About mGRE exam

Forum for the GRE subject test in mathematics.
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ajibade105
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Jul 02, 2018 12:13 pm

About mGRE exam

Post by ajibade105 » Sat Jul 14, 2018 12:36 pm

Hello,

A friend told me about the content of the test. He said he took the test and questions are more in the area of calculus and differential equations. How true is this? Share the ideas with me if you took the test recently. Maybe, in April 2018. Or is the same format with the sample questions on ETS website?

hido
Posts: 10
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2018 1:49 pm

Re: About mGRE exam

Post by hido » Sun Jul 15, 2018 8:35 am

From the ETS website(https://www.ets.org/gre/subject/about/c ... athematics)
Approximately 50 percent of the questions involve calculus and its applications — subject matter that is assumed to be common to the backgrounds of almost all mathematics majors.
About 25 percent of the questions in the test are in elementary algebra, linear algebra, abstract algebra, and number theory. The remaining questions deal with other areas of mathematics currently studied by undergraduates in many institutions.
I took the April one, and I'd say this is accurate.

DDswife
Posts: 161
Joined: Thu Aug 14, 2014 5:29 pm

Re: About mGRE exam

Post by DDswife » Sun Jul 15, 2018 12:18 pm

Add Probability, Topology and Theory of Complex variable to the list. I never took the exam, but I know that they have asked questions like this, according to what people have mentioned over here
Last edited by DDswife on Tue Jul 17, 2018 10:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

w4rm4ch1n3
Posts: 15
Joined: Tue Sep 05, 2017 10:57 am

Re: About mGRE exam

Post by w4rm4ch1n3 » Tue Jul 17, 2018 2:15 pm

The types of questions which are "typical" range from test to test. When I took the test, I prepared heavily in calculus and linear algebra, but it seemed like more questions than normal asked about abstract algebra and complex analysis than I was expecting. There were some questions on some very fringe topics in probability and linear algebra, too, which I really did not expect. Also, I focused on probability and statistics when I was an undergraduate, and some of the questions I found on the exam when I took it I realized could only be answered correctly if the test taker had taken some advanced course in probability. So that seemed kind of unfair in my opinion to people who didn't specialize in probability in undergraduate school. That being said, the best way to prepare for the mGRE is to have a solid understanding of and memory of theorems from calculus, analysis, abstract algebra, and linear algebra. studying those areas the most will be your best bet when it comes to doing well on the mGRE. You will undoubtedly run into a weird question about graph theory, or some tricky problem in combinatorics/number theory, but there is no great way to prepare for those in a month or two. Even if you had 6 months to prepare, I would say to devote all that time if you could to analysis, algebra, and calculus. I'm glad I don't have to take that test again! XD

hopeful
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu May 03, 2018 2:24 am

Re: About mGRE exam

Post by hopeful » Tue Jul 17, 2018 11:47 pm

DDswife wrote:Add Probability, Topology and Theory of Complex variable to the list. I never took the exam, but I know that they have asked questions like this, according to what people have mentioned over here
There was a single topology question (that boiled down to "Do you know what an open set is? Ok now we define them using algebra") and no complex analysis questions on any GRE I've taken.



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