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Last Updated on April 24, 2023
There are phrases of learning about the topics covered on the GRE that every student goes through when preparing for the exam. We can think of these phases as a continuum, from “I don’t know anything about this topic” to “I understand this topic so deeply that I can’t get questions on it incorrect.” As students study any GRE topic, they progress along that continuum, developing and deepening their understanding of a topic as they go further in their study.
Chances are, when you begin preparing for the GRE, you’ll have varying degrees of understanding of each GRE topic you encounter. Perhaps you’re very skilled at Geometry questions, almost never, if ever, getting those questions wrong. On the other hand, maybe you’re not at all skilled at Combinations questions, and you almost always get those wrong.
Of course, the more you study — and study effectively — the deeper your understanding of a topic becomes; more proper study translates into deeper understanding. The problem, however, is that students often incorrectly assume that having a deeper understanding of a topic is the same as having a deep enough understanding of a topic. They mistake improvement for mastery. This phenomenon causes a great deal of stress and confusion for test-takers who don’t score as high as they expect to on the GRE.
Students often incorrectly assume that having a deeper understanding of a topic is the same as having a deep enough understanding of a topic.
Imagine the following scenario: You’re just starting your GRE prep, and you know nothing about Overlapping Sets questions. They confuse you to no end and you consistently answer them incorrectly. So, you do a bit of reading on the subject and watch videos of an instructor solving example problems. You feel better about the topic. You learned some interesting things in your reading, and watching the videos was easy enough. What was taught made sense. You solve a handful of practice questions on Overlapping Sets, getting about half of them correct. You get up from your desk to make yourself a fresh pot of coffee. As you’re grinding the beans, you think, “Wow, I’ve really mastered Overlapping Sets. That wasn’t so tough!”
Sound plausible? Perhaps you’ve experienced a scenario very similar to that already. Unfortunately, if you fall prey to that type of thinking, there are sure to be rough waters ahead. Have you really mastered Overlapping Sets, or do you just have a better understanding of the topic than you did when you started? What really happened in our scenario? You did some reading, watched someone else solve some questions, and answered some questions on your own. You’re certainly stronger in Overlapping Sets now than you were before you began studying, but equating those newfound skills with mastery would be a big mistake. The positive feeling you experience about a topic you’ve just studied results from the fact that three hours ago you knew nothing about the topic, and now you know a little bit. You’ve accomplished something, and you should feel good about that. This is a great FIRST STEP. The problem comes when students view this as the final step.
TTP PRO TIP:
Don’t mistake improvement for mastery, or you might get an unwelcome surprise when you see your score on test day.
We see people demonstrate this pattern time and again. They learn a little bit about a topic, but not enough to know all the ins and outs of that topic. They repeat this for multiple topics, maybe every topic, that they need to study for the GRE. Then, they’re shocked when they don’t earn higher scores on their practice tests or official GRE. They sometimes attribute their poor performance to a lack of “test-taking ability”; they assume that the pressure of the test, or the fluorescent lighting at the test center, or some other factor related to test conditions caused careless errors that they can just avoid next time. Of course, there is nothing shocking about their scores, and careless errors are not really the issue. They are simply not fully prepared for the exam.
TTP PRO TIP:
Don’t assume that your poor performance on a practice or real GRE is due to poor “test-taking ability”; you likely need to spend more time preparing before you can reach your score goal.
Anyone preparing for the GRE can benefit from having an understanding of the 9 (yes, 9!) learning phases that test-takers go through as they study for the exam. For our purposes, let’s explore the phases of learning about Topic X.
- Phase I: No Knowledge
- Phase II: Initial Recognition
- Phase III: Basic Understanding
- Phase IV: Easy-Level Mastery
- Phase V: Deep Conceptual Understanding
- Phase VI: Medium-Level Mastery
- Phase VII: Single-Topic Skill at All Levels
- Phase VIII: Mixed-Topic Skill at All Levels
- Phase IX: Topic Mastery
Phase I: No Knowledge
You know nothing about Topic X. You’ve never seen it before. You’ve never even heard of it. You can’t even begin to answer questions on this topic.
Phase II: Initial Recognition
After some searching around and light study, you begin to recognize Topic X when you see it. However, you know nothing about the concepts, skills, or strategies used to answer GRE questions involving it. You get nearly 100% of questions on Topic X incorrect. If someone were to explain to you how to solve a Topic X question, you’d struggle to follow the solution. Your ability to answer such questions correctly on the GRE is close to 0%.
Phase III: Basic Understanding
After more study, you have begun to learn some basic rules, concepts, and procedures for Topic X. You’re able to better follow someone’s solutions to questions involving the topic, and you may be more consistently able to answer the easiest of such questions. However, you’re still slow and prone to making mistakes when solving Topic X problems. You incorrectly answer nearly all, if not all, of the medium and hard questions on Topic X.
Phase IV: Easy-Level Mastery
After significantly more study, you are well-versed in the concepts, rules, and formulas associated with Topic X. You can easily follow an instructor’s solutions to Topic X questions, meaning that you can watch someone else do the work and understand what they’ve done. However, you still struggle to correctly answer anything but the easiest of Topic X questions; medium and hard questions continue to give you trouble.
Phase V: Deep Conceptual Understanding
At this point, you have a deep conceptual understanding of Topic X and its applications. You begin to see patterns, connections, and time/energy-saving moves when you encounter Topic X questions. You could talk accurately with someone about Topic X, teaching him the major concepts related to it. Easy questions are a piece of cake for you, and your ability to solve medium-level questions has improved, especially when you practice questions that involve only Topic X and don’t mix in concepts from other topics. However, you often need more than two minutes to solve the medium-level questions; you’re accurate but slow. You regularly answer hard questions incorrectly, and you struggle to correctly answer Topic X questions when they’re in mixed-topic sets.
Phase VI: Medium-Level Mastery
With significantly more study, you now would be able to teach someone a great deal about the concepts, strategies, and applications related to Topic X. When solving questions involving only Topic X, easy- and medium-level questions are easy for you, and you regularly answer them correctly within about two minutes. However, hard questions continue to present a challenge for you.
Phase VII: Single-Topic Skill at All Levels
Having gained deeper insight into Topic X through further study, at this point, you can quickly and correctly answer easy, medium, and hard questions when you solve questions only on Topic X. For instance, if you’re solving 30 divisibility questions, and with no questions on other topics mixed in, you’re solid. However, your ability to correctly answer questions declines when you practice mixed question sets. To use a baseball analogy, you can hit fastballs right down the middle, but you tend to strike out when curveballs and sliders are mixed in.
Phase VIII: Mixed-Topic Skill at All Levels
You’re able to correctly answer a broad range of questions of various difficulties on Topic X. You’re comfortable with wide variations in question language, form, and scope. You comfortably solve Topic X questions when they appear in mixed-topic sets, but you can’t yet answer such questions under the increased pressure of practice tests, during which your accuracy falls. Your ability to correctly answer Topic X questions on the actual GRE is still questionable.
Phase IX: Topic Mastery
After spending time taking and carefully reviewing practice tests, you’ve gone back and addressed any lingering weaknesses you have in Topic X. Now you can answer Topic X questions in single-topic sets, mixed sets, or a practice test. You are happy to see such questions because you are efficient and accurate in answering them. It’s not just that you can get Topic X questions right; it’s that you can’t get them wrong. You’ve mastered Topic X!
TTP PRO TIP:
You’ll know that you’ve achieved mastery of a topic when it’s not just that you can get questions on that topic right; it’s that you can’t get them wrong.
As you can see, even though going from the earlier learning phases to the middle phases may take significant effort and indicate that you’ve learned quite a bit, making such improvement does not mean that you’ve gotten to a point at which you will correctly answer questions on a given topic should you see them on the GRE. Only when you’re in the last couple of phases can you be confident that you will consistently answer questions on a particular topic correctly, and only when you’ve reached the mastery phase for all, or close to all, GRE topics can you expect to earn an impressively high score.
When you are preparing for the GRE, be honest with yourself about which learning phase you’re in for each topic. Keep moving along the learning continuum for one topic after another, until you attain the level of mastery you need to achieve your goal score. And remember, every student goes through this!
Now that you understand the learning phases of GRE prep, you may want to check out this article on the three critical types of knowledge for a high GRE score, as well as our article on how long to study for the GRE.
Happy studying!
