Hey friends,
Hello and welcome to my post about GRE preparation tips . First of all, I am neither a GRE guru nor do I run a coaching institute for GRE preparations. I am an average guy like you who finished his GRE exam on April 2014.
Now sitting back at home and seeing the various queries being posted in hundreds of groups on Facebook or linkedin , I decided to write my own experience over here so that it might help someone who is not sure about how to start from scratch or from where to study. In short, this post is the “Holy Grail” for all your queries.
Guys , it’s not a very tough task to get a good score in GRE, I mean above 315 ( as pointed out by other people) but for sure it requires a lot of practice.
First basic rule is you should be “honest to yourself”. I see lot of people asking questions like ” can I give GRE with two months or one month of practice”. Seriously speaking cut that crap out. How can someone else decide for you ? Is the person a God , who knows your abilities very well ? No, surely not. So it is always better to go through the entire syllabus with a cool head, analyzing your strength and weaknesses like if you are good in quant or verbal. What is your stamina ? For how long can you study ? Whether you have to attend some other chores like your business, jobs etc. Come on guys this time be honest to yourself , look inside yourself , talk to yourself. All answers will start coming up from within. You don’t need to ask anyone for that. One nice person whom I met at some station told me one good thing , despite having two eyes and all the support system at stations still we need to ask people for the correct platform around ten times and you see these blinds they will make their way out on their own.My point is don’t get swayed by posts like “I scored 325 with one month of preparation and all” . Of course you can but only if your brain is that fast to grab all the things.
So once the process of self analysis is over, make a feasible time table for yourself keeping in mind your comfort level , your stamina, your working schedule, your desired university and the rough GRE score to get in to them.
Caution- don’t make your preparation boring, don’t take it as a burden. Make it interesting, remove that fear of loosing and when you are doing your preparation talk to your other family members, friends etc . Keep discussing about it. Make use of your family and friends . Discuss your problems with them. Problems can be best solved by discussions so don’t loose on that part. Value all the advice you get. Don’t treat them as some piece of shit but do, what you feel is best for you.One piece of advice before starting your preparation is please refer to the official website , read it thoroughly so that you get a clear picture of the exam which you are going to attempt.
So moving on, once the time table job is over , the other hurdle which awaits is selecting the books.Believe me the more you practice the more you improve.Manhattan 8 strategy guide books are the best for those who want to do self study .They start with ground zero and then slowly lifting the bar up and up.For quant , finish Manhattan 8 strategy books first. Later on solve Kaplans, Barron’s,Princeton 1012 questions , Manhattan 5 lb, official GRE guide books. For verbal , start by learning the vocabulary first. Vocabulary plays an important role. I know its difficult to mug up 3500 words but again my advice is not to get swayed by the hit list or anything, just start learning words on a daily basis. Even if you don’t get all the words in GRE but ultimately you are improving your English a lot. Never try to attempt books before learning vocabulary, otherwise you will simply waste a lot of questions by doing it wrong and believe me there is scarcity of questions in verbal with authentic answers. So get the proper armor first and then attack.After you are thorough with the vocabulary, refer to the above mentioned books and solve them in the same order as mentioned for quant.
Verbal section and especially reading comprehensions can be improved by reading a lot of good stuff. You can always refer to Newyork times, New yorker, aldaily.com .While reading articles or practicing reading comprehension questions make that habit of reading it in one go, even if you get stuck just move on to next line. Believe me if you don’t build up that habit from now on , you will run out of time in the actual exam.
And for some of my friends who are keen on scoring very high , you guys can always refer to LSAT practice papers for reading comprehension questions . LSAT level is two notches higher than GRE .For the fine tuning of your system and if you are willing to spend few bucks , you can always buy magoosh online preparation stuff.
Many of my friends ask me this question , from where to learn vocabulary. There is plethora of flash cards available, just pick one of them and start learning. For authentic meanings you can always refer to vocabulary.com . Opinions may vary about books and all. This is based on my personal experience. All suggestions are welcome.
Once all the books have been solved, take some mock tests before attempting actual GRE for example Manhattan, Kaplans, ets official tests , Barron’s etc . There are plenty of them . Even if you score less in mock tests don’t worry. Just cheer up. Sometime it depends on your mood. If you have some tension in your mind and you sit with that for sure it will affect your performance, so while giving mock tests keep your head cool. Stay calm. Try to make it like actual GRE .
One important thing which we generally skip out, we never attempt essay section in mock test. So please don’t do that mistake. Make that habit of taking the four hours stress from now onwards because if you don’t , for sure you will have trouble in actual exam when you are going to attempt the other sections after writing the essay as your brain gets exhausted and your energy level goes down. GRE is more about checking your stamina. One mock test everyday is sufficient. More than the scores, learning the art of time management from the mock test is the most important thing. Keep that word in mind ” time management”.There will be times when you will score low , don’t be upset and never let that bad score affect your moral or anything. Keep moving, all of you guys are going to rock.
One day before the exam cheer up, praise yourself for all the hard work that you have done and relax. No more studies on the last day. Go out, watch a movie. Just relax.
On the test day have a light meal and try to reach the center one hour before the exam so that you have sufficient time and you are cool.
The salutation used here is “you” but what all have been written is based on my personal experience.
All the very best to all the aspiring candidates. Give your best shot and score well.
Remember — “THE SKY’S THE LIMIT”
Now sitting back at home and seeing the various queries being posted in hundreds of groups on Facebook or linkedin , I decided to write my own experience over here so that it might help someone who is not sure about how to start from scratch or from where to study. In short, this post is the “Holy Grail” for all your queries.
Guys , it’s not a very tough task to get a good score in GRE, I mean above 315 ( as pointed out by other people) but for sure it requires a lot of practice.
First basic rule is you should be “honest to yourself”. I see lot of people asking questions like ” can I give GRE with two months or one month of practice”. Seriously speaking cut that crap out. How can someone else decide for you ? Is the person a God , who knows your abilities very well ? No, surely not. So it is always better to go through the entire syllabus with a cool head, analyzing your strength and weaknesses like if you are good in quant or verbal. What is your stamina ? For how long can you study ? Whether you have to attend some other chores like your business, jobs etc. Come on guys this time be honest to yourself , look inside yourself , talk to yourself. All answers will start coming up from within. You don’t need to ask anyone for that. One nice person whom I met at some station told me one good thing , despite having two eyes and all the support system at stations still we need to ask people for the correct platform around ten times and you see these blinds they will make their way out on their own.My point is don’t get swayed by posts like “I scored 325 with one month of preparation and all” . Of course you can but only if your brain is that fast to grab all the things.
So once the process of self analysis is over, make a feasible time table for yourself keeping in mind your comfort level , your stamina, your working schedule, your desired university and the rough GRE score to get in to them.
Caution- don’t make your preparation boring, don’t take it as a burden. Make it interesting, remove that fear of loosing and when you are doing your preparation talk to your other family members, friends etc . Keep discussing about it. Make use of your family and friends . Discuss your problems with them. Problems can be best solved by discussions so don’t loose on that part. Value all the advice you get. Don’t treat them as some piece of shit but do, what you feel is best for you.One piece of advice before starting your preparation is please refer to the official website , read it thoroughly so that you get a clear picture of the exam which you are going to attempt.
So moving on, once the time table job is over , the other hurdle which awaits is selecting the books.Believe me the more you practice the more you improve.Manhattan 8 strategy guide books are the best for those who want to do self study .They start with ground zero and then slowly lifting the bar up and up.For quant , finish Manhattan 8 strategy books first. Later on solve Kaplans, Barron’s,Princeton 1012 questions , Manhattan 5 lb, official GRE guide books. For verbal , start by learning the vocabulary first. Vocabulary plays an important role. I know its difficult to mug up 3500 words but again my advice is not to get swayed by the hit list or anything, just start learning words on a daily basis. Even if you don’t get all the words in GRE but ultimately you are improving your English a lot. Never try to attempt books before learning vocabulary, otherwise you will simply waste a lot of questions by doing it wrong and believe me there is scarcity of questions in verbal with authentic answers. So get the proper armor first and then attack.After you are thorough with the vocabulary, refer to the above mentioned books and solve them in the same order as mentioned for quant.
Verbal section and especially reading comprehensions can be improved by reading a lot of good stuff. You can always refer to Newyork times, New yorker, aldaily.com .While reading articles or practicing reading comprehension questions make that habit of reading it in one go, even if you get stuck just move on to next line. Believe me if you don’t build up that habit from now on , you will run out of time in the actual exam.
And for some of my friends who are keen on scoring very high , you guys can always refer to LSAT practice papers for reading comprehension questions . LSAT level is two notches higher than GRE .For the fine tuning of your system and if you are willing to spend few bucks , you can always buy magoosh online preparation stuff.
Many of my friends ask me this question , from where to learn vocabulary. There is plethora of flash cards available, just pick one of them and start learning. For authentic meanings you can always refer to vocabulary.com . Opinions may vary about books and all. This is based on my personal experience. All suggestions are welcome.
Once all the books have been solved, take some mock tests before attempting actual GRE for example Manhattan, Kaplans, ets official tests , Barron’s etc . There are plenty of them . Even if you score less in mock tests don’t worry. Just cheer up. Sometime it depends on your mood. If you have some tension in your mind and you sit with that for sure it will affect your performance, so while giving mock tests keep your head cool. Stay calm. Try to make it like actual GRE .
One important thing which we generally skip out, we never attempt essay section in mock test. So please don’t do that mistake. Make that habit of taking the four hours stress from now onwards because if you don’t , for sure you will have trouble in actual exam when you are going to attempt the other sections after writing the essay as your brain gets exhausted and your energy level goes down. GRE is more about checking your stamina. One mock test everyday is sufficient. More than the scores, learning the art of time management from the mock test is the most important thing. Keep that word in mind ” time management”.There will be times when you will score low , don’t be upset and never let that bad score affect your moral or anything. Keep moving, all of you guys are going to rock.
One day before the exam cheer up, praise yourself for all the hard work that you have done and relax. No more studies on the last day. Go out, watch a movie. Just relax.
On the test day have a light meal and try to reach the center one hour before the exam so that you have sufficient time and you are cool.
The salutation used here is “you” but what all have been written is based on my personal experience.
All the very best to all the aspiring candidates. Give your best shot and score well.
Remember — “THE SKY’S THE LIMIT”