GRE Numeric Entry

The rules that decide the mark

• Rounding. Follow the instruction exactly — "to the nearest integer", "to two decimal places". An unrounded correct value where rounding was asked for is wrong.
• Fractions. Where two boxes are given, enter a numerator and a denominator. These do not need reducing: 4/8 is accepted where 1/2 is correct.
• Negatives. Type the minus sign; the box accepts it.
• Units. Where the question names a unit, the box usually expects the number alone. Read the label beside it.

Because nothing confirms you

On multiple choice, an answer not among the options tells you something went wrong. Numeric Entry has no such signal, so a dropped minus sign or a misread unit goes straight through.

1. Re-read what the question asked for before typing — the value, the difference, the percentage, the number of items.
2. Sanity-check the size of the answer. A probability above 1 or a negative length is a visible error.
3. Check the units match what was asked, especially where the question mixes minutes and hours, or cm and m.

These questions are not inherently harder than the multiple-choice ones. They are less forgiving, which is a different thing and is managed by checking rather than by more maths.