GRE/MAT & Graduate School Blog

Should I take the GRE or the GMAT?

If you’re considering applying to grad school, you may have asked yourself this question. Figuring this out is a crucial stage in your grad school trajectory, as these tests not only require significant lead-time for registration, preparation, and score reporting, but the GMAT and GRE are also structured differently, serve different purposes, test you on different skills, reward different thinking styles, and can be viewed somewhat differently by MBA programs and grad schools.

On the GRE, the Quantitative Comparison questions ask you to compare two numeric quantities—Quantity A and Quantity B.

The Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) plays a critical role in the admissions process for many of the world’s top graduate schools. Considering that a difference of 15 points can make or break your chances of being accepted into the programs with the highest-earning job placements and determine whether or not you qualify for scholarships that could save you thousands of dollars in the long run, hiring a good GRE tutor is an investment worth considering. Of course, whether or not a GRE tutor is worth the cost depends on your needs and goals as a student. If your raw score is relatively close to your goal and you consider yourself to be a self-motivated student, a tutor may not be necessary. But if your score needs serious improvement and you thrive with the one-on-one attention that only a tutor can provide, hiring a GRE tutor may be for you. In this article, we’ll investigate a variety of factors and considerations to help you decide if a tutor is right for you.

If you want to improve your GRE score, you have many options at your disposal. You can self-study using free or extremely low-cost GRE prep materials from ETS, invest in a slightly more expensive self-paced GRE course, or enroll in a more expensive live in-person or online GRE course. Most people would agree though, that if you have the financial means, the most efficient and effective way to improve your GRE score is to enlist the help of a private GRE coach.

To save your time, we've compiled all the essential formulas to know for the GRE, so you could just jump right at it and start your GRE prep.

If you are thinking about how to study for the GRE, perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind is that proper planning will lead to a higher GRE score. The GRE is not like an IQ test. The more you study for the GRE, in general, the higher you will score. One basic mental mistake students often make is to keep toxic thoughts in their head about being “bad at math” (or verbal) and thus viewing GRE prep as a process they must endure, but which probably won’t help all that much. That’s wrong. While perhaps not a completely linear relationship, the more you prepare, the better you’ll do. Yes, how you prepare matters a lot too (more on that below). But just showing up and putting in the time is certainly an important part of the battle here.

In this continuation of our MAT review video series, we approach working through a standard MAT style analogy that focuses on words that require specific content knowledge. 

This video covers questions with specific content on the MAT. There are questions which will require additional background or contextual information the MAT. It is unlikely that students will have a grasp on all facts needed to complete these analogies, so it is essential to maintain good test taking skills to approach these questions. See below for our approach to questions with specific content.

In this continuation of our MAT review video series, we approach working through a standard MAT style analogy that focuses on classifying words based on groups. 

The MAT tests many types of analogies including classification analogies. These classification analogies are a form of analogy that compares terms based on what group the term belongs to. This video demonstrates a strategy to approach to identify the answer to these sometimes seemingly obscure terms.

In this continuation of our MAT review video series, we approach working through a standard MAT style analogy that focuses on affixes. 

The MAT tests on a number of analogies, including affix analogies. Affixes are part of a word that indicate a definition. At the beginning of a word, these are called prefixes. At the end of the word they are referred to as suffixes. As prior videos have described, it is important to have a working knowledge of affixes to succeed on the MAT. Below we provide a systematic strategy on approaching these affix questions. 

In this continuation of our MAT review video series, we approach working through a standard MAT style analogy that focuses on words that are action oriented. 

In preparing for the MAT, the action analogy requires specificity. While many students will encounter terms that are unfamiliar, there are ways to diligently break down the question and answer in order to increase the likelihood of reaching a correct answer.