Are you looking for GRE Quantitative Practice Questions? Then there is excellent news. The Official GRE Quantitative Reasoning Practice Questions is an excellent resource for GRE Math Practice questions – direct from the GRE test-makers.
In this post, I’ll provide a comprehensive review of the current Official GRE Quantitative Practice guide. I will go in-depth and explain all the pros and cons of using this guide. I will also help you with deciding whether you should buy this guide or not.
In this Article
What’s in the Official GRE Quantitative Guide?
The book has Nine Chapters, which are as follows:
Chapter One
This chapter gives you a complete review of the structure of the GRE Quantitative Reasoning section, test-taking strategies, and scoring.
Chapter Two
This Chapter gets you acquainted with the general steps and strategies of solving various GRE Math question types, including tips on using the on-screen GRE calculator. It also gives you an in-depth review (along with sample questions/solutions) of the four kinds of GRE Math questions and provides you with the tips to answer each one of them. This Chapter contains a total of 32 sample official GRE questions.
It also includes 14 Math Strategies that are used to solve the questions in this guide. Here is an example of what a strategy looks like:
Chapter Three
This Chapter contains around 20 sample questions on Arithmetic. Each item has detailed explanations for your understanding.
Chapter Four
This Chapter contains 17 sample questions (with explanations) on Algebra.
Chapter Five
This Chapter contains 13 Geometry sample questions with explanations.
Chapter Six
This Chapter contains 26 Data Analysis/Interpretation sample questions with explanations.
Chapter Seven
This Chapter contains 3 Mixed Practice Sets. Each set includes 25 questions with explanations from all the topics tested on the GRE. In total, this section of the guide has 75 questions.
Chapter Eight (Appendix A)
You can use this Chapter to review all the mathematical skills and concepts tested on the GRE Math section. The concepts are split into four topics; Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, and Data Analysis. Each topic also consists of basic level questions that can help you understand the fundamental principles of the topics tested on the GRE. This Chapter contains nearly 70 basic level practice questions.
Chapter Nine (Appendix B)
This section explains all the mathematical symbols, expressions, and terminology used on the GRE. Chapter Eight and Nine should be used to brush up on the concepts tested on the GRE before moving onto the practice questions in Chapters 2 till 7.
How Many Questions Does the Official GRE Quantitative Guide Contain?
ETS says that this book contains “150 REAL GRE Quantitative Reasoning questions.” However, in reality, this book includes nearly 250 Official GRE Questions.
Official GRE Quantitative Guide Review
There are many reasons to like this book and very few reasons to dislike it. But first, let’s discuss the Pros.
Pros
Representative Questions
Since the actual test-makers wrote this book, it is evident that it would contain the most realistic GRE practice questions. All of the questions depict the real caliber of the questions you would get on the actual exam. Moreover, other GRE practice questions published by test prep companies are worthless compared to these questions. Even Manhattan Prep, which is good, comes second after ETS.
Historically, ETS has been unwilling to divulge GRE practice material. With these 250+ Questions, you have more exposure to the real test questions. If you analyze these questions carefully with the intent of deciphering the subtle tricks, they will help you in a much bigger way.
All Questions Are Worded Perfectly
Many other GRE test prep publishers, such as Manhattan, Kaplan, Magoosh, and Princeton, have created thousands of GRE practice questions. While many of those questions do teach the strategies tested on the real GRE, most of these questions are not worded the way GRE phrases them. GRE has this indirect and intricate way of testing even the most basic concepts by convoluting the wording of the question.
For example, GRE would ask the following question:
“What percent of the students who are in the science club are not in the band?”
Whereas, other test publishers would simply ask:
“What percent of the students are in the science club but not in the band?”
Notice how GRE deploys wordplay by using the singular word ‘who.’
Thorough Overall Structure
This book is comprehensive. The topics covered and the sequence of the sections ensure that you get familiar with all the exhaustive concepts on the exam. ETS book understands that you are in the dark if there is no clarity from their end. Therefore, through this book, they have made sure that you know all the caveats of the GRE. ETS also strives to inform you about every possible concept, topic, and area that they can test. In other words, after doing this book, you will find that the actual exam is similar to what you did here.
Good Advice on Test-taking Strategies
Being the test-maker, ETS does not share a lot of test-taking tips. But in this book, they have shared some solid pieces of advice. In Chapter 1, they provide helpful tips, such as making sure that you understand a question before answering it. This may sound obvious, but under the heat of the exam, many test-takers rush to solve the problems without adequately reading and understanding them. ETS also highlights the importance of skipping questions that are too time-consuming, exercising caution with multiple-answer choice questions, and paying attention to the problems’ wordings.
Above all, ETS gives 14 strategies in chapter 2 that are very helpful. They use these strategies while explaining the questions, which can help you identify broad strategic areas that are of concern for you. Here is an example of how ETS points to these strategies in explanations:
Cons
Very Few Level 5 (Hard) Questions
Though there are over 250 Questions in this book, the number of “Hard-level” tricky questions is not more than 30. This is not enough for students who are aiming for a near-perfect GRE Math score. If you are ambitious and target a 165+ Math score, you will finish these 250 questions in a few days. Moreover, not many questions would challenge you.
Explanations Can be Complicated
ETS is not good at efficiently explaining its practice questions. Most of the explanations use very time-consuming methods. For example, ETS will use trial and error approach and plug-in multiple test values to arrive at the answer. They would even pull a value from thin air to get to the final answer, leaving you dumbfounded. On the exam day, such an approach will cause serious time management issues. Here’s an example of such explanations:
Also, many explanations are not written systematically, and you may find ETS skipping steps to arrive at the answer. So, if you don’t have a good hand on the GRE Math concepts and techniques, then the explanations can be a challenge to decipher. If you have a tutor to guide you all the way, you wouldn’t have any issues. Here is an example where non-proficient Math students will have a hard time grasping what is going on:
Some students argue that it is a good thing that this book doesn’t give detailed explanations for the questions. This way, students are forced to figure out the steps to get to the correct answer. This can be a great way to remember what you studied and learned.
Remember, this book is not designed for learning the rules and basics but rather for practicing. It shares the concepts impassively and has a solemn style. Therefore, consult this practice guide only at the very end of your preparation. If you know all the shortcut techniques and tips for solving all sorts of GRE Math problems, this book will be a cakewalk. Otherwise, it can be a nuisance.
You can use this guide to practice questions and then evaluate your mistakes. You can then focus on your mistakes, study the content that’s relevant to your shortcomings, and then take more practice questions to see an improvement.
Difficult Learning from Your Mistakes
The book gives you many quality questions, but it does not help you improve on your mistakes. While using this book, you can identify your mistakes, but you will have a hard time diagnosing, understanding, and improving them. There are no tangible items that go along with each type of error that you make. It doesn’t tell you where to go and what advice to seek if you have a particular problem. So, you will have to consult other external sources to help you understand and improve your shortcomings.
Difficulty Level of Questions Not Given
ETS official quantitative guide questions do cover the entire range of difficulty from easiest to hardest. However, ETS does not provide the difficulty level of each question. Therefore, you can’t determine the level of questions that you answer correctly or incorrectly. Neither are the questions arranged in the order of difficulty. So it’s not like the average level of difficulty of the questions increases with the question numbers.
Should You Buy the Official ETS Quantitative Guide?
Yes, you should buy this book if you are serious about scoring 160+ on the quantitative section. If you are aiming for 165+, then this book is just the starting point. You must use this book after learning most of the test-taking shortcuts, techniques, and concepts. This book does provide a summary of everything that the GRE throws at you, but it lacks the detail that most students need to grasp the fundamental concepts fully.
Since this book provides a summary of everything, you can use it to revise stuff a few days before your exam. ETS hasn’t released too many questions publicly, so getting to practice them from anywhere is a luxury. This book, fortunately, does give you that luxury. However, some of you may feel that this isn’t that much practice if you think that then an alternative would be to get the Manhattan 5LB book, and the ETS Official Guide, and supplement it with this book.
If you’re confident about your fundamental Math skills and are just looking for more practice, this book is definitely for you.
How to Effectively Use the GRE Official Quantitative Guide?
You should first do Chapters 1, 2, 8 (Appendix A), and 9 (Appendix B) since they provide all the essential test-taking tips, a summary of the concepts, and familiarity with all the notations and conventions tested. Make sure that you solve all the questions in these Chapters.
Go on to solve all the practice questions in Chapters 3, 4, 5, and 6. Evaluate all of your mistakes and revise any weak areas that you have identified. You can use any other resources on hand to study and work on the weaknesses. After addressing your mistakes, solve the three practice tests given in Chapter 7. A few days before your actual exam, review all the questions again, especially the mistakes that you made when you solved this book the first time. Moreover, go through Appendix A and B once again, a couple of days before your exam.
I highly recommend that you also solve all the questions in the GRE official guide and use it alongside this Quantitative guide. The Official Guide also contains high-quality questions and, when supplemented with the Math guide, can improve your score.