Hi everyone, I know that there are not too many people on WSO studying for GRE to get into grad school because people who know the route and WSO early in his/her college life is now doing banking or ER/Consulting or others.
But there are a few students like me who didn't know about all this until their senior year, and not everyone is taking GMAT because GRE gives you more options to grad school programs, for example some very good Economics programs where you can have a finance-related background to get into the company/companies you want to work for. Even MSF programs take GRE now. So not bad compared to GMAT.
I finished the GRE test yesterday, 9/15/2017, Q 169 + V 162. I feel a little bit frustrated for not getting 170 on Quant section, because I am a Math major...However, the overall score is definitely satisfactory.
Background: Doing an internship in a small boutique Monday to Thursday. Study for GRE in the evening (usually not for long, 1-2h because I'd be a bit tired) when I get back home and on Friday and weekends.
F-Sunday: usually 4-6 hours study. I drive to my university's library and study. This is definitely better than staying at home.
Verbal: I bought the Economist GRE Tutor first. Didn't use any Vocab books/Flashcards first or any other prep books/guides. Just this online software. It's pretty legitimate --- The Economist definitely gives you harder Math and Verbal programs, but I think their Math problems are not quite like what's on the real test. I am a non-native speaker and I mesmerized my vocabs this way: read the Economist everyday, do TC problems everyday, and put words I do not know on Quizlet and create flashcards. This is helpful in the way that you can see there are some high-frequency vocabs that show up for a lot of times. But you do this if you have a certain level of confidence of your vocabularies. When you read Economist articles, don't focus on those articles that catch your attention. Read different fields. SUMMARIZE those articles, for the sake of your RC problems. Try to read at least 3 articles every day and at least 5 articles on weekends. NY Times also suffices. Not WSJ. You are studying for GRE, not interviews.
TC and SE: It's the logic that matters. Sometimes you only know 4 out of 5 words or maybe 4 out of 6, but it's fine. Try to see if those two blanks are opposites or they are synonyms. Try to really understand what the sentence is talking about and if you choice makes sense.
Recommendation: MAGOOSH. They didn't pay me. Magoosh is just fabulous. It's verbal problems prepared me for a 162, which I never really thought about. I came across some hard problems, both TC and RC during my real test, but I didn't freak out because I knew what I should do: to find the logic.
Math: Again, I was confident that I could get a 170, but I didn't. So you might want to study for the Math Review section on the GRE OG. I finished 1 practice test and the verbal problems on OG, 3 days before my test. That's it. Get familiar with what kind of problems you will encounter on a real test. Then I'd say skip OG. It's not that helpful. Be careful when you read problems, and be confident to tackle them.
Other prep books: Magoosh has some reviews about prep books. I bought Manhattan's flashcards but I only looked at 100-200 words because I preferred my Quizlet Flashcards method. This is also from Magoosh. Again they didn't pay me to say this, but MAGOOSH is MAGOOSH, it is EXTREMELY helpful.
Last thing: Mull over your mistakes and learn from them, especially your TC and RC problems. Focus on the logic. When you do a real test, forget about everything you have learned, only focus on what you know from the context. Reassure yourself that you can do you best.
Okay, I'm starving and I'm going out for lunch. Feel free to comment on this thread if you are preparing for the GRE and have questions. I'd try to help as much as I can. Thank you.
bump
That's a lottttt of effort for the verbal...
I got 340 first try (170v, 170q) and honestly didn't do anywhere near that much. I thought vocab flashcards which were already selected based on frequency were sufficient - actually, more than sufficient. These were probably my biggest boost. Also doing some practice verbal comprehension was useful to see the flavor and angle that GRE test writers are looking for.
From MBAs to PhDs, the GRE doesn't hold a huge amount of weight. Instead of spending a huge amount of time studying, improve your application in other ways. I spent a week studying and relaxing over spring break, and that was it.
340 is impressive. I'm not a native speaker, so I spent a lot of efforts in verbal. I'm applying for Master programs, since my GPA is not that high (double major 3.4+), I thought a high GRE can offset that, at least, to a certain extent
Hi iridescent007, Congrats on your score, 162 in verbal for a non native is no mean feat. I have a couple of questions for you. 1. What was your strategy while appearing the test specifically the verbal section ? 2. What resources did you used to practice for verbal section RC,TC,SE ? 3. Did you solve all the 1000 questions which are on the Magoosh Premium or Manhattan 5 lb , and how were they helpful ? 4. Also Can you plz suggest some Mocks which are closest to the GRE Exam.
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