Seeking Advice / Support From Fellow GRE Sufferers

[CallmeIshmael]

A little bit of background: Applying for admission to English Ph.D. programs for Sept. of 2010. Graduated from good private university with 3.7 cum. / 4.0 major. Have a great writing sample. LOR's secured. Currently working on SOP.

Took the General test this morning and bombed it . . . 490 quant. 490 verbal. Studied for a month, was consistently testing in the 580-660 range on the Princeton Review / McGraw Hill verbal practice tests. Went into the test with positive attitude, didn't have any unrealistic expectations, just bombed it. Because I'm applying to English programs the Quant does not concern me.

Side note: [i am suspect of the aforementioned practice tests. Perhaps they were easier than the real thing. Why say this? I used POWERPREP in the days before the test and scored poorly (Ive heard that this is the most accurate), went back afterwards to the other tests and was scoring 700s.

Obviously I know that the verb score is unacceptable for English Ph.D. programs. So my three questions are as follows:

1.) Is it too late to take it again? Most of my application deadlines are Jan. 1st 2010. Should I aim to study for another month and then take it in late November?

2.) Any recommendations as to what study materials are the best? I used Kaplan GRE, Kaplan GRE Verb, memorized 300 words, etc., etc.

3.) If I do take the test again and score over a 600 on the verbal will I be in good shape?

Basically, I studied for a month straight and feel as if I didn't get anywhere. . . Looking for any good advice!

[traum]

For the verbal get the Barron book and learn the vocab...I went from 550 to 660 in two weeks, if I had been a bit more militant I'm sure I could have gone higher, hit 720 twice with Kaplan practice exams. For maths I went from 560 to 780 in two weeks...again just studying with Kaplan and Barron...

[captiv8ed]

I feel your pain. I am applying for PhDs in sociology and I got a 600 v and a 410 (!!!) quantitative. I was even scoring well in the 600s on the powerprep and I still bombed.

My first deadlines are Dec 15 and I plan to retake November 22. That is going to cut it close for me, but I think you have time to retake in November. Maybe mid-November?

It sucks don't it? You put so much time into being a very good student, get all your ducks in a row and then 3 1/2 hours and a handful of questions can crush your dream.

[CallmeIshmael]

I feel your pain. I am applying for PhDs in sociology and I got a 600 v and a 410 (!!!) quantitative. I was even scoring well in the 600s on the powerprep and I still bombed.

My first deadlines are Dec 15 and I plan to retake November 22. That is going to cut it close for me, but I think you have time to retake in November. Maybe mid-November?

It sucks don't it? You put so much time into being a very good student, get all your ducks in a row and then 3 1/2 hours and a handful of questions can crush your dream.

I couldn't agree more. One of the things that the Kaplan stressed was not having a negative outlook on the test. They urge you not to have the attitude of "the GRE is pointless, why do I even need to take this . . ." Well, I went in with the positive, "this is my time to prove myself attitude" and now I can't help but feel the other way. Thanks for the advice.

[ristastic]

If it's any consolation (I know it's not!), I had a similar experience with the Princeton Review tests, I was scoring insanely high scores, and when I took the actual test, I did mediocre. I've found that instead of straight memorization of words, it helped to just do a ton of practice sets. That way you get very comfortable with the format of the questions and learning to think in terms of antonyms and analogies instead of just in terms of what a particular word's definition is. Most of the time you'll pick up new words as they appear in questions anyway.

I used Kaplan's verbal and math workbooks the second time around and did much much better. In both cases, just practice a ton, set aside an hour or so each day and just knock out practice sets, write down words you didn't know right away for later review. number2.com is also helpful for verbal review.

Good luck!

[CallmeIshmael]

If it's any consolation (I know it's not!), I had a similar experience with the Princeton Review tests, I was scoring insanely high scores, and when I took the actual test, I did mediocre. I've found that instead of straight memorization of words, it helped to just do a ton of practice sets. That way you get very comfortable with the format of the questions and learning to think in terms of antonyms and analogies instead of just in terms of what a particular word's definition is. Most of the time you'll pick up new words as they appear in questions anyway.

I used Kaplan's verbal and math workbooks the second time around and did much much better. In both cases, just practice a ton, set aside an hour or so each day and just knock out practice sets, write down words you didn't know right away for later review. number2.com is also helpful for verbal review.

Good luck!

ristastic: thanks for your imput. This time I will definitely shy away from Princeton review tests, I think they may be too easy. What's the exact name of the Barron's book you recommended?

Thanks

[Ziz]

Princeton Review's verbal tests are definitely too easy. I always scored 800 or so and ended up getting 710. Still a score I was very ahppy about, but clearly different from the practice tests. The words are always so easy on PR's exams. For quant, however, I think Princeton Review is pretty good. I got a 730 on quant and was scoring around 710-780 on the practice tests, so they got it right on.

[a fragrant plant]

ristastic: thanks for your imput. This time I will definitely shy away from Princeton review tests, I think they may be too easy. What's the exact name of the Barron's book you recommended?

Thanks

The one I used is called Barron's How To Prepare for the GRE 13th ed.. Can anyone tell me if it's a good book? I've been using it for my GER preparation.

[JohnBom]

This is interesting. I kept on scoring insanely low on the princeton review practice tests. (I mean insanely low, like in 400s.) Then took the powerprep test and did very well. In 700s. My actual GRE result was much more similar to powerprep.

[soleprovider14]

I can provide some advice as I am a three time veteran of the GRE (sad, I know).

For verbal:

Study prefixes,suffixes, roots rather than simply memorizing words for the analogy and antonym parts(however you still need to memorize some)

Focus your studies on the approaches and techniques for questions such as sentence completions and reading comprehension. Most books (Kaplan, Princeton, Barron's) provide you with such strategies.

For math:

What worked for me was simply practicing as many types of questions as I could find. Doing so for about a month gave me the good base which I lost after not taking math for a long period of time.

Good luck.

[CallmeIshmael]

Thanks for all of the advice. So I rescheduled for Nov. 18th, giving me over 2 weeks to prepare. I need to raise a verbal score of 490 to 600 at the least. Scanning the forum it seems that many of you recommend Barron's,

Any other recommendations or advice for a 2-3 week cram period?

Thanks

[alexis]

Any other recommendations or advice for a 2-3 week cram period?

Thanks

I think memorizing words & continuing to practice is your best bet...for me, with short term memorization, making up visuals for words helps me a lot (though it might not stick in the future, which is honestly fine with me, only needs to stay until GRE time!). There's a word for this technique, but can't think of it. For example, if I had the word 'compendium,' next to the word, I drew a picture of a pen on paper, since it has "pen" in the word, and it triggered my mind that the word meant 'brief, comprehensive summary.' I just used this technique with Barron's high frequency list for words I wasn't familiar/comfortable with. I'm not the best with vocabulary, but I swear this is the only way I managed to get a 600 on my verbal GRE. MANY of the words on this list showed up, and having visuals in my head triggered my memory of the meaning. Not sure if this helps, but thought I'd share my experience.