? I sometimes wish those explanations weren’t in the book at all.
Picture this. You’ve just spent two minutes working through a tough GRE word problem. You picked an answer, but you don’t feel too sure about it. So you flip to the back of the book and check the explanation. The first thing you see is that you got the problem wrong. Aw, man. You start reading the GRE explanation, and the first line includes an equation. It doesn’t look like the one you wrote on your paper, but it makes perfect sense now that you see it. “Okay,” you think to yourself, “I get it.” You skim the rest of the GRE explanation, which walks you through solving the equation. All done—on to the next problem.
If this sounds like your own study process, you’re leaving points on the table. Why? Because you’re training yourself to be satisfied with “I get it.”
“I get it” is your worst enemy when you’re studying for the GRE. The GRE doesn’t give you any points for understanding someone else’s solution. You only get credit on the test if you can come up with the solution entirely on your own. When you passively read an explanation, you’re getting better at understanding other people’s solutions. But you aren’t necessarily getting better at creating your own solutions from scratch. Here’s how to train that skill instead.
When you finish a problem, don’t check whether you got it right.
This is going to be frustrating! You may find yourself flipping to the answer key without even meaning to. Try to keep yourself from doing that. Instead, turn the timer off, relax, and try the problem again from the beginning—without looking at the answer. Take as much or as little time as you need. You can even “cheat” if you want to. If there’s a vocabulary word in a problem that you don’t know, Google it! If there’s a geometry rule you didn’t remember, look it up in your Geometry Strategy Guide! Just don’t look at the back of the book, no matter what.
When you do this, you’re not just “getting it.” You’re “figuring it out.” And that’s a skill that’s critical on the GRE. Of course, there are some problems you won’t be able to figure out on your own, even if you cheat! To be honest, those aren’t the best problems to focus on right now. Spend most of your time and energy on the problems that are just a little too hard for you.
Once you’ve done as much as you can on your own, it’s finally time to look at the GRE explanation. Don’t just read it from beginning to end. Instead, approach it in one of these two ways.
- Look for hints. If you struggled to solve the problem, take a moment to think about why it was so tough. Maybe you weren’t sure how to simplify an equation. Maybe you didn’t understand the meaning of a certain idiom. Instead of reading the explanation from beginning to end, skim it, looking for the clue that you were missing. Once you find it, you might be able to solve the problem on your own.
- Try, hint, try. When you review a Quant problem, read the explanation with a pen in your hand. Follow along with the solution on your own paper. After a few sentences, stop reading and see whether you can figure out the rest of the solution on your own. If you’re still stuck, go back to the explanation and read a bit further, then try again. Any work that you do on your own is useful practice for test day.
When you use either of these approaches, you’re practicing critical test-day skills.
Finally, every time you look at a GRE explanation, take notes on it. But don’t just copy down what it tells you. Instead, generalize: what could you take from this explanation and use on other problems you haven’t seen yet? (The ‘when I see this, do this’ technique is a good approach.) Take notes that you’ll actually want to review later—that means writing down things that are likely to be useful to you more than just once.
Explanations for practice problems are useful, but you shouldn’t ever just read them and move on. When you do that, you’re not saving time—you’re keeping yourself from mastering a topic fully. It’s fine to spend more time really engaging with a small number of problems! In fact, it might be the key to improving your GRE score. ?
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Chelsey Cooley
is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Seattle, Washington. Chelsey always followed her heart when it came to her education. Luckily, her heart led her straight to the perfect background for GMAT and GRE teaching: she has undergraduate degrees in mathematics and history, a master’s degree in linguistics, a 790 on the GMAT, and a perfect 170Q/170V on the GRE. Check out Chelsey’s upcoming GRE prep offerings here.