GRE scores, Kaplan practice exams

[smilin1590]

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I'm doing pretty good on number2.com so should I run with this? Should I keep working on that site and studying my flashcards and take the test during spring break or should I buy more books and stuff and take the test in the summer? Also I heard about Illinois being weird about averaging scores if you take the exam more than once, is this true?

 

[rileyroo]

For those of you who took the Kaplan course, did you take it online or in the classroom? I'm planning on taking the course in June and trying to decide if I should do online or classroom.

 

[BlacKAT33]

For those of you who took the Kaplan course, did you take it online or in the classroom? I'm planning on taking the course in June and trying to decide if I should do online or classroom.

i took the in class course. i would recommend the in class course if you lack confidence, need help motivating yourself to do work EVERY NIGHT, and need help with explanations of answers. Especially for the math portion.

since i didnt take the online one only, id make sure and talk with them to see if you get all the benefits as the online system+in class. this would be 6 tests, many many quizzes, and TONSS of hw (100s++). If you do get the same amount of online work/assignments as the people who take the in class then I would recommend doing this if you are confident in yourself and don't need any outside help.

 

[rileyroo]

i tend to be more motivated with in-class situations so that's what i was planning on doing. thanks for the information. since it's pretty expensive, it makes me feel better to hear from someone who has benfitted from it.

 

[BlacKAT33]

i tend to be more motivated with in-class situations so that's what i was planning on doing. thanks for the information. since it's pretty expensive, it makes me feel better to hear from someone who has benfitted from it.

yea it is a big decision! Once you register you can start doing the homework as soon as you want. When i first heard this i thought "no i want to do the homework as we go along in the lesson plan" BAD IDEA. doing the homework won't hurt you at all. Basically, the online homework is all for you and you can ask your teachers questions that you have, but in class...it is all work book stuff. You get this huge work book and do the lessons in it for homework and go over it during class. You really should start your online assignments and homework asap because you seriously can't finish it all + your work book, in the month. They also give you this tiny prep book and it is GREATTT make sure you carry it in your bag at all times because it is really helpful when you randomly have free time. Also, tear up the 200 flash cards they give you right away so you can start studying them. Tearing them apart is the hardest step because you don't realize how many there are lol but you need to make sure you know those top words by the time your class is over so its nice if you have a heads start! good luck! i hope it helps you as much as it helped me!! i wouldnt' want you to blame me for wasted money lol. Also, dont forget to spend time on the subject you're good at! Not only do you want to improve what your weak spots are, but you want to ACE your strengths, and thats def possible! 🙂

 

[joelietz]

That's a good idea studying the Barron's words and the official GRE book. You could also have practiced with some online sites that allow you to do a gre practice test. That might have been faster even.

I studied the 300 hit words in Barron's and it helped tremendously - pretty much all the words on the test I had seen on this list. For the math, I used the official GRE book b/c I wanted the most realistic practice I could get. It really helped too!

 

[smilin1590]

I'm doing pretty good on number2.com so should I run with this? Should I keep working on that site and studying my flashcards and take the test during spring break or should I buy more books and stuff and take the test in the summer? Also I heard about Illinois being weird about averaging scores if you take the exam more than once, is this true?

Sorry guys, yes I'm taking a quote from my post and re-posting it. I was pretty curious about this whole Illinois rumor 🙂

 

[BlacKAT33]

sryy dont know about how illinois works with gre scores but at least this post will bump the thread bak to the top for u!

 

[Tco87]

Sorry guys, yes I'm taking a quote from my post and re-posting it. I was pretty curious about this whole Illinois rumor 🙂

I spoke with Mary Kelm at admissions a while ago, and yes they do average your cumulative percentile for writing, quantitative, and qualitative.

 

[smilin1590]

I spoke with Mary Kelm at admissions a while ago, and yes they do average your cumulative percentile for writing, quantitative, and qualitative.

YAY!!!!! Thanks for the response Tco87. So it probably hurts you more than helps you if you take the test more than once and are planning on applying to illinois? I have not taken the test yet myself, but I was just thinking if I was unhappy with the score I received that I would possibly take it again. Now I'm a bit concerned :/ Oh well, hopefully it works out where I just have to take it once anyhow LOL!

 

[IHeartGoldens]

I just wanted to say that the GRE is the devil.

that's all.

you may return to your scheduled programming....

 

[Nissan]

I took Kaplan's Express GRE course, which was a weekend crash course in reviewing verbal and quantitative skills. Eight hours x 2 of vocab, passage reading, and problem solving (and 5 minutes of writing hints), and I feel like I didn't learn anything. You get what you pay for, I suppose. What the course did give me was confidence in what I already knew. I'm usually a good test taker, so the strategies they introduced to me didn't make an impact for the most part, but at least I knew where to focus my at-home studying.

What I can attribute to increased GRE scores for me, personally, are:

1. the Kaplan GRE Vocab app for the Iphone/Ipod touch hahaha. It was riddled with some minor mistakes (they'd label a noun as a verb), but it gave me instant flashcards. I'm too lazy to make them myself.

2. Any timed GRE practice test cd. The one I had gave me a shorter time limit on the quantitative section than the actual test, which freaked me out initially. I thought I was going slower than I should have, so I ended up buckling down and forcing myself to increase my speed . When I realized that the timing was off, I was able to relax and find a happy medium. It greatly reduced my anxiety on exam day and I was able to focus better overall.

 

[ColoradoDVM]

If you have dial-up, the online tests don't keep time correctly. Practice with high speed internet if you are working on pacing yourself

 

[twelvetigers]

Dial-up? What on Earth is that?



Out of curiosity, anyone here actually still use dialup? 56k FTW? I hogged my parents phone line all through high school, but ever since I moved into the dorms I never looked back. My iPhone goes faster than my computer ever did on dialup.

 

[ColoradoDVM]

Dial-up? What on Earth is that?



Out of curiosity, anyone here actually still use dialup? 56k FTW? I hogged my parents phone line all through high school, but ever since I moved into the dorms I never looked back. My iPhone goes faster than my computer ever did on dialup.

me. Can't get broadbandout in the sticks and satellite is really bad here🙁

 

[marycatherine]

Dial-up? What on Earth is that?



Out of curiosity, anyone here actually still use dialup? 56k FTW? I hogged my parents phone line all through high school, but ever since I moved into the dorms I never looked back. My iPhone goes faster than my computer ever did on dialup.

we just got cable internet this winter, we'd been using AOL dial-up forever.

 

[lmscout]

Yeah, I coulda done better on the GRE, I think 😳

I had a crazy Junior spring semester (Organic II, Biochem., and Molecular cell plus hall chaplain plus Anatomy II TA) and had absolutely NO time to study for the GRE, and I had little motivation, so I took the test cold turkey. I scored a 520 on the qual. and a 530 on the quant. I went home, looked up what the average GRE should be, and felt depressed. I barely made Ohio State's minimum! How could I think that I was a potential applicant?? 😱 😱 😱 😱

So, I decided I would have to study hard. I was leaving for my internship out west across the country, in a couple of weeks, so I got online, found some books that looked good and got great reviews and began studying when I arrived in New Mexico at my internship. I tried to study a couple of hours a day, and I kept that up for a month.

I used the Kaplan math book because I felt very rusty after not using that kind of math for five years yep, it clicked! I went through the whole book, and kinda did a few practice tests, not really, and went and retook the test. My verbal stayed the same because I really hadn't studied it...😳 But my quant. improved to a 670!!!!!!!!! 👍 😀
So, I would highly recommend getting the kaplan math book, and going through it and working the problems. I went from a 33% percentile to a 67% percentile, which maybe in the grand scheme of things isn't that great, but my application had strong points elsewhere, and I was able to get ACCEPTED!!!! 😍

Good luck!! I would say that if you get at least a 1200, that is competitive.