<p>I've heard stories of people getting 700+ on both sections (especially math) by spending as much as 50% of the time on the first ten questions. Is this true? Is it basically all about the first half of the questions?</p>
<p>yes, but it dosn't work for everyone!</p>
<p>I imagine if I hadn't rushed through the first few questions on the math section I would have scored significantly better than the 720 I got. I went into the GRE without doing any practice tests and pretty much had no idea how the adaptive scoring worked. It was a bit of an embarrassing score after scoring a 770 back on the SAT I Math and a 790 on the Math IIc when I was in high school (and for being an engineer).</p>
<p>I intentionally spent about half my time on the first third of the questions in each section, and it worked very well for me -- 800Q, 740V. The adaptive scoring system makes it worthwhile to worry more about the first part of the test.</p>
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The adaptive scoring system makes it worthwhile to worry more about the first part of the test.
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<p>I really wish I had known this when I took the GRE, though I should have figured by how the math kept getting harder. I doubt a 1450 excluded me from any schools, but it was disheartening to see how my English had atrophied over 4 years of engineering. It's equally disheartening to see that you have to "game" the system to maximize your score though. I doubt the method you suggested was intended, though on the other hand if it wasn't then it would have been changed by now perhaps.</p>
<p>Half the time on the first third of questions? For those of you who did this, did you manage to finish the section without running out of time?</p>
<p>I did finish the verbal section. I ran out of time on math and had to guess answers for the last two questions.</p>
<p>randomname01 - yes. </p>
<p>My experience was almost identical to molliebatmit's - I just guessed at the last couple of Q questions. </p>
<p>But I only scored 710V/700Q/5.5 AW</p>
<p>But I'm Post-Bac-ing Classics this year, having completely struck out my first time at the plate, so as ever, YMMV</p>
<p>Thanks for your answers!</p>
<p>On a related note, if you used the Barron's prep guide and tried the CAT sample tests... how well do you think those reflected the actual test itself? (seems like Quantitative is a bit harder than the practice tests ETS provided)</p>
<p>I also found the Barron's CD Quant a bit harder than the real thing.</p>
<p>Use ETS' PowerPrep as a benchmark. It is virtually identical to the real test.</p>
<p>Thanks William. I did the GRE today and I scored very similarly to what I scored on the ETS sample tests. (hopefully they go easy on the AWA scoring haha)</p>