EMPOWERgre + Magoosh = GRE Victory; 331, Verbal 96th%

[adamski]

EMPOWERgre + Magoosh = GRE Victory; 331, Verbal 96th%

 

I’ve stopped by this forum a number of times along the way, and I've been looking forward to being in a position to share a success story here, so I am amped to be in a position to do exactly that.

 

Official GRE: 

Math 165 (90th percentile)

Verbal 166 (96th percentile)

Total 331

 

My starting score: 294 (eww)

 

The tools I used:

 

EMPOWERgre course

I can't even begin to emphasize how absolutely awesome this course is. I wonder how different things would've been had I not found it. I guess the course is relatively new so the word isn't out there is much as it is for some of the other courses, but EMPOWERgre is ridiculously better than any other course I encountered, and unfortunately I had quite a bit of experience seeing what's out there.

 

Magoosh flash card app on iPhone

I'm really surprised that Magoosh shares this app away for free. It's clean, easy-to-use and really helpful to memorize vocab on the go I take a moment at lunch, Or ride my bike somewhere and spend a few minutes reviewing vocab.

 

Manhattan Prep 5 MST’s - these tests fill a void. There just doesn't seem to be enough for reliable practice test material out there. majortests.com is a joke. Little quizzes, and they're advertising them like practice tests. How is that not fraud? So the Manhattan tests were essential to measure how my ability was coming along over the course of my prep.

 

GRE power prep tests - it's really not fair that there are only two official practice tests. Obviously since these a real test they are the truest measure of performance. Fortunately, I had one saved for near the end of the course so that I knew I was in good shape for the real thing.

 

Manhattan Prep 5 pound book - a really useful source for practice questions. It almost seems endless so once I learn the tactics and the content I would do practice sets out of the book and I felt that really helps reinforce what I learned in the course.

 

What Made A Difference:

EMPOWERgre - I'm actually shocked that everybody isn't talking about this course. It's just leaps and bounds better than anything I've seen, including the Kaplan course that is 10 times as expensive. Here’s what I liked about it: it’s an on demand course so I can watch the lessons when I want to. The price is absurd ($59 a month) compared to other options out there. It covers the content and the strategy. The x-factor is the instruction. The instructors have an awesome energy that breeds confidence, and they didn’t just show me the content they showed me how to implement it. For example, on math they show a strategy called test it. It’s a totally different way to approach the questions that makes it faster to get the answer. They show you what to look for to know you can use test it, and how to use it. I must have used test it at least 8 times in each math section. I showed it to two of my friends who are just starting out, and it blew their minds. I’m happy I got the score I want, but it’s kind of stupid how I just found out about it on a whim. This is the course anyone prepping for the GRE should take. Period.

 

Be Open Minded (don't be stubborn) - when I began prepping had an idea of how I thought it was supposed to do each of the question types, but by the time I master the question types, I was approaching them entirely differently. See you have to keep an open mind to be able to adapt reproach and implement what you learn in the training. 

 

A Short-Lived Passion - while I was prepping I kind of got obsessed with the test. It became, really I should say I made it my top priority. As I've learned in college if you decide to eight something you will. If you have to do something you might as well have a great outlook about it, and the GRE is exactly one of those things.

 

 

What Didn’t:

majortests.com - Everything I touched really worked, except this. If this is all you use, there’s no way you could be prepared for the real thing. They just offer small practice sets and call each one a test. What are they getting out of that? 

 

All in, I'm so relieved to be done, and thankful that I was able to get a score I'm happy with. 

 

I hope this helps!

[Fahad.Baloch]

Well in man! That's a sharp sharp increase. Can't even imagine what you'd be feeling. I have indeed never heard about Empower GRE so will look for it. I recently gave my gre and got 303 overall and was obviously disappointed so will re rake it. I want to know how long did you prep for after your first gre? Do you recommend about a month and a half to re take it? I studied for almost 3 months but didn't do those Manhattan mock tests. I just did the power prep tests and wemt through the official ets guide and manhattan gre review book. Used 5lb for a a few days before the test but didn't use it enough which was a sucker move I guess.

[GREMasterEMPOWERRichC]

Hi adamski,

 

That's outstanding news about your Official GRE Score (and overall increase)!

 

You brought up an idea about your studies that's really important (and it will serve you well in Grad School and beyond) - you have to be open-minded enough to be ready to learn new ways of "see-ing" the Test, a situation, the world around you, etc. THAT mindset is one of the keys to success and it sounds like you've taken to it perfectly. If you can maintain that level of insight, then I imagine that everything will turn out well.

 

Congrats again!

 

GRE Masters aren't born, they're made,

Rich

[bunsenroses]

Hey Adamski,

 

Thanks for the helpful post. Which Empower study plan did you use? I'm planning to use the three month plan. Thanks again.

[GREMasterEMPOWERRichC]

Hi bunsenroses,

 

The various EMPOWERgre Study Plans are tailored to specific needs. If you've given yourself a big 'study window' (especially if you have a high score goal), then I tend to recommend the 3-month Study Plan. If you're on a shorter timeline (or are a particularly fast learner), then the 2-month or 1-month plan might be a better 'fit.' If you've already studied (and taken the GRE or are about to), then one of the Score Booster Study Plans could be quite helpful. One of the great aspects about the EMPOWERgre Course is that it's subscription-based, so you might start off with the 3-month plan, then find that you're really improving faster than you expected, so you can finish quicker and save some money in the process. 

 

GRE Masters aren't born, they're made,

Rich

[adamski]

Bunsenroses, genius name by the way. Yep, I used the 3 month plan. I had the time to invest, so there wasn't any plausible reason to not do it right.

 

Fahad, the Manhattan tests are indispensible. They're cheap too. There just aren't enough quality MSTs out there without them. The one thing I can tell you that I know really made the difference is to look at the GRE more of an event than a traditional test. The tactical aspects of my training were so key--just learning how to play the game. Triage alone was beyond helpful. Given that you have already been practicing, you probably wouldn't need as much time as I took. If I had to guess, 2 months would probably be more than enough with that time, and get the free Magoosh flashcard app too. It helped.

[marmelade]

Great summary. Thank you for posting. There's one thing I didn't see mentioned that I'm curious to hear how you approached...the Analytical Writing essays. What did you use to prep for the essays, and how did the essays go for you?

 

Thank you for your time.

[GREMasterEMPOWERRichC]

Hi marmelade,

The EMPOWERgre Course includes a specific AWA Module that makes dealing with the Issue and Argument Essays really easy. The GRE essay graders are consistent in rewarding a certain type of style and structure, so once you learn what the graders want to see, repeating it on Test Day isn't that difficult.

GRE Masters aren't born, they're made,

Rich

[pax6pax6]

I'm currently going through the EMPOWERGRE program. My verbal scores have been consistently high and I'm not so worried about that so I'm using it almost exclusively for the quantitative work. 

One problem I'm having with the EMPOWERGRE stuff is that it is encouraged to write a practice test after each unit. I am only about halfway through the material, but when taking the Manhattan practice tests, I feel like I'm more often than not having to fall back on pre-established math knowledge rather than applying what I've learned from EMPOWER. Essentially, I pass through a given practice test and feel I use very little of the knowledge I've picked up from EMPOWER, (outside of little tips like recognizing a question that is going to be time consuming, etc). 

Did you notice sizable increases in your practice Q scores after each unit? I just completed the math rules unit and feel like that might help make an appreciable difference in my score, but each unit up until this point I feel has not made any significant impact on my preparedness to tackle the vast majority of questions on the practice GREs. 

Was there a certain point in the course where it came together and you saw a return? If you wouldn't mind sharing your scores from your first practice test, up until the last, that would be helpful. 
 

Edited September 6, 2015 by pax6pax6

[GREMasterEMPOWERRichC]

Hi pax6pax6,

How long have you been working with the EMPOWERgre Course? If you're 'rushing' through sections, and doing practice questions without practicing the tactics that you've learned, then you're not making the necessary adjustments to how YOU tackle the GRE to earn that higher score that you're after. The Stage 1 Tactics are arguably the most valuable to your performance in the Quant section, but (from your post) it doesn't sound like you're using them.

On your last MST:

1) How many times did you use TEST IT (especially on QCs)?

2) Did you TEST THE ANSWERS on any questions?

3) Did you end up using Number Property rules or Triage tactics on any questions?

GRE Masters aren't born, they're made,

Rich

[pax6pax6]

Hi pax6pax6,

How long have you been working with the EMPOWERgre Course? If you're 'rushing' through sections, and doing practice questions without practicing the tactics that you've learned, then you're not making the necessary adjustments to how YOU tackle the GRE to earn that higher score that you're after. The Stage 1 Tactics are arguably the most valuable to your performance in the Quant section, but (from your post) it doesn't sound like you're using them.

On your last MST:

1) How many times did you use TEST IT (especially on QCs)?

2) Did you TEST THE ANSWERS on any questions?

3) Did you end up using Number Property rules or Triage tactics on any questions?

GRE Masters aren't born, they're made,

Rich

Admittedly, I have been using the course for only about three and a half weeks. I took the first ETS Powerprep test the day I started and got 162V and 156Q. Each Manhattan test I have taken, (three in total), have given me betwen 152-155Q and 159-162V. Perhaps its the case that the Manhattan tests have just been more challenging than the ETS Powerprep, but it is disheartening to be using a program that has only yielded lower Quant scores. 

I took an MST yesterday after reading your post. I tried to really focus on using the tactics outlined by EMPOWER, and got 155Q, (the highest I had received on a Manhattan test, but still lower than my first attempt on Powerprep before using any of the EMPOWER resources). In terms of timing, it was my best test yet, so I think if I keep focusing on applying the tactics, and pick up the knowledge from the latter half of the Quant modules I will start to see appreciable gains. 

I think the problem was that on each MST you encounter a good number of problems that are unsolvable with just the resources outlined in the first few units of EMPOWER, combined with the fact that a lot of the Test It and Test the Answers questions I was capable of answering without those tactics, (though definitively EMPOWER methods are much faster), which certainly isn't a fatal problem for the program. For example, before doing the unit with exponent rules, I was helpless with many of those questions. The first test I took, I resigned myself to just guessing on them, which left me more time to figure out the other questions, regardless of using TEST IT, etc. After using TEST IT methodology, I could speed through the questions faster, but was still fundamentally incapable of answering specific questions because I hadn't reached those modules in EMPOWER yet. I think given my starting skill set, the few tactics picked up in the first bit of the course won't realize their full usefulness until I pick up more of the requisite math fundamentals.

Thanks for your response though. I do think that the stagnancy of my Quant scores will be going away as I continue through the rest of the modules. I was just curious if anyone had a similar experience while using EMPOWER.
 

[connieac]

pax6pax6,

I'm in EMPOWERGRE right now and I'm having a completely different experience with the math sections and I think I can point to the difference. My math scores have gone from 152 to as high as 164 on my last MST.

It sounds like you might be trying to think about this process like it's another subject at school, but it's really different. This test is really skill oriented. What I've been doing is concentrating heavily on the tactics such as test it, and triage, and although I'm refreshing on the raw math, I think you should focus on learning how to apply the strategies during the test, and be patient about picking up the raw content as you move throughout the course. You can't learn it all at once.

I think if you make those changes, you'll see a big improvement. You can PM if you want to exchange experiences some more. I'm happy to help you.

Connie

[GREMasterEMPOWERRichC]

Hi pax6pax6,

As connieac has properly pointed out, building up your GRE skills takes time, so you should focus on what you've learned so far and build THOSE skills. Some Test Takers spend the better part of 3 months (or more) to hit their 'peak' scores - while you might not need that much time, you have to respect the process and work through it. As part of the EMPOWERgre Course, you're going to learn everything you need to know (content, tactics, the 'secrets' of the GRE, etc.) to score at a high level on Test Day, but that knowledge is only part of the process. If you're not truly practicing the tactics now (TEST IT, TEST THE ANSWERS, etc.), then you won't be properly prepared to use those approaches as you work through new material, take MSTs and ultimately take the Official GRE. 

You're going to come to find that the GRE is a remarkably predictable Exam, and if you practice properly, everything that you face on Test Day will remind you of work that you've already done.

If you have any additional questions or concerns, then you can feel free to contact me directly. 

GRE Masters aren't born, they're made,

Rich

[Abhijith002]

Hi, 

I am a complete beginner, recently started preparing for GRE with Manhattan prep set of 8 guides.  I am not good at both quant and verbal and I have done enough research to find the smarter way to prepare for GRE and confused among magoosh, Economist grep prep, empower Gre, Barron online prep. I am using membean to build my vocabulary. Please advise me which course I need to take up as a beginner in both quant and verbal.  

I am a working professional and have 2 months timeline to prepare and I am planning to apply for Masters 2019 Fall. 

Please do the needful. 

Thanks & Regards, 

Abijith

 

[Libra924]

I'm currently preparing for the GRE myself, and a lot of these reference materials are invaluable for your preparation.  A word of advice:  I would *not* use Manhattan Prep for anything verbal.  They are the best for math practice, however.  So just be aware of that.

I did some preparing in October/November...all I did was study vocabulary and write up an outline on all the math review topics with plenty of practice problems.  I'm scheduling my test for some time in March, and until then, I'll just be using empowerGRE ($49/month currently), my math notes with problems from the 5 lb Manhattan Prep book, vocab flash cards, and ETS practice tests.  That's it.  The perfect GRE study plan!