GRE study habits that worked for you?

[wildlifer]

I first took the GRE in 2011 under the old format and well, my scores were atrocious. I know technically I could still use them but I won't. It was a combination of bad timing and not enough consistent effort in studying.

 

So here I am trying to figure out the best way to prep for this test. I am aiming for decent scores that fall within the ball park of what the programs I have looked at and am interested in pursuing require, most are 40th-60th percentile as the baseline. If I commit myself to applying for Fall 2015, I would need to take the test end of Dec/early January in order to meet deadlines. 

 

So with that info in mind, what would you suggest for a study plan/what worked for you to attain reasonable scores? I have Kaplan books from the first time I took it and I have downloaded the GRE Powerprep II. 

 

Thanks! 

 

[TakeruK]

I took the GRE in June 2011 in the old format as well. But I think a lot of my study methods that worked well for the old test would work just as well for the new one! My background is that while technically English is not my "native language", I was born and raised in anglophone Canada so I would rate my English at "native speaker" level. At the time of writing the GRE, I had finished a BSc degree and was a few months away from my MSc degree, so my last English course was about 5 years ago. My goals were to score at least 70th percentile in GRE V and didn't really worry about the other two scores.

 

Here's how I prepared for each part of the GRE:

 

GRE Verbal: This was the section I was really worried about since I did not think my vocabulary was very strong. I studied for this by trying to memorize as many words as possible. I felt that if I memorized enough words, then I should be able to get at least half of the GRE V questions right due to either luck or ability to guess similar word meanings based on common roots/suffixes. I used this resource for my wordlists: http://www.majortests.com/gre/wordlist.php. I got through to fully memorizing the first 5 lists in the "Basic GRE words" (about 500 words) by studying this for 1-2 hours per week for about 8-10 weeks.

 

GRE Quant: My major was very quantitative and I was very confident in my high school math ability so I only studied for this by taking a couple of practice tests from some source I unfortunately do not remember (maybe it was the booklet that ETS mailed to me when I registered and/or the same website as above). Since I did very well on these practice tests, I was satisfied that I would be okay on the real thing so I didn't study much more. Sorry I could not be more helpful!

 

GRE Analytical Writing: I did not believe this section mattered at all to my graduate admission so my only practice was to scroll through the very long list of topics and I wrote two practice essays the night before the exam. Again, sorry this isn't helpful.

 

Finally, I also spent about as much time studying for the GRE V as I spent studying for the act of taking the test itself. Many people here might tell you that the GRE really measures your ability to take the GRE more than anything. So, I spent about 1-2 hours per week in the last 4-6 weeks doing sample test questions from the ETS booklet, PowerPrep, the website above, other websites I searched for, and especially useful was the ETS website. I also read all of the supplementary material on the GRE website/booklet that describes the test, how it is scored, and all the boring stuff on what each type of question is actually testing. I focused mostly on the GRE V type questions, so you might count this time as additional GRE V study time instead of test study time. But basically, I found this helped me a ton. At first, I was getting a lot of questions wrong because I was not thinking "like the test". After a few hours/weeks doing this, I found my scores improved a lot because I finally understood the intention behind the question and the choices presented (I went from getting 5/10 questions right on each practice set to 8 or 9 out of 10 correct). So, I think knowing how the test works/how to take the test can be just as important as knowing a lot of vocabulary!!

 

Also, with the Revised GRE, there are more test taking strategies to consider (i.e. the ability to skip questions) so I think being completely familiar with how the test operates and learning how to take the test can be very useful too! I didn't use the Kaplan books but I know that the Revised GRE has different types of questions to the old GRE so if you want to use your old Kaplan book, I would recommend knowing what the differences are in the new test and probably getting some updated resources that target the new material as well.

 

Hope that was helpful! Remember, this is a test of your ability to take tests more than anything else!

[DDsoc]

For verbal, I made flash cards. I used the online words given by Magoosh (not the ones you have to pay for) and made about 15 flash cards a day. I would do all those words with 1-2 word definitions (the shorter the better) and then the next day, do 15 new ones on top of the 15 from the previous day. Going into the test, I had about 225 words memorized. Also, make sure you're reading academic articles for reading comprehension practice. The level of writing in those articles is what you'll see on the test, and improving your reading comprehension/time can be very helpful in shaving off just a few minutes.

 

For math, buy a book, or Magoosh. There are just certain formulas that you need to know, and those books have them. I made flash cards for the formulas too, and that helped. 

[peachypie]

Go to the ETS website, they have information there for test prep materials that are free.  Also some practice sections.  go to kaplan and princeton review websites, use anything they provide for free.  Sign up if you can for online or test dates between now and your test (they should have at least 1 or 2 you can take from your home computer between now and december.  I simply went through kaplan and princeton review study prep books for the quant and did the practice for verbal ( i didn't bother to work on vocab since to actually improve your vocab you'll need at least a few months and i did it in weeks).  I did however at least go through the commonly seen words that should be in the kaplan test prep.  Familiarize yourself with those at a minimum.  after i reviewed the math and verbal i took a few practice exams all for free and then it was go time.  best of luck!

[wildlifer]

Thank you all for the input. I think if I am diligent and stay on task of making myself study every week, I should be ok... hopefully. I am not a fan of these standardized tests. I understand why they are there and the need for a baseline, but ugh. 

[themmases]

Like TakeruK, I spent a lot of time learning about the test itself. I needed to improve my quant score a lot, and did so successfully-- from 18th percentile to 74th. Obviously, that was possible because I was bad at taking the GRE, not at math. I didn't know the first time around that GRE math only goes up to about high school and uses weirdness and trick questions to increase the perceived difficulty, so I panicked and assumed I had never learned how to solve a lot of the problems on the test.

I used the free Spark Notes guide to review the format of the test, strategies used by the test maker, and to review any basic math concepts I hadn't used in a while. I spent a very long time on this, worked along with all the examples, etc., and generally made sure I was no longer making stupid arithmetic mistakes or falling for lots of trick questions before moving on. I really recommend the introductory parts of their GRE math guide. Once I was done, I used the Manhattan Prep book of math practice questions to practice each concept to death. They give you at least 40 questions on every topic, so I'd stop and check my work every 10 problems or so and write out the correct steps to anything I missed. I probably spent a month studying casually in my free time for 5 hours/week tops, then got serious in the last two weeks before the test and spent at least part of most evenings studying.

This worked really well for me, and it think I could have gotten even higher if I'd started nightly studying sooner. I was working through geometry problems when I ran out of time to work through every single question, and those were the exact questions where I ended up wasting some time on test day.

I didn't study verbal and writing because I was confident I would do well on them. Write a standard 5-paragraph essay for AW-- that was the only difference between my better-scoring old response and worse-scoring new one. I even got nearly the same question, which is what threw me off the second time... I could feel myself writing the same thing I wrote 4 years before.

[wildlifer]

themmases, thank you for your response. Hearing your story definitely makes me feel better. That is a fantastic improvement btw, so good for you! 

 

And thank you for the suggestions, I'll be sure to check them out.

 

I am trying to figure out a plan of attack for studying and my test date, but it is difficult right now as I am in wait mode for a couple of job positions. Depending on those will determine my location for the next 3-6 months and so I have to be mindful of that when scheduling this stuff. 

[victorydance]

Honestly, for the quant section it is just about doing as many questions as you can. It's one thing to review things and remember how to do certain math problems it is a whole 'nother thing to actually sit down and bang out 100 practice questions. 

 

I had spent about 5 months studying, and improving, with magoosh and their 6 month study plan. But then my magoosh membership was running out so I busted about probably about 500 of the remaining questions that were left in a few days and my practice scores bumped up like 5 points for each score after that.

 

So ideally, first review each component of the GRE quant section (number properties, algebra, statistics, ect) > then once you have a good handle on them, do a crap load of practice questions > take some practice tests > go back and work on your weaknesses > take more practice tests. Studying for the GRE is a process. And a better planned process will garner better results.

 

For the verbal, it's pretty much just about vocabulary. I mean, you should understand text completion shifts and all those strategies, but at the end of the day if you don't know the words, you won't do well. For me, the reading comprehension sections are a walk in the park so I haven't done anything for those.

 

Don't just do flashcards though, retention isn't as strong. Do flashcards, read the New York Times or Economist or Scientific American or the Atlantic or something, do some games, make short stories, ect. You need to really diversify your approach for memorizing vocab because not only will flashcards not be the best for retention, the GRE is more about context than knowing exact definitions anyway, which flashcards aren't particularly helpful for. 

Edited September 2, 2014 by victorydance

[tangerine15]

My main focus has been on the Verbal section.  I bought Baron's GRE High Frequency Vocabulary Flashcards and have been working through about 10-15 a day.  What works best for me is to connect each new word to something I am familiar with and use it in a variety of sentences.  I record myself saying each day's set of words, definitions, and example sentences so that I can review in the car.

 

 

Also, I highly recommend those flashcards if you have $20 to spare.

[lyrehc]

I had professors tell me that when studying it is more important to work to improve the area where you excel than the area you are weak.  It seems counterintuitive because I know i really wanted to do well on both but often disciplines care much more about one (quantitative vs qualitative) than the other.