GRE preparations

Having gone through the GRE preparation process I felt it might be a good idea to share my experience.

Firstly I want to ask students DO NOT have the myth studying in US is impossible due to funds. Funds are definitely something you should think of but there are several other factors on which you should work out.

Before appearing for GRE, think about whether you want to pursue a masters degree or go for a PhD. PhD might be a good idea if you want to research and funding might be an issue for you. However do not plan to enroll in a PhD program because it takes a long time and if you have doubt that you might not like your work and just doing it for some degree, spending so much time and effort is not worth it.

If you want to pursue a masters or doctorate degree in US, GRE is a must.

GRE or Graduate Record Examination is an examination which you can appear anytime during the year. GRE is of two types. General Test and Subject Test. Most schools in USA, look at your general GRE scores and do not want a subject score. However some departments or schools need the subject scores so depending on your subject area of specialization, find out if the schools you might want to aim, need a subject based score.

The GRE General Test measures verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, and critical thinking and analytical writing skills. Verbal and Quant sections are 800 marks each and Analytical Writing section is measured in a scale of 1 to 6.

To start with your GRE prep, buy Barron's. You will definitely need this book for the verbal section. You can also download the wordlist from the following site
http://www.scribd.com/doc/13263450/Barrons-GRE-word-list
Princeton, Kaplan are also good books to have for reference.

If you are in a technical stream, maths might not be too much of a problem for you as they mostly ask elementary algebra, arithmetic and geometry. For students who come from non technical stream, it might be a good idea to enroll in a class room course as they will teach you the tricks for solving the GRE kind of problems.

Class room coaching from Kaplan, IMS (in India) are good. There might be other institutes in your country or state.

Another site which will help you pre and post GRE is edulix.com . So register to this site. A lot of information about preparation, various universities, funding, scholarships, etc can be found here. Usually current students and alumni contribute to this site immensely and the information from this site is updated. Also you can ask several students about the doubts you have.