GRE, seeking advice

Iron Clad Ben · Post by **Iron Clad Ben** » 11 Oct 2006 09:49

GRE, graduate record exam.

I'm seriously considering going back to school for a masters in environmental engineering. I need to take this stupid GRE test. I bought a study guide book on it today, I will crack it open and see what's inside tonight. I've read about this test and the scoring system just sounds so bizarre. Your answers to the early questions can effect what questions you are asked later on, it sounds really convoluted and kind of scary.

I was hoping I could get some tips from people who have taken it (Grom, Ken, maybe some other people?). Just some basic thoughts on how to study for it, how much time is needed to prepare, and some possible pitfalls I might encounter being that I know very little about the test. Also any links to any helpful sites are appreciated too. I finished undergrad in spring '03 and I've been working ever since. So I'm probably kinda rusty on my academics.

Any input I can get from people with experience with this is appreciated. Thank you.

Pascal · Post by **Pascal** » 11 Oct 2006 20:43

Hey Ben,

I wrote the GRE in the fall of 2002, which is ages ago now. However, still recently enough to have taken the analytic writing section.

Most of the studying I did was for the verbal section, since I was confident in my abilities on the quantitative part. Even so, I looked at the guide to see what types of questions they would ask and to see if if there were any trick-type questions.

For the verbal section, I used the guide extensively, tried to remember their advice, and did as many practice problems I could find (this included online practice problems). During the test I felt like I started out well but then did poorly. However, I ended up with a decent score, so I think what happened is I answered the first couple of questions right and so they started throwing really tough ones at me.

As for the analytic writing part of the test, my only advice is to pay attention to the time remaining. Since it is typically done on a computer, they simply cut you off when time is up. Luckily I managed to finish both of my mini-essays, but with only 10 seconds remaining for one of them.

Hope this helps! Maybe someone who has taken it more recently will have better advice. Good luck!

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 18 Oct 2006 12:30

Maybe best if you just pm me your phone number and I give you a call. I took the GRE in April, and was disappointed with my Math score, so I took it again in May, and scored much better. I ended up scoring a 790 verbal, 770 math, just so you know the advice is coming from somebody who didn't bomb it. Here is some advice I wrote in an email to a friend, it should be a good start for you:

1. Since the GREs are computer adaptive, you should practice from a CD, as it will simulate the experience better for you. You won't be able to skip questions, and questions will become harder/easier depending on whether or not you get a question right.

2. Do NOT buy the Princeton Review "Cracking the GRE" book. The contents of the book are OK, and the CD looks real pretty, but the content of the CD are pretty lacking, especially in the math section. I took the GREs in April, after having practiced with this book, and I was way overconfident. The CD lacked rate problems, 30-60-90 triangles, and age problems. Contentwise, the Barron's review CD is better, though it is glitchy. I am sending you this CD, since it resembles the real GRE in format, and is pretty good in terms of content. Occasionally however, the same questions will appear WITHIN the SAME test! I don't know how that kind of glitch got by their bug testing, but it happens rather frequently. The best GRE prep material I used, was an ETS CD sent to me from this year. This CD looks exactly like the real GRE, and the content reflects the real test almost perfectly as well. I highly recommend you look at the sample answers in the essay section, cause it really gives you a good idea what they are looking for. I will also send this CD to you.

3. Some more general strategy about the computer adaptive GRE:

-the first third of the test affects your score more than anything. The last 4-5 questions can only affect your score by 10-30 points. This means that if you get the last 2 questions wrong on the test, your score will still be close to somebody who got the last 2 right (you may get like a 750, the other dude a 780). Conversely, if you get the FIRST two questions wrong on the test, you are essentially doomed to not break the 700s, even if you get every question right after that. So on the old GREs (the ones you took over 5 years ago), if you missed the first 3 questions, and your buddy missed the last 3 questions, you'd have the same score. Not so on the new GREs. You would score in the 600s, and your friend would score in the high 700s. Sucks eh? The strategy books therefore recommend you spend most of your time on the first third/half of the test, and then rush through the end. One book even recommended spending all your time on the first third/half, and then guessing on the remaining questions. I personally recommend double checking your answers in the beginning (to avoid stupid, yet costly, mistakes), and then towards the end of the test just trusting your work the first time.

-a study was done, analyzing what all high scoring essays (analytical part of the test) had in common. The answer? Length. Not vocab, not reasoning, just length. For me this translated into making lots of paragraphs, even if I didn't flesh out each paragraph as much as I wanted to. Again, look at the sample essays on the ETS CD I will send you. They are a very good template to base your own essays on.

-use scrap paper, even if you don't think its necessary. It doesn't take much time, and it catches a lot of your stupid mistakes. Really resist the temptation to just do stuff in your head. I didn't always follow this advice, but I think it is good advice.

-don't bother studying math too much the day before the test. It won't really affect your score too much. studying vocab on the other hand, CAN help. You never know if the word you study today appears on the test tomorrow, that can boost your score a little depending where on the test the word appears. For studying vocab, I recommend going to the library and getting an old GRE book. The new GRE books have short vocab lists, which you can learn pretty quickly. If these lists don't challenge you, or seem to easy, then go find a book which is over 10 years old. I used a 15 year old Barron's book, which had literally over 5 times as many words as the new editions do. It helped me out a lot.

-mathwise, here are some concepts which appeared on the GREs, which didn't appear on some of the practice CDs, or in some of the books. They aren't too hard, but don't neglect to study them, even if you don't see them in books/CDs.
*negative exponents
*30-60-90 triangles
*rate problems (3 guys paint a house in 2 hours. If one falls sick, and the other guy gets high off paint fumes, how long does it take to paint two houses?)
*age problems (mike is 3 times your age now. In 4 years, he is half your age. What the fuck?)
*counting (I am the 3d person in line, you are the 8th. How many people in between us?)
*probability.

None of the above concepts were on the Princeton review CD. Some, likenegative exponents, I didn't see anywhere until the test itself. So just giving you the heads up

notsohairlessape · Post by **notsohairlessape** » 20 Oct 2006 14:50

Good advice so far. I think its worth emphasizing that you should look at answers for the analytic writing section to see what they're looking for. When I took the test I got thrashed on that section partly because I had no idea what kind of an essay I should actually write. This didn't matter for me, I think, because most applicants to math Ph.D. programs are pretty inarticulate anyway. In your case it may be more important, though.

Also, don't think about how hard or easy the questions are during the test: just answer them. It's easy to get psyched out if you get an easy question since it seems like you should only get easy questions if you're not getting the right answers. This isn't necessarily the case, however, and it's definitely best not to worry about it.

Iron Clad Ben · Post by **Iron Clad Ben** » 06 Dec 2006 21:36

Yo guys, thanks for the tips! I've been studying for this bad boy. I'm taking the test Dec 27th!. That's in 3 weeks yikes!! Anyways, I'm feeling pretty confident on the math portion. It's all stuff I know. I've found a study buddy who is applying for grad school in linguistics. She works an editor so she's a well skilled writer and will probably ace all the verbal stuff, but hasn't done math in over 10 years. So we are good complements to each other and will help each other out a lot. I'm so nervous and excited about grad school!

Wish me luck

funklovesfootbag · Post by **funklovesfootbag** » 26 Jul 2007 11:15

Damn Ken, those are some fucking high scores.

I'm going to be happy if I get a 600 on each.

Seems like I always make some little mistake on the math problems, and there's just sooo much vocab... I realized I should have been studying harder about a week ago and still didn't really pick up the pace.

Oh well, hopefully I'll do well enough on saturday.

Sporatical_Distractions · Post by **Sporatical_Distractions** » 01 Aug 2007 15:28

If you take the GRE, and then take a year or two off from school right afterwards, do you have to retake the GRE again even if you do well? is there a time limit between taking the test and when you have to go back to school?

ted · Post by **ted** » 02 Aug 2007 11:21

Test results are good for 5 years.