need advice on how to improve Verbal (particularly Reading Comp) section

[sautille]

I just found this forum via the College Confidential website... wish I had found it sooner before I took my first GRE this past Thursday!

my GRE prep + test experiences were horrible. I had studied (roughly 2 months) beforehand, but never did any practice questions. I'm still in college so I don't really have time to prepare for tests AND do school + work, etc.
so I found time to read through the Princeton Review book and the Barron's book without doing any of the practice questions or tests. for math, I didn't do anything because I thought I'd be ok. for verbal, I memorised the "hit parade lists" (all 6) from the Princeton Review book. I can't say I committed ALL to memory, but I had a rough idea of what 80% of those words meant, and definitely recognised a lot of them during my GRE exam.

what happened though was that even though I knew what most of the words meant, there were still some I didn't know, and even when I tried using techniques I read from my test prep books, I had no idea whether I got any of the questions right. basically I was guessing my way through, and I didn't finish either the verbal or math section during the real exam.
I ended up getting a 450 V and 750 Q. my essay was okay, it was actually the only section I was comfortable with. but the math and verbal? WTF. not only was I disappointed at how bad I did, I was shocked. mainly because I had taken a diagnostic test (Barron's) 2 months prior and got a 450 V and 780 Q then as well. but I had learned at least 400 more words since then, how could I have the SAME ABYSMAL SCORE in verbal?

my experience with the exam was that I felt that I knew about 75% of the words on the exam, and thought I could make educated guesses on most of the questions, but I think most of the answers I guessed were probably wrong.
what's worse, for the reading comprehension sections, I understood what most of the passages were roughly conveying, but I could never really get the right answer choice when I was asked specific questions about the passages. most of it is because a lot of the answers seem like they might be right, and I just couldn't be sure. this is definitely the section I struggled most with.

here's some of my background info: basically, I have always done terribly in verbal sections of exams. when I did the SAT I didn't memorise **** and guessed my way to a 600 (V). but the truth is I have the vocabulary of a high school student (perhaps not even).
unfortunately for me, the programs I'm applying for are in musicology/music composition, largely research-based programs that will require a decent verbal score of at LEAST 600 in the GRE (if I want to get into a good school). I'm planning on re-taking the GRE again on December 1st (since the application deadline for the programs I'm applying to is December 15th.)

so, I'm asking for help and guidance on how to prepare for the exam in December. in addition to preparing for the GRE, I also have to write papers, finish my portfolio and keep up with school and work... so I have roughly 2-3 hrs a day to study for the GRE. anyway, here are some of my studying plans and questions:
1) I've recently ordered the Barron's GRE 800 word list book, and I'm planning on memorising all of those before my exam. I'm also planning on reviewing the Princeton Review "hit parade" lists, and the Barron's (general book) top 333 words. I don't have time to go through Barron's 3500 word list, so that is out. but I read somewhere that Kaplan's 500-word flashcards thing is really good, I'm planning on getting it - but should I? or would the PR + Barron's lists suffice?
2) I was thinking about doing all the practice questions in the Barron's book, plus all 5 practice tests - but I heard that the Barron's test questions are not that similar to the real GRE questions, (perhaps needlessly harder?), so I don't think I will be doing them.
3) I downloaded the 27 verbal tests from the "Big Book" (whatever that is)... I read somewhere that these questions are more similar to the test format, and contains questions that are published in ETS's "official 7 GRE exams" book thingy. so I'm planning on doing all 27 tests, one each day, and memorising the words that I don't know in each of these tests. would this be enough to improve my verbal score?
4) my main issues are with the reading comprehension section. I find myself re-reading sentences over and over again trying to really understand what they are saying (I don't know why). I also struggle with analogy and sentence completion sections because I can never make correct guesses. the antonym section is something I feel I can handle since there are probably only 3 questions.
5) finally, my aim is to go from a 450 V to a 650 V (ideally). while this is probably highly unlikely due to my seriously impaired reading comprehension skills, test-taking and question-solving abilities, I would still at least like to get a 580 V, preferably 600 V.

so please, please, please... ANY help and advice would be appreciated. thanks so much in advance.

[mad_dy]

Hi sautille,

Your mistake was that you did not take many mock tests. Had you taken them you would have identified your weak points & would have been able to work on them. Nevertheless, now that you have realised its importance. take Mock tests from BIG CD GRE. Their tests are tough and they give a detailed analysis so that you know your strengths and weaknesses. Work on your weaknesses, then give another test from the BIG CD. I am sure you will gradually improve.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
mad_dy