Do you find the GRE extremely learnable?

[Madeleina]

I've just recently begun my GRE studying, currently working on the mathematics section. The math, thus far, seems high school level at best. I'm kind of astounded, actually, that I'm here looking at fractions and word problems. In fact, the most difficult part of the exam seems to be the vocabulary...which can be memorized in a reasonable amount of time. And the essays, while sometimes requiring a stretch of mental ability, seem totally doable. So, my question is, did you find the GRE so extremely learnable?

Keep in mind, I've spent the past year studying for the LSAT, which has only one discernible thought pattern required to find its answers...you basically have to train yourself to process information differently.

What do you think?

[socialpsych]

Yes, absolutely. Especially the quantitative section.

The thing about the GRE Q is it's a little tricky. There are a limited number of tricks that are used for most of the basic types of problems and you just have to know how to deal with those. If you're like me, the big conceptual stuff is no problem but it's fairly easy to stumble on the details, so for me it was a matter of getting better at that.

The ironic thing for me was that the "hard" questions on the Q, which deal with more advanced topics like probability distributions, are actually less tricky, so I had a pretty easy time once I aced the first few questions and got to those (thank you, CAT!).

The verbal, I found somewhat less straightforward...couldn't tell what they were getting at sometimes with the reading comprehension. Oh, and not one of the zillions of words I memorized was on my test. :roll: Such is life. Did okay anyway so not complaining.

[fuzzylogician]

Absolutely. The Q is high school level and pretty straight forward, I think. There aren't that many tricks the GRE uses and once you learn to recognize them, the questions become easy. For the V part, I found that memorizing words alone was not enough--learning to guess wisely is key. Maybe two or three of the book-full of words I memorized appeared on the actual test, but I did a good job guessing the answers to questions that had 2-3 words I'd never heard of before (or since). There are strategies for doing that, I used Kaplan but I'm sure other books can also help. No clue what the reading comp was all about, *sighs*.

[nandelle]

Yes. I've been working as a math tutor teaching SAT prep courses - because of that I did umpteen bazillion problems and wound up getting 800 on the quant GRE.

The verbal too is pretty learnable - vocab memorization and practice problems are the way to go. Greek and latin roots don't hurt either (IE, if you don't know the word, but know what part of it means, that can help in the analogies).

And for the writing, practice writing essays in that short of time, and the "analyze an argument" section is pretty learnable once you know kind of what they want in an answer.

Good luck!

[glasses]

Yes. Definitely.

[Stories]

Backing up what most other folks have said.

The math section is high school math. If you know algebra and geometry, you should score well into the 700s.

Verbal is a bit trickier because it's dependent upon how well you know your vocab. Study adequately and you should post a reasonable score.

[stigMPA]

Quant is very learnabe. Verbal is memorizable if you have the time.

I got the GRE vocab flash cards and just hammered those things for a week before my test. I was already particularly good with words, but I scored somewhere into the 700s. There are free word lists online but I found those cumbersome.

[Waitwaitwait]

I found it quite learnable, but quant was tougher than verbal for me.

[hornedfrogmeg]

What books/flashcards/etc did you find most helpful. I haven't taken a math class since hs and I'm worried about that portion of the test.

[absurd]

It's totally learnable.

For math, just review high school level algebra and geometry, and do a bunch of practice questions (preferably out of a variety of test prep sources--Princeton's the best, then Kaplan).

For verbal, vocabulary is KEY!

My diagnostic test reported my score as a 940 (yikes). I thought I was doomed. After a month of diligent studying and memorization, I ended up getting a 1530 (750 V, 780 Q) on the actual test.

So just study, study, study! It pays off.

[jlee306]

I find the GRE kinda hard...I'm not a math person! However, on the actual test, I made higher on the math and the verbal which was totally unexpected. I am taking it again this coming Wednesday (the 21st). Wish me luck...I need it!

[cheesethunder]

omg i agree, i find it so weird like i studied on a daily basis from april til beginning of oct took a prep course adn still got a really low score, and i have a high A average like i am notttt lazy its not from lack of studying or trying

and i am capable of doing well in math related things, scoring a 95 in my upper year stats class

it is just a very strange test to me

and i didnt learn anything in highschool i was one of those people who realized they were academically useful in uni

so for me it was teaching myself all the math

and it really bothers me when people say ohh if you dont get a 700 then you shouldnt be going to grad school, yea right or its the best indication of my intellligence/ suitable for a school

psshhttttt

boogusness

[alexis]

I agree with the others that the verbal is very tricky and not something you'll not necessarily master, though you can get better at it through studying, but I think some just have the knack for it. I'm always super impressed by international students who score high on the verbal. English is my first language and something I THOUGHT I was strong at, but those reading comprehension questions do me in. I tend to interpret things a bit differently than others (or in this case, the wrong way), which is baaaad for the GRE. I focused my studying on the word memorization and lots of practice. I should have done more for the quantitative though. It's kind of hard to know what to think about your scores when you score much higher on the quant, but then your percentile is higher on the verbal...it's weird to me how different those scores are.

[jlee306]

I agree with the others that the verbal is very tricky and not something you'll not necessarily master, though you can get better at it through studying, but I think some just have the knack for it. I'm always super impressed by international students who score high on the verbal. English is my first language and something I THOUGHT I was strong at, but those reading comprehension questions do me in. I tend to interpret things a bit differently than others (or in this case, the wrong way), which is baaaad for the GRE. I focused my studying on the word memorization and lots of practice. I should have done more for the quantitative though. It's kind of hard to know what to think about your scores when you score much higher on the quant, but then your percentile is higher on the verbal...it's weird to me how different those scores are.

No joke...those reading comprehension questions get me too!

[KieBelle]

Maybe the Q section is all high school math, but as someone who hadn't taken a math class in 5 years, I found it to be pretty difficult. By the time the Q section was over I was literally in tears because I thought I had failed it. I ended up scoring really well, but it certainly wasn't without a struggle. As long as you spend a good amount of time refreshing your "high school math" skills, you should do alright.

[pea-jay]

My biggest problem with the quantitative portion on any test is the time. If I have a long or unlimited time (as is the case with practice problems) it is quite do-able. THrow in a time element and my success rate falls dramatically. Either I blow a ton of time and cant solve enough problems by the end of the test OR I finish it ok but make sloppy reading or writing mistakes like transposing a number or missreading a sign. As of yet I have yet to get this balance.

[jlee306]

My biggest problem with the quantitative portion on any test is the time. If I have a long or unlimited time (as is the case with practice problems) it is quite do-able. THrow in a time element and my success rate falls dramatically. Either I blow a ton of time and cant solve enough problems by the end of the test OR I finish it ok but make sloppy reading or writing mistakes like transposing a number or missreading a sign. As of yet I have yet to get this balance.

I agree with you...the time limit blows!