General Admissions & OTCAS GRE PREP HELP

[FutureOT1234]

So, I would like to save as much money as possible, but also don't want to waste money or regret not putting more money in and failing. I did not have much time to study the last time I retook my GRE and needs to go up 8 points in verbal and maybe only 1-2 in the math portion.

Should I pay for an in class session? Sherwood is the cheapest

I want to buy tangible flash cards online but not sure what brand is best- Kaplan barrons..which do you people recommend?

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[mull015]

I purchased the ETS study book that you can get from the GRE website, it comes with a couple of paper exams that you can take and check your answers and it also comes with a CD with two complete practice exams that you can take and they spit back a score. The book has a bunch of practice questions and explanations and review stuff especially for the quant portion. I only took the GRE once so I don't know if it actually helps if you're trying to retake it. But to me standardized testing really can't be taught by class--you just need to practice and study vocab for the verbal section.

What was your score if you don't mind me asking? My uncle is an assistant dean of admissions for grad school and the GRE is definitely getting less and less importance placed upon it. You really just need to get the minimum score the schools you want require unless you're lacking in other areas.

 

[FutureOT1234]

I purchased the ETS study book that you can get from the GRE website, it comes with a couple of paper exams that you can take and check your answers and it also comes with a CD with two complete practice exams that you can take and they spit back a score. The book has a bunch of practice questions and explanations and review stuff especially for the quant portion. I only took the GRE once so I don't know if it actually helps if you're trying to retake it. But to me standardized testing really can't be taught by class--you just need to practice and study vocab for the verbal section.

What was your score if you don't mind me asking? My uncle is an assistant dean of admissions for grad school and the GRE is definitely getting less and less importance placed upon it. You really just need to get the minimum score the schools you want require unless you're lacking in other areas.

As embarrassing as this is to say- I had a 143 V and a 151 Q and 3.5 Analytical. I'm just planning on brushing up a little on math and at least keep my score where it's at. my main goal is to get my verbal to 150 at least

 

[FutureOT1234]

As embarrassing as this is to say- I had a 143 V and a 151 Q and 3.5 Analytical. I'm just planning on brushing up a little on math and at least keep my score where it's at. my main goal is to get my verbal to 150 at least

I'm not lacking in other areas but schools have told me I was waitlisted/denied for this reason :/

 

[mull015]

As embarrassing as this is to say- I had a 143 V and a 151 Q and 3.5 Analytical. I'm just planning on brushing up a little on math and at least keep my score where it's at. my main goal is to get my verbal to 150 at least

I've definitely heard of people doing worse, I wouldn't be embarrassed! My Q was only a 152 (math is not my strong suit and if I'm being honest I didn't even study before taking the exam and my last math class which was calc 2 I took my freshman year of college so three years ago). I haven't had any trouble because of my GRE score. What schools told you that?

I may be wrong but I thought that I remembered reading that you can take your highest individual score from different tests. You should definitely check me on that though because like I said I only took the test once so I never looked into it more than just reading someone saying that that is the case. I believe I read it on one of these threads.

GRE also has free stuff on their website but you may already know that.

 

[FutureOT1234]

I've definitely heard of people doing worse, I wouldn't be embarrassed! My Q was only a 152 (math is not my strong suit and if I'm being honest I didn't even study before taking the exam and my last math class which was calc 2 I took my freshman year of college so three years ago). I haven't had any trouble because of my GRE score. What schools told you that?

I may be wrong but I thought that I remembered reading that you can take your highest individual score from different tests. You should definitely check me on that though because like I said I only took the test once so I never looked into it more than just reading someone saying that that is the case. I believe I read it on one of these threads.

GRE also has free stuff on their website but you may already know that.

Salus told me that (they also are very based off of rolling admissions so I should have applied in august) and Philadelphia university. but yeah, I think it depends on the school but they usually do take your highest individual score which is why i'm only gonna briefly review the math portion. I just feel that wasting all of that money on a class can be a waste. but if its worth it i'm willing to spend the money but i'm not sure. I might start off by buying the 500 flash cards. any brand you recommend? I was going to buy them off of amazon or something

 

[mull015]

Salus told me that (they also are very based off of rolling admissions so I should have applied in august) and Philadelphia university. but yeah, I think it depends on the school but they usually do take your highest individual score which is why i'm only gonna briefly review the math portion. I just feel that wasting all of that money on a class can be a waste. but if its worth it i'm willing to spend the money but i'm not sure. I might start off by buying the 500 flash cards. any brand you recommend? I was going to buy them off of amazon or something

Like I said I only bought the ETS book and all I did before the test was "take" one practice test on the CD so I'd know he layout of the test before I took it but I really didn't even answer the questions because my house was so chaotic while I was doing it. Personally I think getting anything by ETS makes the most sense since they make the actual test but I know a lot of people get different brands. Anything that's highly rated on Amazon will probably be fine. Just make sure you read the reviews so that you don't waste your money. Or maybe even google it and see if anyone has any reviews on there or anything. I think getting study materials and focusing only on the verbal portion makes more sense than taking a class since they are SO expensive and honestly it's just the GRE and the more time that passes the less importance it's going to hold. I remember when I was looking at schools that some didn't even want your GRE scores sent to them.

Hopefully someone who has bought extra study materials will also post on here with some advice for you!!

 

[sngot]

I didn't do exceptionally well but was able to prepare for the GRE by checking out different prep. books from the public library and downloading a free app. on a smart phone learning a few vocabulary words each day. Standardize test course are only good to give test taking skill in my opinion (which would be beneficial but expensive).

 

[Gemut]

http://gre.magoosh.com/invite/f5366535k1p372

Magoosh has an 6 point score guarantee. If you have a GRE score before you sign up with them, they will refund you the cost of the program if you don't add 6 points to your previous score. Their video tutorials are very well done. Totally worth every penny and it has a great interface. I shared my membership with another person to cut cost. They have a bank of over 1000 very realistic test questions that will both build your stamina and help build your reasoning skills for the GRE style questions. Check them out, you will be glad you did.

 

[cb31]

Salus told me that (they also are very based off of rolling admissions so I should have applied in august) and Philadelphia university. but yeah, I think it depends on the school but they usually do take your highest individual score which is why i'm only gonna briefly review the math portion. I just feel that wasting all of that money on a class can be a waste. but if its worth it i'm willing to spend the money but i'm not sure. I might start off by buying the 500 flash cards. any brand you recommend? I was going to buy them off of amazon or something

Salus told me the same thing... well actually they suggested I retake my GRE before they gave me an admission decision. I retook the GRE got above 150 in both verbal and Quantitive.. two days after they received my official GRE scores I was accepted ... I have no doubt in my mind that my scores were the only thing that was holding me back. Another school that waitlisted me last year accepted me this year, and a school that denied me last year waitlisted me this year... so I moved up in every bracket (this is my second year applying to OT school and thankfully my last!!). The thing that help me with the GRE the thirds time around (yes I took it THREE times, sadly) was I knew my weaknesses and I just focused on that when studying. I studied from flashcards, two math books, and a kaplan book. If you have the patient don't waste your money on a class just study from books, but if you don't think that will work, definitely do a class because GRE scores ARE important. People kept telling me that it's only one part of your application blah blah blah, but based on my experience I am %100 convinced that it is one of the most vital part of the application... you can have a great GPA, and recommendation but without a descent GRE score (at least in the 45 percentile) then you're gambling... not saying that it isn't possible to get in with lower scores, but it's waaaay harder and don't forget OT school is already hard to get in.... There are some programs that don' require the GRE, which I think may be even more competitive because lots of people will apply to those schools just based on the fact that they don't require the GRE. Hope this helps!