GRE Desperate for Help

[Gecko]

I'm planning on taking the GRE in about three weeks but Im panicking a bit. I'm a foreign student (foreign to the US) and haven't had to take an exam thats in the same format as the GRE before. I'm currently doing a masters and work when I'm not studying so I've found it hard to find the time to study. Can anyone give me any tips or advice on how to study for the exam or what to expect? I'm getting quite desperate at this point lol.

[Gecko]

The deadline for the programs Im applying for are in and around February 1st

[Lulu47]

It seems you have plenty of time to prepare. Don't panic, JUST START. That is the best advice I can give you. I spent so much time in panic mode that it took away from just digging in. If you're having trouble getting started due to your schedule, going through a refresher type of book first (even if you think you won't need it) will help kick start your study routine. At least that's what happened to me. I went through a refresher book in 2 days and it really helped me get the ball rolling. It was very motivating. Some good ones are Cliffnotes Math for Standardized Tests, Math Doesn't Suck, or one of the Algebra and Pre-algebra for Dummies workbooks.

Also, what's your background in? What are your strengths and weaknesses? Quantitative or verbal? If you aren't sure, take a prep test. Actually, it might help to take a prep test even if you do know.

What kind of scores do you need for your program?

How is your English?

These are all questions you should answer before you start so that you have a sense of direction.

The next step is then fine-tuning or tailoring your study routine based on your time, needs, strengths, and weaknesses. I am still in the process of doing that myself. Find the books that will target those areas (Barron's, Princeton Review, Nova math bible, Gruber's, blah, blah blah). Pick read the reviews, pick one or two books, and go from there. Getting every single book all at once, as tempting as it may sound, is not a good idea IMO. My focus and needs are regarding the quantitative section. I got Petersons GRE/GMAT Math Review and once I'm done with that I'll pick another. I am still deciding what my next book will be (based on my background).

No matter what you do: supplement your books/resources with all of the free prep materials offered on the ETS website. You can't go wrong doing that.

Btw: Are you looking to get a full scholarship? If so, I would double check those dates. Are you sure about those? Call the schools/check websites to see when the "first round" to be considered for all funding is.

[Gecko]

It seems you have plenty of time to prepare. Don't panic, JUST START. That is the best advice I can give you. I spent so much time in panic mode that it took away from just digging in. If you're having trouble getting started due to your schedule, going through a refresher type of book first (even if you think you won't need it) will help kick start your study routine. At least that's what happened to me. I went through a refresher book in 2 days and it really helped me get the ball rolling. It was very motivating. Some good ones are Cliffnotes Math for Standardized Tests, Math Doesn't Suck, or one of the Algebra and Pre-algebra for Dummies workbooks.

Also, what's your background in? What are your strengths and weaknesses? Quantitative or verbal? If you aren't sure, take a prep test. Actually, it might help to take a prep test even if you do know.

What kind of scores do you need for your program?

How is your English?

These are all questions you should answer before you start so that you have a sense of direction.

The next step is then fine-tuning or tailoring your study routine based on your time, needs, strengths, and weaknesses. I am still in the process of doing that myself. Find the books that will target those areas (Barron's, Princeton Review, Nova math bible, Gruber's, blah, blah blah). Pick read the reviews, pick one or two books, and go from there. Getting every single book all at once, as tempting as it may sound, is not a good idea IMO. My focus and needs are regarding the quantitative section. I got Petersons GRE/GMAT Math Review and once I'm done with that I'll pick another. I am still deciding what my next book will be (based on my background).

No matter what you do: supplement your books/resources with all of the free prep materials offered on the ETS website. You can't go wrong doing that.

Btw: Are you looking to get a full scholarship? If so, I would double check those dates. Are you sure about those? Call the schools/check websites to see when the "first round" to be considered for all funding is.

Thanks for the Advice/Support it was really helpful. I completed my BA in May 2011, with a joint major in Economics and Geography. Although I majored in Economics my maths isn't quite as good as you would think lol, I'm quite good at math if its taught and explained to me, but I run into difficulty when I have to teach myself cause I can get frustrated very easily. I'm from an English speaking country (Ireland) so in terms of understanding etc its fine. However in relation to english in an academic setting I thought I was quite good because I have had to write a LOT of essays and reports in the past, but when I was studying the verbal section for the GRE I found the vocabulary quite challenging. My GPA is quite low (due to family issues that occurred over the last two years) so I want to do quite well in the GRE to balance it out.

I'm doing a masters at the moment in Braodcast Production (quite a change I know) but I'm hoping to do a similar program in hopefully Boston University or Syracuse. I emailed them and they said that the average for accepted students is about 580 in each section. I double checked the deadlines and its February 1st. Im not looking to get a scholarship (for now anyway) what are the usual deadlines for most programs?

In a state of panic I ended up ordering like 7/8 different books haha wish I'd known better, oh well. Another issue I have is that standardised tests like the GRE or SAT's aren't widely used over here so I'm trying to get used to the answering techniques i.e how to approach certain types of questions. If you have any tips on that, that would be great! Thanks for your help again

[Lulu47]

Thanks for the Advice/Support it was really helpful. I completed my BA in May 2011, with a joint major in Economics and Geography. Although I majored in Economics my maths isn't quite as good as you would think lol, I'm quite good at math if its taught and explained to me, but I run into difficulty when I have to teach myself cause I can get frustrated very easily. I'm from an English speaking country (Ireland) so in terms of understanding etc its fine. However in relation to english in an academic setting I thought I was quite good because I have had to write a LOT of essays and reports in the past, but when I was studying the verbal section for the GRE I found the vocabulary quite challenging. My GPA is quite low (due to family issues that occurred over the last two years) so I want to do quite well in the GRE to balance it out.

I'm doing a masters at the moment in Braodcast Production (quite a change I know) but I'm hoping to do a similar program in hopefully Boston University or Syracuse. I emailed them and they said that the average for accepted students is about 580 in each section. I double checked the deadlines and its February 1st. Im not looking to get a scholarship (for now anyway) what are the usual deadlines for most programs?

In a state of panic I ended up ordering like 7/8 different books haha wish I'd known better, oh well. Another issue I have is that standardised tests like the GRE or SAT's aren't widely used over here so I'm trying to get used to the answering techniques i.e how to approach certain types of questions. If you have any tips on that, that would be great! Thanks for your help again

Which books did you get?

Well, just know that the Verbal sections are tough in general. People think I write great papers, but some of the vocab is crazy. I don't think it has much to do with the fact that you're Irish. At least you speak, read, and write English. That puts you ahead of some international students who learned English as a second language. Many of them have trouble just comprehending any of questions being asked, even after studying their brains off. In that aspect they have to work harder than native speakers to get a high score. My main goal is to get a high math score, because that's what I feel I need to prove to my programs/schools. However, I still want to do decent on the verbal. The technique that works best for me is using mnemonics to remember the vocab words. I use mnemonic dictionary (just google it). I also plan on writing choppy stories using the various vocab words, that way I'll remember each word set as one story. In addition to that I'm going to group synonyms in the words lists together. That way if I spot a word on the test I'll recall which one of my synonym lists it was a part of and remember the meaning. That's just my case, all people are different in their approach. Oh and I am NOT planning on memorizing 5000 words. lol. I've read about too many people that memorized 5000+ words only to find only 3 of them were on the test. I'm going to review through the most used word lists. My goal is 800-1000. Overall, I must say I think the makers of the GRE need to put their crack pipes away and get real. The verbal section is just bizarre.

Aside from vocab, I think reading comprehension is something we can't do much about at this point. I'm 24. At this point in my life I'm either a good reader or I'm not. The only thing I'm going to do to "prepare" is read some science/technical articles online. Whenever standardized tests throw in one of those passages people without a science background tend to be intimidated and psyched out. I got a huge one like that for my SAT and I literally had to use my finger tip and verify I understood what was going on in each sentence. One moment I was reading about butterflies, another about poetry, then I was reading about a family trip to the Alamo, and then BAM! I have to read about something like the chemical structure of triglycerides and neurotransmitters. It came out of nowhere and threw me off my game. Not to mention I was already mentally exhausted.

The GRE math section will test you on Arithmetic, Pre-Algebra/Algebra, Geometry, and Data Interpretation (such as Statistics). The best way to learn how to approach questions is to read your prep book of choice, take notes to retain the info, and practice practice practice. Just memorizing random stuff without understanding the root of it and without practice is somewhat useless. For example, I'm only 25% into my studying so far but I've already learned to determine when plugging in hypothetical values for X would be most helpful. It's somewhat intuitive after you practice and analyze the process.

For the analytical writing section I am not studying as much. My approach is to refresh on punctuation, grammar, and what not. I do this during my free time 5-15 minutes a day. My goal was to find a few books with short paragraphs, examples, to the point, and easy to read. One of them is called The New Well-Tapered Sentence (it's really short but great) and another is Painless Grammar (which is chunkier but reads quick. I think that is probably because its geared toward a younger audience but I don't care). I found them after flipping through the pages of least 20 books in the public library. I also plan on using the samples subjects on the ETS website and timing myself. From what I've read that is the most beneficial. I'm going to do that at least 6 times.

The deadlines for programs really depend on the field you're going into/schools. My programs are on average between Dec-Jan. However, some schools list a deadline on their website but in order to be considered for major funding/research assistanceships/fellowships the sooner you get your application in the better. One of my schools lists a deadline for Feb. but in order to be considered for the top awards you have to have everything in by Dec. 15th. That's just an example. It's very competitive.

[Lulu47]

Oh, and just in case you didn't know: to play it safe you should take the GRE about 15 days before your school's application deadline AT THE LATEST. A deadline usually means they want EVERY component of your application completed. If they want your official scores then you have to make sure you can provide those by the deadline, and 15 days is around how long it will take for the scores to be sent to them.

[EASC]

I'm taking the GRE on Dec 10th. I contacted the schools since the deadlines are in Dec 13, 14 and 15. They told me that as long as I provide the unofficial scores before the deadline and the official ones arrive shortly after deadline, it won't be a problem. My questions are 1) How many days it means shortly and 2) Professors really check applications before holidays? I would thought that they would review the applications in January after the holidays.