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Last Updated on May 1, 2023
Preparing for the GRE General Test to apply to graduate school can be challenging in a variety of ways. One type of issue many GRE students experience is that they’ve prepared enough that they’d expect to see good results, but they keep getting GRE questions wrong. Moreover, they’re not sure why or what to do.
Fortunately, if you’re having such an experience, there are things you can do to get better results. In this article, I’ll discuss some common reasons why test-takers miss GRE questions. I’ll also discuss what to do to get more questions correct and get on track to your GRE score goal.
Here are the reasons we’ll discuss:
- Reason #1: Incomplete Understanding of a Topic
- Reason #2: Flawed Strategies
- Reason #3: Falling Into Traps
- Reason #4: Making Careless Errors
- Reason #5: Doing All GRE Practice Timed
- Summary: 5 Reasons Why Test-Takers Keep Getting GRE Questions Wrong
- What’s Next?
Let’s begin by discussing our first reason for missing GRE questions, incomplete understanding of a topic.
Reason #1: Incomplete Understanding of a Topic
A common reason why GRE students miss questions is incomplete understanding of the topic a question involves.
The mistakes associated with this reason can masquerade as careless errors. A student misses a question, and then, when reading the explanation, thinks, “Oh, I get this. I just made a silly mistake.” However, the student didn’t really just make a silly mistake. He or she had an incomplete understanding of the topic. So, the student got the question incorrect because of not catching or knowing how to handle some aspect of the question.
For example, if you didn’t fully understand how to determine whether order matters in Combinatorics, in answering a question in which order doesn’t matter, you might calculate an answer as if order matters. Then, in reading the explanation, you might see that order didn’t matter and think you made a careless mistake. In reality, however, the issue was that you didn’t fully get the concept.
Solution for #1
The solution to missing questions because your understanding of a topic is incomplete is, of course, to review the topic. However, you may not realize that you are not just making careless mistakes and need to review the topic.
So, to avoid that issue, you can do any of the following:
- Presume that, if you’re missing many questions in a topic, you likely have an incomplete understanding of the topic, and go back and review it.
- Carefully analyze your mistakes in a topic to determine whether they are careless errors and, if they are not, review the topic.
- Keep an error log of your mistakes and analyze it for patterns that indicate that you didn’t fully understand topics, and review the indicated topics.
TTP PRO TIP:
If you’re making what seem to be many careless mistakes in a GRE topic, you may actually have an incomplete understanding of the topic and need to review it.
Reason #2: Flawed Strategies
Another common cause of mistakes on GRE questions is flawed strategies. Basically, what is going on when people miss GRE questions because of flawed strategies is that they think what they’re doing will get them to correct answers. However, they keep missing GRE questions because the strategies they’re using are somehow flawed.
In such cases, the reasons for mistakes can be mysterious, and the experience can be disconcerting. After all, you think you’re doing everything right, but you’re not arriving at correct answers.
For instance, noticing contrast and agreement words is a key aspect of answering Text Completion questions correctly. However, relying too heavily on contrast and agreement words is a flawed strategy. To get TC questions correct reliably, we also have to read the sentences holistically and consider their meanings. So, GRE students who use a strategy that overemphasizes relying on contrast and agreement words may get easier Text Completion questions correct but have hit-or-miss performance on harder ones.
So, if you feel as though you’re doing everything right when you answer GRE questions, but you keep missing them, there is a good chance that strategies you’re using are flawed.
Solution for #2
If you think you may be using flawed GRE strategies, there are a few things you can do.
One is to go back to the source of your strategies and make sure your understanding matches what the resource says. Often, GRE students catch part but not all of the strategy provided by a resource and end up doing things that don’t work.
Another is to check with another resource to see what it says about answering the types of questions you’re missing. You can also ask in online forums or ask a study buddy about the strategies you’re using. You may find that the resource you’ve been using has provided you with flawed strategies. Not every idea provided by every GRE preparation resource is valid.
Finally, you can consider the strategies you’re using and whether they really make sense. For instance, does it really make sense that you could get difficult questions correct on the Verbal section of the GRE, a graduate school entrance exam, by relying entirely on contrast and agreement words? Not really. So, by carefully considering whether that strategy makes sense, you could realize that it’s not a good GRE strategy and that you need to find a better one.
TTP PRO TIP:
If you’re missing GRE questions even though you feel that you’re doing everything right, you may be using flawed strategies.
Reason #3: Falling Into Traps
Questions on the GRE are different from questions on many other tests in that GRE questions typically include trap choices.
For instance, on an ordinary math test, to answer the questions, you choose among choices presented in straightforward ways. The choices are simply incorrect or correct. However, to find correct answers to GRE Quant questions, you have to avoid falling into traps set by the question-writers. In other words, you have to avoid choices designed to appear correct even though they aren’t. The same goes for GRE Verbal questions. So, another reason why GRE students miss questions is that they’re falling into traps.
For instance, in a Quantitative Comparison question, a diagram may be designed to seem to provide information it doesn’t actually provide. In a Sentence Equivalence question, some of the answer choices may fit the overall idea presented by the sentence but not make sense in the blank. In such cases, it’s easy for a test-taker to miss a question by selecting an incorrect choice because it seems or “feels” correct.
So, if it’s often the case that you feel good about your answers to GRE questions only to find that you got the questions incorrect, there is a good chance you’re falling for trap choices.
Solution for #3
The key to not falling for trap choices is to simply understand what you’re up against. In other words, understanding that there are trap choices in GRE questions and knowing the types of traps will help you avoid them.
GRE Quant Problem-Solving and Data Interpretation questions include trap choices that match what you’ll get by making common errors in calculation or data analysis. In Quantitative Comparison, the given information, rather than the choices, involves logical traps. For instance, the given information may be designed to seem to provide insights that it doesn’t provide. Alternatively, the quantities may be chosen specifically because they seem to be related in a way different from how they’re actually related.
In GRE Verbal, there are a variety of trap choices. Some play on our cognitive biases by somehow fitting a scenario without being correct. Others are partially correct or mix things up, so that if we’re not careful, we may think they’re correct. Others seem to be supported by provided information but don’t actually follow from that information. The many types of Verbal trap choices are discussed in detail in the Target Test Prep GRE course.
Once we’re aware of the types of GRE trap choices, we need to learn how to avoid them. The main way to do so is to be careful about the logic of what we’re doing. In both Quant and Verbal, we have to pay close attention to details and be careful not to make unsupported logical leaps.
TTP PRO TIP:
To get GRE questions correct consistently, avoid trap choices by being careful to support your answers with solid logic rather than going with what “feels” correct.
Reason #4: Making Careless Errors
Of course, if you keep getting GRE questions wrong, it’s possible that you are just making careless errors. In other words, you may know the concepts, be using good strategies, and understand the types of traps that appear in GRE questions and be missing questions anyway because you’re making errors on the way to your answers.
Careless errors can include anything from doing arithmetic incorrectly to misreading the stem of a Reading Comprehension question. In all cases, careless errors cause you to score below what makes sense given your overall Quantitative and Verbal skill levels.
Solution for #4
There are many things you can do to reduce the number of careless errors you make. Here’s a list of some of them:
- Slow down and work more carefully.
- Be more focused while answering questions.
- Keep your mind and you’re writing with your pen synchronized.
- Write more legibly on your scratch paper.
- Read more carefully and completely.
- Become aware of the types of careless errors you make and learn to catch yourself before you make them.
For a comprehensive discussion of how to reduce the number of careless mistakes you make, you can read our post on improving your accuracy on the GRE.
TTP PRO TIP:
Taking steps to reduce the number of careless errors you make is a great way to increase your GRE score.
Reason #5: Doing All GRE Practice Timed
A final reason why GRE students keep getting questions wrong is that they’re doing all their practice timed. It may seem to make sense to practice timed, since you’ll have limited time to complete the Quant and Verbal sections of the GRE exam. However, answering every practice question timed is not ideal. Here’s why.
No matter how many concepts, vocabulary words, or question types you study, you won’t get GRE questions correct unless you’re able to apply what you know. However, if you answer every question timed, you don’t give yourself time to learn to apply your knowledge.
For instance, on test day, you’ll likely answer any GRE Critical Reasoning question you see in under two minutes. However, when you’re first learning to analyze Critical Reasoning arguments and answer choices, it can take much longer than two minutes to see what is going on. So, if you do all your Critical Reasoning practice timed, you simply won’t have time to do what it takes to get Critical Reasoning questions correct, and thus you won’t learn to get them correct.
So, if you do all your GRE practice with a timer going, you won’t develop your skills and understanding. As a result, you’ll keep missing GRE questions even though you’re spending a lot of time preparing.
Solution for #5
In this case, the solution is simple: start off doing GRE practice untimed. In other words, when first learning a topic, take all the time you need to get questions involving that topic correct. Even if you have to spend 10 minutes or more on a question, spend that time. You won’t waste time practicing this way. In the long run, you’ll save time.
Analyze the questions and answer choices completely, and carefully apply the concepts and strategies you’ve learned. Your goals in the beginning are to develop skills and understanding and achieve high accuracy. In other words, your first goal is to learn to get questions correct.
Then, once you’re getting practice questions involving a topic correct untimed, you can work on speeding up to test pace. Finally, when you’ve mastered all the GRE topics in this way, you can refine your skills by taking practice tests.
And here’s a great additional benefit of untimed practice. The strong skills you develop when practicing untimed will enable you to answer GRE questions quickly. So, untimed practice not only results in your getting questions correct but also results in your answering them fast.
TTP PRO TIP:
For best results from your GRE practice, practice each question type untimed until you achieve high accuracy.
Let’s take a final look at everything we’ve discussed.
Summary: 5 Reasons Why Test-Takers Keep Getting GRE Questions Wrong
Here are the reasons why people get GRE questions wrong that we’ve discussed.
- incomplete understanding of a topic
- flawed strategies
- falling into traps
- careless errors
- doing all GRE practice timed
In each case, by using effective approaches to address the issue, GRE test-takers can get more questions correct, and thus get closer to their score goals.
What’s Next?
To learn more about how to achieve your GRE score goal, you can read our posts on how to improve your GRE score and the learning phases of preparing for the GRE.
