How to Score Perfect on GRE Quantitative

How to Score Perfect on GRE Quantitative

The highest one can score in quantitative section of a GRE test is 800. There are people who do score 800 and a lot of students who score very highly in quantitative. Therefore aiming for a perfect score in GRE quantitative is indeed a realistic target that needs lot of practice, hard work and a tiny slice of luck on the day of the examination.

The scoring dynamics

Most of the top university programs take students with high quantitative scores, even though slightly lower scores in the Verbal section are tolerated. For example, the average GRE quantitative score for Columbia is over 770 while it is just around 750 for University of Pennsylvania and Yale. The score is generally calculated based on the number of questions answered correctly, although it is not uniform. The raw score which is the number of right answers translates into the scaled score on a scale of 0 – 800. You get 200 for answering up to 5 questions correctly. Between 9 to 24 correct questions, you add up almost 30 points to your scaled score. From 24 – 28, you get 20 points for every right answer. 28 is the total number of questions and since it is a bell curve, one gets the maximum benefit and percentile change in the middle.

How to score on the higher side?

Scoring high, to start with, in GRE quantitative needs you to develop 2 exceptional qualities. The first is to develop the speed to solve a major part of quantitative questions in under a minute. This needs you to convert the question into a viable formula that you can remember and then proceed to solve. The second thing is the ability to identify the question that needs to be solved and the question where the answer needs to be deduced, instead of lengthy, complicated math.

How to score perfectly?

In a 45 minute test, there is great pressure. You get on an average about 1.5 minutes or 90 seconds to solve every question. So you have to practice and improve your speed greatly. Memorising a lot of problems and practicing to implement them with great shortcuts for calculation, is crucial. Time factor is very important. But accuracy is just as critical too. So you should try avoiding silly calculation mistakes. Most importantly, you should practice to optimise your mental capacities and train to focus hard for those 45 minutes. Someone who can handle the pressure can always score better.