How to Ace GRE or GMAT Geometry

The GRE and GMAT are standardized tests for admission to graduate school and business school respectively. Both tests are administered in Computer Adaptive Format, and the math sections of both tests feature geometry on about one third of the questions.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• paper
• pencil
• memory

1. Review polygons for the GRE and GMAT. Do you remember long ago learning that all the angles in a triangle add up to 180? Or that all the angles in a quadrilateral (4-sided shape) add up to 360? Hope so! If you are given a question that involves a figure with many sides, try breaking it up into triangles to make the problem easier. Relevant vocab words to look up: isosceles, trapezoid.

2. 
    

   Review circles for the GRE and GMAT. Everything about a circle can be found from its radius. For example, the area of a circle is the radius squared times pi, or (pi)r². The circumference is 2 times the radius times pi, or 2(pi)r. And the diameter is 2 times the radius, or 2r. If you need to estimate certain quantities, it is helpful to know that pi is about 3.14. Relevant vocab to look up: arc length, tangent line.

3. 
    

   Review right triangles for the GRE and GMAT. A right triangle is one that has an angle of 90 degrees at one of its corners. Every right triangle comes from cutting a rectangle in half along the diagonal. A square is a type of rectangle, and when you cut a square into two triangles, these are called "Isosceles Right Triangles" They appear often on the GRE and GMAT! The two shorter sides are called "legs" and the longest side is called the "hypotenuse". If the legs have lengths a and b and the hypotenuse has length c, then a² + b² = c². This is called the "Pythagorean Theorem" and you will need to know it.

4. Commit to memory these other formulas. The area of a triangle is 1/2 times the base times the height. the volume of a box is width times length times height. Practice + Patience = GMAT and GRE success.

5. Leave the trig tables in the attic. The GRE and GMAT do not test these concepts, so forget about old sine and cosine.

Tips & Warnings

• Challenging problems will combine concepts. You may need to use several formulas on one problem
• The GRE and GMAT are timed tests that do not allow you to go back to earlier questions. If you get stuck, just guess and move on to the next question.
• If you have to guess, make a prediction about the form of the answer and eliminate choices that look wrong. That way your odds of getting it correct increase.
• Don't use a calculator when you take practice tests. Calculators are not allowed on the GRE or GMAT.

Resources

• How to Ace GRE Comparisons
• How to Ace GMAT Data Sufficiency
• GMAT & GRE Math Questions, Answers, and Explanations

[rueanne]

on 2/13/2009 thanks for the GMAT geometry tips. better get studying soon!

[rueanne]

on 2/13/2009 thanks for the GMAT geometry tips. better get studying soon!

[rueanne]

on 2/13/2009 thanks for the GMAT geometry tips. better get studying soon!

[elkim]

on 12/8/2008 helenrobinson, I request that you and your various eHow aliases please stop commenting on my articles. If you want to plug examville, do it in your own articles. The eHow community does not like spammy commenters and I will flag all your future comments as spam. Consider this a friendly warning. Have a lovely day!

[helenrobinson]

on 12/8/2008 Review polygons, right triangles and circles for GRE and GMAT, Memorize the formulas and more important practice makes things perfect, I was just browsing through the net to find some study material free to download, I could locate one site called http://www.examville.com which is offering free online practice tests, keep on practicing that will make u perfect I think a wholesome site for the students, especially GMAT, GRE, LSAT, aspirants.