adamski

Bunsenroses, genius name by the way. Yep, I used the 3 month plan. I had the time to invest, so there wasn't any plausible reason to not do it right. Fahad, the Manhattan tests are indispensible. They're cheap too. There just aren't enough quality MSTs out there without them. The one thing I can tell you that I know really made the difference is to look at the GRE more of an event than a traditional test. The tactical aspects of my training were so key--just learning how to play the game. Triage alone was beyond helpful. Given that you have already been practicing, you probably wouldn't need as much time as I took. If I had to guess, 2 months would probably be more than enough with that time, and get the free Magoosh flashcard app too. It helped.

EMPOWERgre + Magoosh = GRE Victory; 331, Verbal 96th% I’ve stopped by this forum a number of times along the way, and I've been looking forward to being in a position to share a success story here, so I am amped to be in a position to do exactly that. Official GRE: Math 165 (90th percentile) Verbal 166 (96th percentile) Total 331 My starting score: 294 (eww) The tools I used: EMPOWERgre course I can't even begin to emphasize how absolutely awesome this course is. I wonder how different things would've been had I not found it. I guess the course is relatively new so the word isn't out there is much as it is for some of the other courses, but EMPOWERgre is ridiculously better than any other course I encountered, and unfortunately I had quite a bit of experience seeing what's out there. Magoosh flash card app on iPhone I'm really surprised that Magoosh shares this app away for free. It's clean, easy-to-use and really helpful to memorize vocab on the go I take a moment at lunch, Or ride my bike somewhere and spend a few minutes reviewing vocab. Manhattan Prep 5 MST’s - these tests fill a void. There just doesn't seem to be enough for reliable practice test material out there. majortests.com is a joke. Little quizzes, and they're advertising them like practice tests. How is that not fraud? So the Manhattan tests were essential to measure how my ability was coming along over the course of my prep. GRE power prep tests - it's really not fair that there are only two official practice tests. Obviously since these a real test they are the truest measure of performance. Fortunately, I had one saved for near the end of the course so that I knew I was in good shape for the real thing. Manhattan Prep 5 pound book - a really useful source for practice questions. It almost seems endless so once I learn the tactics and the content I would do practice sets out of the book and I felt that really helps reinforce what I learned in the course. What Made A Difference: EMPOWERgre - I'm actually shocked that everybody isn't talking about this course. It's just leaps and bounds better than anything I've seen, including the Kaplan course that is 10 times as expensive. Here’s what I liked about it: it’s an on demand course so I can watch the lessons when I want to. The price is absurd ($59 a month) compared to other options out there. It covers the content and the strategy. The x-factor is the instruction. The instructors have an awesome energy that breeds confidence, and they didn’t just show me the content they showed me how to implement it. For example, on math they show a strategy called test it. It’s a totally different way to approach the questions that makes it faster to get the answer. They show you what to look for to know you can use test it, and how to use it. I must have used test it at least 8 times in each math section. I showed it to two of my friends who are just starting out, and it blew their minds. I’m happy I got the score I want, but it’s kind of stupid how I just found out about it on a whim. This is the course anyone prepping for the GRE should take. Period. Be Open Minded (don't be stubborn) - when I began prepping had an idea of how I thought it was supposed to do each of the question types, but by the time I master the question types, I was approaching them entirely differently. See you have to keep an open mind to be able to adapt reproach and implement what you learn in the training. A Short-Lived Passion - while I was prepping I kind of got obsessed with the test. It became, really I should say I made it my top priority. As I've learned in college if you decide to eight something you will. If you have to do something you might as well have a great outlook about it, and the GRE is exactly one of those things. What Didn’t: majortests.com - Everything I touched really worked, except this. If this is all you use, there’s no way you could be prepared for the real thing. They just offer small practice sets and call each one a test. What are they getting out of that? All in, I'm so relieved to be done, and thankful that I was able to get a score I'm happy with. I hope this helps!

Hi thisisgaby, I'm taking EmpowerGRE too. I'm in stage 4 of 5 in the course right now, and my MST scores are up to 322 on my last test. Keep in mind that I started with 294. I'd totally recommend the course to anyone, for a few reasons. The course covers the content and some really powerful strategies such test it, and especially triage. Triage is rad. You can basically increase your score if you know which questions to let go of on purpose. I couldn't tell you the precise amount of points that's gotten me, but it has to be a good share. The vocab modules are also really clever. They don't go in aphabetical order, they go in order of frequency, so you can learn more of the familiar words early on. That helped boost my confidence. The other thing is the teaching method. The instructors just have this comforting, confidence building style. As crazy as it sounds, I actually can't wait to take the GRE. Empower is just an all around great GRE course. So far I've recommended it to at least 10 people. Some of them have started already, and they all say the same things I am. Also, here are the samples that med latte is talking about: http://www.empowergre.com/the-course/ Click the "play samples" button to load the lessons.

Hi Random_grad, TOTALLY same thought. Some of the Kaplan vocab justifcations are so arbitrary as to be totally unreasonable. There was one in particular that involved incredibly detailed knowledge of ancient history to get...something to do with Alexander the Great and the Gordian knot. It's in the Kaplan Verbal guide. Ridiculous. I'm still just prepping for the GRE myself and I can tell that real GRE questions would never do that. The real GRE tests context more so than raw vocab, and knowing that has made a big difference. Kaplan doesn't really seem to get that IMO.

You can't beat PowerPrep in terms of realism, because it is real. The only drawback is that there are just 2 lousy tests available. Why just 2? The LSAT has like 100 tests available. Mechanician, I took a Kaplan MST, and I think you might be right about the math, or at least in stage 1. Kaitlynlea, I agree. Triage is a game changer. I think if everyone knew about it, it would blow the curve.

I used: Magoosh EmpowerGre the official GREguide 2nd edition the Manhattan 5 pound book I agree. I found Magoosh helpful. If I had to pick between the two, I'd go with EmpowerGre because it goes into more tactical instruction, but I don't think you can go wrong between the two. If you want to save some money, you can cram EmpowerGre, you can save some money because one month of Empower is cheaper than Magoosh. I think the 5 pound book is also a must. Good luck!

Hi darksteam, It's all about Verbal. There are two things I learned in the course I took that changed everything for me and I started to crack 160 because of it: 1) Don't obsess about the vocab. Study it, but it's overrated. I think too many people get caught up in the flash cards and don't spend enough time learning how to crack the questions. Instead, get ninja good at detecting the context of the sentences. That's true for both s-blank and s-pair questions. 2) With reading comp, get over the pressure to rush. Actually get into the passages. Almost pretend there is no timer. I should also add, it's really key to know how to handle the 3 RC question types. Each one has its own quirks.

I have the HP Spectre360x. It's basically a PC MacBook. 12 hour battery, and very, very fast.