GRE Question pls ....m

[muttmommy]

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Ok, I know this is going to sound rather basic to some of you, but I'm really nervous about taking the GRE. I guess all this hype about the GRE has gotten to me in spite of myself and now I've gotten anxiety issues.

Can anyone tell me (preferably reassure me) if it's hard, easy, etc.? What classes to take to prepare for it? Anything would be appreciated - thanks, and sorry if this was idiotic sounding. I just have to know.

 

[NCaggie]

Hey muttmommy,
Well, I took a practice GRE and a training session (one day) administered by Princeton Review, and I got a 1080 on that exam. When I took the actual exam I got a 950 or something like that, so I took it again and lost 100 points. I was so depressed with my actual scores. Anyway, I also studied the REA prep book and the GRE for dummies book. I got the Kaplan book towards the date of my 2nd exam because I had heard so much good stuff about it. Well, I only had about a week to study, so I didnt get through much, and my score dropped. Then I started to hear the results from others who used the Kaplan, and I had done better than them....so I guess my advice would be to get a book with a decent reputation, I think all the above mentioned ones are pretty good. (make sure there are some practice exams) and just go through it. But make sure you realize that it is only practice, and is not the real thing. I didnt see too many of the words from the "word parade" or "word hit list" on either of the actual exams that I took. For the essay portions, make sure you think creatively, but intelligently. I am sure that you will do well. If you dont do well the first time, dont let theat discourage you. I know plenty of people that scored horribly and are in the process of filling out supplemental application. So far, the lowest score that Ive heard of from a person that got a supp was a 700 something. And hey, if you can afford it, try to take one of those classes. Good luck in whatever you do and keep us posted on your progress.
-NC aggie

 

[HeartSong]

How long do you have before you take it? I procrastinated too much and started studying for it about a month before I took the test. I wish I had started about three months before since I did have the time to do so but didn't just cause there were other things I had rather been doing.

I used the princeton review book Cracking the GRE and a Barrons book something like Barron's key to the GRE or something like that. I really found the princeton review book to be the most helpful and easy to ready. It kinda teaches you how to make good guesses when you have no idea. So like if you have an analogy question and you have never seen any of the words before in your life, it tries to explain how you can make the best guess.

Go through all practice tests you can and kinda study those problems. Don't just learn what the correct answer is to a certain problem, figure out why it is the answer.

There's also quite a few sites online that I used. A program called "Word Guru" helped me learn a bunch of words, some were on the test most weren't but at least it helped my vocabulary a bit so I could make some better guesses. www.number2.com has a free GRE prep that I used. I don't remember the other sites that I used.

Don't stress over it, that will only make your score lower. Just calmly review as much as you can before the exam, get plenty of rest, a good nights sleep before the test day, and on test day remember that there's nothing at that point that worry is going to help.

 

[VeganSoprano]

The test is very, very comparable to the SAT. The biggest thing to do is stay calm and focused. Remember - you can take the GRE up to five times in a year and your best score counts, so it's never a life or death thing.

A great, free test prep resource is www.number2.com.

 

[rsachdev]

i took a kaplan course and i had about 2 months to prepare - from mid june to late august. i decided to take the gre aug 31 and i took the kaplan course in june. the course was four weeks, and i highly recommend it. i took princeton review for the sats, and it did not help me. but each person is different. i gained more knowledge and tactics from kaplan for the gres than i did from princeton review for the sats. from mid july to aug 31 i prepared by myself - got the barron's 3500 word list for the gre, memorized those words i didn't know, and continuously took practice tests. i feel i did well enough on the gre <it was my first time taking it>, so i didn't take it again.

but the best method of preparing for the gre, in my opinion, is memorizing words and continuously taking practice tests. that's what i feel helped me out for the actual test.

 

[muttmommy]

Thanks everyone - I feel a little better now after reading these posts. I guess I started lumping all the "hearsay" info you hear out there - and kinda got it into my head that it was just darn near impossible to attempt. In other words, I just got really intimidated. It didn't help that I somehow thought that vet schools take your GRE scores and average them out - I always thought they do that. To hear that they take your best score is encouraging. I think the GRE is/was the biggest initimidating factor so far for me - I never worry too much about WHEN I actually get into vet school - it's always GETTING in for me - you know?

Anyway - thanks for answering my questions and I'm off to the bookstore to get some of those books!! If I can get my husband to abandon his idea of buying a BMW, maybe I might even be able to afford one of those prep tests!! Haa haaaa!!! Cheers everyone!!

 

[muttmommy]

Oh yeah - although I'm not in any real hurry to take the GRE yet, since I still have some prereqs to take, I do want to take it within the next year or so. And the fact that it's like the SAT (which I did very well on way back when) is also very reassuring. Thanks again!