Math Subject GRE Practice Materials

Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the preparation for the Math Subject GRE, including the sharing of study materials, personal experiences with studying, and reflections on the exam itself. Participants express their feelings about the exam's difficulty and share resources for preparation.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Homework-related

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants suggest compiling study materials into a central location, with links to resources like GRE workshops.
  • Others share their study methods, including reviewing old textbooks and using specific books like "Cracking the Math GRE Subject Exam."
  • Several participants express feelings of stress and exhaustion related to their preparation, with some noting they started studying late.
  • Concerns about performance on timed exams are raised, with participants discussing their struggles with the exam format and time management.
  • Some participants mention skipping a significant number of questions during the exam and express disappointment in their performance.
  • One participant recommends Schaum's Outlines for practice problems and critiques the number of practice problems in other study guides.
  • Another participant shares a link to the ETS website for downloading a practice test and discusses score conversion.
  • A participant shares their score of 770 and percentile rank after the exam.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally share a common experience of stress and difficulty with the exam, but there is no consensus on the effectiveness of different study materials or preparation strategies. Multiple competing views on study methods and exam performance remain evident.

Contextual Notes

Participants express varying levels of confidence in their preparation and performance, with some noting specific challenges related to time management during the exam. There are also differing opinions on the adequacy of various study resources.

Who May Find This Useful

Students preparing for the Math Subject GRE, educators looking for study materials, and individuals interested in shared experiences regarding standardized testing in mathematics.

Arkuski
Messages
38
Reaction score
0
I am taking the Math Subject GRE on Saturday and finding study materials has been nothing short of a major pain. Maybe we should compile all of the study materials we have found into one central location here. I'll start:

http://www.math.ucla.edu/~cmarshak/GREWorkshop.html

Feel free to contribute!
 
Mathematics news on Phys.org
Hey I am taking it Saturday as well! I am freaking out! I have been studying out of a book called "cracking the math GRE subject exam". It's been a good review. But mostly I've just gone through all my old textbooks and reviewed all my old class material. It seemed like a pain at first but wow it's just been fantastic to be honest because everything has come full circle. Even if I completely bomb this exam I am going to be so happy that I spent the time reviewing and studying. It's been great!
 
Ha, well I envy your happiness as preparing for this exam has been nothing but exhausting and stressful for me! I made the foolish mistake of waiting until a couple weeks before the exam to even start reviewing, so my hopes aren't too high for my score. I'll just be glad once it is finally over and I can get back to actually enjoying doing maths!
 
don't worry piAreSquare, I'm sure you'll do fine :) I'll be rootin for you on Saturday! To be honest I don't think all of my preparation is going to make much of a difference. I am terrible at timed exams. I know if I sat there for many hours I could hope to solve problems, but I'm just not someone who has the skill of solving problems instantly. Maybe I'll be able to develop this skill as time goes on but in the mean time, I'm probably going to bomb this thing.
 
The exam goes by very quickly for sure! I usually do great at standardized tests but this is possibly one of the hardest things I have ever seen. dumbQuestion you're right though, I have so much fun studying for it! I wish I could have started studying earlier though :/
 
Yeah same here dumbQuestion. The time restraint renders getting a good score almost impossible for me as I also suck at standardized tests. :(
 
Hey don't worry, we're all in this together. Saturday afternoon we can come back to this thread and post and complain together about how difficult it was haha
 
well crap... that was hard.
 
Haha right? My brain is demanding a break over the next few days.
 
  • #10
I skipped 15 questions how many did you guys skip?
 
  • #11
I think I answered around 45-48 of them. So not too great :(
 
  • #12
I skipped way too many. I was kind of annoyed that I had no way to keep track of time. There was one clock in the room, completely in the back so you had to turn all the way around to see it. I had no way of knowing how much time had passed until they gave a 20 minute warning, then there were no other warnings, just, close your booklets. Well, I ****ed myself today for sure. I'm actually really sad. I bombed that exam.
 
  • #13
Yeah same here. I'm kinda worried about getting into a decent grad program now because of my scores.
 
  • #14
I am not taking the Math Subject GRE until April 2013, but I have found that Schaum's Outlines are good for just practice problems. Especially for Calculus, they have a '3000 Solved Problems in Calculus' book that goes from Pre-Calc all the way up to Diff Eqs. Any Schaum's Outline book is good for the most part because of the amount of practice problems you get to do. I read on an Amazon review that someone used only the Princeton Review 'Cracking the GRE Math Subject Test' as a guide for the test, but I have decided that that book doesn't have enough practice problems in it.
 
  • #15
One thing you can do is to download the practice test that is available directly at ETS's website:

http://www.ets.org/gre/subject/about/content/mathematics

Click "Download the Practice Book" to get the practice exam. There is a chart on p. 67 to convert your raw score to a scaled score and percentile rank as well.

PiAreSquared said:
I think I answered around 45-48 of them. So not too great :(
If you got over 90% correct on those you answered, that would be a 70th-80th percentile on the practice exam I linked to above.
 
  • #16
How did you guys do? I got 770 (76th percentile)
 

Similar threads

Admissions Safety School Programs for a Physics PhD
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
4K
Have RARE GRE Math SUBJECT Practice Tests?
  • · Replies 15 ·
Replies
15
Views
8K
Programs Materials PhD help: Low GRE score spooks physics major
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
2K
Undergrad Optimization problem with multiple outputs: impossible?
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
3K
Why Did I Score So Low on GRE Quant?
  • · Replies 25 ·
Replies
25
Views
5K
Admissions PhD Programs for Mathematical Physics (Experimental Condensed Matter Physics)
  • · Replies 119 ·
4
Replies
119
Views
18K
Programs Planning on doing the physics GRE (not a physics major)
  • · Replies 7 ·
Replies
7
Views
3K
158 in GRE quant should I just give up on life
  • · Replies 19 ·
Replies
19
Views
11K
Please someone respond -- I need to know if I continue with CS
  • · Replies 14 ·
Replies
14
Views
2K
Uncertainty in pursuing Engineering
  • · Replies 19 ·
Replies
19
Views
2K