How Many Questions Should You Be Attempting

In Each GRE Math Section?

The last couple of days I explained why most students should not be attempting every math question on the SAT and ACT, and I gave tables displaying how many questions they should be answering based upon their current PSAT/SAT or ACT math score. To see that information, follow these links:

SAT        ACT

Today I will give you similar information for the GRE. As for the SAT and ACT, many students can increase their GRE math score by decreasing the number of questions they attempt to solve. Your goal when taking the GRE should be to maximize your score, and not to solve every single problem. If you are going for a perfect 140, then of course you will need to solve every problem, but for most of us, we won’t have to do that.

The following chart gives a general guideline for how many questions you should be attempting in each math section. The leftmost column is your latest score on an official practice test. The middle column shows how many questions you should answer in each math section if you are taking the computer based test. The rightmost column shows how many questions you should answer in each math section if you are taking the paper based test.

For example, a student with a current score of 155 on the computer based test should attempt about 16 questions in each math section. This is just a general guideline. Of course it can be fine-tuned. As a simple example, if you are particularly strong at Arithmetic problems, but very weak at Geometry problems, then you may want to try every Arithmetic problem no matter where it appears, and you may want to reduce the number of Geometry problems you attempt.

Remember that there is no guessing penalty on the GRE, so you should not leave any questions blank. This does not mean you should attempt every question. It means that if you are running out of time make sure you fill in answers for all the questions you did not have time to attempt.

For example, if you are currently scoring a 151 on the computer based test, then it is possible you will only be attempting about 14 questions in each section. Therefore, when you are running out of time you should fill in answers for the remaining 6 problems. If you happen to get a chance to attempt some of them, you can always change your answer. But make sure those answers are filled in before the test ends!

If you are currently preparing for the GRE, you may want to take a look at the 320 GRE Math Problems.

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