Yana

I decided to share my experience. I took the GRE in March. Although the score is mediocre (154V/158Q/4.5AW), I met the requirement of my school. :-) What helped me most with Verbal section, was Quizlet app on my tablet. I was just playing with it before going to bed. I can't recommend it highly enough. I used Painless GRE app, Kaplan's flashcards and Magoosh flashcards, too. If you are non-native speakers and you are struggling with Verbal section, have patience, try to learn new words and go through the ones you've learnt earlier regularly. Also, reading The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, etc. is very helpful. :-)

waypastnoon, sorry, I forgot to tell you that today I signed up on this site after you mentioned it. I already started using it, and it seems like fun. Thank you!

Guys, I appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences! Your stories inspire me, and I'll consider all of your advice. :-) pohks, you definitely have a very good memory. :-) I wish this method worked for me, but when I try to learn a deck of 100 words a day, a lot of them slip my memory quickly, and I need to restudy some of them later on. What really works for me is studying some words and then reading and taking short tests. If I encounter freshly learnt words in an article, for example, it might take me some time to remember the definition, but after, these words do stay in my memory. waypastnoon, thanks! I also use English daily and I read a lot. I guess, I just never tried to expand my active vocabulary; read passively and used the common words that I knew. Anyway, even if I don't get a good score on the GRE, this study won't be pointless. ;-)

VioletAyame, pocks, waypastnoon, thank you for your replies and advice! pocks, 12 points is a great improvement. Right now, I can only dream about that. :-) Do you mind if I ask you whether you studied in the US before taking the GRE? I agree that 500 words are not enough to get a decent score on the GRE. All I mean is that I want to make sure that I know at least these 500 Kaplan words and 1000 Magoosh words well. VioletAyame, I got my BA in a country where I was born, and English is not a native language there. I never studied in the US, although, I've been living here for the past 2 years. I don't have a lot of problems with the reading comprehension part of the test. My issue is with the vocabulary, and I make mistakes simply because very often I don't know several words from which I need to choose the answer. waypastnoon, your verbal score is great for a non-native speaker! It gives me hope. :-) Did you study in the US before? Maybe it makes sense to give yourself more time, rather than study intensively. I don't know. I just really wanted to try to take the test before the spring, 2014.

Finally, I managed to find some time to prepare for the GRE. I purchased Magoosh Premium and spent almost all November practising. I took my first practice test (Kaplan, GRE Premier 2013) several days ago and my second practice test (Magoosh) today. My quantitative scores are 151 on both tests, while my verbal scores are 149 (Kaplan) and 142 (Magoosh) . I was planning to take the GRE in January, but obviously, I'm not ready, and I need to learn a lot of new words. I have 500 Kaplan's flashcards, as well as Magoosh flashcards on my tablet. I went already through one half of Kaplan's words. At the same time, I'm trying to use my Magoosh app daily. My concern is that I can't even register for the test, as I don't know how long it might take me to learn these words to improve my verbal score (I need more than 150 on my verbal). Of course, I would like to improve my quantitative score too, but I'm more worried about the verbal section. How long did it take you to notice any improvements in the verbal part of the test? Do you think whether two months are enough to raise your verbal score if you are a non-native speaker? Thanks.

I received my score. 111/120 Now, I'm ready to start my GRE preparation. Good luck on your TOEFL everyone!

I took my TOEFL ibt test last week, and I am still waiting for my score. I decided to write about my experience just to let my anxiety go away. I spent two weeks preparing for the test, 1-2 hours daily. I used the ETS site and Kaplan's book with 4 online tests for my preparation. As I mentioned before, I found some YouTube lessons on how to prepare for the speaking section of the test, as well. On the test day my performance wasn't as good as I hoped it would be. When I started my reading section, a lot of the test takers were screaming "Describe the city you live in" to adjust their microphone volume, and one of the girls had already started her speaking section. So, I had some difficulty in concentrating. Also, I thought that there would be separate timers for the first reading passage and the following 2 or 4 passages. It made me nervous to realize that I had just one timer while I wasn't sure how many passages I would have as I skipped the instructions. All in all, the passages were not very difficult, and I had only four of them, but they were very long. Because of that, I decided just to scan them, instead of reading. While preparing for the test at home, I always was able to read the passages and to make some notes. The questions were tricky, and I have no idea how I performed on the reading section because very often I wasn't 100% sure when I was selecting my answers. I was very nervous, couldn't concentrate, that's why I have a bad feeling about my reading score. The listening section was all right. I took a lot of notes and, finally, was able to calm down. I think I had 4 lectures and 2 conversations, but I might be wrong. The speaking section wasn't too bad, but I know that I made two mistakes that I'm aware of. I corrected myself, but, of course, it might spoil all the impression. I didn't manage to give a final statement in some of the tasks too. Also, as I was anxious, I was speaking too fast, and I'm worried now that it might lower my score. I think that my performance on the writing section was just average. I followed the structure, the word count in both of the essays was higher than needed, but I made some mistakes in spelling, and I used a British variant of the spelling in one word. On top of that, my ideas in the independent essay were not so bright. I need a score of 100 and higher. I feel really upset that I didn't prepare enough for the test, and that I will, more likely, need to retake it. The scores will be released only in a week. I know that I need to let it go, as I can't change anything now, but it's not easy to do so. The good part is that this experience has spurred me to study hard for the GRE.

If you are applying to several schools, you'll need to ask for additional copies of your evaluation report. I didn't order any copies as I'm applying only to one school. While filling out the application for the ECE evaluation service, you'll need to mention the school(s) where you're going to send your report to. You'll need to check the requirements with your school(s) as to whether they accept copies of it or not. The requirements may differ depending on the school. Some of the schools may do their own evaluations, so make sure you know what the school(s) you are applying to require. After you know what service you need (WES or ECE), just go to their web site, choose the type of the report you need and follow the instructions. https://www.ece.org/main/content=ApplicationStep0&&SubSite=1&LeftNav=3

I used ECE because the school I am going to apply to accepts ECE evaluations. I was satisfied with their services. It took only two or three weeks to get the results back, and it was cheaper compared to WES. I sent them the copies of my Diplomas with transcripts and the copy of my high school certificate. The requirements for the submitted documents may be different, depending on the country where you studied. So, check their site to make sure what the requirements are for your country. I'll need to provide the original documents with the evaluation to my school. ECE did not require my original documents. I would first check what evaluation services your school or a place you are going to submit your documents to accepts. If it accepts either one, I would consider ECE, as it is accepted by most of the US schools, it is reasonably quick, less expensive, and they do not require your original transcripts.

Andean Pat, at first, I also thought that I would start with the GRE. Although, I can't motivate myself to begin preparing for it. It seems to be so difficult now , as I haven't studied for 8 years. That's why I changed my plan. If I pass the TOEFL, it will give me some positive thinking about myself . Also, the TOEFL results should be no older than two years when you are applying. Knowing that will stimulate me to study for the GRE hard and quick. Good job on your TOEFL!

Hey, I decided to start with the TOEFL, as the GRE is more complicated. I haven't studied for a long time, so I need to start with something easier. I just registered for the test. I'm going to take it in three weeks. I purchased Kaplan's TOEFL iBT book. It has 4 practice tests on CD. Also I found a lot of good lessons on YouTube. My plan is to write two essays a day and to record myself while I am talking, so that I can hear my weak points and try to improve them, if possible, within these three weeks. I hope I can make it!