GRE Verbal Section

GRE , as most people say, has a repetitive pattern of questions. So adapting a smart preparation technique always helps. A fear most people have is you have to mug words. akes.

Now coming to vocabulary. The common methods are flash cards. It definitely helps if you prepare the flash cards yourself. However, it is a bit time consuming. But before you target 3000 words or so, it is always advisable to learn the 200 GRE most common words. You would definitely get a few words from this list and they are repeatitive in the exams. So do this first. Alongside start analyzing the prefix, root and post fix words.

Now coming to the flash cards....Sometimes flash cards do not work out for candidates pursuing a full time job. I prepared for GRE while I was working till 1 AM at office everyday. So fI do know how difficult it is. But if you keep the bigger picture in mind, that 3 or 4 months of hard work can change your life, it would definitely keep you focussed. To make it a little easy for you if you are really not able to take 4 to 5 hours a day for GRE, get the flash card packs from book stores. But do make it your life. During your commute, keep reading it. Start with some pattern which is comfortable for you. Try to group similar words in your flashcards. I went the long way and followed the complete barrons word list. I had started with A, then did Z, then went to B ,Y.,C, X etc. However you can choose any technique. Read it on your breakfast, lunch or dinner table. Before going to bed, revise what you have read that morning.

If you are the types who likes to stick to the computer, use guru's software. You can download the first beta from http://grewordlist.groupfetch.com/gre21b.zip

Install this software and you can keep playing with it everyday for an hour or two. Try to beat your own score each time. This tool has most of the Barron's words (all 50 wordlists). So it helps to review yourself after you have read some flash cards. Later on when you are quite comfortable with some of the word lists, randomize the words and score yourself. However this tool only lets you choose the meaning or synonyms. GRE does not test you on synonyms but knowing the meaning always helps in identifying antonyms and is helpful for the other sections as well.

For antonyms I used to follow the GRE big book and do Barron's excercise as well. GRE Big book is a compilation of numerous GRE questions and is one of the best ones to practise from. You can also download the Big book wordlist from here.

For sentence completion, analogies and comprehensions, I practised from Big book, Barron's Kaplans. You can use any other material. Practise fast reading for comprehensions. You will have less time in GRE and you should be able to identify key words and concepts in a comprehension instead of reading all the lines. If you have a reading habbit, it always helps. If you do not read as much, start reading articles from Reader's Digest, News paper editorials. They not only help you pracitise fast reading and understand different topics but also makes your vocab stronger and gives you points for your AWA section as well sometimes.

GRE Analytical Writing Skills

Before you start with the GRE AWA section read the "Criteria for Scoring the GRE Essays" and read some sample essays and arguments (read chapter 6 to get an idea how the issues and arguments are). Also read issues and arguments with different scores of 6 and 5 and see how the rating criteria has been applied to each one. This will give you an idea before starting as to what standard of writing is expected.

In GRE AWA section, always use pencil and paper to jot down some points on the topic you want to attempt. Do not always choose the first topic in the issue section you see but take time to evaluate on which ones you could actually get more points and examples to support your points. Make five or six high level points on that topic. When you start writing maintain a flow. Its very important to make the reader be interested in your style.

Make it lucid. Its not always important to use bombastic words in your issue or argument. Use words which implies the meaning correctly and make your arguments cogent by supporting them with examples. If you can its better to use examples pertaining to the United States or North America. Refrain from only taking examples w.r.t India. You can read more on other cultures and countries to use them in your essays. its always good to cite statistics if you know the source and the figures correctly. Reading New York Times, Economic Times, Wall Street journals and journals and case studies from different B Schools helps. When you have free time read them online. it helps you get adapted to the online reading as in GRE you will read and write everything on the computer unless you want to take a paper based test. (In India mostly everyone takes an online test. )

For the argument section, always refute the notion suggested. Most of the arguments would have major logical mistakes like data give would be insufficient or illogical to reach the conclusion the argument suggests or the comparison cited might not have complete relevance. Like the argument might suggest "Company X made profit A% but did not have policy Z whereas company Y made profit B% but had this policy Z". So policy Z might be necessary for company X to make profit. Most of the arguments might be in this line. Here you may say, well company X and company Y might have several other policies which might have triggered the profit. Its not right to judge, only policy Z has caused a profit without evaluating all the policies and conditions of company X and Y. Also the profit % is dependent on the total revenue of company X and Y and their local markets. It might be Company X did not make enough profit because it spend money in expanding its market in some other country or anything like that. Usually you can follow these leads to refute any given argument.

This section tests your logical thinking ability. How you deal with data and how you respond to suggestions. So to prove your analytical skills in this section, as soon as you read an argument, make note where all it uses statistics and data references. What conditions are provided for the different comparisons in the argument and if they are valid. Do not repeat points. Make 5 to 6 short paragraphs. Start with a very brief introduction explaining what the argument states. Thereafter start pointing out the flaws in the argument. Each paragraph should convey a different point supported by examples. You can use facts or hypothetical examples as well. (like I stated a hypothetical example above). End with a cogent conclusion summarizing why you think the arguments are not strong enough to make the suggested conclusion.

GRE Quantitative Section

Yes, GRE does demand a strong vocabulary but that is not always the only criteria to get you a good score. For technical students, aiming a 800/800 in quant firstly gives u a raise. Its easy, its your strong point so do not neglect it and use it to your benefit in this exam. Practise a lot. Even though it is elementary maths, practising the tricks (vedic maths concepts and agility) gets you ahead in the competition. You’ll have 45 minutes to get through 28 questions in the maths section. Each GRE math question comes in one of three basic varieties: Problem Solving (PS), Quantitative Comparisons (QC), or Data Interpretation (DI). Practising elementary arithmetic (fractions, distance, relative speed, rate problems ), elementary alzebra and area, volume, basic properties of geometric figures will give you a good stand.

If you have joined Kaplan, IMS or some other class room coaching, you would know the techniques to use and what topics to concentrate on. Others who have no guidance, can use Kaplan. It has a fair amount of practise problems which is very similar to the actual GRE pattern. The book also guides you on the tricks to be used. The books guide you on all the topics to be covered. General Math Strategies involve using shortcuts, approximations (GRE is never calculation intensive), avoiding common traps (the most obvious answer is not always the right one, think twice), elimination techniques, using scratch paper and avoiding careless mistakes at all cost.

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.