We have this metaphor of just banging a sledgehammer against the bank vault door repeatedly and making no progress. What’s the equivalent of this in GRE prep?

Solving questions (hundreds of them)
Using the score as evidence if you’re doing the right thing
- “I’m getting the questions correct. I must be doing the right thing.”
- “I’m getting the questions wrong. I suck and I’m doing the wrong thing.”
Refusing to change habits even though we have evidence that they’re hurting our performance and ability to apply techniques and strategies
Working on our strengths, not our weaknesses
Just watching the videos
- You are busy. Each video is like 1 hour long. So yeah you’re busy
- But of course if you don’t learn the technique and hopefully master it, then essentially we’re just watching Netflix right?
Doing other things while you prep
- Yeah, you’re busy. But browsing Reddit at the same time you’re watching videos is not really going to work
Studying vocab words and never reviewing/revising them
- Imagine you spent HOURS/DAYS learning groups 1-10 but you never revise them.
- Overcoming this – Vocab Mountain
  - Tedious, but productive

Verbal (How to be productive)

Vocabulary
1. Super productive, especially now, because the shorter GRE places more emphasis on vocabulary than the old one
  1. Old one (SE): 8 questions out of 40 (20%)
  2. New one (SE): 7 questions out of 27 (25%)
2. Recommendation
  1. Go to the vocab mountain and go up to the group you’re on
  2. Shuffle all of the words
    1. Example (random group 1): How many of those words do you know? Should be 27 or more.
  3. You actually have to do the Vocab Mountain
    1. Have to say the definition out loud
  4. Sentence Equivalence Quizzes
    1. Pairing Strategy
3. Math Strategy
  1. Identify the idea chunks in a sentence
  2. Determine whether the ideas support or contrast each other
    1. Logic Word List: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yJan-Lri2-44SZLdO-RXXFMDARFjJiH-upEj8yOG-J8/edit#gid=0
  3. Guess the blanks
    1. I find that when people struggle with this, what do you think they do? Just look at the answer choices (not a good idea)
4. Reading
  1. Collection of different strategies
  2. Passage Level Strategies
    1. Identify Main Idea
    2. Simplify or Rephrase a Sentence
    3. Identify a Sentence’s function
    4. The ability to identify the structure of the passage
    5. The ability to identify the author’s opinion or tone (if there is one)
    6. The ability to make inferences
  3. Question/Answer Choice Level Strategies
    1. Identify the question type
    2. Rephrasing the question
    3. Scanning (find the evidence quickly)
    4. Answer the question before you look at the choices
    5. Justify your answer with evidence (HUGE)
    6. Eliminate the wrong answers (HUGE)
      1. Single word eliminations

Quant

The WORST way to improve quant, the very definition of business rather than productivity, is just solving question after question.
1. This is a trap from which many of us will never escape, especially if you come from a STE background, you’re really going to have to fight the assumption that you’re “already good at math.” You MIGHT be good at math, but you have to actually prove it to yourself.
2. Assessment quizzes
  1. Arithmetic: https://forms.gle/1yNWtpatymwLQFDN7
  2. Algebra: https://forms.gle/Jbe9Y3MysMZSkmR89
  3. Coordinate Geometry: https://forms.gle/QX5NC8VzH41pema39
  4. Geometry: https://forms.gle/9U3bsaBzKVQmVBMAA
  5. Data Analysis Part 1: http://forms.gle/8MGpxzFJRvwaxKGg7
  6. Data Analysis Part 2: https://forms.gle/Fm2cdFF3YMShtfZV7
  7. Data Analysis Part 3: https://forms.gle/aMprYCJBH5TLGXmo9
3. If the foundation turns out NOT to be good, what would be the most productive use of our time?
  1. Again, it’s NOT solving questions.
  2. What you need to do is learn math
    1. PrepSwift
    2. Target Test Prep
    3. Khan Academy
    4. GRE Quant Concept Series (Greg Mat)
  3. How do you NOT forget the foundation?
    1. Quant Mountain
      1. https://www.gregmat.com/mountains/quant-mountain
    2. Quant Flashcards
      1. https://www.gregmat.com/course-group/quant-flashcards
4. My foundations ARE good. Now what? The most productive use of your time is a scaffolded approach…you’re moving from easy to difficult
  1. GRE Big Book Sections UNTIMED
    1. Consistently get 27, 28, 29, or 30 out of 30.
  2. Next, we GRE Big Book Sections TIMED
    1. Starting out with extra time – give yourself 45 minutes, then 40 minutes, then 35 minutes, then 30 minutes
    2. If you consistently do well, you can move on to what’s next (see below).
  3. Next, if everything is good, we start moving to the Official Material UNTIMED
  4. If that’s all good, we start moving to the Official Material timed
  5. If that’s all good, we can start doing medium, then hard, then extreme problems on the Greg Mat website
  6. Finally, we conclude with actual timed tests
Strategies
1. In my opinion, people are aware of the quant strategies but don’t practice them in isolation.
  1. Strategies I strongly recommend you’re good at
    1. Choosing Numbers
    2. Manipulating and Simplifying QC Answer Choices
    3. Making Deductions from given information
    4. Equal Not Equal (QC)
    5. Backsolving
      1. On my recent test, I used it twice
    6. Piece by Piece
    7. Three Skipping Periods

SNOWBALL METHOD

Imagine you’re trying to clean your house and your house is a MESS. I mean just an absolute mess. What should you do first?

Pick up the dog toys on the floor and put them in the basket
- DO THIS FIRST
- It takes only 5 minutes and after it’s done you get a hit of dopamine
Handwash the dish pile that has been sitting in the sink for three days
- DAUNTING

Don’t I ALSO follow this advice during the test?

SE questions (these are the dog toys)

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