mystal

I only had three days to study because I'd just gotten back to the states from studying abroad, but in those three days I worked my way through the entire Barron's book and read part of Peterson's essay book (both borrowed from the library...definitely check out your library for books!), and took the two powerprep tests, so I felt relatively prepared. Writing was fine. This book really helped: Amazon.com: GRE: Answers to the Real Essay Questions: Everything You Need to Write a Top-Notch GRE Essay (Peterson's GRE Answers to the Real Essay Questions) (9780768928211): Mark Alan Stewart: Books I didn't read any of the sample essays, but their instruction was great and definitely needed. I'll be surprised if I get under a 5. Verbal was better than I expected. I knew most of the words except for on the last two questions (I memorized Barron's top 500 during my time abroad). I got three critical reading passages much to my dismay, and spent a lot of time of those. I got a 600 on both of the powerpreps, so I'm happy with the 660. Math was SO AWFUL!!!! I took a powerprep practice test last night, thought it was really easy and got a 780. The real deal was much, much harder! I guess I was just unlucky. The questions seemed much more complicated and involved. But maybe it's because I wasn't in the right frame of mind. I was kinda freaking out cuz the problems were harder than I'd expected. I spent a lot of time on the first ten questions, like people suggested, and I must have spent way too much time on one or two problems in the middle because I ended up having to guess on almost a third of the questions, and I didn't even get to the end of the section! I didn't have an experimental section, for which I was grateful. =) I clicked through the research section really fast and got to my score. Imagine my relief when I saw that I'd gotten a 710 in math! I was so sure I'd bombed it. I'm not exactly happy with the 710 because I know I can do better, but considering the circumstances, it could've been a lot worse! 710 is rather unspectacular for math (I was hoping for at least a 760), but I'm not sure it's bad enough to warrant a retake. Overall, my testing experience was just fine. The environment was nice. Warmer and more sunlight than I expected, and they gave me earmuffs, which was cool. I think I did my best with the situation I was handed, but if I'd had more time to prepare, I definitely would have done more practice tests to become more familiar with the format and learn how to pace myself! Just for reference, my SAT score was 720m 750v the first time I took it and 800m 740v the second time.

Thanks for your writeup, and congrats on your great score! =) I'm taking my GRE tomorrow, and I'm hoping for a similar experience! I only had three days to study so I've been super nervous, but I just took a powerprep practice got got 780m 600v which is a-okay with me. Thinking I'll go for a swim tomorrow morning, have lunch, then give it my best!

Barron's flashcards are awesome.

ID, test confirmation, names of schools, water? I read on the ETS website that you can't bring food. So no snacks? :( No pencils I'm assuming?

I'm taking the GRE in three days, trying to cram in information haha. So, what's with the unscored and research sections? I read that the research section is always at the end and it's identified, and the unscored section is random? Is this right? I assume the unscored section will be identifiable anyway since it'll probably be the new format? And does this mean there are four sections in total plus the two essays? Whew that's a lot... Thanks!

Says an online practice problem. Does this make sense to anyone?

Guys, this is really frustrating. It's a problem from an online practice test. "Isosceles triangle DEF has a perimeter of 24 and side DE has a length of 12." Column A: Side EF Column B: Side DF I answered D because this triangle is not possible!!! (see triangle inequality) D is right, but the answer key says: "The correct answer is (D). An isosceles triangle has two sides of the same length. The two equal sides could be DE and EF or DE and EF. They could also be DF and EF. The correct answer can’t be determined from the information provided." This must be a mistake, right? What I really would like to know is, will the real GRE give you a triangle that can't exist or something like that, and have the answer be D?