How To Prepare For GRE | GRE Preparation

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Verbal- 160, Quant-161, and AWA-3.5

It has been more than 170 days since I appeared for the GRE General Test. An avid user of Quora, GRE is one of the topics which I follow on the platform. Most of the questions posted revolve around how to prepare for GRE, how many months are required, which books to read, so on and so forth. This compelled me to write about my preparation strategy in the months leading up to the D-day (read the actual GRE test) on the second of August 2018. Please note that my way of studying may not suit you, but then what’s the harm in reading someone’s two cents on this matter!

Quant

The questions aren’t difficult. But what makes them challenging is their framing; you need to read the question carefully to get the hang of it. Skimming over them too hastily should be avoided at all costs. For example, one question that I came across while solving a mock was as follows:

           

A quick glance says the answer is C. Wrong! The answer is D because quantity B can be either +8 or -8. You need to be acute while reading the question and understand the information being conveyed. A big mistake that test-takers often commit is making assumptions of their own while solving. The same can be seen in the above example. Nowhere was it mentioned that the square root of 64 can only be positive. So, take care of two points: Reading the question carefully and avoiding assumptions at all costs.

For the question bank, I referred to Manhattan GRE 5 lb.Book of GRE Practice Problems,2nd Edition. The book has been revamped over the years and if you could get your hands on the latest edition, it’d be great. But the old editions are equally beneficial. The 2nd edition is from 2013 and did the job for me. Once I was done with it, the emphasis was on mock tests only. And my performance let me identify the areas in quant that I had to further improve in. A comprehensive topic-wise set of books called The Manhattan GRE set of 8 Strategy Guides lets you practice specific topics, such as trigonometry, for quant preparation. Though I didn’t find the need for it, you can use it to solve more problems and hone your accuracy.

Verbal Reasoning

Non-native English speakers dread this section because an excellent score obtained in quant is often bogged down by underperforming in verbal. I’ll put forth my advice for verbal reasoning in two parts.

A. Vocabulary based questions such as text completion and sentence equivalence

Learning more than a thousand words for an aptitude test may seem as hard as moving mountains. And to be honest, there’s no walkaround to this requirement. Your existing vocabulary determines the number of hours you need to build a credible repertoire of words. My approach to the same was:

1. Download Barron’s 800 Essential Words for GRE, Magoosh GRE Flashcards, and the word list given in the ending pages of Manhattan GRE 5 lb. Book of GRE Practice Problems.
2. This was followed by creating a document containing the words obtained by combining these three prep sources. You’re going to find the repetition of words as you go through each of the materials, one after the other.
3. Finally, using the ‘mnemonics’ technique to understand the meaning of each word. In learning through mnemonics strategy, you link the word to abstract sentences or phrases. The rationale, that’s often stated behind this strategy, is the human mind’s ability to retain unconventional information better. For instance, to remember ‘abject’, which means miserable or pitiful, the mnemonic I used was “Abject sounds like reject, anyone who gets rejected will be in HOPELESS and MISERABLE condition”. It sounds weird, but then it worked for me. MnemonicDictionary was a savior for me here. Whenever I fell short on conjuring a mnemonic, this was the go-to website for help.
4. I also kept a track of the new words that I came across during problem-solving.

It’s going to be a tedious journey; in my case, it took nearly 45-50 days before I could say with confidence that GRE vocabulary was no longer an issue. Have patience, and if mnemonics don’t work for you, don’t get disheartened. Some test takers use images for connecting words and their meanings, while others resort to rote-learning.

B. Reading Comprehension (RC)

For this, one ought to develop above-average analysis skills and most importantly, the perseverance to read through long passages numerous times—without caving into frustration. The entire game here revolves around eliminating the wrong answer choices and zeroing in at the right option. Practicing is the key here—the more you falter during training, the better you perform in the actual test. I used to solve comprehensions from a variety of resources, from GMAT Club, to those present in free mock tests. Whatever you get your hands, don’t be afraid to give it a shot. Make sure that you have the answer key for the same. Hours of hindsight analysis depends on having the accurate/verified answers.

To develop the ‘process-of-eliminating-the-wrong-choice’ acumen, I referred to The Ultimate Guide to Destroy GRE Reading Comprehension. If this doesn’t suffice, there are numerous free guides out there to arm you with problem-solving tips and techniques for all kinds of RCs.

You've to dedicate time for strengthening your verbal reasoning prep, and this calls for a cycle of practice-revise-repeat. Solve as many questions as possible, especially for the comprehensions!

Analytical Writing (AWA)

There’s not much to say here—your existing command over churning essays and articles forms the crux for AWA. That aside, you can refer to the official GRE practice test writing responses, which has been made available by ETS (the organization that conducts GRE tests worldwide). A few tips from my side would be:

1. Write a minimum of 500 words since quantity complements the quality of your written response.
2. Give examples to substantiate your proposition, preferably a minimum of two to three. Take cues from your life experiences, or maybe something that you have witnessed or heard of.
3. Don’t clutter your writing in the form of a single paragraph; split your content into various parts. Though there’s no accepted standard of the number of paragraphs, templates available online in the form of documents or videos on YouTube shall clear your doubts.

To conclude, here are a few suggestions for the test taker:

1. It’s a lengthy test (I took nearly three and a half hours to complete it). So, develop the ability to sit in front of the computer screen at a stretch—without losing focus.
2. Give as many mocks as possible. Treat the results as the cornerstone for giving your best shot on the day of the actual GRE test. Yocket is particularly useful if you’re searching online for mock tests. Mark my words, its online community is going to prove invaluable in ways you wouldn’t have imagined!
3. Don’t get too stressed out if some phases of preparation leave you devoid of energy. If your basics are clear, you’ll eventually solve the quant/verbal question that has been bothering you for the past two days.
4. For AWA, don’t try to bamboozle the evaluator through the overuse of fancy vocabulary. The intent should be to articulate your opinions in an unambiguous manner.
5. If your first attempt at GRE doesn’t live up to your expectations, chill! Take some time off, analyze the shortcomings in your preparation, and take another shot at it.
6. Luck has a significant role to play when you appear for the actual GRE test.
7. Keep a track of the challenging/ difficult questions that you encountered during your study phase. Solving them along with mock tests is a morale booster.
8. Revise your vocabulary list regularly. Preparing an exhaustive list of words is an effort gone in vain when you don’t remember anything in the first place!
9. Last but not the least, learn to use the ‘Mark for Review’ option when attempting the mock tests. It pains me to recall the fact I lost five marks in quant because of not utilizing it!