Test on Thursday, any last minute tips?

[Pinkman]

I have my test on Thursday. I've been a d.i.c.k with prep and the application cycle because of my job but I really hope the schools still consider it (I know)

That aside, any tips from anyone for last minute type stuff? I've been working on all the Manhattan exams and been getting decent scores from the practice questions in the books (avg Easy - 17/20, Medium - 17/20 and Hard - 13/20) for Quant. I'm set for Verbal I think.

One outlier though, I did the Powerprep tests and got 158Q and 164V. Whilst having done the Manhattan exams, I got 149Q and 168V so a little confused. Anyone with any insight as to which of their score correlated with the practices the best?

Obliged, thanks!

[Queen of Kale]

Pack a nice snack, maybe one with a bit of caffeine or sugar, and wear comfy clothes.  Oh, and taking stretching breaks if you have a bit of time at the end of a section, don't just try to "power through".

[midnight]

I've heard that Manhattan math skews quite a bit harder than the real GRE math. I bet that your actual quant score will be closer to your Powerprep results.

 

My advice? While it's nice to be able to skip over and come back to questions, don't do it too often if you can help it because it can make it harder to manage your time.

 

And for AW, no matter how inane the prompt, stay formulaic yet cohesive, provide relevant and specific examples and counterexamples, and type until your fingers fall off.

 

Good luck!

[Pinkman]

I've heard that Manhattan math skews quite a bit harder than the real GRE math. I bet that your actual quant score will be closer to your Powerprep results.

 

My advice? While it's nice to be able to skip over and come back to questions, don't do it too often if you can help it because it can make it harder to manage your time.

 

And for AW, no matter how inane the prompt, stay formulaic yet cohesive, provide relevant and specific examples and counterexamples, and type until your fingers fall off.

 

Good luck!

Thanks! I hope thats the case because my Manhattan scores have been bad (but not sure fatally bad!). Strange there's such a big disparity as usually there may be like a few points difference.

I always hear points to relax and not fill your brain with more information the week of the test. Any recommendations?

[languages-etc]

Don't try to cram or learn new material. But some people say that an hour before the test it's good to "warm up" -- do a few medium-level Q questions, give yourself a writing prompt and practice making an outline within 2-3 minutes. 

 

You might have heard this already, but if you need some extra time to gather your thoughts/stretch/sneak a snack, when you begin each section, the first screen is the "Instructions" screen, which asks you to click "Continue" or something like that. This screen is not timed, i.e. won't take away from your 30 minutes. So you can leave the screen up while you rest a few mins. 

[Quigley]

My biggest downfall was time management.  When I practiced at home, I never had a problem running up against the clock.  The actual test is nothing like practice though.  This is the real thing and the stakes are high, so my problem was that I was too thorough.  I would check and re-check my answers to the point of squandering my time.  

 

At the end of both quantitative sections, I realized I had about 4 minutes left to do maybe 4 more questions, when I should have already been done and checking my answers.  I had unanswered questions on both math sections because I was too nervous to realize I should have spent the last 15 seconds just checking the boxes on unanswered ones.  

 

 

Other tips to get you in a good place mentally -- Both times I took the test, I also took water and advil and left them in my locker because I didn't want some random headache to come out of nowhere and sabotage my test.  I also exercised on the day of the test and listened to some relaxing music on my way there. Everyone is different but I've actually heard to avoid caffeine.  Your adrenaline will keep you alert and caffeine will likely just make you jittery.

 

I avoided doing much studying the day before.  I think I ran through my Kaplan vocab flash cards twice and that's it.  And then glanced at a few of them while eating breakfast on the morning of.

 

I found the testing environment very distracting so it's good to have an understanding of what it will be like.  You will have your ID checked every time come in and out of the room.  They'll make you copy this really long oath in cursive (seriously... who has used cursive since the third grade?) which I think is just to annoy you before going into the testing room.  You'll have 2 video cameras watching your desk and all you'll hear is the sound of several other people pounding on their keyboards and clicking their mouses.  Your testing center will have those headphone things available that hunters and airport flaggers use, which I found incredibly helpful.

 

Don't worry too much about running out of scratch paper.  At least if your testing center has good staff.  When mine was full, I raised my hand (my desk was not in view of the staff through the window so they must have seen me through the video camera) and they had new scratch paper to me within about 8 seconds of raising my hand.

 

I read in a few places that while obviously your AWA section should be well structured, cogently argued, and provide meaningful and relevant evidence to support your claims, that there is also a strong correlation between word count and score.  I didn't put much effort into practicing writing the first time around.  I figured I've written hundreds of essays, no big deal.  I got a 4.0.  When I took the test again, I really worked to prepare for the writing and I had practiced enough and had really gotten into a rhythm of how to write a decent essay in 30 minutes.  I probably wrote twice as many words as I did the first time around, too.  I got a 5.5 that time.  One key piece of advice I found helpful was to just keep moving forward.  Don't get bogged down by trying to think of a really clever way to say something.  I read that the scorers will spend less than a minute reading each essay and are going to be looking more at the big picture.  So, really make sure you get all of your ideas on the page before going back to agonize over word choice because you'll end up wasting too much time without any gain.  At the same time, it is probably helpful for your score if you can get a couple of good vocab words in your essay somewhere.

 

I hope this is helpful.  Good luck with your test this week.

[Quigley]

give yourself a writing prompt and practice making an outline within 2-3 minutes. 

 

Spending time doing this over and over was really helpful to me for the second time around.  And, my strongest full-length practice essay turned out to be the essay prompt I got on the test!  You can imagine how excited I was because some of those prompts make me go "seriously...?"

[frankstoneline]

I prepared by taking the powerprep exams, or rather I took one of them. It predicted my score pretty much spot on to the score I recieved when I took the actual exam.

[Pinkman]

Another two tests: 158Q and 164V, 153Q and 153V. Strange numbers I think.

[Loseric]

Definitely pack a snack. I was suspicious of this tip, thinking, "eh, I never get hungry during standardized tests, I'll be fine". But after a few hours of GRE test taking, your body and brain will thank you! Nothing too sugary, but a little sugar will help. I packed a granola bar and some pieces of dark chocolate and I was so grateful for how it helped me power through the end of the exam.

 

Although I wouldn't cram before the test, I reviewed problem types and vocab for about an hour while waiting outside the testing center. It was a good warm-up to get my brain into test mode.

 

Write, write, write, and then write some more for AW! You do want it to be well-written and cogent, of course, but write a lot - aim for at least 5 paragraphs, if not more. I swear, I think they grade based on length rather than content.

 

Little known fact, at least to me: create your own mini breaks at the end of a section. I was worried about how short the breaks between sections seemed, but since you pace your own test, at the end of a section you'll get a prompt saying click next to go on. This part isn't timed so take advantage of it! Wait a little bit, breathe, stretch, blink, whatever before clicking next. Having slightly longer breaks during this time really helped me to decompress and prepare myself for the next round.

[Pinkman]

Thanks for all the help guys! I've been steadily improving my practice scores with the last being 166Q so I'm reasonably relaxed about it now!

Will update tomorrow after the test.

[Quigley]

Good luck tomorrow

[lisaflorence]

Be Patient and relax and recall your ideas.

 

Good Luck!!

[Quigley]

How was it?

[Pinkman]

Decent - 157Q 165V. Not sure if I need to take it again, probably not enough time. I wanted to be considered for this fall.

[Quigley]

That's a solid score. 165V is the 95th percentile. Congrats

[Pinkman]

YEah, thanks. A little iffy on my quant score. I got a lot of stats questions, SD, probability, etc and I didnt really budget time for them that well.

[midnight]

Pinkman, what sort of quant percentile do the programs you're applying to expect?

 

I think your score is great. It would be a shame to retake unless there's a good reason (i.e., a school that specifies 80th percentile+ for quant).

[Pinkman]

Pinkman, what sort of quant percentile do the programs you're applying to expect?

 

I think your score is great. It would be a shame to retake unless there's a good reason (i.e., a school that specifies 80th percentile+ for quant).

Well places like SAIS say the middle 50% score 158-165 so I think I will be OK but its really the funding aspect. Although, no matter what they say, for middle of the pack students (I mean more in relation to work experience (2 years) not GPA (3.7, which I think is solid especially in a hard major) GRE really matters for aid. Just not sure places like SAIS and Georgetown will give me enough, if I'm admitted that is.