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1a. What is the GRE?
1b. GRE Scores & B-School
1c. How the GRE CAT Works
1d. GRE Pacing Strategies
1e. GRE Tips & Strategies

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   1c. How the GRE CAT Testing Works


The GRE is only available as a computerized test. Instead of having a predetermined mixture of easy, medium, and hard questions, the computer will select questions for you based on how well you are doing. The first question will be of medium difficulty (500 level questions are halfway between 200 and 800). If you get it right, the second question will be selected from a large group of questions that are a little harder; if you get the first question wrong, the second will be a little easier. The result is that the test is self-adjusting and self-correcting to your skill level.



Fig. 1.1-This graph shows how the test keeps a running score of your performance as you take the test. The student's running score goes up when he gets the first three questions right (blue) and the score goes down when the test taker gets questions wrong (red) (questions 4 and 5 on lower axis). As the test progresses, the swings caused by getting a question right or wrong progressively decrease.


Harder Questions Count More

A result of the CAT testing format is that the harder problems count more than easier ones. If one student does twenty easy questions, half of which he gets right and half of which he gets wrong, and then another student does twenty very difficult questions, half of which he gets right and half of which he gets wrong, the second student will get a higher score.

The student who answered ten out of twenty very difficult questions incorrectly would still get a very high score on the GRE CAT because the harder questions are more heavily weighted. Simpler questions might be easier to answer, but they count much less. Your goal should be to get as many hard questions right because that will get you your highest possible score.

    Continue to Pacing Strategies for the CAT (page 4 of 5 in Chapter 1)

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