Effective Use of GRE Scratch Paper

August 16, 2010

Your success on test day depends as much, if not more, on the mechanics of your problem solving that day as it does on the content and strategies you study before the test. In short, it’s about how effectively you use your scratch paper.

I’ve met resistance from students on the scratch paper issue. They want to know, won’t using scratch paper take up a lot of time? This couldn’t be further from the truth. With practice, you will actually find that using scratch paper well saves time! Not only that, it will also allow you to pursue the logical, step-by-step approach required by these standardized test questions. Finally, scratch paper will give you a way to check your work.

Using Scratch Paper Effectively in the Math Section

The most important thing I can tell you about utilizing scratch paper in the math section is this: get writing immediately! As you read each question, translate it from English to math on your paper as you go. If you do that, you’ll have the entire math problem in front of you by the time you reach the question mark on the screen.

This will cut down drastically on what I call “space time”. Students often waste precious seconds (even minutes!) staring off into space, wondering what the question is asking of them. Eventually, they read the question a second time and translate onto the paper. So, how about doing the shortcut?

Translate immediately and your “space time” can happen as you are writing. This is the best way to save time.

You should work out each step, neatly, on your scratch paper. Redraw each diagram, translate each problem, and solve methodically. The only things that should not go on your scratch paper are those items you’ve already got memorized: multiplication tables, exponent rules, and special right triangles, to name a few.

Since you’ll be given only three sheets (six faces) of scratch paper, it’s not a bad idea to work accordingly starting now. Your goal should be to fit four or five math questions on each face of blank paper.

I mentioned working neatly. Neatness counts! If you are not the sort of person who writes in a precise manner, become one! Neatness will allow you to cut down on careless mistakes, like leaving off a negative sign, or mistaking the variable z for the number 2. It also gives you a way to quickly scan your work for any errors in calculation. Being meticulous earns you big points on the GRE.

Using Scratch Paper Effectively in the Verbal Section

During the verbal section, you should be writing A-E on your paper for each question. As you evaluate each answer choice, make some sort of mark next to it before moving on to the next choice. The three marks I use are: "check" meaning this looks good, "x" meaning I am eliminating this choice right now, and "?" meaning I am not sure/this is worth revisiting. I have noticed a marked difference in my scores on tests where I employ this strategy versus on tests where I don’t.

The only other note on verbal I should make is that for each of the eight analogies you see, you should detail the relationship between the stem pair words on your scratch paper. For example, if you saw "linen:fabric" as one of your questions, you should write "Linen is a type of fabric" on your scratch paper.

Initially, using scratch paper to its full potential may slow you down. Practice is vital. With enough practice on your scratch paper, you’ll be able to manage your time effectively, develop a step-by-step deduction method for each type of question, and check your work to ensure you haven’t made any careless mistakes.

Jeff Sackmann is a test-prep tutor based in New York City and the author of Total GRE Math, among other GRE and GMAT resources.

Need a better Quant score? Check out Total GRE Math.