Best Way to Study for the GRE

[AMC23]

I was wondering if anyone had a good schedule on how to study for the GRE. I will be taking it in about a month and I bought a prep book but I feel like I am haphazardly studying for it, especially the verbal. Did anyone create a systematic study schedule for themselves? Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[GellaBella]

No systematic study schedule here. But I am also studying for the GREs right now. I think it is harder to increase your verbal in a shorter period of time (one month or less) but fairly easy to increase your quantitative score. I've got about 3 GRE books I'm working through, studying the math concepts and trying to do as many problems as possible. I've also registered for the online material that comes with each book. I plan on taking as many timed practice exams as I can, and many of the publishers of the GRE prep books (princeton review, kaplan, etc) offer free GRE practice exams at testing stations around the country, so I'll be participating in as many of those as possible as well.

As far as vocab...well, I tend to always do better on verbal than math, but I'm using www.number2.com 's vocab builder and their verbal exercises to just run through some vocabulary.

I'm taking the GRE Sept 11th, basically just started studying this week, but I'm putting in, probably 3-4 hours/day.

I don't know if thats a lot or a little but I've already seen my math score increase fairly dramatically

 

[GellaBella]

ps. welcome to the forum!

 

[AMC23]

Thanks for the vocab site...that looks good. I am doing pretty much the same thing with the math review... doing as many problems as I can seems to be the best way to study.

 

[twelvetigers]

The Kaplan book has some tricks for guessing on the verbal based on elimination that seem like they'll be helpful (can't say for sure as I'm also studying for my test, which had to be rescheduled because of an orgo test on Sept. 11th). There's also a system where you categorize words based on their connotations (good, bad, or neutral) that seems kinda neat. You might see about flipping through a Kaplan book in a Barnes & Noble or whatever and see if you think it would help.

 

[aspiringDVM]

I took the GRE earlier this summer and improved 500 points from my original score, so studying really does pay off.
I worked through all the vocab in the Barron's vocab book. I also purchased the Kaplan book and made flash cards for all vocab. I studied all the math tricks and concepts in back of the book as well (it's divided into three levels of "how to solve _____ problems"). After that I started doing all the practice sets on the Kaplan CD, one math and one verbal per day (this really helped with working under a deadline -- you can't pause the test to answer the phone or get a drink of water or walk your dog!), then figuring out all the questions I got wrong. I repeated all the practice sets about a week afterward, and also did the Kaplan CAT's on the CD and the PowerPrep CATs.
For me the hardest part of studying was the lack of structure, and I didn't buckle down until I forced myself to make a plan.
Good luck to everyone taking the GRE soon!

 

[DickVetPlease]

I bought a kaplan book, and also worked through a few vocab lists that I found online (basically just googled GRE vocabulary). I'm far more naturally gifted in math, so i didn't really study that section, just brushed up on some old concepts that i havn't seen in a while. I found the vocabulary lists extremely helpful, and ended up in the 97th%tile for verbal.

Also, i tried studying latin/greek roots, but I didn't find it very helpful. There were so many exceptions to the general rules, that it seemed rather pointless.

My biggest suggestion for vocabulary is to study words in GROUPS. The kaplan book gives you words unders general categories such as "falsehood" or "hatred." I think seeiing the words in groups makes it easier to memorise such a large amount.

good luck

 

[twelvetigers]

I really hope I can improve by leaps-and-bounds like you guys - I could really use the boost! I really don't want to buy Barron's since I have like six GRE books already (no joke!) so I hope that online lists, number 2, flash card exchange, and my kaplan book can do the job. I also hope I can balance orgo, vert morph, the general GRE, and the bio GRE.

 

[twelvetigers]

Anyone else doing dictionary.com's word of the day email to learn some new vocab?

Look at this!

Word of the Day for Saturday, August 22, 2009

vet \VET\, transitive verb:
1. To provide veterinary care for (an animal).
2. To provide (a person) with medical care.
3. To examine carefully; to subject to thorough appraisal; to evaluate.
4. To practice as a veterinarian.


It's a SIGN, I think. I'm sure of it.

P.S. Are there really people out there who don't know what the word 'vet' means??

 

[Kemc99]

I am an IMG.
What are the best books to start studying for GRE.as Maths portion is really diificult.
Thanks.

 

[kd87]

I'm interested in a lot of this information as well.. I just noticed at my school that there are fliers hanging around in different places showing that PrincetonReview is offering a few good deals on their GRE prep courses. They are offering free practice tests in my area in October and $200 off prep courses. Has anyone done a Princeton Review prep course before??

 

[david594]

Anyone else doing dictionary.com's word of the day email to learn some new vocab?

Look at this!

Word of the Day for Saturday, August 22, 2009

vet \VET\, transitive verb:
1. To provide veterinary care for (an animal).
2. To provide (a person) with medical care.
3. To examine carefully; to subject to thorough appraisal; to evaluate.
4. To practice as a veterinarian.


It's a SIGN, I think. I'm sure of it.

P.S. Are there really people out there who don't know what the word 'vet' means??

Vet is a transitive verb? Did they give any example sentences? Otherwise that use of the word is lost on me.

 

[twelvetigers]

Here's the rest of the email:

She was the right age (in her fifties), and her personal background had been vetted during the Senate confirmation hearings.
-- Eleanor Clift and Tom Brazaitis, Madam President​

The "Stasi files law," as it is popularly known, also made it possible to vet parliamentarians for Stasi connections.
-- John O. Koehler, Stasi: The Untold Story of the East German Secret Police​

Unlike, say, Bob Rubin (the Wall Street investment banker and incoming head of the National Economic Council), who probably needed half a law firm to vet his portfolio, I had no stocks or bonds.
-- George Stephanopoulos, All Too Human​

Vet is short for veterinary or veterinarian, which comes from Latin veterinarius, "of or belonging to beasts of burden and draught," from veterinus, "of draught, of beasts of burden." The earlier sense was "to submit to examination or treatment by a veterinary surgeon," hence "to subject to thorough appraisal."

Weird, huh?

 

[vethopes]

For me, my biggest obstacle was time management. I got stuck trying to work through some problems when I should have guessed, as it were I lost track of time and didn't even finish the math portion!!! Needless to say my quantitative score sucked, so I will be retaking it. Funny thing is I am quite good at math, at least the more complicated math, I haven't done the gre math since 5th grade b/c of the well-known invention of the calculator. . .

I found that flash cards worked the best for me on vocab. I would just grab a stack in the morning and pull them out whenever I had a few extra minutes. You would be surprised how much you can learn quickly.

Work through the strategies for the verbal section too, they really do help for narrowing down the choices. . .practice practice practice. . .and watch how much time you're spending on those problems, I really think if they gave us 10-15 more minutes all our scores would increase dramatically!

 

[squibby]

I studied almost everyday for two months over the summer. I checked out every related book from the library, and had my friend's Kaplan materials from last year. I worked myself up so much about the test by studying so much that I think it worked against me. I struggle with test anxiety.

I took it again two weeks later, didn't study anymore, barely thought about the test until the day before, and I raised my score by 100 points (cumulative).

I know a DVM that is super-smart, didn't study, and got 90th percentiles in both verbal and quant.

I guess I don't have an answer for you, just a warning not to over-do it.

 

[squibby]

There are two tests on their Powerprep software (available for download on their website), and it is EXACTLY like the actual test, so you can get familiar with it.