1420: Q790,V630 Finally its over!

[omkar86]

My preparation time for GRE spanned over 3 months very irregularly, but I actually studied sincerely in the last 2 weeks only. My first attempt at GRE was back in 2007, I got meager 1110 in that. In this attempt I scored 1420, hence I strongly believe that GRE is an easy exam and all it takes is hard work for few months and there is NO substitute for that. I would like to thank testmagic, the forums were main source of my inspiration - especially the debriefs...

So here is my test experience.

I took GRE on 28th October at 5pm. Few days back I came to know that they allow us to start test 1 hour before the time. So I reached prometric center of Mumbai at 3:45pm. After the usual formalities were complete, I hurriedly rushed inside. I started reading the tutorials and was instantly bored due to that nonsense. Closed every other tutorial after that.

Then starts the AWA section. The issue was pretty standard. In the 45 minutes, I used 10 minutes to jot down the points. Then arranged them in decreasing order of importance and started typing it out. After finishing all paras, I double checked the introduction para and conclusion para. Then I started to eliminate spelling mistakes, man… there were many. I was under wrong impression that I type pretty well than my engineering days. But I made some blatant spelling mistakes, around 5-6. So I would advise to keep 5-8 minutes specifically for checking spellings in the end.

Then Argument task, again it was standard. You can always find minimum 3 obvious weak assumptions in the argument. For additional you really have to think about the situation presented, then you can add 1-2 more points to make the argument complete. Also don’t forget to suggest points which will strengthen the argument, after all its free advise and most of us are expert in that . Then proceed to the conclusion. I would say one thing about argument task, it is easy to score than issue and all you have to do is dissemble a lawyer in your writing, that’s it. It is measure of your criticizing skills.

Then came the much dreaded VERBAL section. I solved first few questions very carefully and using every strategy I knew (elimination/ +/- connotation / roots etc.). I double checked every answer before clicking confirm. DO NOT be overconfident. Two options are always very close. In antonyms, you really have to be familiar with all words. I don’t mean that you should know exact definition, rather more imp is overall familiarity with all words, their secondary meaning and connotation (i.e. what feeling this word has, +ve or -ve sense). In sentence completion, look for transitional words like although, hence etc. Practice all exercises and try to guess the word before looking at options. You need to develop this ability in sentence completion, this helps a lot. Do practice questions from any material you have (Big book/barrons). In analogies, two things are crucial, secondary meanings and ability to find more than once relations (by forming a sentence). Most of the times one relations results in two seemingly right options, hence you have to find another relation which presents only 1 correct option which is the answer. The relations in GRE questions are always precise, for e.g. antonym, synonym, definition etc. These are all listed in the books, get familiar with each and solve examples based on them. In analogies practicing is very much fruitful. In reading comprehension, I followed a strategy to read question first and then only the part of paragraph. First line, last line is most imp in each paragraph. Elimination strategy helps a lot in reading comprehension. Practice a lot in reading comprehension, that’s all I can say about it. The link to reading comprehension practice utility given below should help.

Maths section was pretty tough in the second half than I expected. Many questions were confusing and really required critical thinking, in some cases elimination was the only technique that could be used to solve the problem in 2 minutes. Also this was due to lengthy calculation. Remember one thing, if you think the calculation is complex, then it means ETS is testing something other than calculation ability, try to think about another dimension which will allow you to either guess the answer or eliminate all others. I would advise that, start revising all major concepts in algebra, geometry, statistics etc. You can’t afford to miss even a single concept, even if it is advanced just do it. Start early, don’t keep maths for last few days, you can do practice in those days but formulae n concepts need to be done well in advance. Then start solving problems from Nova book. This is very good book which actually matches the difficulty level of GRE Quants nowadays. GRE maths is too easy but tricky

Here is a promised list of online resources and list of books I used.

MATERIALS:

BOOKS:
Required: Barrons, Nova(only for maths), ETS maths booklet(available on GRE site)
Optional: Kaplan, Princeton

TESTS:
Required: Powerprep, Big Book(27 tests)
Optional: Kaplan, Princeton, Cambridge

WORDLISTS:
Required: Barrons, Some knowledge of word roots which you will eventually acquire when you complete barrons (there is also separate section in barrons for roots – at the end of book), otherwise pick Norman Lewis and start reading casually, don’t read everything – keep goal of only familiarity with roots n prefix/suffix
Optional: Kaplan, Princeton

ONLINE: - can't post direct links since my post count < 30...
just replace [DOT] by .
0. TESTMAGIC
1. Tutorials and questions: www[DOT]number2.com
2. Browser based flashcards: www[DOT]quizlet.com just create a profile and search for “GRE” or “barrons”. Great site!
3. A site based on quizlet.com API www[DOT]cardcram.com
4. Maths : www[DOT]onlinemathlearning.com good explanation for variety of topics
5. reading comprehension practice utility: www[DOT]codecoax.com/grerc great efforts!
6. Another good source for online flashcards: gredic[DOT]com
7. Listing of good materials available: amby[DOT]com/GRE/
8. Roots : www[DOT]betterendings.org/homeschool/words/root%20words.htm
While doing roots it is very essential to relate them to know and unknown words, that way you remember them.
9. Vocabulary quiz : www[DOT]freerice.com/index.php
10. Wordlists: www[DOT]greword.com scroll down and see the left panel, there is list
11. Free barrons list for Java phones(almost all sony phones which have USB connectivity and most Nokia phones) : www[DOT]getjar.com/mobile/28483/gre-guru
12. Another mobile list with 4800 words: www[DOT]getjar.com/mobile/15426/barron-4800-flash-cards/
13. Wordy2 mobile software: www[DOT]getjar.com/mobile/9269/wordy2


Advise for preparation strategy:

Finish off with barrons words as soon as possible and then keep on revising. Mark the words which you don’t recall and then do only those. REPETITIVE REVISION helps a lot! Don’t rely on your brain, it has a lot more stuff to store than these tough words, so keep revising thy list… You may also use the above mentioned mobile softwares for reading words, I used it for some time.
Then give 1 powerprep test, see which question types were difficult for you, do more practice on them. Specifically check if you lag behind in vocabulary, if that is the case, give 10 days for focused study on words again. Check maths SILLY mistakes, remember them and don’t repeat again. Check if you missed any maths concept. Type full essay - don’t be lazy, you will know how much practice you need after comparing your essay with the sample given in powerprep test.
Start with big book, solve each and every test. You can also solve one type of questions from all tests (e.g. antonym) then pick another type and solve all questions of that type and so on… This will give you indication of which question types are difficult for you. Don’t do maths from big book, there is Nova book for maths.
Now, start with remaining powerprep test, try to get first 10 questions correct. At this stage you should be confident of your score range in actual GRE. Powerprep scores are very close to your actual GRE marks.
Optionally if you like to solve hard tests, do Kaplan. Otherwise solve few Princeton tests. Keep one powereprep test for last week. If you get less marks than your expectation in this test, you need a more focused study in that week. Do it with full concentration, sincere study in last week is more fruitful than just revising occasionally. Do it even if you are getting 1600 in powerprep!

And finally, ALL THE BEST to all who will be taking GRE! Don’t be nervous by peer comments about how difficult GRE is, just believe in your efforts and continue consistent study. I am sure you will succeed in getting that dream score if you work sincerely.

Omkar Raut.

[aniket6666]

Nice dude congrats nice debrief....I also got meager 1100(maths-740,verbal-360) and that too i was getting in range of 1300-1350 in all test before my 1st attempt....I am taking my second attempt on 4th nov...Hoping for best..

[omkar86]

Good luck!

[fly4rahul]

Bow wow wow yippee yo yippee yay!!!!11 score congrats
well the nova which i hav is the latest comprehensive review including both verbal and math but dnt have the nova gre maths bible so does it make any difference also i have solved 20 big book test with time constraint but able to get only 25-26 right in 1 section and twice in particular test.but i find that there is always a room of improving but my performance always remains constant.so is there any way out

[omkar86]

do the problems from any nova book, the point is confronting tricky problems as early as possible and making habit of arriving at answer faster. I guess any of those books will suffice, i had the same copy as you are having.

well for big book, my scores were 28 for first few tests then I started solving question-type wise. I strongly believe each BB test has combination of level 3,4,5 questions, so ull never get all 38 right, unless you are future 1600 scorer!! so what we can do is after each test, find out where u went wrong - was it vocabulary or the closeness of options which tricked you... or something else. you will see your scores increasing if u do this and work on the weak part more....

[fly4rahul]

well thanks for the answer and also hw close do you think is the quant of power prep as compared to real gre quant.
well have you gone through korean big book having 19 test and whats with the dr raju's website? is it worth

thanks again

[omkar86]

many powereprep quant questions are close to actual GRE, but not all... hence u need additional book like nova
dunno about korean big book, i wasn't able to find it

well i saw some questions from dr raju but I doubt we can discuss such things on TM. don't depend on it, do nova properly...

[ambitious09]

Congratulations on successfully completing GRE.
What are thy thoughts on GREbible? is it a good preparation tool?

[omkar86]

I would advise against it... use the barrons wordlist rather.

[bergmc00]

possibly the best piece of advice ive seen. thank you.