The GRE Exam: When To Pick Numbers
I used smart numbers maybe ten times on the real GRE exam, and it certainly helped me get a 340.
That’s why I’m going to show you when and how to use this effective weapon, and when not to.
If you are a student who has never picked numbers, this video is especially for you.
I will show you a GRE Quantitative Reasoning example that represents the perfect case for picking numbers.
Then I’ll show you a borderline case - where picking numbers is just as good as solving the question.
Then I’ll show you a wrong case - an example where picking numbers would be close to useless.
The Official Guide describes this strategy as trial-and-error or finding a pattern. Sometimes you will see, in the explanations, the advice to ‘plug-in numbers’. Well, why? And how? And when?
First off, why would we ever pick numbers/be plugging numbers? Is it the same as guessing on the GRE? Not really. Sometimes we pick numbers because of the time-pressure of the GRE exam, we just can’t think of the proper approach to a question.
I offer private GRE / GMAT tutoring online at a fixed rate of $140/hr. Please get in touch via the email below, or through my tutoring website: www.gretutorlondon.com/
Enquiries: philip@gretutorlondon.com If you’re now ready to get into your dream MBA program, my former student, Angel, is offering virtual private Admissions coaching. She was admitted into Harvard Business School, The Wharton School of Business, and Columbia Business School (accepted into every school she interviewed for) after graduating from UCLA with a degree in Communication. She also got 3 perfect scores on the GRE’s Analytical Writing Assessment (99th percentile).
Here is her link - linktr.ee/angel_accel - and you can reach her at angellinzhu@gmail.com with the subject line, “PHILIP SENT ME.”
Пікірлер: 119
Hi Philip, I just want to say a big thank you. Your channel really helped me, I wrote my GRE today and had a 167/170 in my quant and a 153/170 in my verbal, you really helped my quant. My issue essay was quite shaky unlike my argument essay though 🥲 Wish I leveraged the channel better for my essays. Thanks a lot, keep doing what you’re doing.
@TheTestedTutor
3 жыл бұрын
Massive congrats on the great score Obafemi. And thank you for the comment. So glad I could help.
@shuvashishshuvo8751
3 жыл бұрын
Wow! Sounds inspiring!! I have been following Philip from couple of months. Dear Jinadu, can i get some tips regarding GRE from you? May i get your e-mail? Thanks.
So your strategy for math is: 1. Simplify 2. Solve if possible (equations) 3. Plug in extremes and/or quantity B to determine final relationship. I would really like it if you did a video on your strategies for the verbal section, like how you attack the test, what you do first for each type of question (for Reading comp, do you read the passage or the question first?)
@TheTestedTutor
5 жыл бұрын
Yes, essentially, for the Quant. Obviously you also have to know a few tricks relating to ratios, percentages and other topics, and I hope to cover some of those soon. As plenty are asking about RC I will do a video on that in coming days.
I'm new to the channel but I have to say, I feel like I'm at the right place to ace my upcoming GRE test. 😊
@TheTestedTutor
5 жыл бұрын
That's an awesome thing to say! I will try to give you the best tips/tactics I possibly can.
@kiranmatthews4532
5 жыл бұрын
@@TheTestedTutor That's great!! If you don't mind can you make a video on some of the harder sums on Probability!! Regardless keep up the good job!
@TheTestedTutor
5 жыл бұрын
@@kiranmatthews4532 I will do one on that soon, hopefully within 7-14 days
Hey I have been following you from your first video!! Keep helping students like us who cant have an excellent mentor like u for GRE.
@TheTestedTutor
4 жыл бұрын
Thanks for being a loyal subscriber Deep!
This is amazing. Thanks a lot for these highly insightful videos.
I love your videos a lot, I am binge watching everything you have ever made. Thank you
using extremes is key. great video.
YOU ARE INCREDIBLE ✨💯
Probably that sense of knowing WHEN to use picking numbers or reasoning comes by practicing a lot of problems, at least 2000 questions, as you said in your 1st video.
If only I had discovered this sooner
just finished the third week playlist, thanks a lot for these insightful videos
Thanks teach!!
Still watching since the first video :) keep going!
@TheTestedTutor
5 жыл бұрын
Yes, you asked me to keep posting!
You are a great teacher! By watching your videos I believe that I can score high in Quant. Thank you so much 😇
Thank you man
U're doing a great job👍
Thank you so much Philip for such a wonderful playlist , loved the way you teach , learned ample of things , overall enthralled ! PS : here I finish my 3rd playlist , yay ! thank you very much (bow)
very helpfulll thanks
Thank you so much!
Great one Philip
Thank you. Thanks for the tips!
@TheTestedTutor
4 жыл бұрын
Thank you for watching!
I loved the video.
Great video!
All the videos are great. Easy to understand. Keep posting. Great job. You are great at teaching.
@TheTestedTutor
4 жыл бұрын
Thanks so much Aragonda!
Good video helpful
@TheTestedTutor
5 жыл бұрын
Thank you Deepak!
thank you, Phillip
I take an hour of my day to watch your videos. You have a gift of explaining things and I appreciate your effort so much! Gre in two weeks and Im learning tons of tricks from you!!
@TheTestedTutor
3 жыл бұрын
Wow, thank you Jerrica!
Hi, Love all of your videos. There are extremely helpful. Would appreciate if you could do a video on Data sufficiency on GMAT. Thank you! :)
keep going!! very helpful
@TheTestedTutor
4 жыл бұрын
Thank you Shiney!
It's great to know some very useful ideas. All the best
@TheTestedTutor
5 жыл бұрын
Thank you MiN!
You have wonderful content in all your videos. I'm sure this channel is going to blow up in months ;)
@TheTestedTutor
4 жыл бұрын
Why not weeks? :)
THANK YOU!!!
Keep uploading new videos, sir. Ur content is the best available on youtube!!! ..I just subscribed after watching one video, ur really amazing sir.
@TheTestedTutor
4 жыл бұрын
That means a lot Sarveswara! New one today hopefully.
Hey man, just wanted to say Ive been watching your videos for a month now and the vocab practice you do is great! I’m already increasing my vocab exponentially by doing your practice methods. I am now on the math portion and trying to strengthen my skills for that. I took the GRE last month and saw a lot of inequality questions as well as coordinate planes, and number property questions. I’m taking it again next Tuesday and was wondering if you had any extra tips that I can squeeze in for the quant portion of the GRE. Thanks again for uploading these videos they are really helping
@TheTestedTutor
3 жыл бұрын
No final tips for now other than get good sleep and good luck!
Thank you
Thanks a lotttt!
You'll have millions of views one day, Philip ❤️ Not too far away from that day!
good job bro
Thank you so much Philip. I scored 337 😊 169 in quant using your tips and tricks. Take love
@TheTestedTutor
3 жыл бұрын
Amazing job Farah. So proud!
@MindOverMatrix111
3 жыл бұрын
@@TheTestedTutor You are the best GRE guru of this world 🌎 And I mean it.
Amazing video. You make every thing quite lucid. Be it verbal or Quants.
@TheTestedTutor
3 жыл бұрын
I appreciate that!
AWESOME!
really really greate video👌👌
@TheTestedTutor
4 жыл бұрын
Thanks so much Anand!
Hey, I came across ur videos 2 days before my actual GRE and I felt like kicking myself thinking why I dint discover it sooner. anyways it has helped me a lot and I managed to get a 305 in my GRE. thank you tested tutor
@TheTestedTutor
3 жыл бұрын
Well done!
Clean presentation!
@TheTestedTutor
4 жыл бұрын
More to come!
I am so happy to see this video and find someone smart to agree with me. It's so painful for me to read a prepation book that uses picking numbers for so many questions that I can solve easily and quickly. BTW, do you talk like this in real life or do you slow down for people to better understand you?
@TheTestedTutor
4 жыл бұрын
Haha! I speak faster in real life. But over 9 years of teaching I have learnt to slow down at key moments. I am like a Bughati Veyron on cruise mode. Glad you liked the tip!
I feel guilty just by subscribing to show you support. Your videos are incredible for a layman to learn and excel.
@TheTestedTutor
3 жыл бұрын
I appreciate that Mansoor!
thx phill
I feel the last problem is a combination of number picking and logic . The equation is pretty obvious to state that "1" is one of its root , hence (x-1) has to be it's factor .Now if we match the constant i.e 7 we easily conclude the other factor is (x-7) PS : i watch all of your videos , it does help gre prep
@TheTestedTutor
4 жыл бұрын
Obvious to some not all! Thank you Sankhadip
thankyou
In the first question, one could equate them where, 3^x =? 2*2^x 1.5^x =? 2, since here ? can't be removed for x> 0, hence the answer is d.
Please upload more videos and with more frequency. May be 2 videos per week. God bless you in advance :)
@TheTestedTutor
4 жыл бұрын
I will try! Thank you for asking.
The first example could be simplified to 1.5 exponent x=? 0.5. Since x is and integer greater than 0, the above equation will not be fulfilled at any time. Therefore d is the answer
Can you do some tutorial on ratios and proportions.
@TheTestedTutor
4 жыл бұрын
Did it for you Yokesh!
pls make videos section-wise , if I want to start from scratch I can refer those videos .
@TheTestedTutor
4 жыл бұрын
Ok, section-wise as in easy, medium, or topics or all of Quant?
@debashisdutta1600
4 жыл бұрын
@@TheTestedTutor see I want to tell you abt problems which I am facing , I am not a maths person all concepts are not very clear even I tried my luck with magoosh videos but my maths score got stagnant to 155 . Now I cant prioritize which section I should follow the most ....
@imalive9006
4 жыл бұрын
@@TheTestedTutor topic wise brother. You are great brother.
hello! i would love to know when is the case where you have to pick one positive integer, one negative integer, one positive fraction, and one negative fraction? sorry im dense!
Logical Approximation Algebra > Perfectionism
Hi Philip, had a doubt in the borderline quetion
@ayushdesai8102
2 жыл бұрын
You said that 3rd option is correct, but what if x=3 & y= -5, x+y = -2 and x>y is also satisfied
Hey there, can u suggest me the best time to start my GRE preparation coz I have just joined my engineering college
@TheTestedTutor
4 жыл бұрын
You can start lightly 9-12 months before your test and ramp it up 6 months before. Try to leave time for 3-4 attempts (30 days apart).
thanks^100000000000
@TheTestedTutor
3 жыл бұрын
:)
for the second question, I tried to plug x=3 and y as -2 but did not get 0. Do we never take x as the larger no while plugging in? how do we know what kind of number to pick here.
@TheTestedTutor
4 жыл бұрын
But 3 and -2 don't add to get -2?
@arundhatijoshi6303
4 жыл бұрын
@@TheTestedTutor right. Thank you so much. This channel is extremely helpful.
@TheTestedTutor
4 жыл бұрын
@@arundhatijoshi6303 Thank you so much for your kind comments and support.
Hey! Can you please suggest how I should go for RCs. I just get irritated and confused when I go through a passage, sometimes even thrice and still don't get some answers. Specifically, multiple correct and questions like, The author does all of the following except! Now I will have to look into the passage several times for each option! That is tough. Do you have any tricks or idea about how one should attack any RC? I'll b glad if you suggest something.
@TheTestedTutor
5 жыл бұрын
Yes a few people have asked for this, will do one for sure, just takes more editing...
@purvishrivastava54
5 жыл бұрын
@@TheTestedTutor I have my GRE on 29th! Can you do it before that please!!! Or just suggest me something. 🙈
@TheTestedTutor
5 жыл бұрын
@@purvishrivastava54 I always tell people to read the passage more slowly than they normally do and to stop and summarise every sentence. It saves going back again and again to the text, and saves time in the end.
I at least make 4 mistakes in a full mock test because of these tricky questions which involve picking.
@TheTestedTutor
4 жыл бұрын
Good to be aware of this
for the equation x +y = -2, if u consider x =6 & y =-8 then all statements become true
@joeboxter3635
3 ай бұрын
But it's not could ... It's must.
Also, Is there any way to feel sure after picking numbers? Because whenever I pick numbers I always feel "are there any other numbers which will contradict my numbers leading to a wrong answer"?? great video though thanks!
@TheTestedTutor
4 жыл бұрын
I know! You have to overcome that fear! If in doubt you can try one more choice of number but usually not necessary. Of course it depends on the question too..
@SantoshvasaTB
4 жыл бұрын
@@TheTestedTutor Thanks for the reply! :)
@SantoshvasaTB
3 жыл бұрын
Replying after a year: I've scored a 310! I'm not pissed off because I got into Northeastern's MSAI program. I'm just dissapointed with ETS for their online exam option. I see people cheating easily and getting 320s these days. I worked 4 months and this is not fair.
@sreemourya9590
7 ай бұрын
Happens pal but don't worry ,acquiring knowledge is never futile.@@SantoshvasaTB
Hey dude. Your strategies are nice enough to crack the test, but if you would add a presentation to solve the questions, it would be much better to grasp the concepts.
@TheTestedTutor
3 жыл бұрын
Check out my most recent 50 videos
@adityapawar4937
3 жыл бұрын
@@TheTestedTutor Okay. Will check it out as well. Thanks!!
You would ask who!!! You would say, who would pick numbers for a problem like this. Not Philip? No... Then not me either.
i like this haircut
Great tips as always, Philip! Could you please reply to my email in which I sent you the compound interest question that I couldn't solve through your interest method? I tried a lot but not able to apply your amazing method to that question in the ETS Math Review! Thank you!
Comment
@TheTestedTutor
4 жыл бұрын
I will treasure this comment forever