Questions about preparing for the GRE?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

rl91

Full Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
May 4, 2013
Messages
188
Reaction score
34
I'm a bit curious on what is an effective way to study for the GRE. I bought the Kaplan book for the GRE and I was wondering if it would be a good way to take one of the practice tests without any preparation and see what areas to work on from the grade you get? Or would it just be better to prepare then take the practice test?

Or are there any other suggestions people have in regards to preparing for the GRE? I plan on taking it by the end of summer, and plan on applying to universities in the Fall.

Members don't see this ad.
 
Take a practice test to evaluate where you're weak and strong at. Since you don't have months to practice, focus primarily on your weakest points.

If you want a good score, you have to actually get serious about it. As in you need to be putting three to four hours a day minimum into studying. Some people do nothing but study for the GRE from the time they get off work to the time they go to bed. It sucks hard, but it is only temporary and nothing in life that is worth having comes without pain and sacrifice.

Take a practice test at the end of every week and do the best you can to simulate the actual test. I like to reserve a study room at my local library when I take practice tests.

I am taking it in a few weeks and I bought multiple books. I've been using GRE For Dummies, NOVA's GRE Math Prep, Manhattan Prep, and The Princeton Review. I got a great deal from Amazon for about $80 for all of them used except the Manhattan Prep because I wanted it new for the multiple practice tests it gives..

Start making flash cards of the most common words. Aim for 100 new words a week. You can get tons of lists of the most common. Here's one of the lists I am using http://www.examword.com/gre/practice.aspx?co=gl&id=basicgre600words1121222212230261&la=. If you want to go balls to the wall, then aim for 50 a day and at the end of every day, go through the entire cumulative stack of every card you've made up to that point.

For the argument essays, I don't really practice typing them out. I have been learning to identify the logical fallacies and expand on them in my mind. Writing is a strong point for me though, so you may need to practice typing them out. Here is a list of the common logical fallacies http://www.800score.com/awa folder/awac3b.html

People will go on and on about how the GRE only tests how well you take the GRE, and that is true to an extent, but just like SAT scores for colleges, GRE scores have a very strong correlation with how well a student performs in graduate school. There are outliers and exemptions, but it doesn't change the fact that a student with strong GRE scores is statistically much more likely to succeed in PT than a student with poor GRE scores. It's only one time (hopefully). Take it seriously.
 
Last edited:
GRE for Dummies....such a great book for studying! Plus it's cheap...less than $20 for sure. It's pretty funny and actually makes studying somewhat interesting!
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Take a practice test to evaluate where you're weak and strong at. Since you don't have months to practice, focus primarily on your weakest points.

If you want a good score, you have to actually get serious about it. As in you need to be putting three to four hours a day minimum into studying. Some people do nothing but study for the GRE from the time they get off work to the time they go to bed. It sucks hard, but it is only temporary and nothing in life that is worth having comes without pain and sacrifice.

Take a practice test at the end of every week and do the best you can to simulate the actual test. I like to reserve a study room at my local library when I take practice tests.

I am taking it in a few weeks and I bought multiple books. I've been using GRE For Dummies, NOVA's GRE Math Prep, Manhattan Prep, and The Princeton Review. I got a great deal from Amazon for about $80 for all of them used except the Manhattan Prep because I wanted it new for the multiple practice tests it gives..

Start making flash cards of the most common words. Aim for 100 new words a week. You can get tons of lists of the most common. Here's one of the lists I am using http://www.examword.com/gre/practice.aspx?co=gl&id=basicgre600words1121222212230261&la=. If you want to go balls to the wall, then aim for 50 a day and at the end of every day, go through the entire cumulative stack of every card you've made up to that point.

For the argument essays, I don't really practice typing them out. I have been learning to identify the logical fallacies and expand on them in my mind. Writing is a strong point for me though, so you may need to practice typing them out. Here is a list of the common logical fallacies http://www.800score.com/awa folder/awac3b.html

People will go on and on about how the GRE only tests how well you take the GRE, and that is true to an extent, but just like SAT scores for colleges, GRE scores have a very strong correlation with how well a student performs in graduate school. There are outliers and exemptions, but it doesn't change the fact that a student with strong GRE scores is statistically much more likely to succeed in PT than a student with poor GRE scores. It's only one time (hopefully). Take it seriously.

@Myosin

Thanks for the information! Yeah, I think where I am standing right now, I think I'll be taking it not too soon, due to the fact that I have decided to wait til the next application cycle to come around. In regards to prepping for the GRE, for example I have the Kaplan ( Strategies, Practice, and Review) book, how would you start off studying using these types of books? Do you actually read each page and read the techniques and ways they provide when they go through examples?

And yes, I think that's what I'll do first, is take the practice test GRE. Do you take the one off line or would you recommend the book practice exams?

In regards to flash cards, I started making some with all the "Top GRE Words" that they provide in the back of this Kaplan book, and I'll start making some for that website you gave me (thanks again!). and Which books do you think are helping most?

Please, let me know how you do on the GRE also!
Thanks again!
 
Last edited:
@Myosin

Thanks for the information! Yeah, I think where I am standing right now, I think I'll be taking it not too soon, due to the fact that I have decided to wait til the next application cycle to come around. In regards to prepping for the GRE, for example I have the Kaplan ( Strategies, Practice, and Review) book, how would you start off studying using these types of books? Do you actually read each page and read the techniques and ways they provide when they go through examples?

And yes, I think that's what I'll do first, is take the practice test GRE. Do you take the one off line or would you recommend the book practice exams?

In regards to flash cards, I started making some with all the "Top GRE Words" that they provide in the back of this Kaplan book, and I'll start making some for that website you gave me (thanks again!). and Which books do you think are helping most?

Please, let me know how you do on the GRE also!
Thanks again!

Any type of initial practice test would be fine, but I would recommend the book. Remember, it's just a judge for where you're starting. You don't even need to take it all the way through. If you realize you're just flat out guessing for nearly every question, or at least way more than what you would consider acceptable for the score you're aiming for, then just accept that you need to start from square one and end the practice test. No point stressing over it.

As obvious as it sounds, the best way to start is to spend your first day studying by just reading the introductory sections that familiarize you with the test. Make sure you fully understand how the test is formatted how the questions are presented.

It's really up to you on where you want to start. If you're worried, just start from the beginning of each math and verbal section. Make it a point everyday to read X number of math and verbal sections in a book. If you're studying from multiple books, you could do one book at a time or jump between books and read what each one says about the topic you're currently on. There's no wrong way to study as long as it's working for you.

Give an hour or so to math and an hour to verbal, and then do half an hour of vocabulary. When you feel like you're getting the hang of the questions, start doing the practice problems in the books.

Practice problems are what you actually want to focus on. Just reading the books alone is not enough. You have to be able to work the math and verbal problems out on your own without looking in the back of the book. Read and take notes, but as soon as you're done with a section, start on the practice problems. Feel free to look back in the chapter and use your notes. Just don't look up the solution in the back until it's obvious you can't solve it at your current level of studying.

I tutored statistics and algebra as an undergrad, so a lot of it isn't new or even challenging to me. I do make it a point to read almost every page that involves problem solving strategies when going through a section, but if there's a section that is just an explanation of simple concept such as what integers are, the number line, absolute values, etc, I'll skip over it.

The GRE For Dummies and Manhattan Prep are easily the best two so far. It seems like they do the best job of giving strategies and flat out explanations for how to work through questions. Manhattan Prep gives you 8 online tests if you buy the entire series. I actually don't recommend buying the whole set though. Their verbal sections are kind bad. They just pick the most obscure words possible and then use their secondary definitions sometimes. No matter how good your vocabulary is, you will miss virtually every single question and this is nothing like what the actual GRE is about. If you go for this series, just get the math books and not any of the verbal ones. The writing books are way too long and spend way too much time talking about your mindset instead of how to actually write the essays for the best possible score. They're decent, but you can skip half the book and not miss anything. It seems to go on and on and on about so many insignificant things that you couldn't possible do when writing an essay in 30 minutes.

These two do the best job of The Princeton Review and Barrons rely too much on gimmicks to "crack" the GRE. Nova's math book would be amazing for an undergrad who struggles with math, but it seems to flat out miss the point of the GRE. It literally has you doing massive amounts of complex math to solve every problem when there's a simpler step available.

As for the vocabulary, I am only using the online ones. I guarantee you that every word on that site is also in your Kaplan book. I know they're all in the GRE for Dummies and Barron book. Be careful buying flash cards because you can literally google "GRE word lists" and get all the most common words. Some of the lists are much more expansive and user friendly than what the purchased books and premade flash cards have. Making your own from these lists will save you money and help you learn better.

Hope that helps. Best of luck.
 
Top