How to study for the GRE

Nursing Students Post Graduate

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Hi all! I just graduated with my BSN and am interested in pursuing grad school for my DNP. Has anyone taken the new GRE? I would like to know if anyone has any pointers on how to prepare for it? Also, anyone in the DNP program at University of Florida? Wondering what the average acceptance GPA is? Thanks in advance! :)

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

Moved to the post-grad forum (vs. the GN forum) to encourage responses.

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I took it in June...but be aware they JUST changed the GRE starting August 2011. If you buy study tools, make sure they are for the NEW exam. Best of luck!

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I recently took the GRE in May and the 'untested' section was a math section from the new GRE. The math section in the new GRE format does not have multiple choice questions. All of the answers I had were 'fill in the box' kind of deal. The computations were more complex, but the new format includes an on-screen calculator. Let's just say, I was not a big fan of it. Good Luck!

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Specializes in Tele, ED/Pediatrics, CCU/MICU.

Oh no! I always work backward from the available answer choices. This is not good.

Thanks for the heads up, acl0272! Time to go practice....

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If you need to brush up on math, dosage calculations, etc.., several workbooks books are available. Sue Buchholz, RN, authors a great nursing math renewal book that we suggest to our students. I have not taken the GRE, so I am not familiar with the type of math questions, but I am assuming algebra, geometry, and conversions would be helpful.

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Specializes in Tele, ED/Pediatrics, CCU/MICU.

jmalid, I've got 2 GRE 2012 prep books, one of which is all math. I'm plodding along... it's rough!

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Kaplan vocabulary flash cards worked well for me. I used Kaplan for math and did well there too, but it was the old format (thank goodness!). I took several practice tests. I even downloaded some study materials on my iPod (they were free at the time) and would answer a few quick questions here or there when I had time. I hope it goes well for you!

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Hmm. I know that for the new GRE the vocab (supposedly) can be figured out by context, so maybe spending a lot of time with flashcards would not be as necessary? Haha, you're lucky. I must have memorized 500 words for the GRE (I took the old one). It definitely boosted my verbal score, though. For the math you get a calculator and have to fill in the answer. Frankly it sounds like this would make the test more difficult. Have you purchased any prep books? I'm sure they have already come out with prep books for the new GRE. Also, I do believe the new GRE is significantly longer than the old one. I was extremely lucky in that I tested in July (the month before the new exam was released) so I had no experimental section (just 1 verbal and 1 math section and one optional section). I think I was out of there in 2.5 hours. Good luck! You will feel so much better to have this milestone behind you. :)

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Specializes in Tele, ED/Pediatrics, CCU/MICU.

Ugh. I'm doing practice problems right now, and I do believe I'm royally screwed. I'd have to repeat all of elementary and high school to cram this stuff back in my head! The fact that the new one is fill- in for math is really just going to kill me.

Good thing I'm applying to 6 schools, 3 of which waive the GRE because my undergrad GPA was >3.4!

Can't wait for this to be over.....

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