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My advice: DON'T USE PRINCETON REVIEW for practice tests - they are MUCH easier than the real thing. I consistently scored in the mid 160's on both Verbal and Math on TPR's tests, so imagine my surprise when my real GRE scores were 162 Verbal and 150 Quant!!!

Only advice I can give is: DON'T USE PRINCETON REVIEW. Their practice tests are MUCH easier than the real test and therefore do not adequately prepare you for GRE. I've heard Manhattan practice tests are good, but don't know from personal experience. I made the mistake of using only TPR materials, and sorely regret it after many wasted months and hundreds of wasted dollars.

You really need to ask this question of the program(s) you intend to apply to. It seems like the Quant score would be most important for a Stats major, but only the program you want can tell you what they lend the most weight to.

Hi there, Vector. Improving the Reading Comprehension and Essay scores are the most difficult, even for native speakers, but here are a few suggestions off the cuff: 1. If possible, give yourself at least 3 months of focused study, and don't expect to see immediate results - esp. on Reading Comp. Honestly, I have a great deal of difficulty with these, too, and I'm a writer! My personal strategy now is to make up for my weak Reading Comp with excellent vocabulary. This is the only thing keeping my Verbal score above the 80th percentile right now. Although I do still hope to pull the Reading Comp up, I am not counting on it, as I've been actively studying for over 3 months and am taking the test in 3 weeks. I recommend www.vocabulary.com for boning up on vocab - it has helped me a lot and makes learning a bit more fun. 2. Reading Comp: I've experimented with different strategies, including saving all the R.C. questions for last, reading thoroughly and taking notes, outlining the passage as I read, skimming instead of reading, looking for answers in the passage instead of reading the whole thing, etc. You may want to experiment to see what works best for you. - Process of Elimination is the most helpful. You can eliminate the obviously wrong answers this way. Ultimately, though, you are likely to come down to 2 answers that seem equally correct, but at least this gives you a 50/50 chance. - This may seem obvious, but find the words used in the question in the passage. Then read two sentences before and after it to understand the context. - Watch out for answers that are only partially correct - make sure answers are completely correct before you choose them. - As a general test-taking strategy, if you find yourself spending too much time on one question, click on your best guess, hit the "Mark" button, and move on. Go back to it if you have time at the end. If you run out of time and can't go back, then at least you made a guess - you might get lucky and get it right. 3. Essay questions: First and foremost, evaluate the strength of your essay-writing abilities in your own language. How well did you score on essays when you had to write them in school? What are your writing strengths and weaknesses, from an instructor's point of view? If you've been out of school for a while like I have, I suggest practicing (in your native tongue) with some of the ETS prompts listed here: http://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/prepare/analytical_writing/issue/pool. Then have someone evaluate them using ETS's guidelines (same link). Once you feel confident about your ability to write a well-structured essay in Italian, then practice doing this in English. Use clear, simple examples to illustrate your points. This way, if you use a word incorrectly, you can still explain what you mean without detracting from the reader's overall understanding. Also, I highly recommend using an example from your own life and mention that you are a native Italian when doing this, if you can. This way, you are more likely to arouse the reader's compassion and understanding for the fact that you are writing in a second language. Who knows, you might even gain some bonus points, as long as you effectively relate your personal experience to the topic you are writing about. If you can, have a native English speaker, or at least a fluent speaker, evaluate your practice essays. That's really the only way to determine where your English needs improvement. For more tips, check out this link: http://grockit.com/blog/gre/2012/02/10/7-tips-for-a-perfect-issue-essay/. Hope this helps! Best of luck on your GRE

Another great book... I just started reading the classic novel, Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. The Prologue alone contained several great GRE words and many others that I have never heard of (and doubt that even ETS has, haha)! Also, unlike most 350 year old books, it's actually quite entertaining JoeyBoy - I think the key to scoring well on the GRE in any subject is to get into the minds of the test-creators. They do everything they can to throw obscure words and tricky phrasing at you. Have you checked out Princeton Review's Cracking the GRE? It is very helpful to enhance your understanding of what ETS is looking for. Even Shakespeare would have fallen short on GRE Verbal!

Here is a link to the most commonly used vocabulary words on the GRE: https://www.vocabulary.com/lists/194479. This site is also a great way to learn new vocab, as it tests you on words repeatedly in different ways and gives detailed notes on usage. Also, something else to think about... And I don't wish to discourage you at all from your top choice, but are you sure there isn't another program that either doesn't require the GRE verbal or perhaps one that will accept a TOEFL score to support your application and compensate for a weak verbal GRE score? I only mention it because I have heard foreign students talk about how much easier the English is on the TOEFL. Even native English speakers have immense difficulty with the GRE verbal because they purposely try to trick you! I wish you the best of luck and hope you get into the program of your choice

I like www.vocabulary.com a lot - it has a word challenge where it will randomly select words for you to learn. It tests your knowledge of each word in a couple different ways. You can also choose lists (like GRE words) to learn and/or create your own vocab list. I now write down all the words I don't know or don't know very well when reading a new book, then put them all into their own list so I can learn them. It's a great site!

Update: I just had my first LiveOnline course yesterday. First impressions: I like the instructor a lot (Rachel Rodabaugh). She's funny and engaging. The online interface is well-designed and makes it easy for everyone to interact. We don't use video in our course, though, so we don't get to see each other or the instructor. Although this means there is no face-to-face interaction, I'm sure it makes the online experience much smoother in that we are not all competing for bandwidth. As for actual class content, it's hard to judge from just one class, but so far it seems just like what I read in the TPR book, Cracking the GRE. So, I am already familiar with the techniques we are using. My concern is that I may come away from the course no better off than I was by simply using the book. However, I will suspend judgement on this for now, and post further updates as the course continues. The biggest benefit I can foresee, regardless of actual content, is that the class forces me to spend some time each day studying and gives me workable goals with required homework as well as additional drills. Math is such a headache to me that I am much more likely to space off or get distracted when studying on my own. For this reason, the class will help me no matter what. Also, it's nice to have an instructor and other students to act as a sounding board, of sorts, since others can often help with things I might not understand on my own. At times, I flat-out misunderstand a question or even overlook a piece of given information completely. That is when it really helps to have others around to point out what I'm missing. Of course, I won't have any help like that when I sit the GRE, but this is good practice for me. To sum up: If you are a highly motivated self-starter when it comes to GRE studies, you could probably get by with simply reading TPR's Cracking the GRE. If you need additional motivation and practice like me, you might benefit from the LiveOnline course.

I don't know what kinds of books interest you, but it's hard to imagine any book above the elementary level not improving your vocabulary at least somewhat - I'm reading the Hunger Games series right now, which are teen books, and even they use a couple of good GRE words now and then (Yes, I was surprised, too! Lol). Here are some good non-fiction books I've read lately that may help you: Full Planet, Empty Plates - Lester R. Brown The Post-American World - Fareed Zakaria Cindarella Ate My Daughter - Peggy Orenstein (I don't have kids, but this is a hilarious account of the new ultra-fem culture of young girls) Numerati - Stephen L. Baker (An interesting look into the ways that the Western world (mainly focused on U.S.) will become even more digitized.) Also, even though you are mainly interested in books, don't rule out The New Yorker. Even though it's a periodical, they publish essays (great for GRE studies!) and short stories as well. Happy reading!

Check out this thread at Magoosh: http://magoosh.com/gre/2012/gre-for-non-native-english-speakers/ I give you a TON of credit for taking an exam in a foreign language & wish you the best of luck!

Thank you so much, jml5676! You've really helped allay my fears about spending so much money on an online course & tipped me in the direction I was already leaning. Best of luck with your GRE

Hi there, I would really like to take an in-person course, but in an effort to save money, I am considering the LiveOnline Prep Course through Princeton Review. Does anyone have experience with these courses? Do students really have an opportunity to ask questions and speak to the instructor? I don't want to spend $700 only to find out that there really is no functional difference between the "instructor-led" LiveOnline course and the "self-study" online course. I've had online courses before through Coursera, and even though they were led by instructors, there was never a way to ask the instructor questions. All questions were posted to a student-centered forum where students would do their best to answer each other's questions. While that is fine for a free course, I would not want to pay the ridiculous prices P.R. is asking, only to find that an instructor is never available to assist students. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!