ChatGPT Performance on Standardized Testing Exam -- A Proposed Strategy for Learners

This study explores the problem solving capabilities of ChatGPT and its prospective applications in standardized test preparation, focusing on the GRE quantitative exam. Prior research has shown great potential for the utilization of ChatGPT for academic purposes in revolutionizing the approach to studying across various disciplines. We investigate how ChatGPT performs across various question types in the GRE quantitative domain, and how modifying question prompts impacts its accuracy. More specifically this study addressed two research questions: 1. How does ChatGPT perform in answering GRE-based quantitative questions across various content areas? 2. How does the accuracy of ChatGPT vary with modifying the question prompts? The dataset consisting of 100 randomly selected GRE quantitative questions was collected from the ETS official guide to GRE test preparation. We used quantitative evaluation to answer our first research question, and t-test to examine the statistical association between prompt modification and ChatGPT's accuracy. Results show a statistical improvement in the ChatGPT's accuracy after applying instruction priming and contextual prompts to the original questions. ChatGPT showed 84% accuracy with the modified prompts compared to 69% with the original data. The study discusses the areas where ChatGPT struggled with certain questions and how modifications can be helpful for preparing for standardized tests like GRE and provides future directions for prompt modifications.