![\"Manhattan](\"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2018\/03\/what-to-memorize-for-the-gre-chelsey-cooley.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GRE courses absolutely free. Crazy, right? <\/i><\/b>Check out our upcoming courses here<\/i><\/b><\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n The GRE isn\u2019t really about memorization. In order to keep the GRE fair, the test writers put 99% of the info you need right there in the questions themselves. They\u2019re not interested in what you know\u2014they\u2019re interested in how you think.<\/span><\/p>\n That said, there are a few things that you <\/span>do<\/span><\/i> need to memorize for the GRE. This isn\u2019t an exhaustive list, but if you memorize everything on this list, you\u2019ll be ready to focus on solving problems. <\/span><\/p>\n There\u2019s no way around it: if you\u2019re going to conquer the GRE, you\u2019ll have to memorize some new vocabulary words. Start with the <\/span>500 Essential GRE Words<\/span><\/a>\u2014then, if you have time and you\u2019re looking to improve your Verbal score, move on to the <\/span>500 Advanced GRE Words<\/span><\/a>. How you memorize vocabulary is important, too. Here\u2019s <\/span>one article on how to memorize words efficiently<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and <\/span>another article with some tips to keep vocab memorization interesting<\/span><\/a>. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Geometry is the other topic that you\u2019ll need to memorize for the GRE. As you learn new geometry rules, make flashcards. For most of us, it\u2019s easier to memorize geometry rules using pictures, rather than descriptions: after all, pictures are what you\u2019ll use while solving real GRE problems. And which of these \u00a0flashcards is more interesting?<\/span><\/p>\n To memorize geometry rules, you can use the same technique, <\/span>spaced retrieval<\/span><\/a>, that works for learning vocabulary. It works just as well for math!<\/span><\/p>\n Finally, don\u2019t assume that you\u2019re finished studying geometry just because you\u2019ve learned a bunch of rules. It\u2019s just as important to practice solving geometry problems. Once you know the rules, dive into the <\/span>5lb. Book of GRE Practice Problems<\/span><\/a>, and try the chapters on geometry\u2014they\u2019ll help you refine your process. <\/span><\/p>\n Before you take the GRE, memorize the perfect squares up to 20 squared, and the cubes up to 5 cubed. Sure, you\u2019ll be able to calculate the squares and cubes using your calculator\u2014but that isn\u2019t the point of memorizing them. Knowing your squares will actually help you come up with strategic ways to solve equations like these:<\/span><\/p>\n (x – 1)\u00b2<\/span>\u00a0= 196<\/span><\/p>\n You might be tempted to use FOIL on the left side of the equation, then move everything to the left and use quadratic rules to solve. That would get you the right answer, but it wouldn\u2019t be efficient. If you recognize that 196 is a perfect square, you can actually just take the square root of both sides:<\/span><\/p>\n (x – 1)\u00b2<\/span>\u00a0= 196<\/span><\/p>\n x \u2013 1 = 14 or -14<\/span><\/p>\n x = 15 or -13<\/span><\/p>\n That gives you the answer in fewer steps. <\/span><\/p>\n Unlike squares and cubes, primes aren\u2019t easy to find with a calculator. You can check whether a number is a prime\u2014try dividing it by smaller numbers to see whether it\u2019s divisible\u2014but that can take a lot of time and steps. So, memorize the prime numbers up to 50. This will help you with problems that directly ask about primes, as well as problems that deal with divisibility. <\/span><\/p>\n You don\u2019t need a lot of advanced statistics for the GRE, but you do need to know a bit about the normal curve. When you learn about the normal distribution for the GRE, be sure to memorize the percentages associated with different standard deviations. There\u2019s no need to be precise! It\u2019s enough to know that 34% of measurements will be within one standard deviation above the mean, and 34% will be within one standard deviation below. About 13.5% will be between one and two standard deviations above the mean, and the same percent will be between one and two standard deviations below.<\/span><\/p>\n There isn\u2019t a lot of pure memorization on the GRE. You\u2019ll learn a lot more than just these facts as you start to study, but most of your time should be spent on learning to solve problems. It\u2019s rare that a problem just depends on remembering facts: it\u2019s much more important to remember <\/span>what <\/span><\/i>to do while solving, and <\/span>how<\/span><\/i> to know what to do. But a little quality time with some flashcards can go a long way too! ?<\/span><\/p>\n See that \u201cSUBSCRIBE\u201d button in the top right corner? Click on it to receive all our GRE blog updates straight to your inbox!<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Chelsey Cooley<\/a> You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GRE courses absolutely free. Crazy, right? Check out our upcoming courses here. The GRE isn\u2019t really about memorization. In order to keep the GRE fair, the test writers put 99% of the info you need right there in the questions themselves. They\u2019re […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[474284,921840,6,7,733445],"tags":[1362538,1362537],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-11379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-studiers","category-gre-prep-2","category-gre-strategies","category-how-to-study","category-study-tips-2","tag-gre-memorization","tag-what-to-memorize"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11379"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11400,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11379\/revisions\/11400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11379"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=11379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nVocabulary<\/b><\/h4>\n
Geometry<\/b><\/h4>\n
![\"Manhattan](\"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2018\/03\/gre-blog-rhombus.png\")
<\/p>\nSquares and Cubes<\/b><\/h4>\n
Primes<\/b><\/h4>\n
Normal Distribution<\/b><\/h4>\n
\n
\n![\"Chelsey](\"https:\/\/cdn2.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2015\/11\/chelsey-cooley-150x150.jpg\" "\\"Chelsey")
<\/a>\u00a0is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Seattle, Washington.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/i><\/b>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\u2019s degree in linguistics, a 790 on the GMAT, and a perfect 170Q\/170V on the GRE.\u00a0<\/em><\/i>Check out Chelsey\u2019s upcoming GRE prep offerings here<\/a>.<\/em><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"