GRE Preparation

 I have done my B.Tech. from VIT University, Vellore Campus in Electronics and Communication Engineering with Specialization in Internet of Things and Sensors (2021 batch). In this article I hope to provide the readers preparing for the GRE with some tips and advice which they may find useful in getting a good score.

The GRE General Test measures your verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, critical thinking and analytical writing skills through two Quants sections, two Verbal sections and an Analytical writing section (Essay section). Most of the top universities across the USA, Canada, UK and Singapore require a good GRE score for getting an admission in a master’s course. Even though the public universities in Germany and some good universities across Europe don’t need a GRE score, it is always a plus point to have in your resume. For those who want to prepare seriously for GRE I suggest getting an online subscription to a portal of any good coaching class. This gives you better, tailor-made practice resources and is a relatively cheaper option when compared to an actual coaching class. According to me for those who are proficient in English, 2-2.5 months of focused preparation is more than enough while those who are not comfortable with English will require 3-3.5 months of preparation. GRE can be attempted multiple times, once every 21 days, up to five times within any continuous rolling 12-month period. 

Some Tips for Quants Section :

1. Note down important formulae in a copy and revise them periodically. Contact me for my formulae list.

2. Give special focus on solving practice questions and solving them quickly. Practice daily if possible when the exam is near. Never allow a large gap to come in between your quants practice.

3. While practicing use the calculator rarely and only for tough calculations.

4. Review your solved questions and re-solve the questions which you got wrong or the tough questions multiple times. 

5. The problems in GRE are of easy nature and they mainly test your ability to solve multiple questions quickly and accurately.

Some Tips for Verbal Section :

1. Look up the words given in the Magoosh app in the vocabulary flashcards section and the words given in Barron’s frequent 300 words list. Contact me for the pdf.

2. Keep notes of the words which you find tough to remember in the above list and revise them periodically. 

3. Start practicing, filling in the blanks, similar words and passage questions side by side.

4. Note down the difficult words you could not understand while practicing and their meanings. Revise them periodically.

5. A lot of practice is required for getting a knack of solving passage questions. So don’t panic if the passage questions seem too tough at the beginning.

Some Tips for Essays and Mock tests :

1. The marks of GRE essays are separate from the GRE score out of 340. Some universities don’t consider the marks obtained in this section while some universities keep a cut-off margin in this section which you have to clear.

2. For the GRE essays section I suggest looking up the standard formats of issue essay and argument essay and going through some really good example essays. For this I suggest this app.

3. The preparation for the essay part can be done in the last 2-3 weeks, so don’t worry much about it in the beginning.

4. For mock tests I suggest using the free tests offered by ETS (official GRE platform), Kaplan, Manhattan prep, Crunchprep and Princeton review. These tests are enough according to me.

5. Don’t just attempt tests for the sake of attempting them. After attempting a test, review your mistakes in the test, do some additional preparation and then give the next test.

6. The tests offered by ETS are very close in the difficulty level to the actual test so attempt them after thorough preparation. 

7. Also don’t skip the essays while attempting the mock tests. The fatigue factor doesn’t come into picture if you skip the essays and you won’t be assessing your preparation and stamina correctly.

Note : All this has been written from the author’s personal experience and he has scored 331/340 in GRE. You can contact the author for any feedback, doubts, suggestions and for getting some extra resources at his Instagram handle.