LadyDi

Erin, what are you talking about? The first few questions on each GMAT section are critical to your score. You start out with one that's of average difficulty, and if you answer correctly, they get harder until you get one wrong, and then they get a bit easier. The harder questions early on have more of an impact on your score than questions at the end. All the books say it's important to spend more time on those first 5-10 questions, becuase they affect your score much more than the last few. I think even ETS says that. Has something changed that we don't know about?

The PR practice tests are closer to the real thing (not quite as mindblowing as the really hard tests). Use their book for strategy, and the tests for practice, but yeah, do the Powerprep ones last.

I would recommend the PR Math Workout book. It has some good practice questions, and the more practice, the better. You might want to also see if a used bookstore or college bookstore near you has some used math textbooks, as long as they also have answer keys!

No, but PR's books are pretty good. I've used Cracking the GMAT CAT (took the GMAT a few years ago) and it was very, very helpful. I remembered the strategies when I took a practice GRE a little while ago. Excellent book.

Get Cracking the GRE with the 4 tests on CD. Excellent book. Even if you're taking the paper-based test, the strategies and practice are very helpful. Princeton Review also puts out separate verbal and math workbooks that are good, so if you need extra practice, get those too. And definitely study your vocab!!

You're going to have to get over your dislike of vocab and study the words...it will make a big diff. Also try Verbal Workout...very handy book that has lots of practice questions.

I agree, you have plenty of time to prep. Don't worry about placement, etc. It won't do much good to worry about a problem that may never materialize. For now, focus mostly on your studies, and begin to explore different schools that you may want to apply to. Depending on your summer plans, you can focus on preparing for the GRE over the summer, and then take the GRE at the end of the summer. You'll want to study vocab and also get very familiar with the structure of the test. Princeton Review is very good for test strategy, so when it comes time to prepare, try Cracking the GRE. Excellent, excellent guide to the GRE. For now, though, just don't worry!

I'm not quite sure what you're asking me, but different colleges and programs give the GRE different weights. It depends on the school. My boyfriend had a less-than-stellar undergrad GPA, but totally nailed the GRE and got in easily to UVA's graduate aerospace engineering program. It really depends on the school and what their requirements are. Do a school search on review.com - they list stats for the graduate programs and you can see GRE scores for the schools that reported them.

Your academic record matters more, of course. GRE is not a big a deal for grad school as the GMAT is for b-school or LSAT is for law school, but it's still important. Look at the admissions info or stats pages of the schools you're interested in, and they should tell you average, minimum or expected scores. It IS important, though, so don't blow it off!

They do not average your scores...they send each score from each time you've taken the test. I'm not sure if you can cancel a score report, but if you want the schools you were going to send them to to see your most recent attempts, then they will get all scores.

Try Princeton Review's Math Workout book for GRE. It's pretty solid, lots of practice questions and good tips.

You can get books on Amazon.com or bn.com. My fave is PR's Cracking the GRE. Excellent strategies, solid overall prep, 4 practice tests on CD. The official materails (you get those when you register) are a must too.