GRE Prep

[equineconstant]

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If people are looking for free prep resources, I used FreeRice a lot. It's an online vocab game, and every time you get an answer right the site donates rice to the UN world hunger relief organization (because they have ads on the page). I played FreeRice a bit every day, and I actually saw at least 5 of the FreeRice words on the GRE when I took it, and more that had similar roots to words I'd seen on FreeRice. A bunch of my friends studied with FreeRice too, and they all did decently/well/really well on the verbal.

I love FreeRice. I suggested it to my prep class, but the instructor said a lot of people didn't like it because it was too easy. I told them you can change the difficulty level, but they'd stopped paying attention to me at that point.

 

[KitCat]

I'm in the process of considering retaking the GRE for the 4th time 🙁 and had some questions:
1. How many hours did you study for the GRE?
2. For those that took a course, did it really help raise your score?
3. Can I still do well if I use study material from 2011-2012?

Sent from my MB612 using SDN Mobile

 

[Rainheart]

I'm in the process of considering retaking the GRE for the 4th time 🙁 and had some questions:
1. How many hours did you study for the GRE?
2. For those that took a course, did it really help raise your score?
3. Can I still do well if I use study material from 2011-2012?

Sent from my MB612 using SDN Mobile

I took it 3 times, so hopefully I can be of help. I did not get in my first cycle due to my GRE scores, so I needed to get them up.

1. I'm not sure hours wise how many I studied, but I tried to study each night for 3 months about an hour. Not every night did that happen, though.

2. Yes, it did help. Did I think it was worth the $1000? No, but, hey, it did get my score up and got me into vet school. I took a classroom one since I am bad at making myself study with an online class. I had to drive almost an hour and a half to get there twice a week and then of course the same back.

3. I'd get new study material. I bought new material as well for it, and it was helpful to study those books, too. I really liked the princeton review book, personally.

 

[Frozenshades]

2. Yes, it did help. Did I think it was worth the $1000? No, but, hey, it did get my score up and got me into vet school. I took a classroom one since I am bad at making myself study with an online class. I had to drive almost an hour and a half to get there twice a week and then of course the same back.

Yeah, they're pricey, but I agree useful. I can't necessarily say if it improved my score as I only took the GRE once, but I do think I wouldn't have done as well without it. I took a course that used online lectures though, so no worrying about location; can watch the lecture from the comfort of home (or wherever you happen to be with a computer).

I will say, it's arguable how much the course itself adds (and that probably varies per person) as it's not much different material than if you just used a review book. For me I think the biggest thing it offered was structure; I was taking classes for school at the same time, so the class made me take time to put in the effort to do test prep where I otherwise might have shirked on reviewing by myself, and it had an organized syllabus to go over the subjects in a sensible order and at a good pace.

 

[ThePiedPiper]

I love FreeRice. I suggested it to my prep class, but the instructor said a lot of people didn't like it because it was too easy. I told them you can change the difficulty level, but they'd stopped paying attention to me at that point.

Nevermind, figured it out. 😛

 

[kenggy]

I took the Kaplan online course and I think it was worth the money b/c I had been trying to study on my own with just the books for over a year, I am not self-motivated so it was good to have assignments due at each class. I normally hate online classes, but my teacher was awesome and the way it was set up worked really nicely. Not to mention being able to contact the teacher and TAs anytime with questions, even after the class is over. I studied for about 3-4 hours a day 5-6 days a week for the period of my class just b/c there is a lot of HW. Then it dropped for the month before I took the test.

So that was the first time I took the test so I can't tell you it improved my score but I know I would have had an epic fail I didn't take the course, ESP in quant, I needed the review. I wasn't happy with my scores so I immediately scheduled for another test a month later (the soonest you can schedule ur next test). Probably not my best decision b/c I was so burned out. So I didn't really study between my first and second but I somehow improved my score.

Lesson: you never know and everyone is different.

Hope that helps!

 

[kakurubird]

1. I'm not sure hours wise how many I studied, but I tried to study each night for 3 months about an hour. Not every night did that happen, though.

Just did a bit of this 😱 until I realized I was reading you wrong and you didn't actually study 3 hours a night.



also, about books. look at your local library. I had to request them from another branch but I got the Princeton Review and Kaplan (I think?) newest books (for the new GRE) from my library and used those. even if you aren't sure if the books are going to help, the price can't be beat.

 

[Rainheart]

Just did a bit of this 😱 until I realized I was reading you wrong and you didn't actually study 3 hours a night.



also, about books. look at your local library. I had to request them from another branch but I got the Princeton Review and Kaplan (I think?) newest books (for the new GRE) from my library and used those. even if you aren't sure if the books are going to help, the price can't be beat.

Lol, I could barely do 1 hour a night with that stuff, let alone 3!!

 

[cturtle10]

I cannot recommend this site: magoosh for gre prep highly enough. I took the GRE twice, and it improved my [new] score by 6 points. The only thing I did in between the two were all of the prep questions on that site. They are usually having a sale so the price isn't too bad either. I think there is some sort of score increase guarantee as well. They also have videos explaining how each question type works-these are great too!

 

[kakurubird]

I cannot recommend this site: magoosh for gre prep highly enough. I took the GRE twice, and it improved my [new] score by 6 points. The only thing I did in between the two were all of the prep questions on that site. They are usually having a sale so the price isn't too bad either. I think there is some sort of score increase guarantee as well. They also have videos explaining how each question type works-these are great too!

👍 I just added the blog to my reader for a few months before I took the test, but found that rather helpful. I can see having the full set of questions/explanations being great.

 

[cturtle10]

👍 I just added the blog to my reader for a few months before I took the test, but found that rather helpful. I can see having the full set of questions/explanations being great.

I forgot about that blog-it's great too!

The other thing that really helped me were the vocab flashcards. Let me add that the first time I took the test, I only studied from the new Kaplan book (the comprehensive one), and I really felt like the math section on the actual GRE was much more challenging than the Kaplan book led you to believe...make sure that's not your only study material!

Also, utilize all the free practice tests on the internet, each prep company, Kaplan, Manhattan, Princeton, etc. pretty much have a free new GRE practice test online if you look for it. They are usually no strings attached besides having to watch a few ads for their company, and will give you a good feel for the exam. The thing that shocked me the first time I took it was how pressed for time it seemed compared to the SAT/ACT. Taking practice tests will also let you adjust to the computer format, which is much different than taking a printed out test.

 

[Lab Rat83]

As for hours studied: I'd agree with the 2-3 hours/night for about a month.

Yes, the course is worth it. If you're willing to do the work associated with it.

 

[ViaBea]

1. The first time I took it, I tried to study an hour a day most days for about two and a half months.

The second time, I focused mainly on the math section, and I probably studied about 30 minutes a day for about a month. Then, school started, and I probably only studied a total of about three hours every week for a month.

I wish I would have studied more for the second test though because my quantitative score only improved by 2 points, but my verbal went down by two points.

2. I didn't take a course and I have decent scores. However, I think that its good for motivation because I know I definitely had trouble making myself study. I pretty much had to take my GRE books to work with me to work on during break when I had nothing else to do.

3. I don't think it will hurt you for going over basic concepts. One of the main books that I used (Barron's, I think) was from before the test changed, but it was really helpful for learning how to make an educated guess about the meanings for different words and vocabulary expansion. I think it was only about $4 with shipping, but it was the main book I used for vocabulary.

I would try to get some new material though just because it may help to have things presented differently.

 

[equineconstant]

I took the course and I am really glad I did because I got what I wanted out of it: a review of standardized test stuff and a look at what the test is like. I can't say whether it improved my score--I only took the GRE once--but I definitely would have completely bombed one of the essays if I didn't have the feedback telling me that both essays aren't about making an argument (one is analyzing someone else's argument).

On the other hand, I HATED the online course. It was incredibly slow and I spent a lot of the time working on something else. There were also some things I had to take with a grain of salt, like when the commentary on my essay complained about me not following the Kaplan Format. I just tried to pull what was actually important that they were trying to tell me.

Just my experience.

 

[KitCat]

Thanks everyone for all the replies!

Now for those that took a course and found it beneficial, was it through Kaplan?

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[Frozenshades]

Thanks everyone for all the replies!

Now for those that took a course and found it beneficial, was it through Kaplan?

Sent from my MB612 using SDN Mobile

I did the Kaplan online one. The instructors were helpful and nice (always open to e-mails with questions outside of class time), and I liked being able to just be at home or at the library to watch the lecture.

 

[cs5910]

Thanks everyone for all the replies!

Now for those that took a course and found it beneficial, was it through Kaplan?

Sent from my MB612 using SDN Mobile

I took the kaplan course but didn't find it helpful (The people were nice though)l. I would recommend just going through the kaplan books, without paying tons of money for the classes. They basically reiterate what is in the books during their lectures. I scored one point higher in one section and actually went down a point in another section, from when I self-studied from the book for my previous GRE. I would save the money on the lecture and just hit the books!

 

[Frozenshades]

I took the kaplan course but didn't find it helpful (The people were nice though)l. I would recommend just going through the kaplan books, without paying tons of money for the classes. They basically reiterate what is in the books during their lectures. I scored one point higher in one section and actually went down a point in another section, from when I self-studied from the book for my previous GRE. I would save the money on the lecture and just hit the books!

Yeah, if you have enough motivation and organization to properly self study, the books alone are probably good enough. I just needed the class to actually make me do GRE practice on top of my summer classes otherwise I probably wouldn't have, or at least not nearly as much.