I took the GRE last week and scored a decent 330(V-162+Q-168,AWA-5.5). I know it took me a very long time to write this debrief, but I had to focus on other work immediately after the GRE. I thought that I must share my experience in the hope that it will serve to benefit others in whatever small possible way. How long I studied?
I studied a total of 4 months out of which the first month was on and off studying and the last month was focused prep. Studied around 2-3 hours on weekdays and 4-5 hours on weekends. What Material I used?
1. ETS OG: Do I really have to talk about its importance. It’s a must have book for your GRE prep 2. Manhattan 5 lbs books- Comes with 6 practice tests that are worth taking apart from a number of practice questions that you will get in the GRE book.
3. GRE Verbal Grail: Since Verbal of GRE requires you to prepare with a focused approach, it is very helpful. Around 300 practice questions are there and theory for RC is very good.
4. The 45-day GRE Vocab Book: One vocab practice lesson every day is the way to go. I did one new lesson every day and revised what I have done in the past. Finished it in dot 45 days. Section Specific Tips:
RC: This section is the most difficult to improve. I think what helped me was I read at least a couple of articles from NYTimes, Economist, Atlantic etc. each day for three months leading up to the exam. Also, like I mentioned, I did OG GRE RC passages too. They tend to be more difficult but will provide you excellent practice.
Moreover, I think vocabulary is really important. Your command over vocab will go long way in improving your comprehension. For instance, if you run into words such as totalitarian, right/left wing and you know the meaning of those words you will instantly know what the author is going for. I would highly recommend you create your own wordlist of tough words from OG passages on quizlet. I never take notes for RC. I think it is a waste of time.
What I do instead is – read the first paragraph and first couple of lines of each paragraph and skim through the rest. Once I’m finished reading I go back to passages only for specific details questions that too only to cross check my answer. I think this strategy saved a lot of time.I essentially treat CR as mini RC. I read the passage really carefully and use Process Of Elimination to get at a right choice. Especially if you are at 99%ile POE will be immensely helpful for those tough passages. Vocab: This section is the easiest to improve. Initially I never timed myself. Instead I gave myself ample time to understand why a particular choice was right/wrong. I spent insane amount of time on learning from questions I got wrong.
Microstrategy: I never try to anticipate a correct answer. Why waste your time and energy anticipating a correct answer when GRE gives choices? There are thousands of ways in which you can correct a wrong sentence. Are we going to run all those scenarios w/o reading the answer choices? I think it is just inefficient use of your time. Food, Exercise, and Sleep:
Food- We all have our own unique bio-chemical identities i.e. we all know what foods give us sustained release of energy w/o making us full. I think it is best to avoid processed food, caffeine (red bull), processed sugar during the exam. I carried simple food with me for exam.
Exercise: There is tremendous body of evidence suggesting benefits of exercise on brain function. I almost never missed daily 30 min brisk walks. I used to listen to wordlist or math tables during those 30 min.
Sleep: I think data on positive effect of sleep on brain function is quite conclusive too. Here is a great TED talk on neuroscience of sleep http://www.ted.com/talks/russell_foster_why_do_we_sleep if you are still not convinced. Consequently, I never cheated on sleep during my months of prep, however tempted I was. I’d highly recommend a 9-10 hours of sleep before the exam day. It is a long post so thanks for reading. I will be happy to answer any questions you may have for me. Good Luck!