Taking the GRE again and in need of tips to improve!

[egoed]

I took the GRE and made a stupid mistake on the verbal section. That hurt my score but I won't make that mistake again. 

 

I got a score on the math section that met the minimum for one of the two types of programs I am applying to but is not competitive for the other (Clinical Psyc).

 

I did not do as well on the essay section as I had hoped. I need to improve by .5 and think that is doable.

 

I have been out of university for 8 years so I'm a little rusty, especially when it comes to math. I studied for 6 weeks, using mygretutor.com, Princeton Review book, Kaplan book for vocab, and took practice exams using the ones on the ETS website and the Princeton book. In total I took 7 exams.

 

My GRE was back in the end of July. I plan to take the second one in early November.

 

My questions are: 

 

Where can I find more exams to take?

 

What can I do to improve my math section?

 

In general, what could I do differently in terms of studying this time around that will help me get a better score?

 

Thanks!

[nic14]

For me, what was most useful was to learn strategies and apply them. I also memorized a lot of equations for the quant section because if saves time if you know them. There is an online program that you can buy called Magoosh and it helped me in many ways. It made it easier for me to dedicate time to studying and also helped me with the strategies. They have lesson videos and practice questions that were often as hard--or harder--than the Qs I actually saw on test day. I think this program would be the most effective if you have enough time this month to dedicate time to reviewing the lesson videos.

To prepare for the AWA, my biggest challenge was organizing what I was going to write about. For practice, I chose random prompts from the ets website and gave myself 2 mins to outline my thoughts. I also struggle with transitions, so I wrote a transitional sentence for each paragraph. I'm a pretty strong writer otherwise, so only practiced writing about 4 full essays.

[AdilB990]

I took the GRE and made a stupid mistake on the verbal section. That hurt my score but I won't make that mistake again. 

 

I got a score on the math section that met the minimum for one of the two types of programs I am applying to but is not competitive for the other (Clinical Psyc).

 

I did not do as well on the essay section as I had hoped. I need to improve by .5 and think that is doable.

 

I have been out of university for 8 years so I'm a little rusty, especially when it comes to math. I studied for 6 weeks, using mygretutor.com, Princeton Review book, Kaplan book for vocab, and took practice exams using the ones on the ETS website and the Princeton book. In total I took 7 exams.

 

My GRE was back in the end of July. I plan to take the second one in early November.

 

My questions are: 

 

Where can I find more exams to take?

 

What can I do to improve my math section?

 

In general, what could I do differently in terms of studying this time around that will help me get a better score?

 

Magoosh's math techniques and questions helped me greatly. Much like you, I've been away from academics for about 7 years now. So preparing for GRE wasn't easy. But I feel Magoosh did allow me to get a score that was slightly better than I expected; especially considering the limited prep time I had.

 

They provide a detailed solution of all math questions. And in case you get stuck on a problem, just contact the Magoosh team and you'll get a prompt response.

[egoed]

For me, what was most useful was to learn strategies and apply them. I also memorized a lot of equations for the quant section because if saves time if you know them. There is an online program that you can buy called Magoosh and it helped me in many ways. It made it easier for me to dedicate time to studying and also helped me with the strategies. They have lesson videos and practice questions that were often as hard--or harder--than the Qs I actually saw on test day. I think this program would be the most effective if you have enough time this month to dedicate time to reviewing the lesson videos.

To prepare for the AWA, my biggest challenge was organizing what I was going to write about. For practice, I chose random prompts from the ets website and gave myself 2 mins to outline my thoughts. I also struggle with transitions, so I wrote a transitional sentence for each paragraph. I'm a pretty strong writer otherwise, so only practiced writing about 4 full essays.

 

I learned strategies too but I must admit that I let the clock get to me during the quant section. I memorized many equations as well but I don't think I even got any questions that required them. That doesn't mean I won't memorize them for my second GRE though because I have been warned that you can get completely different content for the next exam.

 

Magoosh's math techniques and questions helped me greatly. Much like you, I've been away from academics for about 7 years now. So preparing for GRE wasn't easy. But I feel Magoosh did allow me to get a score that was slightly better than I expected; especially considering the limited prep time I had.

 

They provide a detailed solution of all math questions. And in case you get stuck on a problem, just contact the Magoosh team and you'll get a prompt response.

 

I have heard of Magoosh but chose not to go with that source the first time. Since you both have mentioned it, I will definitely look into it!

 

To improve my math, I'm considering timing myself because time really is an issue for me. I suppose the more comfortable I am with the material the quicker I will be at solving the problems though.

[awells27]

      Sign up for Magosoh, and buy Manhatan GRE's 1800 GRE problems. That book is only 14 bucks off Barnes and Noble or Amazon.  Watch every video lesson possible in the Quant section of Magoosh.  Whenever you do either practice problems or practice tests, do them under timed conditions.  Do not drink coffee, water, tea, or anything when you do practice tests, as you must be accustomed to the austerity of test day.  Do not get discouraged when you get problems wrong on magoosh, as their math is harder than ETS in general.  However, when you get something wrong, the explanations will often sit with you come test day.  When you do exercises out of the Manhattan book, time yourself, and make sure you do problems following the first 15 in each section, as the early questions are too fundamental. When you take the test, the biggest danger is the second round of Quant questions.  You will probably do well on the first round, so the next section will be harder.  Therefore, do not labor over the hardest questions like I did.  I probably would have gotten 90th percentile in Quant if I had timed myself better.  Skip ones you know take too much time and come back to them after you have answered the easier ones.  This will give you more time.  There is nothing worse than knowing a question and running out of time.  

 

For analytical writing, I followed the basic plan in Barron's latest GRE book, and barring the outline they propose in the beginning, their method worked extremely well.  In your intro paragraph, provide context for your argument.  In the middle, I typed four paragraphs, two that weigh towards the argument and two weighing against it.  Always provide examples in these body paragraphs.  For your conclusion, summarize and provide implications of what you wrote in the body of your essay.  Instead of setting aside time in the end to review your grammar, simply glance at each sentence after you type it, and if it has no mistakes, move on.  

[It's A Mystery!]

I'd have to agree with awells27, I used a combination of Magoosh, Manhatten, and Kaplan (different resources given to me by friends - I recommend sending feelers out to anybody that has ever studied for the GRE, I got the randomest tips that helped on test day from the unlikeliest of sources, like my local barista at Starbucks!) 

 

Magoosh is great because it lets you focus on your weaknesses to a greater degree than does Kaplan.  The issue with Manhattan is that I found the problems weren't hard enough to knock you into the top tier scores which is when I turned to Kaplan.  So, if you are having trouble with the basic concepts - so your basic FOIL or geometric equations, vocab strategy, etc - you can't go wrong with Manhatten.  If you're extremely busy and constantly on the go, Magoosh has the best mobile tools and the best flashcard app for smartphones on the market.  Here, Kaplan could take some SERIOUS lessons because their tools are quite possible the worst on the market especially for the price you pay.  If you've already mastered the basics and are making either silly mistakes or just need more practice with the harder questions, Kaplan is simply the best (and I say this not having had any exposure to Barron's so I can't comment there).  I say this because I maxed out on questions using Magoosh and would have been simply repeating the same tired scenarios over and over again without an alternative like Manhattan or Kaplan to turn to. 

 

On the verbal, I really recommend just reading a lot of things that you would otherwise find boring that also have hard vocab.  For me that was stealing Foreign Affairs and Scientific America from friends that could afford to buy them.  This forces your brain to concentrate on things that it's disinterested in while making you learn how to focus despite extreme boredom.  At the end of the day, the GRE is a test of details.  Learning to hone in on the details of topics that your apathetic about is a skill, not a study technique.  I actually practiced at work, forcing myself to read technical documents that I otherwise would have filed away without a second glance.

[awells27]

     If I had to do it over, I would definitely have made a habit of reading passages from technical journals.  The scientific RCs undoubtedly knocked me out of the highest verbal percentile.  

[JohnKim]

I highly recommend Preped, though. I am using their Review Guide in Mastering Words:

 

[JohnKim]

Ooooooops, this is 2013 already! Apologies, was just looking at some topic.

Hope I can help the new ones.