![\"gre](\"\/\/cdn.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2000\/gre-reasoning.jpg\")
Well, okay, you do have to know about these topics in order to get a good score. But this test is really testing your executive reasoning<\/i> skills.<\/p>\nThe GRE General Test is not a math test. Nor is it a vocabulary test. Well, okay, you do have to know about these topics in order to get a good score. But this test is really testing your executive reasoning<\/i> skills.<\/p>\n
The term might be unfamiliar, but you already have\u2014and use\u2014these skills every day. Here are some examples:<\/p>\n
You arrive at work in the morning and think about all of the things that you could do that day. You can\u2019t get it all done, so which things will have to wait until this afternoon, or tomorrow, or next week? Which one thing should you start working on first?<\/p>\n
You are faced with a list of 20 unread emails (or, if your inbox is more like mine, about 80). Which ones do you read first? The oldest ones? The ones from your boss? The ones marked urgent? Are there some that you won\u2019t even click on right now because you know, from the sender\u2019s name or from the subject line, that those emails aren\u2019t very important? (And how did that one spam message get through the filter?)<\/p>\n
You have a choice between working on Product X or Project Y. Project Y will result in about 5% more revenue to the company, but Project Y will also take 50% longer. Which do you do?<\/p>\n
None of those decisions are easy ones (and many would likely require more information than I gave in the little scenario). This complex decision making is exactly what a good executive needs to be able to do well\u2014and this is what the test writers and graduate schools actually care about<\/i>.<\/p>\n
The math problems, vocab questions, and reading passages on the General Test are ultimately tools to allow the exam writers to test you on your decision-making<\/i> ability. The Subject Tests are the ones that assess you more on your domain-specific expertise.<\/p>\nHow does that help me take the test?<\/h3>\n
<\/p>\n
The first step is really to internalize the fact that they don\u2019t expect you to get everything right, any more than you would expect to clear every last thing in your inbox today. You have to prioritize.<\/p>\n
A great decision-maker has both expertise and experience: she\u2019s thought about how<\/i> to make various kinds of decisions, and she\u2019s actually practiced and refined these decision-making processes. While the clock is ticking, she doesn\u2019t hesitate to make a decision and move forward, knowing that she\u2019s going to be leaving some opportunities behind.<\/p>\n
In order to do that successfully in the real world, you need to know the company or institution\u2019s goals and objectives, and you have to have a good idea of the kind of impact that various tasks or activities will have on the overall organization. You also have to have a lot of practice in making these decisions and observing the outcomes. There\u2019s never just one right way to make these decisions, so the more exposure you give yourself to how things work, the better you\u2019ll be able to make good decisions in future.<\/p>\n
The same is true for the GRE: if you know how it works, and you know what kinds of trade-offs to think about when deciding how to spend your time, then you can learn how to make the best decisions to maximize your score.<\/p>\n
Glad you asked. The information I\u2019m about to discuss is talked about everywhere, but I still encounter students nearly every day who tell me that they just can\u2019t give up on a question. They figure that, if they \u201cknow\u201d they can get something right, they might as well take the time to get it right, even when that means running out of time later on.<\/p>\n
(Note: I put \u201cknow\u201d in question marks there because\u2026 well, you don\u2019t really<\/i> know. : ) First, you could make a careless mistake at any time. Second, if you need a lot of extra time to do a problem, then something<\/i> is problematic. You might still get it right, but your odds go way down if something is problematic.)<\/p>\n
So here\u2019s what you need to do: you need to grow up.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not saying \u201cOh, grow up!\u201d in a harsh way. I\u2019m saying that you need to graduate from school. The way that we were trained to do things at university is often not<\/span> the way things work in the real world. You already know this\u2014you learned it when you got out into the working world (whether that was a part-time summer job or whether you\u2019ve been working for years).<\/p>\n At university, it\u2019s not that uncommon to ask for extra time on a paper or assignment; some professors won\u2019t allow this, but many do, as long as the work is still done in a reasonable timeframe.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not so easy to ask for an extension in the real world. You\u2019d better have a very good reason as to why it would be better to extend the deadline than to stay up all night and finish the project on time. Also, you would be expected to bring this to your boss\u2019 attention several weeks before the deadline, at the least. Expect a very unhappy boss if you don\u2019t say anything until the day before!<\/p>\n Further, if you think that a work assignment is approaching a problem in the wrong way, then you can discuss that with your boss or your team and change the mechanism or the scope of the work or whatever it is that you think is \u201coff.\u201d Try going to your professor and saying, \u201cI know you assigned us these problem sets, but I think it\u2019d actually be more productive if we worked in groups on a project.\u201d<\/p>\n In school, you\u2019re supposed to do what the professors assign. At work, you\u2019re supposed to think for yourself.<\/p>\n So get yourself out of school. Graduate to the real world. Approach the GRE as a test of your common-sense work ability and decision-making skills. The test just happens to include some school subjects in the details of the questions.<\/p>\n If you can graduate to the \u201creal-world\u201d mindset, you\u2019ll have a much better shot at hitting your goal score. If you stick with the \u201cschool\u201d mindset, then you\u2019re almost certainly not going to get the score you want.<\/p>\n So, first, keep reminding yourself that the GRE is a decision-making test, not<\/i> an academic test. React accordingly.<\/p>\n Next, the two articles In It to Win It<\/a> and But I Should<\/i> Know How to Do This<\/a> will also help you make this mental switch.<\/p>\n Follow those up by educating yourself on the subject of Time Management<\/a>. Successful professionals know how to manage their time and make trade-off decisions; great GRE test-takers have this same skill.<\/p>\nGraduation Day<\/h3>\n