Can’t get enough of Neil’s GRE wisdom? Few can. Fortunately, you can join him twice monthly for a free hour and a half study session in Mondays with Neil.

As a long-time instructor of all things standardized testing (GRE, GMAT, LSAT, SAT), I love reading books about math, logic, learning, skill acquisition, neurology, and psychology. Is important to me to stay up-to-date with anything that will help my students use their study time effectively. In this blog series, I’ll be bringing you book reviews and recommendations, as well as excerpts and summaries you can put into practice right away on your GRE journey. Read more

Do you remember, when you took exams in high school or college, being allowed to bring a one-page ‘cheat sheet’? I always spent days putting those cheat sheets together in my tiniest handwriting, summarizing an entire semester’s notes on a single page. The funny thing is, by the time I took the exam, I almost never needed to look at the cheat sheet I’d created. After spending all of that time creating it, I had practically memorized my notes. So, even if you can’t bring a cheat sheet with you to the GRE, you can still benefit from creating one. Synthesizing your notes and thoughts on a single page will give you the ‘big picture’ view of a topic, and will teach you what you do and don’t know. Read more

To see this week’s answer choices and to submit your pick, visit our Challenge Problem page.

To see this week’s answer choices and to submit your pick, visit our Challenge Problem page.

To see this week’s answer choices and to submit your pick, visit our Challenge Problem page.

We hope everyone had a happy Halloween! Yesterday we asked our friends on our Manhattan GRE Facebook page to attempt this Trick-or-Treat Halloween Challenge Problem. As promised, today we are sharing the answer and explanation to the problem:

Let’s use x for the number of bags produced by the original recipe, and y for the weight of each of the bags. Given those variables, our first equation is simply xy = 600. We also need to create an equation that represents the new recipe. Since the number of bags produced has increased by 30, and the weight of each bag has decreased by 1, the new equation is (x + 30)(y – 1) = 600. Remember, the total weight is still 600 ounces. Foiling this equation yields xy – x + 30y – 30 = 600.

We now have two equations with two variables. There are several different paths we can go down here, but all involve substitution of one of the variables, and all will yield a quadratic. The simplest path is to recognize that since xy = 600, we can substitute for xy in the second equation to get 600 – x + 30y – 30 = 600. Subtracting the 600 from both sides, and adding an x to each side gives us 30y – 30 = x. We can now substitute for x in the first equation.

 
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Each week, we post a new GRE Challenge Problem for you to attempt. If you submit the correct answer, you will be entered into that week’s drawing for two free Manhattan Prep GRE Strategy Guides.

Submit your pick over on our Challenge Problem page.

Each week, we post a new GRE Challenge Problem for you to attempt. If you submit the correct answer, you will be entered into that week’s drawing for two free Manhattan Prep GRE Strategy Guides.

Submit your pick over on our Challenge Problem page.

Each week, we post a new GRE Challenge Problem for you to attempt. If you submit the correct answer, you will be entered into that week’s drawing for two free Manhattan Prep GRE Strategy Guides.

See the answer choices and submit your pick over on our Challenge Problem page.

Each week, we post a new GRE Challenge Problem for you to attempt. If you submit the correct answer, you will be entered into that week’s drawing for two free Manhattan Prep GRE Strategy Guides.

See the answer choices and submit your pick over on our Challenge Problem page.