Suggestion on how long to study for GREs for non-traditional student?

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NATO

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The last time I took the GREs was back in 2001 (I applied for a masters program in I.T.). Back then, the GREs consisted of verbal, quantative, and analytical (not the writing format that we have today). From what I can recall, my best verbal score (after 3 times) was came out to 440, math was 560, and analytical was 610. I am not a good test taker at all.

I purchased Kalpan's GRE Math and Verbal workbooks this past weekend. I'm VERY rusty on both subjects...I have to really brush on on my geometry and spend a lot of time on the verbal portion.

I'm a non-traditional applicant (32 yrs old...will be 33 when I apply to PT school). Any suggestions on how long I should study? I was thinking about taking the test around Christmas time. Also, any suggestions on how to study effectively? I have to do a lot of back tracking and re-learn some of this stuff. I've completely forgotten how to calcuate the circumference of a circle and area of squares...seriously, do we really need to know this stuff for PT school? :confused: Too bad there isn't a PT exam (similar to PCATs for pharmacy school).

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I studied for 2 months straight, even on the weekends. I didn't do so well on the SAT so I really had to study for the GRE. I waited until graduating from undergrad btw.
 
Oh, and I kept putting off studying for the GREs too, so what I did was registered for exam to "light a fire under my *****"
 
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NATO, I'm 33 and applying to PT school as well, so I understand where you are. I just took the GRE's last month and did well enough to get me into school (hopefully). I found the Kaplan book to be very helpful, so I would definitely recommend studying from them. They have a section on the top 100 math concepts, I found that helpful, and for the verbal section I would try to learn the tricks for each part. ie for the analogies create a bridge to connect the two words, "by definition word A is ____ to word B" Good luck!
 
It helped me to set a "deadline" as well, by registering for a test... and I registered months in advance, so it wasn't a mad dash.

I'm going to be taking it for a third time in two weeks (I'm a perfectionist and I just feel like I have to, to prove I'm smarter than what this test says! Haha) and I try to sit aside at least an hour or so each day to study.

I also got Princeton's "Cracking the GRE" - I thought this was FANTASTIC. It really helped me strategy-wise and had a great section on the analytical writing section. But, not too many practice problems. After taking it the first time, I got the two Kaplan books and I appreciate all the practice problems I'm getting from it.

So, I'd say, try to sit aside some time each day. It's hard getting your brain back into thinking mode about Jr High school subjects! And frustrating too!!
 
I've been out of college for six years, and was a bit worried about the test. I bought the Princeton prep book, and skimmed through it the two weeks before. I was working a bunch, but since I was taking Chem/Physics classes, I did a lot better on math than I had imagined.

Don't sweat it too much, if you are older I bet you will do much better in the Reading portion than your ancient visions of the SAT.
 
I am a HORRIBLE standardized test taker. I'm talking horrible, I freak out, forget everything, blank stare at the computer screen, you name it...that's me. So I read your post and wanted to give you some advice on taking the GRE because if I can do it, ANYONE can. I took the GRE two times, the first time I had studied about two months prior to taking the test. I figured there was no point in studying the vocab words so I basically just reviewed different test strategies for the verbal section. I got a 950 the first time. I panicked because I was praying to at least break a 1000. Needless to say, a fire was lit under my ass and I began to freak out. I took the GRE a second time about a month and a half later and scored a 1110, an improvement of 160 points! I will tell you that the princeton review book is great for the vocab, I memorized the top 400 words used in the GRE and MANY came up on my second test. However, the Princeton review book seemed less helpful with the analytical section because I found it to be more focused on test strategy such as narrowing down answers then compared to actually teaching you the different topics you will be tested on. For the math section, I suggest buying the Kaplan GRE Exam math workbook. I studied from that book and my math score improved 130 points alone. Anyway, just my two cents! Goodluck =)
 
I am in the same boat. I'm 26 changing careers (accounting/finance) and I have to take the GREs between now and next fall if I plan on applying to schools. For some reason, studying now comes much easier than studying as an undergrad. I'm also looking for the best guides to help with each section of the exam. I'm unemployed due to the heavy prerequisite load, so I can't really waste any more of my savings. I've recently finished intro to Physics and I'm currently taking Anatomy, so math and verbal memorization should be easier for me at the moment.
 
Remember...TIME MANAGEMENT...during the test

One thing I remember on test day was that I thought I was moving along with a good pace during the quantitative section and then I find that I was running out of time. I had to guess on about 7-10 questions at the end of the section.
 
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