3 1/2 weeks will make it or break it. HELP.

[Lulu47]

To make a long story short, I NEED to have great GRE scores, especially in the quantitative section. I wish I could have started to study earlier, but life has gotten in the way. The good news is that now I have a clear schedule until Dec. 15th to study 40 hours a week if my heart desires.

I am especially worried about the quant section, simply because I know this is the area that I need to "prove" on my app. I love math, and I am really excited about being able to dig deep in grad school. However, I got a B in an econ class my freshman year (I was in that "I don't care, I want to socialize" stage but got my act together the following semester), got a B's in both econ and stats my junior year (honestly, my mom almost died and was hospitalized that summer, I even had to withdraw from school early that fall ), got an A in another stats course senior year. I sound like a slacker, but I promise I'm not. I ended up with a 3.5 gpa.

I truly believe my transcript doesn't paint a true picture of what I could have accomplished if I had just focused on my coursework. This is why the GRE will either prove my transcript wrong, or just reaffirm that I don't have what it takes to do well in my grad program.

My problem:

-I am a TERRIBLE test taker. I have been in denial for a long time, but it's true. I manage to get through them, but it seriously takes intense effort. I get distracted by everything, even by the sound of silence. I over-analyze the questions/answers, I always run out of time to finish, and I get jittery. I don't know if it's ADD, test anxiety, or adrenaline. All I know is that I feel like my brain turns into poop when I take tests.

-Due to the circumstances, I feel like I did not retain much from the classes I got those B's in during undergrad.

-Aside from those econ and stats the last time I took a math class was like 8 years ago.

I enjoy math, I would go as far as saying I find it fun. I think I just have to go from the ground up on this one. I don't have the money to take a fancy class, but I have 3 1/2 weeks, a free schedule, drive, motivation, and lots of effort I am willing to give. What would you do? I've been studying for 5 days but I'm having a hard time making a focused plan of attack. HELP.

[Lulu47]

As far as prep material: In the past 2 days I went through Math Doesn't Suck (great refresher), and started on Peterson's GRE/GMAT review. I think I'll follow that with Barron's? I don't want gimmicks/tricks, not at least until I really understand the material. I'm not sure if I'm doing the right thing here. Any feedback would be truly appreciated, especially if you didn't have an extensive quant background but tried to score high. Thanks!!!

[Cosmos]

Get the Princeton Review book! It's the best, better than Barron's.

With the GRE, it's not about being really good at math. It's about being really good at the type of questions they present to you, and this you can accomplish with PRACTICE! It's hard work, but eventually you will look at a question and know immediately how you solve it.

Don't stress. That won't get you anywhere. Don't be discouraged if you can't figure out any of the questions in the beginning, that's normal. I think I could answer about 1/3 of the questions in the beginning, and near the end I started getting them all (Q 167). Lucky for you, the math they test you on is the stuff you learned in junior high and high school, so you don't need to have retained anything from your stats courses.

Work with each question type and practice, practice, practice. Sounds like you have quite a lot of time to practice, so thats helpful. Keep a sheet of the math rules you normally wouldn't remember (triangle side ratios, equation for combinatorials, groups etc) to help you answer questions in the beginning. You can do it! Read the study books carefully and work through the questions slowly at first. Then, start using shortcuts like estimating. Plug in the answer choices if you can!!

I really think you can do really well if you put the effort in. Don't be intimidated and don't procrastinate. Good luck!!

[Lulu47]

Get the Princeton Review book! It's the best, better than Barron's.

With the GRE, it's not about being really good at math. It's about being really good at the type of questions they present to you, and this you can accomplish with PRACTICE! It's hard work, but eventually you will look at a question and know immediately how you solve it.

Don't stress. That won't get you anywhere. Don't be discouraged if you can't figure out any of the questions in the beginning, that's normal. I think I could answer about 1/3 of the questions in the beginning, and near the end I started getting them all (Q 167). Lucky for you, the math they test you on is the stuff you learned in junior high and high school, so you don't need to have retained anything from your stats courses.

Work with each question type and practice, practice, practice. Sounds like you have quite a lot of time to practice, so thats helpful. Keep a sheet of the math rules you normally wouldn't remember (triangle side ratios, equation for combinatorials, groups etc) to help you answer questions in the beginning. You can do it! Read the study books carefully and work through the questions slowly at first. Then, start using shortcuts like estimating. Plug in the answer choices if you can!!

I really think you can do really well if you put the effort in. Don't be intimidated and don't procrastinate. Good luck!!

Thank you so much for the encouragement. I tend to be "academically insecure," if that makes any sense. Sometimes I just need to hear from someone who knows what I'm talking about. I really appreciate your input. What was your quantitative background before taking the GRE and about how many hours of preparation do you think you put in?

Thanks!

[LateAntique]

I found Cliff's "Math Review for Standardized Tests" to be very helpful and I'm not a math person in the slightest.

[gellert]

I'm not a math person either, and I also only had 3 weeks to study for the GRE -- but ended up making over 700 in both sections! I liked the Barron's book for vocab, though the math was much more difficult than what you'll encounter on the GRE. (At the same time, though, mastering Barron's math made GRE math feel like cake.)

DON'T cram. Don't study for hours and hours every day, because you'll burn yourself out. I studied 3 weeks for 2-4 hours a day, and not at all for the two days prior to the test. There's a point after which you'll stop retaining new information, and I think that point is after about 4 hours of studying. And don't make that 4 straight hours, either. Study for half an hour, break for an hour. Repeat. Do lots of practice problems, and don't do Powerprep until a week before your test.

You'll be fine! Mastering GRE quant isn't about being good at math, it's about not freaking out, being patient, and trying to work through logic puzzles. You can do it!

[Cosmos]

Thank you so much for the encouragement. I tend to be "academically insecure," if that makes any sense. Sometimes I just need to hear from someone who knows what I'm talking about. I really appreciate your input. What was your quantitative background before taking the GRE and about how many hours of preparation do you think you put in?

Thanks!

Everyone feels a bit academically insecure! I still read research papers and can barely get through them, wondering how I will ever be able to write one. I am told everyone feels a bit like an impostor when they enter grad school.

You're going to do great! Believe in yourself. I started 'studying' 2 months before the exam, but really I was just reading vocab and doing some reading comp stuff. I did a few math practice tests and knew I had some work to do.

I started actually studying about 10 days before the test. I probably did ~2.5 hours a day because I was also working full time and Gellert is right, your brain gets tired. Then I studied ALL DAY for the 2 days before the test, which was exhausting. I would not recommend this intense last 2-day part for anyone else - it was just a personal thing (I wanted to get through every single practice question in the Princeton book).

Like you, I've always really enjoyed math. I like doing math puzzles and quizzes because I love the satisfaction of solving it. However, there were some question types that I would not have figured out without studying the Princeton book... For me, studying is about doing the practice questions and then reading the solution steps if I get it wrong. I am definitely an active (actually practicing questions over and over) learner.

For the quant comparison questions (whats bigger, x or y) MAKE SURE you plug-in a negative value, 0, a positive value, and a fraction for each one. In the practice tests I made a lot of mistakes just plugging in one answer type and assuming that x>y incorrectly.

[Engali]

I would recommend studying for 30-40 minutes, resting for 5 minutes. Do that four to six times per day in a row imho...more on weekends. You need to build up the ability to stay focused on the work and simulate the performance conditions you will face when you take the GRE.

Do as many practice tests as you can. Do one before you start to get a baseline, one when you're half way to test date, and one a week before if you can. Save the official practice test from ets fori the last practice test you do. Rest the day before and do no studying. Good luck.