Best ways to prep for taking the GRE again?

[joshc]

I just took the GRE today and scored poorly. A 155 verbal and 152 quant. I want to apply to graduate schools for a history PhD. Programs like UVA and College of William and Mary. I had studied ETS, Princeton, GRE for Dummies and Manhattan prep. I should probably take it again at the end of September in order to give me enough time to apply. Should I find a class or tutor or other books? Advice is appreciated. 

[C&C]

Looks like we're applying to some of the same programs! I'm retaking my GRE next Friday, but I haven't changed my study methods too drastically. I've made sure to study daily, focus on my weaknesses, and go through math/vocab flashcards before bed.

 

Magoosh online practice is very helpful and they have smart phone apps as well. Based on how you do, it gives you a score predictor which is fairly accurate. I also took a GRE course at a local college, and I found that to be very helpful. I've heard that reading articles from the NY Times, scholarly journals, etc are a good way to prep for the verbal section.

 

In essence, my main advice is to not get overwhelmed or discouraged, and practice smarter--not necessarily harder. Good luck!

 

[shaboomshaboom]

The Magoosh GRE test prep seems to be really helpful, although they're pretty expensive (100$ for math and verbal). If I have to take the GRE again (fingers crossed I don't!), I'd sign up for their prep classes. I guess it depends how you learn. If you are fine reading explanations from books, then just buying test prep books would be a money saver. However if you learn better by having people give you explanations (I'm like this- especially with math), then it might be worth investing in a tutor/class.

To improve verbal, try to memorize as many words as you can! Flash cards are a life saver. I made the mistake of just memorizing 500 words at the beginning... I realized 2 weeks before I should expand it to at least 1000 words... it's pretty stressful trying to learn new words right before the test. Since you're applying for History, I think that would be the most important section to improve. Try to get your score above average for intended history majors (so above 156). Maybe get a couple of books just focused on sentence completion or reading comprehension- whatever you have most trouble with! I'd recommend the Manhattan Series- I got book 7 (Reading comp and essays), and it really helped me.

Good luck!!