GRE and the writing portion

[Kari]

Hi, I'm new here but I need desperate help on studying for the GRE. I noticed that most people say to cram and study as much as possible; take practice exams.

I have 4 practice exams from Kaplan (taken 2, score around 800 for the first, & 1070 for the second)

I have gotten the Princeton review list from Quizlet users (over 600 words)

I have the Powerprep software which I have not started on taking tests yet.

I'm a terrible test taker and suffer from HUGE test anxiety so as much practice that I can get the better.

Any suggestions on additional resources would be great.

My main question however is where to get help for the WRITING portion of the GRE. I don't consider myself a terrible writer but the only way I work on improving my writing is getting feedback from others and just practicing. Writing blind and not knowing if it's a 6 worthy essay doesn't help at all. So is there any workshops, tutors, classes anyone recommends that isn't too costly? I've been looking but I've been hitting dead ends or there doesn't seem to be enough reviews or info about them.

Anyone with advice would be absolutelely SUPER.

[radcradick]

I have two additional resources for you:

I found "Barron's GRE: Graduate Record Examination" book was the most helpful in my test preparation all around. It comes with a cd-rom of adaptive model practice tests- just like the actual GRE- which I found sooo helpful in building my confidence with the computer format. Its tests are different every time you take it so you aren't limited to 4 tests or whatever.

"The GRE for Dummies" had a really excellent writing section review. It gave not only practice writing prompts and examples, but most importantly it gave essay layouts- what each paragraph should contain. I remember the day of my test I used one of the argument essay templates from this book, and did really well. I really don't think a course is necessary for the writing section if you have the discipline to sit down and try a few practice prompts and know what each paragraph should look like.

Also don't stress out too much--most schools hardly look at your analytical writing score because its so subjective.