GRE classes, tips, tricks, advice from those who have written

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I took the GRE last week, and scored 800V and 750Q.

For verbal I used Barron's and studied the 3,500 word list. I also studied the word of the day archives at dictionary.com.

Math was more of an issue for me. I reviewed all the tips in Barron's, and took practice tests. The good news is that you can guess a lot and still score high. +Towards the end of the test I was running out of time and barely had time to read the questions, and still I scored 750.
 
Jeanette, what TYPES of math questions did you find appearing at the end? Did you use any other prep material besides Barrons?

Also, did you get one of those NEW question types?

Thanxs! 🙂
 
I recommend a forum called testmagic.com. They have a lot of discussion of GRE question types.

I got pretty much the usual math: Geometry, fractions, percents. Nothing out of the ordinary, but I spent too much time on the beginning question so had to run through the last few. One question involved finding the volume of a cylinder. You should be familiar with standard dev and the normal distribution curve. I haven't gotten back my score material so I don't know how many I got wrong or how I managed to score 750 in Q despite guessing through the last 10 problems. I literally barely had time to read them.

I didn't see any new question types. I got a verbal experimental section that was identified that had all new question types.
 
Jeannette -- on the non experimental verbal section, did you see a lot of words from the Barrons book? Or, Were there words that were one's you had never seen before - -if so, how did you handle those?

And of the analogy types in the verbal, you know how Barrons (Kaplan too ) has the "classic" analogy types, did you find that a lot of those rln types were there?

Did you have to find a rlnshp btwn analogy words that was way...different esp for the last questions?
 
scienceisbeauty said:
Jeannette -- on the non experimental verbal section, did you see a lot of words from the Barrons book? Or, Were there words that were one's you had never seen before - -if so, how did you handle those?

And of the analogy types in the verbal, you know how Barrons (Kaplan too ) has the "classic" analogy types, did you find that a lot of those rln types were there?

Did you have to find a rlnshp btwn analogy words that was way...different esp for the last questions?
Click to expand...
I can't remember at this point exactly which words I got, but there were no words there that I really had no clue. Sometimes there was a word that I knew what it meant but it really made no sense in context, so I figured it must have a secondary meaning. but apparently my guesses were good enough. I studied some very hard words that I had never seen before in any context, but I didn't see those types of words on the actual test. They were mostly words I had seen before, but if I hadn't studied I might not have known all the flavors of meaning the word can have.

I would say that the classic relationships: Intensity, size, location etc., are pretty much what you're going to see. I did this implicitly; I didn't say, "Le'ts see which one of Barron's categories this fit into." I just tried to think of the relationship. However, knowing that all analogies fall into specific categories does help you narrow down your choices. Like, if the choices seem like synonyms, but one is strong:weak and in the other the words are about the same level of intensity, then check the original for a strong:weak relationship. I didn't come across any questions for which I really could not come up with a relationship.
 
Jeanette, you probably were able to score so high because the last ten questions matter the least on the GRE. I read once that you can miss eight questions and still get an 800 on Quant.
 
cara susanna said:
Jeanette, you probably were able to score so high because the last ten questions matter the least on the GRE. I read once that you can miss eight questions and still get an 800 on Quant.
Click to expand...

Hey I heard that too! But then, I also read that "a string of wrong answers in a row can really hurt your score"... *dying*
 
Exciting news, guys! I just got 600 Quant in a Power Prep practice test! It's not the best score ever, but I'd never broken 600 before!
 
Just got back from the testing center. 560 Verbal, 630 Quan and thats without studying. I didnt think I would get close to 1200, but I am relieved. Time to study some and retake it.
 
cara susanna said:
Exciting news, guys! I just got 600 Quant in a Power Prep practice test! It's not the best score ever, but I'd never broken 600 before!
Click to expand...

sweeet! I need to get more motivated to study and it is always nice to get on here and hear about other aspiring grad students working hard.


PsychBiker said:
Just got back from the testing center. 560 Verbal, 630 Quan and thats without studying. I didnt think I would get close to 1200, but I am relieved. Time to study some and retake it.
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Is there a certain amount of time that has to pass before you can retake?
 
Thanks! Tutoring has helped me so much.

As for your question, you have to wait until at least the month after you've taken it.
 
AWW Cara -- reading that made me so happy inside. GOOD JOB *pats on the back*
 
scienceisbeauty said:
Hey I heard that too! But then, I also read that "a string of wrong answers in a row can really hurt your score"... *dying*
Click to expand...

This applies only to the first few questions - if you get the first 10 questions wrong and the remainder right, your score is going to be lower when compared to someone who got only the last 10 questions wrong.

Basically, how it was explained to me was that the number of questions you get right in the beginning serve to determine your ceiling (your maximum score possible if you get them all right), and the more you get wrong in the beginning, the lower your possible highest score.
 
Any other computer adaptive test?
Until now, I have used Kaplan CAT, Barron CAT, POWER PREP.
Unfortunately, I exploited those test for study purpose instead of taking it seriously, so I can't use them anymore.

I am debating between Princeton and Peterson? Which one is more accurate or better? Anyother simulated CAT you want to recommend?
 
I dunno about Peterson, but my tutor told me that Princeton Review's tend to be harder than the real thing.
 
Jeanette said:
I recommend a forum called testmagic.com. They have a lot of discussion of GRE question types.

I got pretty much the usual math: Geometry, fractions, percents. Nothing out of the ordinary, but I spent too much time on the beginning question so had to run through the last few. One question involved finding the volume of a cylinder. You should be familiar with standard dev and the normal distribution curve. I haven't gotten back my score material so I don't know how many I got wrong or how I managed to score 750 in Q despite guessing through the last 10 problems. I literally barely had time to read them.

I didn't see any new question types. I got a verbal experimental section that was identified that had all new question types.
Click to expand...

That's interesting that you guessed and still got a 750Q. You must have done well on the first part of the test. From what I understand, the GRE is based on item response theory which has a correction for guessing built in. This means that it can actually hurt you to guess if you guess wrong. I think it goes like this - if you're given 2+2=...and you pick 17, that actually hurts you more because you're clearly guessing. It also hurts your score if you leave questions blank.

Your V+Q is great!
 
That's so stupid. What if you really got that answer, even if it's wrong, and aren't guessing? How can it possibly know that you're guessing?
 
I don't know if I would pay upwards of $500.00 for a preparation course, and that's not just my shallow pockets talking. 😳

I took the GRE yesterday, for the first time, and made a 1420 (V-700, Q-720).

The best thing, in my opinion, is to read EVERYTHING you can get your hands on, devour any word lists you can find, and to complete as many practice math problems as possible. The forum mentioned above, testmagic.com, seems to be really helpful. Unfortunately, I didn't discover it until two days before I took the GRE. 🙁

Here are the materials I used to study:

Merriam-Webster's Vocabulary Builder (very useful for etomology)
Kaplan's GRE Verbal Workbook (very useful in bulking up on vocabulary words)
Princeton Review 5000 Ivy League Vocabulary Words (a word list, a lot of overlap with Kaplan's GRE Verbal Workbook)
Kaplan's GRE & GMAT Math Workbook (good overall math review)
ARCO's GRE/GMAT Math Review (the review and hints on the quantitative comparison problems in this book were EXTREMELY useful, I attribute a lot of my quantitative score to 15 pages in this book)

Also, keep in mind that you CAN study for this test and do well. 🙂

---------------- Now playing: Pete Yorn - On Your Side via FoxyTunes
 
Well, of course you wouldn't pay for a prep course if you got 1400 your first time. 😉 Prep courses/tutors are for desperate people, like me.
 
Well, I haven't written yet -- soon tho!

What helps, Is when I'm doing the quant comparison questions to ask: can they be equal? and then, if they can be -- a and b are out, then it's btwn choice c and d. And if it's only numbers, I know it's c...if there's x, y or whatever...I spend a bit more time seeing..
 
scienceisbeauty said:
Well, I haven't written yet -- soon tho!

What helps, Is when I'm doing the quant comparison questions to ask: can they be equal? and then, if they can be -- a and b are out, then it's btwn choice c and d. And if it's only numbers, I know it's c...if there's x, y or whatever...I spend a bit more time seeing..
Click to expand...

That's exactly right. This is how you save time on the test. ETS loves to test on which number is bigger. They will give you suqare roots of abs. value and when you find the answer, it's within .01 or .001 of the other number.
 
Well, I took my test on Friday, and decided I'm going to retake it next month. The test started off great- I was confident that I did well in both of my essays. The first section came up and was Verbal, and it was going along fine until I spent WAY too much time on a set of reading comp questions, and realized i had 10 minutes left to answer 14 questions. I was thinking i might get lucky and get a couple of antonym and analogy questions to wrap up the first section, but no- I received another reading comp section and some sentence completion questions. I had to rush through all of these and know i didn't do as well as I could have if I had more time. Next came the quantitative, which I felt pretty good about- didn't run out of time, and knew many of the questions. The last section was another Verbal, which I was very happy about- I thought it was a chance to redeem myself from the first Verbal section I totally butchered at the beginning of the test. I did much better on this section, and hoped it wasn't experimental. However, when I received my score- a 510 Verbal and 650 Quantitative- I knew that the first section was the one that counted.

I was sad about my score, since I had been practicing so much higher, and knew I would have done better had I not ran out of time on the first section. However, I am thankful I have time to retake it...you live and learn I guess! I know I probably wouldn't be considered in Clinical Ph.D. programs with an 1160, even though my undergrad GPA was good and I have a great load of applicable research experience. I KNOW i can get a better score. Any one else want to share their opinions on this with me?

I am wondering how long it takes to receive my writing scores- where do I find out how I did?
 
They mail them to you. I still haven't received mine, argh.

Good job on quant. I wish that we could share scores so you could have my verbal and I could have your quant. 😉
 
I know it's 5 times in a year right, but I was wondering...how many times have people taken it before?
As in, how many retakes. 1, 2ice, 3rice...anyone here tried 4 times? What would you say the average number of retakes is?
 
I received my scores in the mail about 3 weeks after taking the test.

As for number of times taken, I've taken it 3 times and will take it once again Oct. 30. The first two times I took it, I didn't study for the test. My third time I studied all summer and brought my score up 130 points. I still need to bring my score up another 150 points, but it's difficult to study for this test while on practicum, full-load of courses, a thesis...
 
K, thanks for the info.

I debated retaking it, but I know I can do better, and don't feel I could get into Clinical programs with an 1160....

So, next month is the Psych GRE and retake of the General! FUN!
 
My scores FINALLY arrived in the mail. 4.5 AW, which is the exact same as last time. 😀
 
cara susanna said:
I dunno about Peterson, but my tutor told me that Princeton Review's tend to be harder than the real thing.
Click to expand...

I hope this is true. I just took the first Princeton Review test and scored really well on the verbal (my weakness). So Excited!! 😀

By the way, I also took Petersons last week and I didn't do as great. In my opinion, Petersons is harder (both in Verbal and the Math Qs I've seen so far).
 
mplsgirl said:
K, thanks for the info.

I debated retaking it, but I know I can do better, and don't feel I could get into Clinical programs with an 1160....

So, next month is the Psych GRE and retake of the General! FUN!
Click to expand...

I'm a low GRE fan-boy, so take it for what it's worth. I know of 10 or so people who scored between 1000-1100 and were accepted to clinical psychology PhD programs. One of them recently began their predoctoral internship at the Yale VA. The GRE is not the end-all.

But if you know that you can do better, why not make it easier on yourself and take it again - as you stated. Good luck to you. I'm taking it again as well - Oct. 30.
 
bludreamz said:
I hope this is true. I just took the first Princeton Review test and scored really well on the verbal (my weakness). So Excited!! 😀

By the way, I also took Petersons last week and I didn't do as great. In my opinion, Petersons is harder (both in Verbal and the Math Qs I've seen so far).
Click to expand...

I scored much lower on PR exams versus power prep exams. My highest power prep exam score more closely matched my actual GRE score. If you're doing well on the PR exams, you'll likely do great on the real thing. But keep studying 😎
 
myelin said:
I'm a low GRE fan-boy, so take it for what it's worth. I know of 10 or so people who scored between 1000-1100 and were accepted to clinical psychology PhD programs. One of them recently began their predoctoral internship at the Yale VA. The GRE is not the end-all.
Click to expand...

That is relieving to hear. Most of the programs I am applying to have average GRE scores of >1300. I know I have a "competitive" application otherwise, but I didn't want my GRE score to be the thing that kept me out. If I'm going to be spending all of this money on applications, I want to ensure that I have done the best I can with every component of the application itself. Ya dig?

myelin said:
But if you know that you can do better, why not make it easier on yourself and take it again - as you stated. Good luck to you. I'm taking it again as well - Oct. 30.
Click to expand...


Crazy, I'm retaking it that day too! Partly because I didn't want to take it on Halloween (I'm a little superstitious), but thought it'd be fun to party and celebrate my bomb score on Halloween! HAHA.

Are you taking the Psych subject test next month as well? I am registered for that on the 18th, and then my retake on the 30th. However, I plan on devoting most of my study-time to my retake of the general.
 
I'm registered for the Psych Subj test on the 18th, I think.
 
myelin said:
I scored much lower on PR exams versus power prep exams. My highest power prep exam score more closely matched my actual GRE score. If you're doing well on the PR exams, you'll likely do great on the real thing. But keep studying 😎
Click to expand...

I hope so (but I am going to think of it as a fluke and keep studying!)

Cara and mplsgirl I'm also registered for the October psych test. Currently cramming at the library! I think only a couple schools that I am interested in require it though. What is a good score to shoot for?? I haven't even taken a diagnostic test yet (so far from even just being able to!)
 
Haha, I haven't even started studying! I have to figure out how many questions I can skip without tanking my score, too.

I would say 600 or above, probably. My prof told me not to send it to schools that don't require it unless it's amazing, though (unfortunately for me, some of my schools require it :/).
 
cara susanna said:
Haha, I haven't even started studying! I have to figure out how many questions I can skip without tanking my score, too.

I would say 600 or above, probably. My prof told me not to send it to schools that don't require it unless it's amazing, though (unfortunately for me, some of my schools require it :/).
Click to expand...

Whew *wipes brow*
I'm not the only procrastinator!

If only there was a pause button that can allow us to press 'play' after we have finished studying! Good luck to us! We've got one month (and time FLIES when there's a standardized test on the way)
 
So, I am applying for PhDs in clinical psych and I JUST took the GRE as in like 30 mins ago. I was really happy with my quant score but my verbal score sucked (520) and was lower than any of the 7 other practice tests I've taken!

Obviously, I'm going to have to take the GRE again, but do any of you know how acceptable it is to take it more than once/ how many times is too many to take?

Thanks!
 
my quant was 680. so 1200 overall but... I really didn't want to get below 600 on the verbal and my other practice tests showed me getting 610's... so this is a crazy weird fluke or something!
 
Which prac tests were you using...what you said is freaking me out 🙁
Did you try the PP (powerprep) test beforehand?

So, yeah did you use Kaplan, Princeton, Barrons?

THANKS!
 
I used Kaplan. It was the weirdest thing, on my diagnostic test with them I got a 550 on the verbal... so seriously it was the weirdest fluke ever. I have probably learned 500-600 vocab words since the diagnostic too so yeah... I don't even know what to think. Have you taken it? I was going to take the psych subject test but now I'm going to have to put it off until I finish this one up.
 
Oh Nevie, on the Kaplan prac exams for the math how were you scoring? Around the same?
Yeah that seems blah if you were scoring better on the prac tests and then on the real thing...
But see, your quant is pretty awesome sooo 😛

I'm taking it Oct 6 I think . :[ *really worried*
 
NevieG said:
my quant was 680. so 1200 overall but... I really didn't want to get below 600 on the verbal and my other practice tests showed me getting 610's... so this is a crazy weird fluke or something!
Click to expand...

Haha, that happened to me my first time. I'd been consistently getting 610 verbal on Power Prep, but on the real thing I got a 570.

Next time around went MUCH better, though. 😀
 
yeah I was scoring anywhere between 650-690 on quant and anywhere between 580-610 on verbal. so the quant score was consistent but the verbal score came completely out of left field. craaazy but i supposed i'll be better prepared next time. do you guys know if lots of people take the GRE several times over? because when I took the SAT i took it like 3 times i think so who knows, I might have to do the same here.

also, what is a good score to shoot for? obviously, i'd love a 1300 but i might come out just below that. do you guys know if that's a really huge deal for those programs that they want you to have a 1300?

ps thanks to all of you who have been participating the encouragement i got after feeling terrible about my score initially was wonderful and made me feel so much better. we're like a little dysfunctional GRE family 🙂
 
I think you have to consider your natural ability and the idea that you can only raise your score so much. For instance, I shot for a 1200 because it's good enough for many programs and I knew I was never going to be a 1400 person.
 
Hi there -

I seem to be in a similar position to cara_susana regarding the GRE. I have tried books on my own and prep courses but they did not work and I only got 1010. I am about to take the exam again and I am really nervous!

A couple months ago I began working with a private tutor and my score seems to be going up slowly. I am now scoring in the 1150 range on practice tests. Problem is that my exam in scheduled for about a week from now. The tutor told me that if I am unable to achieve the 1200 goal score in a week, I can retake the exam 31 days later. Has anyone done this? Do schools view this as a negative to take the exam 3 times or just someone who is persistant?

Also, how much more vocab/math do you think it is possible to really learn in that extra month? Thanks for the feedback. Good luck to others who are struggling with the GRE...
 
I didn't do stellar on the GRE, I took it last week for the first, and probably only time, because I did manage to clear the 1200 hurdle. I can't recall how low I scored on the Q section on the first ETS practice test I took. It was pretty bad though, maybe 400, maybe even less. I bought multiple books and the one that seemed to help me the best with the Q was the Princeton Review Cracking the GRE.

What I did sounds like you I finally decided to just set myself a date, in fact when I did it I only gave myself one week to force myself to focus. Then I went through the math section of that book in entirety about three times prior to the test plus I took several ETS practices tests (the one you download for free). I only concentrated on math though given my limited time and it was my weakness. So, of course, on test day I ended up scoring higher on Q than V :laugh:

Another thing the reason I focused on the Review for math was because I wasn't expecting to score 700 plus, I knew I would be happy with 600 plus. So, on test day I saw a lot of things I hadn't seen before so I was a bit freaked out. If you are seeing things you haven't studied in the Review then you are probably going to score okay, so don't let it get to you.
 
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