Title says it all:
Just kidding, I always hate that when people say that on digg.com. But I’m taking the GRE on monday. As I want to get into grad school for an MS in Information Systems (kind of like Computer Science but less focused on programming) I am primarily interested in my math score. I have taken a practice test, and I got a 680 on math there. Not the best, I realize, but still not too shabby. But do you guys have any advice at all?
I have noticed on the verbal section, it is nearly impossible to know for sure. I just give my best guess most of the time. I got a 630 on that, on the practice. I will do another practice tomorrow too. The timing is weird, and I haven’t taken a standardized test since I took the ACT in 2000. I always remember rushing during that test, but the verbal section of the GRE is always very short for me. I usually finish about 5 minutes ahead of time. But it’s crazy though, because I usually find myself looking at a screen where I don’t know the meaning of any of the words on the screen for analogies and such. Is that the way it’s supposed to be? Basically you have to use some sort of knowledge to infer a proper guess? I was surprised a lot of times about how many I got right though.
Generic Routing Encapsulation? My tip is, don’t use Check Point firewalls of version FP2 or below. They can’t handle GRE, which Microsoft’s PPTP requires.
I recommend working through the math review booklet that (I think) comes on the practice CD. Either that or its on the GRE website. It does a good job of going over the math problems the test focuses on. If your verbal score is already in the range that will get you in where you want to go, I recommend focusing your study time on the math. There are also writing sections now.
In all honesty, if you are taking it this Monday, relax and have good weekend. No amount of preparing will do anything 48 hrs before the test. Maybe review a little, but don’t psych yourself out.
The only way I know of to do well on the verbal part of the GRE is to read. A lot. Those word lists are, in my opinion, pretty much worthless. I’m not saying it has to be great literature, but something more than the newspaper or People.
48 hours is more than enough time to memorize some random formula, definitions of some words, or to take a few practice tests and learn from what you got wrong.
If it was something like 8 hours I’d agree with you.
This was not my experience with respect to the math section. Since I hadn’t done that kind of math regularly in a while, I think I increased my score up to 100 points from the pretest by reviewing the math booklet. YMMV, of course. I do agree that you won’t make up much ground on the verbal in 48 hours. The time I spent reviewing words (from 2 books from Levenger, *Rare Words * and (I think) Words That Matter) only helped me rule out a couple wrong answers a bit quicker than otherwise.
Just in case, though, remember that *limpid * means clear, not blue.
I don’t think that practicing verbal will help you much since there are only 30 verbal questions or thereabouts on the GRE and thousands upon thousands of vocab words. However, I’d recommend going over math formulas and trying to improve the areas you missed on the practice math test. Since you are going into Information Systems they will care a lot more about your math score than the verbal.
For the writing part, I remember reading that length of the essay correlates with high scores. Make of that what you will.
I did take the GRE back in 1988 - gee I’m old.
Do they still have that Analytical Reasoning part? It sucked and I consider myself rather logical.
Here’s my advice. Make sure you are totally familiar with the test format. That is to say take zero time reading instructions - nothing whatsoever. Just plunge right into the test. I don’t know if they still give out sample scores but sometimes the difference between getting 23 correct or 24 correct could be 20 points. (Wouldn’t it be nice to kick that 680 up to 700?)
One other suggestion - try to give every question a “read through”. They say the questions become more difficult the further you go into the test. However, we’re not machines. Perhaps (for example) you could get lucky and the last vocabulary question might involve the definition of cromulent and you could go “Hey I know that one.”
(How’d I do? 690 Math and 630 Verbal if I remember correctly).
wolf_meister, things have changed since your day. There is no more analytical reasoning, and the whole thing is done on computer. The computer is set up so you can’t read all the questions. It feeds you harder or easier questions based on how you did on prior questions. That changes the strategy–it is now very important to focus on getting the early questions correct.
Harriet the Spry
Well thanks for posting that. I guess after 19 years, things have changed.
My “strategy” about reading every question is no longer feasible.
(I always liked doing that.)
I have taken the GRE twice over a few year span. You can’t prepare for the verbal section without lots of time and lifestyle modifications so forget about that. The actual math is easier than the SAT but is often done in an ingenious way to tease out skills. You can and should prepare for the math by refreshing yourself in basic geometry. Higher math like calculus isn’t tested at all.
