How long did you study for the GRE?

[med latte]

How long did you study for the GRE?  Did you set aside a set amount of time every day, or focus on it for several hours once a week?

Edited January 1, 2014 by med latte

[mthomp39]

You might want to consider asking in hours instead of months to get a better idea of how long everyone studied. For example, I studied "2 months," but in reality I studied maybe 2 days a week for 30 minutes to an hour on the days that I studied. Someone else could have studied for less than one month, but still have spent more time on it than I did.

[med latte]

You might want to consider asking in hours instead of months to get a better idea of how long everyone studied. For example, I studied "2 months," but in reality I studied maybe 2 days a week for 30 minutes to an hour on the days that I studied. Someone else could have studied for less than one month, but still have spent more time on it than I did.

 

Yes, I thought about that - but I'm really more interested in how long (in months) that people adhered to the emotional and intellectual commitment to studying for the GRE, ie being in official "GRE preparation mode" regardless of total hours.  

[mthomp39]

Oh okay, never mind then 

[katethekitcat]

Perhaps add a "winged it" option. I did not study.

[med latte]

Ah, yes!  Looking to see how I add another option.....

 

How do you feel about your decision to not study?  Did you not believe it would help?  Or were you too pressed for time?

[katethekitcat]

How do you feel about your decision to not study?  Did you not believe it would help?  Or were you too pressed for time?

 

I am very happy with my decision not to study. My quantitiative score would have been a lot higher if I'd reviewed some basic math - my biggest problem was I wasted time having to figure things out that memorization would have helped - but I just couldn't justify hours and hours of study for a test designed to profit a company, when I could be using that time on my day job, my friends, and other experieinces that, in the end, boosted my resume enough that I got into my top choice grad school despite my poor quantitiative score.

 

However, obviously I have the virtue of hindsight and having been accepted to graduate school. At the time, was I kicking myself for not studying math? Yes. Only since then have I discovered - at least in my field - my LORs, personal statement, and work experieince were what got me accepted. I've had two years of post-undergrad experieince; maybe my scores would have mattered more if that wasn't true. I would also say that timed tests do not bother me and I knew going into the exam that I'd be able to get a high verbal and writing scores regardless of study.

 

So, very happy, but I also completely understand why people study for weeks. If I'd chosen a program that had a 90% minimum cutoff, you bet I would have studied every day for months.

[alextran]

Originally I planned to study for 3 months, but I decided to reduce the amount of time to 2 months. If anyone has any tips or advices, that would be great! Thank you

[Istoleart]

Originally I planned to study for 3 months, but I decided to reduce the amount of time to 2 months. If anyone has any tips or advices, that would be great! Thank you

If you have time Princeton Review has a book of 1,014 questions for math and verbal (I think that's the number). Go through it. I went through 75% of the math and verbal wasn't out when I took GRE. I also did Kaplan but found Princeton better. Lastly, do the practice ETS tests timed. Got a decent score from this method.

[Brisingamen]

I studied over around three months, but studied with concentration for only about half that time (by which I mean, put in one to two hours a day). I spent the vast majority of my time on math, as it has been nearly two decades since I last did math in a classroom, and I'd forgotten all sorts of concepts and was initially very, very slow. I'm happy I spent that time on studying -- managed a 158/170 in the quant section. I did a few practice tests for the verbal section and did two tests from beginning to end (though I got lazy and wrote only one practice essay) to work on speed. Ended up with 170 on the verbal and 6.0 on analytical writing. Caveat: I have previously worked as a copyeditor, so my verbal skills are already excellent. Used Princeton Review, found it very useful for strategies and breaking down what to do to respond to questions. But that was the only book I used, so nothing to compare to! 

[GeoDUDE!]

I did not

[TakeruK]

I studied for about 6 weeks, but an option between 1 and 2 months didn't exist so I picked 2 months. I probably put about 30 hours in memorizing vocab and learning how the GRE V works over this time period (about an hour a day). I studied for about 1 hour for the math part (did a couple of practice question sets to make sure I won't be surprised) because I felt very comfortable with math. I spend 1 hour the night before writing 2 practice essays because I think the AW is probably one of the least important sections. My goals were not very high--I just didn't want to do poorly and I thought I needed the most practice in verbal since English was not my first language. My reasons for not worrying too much was that I was in a MSc program and I rather spend my time doing that instead. Also my field has a subject GRE which I think people care about a lot more (and I spent much more time studying for that).

[somedayprofessor]

I took a different (but perhaps comparable) graduate admissions exam (GMAT), and studied for 2 months. I'm going into the management field. I scored in the 94th percentile and had a perfect AWA score (6.0 - 91st percentile, apparently 9% of test takers get a 6 on the GMAT). I'm glad that I spent the time studying (about 40 hours over two months). I did not score as well on the practice tests, but they told me where my stregths and weaknesses were. Then I spent time drilling on those subjects, answering practice questions and seeking immediate feedback on my answer for each question. The answer rationale my study guide provided either confirmed what I was thinking (supplied confidence) or told me how I should be thinking (revised my thinking). That drill work was better than anything in my opinion. The 40 hours consisted of big chunks of diagnostic time up front (taking practice tests) and smaller, more frequent chunks fo time (answering practice questions) as the test date approached. Good luck finding a method that works for you!