Just checked my GRE Results Q170, V166, AWA5.0

[Bobsi]

I just realised that I had not received an email or letter from the GRE people to let me know my results (I sat the test back in August), so went online to receive them.

 

Score is:

 

Q170 (99%), V166 (97%), AWA5.0 (87%)

 

Not really sure how good that is in terms of getting admission into the top universities - I messed around quite a bit at undergrad and finished with a GPA of just over 3.4, so don't know if GRE can make up for that to some extent.

 

Anyway, I thought I let people know how I preped and what I thought of the test.

 

Prep involved doing 4-5 Qant tests. 4-5 Verbal tests (these were all old test stuff, Cambridge Prep I believe). Reading very quickly through the Official Guide. Browsing another GRE guide for the quant section and doing some questions where I thought I was not fast enough or I thought I may make mistakes (this part probably took 6-7 hours total)

 

Did 3 or so practice essays within the required time - also read the GRE guide for some guidance on what they were looking for.

 

For verbal, download a couple of free apps on android phone, and pretty much went through 500-600 words on that app while on the train to and back from work for a week. That pretty much covered the verbal section (I think there may have been like one word in the test which was not either obvious or in the app). You won't need to learn thousands of words.

 

The test was itself quite easy. Maths was pretty straight forward and verbal easier than expected. Kind of dissapointed with my verbal and AWA score considering all, but can't really complain. Key is to do it fast enough so you have time to check all your answers at least once to make sure you don't make silly mistakes (for the qant section), but also slow enough that you are taking your time to get each question right as you go along.

[iSwami11]

Congrats and thanks for posting your experience.

 

Do you remember the name of the apps you used for Vocab? I have an iPhone and would love to get some of those apps on there for vocab.

 

 

Thanks!

[Bobsi]

The app was Kaplan GRE (or could be Kaplan GRE Flashcards) - contained 501 words. 3 levels (167 words each).

 

Also started doing Painless GRE app, but didn't really go through all of it (maybe did 10%). More drill based so it really hammers it home, but you can't go through it as fast as the Kaplan one.

 

There is zero or very little archaic vocab in the new test in my experience.

[Abu Anas]

Wow! Awesome score, indeed! Would you please advise me on how to do improve my maths skills? What are the tricks to do well in maths? What guides/books can be helpful for a beginner like me?

 

Kind regards,

 

Russell

Dhaka, Bangladesh

[Abu Anas]

Wow! Astounding score, indeed! Forgot to mention RC. RC questions seem to be difficult to answer, even if I find little difficulty in understanding the meaning of paragraphs. So what are the secrets of answering RC questions as fast possible. Again, would you please advise me on how to do sharpen my maths skills? What are the tricks to do well in maths? Just to give you a sense: I secured not so good grade in maths in secondary exam. What guides/books can be helpful for a beginner like me?

 

Kind regards,

 

Russell

Dhaka, Bangladesh

[Bobsi]

I am not sure if I am the best person to give you advice about this because my situation is quite different to yours. I am generally good at math (and the GRE Quant exam is really nothing more than mid high mathematics with some tricks thrown in) and for me the RC section is the easiest. I think not being in a country where English is the first language is huge disadvantage when it comes to the RC, which may mean that you will have to approach it differently to me.

 

This is what I did to prep for each (sorry if this is repeat of what I have said before):

 

1) The math was pretty straight forward, what I had to prep for though was making sure I didn't make any stupid mistakes (fall for any of their tricks) and also that I did not forget any formulas that I needed to know for the test (and there really is not too many you need to know). So prep just consisted of doing some practice exams to get good at getting into the "zone" and also recognise the mistakes that I would typically make so that I would look out for them. In the test you just have to make sure you read every single part of the question, so that you don't make silly mistakes (in the practice tests I did, this was the main reason I would get a question wrong). So as I said, I think I did 5 or so practice quant tests and then did a few hours of targeted study to make sure I was comfortable with everything.

 

If you are not so strong in maths, then you may need to do a little more (although I think having the above in mind would be good in the final stages of your prep). I have not seen all the books out there, but I would recommend the NOVA Press GRE prep course. It is the book I browsed through to make sure I knew all the formulas and tricks for the quant section, and then did some targeted practice for some of the sections. You may want to go through the whole thing. I don't think you will find that any of the material is new, but it is good revision and will give you plenty of practice. I would also recommend that you don't use a calculator in the early parts of your preparation. I did my first 4 practice exams without a calculator or pen and paper, and I found that generally helped speed me up when it came to the test (when I was checking my answers the second time around though I would use pen and paper during the test).

 

The Nova Press book may also be good for the verbal prep, but I can't be sure as I did not use it for that at all.

 

As I said, it is hard for me to recommend a method for the RC. My biggest preparation for the RC was just reading through the sample answers and reasoning for the new GRE sample test provided on the website to get an idea of how much you can assume things when reaching conclusions in relation to certain passages. I think most of the RC answers are pretty obvious if you really understand the passage, but there are a few where there appears to be a couple of right answers, but one just goes too far. This is the kind of thing I had to get a better feel for when I prepared (I think the Princeton New GRE book is quite good for this too .... but perhaps too short if you need a lot of practice with RC).

 

If you are struggling with the RC, then I think you just need to do a lot of practice. There is a lot of material out there. LSAT, GMAT and GRE all have reading comprehension I believe. Just get your hand on as much material as possible and do them. There is no other way as far as I can tell with it. If you find doing sample tests dull after a while, you should start reading different types of materials - scientific, political, historical, journalistic, etc so you get better at disecting material.

 

Oh yes. Another thing with RC is that some people recommend not reading the whole passage to begin with. I personally like to read the whole thing to get a better feel for the passage, and then go back to answer specific questions. Can be quite time consuming, but I think with the verbal test, the other sections can be done so quickly that you can afford to spend a little more time with the RC. But again, this is something that you should try to account for yourself, depending on fast you can do the test, and how fast you can read. I don't really have any tricks for doing RC. The only thing I can recommend is that you need to be strict with your logic in answering the questions.

 

Hope that is of some help. Sorry I cannot really give you any better advice.

[caa5042]

thanks for the advice.Seems its a good idea to actually read and understand the passages before trying to answer the questions. i am a slow reader and i've found there's enough time to actually read the passages. So thats my new strategy

 

But yeah some people are just sharper and quicker than others and you seem to be one of those people. Your score is insane..

[Bobsi]

But yeah some people are just sharper and quicker than others and you seem to be one of those people. Your score is insane..

 

I think we all have our strength and weeknesses - I have terrible terrible memory and cannot write anything more than a paragraph long (essay or creative) of decent quality. I was just lucky that what they required in the AWA is so limited and nothing like resembling writing a proper essay.

 

I also think that not living in an English speaking country is a serious disadvantage for the Verbal section of the paper, specially for the RC. I have been living in an English speaking country for 17 years and have studied high school and undergrad in the same countries. You really do get a feel for the language in a way that you can't if you are trying to force learn it.

 

Anyway, I wish everyone the best of luck.

[Abu Anas]

Dear Bobsi:

 

Thanks for your detailed response, I was overwhelmed. It will, I think, benefit each of the forum members who are struggling with maths and RC.

 

Erin says: No contact information, please.

 

Wish you all the best,

 

Russell

[grephd]

Dear Bobsi,

I wanted to ask, whether your raw scores after the test any close to the final official scores, I mean for Quantitative and verbal sections or were they the same as raw score ??

Thanks.