AAAAAGGGHHHH!!!! If that’s your general reaction to math, then you’ve come to the right place. If you’re like many test takers, you might be dreading the math portion of the GRE, known officially as the “Quantitative Section.” (No need for such formality—we’ll just call it Math.) Many of the questions cover topics you may not have seen in a really long time, even if you majored in math. Plus, the test makers have a knack for wording questions in unfamiliar, unintuitive ways. That’s the not-so-great news.

The great news is that the GRE Math section only tests basic math. Thankfully, the math content never goes beyond a junior high or early high school level, and advanced topics, such as trigonometry and calculus, are never tested. Calculations, when required, are basic enough to do by hand—you know this for a fact since you’re not allowed to use a calculator. Brush up on the basics covered in “Math 101” and the specific techniques and methods presented in chapters 3–5, and you’ll be good to go. If you’re actually not too bad at math but haven’t used any to speak of beyond occasionally balancing your checkbook by hand, then the refresher we provide will do you just fine too.

On test day, you’ll have 45 minutes to get through 28 questions. This chapter introduces you to the types of questions you’ll see and offers some general strategies that will help you to succeed. We’ll get to all that in just a bit, but first let’s take a quick look at scoring.