Honestly, was it really that hard?

[msw2013]

I am sure there was an older section dedicated to asking this question, but now after people have received their accurate scores or have taken the test recently... was it really that hard? What I mean is what were some of the strengths and weaknesses you felt you had during the test? I'm not a good standardized test taker, and I know that this is my weakness; however, as far as test content if you could choose ONE section of the verbal and math to pay the most attention to, what would it be? I am needing a 500+ on the verbal section (applying to a dual degree program in Public Health and Social Work) but a combined score of 1000 or more. Thanks in advance.

I am using Gruber's 2012 New GRE book at the moment for studying and I am finding it very helpful. I do have all of the other books except the Manhattan prep books but I plan on getting those soon.

[remenis]

In my personal opinion, the best thing to do to study for the verbal section is to learn as many of the GRE vocabulary words as you can.

[pheonixx]

I second remenis. The most helpful way to up your verbal score is to study vocab. I used Kaplan's 500 word flashcard desk - ready made flashcards with words, definitions, synonyms, and the word is used in a sentence. I carried them with me everywhere and pushed myself to learn 10-15 a day and constantly quizzed myself. I had maybe 10 words that were directly from those flashcards and raised my verbal score by 100 points. You can also learn some word roots and stems to make it easier to guess.

For the math section it's really about learning all the math GRE tricks. You can do all the arithmetic required to answer the questions but most have a trick that will let you solve the question in seconds. So five minutes of complicated math vs a few seconds. The math itself is not difficult but you can easily make a small error and get the wrong answer. Get a prep book, memorize the tricks, and do practice problems over and over and over.

Of course, this is all for the old version of the GRE which may not be helpful for those looking for advice for the new GRE.

Edited November 27, 2011 by pheonixx

[nechalo]

Learning tons of new words is a sure-fire way to help your Verbal score.

I highly recommend the 500 Kaplan words - I thought the cell phone app in particular was very helpful. It's free, convenient and a good way of going through common words. The quickness of accessing synonyms and example sentences helps a lot. I saw a few words from there on my exam which were easy points I would never have otherwise got. I wish I could add more words to that thing, I found it hard to learn words as quickly through any other method.

However, for me, the reading comprehension section is still what saved my score. I wouldn't discount it - my engineering education has trained me to be logical and that thinking lent itself well in untangling the reading passages (and possible answers!) that were presented. The way I saw it is that everything I need to know is right in front of me, and with enough scrutiny I can figure it out. It's not like that with the vocab; some may argue to learn roots but, personally, I was wayyy too behind in GRE verbiage to consider entering that league.

[Rachel B]

The first time I took the test I did horribly (like 960 combined). The second time around I committed to studying the Q section since I knew it would be wiser to invest in studying math concepts that would most likely be on the test as opposed to studying the dictionary for the V section. Oddly enough, both my scores improved drastically and I was shocked that my V score nearly doubled, as well as my Q score, in percentile despite only studying for the verbal for an hour total.