If you don’t have a pencil in your hand, get one now! Don’t just read this book—write on it, study it,
scrutinize it! In short, for the next six weeks, this book should be a part of your life. When you have
finished the book, it should be marked-up, dog-eared, tattered and torn.
Although the GRE is a difficult test, it is a very learnable test. This is not to say that the GRE is
“beatable.” There is no bag of tricks that will show you how to master it overnight. You probably have
already realized this. Some books, nevertheless, offer "inside stuff" or "tricks" which they claim will enable
you to beat the test. These include declaring that answer-choices B, C, or D are more likely to be correct
than choices A or E. This tactic, like most of its type, does not work. It is offered to give the student the
feeling that he or she is getting the scoop on the test.
The GRE cannot be “beaten.” But it can be mastered—through hard work, analytical thought, and by
training yourself to think like a test writer. Many of the exercises in this book are designed to prompt you to
think like a test writer. For example, in the math section, you will find “Duals.” These are pairs of similar
problems in which only one property is different. They illustrate the process of creating GRE questions.
This book will introduce you to numerous analytic techniques that will help you immensely, not only
on the GRE but in graduate school as well. For this reason, studying for the GRE can be a rewarding and
satisfying experience.
Although the quick-fix method is not offered in this book, about 15% of the material is dedicated to
studying how the questions are constructed. Knowing how the problems are written and how the test writers
think will give you useful insight into the problems and make them less mysterious. Moreover, familiarity
with the GRE’s structure will help reduce your anxiety. The more you know about this test, the less anxious
you will be the day you take it.
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