Three quick questions.

<ol>
<li>Do they give you any formulas on the Quant section?</li>
<li>For the essays, is it like the SAT where personal experiences are acceptable as an example? Or should they be from literature, film, history etc?</li>
<li>I'm applying to a program to be an English teacher (grades 7-12). How important is it that I do well on Quant? Obviously a ridiculously low score could be a red flag, but should I really devote so much time to studying for it?</li>
</ol>

<p>Thanks so much! I'm taking the test in a month and I'm nervous.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>No formulas.</p></li>
<li><p>It is all about making a strong argument, I think any example that helps prove a point you are trying to make can work. For what its worth, all of my examples were historical - but that is just how it worked out with that certain question. Also, examples were not the focal point of my arguments. You might want to check out a study guide - it will have examples of high scoring essays to give you an idea.</p></li>
<li><p>It seems to me that GREs are used as a cutoff tool. Doing well doesn’t help you. Doing poor only hurts you. However, at one grad visit I had, a professor found me in a room full of people and raved over my AW score. He said he wanted to meet me because no one ever scores that high. Obviously, many people do, but this was for a chemistry program so I guess it is more rare. I guess it helped me stand out then. </p></li>
</ol>

<p>So actually, if anything, doing well on quant will help you stand out, assuming most of your competition will also have high verbal/AW scores and low quant scores. The GRE is the least important thing that should make you stand out though. So I say, put in the work (a perfect quant score is extremely doable, just requires a strong effort studying), but don’t stress too much.</p>

<p>^ Do you mind if I ask what your AW score was?</p>

<p>Thanks so much!</p>

<p>It was a 5.5.</p>