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G R A D U A T E R E C O R D E X A M I N A T I O N S® General Test Practice Book This practice book contains (cid:2) one full-length paper-based GRE General Test (cid:2) test-taking strategies (cid:2) sample verbal and quantitative questions with explanations (cid:2) sample analytical writing topics, scored sample essays, and reader commentary Visit the GRE Web site at www.gre.org for additional test preparation resources. IMPORTANT NOTICE: The test-taking strategies in this publication are appropriate for use at a paper-based administration and do not pertain to the computer-based General Test. Individuals planning to take the computer-based General Test are advised to prepare for the test using GRE POWERPREP® software. Listening. Learning. Leading. This book is provided FREE with test registration by the Graduate Record Examinations Board. IMPORTANT The verbal and quantitative sections in the GRE General Test in this publication contain questions written and administered prior to 1995. For this reason, some of the material covered in the questions may be dated. For example, a question may refer to a rapidly changing technology in a way that was correct in the 1980s and early 1990s, but not now. In addition, Educational Testing Service® ETS® has revised and updated its standards and guidelines for test questions so some questions may not meet current standards. Questions that do not meet current ETS standards, and would not appear in GRE tests administered today, are marked with an asterisk (see pages 35 and 44). Note to Test Takers: Keep this practice book until you receive your score report. The book contains important information about scoring. EDUCATIONAL TESTING SERVICE, ETS, the ETS logos, GRADUATE RECORD EXAMINATIONS, GRE, POWERPREP, e-rater are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service. ScoreItNow! is a trade- mark of Educational Testing Service. Copyright © 2004 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. Table of Contents Purpose of the GRE General Test Purpose of the GRE General Test ......................3 Structure of the GRE General Test....................3 The GRE General Test is designed to help graduate Scores Reported..................................................4 school admission committees and fellowship sponsors assess the qualifications of applicants to their pro- Preparing for the GRE General Test..................4 grams. It measures verbal, quantitative, and analytical Test-Taking Strategies ........................................5 writing skills that you have acquired over a long Review of the Verbal Section period of time. Overview................................................................6 Any accredited graduate or professional school, or How the Verbal Section is Scored.........................6 any department or division within a school, may Antonyms...............................................................6 require or recommend that its applicants take the Analogies................................................................6 GRE General Test. The scores can be used by admis- Sentence Completions...........................................7 sions or fellowship panels to supplement undergradu- Reading Comprehension Questions ......................7 ate records and other qualifications for graduate study. The scores provide common measures for Review of the Quantitative Section comparing the qualifications of applicants and aid in Overview................................................................9 the evaluation of grades and recommendations. How the Quantitative Section is Scored.............10 Quantitative Comparison Questions...................10 Structure of the GRE Problem Solving—Discrete Quantitative Questions.....................................10 General Test Problem Solving—Data Interpretation Questions...................................11 The paper-based GRE General Test contains five Review of the Analytical Writing Section sections. In addition, one unidentified pretest section Overview..............................................................12 may be included and this section can appear in any How the Analytical Writing Section is Scored...12 position in the test after the analytical writing Present Your Perspective on an Issue Task...........13 section. Questions in the pretest section are being Analyze an Argument Task..................................20 pretested for possible use in future tests and answers will not count toward your scores. Taking the Practice GRE General Test............27 Total testing time is up to 33/ hours. The direc- 4 Evaluating Your Performance...........................27 tions at the beginning of each section specify the Verbal and Quantitative Sections........................27 total number of questions in the section and the time Analytical Writing Section..................................27 allowed for the section. The analytical writing section Additional Preparation........................................28 will always be first. The verbal and quantitative Practice GRE General Test ..............................29 sections may appear in any order, including an uniden- tified verbal or quantitative pretest section. Treat each Appendices section presented during your test as if it counts. A– Analytical Writing Scoring Guides and Score Level Descriptions ..............................51 B– Verbal and Quantitative Interpretive Tables........................................54 C– Analytical Writing Topics, Sample Scored Essay Responses at Selected Score Points, and Reader Commentary..............................56 Answer Sheets..................................................63 3 Typical Paper-Based GRE General Test administrative procedures for the paper-based Gen- Sections eral Test online at www.gre.org, or by contacting Educational Testing Service (see the GRE Information Section Number of Questions Time and Registration Bulletin). Analytical Writing 1 Issue task* 45 min. Before taking the practice General Test, it is 1 Argument task* 30 min. important to become familiar with the content of Verbal 38 per section 30 min. per section each of the sections of the test. You can become (2 sections) familiar with the verbal and quantitative sections by Quantitative 30 per section 30 min. per section reading about the skills the sections measure, how the (2 sections) sections are scored, reviewing the strategies for each Pretest** Varies 30 min. of the question types, and reviewing the sample questions with explanations. Determine which *For the Issue task, two essay topics will be presented and you will choose one. The Argument task does not present a choice of topics; instead, one topic will be presented. strategies work best for you. Remember—you can do **An unidentified verbal or quantitative pretest section may be included and may appear in any order after the analytical writing section. very well on the test without answering every ques- tion in each section correctly. Scores Reported Everyone—even the most practiced and confident of writers—should spend some time preparing for the Three scores are reported on the General Test: analytical writing section before arriving at the test 1. a verbal score reported on a 200–800 score scale, center. It is important to review the skills measured, in 10-point increments, how the section is scored, scoring guides and score 2. a quantitative score reported on a 200–800 score level descriptions, sample topics, scored sample essay scale, in 10-point increments, and responses, and reader commentary. 3. an analytical writing score reported on a 0–6 To help you prepare for the analytical writing score scale, in half-point increments. section of the General Test, the GRE Program has published the entire pool of topics from which your If you answer no questions at all in a section (verbal, test topics will be selected. You might find it helpful quantitative, or analytical writing), that section will to review the Issue and Argument pools. You can be reported as a No Score (NS). view the published pools on the Web at Descriptions of the analytical writing abilities www.gre.org/pracmats.html or obtain a copy by characteristic of particular score levels are available writing to GRE Program, PO Box 6000, Princeton, in the interpretive leaflet enclosed with your score NJ 08541-6000. report, in the Guide to the Use of GRE Scores, and on The topics in the analytical writing section relate the GRE Web site at www.gre.org. to a broad range of subjects—from the fine arts and humanities to the social and physical sciences—but Preparing for the GRE no topic requires specific content knowledge. In fact, each topic has been field-tested to ensure that it General Test possesses several important characteristics, including the following: Preparation for the test will depend on the amount of • GRE test takers, regardless of their field of study time you have available and your personal prefer- or special interests, understood the topic and ences for how to prepare. At a minimum, before you could easily discuss it. take the GRE General Test, you should know what to • The topic elicited the kinds of complex thinking expect from the test, including the administrative and persuasive writing that university faculty procedures, types of questions and directions, the consider important for success in graduate approximate number of questions, and the amount of school. time for each section. • The responses were varied in content and in the The administrative procedures include registra- way the writers developed their ideas. tion, date, time, test center location, cost, score- reporting procedures, and availability of special testing arrangements. You can find out about the 4 Test-Taking Strategies Test, you may work only on the section the test center supervisor designates and only for the time IMPORTANT NOTE: Test-taking strategies allowed. You may not go back to an earlier section of appropriate for the verbal and quantitative the test after the supervisor announces, “Please stop sections of the paper-based General Test are work” for that section. The supervisor is authorized to different from those that are appropriate for dismiss you from the center for doing so. All answers taking the verbal and quantitative sections of the must be recorded on your answer sheet. Answers computer-based General Test. Be sure to follow recorded in your test booklet will not be counted. the appropriate strategies for the testing format in Given the time constraints, you should avoid waiting which you will be testing. Paper-based testing until the last five minutes of a test administration to strategies should not be used if you take the record answers on your answer sheet. computer-based test. Some questions on the General Test have only four response options (A through D). All GRE answer sheets for the paper-based test contain re- Verbal and Quantitative Sections sponse positions for five responses (A through E). Therefore, if an E response is marked for a four- When taking a verbal or quantitative section of the option question, it will be ignored. An E response for paper-based General Test, you are free, within any a four-option question is treated the same as no section, to skip questions that you might have response (omitted). difficulty answering and to come back to them later during the time provided to work on that section. Analytical Writing Section You may also change the answer to any question you In the paper-based General Test, the topics in the recorded on the answer sheet by erasing it completely analytical writing section will be presented in the test and filling in the oval corresponding to your desired book and you will handwrite your essay responses on answer for that question. the answer sheets provided. Make sure you use the Each of your scores will be determined by the correct answer sheet for each task. number of questions for which you select the best It is important to budget your time. Within the answer from the choices given. Questions for which 45-minute time limit for the Issue task, you will need you mark no answer or more than one answer are not to allow sufficient time to choose one of the two counted in scoring. Nothing is subtracted from a topics, think about the issue you’ve chosen, plan a score if you answer a question incorrectly. Therefore, response, and compose your essay. Within the 30- to maximize your scores on the verbal and quantita- minute time limit for the Argument task, you will tive sections of the paper-based test, it is better for need to allow sufficient time to analyze the argument, you to answer each and every question and not to plan a critique, and compose your response. Although leave any questions unanswered. GRE readers understand the time constraints under Work as rapidly as you can without being careless. which you write and will consider your response a This includes checking frequently to make sure you “first draft,” you still want it to be the best possible are marking your answers in the appropriate rows on example of your writing that you can produce under your answer sheet. Since no question carries greater the testing circumstances. weight than any other, do not waste time pondering Save a few minutes at the end of each timed task individual questions you find extremely difficult or to check for obvious errors. Although an occasional unfamiliar. spelling or grammatical error will not affect your You may want to work through a verbal or quanti- score, severe and persistent errors will detract from tative section of the General Test quite rapidly, first the overall effectiveness of your writing and thus answering only the questions about which you feel lower your score. confident, then going back and answering questions During the actual administration of the General that require more thought, and concluding with the Test, you may work only on the particular writing most difficult questions if there is time. task the test center supervisor designates and only for During the actual administration of the General the time allowed. You may not go back to an earlier 5 section of the test after the supervisor announces, Directions* “Please stop work,” for that task. The supervisor is Each question below consists of a word printed in authorized to dismiss you from the center for doing so. capital letters followed by five lettered words or Following the analytical writing section, you will phrases. Choose the lettered word or phrase that is have the opportunity to take a 10-minute break. most nearly opposite in meaning to the word in capital letters. Since some of the questions require Review of the Verbal Section you to distinguish fine shades of meaning, be sure to consider all the choices before deciding which one is best. Overview Sample Question The verbal section measures your ability to analyze DIFFUSE: and evaluate written material and synthesize informa- (A) concentrate tion obtained from it, to analyze relationships among (B) contend component parts of sentences, to recognize relation- (C) imply ships between words and concepts, and to reason (D) pretend with words in solving problems. There is a balance of (E) rebel passages across different subject matter areas: hu- manities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Strategies for Answering The verbal section contains the following ques- • Remember that antonyms are generally confined tion types: to nouns, verbs, and adjectives. • Antonyms • Look for the word that is most nearly opposite to • Analogies the given word. • Sentence Completions • Try to define words precisely. • Reading Comprehension Questions • Make up a sentence using the given word to How the Verbal Section is Scored help establish its meaning. • Look for possible second meanings before Scoring of the verbal section of the paper-based choosing an answer. General Test is essentially a two-step process. First, a • Use your knowledge of prefixes and suffixes to raw score is computed. The raw score is the number help define words you don’t know. of questions for which the best answer choice was Answer given. The raw score is then converted to a scaled score through a process known as equating. The The best answer is (A). Diffuse means to permit or equating process accounts for differences in difficulty cause to spread out; only (A) presents an idea that is among the different test editions; thus, a given scaled in any way opposite to diffuse. score reflects approximately the same level of ability Analogies regardless of the edition of the test that was taken. Analogies measure your ability to recognize Antonyms • relationships among words and concepts they Antonyms measure your represent • vocabulary • parallel relationships • ability to reason from a given concept to its Directions* opposite In each of the following questions, a related pair of words or phrases is followed by five lettered pairs of words or phrases. Select the lettered pair that best expresses a relationship similar to that expressed in the original pair. * The directions are presented as they appear on the actual test. 6 Sample Question Sample Question COLOR : SPECTRUM : Early ________ of hearing loss is ________ by the (A) tone : scale fact that the other senses are able to compensate for (B) sound : waves moderate amounts of loss, so that people frequently (C) verse : poem do not know that their hearing is imperfect. (D) dimension : space (A) discovery . . indicated (E) cell : organism (B) development . . prevented (C) detection . . complicated Strategies for Answering (D) treatment . . facilitated • Establish a relationship between the given pair (E) incidence . . corrected before reading the answer choices. Strategies for Answering • Consider relationships of kind, size, spatial contiguity, or degree. • Read the incomplete sentence carefully. • Read all of the options. If more than one seems • Look for key words or phrases. correct, try to state the relationship more • Complete the blank(s) with your own words; see precisely. if any options are like yours. • Check to see that you haven’t overlooked a • Pay attention to grammatical cues. possible second meaning for one of the words. • If there are two blanks, be sure that both parts of • Never decide on the best answer without reading your answer choice fit logically and stylistically all of the answer choices. into the sentence. • After choosing an answer, read the sentence Answer through again to see if it makes sense. The relationship between color and spectrum is not Answer merely that of part to whole, in which case (E) or even (C) might be defended as correct. A spectrum is The statement that the other senses compensate made up of a progressive, graduated series of colors, as for partial loss of hearing indicates that the hearing a scale is of a progressive, graduated sequence of tones. loss is not prevented or corrected; therefore, choices Thus, (A) is the correct answer choice. In this (B) and (E) can be eliminated. Furthermore, the instance, the best answer must be selected from a ability to compensate for hearing loss certainly does group of fairly close choices. not facilitate the early treatment (D) or the early discovery (A) of hearing loss. It is reasonable, how- Sentence Completions ever, that early detection of hearing loss is complicated Sentence completions measure your ability to recog- by the ability to compensate for it. The best answer nize words or phrases that both logically and stylisti- is (C). cally complete the meaning of a sentence. Reading Comprehension Questions Directions* Reading comprehension questions measure your Each sentence below has one or two blanks, each ability to blank indicating that something has been omitted. • read with understanding, insight, and Beneath the sentence are five lettered words or sets discrimination of words. Choose the word or set of words for each • analyze a written passage from several blank that best fits the meaning of the sentence as perspectives a whole. Passages are taken from the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Directions* The passage is followed by questions based on its content. After reading the passage, choose the best answer to each question. Answer all questions following the passage on the basis of what is stated or * The directions are presented as they appear on the actual test. implied in the passage. 7 Sample Question According to the passage, the two antithetical ideals of photography differ primarily in the Picture-taking is a technique both for annexing the (A) value that each places on the beauty of the objective world and for expressing the singular self. Photographs depict objective realities that already exist, finished product though only the camera can disclose them. And they (B) emphasis that each places on the emotional (5) depict an individual photographer’s temperament, dis- impact of the finished product covering itself through the camera’s cropping of reality. (C) degree of technical knowledge that each requires That is, photography has two antithetical ideals: in the first, photography is about the world, and the photogra- of the photographer pher is a mere observer who counts for little; but in the (D) extent of the power that each requires of the (10) second, photography is the instrument of intrepid, photographer’s equipment questing subjectivity and the photographer is all. (E) way in which each defines the role of the These conflicting ideals arise from a fundamental uneasiness on the part of both photographers and view- photographer ers of photographs toward the aggressive component in Strategies for Answering (15) “taking” a picture. Accordingly, the ideal of a photogra- pher as observer is attractive because it implicitly denies • Read the passage closely, then proceed to the that picture-taking is an aggressive act. The issue, of questions. course, is not so clear-cut. What photographers do can- or not be characterized as simply predatory or as simply, (20) and essentially, benevolent. As a consequence, one ideal of Skim the passage, then reread the passage picture-taking or the other is always being rediscovered closely as you answer the questions. You may and championed. want to try it both ways with sample questions An important result of the coexistence of these two to see what works best for you. ideals is a recurrent ambivalence toward photography’s • Answer questions based on the content of the (25) means. Whatever the claims that photography might make to be a form of personal expression on a par with passage. painting, its originality is inextricably linked to the pow- • Separate main ideas from supporting ideas. ers of a machine. The steady growth of these powers has • Separate the author’s own ideas from informa- made possible the extraordinary informativeness and tion being presented. (30) imaginative formal beauty of many photographs, like Harold Edgerton’s high-speed photographs of a bullet • Ask yourself... hitting its target or of the swirls and eddies of a tennis – What is this about? stroke. But as cameras become more sophisticated, more – What are the key points? automated, some photographers are tempted to disarm – How does the main idea relate to other ideas (35) themselves or to suggest that they are not really armed, in the passage? preferring to submit themselves to the limits imposed by premodern camera technology because a cruder, less – What words define relationships among ideas? high-powered machine is thought to give more interest- Answer ing or emotive results, to leave more room for creative (40) accident. For example, it has been virtually a point of The best answer to this question is (E). Photography’s honor for many photographers, including Walker Evans two ideals are presented in lines 7–11. The main and Cartier-Bresson, to refuse to use modern equipment. emphasis in the description of these two ideals is on These photographers have come to doubt the value of the camera as an instrument of “fast seeing.” Cartier-Bresson, the relationship of the photographer to the enterprise (45) in fact, claims that the modern camera may see too fast. of photography, with the photographer described in This ambivalence toward photographic means deter- the one as a passive observer and in the other as an mines trends in taste. The cult of the future (of faster and active questioner. (E) identifies this key feature in the faster seeing) alternates over time with the wish to return to a purer past — when images had a handmade quality. description of the two ideals—the way in which each (50) This nostalgia for some pristine state of the photographic ideal conceives or defines the role of the photogra- enterprise is currently widespread and underlies the pher in photography. (A) through (D) present aspects present-day enthusiasm for daguerreotypes and the work of photography that are mentioned in the passage, of forgotten nineteenth-century provincial photographers. but none of these choices represents a primary Photographers and viewers of photographs, it seems, need (55) periodically to resist their own knowingness. difference between the two ideals of photography. 8 Review of the Quantitative Math Symbols and Other Information The following information applies to all questions in Section the quantitative sections. • These common math symbols may be used: Overview x < y (x is less than y) x(cid:2)y (x is not equal to y) The quantitative section measures your basic math- ematical skills, your understanding of elementary (the nonnegative square root of x, mathematical concepts, and your ability to reason where x ≥ 0) |x| (the absolute value of x, where x is a quantitatively and solve problems in a quantitative real number) setting. There is a balance of questions requiring n! (n factorial: the product of the first n arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and data analysis. positive integers) These are content areas usually studied in high m (cid:3) n (line m is parallel to line n) school. m n (line m is perpendicular to line n) Arithmetic A Questions may involve arithmetic operations, powers, operations on radical expressions, estimation, per- B C(∠ABC is a right angle) cent, absolute value, properties of integers (e.g., • Numbers: all numbers used are real numbers. divisibility, factoring, prime numbers, odd and even • Figures: integers), and the number line. – the positions of points, angles, regions, etc., can be assumed to be in the order shown; Algebra angle measures are positive Questions may involve rules of exponents, factoring – a line shown as straight can be assumed to be and simplifying algebraic expressions, understanding straight concepts of relations and functions, equations and – figures lie in a plane unless otherwise inequalities, solving linear and quadratic equations indicated and inequalities, solving simultaneous equations, – do not assume figures are drawn to scale setting up equations to solve word problems, coordi- unless stated nate geometry, including slope, intercepts, and graphs It is important to familiarize yourself with the basic of equations and inequalities, and applying basic mathematical concepts in the GRE General Test. algebra skills to solve problems. The publication Math Review is available as a down- Geometry load on the GRE Web site at www.gre.org/ Questions may involve parallel lines, circles, triangles pracmats.html and provides detailed information on (including isosceles, equilateral, and 30°–60°–90° the content of the quantitative section. triangles), rectangles, other polygons, area, perimeter, The quantitative section contains the following volume, the Pythagorean Theorem, and angle question types: measure in degrees. The ability to construct proofs is • Quantitative Comparison Questions not measured. • Problem Solving – Discrete Quantitative Questions Data Analysis • Problem Solving – Data Interpretation Questions may involve elementary probability, basic Questions descriptive statistics (mean, median, mode, range, Questions emphasize understanding basic principles standard deviation, percentiles), and interpretation of and reasoning within the context of given data in graphs and tables (line graphs, bar graphs, information. circle graphs, frequency distributions). 9 How the Quantitative Section is Strategies for Answering Scored • Avoid extensive computation if possible. Try to estimate the answer. The quantitative section of the paper-based General • Consider all kinds of numbers before deciding. If Test is scored the same way as the verbal section. under some conditions Column A is greater First, a raw score is computed. The raw score is the than Column B and for others, Column B is number of questions for which the best answer choice greater than Column A, choose “the relation- was given. The raw score is then converted to a ship cannot be determined from the information scaled score through a process known as equating. given,” and go to the next question. The equating process accounts for differences in • Geometric figures may not be drawn to scale. difficulty among the different test editions; thus a Comparisons should be made based on the given given scaled score reflects approximately the same information, together with your knowledge of level of ability regardless of the edition of the test mathematics, rather than on exact appearance. that was taken. Answer to Question 1 Quantitative Comparison Questions denotes 10, the positive square root of 100. (For Quantitative comparison questions measure your any positive number x, denotes the positive number ability to: whose square is x.) Since 10 is greater than 9.8, the • reason quickly and accurately about the relative best answer is (B). It is important not to confuse this sizes of two quantities question with a comparison of 9.8 and x where • perceive that not enough information is pro- x2(cid:2)100. The latter comparison would yield (D) as vided to make such a decision the correct answer because x2(cid:2)100 implies that Directions* either x(cid:2)10 or x(cid:2)(cid:4)10, and there would be no way to determine which value x would actually have. Each of the sample questions consists of two quanti- ties, one in Column A and one in Column B. There Answer to Question 2 may be additional information, centered above the Since ((cid:4)6)4 is the product of four negative factors, two columns, that concerns one or both of the and the product of an even number of negative quantities. A symbol that appears in both columns numbers is positive, ((cid:4)6)4 is positive. Since the represents the same thing in Column A as it does in product of an odd number of negative numbers Column B. is negative, ((cid:4)6)5 is negative. Therefore, ((cid:4)6)4 You are to compare the quantity in Column A is greater than ((cid:4)6)5 since any positive number with the quantity in Column B and decide whether: is greater than any negative number. The best (A) The quantity in Column A is greater. answer is (A). It is not necessary to calculate that (B) The quantity in Column B is greater. ((cid:4)6)4 (cid:2)1,296 and that ((cid:4)6)5 (cid:2)(cid:4)7,776 in order to (C) The two quantities are equal. make the comparison. (D) The relationship cannot be determined from the Problem Solving – Discrete information given. Note: Since there are only four choices, NEVER Quantitative Questions MARK (E).** Discrete quantitative questions measure Sample Questions • basic mathematical knowledge • your ability to read, understand, and solve a Column A Column B problem that involves either an actual or an 1. 9.8 abstract situation 2. ((cid:4)6)4 ((cid:4)6)5 Directions* Each of the following questions has five answer choices. For each of these questions, select the best of the answer choices given. *The directions are presented as they appear on the actual test. **The answer sheet contains five choices for the verbal and quantitative sections. 10

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