If you have never taken a computer adaptive test before, it can certainly be frustrating and confusing. Once you practice, though, you'll see that it's just like any other exam: Frustrating and confusing, but doable.

The CAT has a database of thousands of questions to choose from. It builds your exam specifically for you based on your current performance. That means that it grades your exam question by question, and tries to give you questions you will be able to answer. The better you do, the harder the questions will become, and vice versa.

The catch is that when you get easier questions, you get a lower score. It is therefore important to do as well as possible on each question of the exam, so the computer will not give you easier questions.

While all this is true, students tend to psych themselves out when they take the exam. It is perfectly normal for the exam to give a test taker an easy question, or two or three in a row, just to give the impression of a poor performance, when, in fact, the test-taker is doing just fine. Smart test takers see easy questions as a gift of time, and do not try to interpret more than that.

Integrated Learning's tutors will help you master the CAT and all its intricacies and nuances, working with you on the skill and mindset you need to do well. You will learn how the test moves from question to question and you will be better prepared to read the test's signals, further empowering you to do well on the GRE.