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I need to start studying for the GREs and I'm curious about the different study guides. Can someone recommend which of the study guides are best? Kaplan? Princeton Review? Should I get the ones with the cd/dvd? I saw a Kaplan one that had some sort of special online access too.
Does anyone have any other suggestions or advice worth thinking about? I've been to the ETS website and checked out their resources, which seem really helpful. Anything else?
Posts: 8741 | Registered: Apr 2001
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The ETS provided materials are quite good. I think I bought the Barron's book, and yeah, it was pretty helpful as well. I spent the vast majority of my time on Number2.com though, which was actually recommended to me by someone on here. It's especially good because it's completely online, so you can access it from any computer anywhere.
What are your strengths/weaknesses? Are you more of a Math person or English? One word of advice - Even if you're someone (like me) who is intuitively good at Reading/Writing, STUDY! I was cocky and didn't study at all for it and got kicked in the face. Come to think of it, the thread in which I asked for help on studying for the GRE math portion is around here somewhere. You could probably look under topics started by me. I don't start too many, so it shouldn't be too far down the list. I will warn you, I didn't do amazing (1310), but I guess it all depends on what you want.
Posts: 2827 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Being up all night the night before the test nursing a teething baby will affect your math brain more than your language brain.
Sorry, that's all I got. I didn't actually study for it other than doing some of the online sample questions.
Posts: 9866 | Registered: Apr 2002
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I studied up on GRE words. The English part of the test seems to be a bit harder all around, even if that is a strength of yours. At least, when I took it a lower English score still got me a higher percentile.
Other than that, I took a couple of practice tests which got me comfortable with the format but I don't think it matters which brand name study guide you go for.
To be honest, I didn't find the test to be all that hard.
Posts: 2392 | Registered: Sep 2005
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The study materials provided by ETS are great. I don't think you need anything else - if you do all their stuff, that's many hours of studying and is sufficient.
Plus, free!
I had the opposite experience from Christine: the English test was very easy, but the math was harder, because a higher score equals a lower percentile than in the English world.
It all depends on what you want to do in grad school, though. Still, studying the math seemed more useful. It is easier to brush up on math concepts than memorize words hoping some appear on the test.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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quote:What are your strengths/weaknesses? Are you more of a Math person or English?
Like I said, I guess you would call me more of a math person, with a caveat. When I was younger and we had to take standardized tests(Iowa tests where I was) I was always 99th percentile in both the math and comprehension sections, but somewhere in the 70s or 80s in vocab.
dkw, as far as I know I have no babies, so as long as I'm not up the night before nursing any ferrets I should be okay.
Posts: 8741 | Registered: Apr 2001
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quote: I was always 99th percentile in both the math and comprehension sections, but somewhere in the 70s or 80s in vocab.
For me it was 97+ on everything but spelling. Was about 75ish on spelling. I may be thinking of the CATs, but they were tests broken out into many many categories.
Posts: 5656 | Registered: Oct 1999
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What everyone else said about the ETS materials is true.
Some fun facts: you can score a 670 on the verbal and be in the 95th percentile and a 790 on the math and be in the 92nd percentile. I got 50th percentile on the essay. You'd think with all the message board posting I do that I would be better at arguing on the computer, but no, I'm bad at essays. If you poke around on the GRE website, you'll find that they have a PDF of every single essay question they ask. I found it reassuring.
Posts: 1757 | Registered: Oct 2004
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The main thing to keep in mind on the analytical writing section is, stay on point. In the one where they ask you to criticize the argument, do not start making a counter-argument. In the one where they ask you to make an argument, do not criticize the subject. The former is a particularly common way to mess up.
edit: also, what sort of grad school are you aiming for? Grad schools only care about parts (if any) of the GRE being scored highly, depending on what sort of school they are. If it isn't a program involving math, don't study math, in particular.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Also, bring a watch or something, and keep track of time when you're taking it, if it's the online version. I didn't do as well on the math as I was hoping, because they give you one question on the screen at a time, and I was never sure how much time I had left.
Posts: 910 | Registered: May 2000
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All the products are about the same. I'd say putting in 10-15 hours is probably about right. It'll raise your score and doing much more than that probably wont help. ETS is all right but I found it easier to use a book though I don't know if it's worth the price. I did it because I got a GRE (Kaplan) study guide as a birthday present, just a heads up to you parents of potential grad students out there: not the world's best present idea ever. I think just taking a second extra for each question to pause and ensure you know what the question is really asking helps a lot. The GRE is in general, incredibly easy; not 100% true when it comes to some of the vocab but in general the problem is mistakes, tricks and not being omniscient. Rarely will failure to be able to correctly answer be a result of lack of intelligence. Meaning what you want to get out of your study is familiarity with the question style and a feeling of comfort to help you in the test. Memorizing some vocab will help but you can't memorize everything between now and the test.
posted
As fugu said, how (and how much) you study really depends on the type of program you're looking to enter. In my case, for instance, I was looking to enter an econ ph.d program, so the goal was to get above 780 on math and to not embarrass myself in the other sections, since that's all the programs cared about. So that's how I focused my studying - I only looked over the format of the English sections (no vocab study), reviewed the expectations and a few sample questions for the analytical section, and made sure I was quick for all the math sections. And the day before the exam I ran through the practice tests that you can download from the ETS website (I recommend doing this).
I used Barron's for review, and I liked it a lot. I think, in general, it was more difficult than the actual test. Like Hobbes, I don't think the GRE is very difficult - it is to the SAT as junior college is to high school. It measures more your ability to take tests than it does your knowledge - which is fine for it's purposes, actually, because I think that the sort of people who do well on standardized tests like the GRE are more likely to do well in most types of graduate programs.
Posts: 2409 | Registered: Sep 2003
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Just a couple things to add. First, Strider, I'd be a little cautious about the writing. It's unlike anything you've had to do since about 7th grade, and they are looking for something very specific. It's definitely worth your time to look over someone's essay template. I recommend Kaplan, but that's just because I work for them . As to the math, if you've kept up on it since college, you're probably fine.
I disagree with some others on vocab. No, you can't memorize every word between now and test day, but there's a list of about 200 that they test more than any others. If you're determined, you can learn those in a month. Other than that, study common word roots and you can figure out something close to the right meaning of a lot of words. For most verbal questions, getting close to the meaning is enough, since all the questions are multiple choice. There are also a few strategies you can use to eliminate wrong answers, which helps a lot. Good luck!
Posts: 354 | Registered: Jan 2006
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I seriously hope the writing isn't unlike anything he's had to do since seventh grade. The making an argument section should have been something done several times in every high school English class, and the tearing apart an argument should have been done fairly often as well.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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I used kaplan and princeton review. But I used the books mostly so I could practice math because I hadn't done that type of math in so long. The princeton review's guide to setting up your scratch paper was great.
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
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thanks for the advice on the analytical section fugu. As for the type of program, it'd be in cognitive science(though I would be admitted into a particular school, be it philosophy or psychology). So the verbal section will be of more importance than I'd really like it to be.
raventhief, I wasn't implying i wasn't going to study for the other sections, just that I'm more comfortable with them. I won't be taking any chances with this!
Posts: 8741 | Registered: Apr 2001
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also, I think the population of Hatrack is to smart for its own good. This is the only place I could come to asking for GRE studying advice and the get a bunch of responses along the lines of, "ehh...don't worry about it. It's not so hard!"
Posts: 8741 | Registered: Apr 2001
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I just started studying for the GRE myself. Two other friends and I sat down with the Kaplan Math review and spent a few hours destroying our self esteem by realizing we are NOT in fact smarter than a fifth grader.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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Lyrhawn: if you want to go into history, I would spend approximately zero hours reviewing for math. A history department wouldn't even look at your math scores (unless it is a university with a required minimum, mostly some public ones -- but the minimum is typically very minimal).
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Researching grad schools myself, many schools have a requirement for a minimum total score which usually cannot be achieved on the verbal section alone. I'm not saying that you need to need to ace the math section to get into a history program, but if you're bad at math (like me) or if you haven't done the kind of math you need for the GRE in a long time, you should study for it at least a little.
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
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Yeah, that's what I'm doing. I'm not spending a LOT of time on it, but I'm doing all the practice tests and seeing what simple things I've forgotten. I haven't taken an actual math class of ANY kind in something like nine or ten years. And I've forgotten a lot of relatively simple things, (I've learned) like how to divide fractions (it took about 10 seconds to relearn, but I simply forgot). It's easy and fast to relearn, and I don't really plan to delve into the details, but I figure it's good to refresh my memory quickly while I have the time, at the very least on HOW to do things.
I plan to spend far more time working on the verbal section. I'm usually somewhat (though not spectacularly) above average when it comes to test taking. But my best area is essay writing. Given my strengths, weaknesses, and the composition of the test, I don't think a couple hours on the GRE math section will mean much wasted time.
Thanks for the advice though, from both of you, I'll take it into consideration, and won't waste a lot of time on math...but I won't totally ignore it either. I'm actually somewhat unfamiliar with what exactly a prospective history department will look at in trying to get into a program, but I'm betting recommendations, GPA, and a good GRE are probably the three most important factors. So best not to ignore a key component, even if they do end up dropping the math portion entirely (which I both hope and suspect they will). It'd be nice if they'd drop every portion of my GPA that wasn't history related as well. I'd have a near perfect 4.0.
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. As to the math, if you've kept up on it since college, you're probably fine.
