Revised GRE-Study and Scores

mzaur · Mar 13, 2014

I studied for about 6 weeks. I got 166 Verbal, 159 Quantitative, 5.0 Writing. It's not a very difficult test. Just grab a bunch of prep books, do lots of practice tests, make lots of verbal flash cards, memorize the necessary math formulas, and practice writing those essays (and be sure to use the correct formula that we all learned in like 5th grade).

As for what's a good score, I'd say higher than 155 Verbal, 155 Quant, and 4.5 Writing. Hard to say because I think 1200 combined was considered a high score on the old scale,so aim for around that. The Quant percentiles are heavily skewed due to all the STEM majors taking the GRE, but I'd definitely aim for higher than 60th percentile. It's all high school level math. Take into account that GRE scores are used by many schools for scholarships, so try to do the best you can.

Check out Quizlet for verbal flash cards (I recommend using Barron's essential 800). I made flash cards from lists I found on Quizlet, as well as any words I came across from practice tests or throughout the day that I didn't know.I drilled them daily, made piles of words I was comfortable with and piles of words I needed to further study. That way you can consolidate and not drill 1000 words per day. You want to try to use these words in sentences to instill the meaning. You also need to review the words often so you don't forget. Aim to learn as many words per day as you are comfortable with. 20-30 words per day is reasonable. Put the words that you absolutely know in one pile, another pile for words you kind of know, and another pile for words you really don't know. I think I studied my "definitely know" pile once a week, my "kind of know" pile 3x a week, and my "absolutely don't know" pile every day.

Also, try to do as many practice tests as possible. Kaplan's new GRE book comes with a bunch of practice tests on the DVD. I also did practice tests from Barron's book, as well as Princeton Review. The verbal section tests primarily your vocab and reading comprehension. So the only way to do well is to memorize many words and practice reading. Practice tests as your best friend here. And, read, read, read. If you can read fast and comprehend text quickly, you will be at an advantage. Read smart websites: Project Syndicate: Economics, finance, politics, and global affairs from the world's opinion page BBC News - Home ScienceDaily: News, Videos & Articles in Science, Health, Technology & Environment The New Yorker Same with math. Practice tests allow you to get in that frame of mind where you have to answer questions quickly and efficiently.

When it comes to test day, you want to have memorized all the formulas that you need for the math section. And really there aren't that many formulas. Stuff like areas of different geometric shapes, some algebra, combinations, permutations, etc. I used Kaplan and Barron's math sections, as well as random sites I found online. Look here for formulas;GRE Math Formulas Cheat Sheet | Magoosh GRE Blog

I actually heard really good things about Magoosh. Not sure how much it costs, but it might be worth it to do something like that. Unless you are really motivated and don't mind just studying on your own from books. From what I understand, Magoosh has all the material condensed and has videos explaining how to solve problems. I would still do practice tests though if you do decide to use something like Magoosh.

As for the writing section, Unfortunately they expect you to use that archaic formula (intro paragraph, 3 body paragraphs, conclusion). The very best guide I found about the GRE writing was on Sparknotes.com which I'm sure you can find yourself. They really spell it out nicely there and give you plenty of examples. I used that guide and their formula pretty much exclusively and wrote timed practice written tests. ETS has a website where all the topics are listed, so you should definitely use that and practice writing at least 3-4 timed tests.

Lastly, ETS has PowerPrep software with 2 practice tests. This is the best practice test (obviously) with the most accurate prediction of how well you will do. I would do the 1st one 2 weeks before the test to see where you need to focus and the 2nd one 3 or 4 days prior to the exam.

One more thing. Pacing yourself is important. Keep calm and don't freak out if you don't know an answer. Just do your best and practice breathing. If you find yourself spending too long on a question, guess and move on. If you see that you're running out of time, skip ahead and guess on the rest of the questions since you do not get points off for wrong answers.

If you have anymore questions please feel free to ask! Best of luck

mzaur · Mar 13, 2014

Sorry it seems this site is bugged and won't let me include line breaks to create paragraphs :/ Just copy the post into Word and make paragraphs so it's easier to read, lol

GamerGal · Mar 14, 2014

Wow, thank you so much, mzaur! that was so helpful!! Exactly the type of answer I was hoping to find.

woofyrn · Mar 14, 2014

I took it the day after Christmas, but (thankfully) San Francisco State only requires a score of 4 or greater on the written portion, and completely disregards the other scores for admission purposes....SOOOOO, I didn't study much (not at all for the math/quantitative portion).

The two essays were at the very beginning of the test, and then alternating verbal/quantitative sections. To me, the worst part was getting so tired of trying to concentrate on reading comprehension passages. They were mind-numbingly boring and tricky to pick out exactly what they wanted (which made matters worse).

I think pacing is important, but I'd also encourage keeping a calm, clear mind if possible (easier said than done). Even just taking 5-10 second "mini-breaks" during the test helped me reset and refocus on the question.