Finally done with my GRE -score 1520 - 780 Q,740 V

[sbs25]

Wow I just took the GRE today and I also got the SAME exact scores you did. I found this board by typing in "740 GRE verbal" lol. What's uncanny is that I ALSO felt horrible immediately after completing my Quant section, nearly convinced that I had bombed it!! I had a third section though (a Verbal) which was not marked research so I had to complete it fully but for the most part, even as I went through the third section what was foremost in my mind was feeling upset over what I perceived that I was about to receive a low quant score. Funnily I felt that the second Verbal section was easier so I don't know if that was the actual Verbal section that counted.

I was SO RELIEVED and in disbelief when I saw 740 Verbal and 780 Quantitative! I also have to agree that I totally felt that the actual Quantitative section was MUCH harder than the ones given on the Powerprep. But I didn't find myself rushing to get to the end although I "relaxed" when I saw I had 10 minutes and 5 questions left which wasn't a very good idea (you really need to work quickly no matter how much time you have left).

Anyways I am so glad that is over! The scores are quite good enough to say the least. The Writing section I don't need so much but I hope I did well on that too. I was getting about 5 via Princeton Review. Anyways glad it's done and glad I don't have to retake it!!

[us_is_near]

Congos sbs thats an amazing score. Im sure even mervin would b pleased to hv found a partner . Talking about quants, im sure u would hv practiced with some testing materials excluding powerprep was the actual GRE quants tougher than them. I hv been using cambridge n kaplan for quants n i personaaly find them good (cannot compare them with GRE quants 'coz i got my exams in the next 10 days will surely know their degree of toughness after that). As per my opinion barron's n princeton CAT (for quants) r very dry.

Could u talk us thru ur verbal prep, i hv been getting a score of around 550 - 610 on verbal using different practicing materials, can u share some tips on ur preparation during the final days.

[sbs25]

Originally Posted by us_is_near

Congos sbs thats an amazing score. Im sure even mervin would b pleased to hv found a partner . Talking about quants, im sure u would hv practiced with some testing materials excluding powerprep was the actual GRE quants tougher than them. I hv been using cambridge n kaplan for quants n i personaaly find them good (cannot compare them with GRE quants 'coz i got my exams in the next 10 days will surely know their degree of toughness after that). As per my opinion barron's n princeton CAT (for quants) r very dry.

Could u talk us thru ur verbal prep, i hv been getting a score of around 550 - 610 on verbal using different practicing materials, can u share some tips on ur preparation during the final days.

Thanks us_is_near! I was initially practicing with PR but then I switched to Kaplan's GRE Premier 2009. I found Kaplan much nicer to work with. I find PR to kind of be condescending, both towards the test and the test-taker (imo). The only reason why I bought PR book was because it had a better rating on Amazon.com but that was totally misleading!! Kaplan's book was concise and better organized. The quality of paper of the Kaplan book is even better!

My opinion further is that although I personally found the Quants section on the actual test much harder, I am not sure everyone will find that. I am applying to a Quant program so it has nothing to do with whether my math is good or not. My experience is that Powerprep and other testing materials give the impression that much simpler concepts are going to be tested. Plus though I have to say that no matter how well you are with time when practicing, in taking the actual test, it ALWAYS feels like a losing race against the clock (at least to me).

As for my verbal preparation, both overall (which was less than 3 weeks) and during the final days, the only thing I really tried to do was go through the word lists in the Kaplan book and try taking as many practice exams as I could get my hands on. I generally read newspapers a lot which are good sources of new words so that's what has helped me the most with verbal over the years I have to say.

Incidentally I did much better on this GRE exam than I did 6 years ago when I first took it. Back then I had taken it thinking I would apply to grad school but I never did. I had to retake it since I am now applying for sure but the first score had expired of course. But since then my total score has jumped 200 points without much serious preparation. I think the most important thing about the GRE - other than speed of course - really is accuracy.

[us_is_near]

Thnx for the guidance.
What were ur scores on the practice CAT that u took?
Which testing material scores apart from PowerPrep dya think came close to ur actual score?

[sbs25]

I am unsure as to whether PR or Kaplan's tests were closer to PowerPrep results and my actual results. I am not sure if either of those have their scales off or what.

My PowerPrep scores were closest. On test 1 I got 720V/760Q, on test 2 I got 660V, 720Q. On the PR and Kaplan tests, I think the average was like 630V, 690Q.

[Sukhada Kulkarni]

Congratulations

[mailrachit]

congrats & thanks for the guidance

[anGel24]

congratulations great!! am giving GRE on monday and my score in tests is stagnant at round 1410-1460 am depressed i hope it doesnt stoop below 1450..

[ags_uber]

great score....

[qwarentine]

Mervin,
Thats a wonderful score. Congratz. I have my exam in few weeks. Could you tell me how did you prepare for quant ..