GRE - Hap or Diligence?

Its been quite some time since my last blog post. My sem exams and then GRE had kept me away from blogging. After a bit of deliberation as to what my come back post is gonna be about, I decided it would be more useful if I share my GRE experiences with you. In this post I'll try to answer the basic question of "Whats matters the most in your GRE - luck or hard work?", then there some tips on how to go about things and finally some links which will help you in your GRE prep.

Before I took my exams, many test takers to whom i spoke said that a person should have considerable amount of luck to get a very good score in his/her GRE. Being an ardent believer in industriousness and intellect I had always rubbished the role of luck in competetive exams. After my own experience I am forced to change my opnion in this regard. Luck does play a major role in your GREs. Since's it a computer adaptive test the questions which you get and the order in which you get them plays a very major role in determining your scores. If you think that you can get away with just your luck, then it would be better if someone hits you on your head so that you could stop hallucinating. Luck is a big factor but its not the only factor. So make sure you put in a lot of hard work and leave rest to God(Note: If you are an atheist, leave it to the future).

Here are some tips which may be of some use.....

GENERAL:

1. Book your dates around 4 months before the time you intend to write. This would help you to pace your prep.


2. It is advisable to have the required documents before you book your dates.


3. Never take your quants lightly. Many people have a tendency to take quants for granted. Just don't do it. GRE quants is easy but there are a lot of pitfalls. So Beware.


4. The sooner you start the better it is( I am talkin about effective prep not just lazing around with Barron's or Kaplan's or any other XYZ book in your hand).


5. Try to plan your prep and most importantly try to stick on to your plans as much as possible.


6. Prepare effectively: It is not the number of hours you prepare which counts but the number of hours you prepare effectively which counts.


7. Try to take as many practise tests as possible. They help you in spotting your weak areas. Your final GRE scores will mostly lie near the average of your last 5 practise tests.


8. Try to take more number of CAT's. The traditional paper and pencil practise tests may help in the beginning but during the fag end of your prep take more number of CAT's.


9. Don't look at GRE as a burden, Instead look at it as challenge. Enjoy studying and this will help you a lot(just trust me with this one....).

VERBAL:

WORD LISTS:

1. Try to get familiarized with the wordlist. Mark the difficult words and work more on it.


2. If you have ample time in your hands, it will definitely not be a bad idea to prepare your own, custom made flash cards. You can include the word clusters if possible in them.


3. Try to get familiarized with the root and stem words(Kaplan has this).


4. Make sure you know the secondary meanings. Many GRE questions or based on secondary meanings rather than the common meanings.


5. If you dont feel comforatable studying the wordlists in a orderly fashion try studying it in a random manner. This will definitely help you to break the monotony of words with similar phonetics.(I would personally suggest studying in a random manner).


6. Make it a point to revise the words you have studied the previous day.


7. Try using the newly learnt words as much as possible. Read them contextually rather than blindly muggin em up.


8. If you have very little time for your prep then don't emphasize too much on muggin up the words. Its better to be exposed to 500 words rather completely knowing 50 words.


9. Try to learn in intervals. Never sit with your wordlists longer than couple of hours. Give the brain some refresh time.

ISSUE AND ANALYSIS TASKS:

1. Don't follow too many formats. Browse through all the formats and select the one which suits you the best( Stick to it. Don't keep changing formats it will harm you rather than helping you).


2. I appreciate the fact that you have learnt lot of new words during the course of your preparation but don't flaunt it in your essays. It's bound to irritate the evaluators.


3. You have the option to choose between two topics in issue task. Don't be hasty in choosing the topic. Study both the topics and choose the one for which you can do better justice. The time split which I generally use is as follows.








• 2 mins - To study both the topics


• 10 mins - To note down suitable points for both the essays and selection of a topic based on your comfort zone.


• 3 mins - To make a mental note of the flow of your essay.


• 25 mins - Typing your essay.


• 5 mins - Proof reading your essay.








4. The analysis task is comparatively easy. Make sure you find all the flaws in the given argument and never use phrases like "I feel", " I think"... etc. Remember that he is not asking for your opinion. You don't have a choice for an analyis task. Use 5 mins to note down the flaws. 20 mins to type your essay and another 5 mins for typechecking.

(NOTE: The time split up given here is ideal for a person who can type at a decent rate.)

ANALOGIES, ANTONYMS AND SENTENCE COMPLETION:

1. Try to know as many words as possible.


2. Forming a sentence using the words given in analogies may help you to elimante similar looking choices.


3. There will definitely be a hint for the right answer in the sentence completion question. Identify it and use it.


4. Beware of similar looking answers. Don't be hasty. After selecting your answer spend some extra ten seconds to confirm your answer.


5. These sections can be used to save some valuble time so be fast and accurate.

READING COMPREHENSION:

1. I would never suggest skimming through the passages.


2. Try to understand the context of passage and the author's mood.


3. While answering try to put yourself in author's shoes.


4. Never get mislead by the most obvious wrong answer.


5. There are around six types of question which can be asked in RC. Beware of those and try to catogerize the question which had been asked( You will find tactics about answering the specified type and details about various types in any good GRE guide).


6. Put in a little extra effort and a little extra time.


7. Don't get bogged down if you can't understand a single sentence. Move on. Ideally you can spend at the max around 2 to 2.5 mins for a 100 line RC.


8. Better practise to read faster(not just fast but also make sure you understand the meaning while you read fast).


9. Be prepared to face 3 RC's in a row. That is the worst case possible.

QUANTS:

1. Try to get familiarized with all the shortcuts and all possible formulae.


2. Speed counts here. Select a method which will yield the correct choice in the shortest amont of time.


3. Try to note down all the formulae seperately for quick refernce. This will definitely help you.


4. The QC questions are easy but tricky. You can save a lot of time there. Make sure to read the question properly(For example when he says an integer it means both positive as well as negative).


5. DI questions can be time consuming but is workable.


6. You can eliminate some choices in standard multiple choice questions. They are workable if you have a good knowledge of your formulae.

EXAM DAY AND DURING YOUR EXAM:

• Take all the necessary documents.


• Stay cool. Stop studying on the day of your exam. It's of no use banging your head with the books on the day of exam.


• Reach the centre an hour before the start of exam and feel comfortable.


• Try to avail the ten min break between the sections to regroup.


• Pens, watches, papers, calci are not allowed. He provides you with scratch papers and pencils for working out.


• He provides you a locker to keep your things so if you want take your cell phones and other stuff but leave it in locker.


• Don't indulge in malpractise. You will end up as the biggest looser if you try doing it. All sessions are video and audio taped.


• Try to answer the first ten questions in each of the sections correctly. This is going to decide your scores.


• If you feel that you had done a particular section badly don't panic. Its not the end of the story. Try to do the next section better.


• If a dummy section is asked try to do it properly. It does not count for your scores but do it properly.

SOME USEFUL LINKS:

• Orkut GRE community. Check this out. It will be really helpful. Never ignore the month's thread.


• EXAMBELL


• COOL CAREERS


• GRE-VERBAL


• ETS


• ANSWERS.COM


• PETERSONS


• GRADUATESHOT ONLINE


• SYVUM.COM


• ENGLISHTEST.NET

Hope this post was helpful to all the future test takers. And all the best for your GRE.

KP

PS:

• Don't ask me for my GRE scores.


• If you have any comments leave it here.