GRE advice?

[speechietobe1]

Hi everyone! I'll be applying to grad school in the fall and I'm looking for some advice on studying for the GRE! I took a diagnostic test to see where I should start and of course it was low because I haven't started studying for it yet. I plan on taking it late July. I don't really want to get a tutor or take a class because it is so expensive but if I absolutely have to I will. I have the ETS official book, ETS quant, ETS verbal as well as Kaplans 500 vocab words. How did you guys study? How long did you study for? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you so much  

Edited June 9, 2018 by speechietobe1

[amf18]

Magoosh is great!

[sauntare]

Magoosh!

[laekkauai]

Second everyone else. Magoosh. They also have other guides that they recommend like the Manhattan Prep 5lb book of practice problems.

[bibliophile222]

I didn't know Magoosh existed at the time, so I used a free app which I think was Ready4 GRE. I did one or two sets of questions a day (10-20 minutes total) for about six weeks. I actually was stressing the whole time because the app predicted that based on my performance my Quant score would be 149, so I worked really hard on the math questions. The night before the test it still was only predicting a 150, but I ended up with a 164, so although it did a bad job at predicting, the extra effort it made me put into it really helped! 

The night before the test, I also took a free downloadable practice test (sorry, can't remember the name or where I got it) for the verbal and quantitative sections that mimicked the real test pretty well. I didn't practice writing because I feel comfortable with my writing ability, but I did look at examples of essays that scored a 3, 4, 5, or 6 just to get a feel for what they're looking for.

Ultimately, how much you study depends on your learning style, test-taking abilities, and how comfortable you are with the material. I'm the type of person who tests well without studying much, and I still prepped for six weeks. The good thing is there are tons of different ways you can study, and worst-case scenario you can always retake it. I know it is a huge stumbling-block for a lot of people, so also make sure to make the rest of your application as strong as possible, just in case.

Good luck!

[láadan]

I liked Magoosh for verbal, and I wish I'd known about it earlier. I studied all of their more common words, and all of Kaplan's 500. I relied solely on Kaplan for quant and AW. And I did ETS an powerprep exam.

I took a Kaplan course- tbh, most of the material was in the book, so the class wasn't strictly necessary to get the info, but it was great for me and kept me motivated. To me the best perk was that they let me do a mock exam at my testing center through Kaplan, and look at the results at home. I got invaluable advice from Kaplan about strategy- for all of the sections, but esp verbal and AW. That alone bumped up my score by a lot. Overall, I think Kaplan's prep is tougher than the real deal, but it makes you super prepared! And it's somewhat adaptive. So I do recommend them, if you want a class. Their online recorded classes that you can watch are pretty good too.

It seems great to use ETS. Just make sure to consider whether the exams are adaptive at all- their online powerprep is not. Remember, everything will get harder if you do well on the first exam!! I think it really helps take an online adaptive exam at some point in your prep, so you know what it feels like.

My main tips:

1) Verbal: Know the vocab. Be able to answer the question FAST so you have extra time for reading comp questions. I really recommend finding mnemonics or silly associations for each word, or, if you can't, read about its etymology and practice using it (anything that makes you spend a few minutes with the word is more helpful than getting it wrong five times with flash cards, IMO).Anyway, know them well, and don't spent too much time on vocab questions! Read the question without looking at the answers initially, and try to fill in a simple word in your head. E.g., if the sentence says something like, "She was usually talkative, but today, she seemed ___" you should immediately think "not talkative". Then, a word like "laconic" will pop right out at you--and you won't get bogged down trying to think about whether "enervated" also makes sense in context. And always re-read with the words quickly to make sure you picked right. As for reading comp, the answers are always in the text, so it's all a matter of time to pour over the details. The more time you have, the better you'll do.

2) Quant: I don't like math, so for me this was a confidence game. There are strategies- know your pythagorean triples, eliminate strategically, work backwards, etc.- you'll find them everywhere. My main tip if you're also not a math-person is to skip questions if you're not going to get it fast. Mark them, and come back to them later! Each question is worth the same- and you can review all your answers later easily. Make sure you get the easy questions. It really helped me feel confident about the tough one's I'd skipped to get to them at the end with extra time and a lot of easy questions already solved. Also, make sure to practice a LOT of different kinds of questions.

3) AW: Any guide will tell you this- but for the issue, pick your side, and for the analyze an argument one, don't! I think some basic essay advice is solid here- spend 5-10 min on prep, and do a quick outline so you know where you're going. Do all the nice touches- open each paragraph with a nice transitional word, and make it easy for them to see structure. Your conclusion matters more than another body paragraph does! The grader will give you 2 minutes of his or her time. Make it easy for them to give you that high score. It's all about structure!

Good luck!

[Jordyn_M463]

I bought a GRE book from Kaplan off of amazon. It gave tips and tricks and explained every practice problem it provided. It reviewed all 3. I didn't know Magoosh was thing. I just sat down and worked through a couple hours of each section during the week days leading up to the GRE. This particular book had an online code that had practice problems and a timed test that mimicked the GRE test to see how well you could do in the "testing environment". 

[Southwestspeechie]

Take at least 3 practice tests that are timed and set up like the real test. Timing was a big issue for me during the math section, so this will help you make sure you are answering questions quickly. I believe the ets website has free practice tests. Magoosh is also great. 

[Thetis94]

Besides Magoosh, which is great, I found the 5lb book by Manhattan Prep awesome. It really helped me with quantitative. You take a practice test and theb check your answers. The book provides info on which section contains the types of problems you struggled with, so you can focus on them. 

Also! Barons essential gre words book is amazing. I used it to study the root words  (theres a whole section), bc I didn't have enough time to even attempt to go over every one of the hundreds of hit words. 

 

Good luck!

[fromteachingtospeeching]

It's good that you have the ETS books for practice. I also used them and I ended up with a writing prompt that was verbatim from the book and a few math problems as well. Since they create the test, studying their materials makes sense. Practice as much as you can, but don't stress. I am the worst math student on the planet and bombed the quant section twice earning just 139 for my score. l was accepted into 5 graduate programs, because everything else was strong on my applications. Good luck, you can do this! ?

[NYorker]

I stared with a low diagnostic score and found Magoosh to be too advanced for me. I then tried Kaplan which was a better match as they have a course called Math Foundations which teaches you the basics and then you move to the actual Kaplan course which has quizzes for all levels. You can start at low and build up your skills to medium then high. So I would say that even if people think Magoosh is better (which it may be), you should consider what is a better match for your individual situation