I figured since I referred back to this page a bunch of times over studying for the psych gre, I should come back, and let y'all know how I did, and how I studied. I got my score today, I got a 790, 98th percentile. I realized I had to take the psych gre one month (really 5 weeks) before taking it so I crammed for a month straight. (I took it April 2011)
In the order in which I did it:
I basically read (ie not memorized) Princeton Review 2-3 times. Then I went through Kaplan very, very slowly and made flashcards for every single term. This took me hours on end, but because many terms refer to other terms etc, this was very good for learning the material. When I finished that I carried around a stack of flashcards (total around 950 flashcards, broken up into maybe 8-9 stacks) at all times, when I was standing still - I was doing flashcards. I then went through Princeton Review (quickly) looking for any terms that I hadn't done in Kaplan and made flashcards for those. Then I took Princeton Review's test. Then Kaplan 1 and 2. Then the ETS test that they send you. I went through the ETS test a number of times... I took the ETS practice test a week and half before the actual psych gre. I did pretty well on it, but freaked out because I felt like it wasn't so much stuff I had studied, more that I happened to know these facts from learning them in psych classes. I ordered REA on two day shipping and did four of their practice tests. I would take a test, mark it and then slowly go through the test looking up and making a list of every term and it's explanation. [Note that I was still doing the flashcards over and over again until the very end.] That's pretty much it.
My thoughts on the various things:
It really, really does help if you've taken psych courses in college. That being said, if I had more time, go through an intro to psych textbook, notes from someone or watch a course online... [i didn't but I wish I had.]
Kaplan and Princeton Review are very, very different. Kaplan explains things way more in depth, Princeton will give you more terms. In complement with each other, they are great. Using only one will probably hurt you. I saw a lot of people mention ARCO which I couldn't get my hands on, but I think between Kaplan and Princeton you should be okay.
REA is useful if you are incredibly anal and anxious like me. It gives you endless questions, note: many of which are way harder than ETS questions. The questions also refer to people and things that are quite obscure. The style is sometimes so far from how ETS makes up their questions. You should realize though, that Kaplan and Princeton's questions are easier than ETS. The truest score you'll get is taking ETS's. I would advise that you take it when you feel you would be comfortable taking the actual gre, since that will help you gauge where you are really at.
Also, look at the topics the gre covers, if you haven't taken a course in that, firstly, focus on that topic, secondly, if you have more time than I did: get someone's notes and read/study them. It'll help and will at least make you feel like you have a handle on the questions and not like they are coming out of left field.
the best piece of advice that I found about the gre: there will always be questions and terms and people who you have never heard of. Don't freak out - you can do really well with getting a good number wrong, or leaving them out.
Major good luck to everyone!!
