PhD/PsyD GRE Review Materials

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xXIDaShizIXx

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Hey guys. So I'm going to go ahead and take the GRE again to make my application as competitive as possible this cycle. I'm using the ETS' Official Guide Second Edition, ETS' Verbal Workbook, and ETS' Quantitative Workbook. I'm getting the majority right and getting through the material pretty quickly with no issues (remember I already took it once). I also bought the Princeton Review's book for this year and didn't really like it. The problems and verbal questions are too simple. But I do like ETS's books because they are very similar (or the same) to the actual test. That being said do you guys recommend Magoosh for the GRE? I figured the lectures/explanations would be helpful for the problems I can't figure out. And they have a price guarantee. If you don't make 5 points higher than the last time you took it, you get a refund, which is cool. Its $99 right now. Also, how long should I study for it? I've been studying for a week and honestly I feel confident that I could be ready for it in 1 to 2 months maximum and maybe take it at the beginning of July. Thanks guys!

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I'm not familiar with Magoosh, but I'd say 1-2 months is probably enough. I studied for a little longer than that, but I only took it once. Did you buy one of the books with a CD with timed practice tests? I found that helped a lot, and I think I ended up actually scoring higher on the GRE itself than I did on the practice tests that I took.
 
I'm not familiar with Magoosh, but I'd say 1-2 months is probably enough. I studied for a little longer than that, but I only took it once. Did you buy one of the books with a CD with timed practice tests? I found that helped a lot, and I think I ended up actually scoring higher on the GRE itself than I did on the practice tests that I took.

Yeah I did. I only studied two weeks the first time. I didnt do terribly, but I'd like to take it again to improve my odds.
 
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I used Princeton Review books and I thought their questions were harder than the ones on the actual test. Having said that, I studied for several months before then exam and I got mediocre results on it. I think I just choked a bit on the test.
 
I used Magoosh to help raise my quant scores and it was totally worthwhile. The lessons/tutorials were very helpful when I hit some unfamiliar concepts and of course the numerous practice problems were great at beating them into my brain. This was the only study tool I used and I cannot speak to the quality of their verbal/writing content, but I highly recommend it for quant studies.

I think I went up something like 7 points. This was my second go around and that combined with the additional experience I sought out got me in the door for significantly more interviews, so if I can do it I'm sure you can as well. Good luck!
 
I can't speak for the other stuff, but do NOT use Baron's. It was packed with errors and it drove me crazy.
 
The Kaplan Math Workbook helped me a lot. I also did private online tutoring through Princeton Review, and that was the thing that really boosted my score to what I needed.
 
The Kaplan Math Workbook helped me a lot. I also did private online tutoring through Princeton Review, and that was the thing that really boosted my score to what I needed.
Seconding the Kaplan Math Workbook--this was about 6 years ago, but I found it very helpful in figuring out the "tricks" that the GRE Q section uses.
 
I can't speak for the other stuff, but do NOT use Baron's. It was packed with errors and it drove me crazy.

I agree with that. I looked at barrons the first time I studied for it, It was terrible.
 
I think Ill just do Magoosh and the Kaplan Math book you guys! There seems to be a consensus on the Kaplan book, so Ill definitely get that. And since Magoosh has a Score guarantee I figure that will be worth the $99.
 
I used Magoosh online and LOVED IT. The videos (especially math) were really helpful for me, and I loved that there were so many practice questions to go through. Being able to mark difficult questions to review later was really helpful also. Magoosh also has a free vocabulary app for smartphones that I found really helpful for quick review- many of the words also come up in the verbal portion of their program, but I found it really helpful to use supplementally.

Magoosh was completely worth the $99 I spent, and I'm very happy with my score. Good luck to you, both on the GRE and your next application cycle! :luck:
 
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Forgive me if this is too obvious, but another key thing to focus on is timing. I had pretty good scores (550V/710Q/5.5W) the first time I took it, but wanted to improve. Well, it had been 4 years and I hadn't practiced under time constraints, and the timing of everything kicked my ass when I went to improve my scores. Thankfully Score Select became a thing in the interim.


If I have to reapply next cycle, I'll need to re-take the GREs as my scores expire this year. Honestly, that's the biggest pain of being rejected this time around--NEEDING to retake the GREs because of the 5 year score limit. But, hopefully I've not gotten dumber in the last 5 years! And, they've made the test easier by allowing questions to be paused and/or reviewed--that is a HUGE benefit that, as old and cranky as it makes me sound, I wish would be taken into consideration when comparing "old" scores to "new" scores.
I agree I needed to study every day and get it done ASAP. That way I don't lose crucial information.
 
I took the free online Kaplan practice test a couple times. Once at the beginning as a baseline (maybe not relevant since you have already taken the real thing once) and another about a week before my scheduled test. I found that to be extremely helpful in getting used to the time constraint and doing the problems on a computer instead of on paper.

I also downloaded a Magoosh vocab app on my phone which made studying vocab easily accessible. I also went through the list of most commonly used GRE vocab words (I believe in the ETS book) and made a note card for any word I was not already familiar with. Good ole fashioned note card quizzing was what it took for me to feel really prepared for vocab.
 
I used only Magoosh to study for my GRE (well, as well as the official GRE book), and I think they are amazing! Math videos were great, and I felt like their test questions really prepared me for the test. I studied for 2 months (including verbal) and I felt like I needed more. I would suggest taking practice tests (I think you can buy additional ones from Manhattan per test) every now and then to see how you are progressing. My issue on the actual test was timing, so if I had to study again I would focus on doing many times practice tests. (My scores are V160, Q159)
 
I used only Magoosh to study for my GRE (well, as well as the official GRE book), and I think they are amazing! Math videos were great, and I felt like their test questions really prepared me for the test. I studied for 2 months (including verbal) and I felt like I needed more. I would suggest taking practice tests (I think you can buy additional ones from Manhattan per test) every now and then to see how you are progressing. My issue on the actual test was timing, so if I had to study again I would focus on doing many times practice tests. (My scores are V160, Q159)

Thats pretty good. I got 155/155 and would like to get it 160+ on each hopefully. Im going to finish the ETS books then im going to buy the premium.
 
For reference, I was initially scoring in the 150-158 range on practice tests (from a variety of sources) and ended up with 165 V/161 Q/ 5 AW using only Magoosh's program to study (and homemade flashcards from vocab words found on the site). I think you could absolutely raise your score to your target.
 
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For reference, I was initially scoring in the 150-158 range on practice tests (from a variety of sources) and ended up with 165 V/161 Q/ 5 AW using only Magoosh's program to study (and homemade flashcards from vocab words found on the site). I think you could absolutely raise your score to your target.

Thats sounds awesome!:) Thank you for being so helpful! Maybe with Magoosh I can knock this retake out of the park fairly quickly!
 
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Thats pretty good. I got 155/155 and would like to get it 160+ on each hopefully. Im going to finish the ETS books then im going to buy the premium.

Just remembered... I also used quizlet (www.quizlet.com) to help myself study words. There are plenty of flashcards out there, but I feel like Magoosh ones (+I just wrote down all the unknown words I discovered while doing their tests) should be enough to get a score around 160V. Quizlet website lets you create your own quiz. So I entered all the words I encountered and then repeatedly tested myself on them. You can also see the tests others created and use them if you want. Most people share the quizzes they create, so there is no need to buy an additional flashcards. you will find all those lists on there (from Kaplan, Manhattan and others). Magoosh also has ebooks that include most popular GRE words, and I mainly studied those ones. I probably learned only close to 500 words (I am also non-native English speaker). I still encountered tons that I didn't know, but just knowing some strategies on how to read those texts also help to know what to look for. Good luck!
 
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Can you help me understand why you need to retake the gre? I thought you got into a program.

Thats sounds awesome!:) Thank you for being so helpful! Maybe with Magoosh I can knock this retake out of the park fairly quickly!
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Can you help me understand why you need to retake the gre? I thought you got into a program.


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I sent you a private message a while back. The program was falling apart faster than Argosy. I've decided it is best for my career, my family, and my clients if I pursue a Ph.D. instead. I'm reapplying this year for Ph.D. programs and a few back up Masters programs. The reason the Army didn't select me was because of my program. I just couldn't see getting into more debt for that. Please feel free to PM if you want to discuss it anymore!
 
Just remembered... I also used quizlet (www.quizlet.com) to help myself study words. There are plenty of flashcards out there, but I feel like Magoosh ones (+I just wrote down all the unknown words I discovered while doing their tests) should be enough to get a score around 160V. Quizlet website lets you create your own quiz. So I entered all the words I encountered and then repeatedly tested myself on them. You can also see the tests others created and use them if you want. Most people share the quizzes they create, so there is no need to buy an additional flashcards. you will find all those lists on there (from Kaplan, Manhattan and others). Magoosh also has ebooks that include most popular GRE words, and I mainly studied those ones. I probably learned only close to 500 words (I am also non-native English speaker). I still encountered tons that I didn't know, but just knowing some strategies on how to read those texts also help to know what to look for. Good luck!

I've been using the Flashcard app, I haven't been writing the ones I don't know down, but I think I'm going to go back and do that. There are a lot of useful words that I've seen on my ETS practice material so far, so I can definitely see how that is helping me! :)
 
I took a very expensive Kaplan course (twice actually because I felt I needed more math repetition as I hadn't taken a math class in a decade) and had 3 Skype tutoring sessions through Kaplan. I did all of what they suggested with the books and online stuff at home for math... didn't spend too much time studying vocab or anything for verbal section. I had been doing well with no practice on verbal, but my first practice math score I only got around the 30th percentile. When I took the GRE I ended up with 164 verbal, 156 quant which is 64th percentile, and 4 writing. I'm going to sign up for premier magoosh this time based on everyone's reviews so I can get my quant score to 160 hopefully, and maybe actually finish a math section this time. I think for writing I'll just have to practice writing responses within the time limit.
 
Well guys, now that I have had time to buy Magoosh and use it for a little while, Its awesome especially paired with their free vocab app. I'm going to do my other three ETS practice tests after I get completely done with Magoosh and then see where I stand. I'll be sure to let everyone know where I sit with my scores once I get them!
 
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Also, something to keep in mind- i actually scored much higher on the real exam than I did on even ETS practice tests. :) I'm not sure if this is the experience of most people, but it may be for you, too. Good luck!! :)
 
Also, something to keep in mind- i actually scored much higher on the real exam than I did on even ETS practice tests. :) I'm not sure if this is the experience of most people, but it may be for you, too. Good luck!! :)

Yeah, I believe I scored about 5 points higher on both the qual and quant sections. May have been more. Definitely a pleasant surprise.
 
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Also, something to keep in mind- i actually scored much higher on the real exam than I did on even ETS practice tests. :) I'm not sure if this is the experience of most people, but it may be for you, too. Good luck!! :)
I scored 5 points higher on verbal but 3 points lower on quant.
 
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