orst11

With 2 months of practicing you should be fine. I read on the forum a few days before taking the test a few books for the revised GRE math. Check out that topic: A lot of those I took a look at after the test and they seem to be pretty good. I would just recommend to look at more data analysis or graphs. For the verbal it seems to be more difficult to recommend something. The verbal section is definitely more of a crap shoot as some of us are coming to find out, but I would recommend you take a Powerprep just so you know the formatting and understand the reading comprehension questions. For the sentence completion questions I would recommend just going over some vocabulary just so you know the words that do come up.

itsnotjustme: Your score estimates are almost identical to what mine were. Also, like you mentioned the verbal was a little tricky in that they do throw in similar meaning words for questions that only involve one answer. Did you happen to get any any of the questions where you choose two of the words? I had a bunch of these on the Powerprep I did but only around 2-3 of them on the whole actual exam.

My AW section included an analyze a topic on the importance of studying history and an argument task about instilling a mandatory driver's education program in this town for new drivers. No choice of choosing between any. As far as your second question I am not sure.

I received tentative scores in the old scoring.For instance I am expecting around 700 and some on the Quantitative and around 550 on the verbal. I actually contacted ETS before hand and they said for the first few months they will be doing this while they figure out percentiles. Really the only thing I can complain about is that I will have to wait until November to figure out actual scores. As far the AW section is concerned not much has changed. Scoring is the same, but it is actually considered one section, 30 minutes for each task. Simply one analyze an issue and one analyze an argument, 30 minutes for each. From what I have been told by ETS, the issues are similar to old ones.

At the end of the exam they simply gave an estimate with a range like you mention Kaplan does with their prep. I would say a little more acurate though in the 50 point range or so, the math portion for me was actually in a 100 point range. After taking the exam, I simply wrote these down once I got out of the test with a low estimate and an estimate if i managed to get on the higher range they gave me. I have already contacted a few schools that prefer you to respond with scores when applying, and they have said if I apply earlier then I get scores just to fill in when I took the test. Also as far as Kaplan's prep is considered I always have heard their test prep tends to be harder then the actual test so I would advise to also take a few Powerprep's along the way. Maybe you will realize you are actually doing better then what you have been doing. I had an extra verbal section on my test, since this was already my weak point I actually was frustrated once I saw an extra one. All the verbal portions I did take had similar difficulty levels.

I just got done taking the revised GRE and figured maybe this would be helpful for others who are going to take this revised format. First things first, I honestly will admit I didn't study, with the exception of taking one of the practice test on Powerprep, but after seeing preliminary scores I think I did fairly well. In comparison to the Powerprep, the test was a little harder. The verbal portion while different than before does require you to know some vocabulary, just in context though. As far as vocabulary is considered I think going over a word list from before definitely wouldn't hurt. The Powerprep verbal was far easier on the prep test I took than the actual test, so really I was caught off guard. The math portion on Powerprep was also a little easier. I had scored 800 on Powerprep, but I know I missed at least 2 questions on the math portion on the test. As far as type of questions, I would say it was mainly algebra and geometry and that's it for math and a lot of reading comprehension and complete the sentence questions on the verbal. Secondly, where I took my test they weren't too familiar with the revised GRE, so if you have questions I would strongly advise to asking ETS not necessarily the testing center. Thirdly, for the first few months they are giving you preliminary scores in the older format, so it should give you an idea on how you matched up to last years competition and those who have taken the old format. In November though they will be figuring out percentiles for the new format. Overall, I think the new format will probably do a better job at accurately showing how a student will do in grad school, mainly because of the verbal portion. If anyone has questions about the test they can ask me.