How to Not to Crack New GRE in 9 Days
How to Not to Crack New GRE GRE in 9 Days – Shared by Swetha (via Blog).
When you read her experience, you will understand why the title is How Not to Crack New GRE. She highlights the mistakes during her preparations.
All right..here I go. I wrote my New GRE on 5th Aug 2011. Now before I tell you my scores and you go all ‘Oohh’, do read the rest of the way.
I’ve studied for approximately 9 days..but 9 stressful, horrible (well, I did start to enjoy answering the questions somewhere along the way..), long hrs a day thing and managed to score in the range 900-1050.
I’ve read a few experiences of people who managed to score say 1200+, 1100+, that’s still good right and I’m sure they are happy with it no matter what they say about a particular section being bad or in those lines. So here’s one by someone who’s not done so well.
New GRE Mistakes
I do however understand that I made a few deliberate mistakes and I would like to point them out to you.
The obvious one ‘you’ could point out is: ‘Hey, you crazy, 9 days for GRE!’ lol..I’ve to say the typical one day stand before the exams is a bad habit to inculcate.
It’s not like I’m not seriously interested to study in US. I’m a MBA graduate and want to take up MIS.(I’m going to leave it at that.)
I happen to remember some time after the exam that people actually study for 1 year for CAT here in India..and I’m really out of my mind. Now, I did join some classes about 2 months ago which was a complete waste, dint really get to learn much there, yes NIL.
I had all these books that I dint even want to look at and I swear I got ‘teleported’ right to the second week before the exam.
I came across Magoosh GRE site around this time so that’s where I learned all I learned. So all through the week I was still in the learning phase and dint get to test the powerprep II tests, just learned from it too.
Everything makes sense, I remember this quote ‘Math is easy, it makes sense.’ from a frictional story I read. I’m pretty sure that anyone can crack (I do NOT mean getting 1300/1500+) this exam if they had, say 5 mins+ per question.
So the point is, we need to learn to do the same in 1 min or less and THAT takes a lot of practice. Of course you need to know the concepts, it’s easy enough.
Crack New GRE Verbal
Verbal, on the other hand can’t be cracked (??) in a short time (say 9 days)..Nope. You NEED to know your (their..) word list.. please don’t tell me that now it’s easier to ‘guess’ the meaning of the word since you have a sentence along with it.
Simple, no, that does not help.
Complete understanding of the sentence is the ONLY way you can get the right answer.
Reading Comprehension was like a cruel joke to me.
I can tell you that I read at least a few hrs everyday, stories and news… on beautiful days that I’m possessed(common occurrence) I can go up to 10 hrs of continuous reading. I like reading. I don’t like the RC section of New GRE.
Problems: twisted questions, vocab, time, dry subjects.
I still have to hear about a way to overcome this.. practice? techniques? hmm…
Cracking New GRE – Other reasons
I was so nervous 2 days before the exam that I got sick, though fairly alright on the exam day.
To overcome the anxiety, I forced myself to become completely relaxed.
For obvious reasons, both are not good techniques.
Dint eat properly on the exam day, I blame it on health. It’s a 4 hrs exam! You need to eat. Drove myself to the center. Exam was at 1:30 pm, heat and traffic. Doesn’t need any further explanations, I hope.
The essay part is alright. (Everybody can say this! Cause they won’t know how much they’ve scored..lol) I royally messed up the first half of the exam but managed to pull myself together for the second half, did better with those lovely easy questions.
Now, if you dint already know, the new GRE exam is adaptive section-wise so the difficulty level of next section depends on the performance of the previous one.
I’ve a few weird theories about this part.
In case you do ‘really’ well on the 1st section (medium), then the next section would consist of only ‘Hard-s’..imagine the verbal section…OUCH! A zero on the 2nd section would be? So can we, say purposefully answer half of the 1st section to get a medium on the 2nd and answer all of that right? Won’t that fetch better marks? hmm…
Edit – Removed 2 lines from here. Those 2 lines will be the topic of Next Blog Post on New GRE. Yes, I can write a full blog post just from 2 lines of idea 🙂
Good luck!
How Not to Crack New GRE
Well, written post and your reading habit is very well reflected in your writing skills. You should try taking few courses in Creative Writing to get good at your writing skills.
It was very brave of you to even consider cracking New GRE in 9 Days. Atleast other GRE Test takers should know, how much they can score with 9 days on New GRE Preparation time.
Question – Would have you have dared to take New GRE with just 9 days of Prep Time?
Hi HSB,
I have been preparing for my gre and being a medical student, i have always had problems with mathematics. Consequently,they are very prominent in my preparation and deflating my confidence too. So, if you could please suggest me some tips and give me a fair analysis to choose between maghoosh gre online training program or manhattan set of books for my further preparation. Thanks!
Hi vidushi,
Since you are having problem with math, i would say start preparing from your school books. GRE math is easy if you are good with the basic knowledge. Once you are confident about the basics, go on increasing the difficulty level using any of the GRE books like manhattan or princeton or maghoosh.
All the best !
Thank you so much Pooja! 🙂
hi,
I am from bangladesh . I’ve scored 304 in GRE (Q-160, v-144) and 94 in TOEFL.
my mejor – physics
hon;s percentage -40% (60% is the best grade named “first class”)
Then have I any chance in USA for PhD ?
plz give suggestion .
Please Am preparing for GRE exam, could advice me the best book to read.
I gave it with absolutely no preparation at all. I didn’t think i had any hopes of doing MS due to many reasons (wont be explaining this here 🙂 ). I went to the center for the sole reason that I had spent money to register for the exam. Absolutely no preparation (max 30 mins – 1 hr before exam to just revise few AP, Statistics formulas), however no pressure at all (since I wasn’t weighted down by expectations). I must say I was really happy and lucky to score 321. Off to US this Fall (if all goes well) 🙂
This experience made me realize that fear / expectations / pressure / worries and other psychological factors are major hindrance to a test taker. I would advice everyone who is giving to just relax and clear your mind of all worries before the exam. All the best to all test takers.
hello hsb,
Am a final year graduate student going to hit gre on dec27th.am scoring in the range of 150/170 in quant,but drastically a poor score in verabal 135/170 and now am left with no time.So,anyone please help me how i can cover my verbal score and the universities that i can join for masters in computer science.
thanking you in advance and awaiting your reply.
LOL, thats my story too. but i was more considerate, i gave it 15 days. 😛 but i sucked too , just got 298. so hail New GRE, i guess “MS in computer Grpahics ” will have to wait for one more year now 🙂
hey guys am takin gre on oct 10th n am cmpltly tensed. would u ppl suggest me n help me fa my prep plz?????????? this shd b my best attempt. any guideliness abt the materials of both verbal n quant??????????
The only section u can score in new gre is by practicing RC!! Pick up your reading speed..
New pattern GRE is filled wit RCs and if you confident with it then it’s gonna be a cake walk fr u!
All the best !
yes, i did give the old gre with 9 day prep… and got 950… good prep is very important… atleast a month in advance.. is fine to crack it with a good score.. but also it depend on how much you work under pressure.. even i have the same bad habit of last minute studying.. need to really get rid of it.. indeed a very bad habit to inculcate…
hey congrates,i’m in same condition,i’ve only left with 16 days……….and in those 16 days i’ve my internals,campus recurtment…….and till now i’m done with only 8 word list………god knows what will happen………everytime i see a post on happy blog of getting 1300+ or 1400+ its just freak me out………thanks a lot your post really lower down my tension………
Glad, it helped 🙂 All the best!
That was damn hilarious of u of,if u ask me….thnx to u all my tension is gone
Well your experience is actually quite interesting. But I believe you went about a lot of things in the wrong manner. I notice your English skills are quite good(As HSB duly noted). Why don’t you try again? Atleast then you can say to yourself that you gave it your best shot. Why regret such things eh?
i prepared an hour before my exam. i guess i did not care. but i am trying to get a phd so i’m just weird.
hey congrats 🙂 bt i guess not everyone’s so luck on this aspect
n one more thing can you guide me through to improve on my verbal since i am planning to appear for GRE this September. 🙁 and have no clue as to what is the new GRE test pattern nor i m planning to join any class for it
Hey you’re one few to congratulate me for my fun score…lol… OK, for verbal section help, you would want to check out this video–> http://www.ustream.tv/channel/magoosh-gre.. It’s about an expert who has taken the RGRE & talks about his exam experience. Me, I really want to stress that you need to be comfortable, serious and ready, before you start the exam and not nervous or pessimistic or along those lines.. It’s perfectly logical that no matter how much you study, if you don’t DO the exam properly then everything else is meaningless..
Oh, to know all about the new GRE pattern/structure, you could find them on the GRE section of HSB or youtube or on Magoosh yet or ‘The official guide of the RGRE’ book.
thnx a lot swthrt n 1c again gud luck wid d admin process 🙂
Hey good news for those , who want to read new york times online newspaper to get hang of the language pattern used in revised gre. If you vist NY times website you are allowed to read only 20 articles per month as a free user. If you want more then you have to pay fees for that. So if you want to read as many articles as you want , then follow the steps mentioned bellow
1. google for best proxy websites.
2. select anyone proxy website .
3.enter the http address of NY Times
4.read as many articles you want.
GRE is not really about how much you have studied before, its all about how you apply that ..I think generally to score upto 1000 isn’t hard to anyone…but to score for even single point after 1000 needs lot much hard work.
@swetha: well i gave my GRE so this post doesnt help me as such but it made an amusing & entertaining read! very well-written, gal! 🙂 … what’s ur blog link anyway? would like to read more stuff off ur pen 😛
@hsb: No. would have rather jumped off my terrace 😀
That’s nice! Congrats on your score!
The preparation pattern seemed much like my attempt of the old GRE pattern. I prepared for about 7-8 days, and gave it on 24th June, 2011. I really didn’t want to give it in the new pattern you see. 😛
Got 1120.
So, would you say that magoosh is a good prep program?
Oh yes! They have explanations for about 700 questions both Quant and Verbal included…check out the trial version, its interesting.
Checkout the GRE discounts page for coupons from Magoosh GRE.
I tried Magoosh.It’ ok,but explanation of quantitative section is not straight forward.It’s confusing.
Whoa~! Really? The videos?..Not that I’m advertising this thing but I do believe that that’s the best stuff about it~~~
Question – Would have you have dared to take New GRE with just 9 days of Prep Time?
Answer – With all due respect absolutely no unless I had some situation. Certainly, GRE isn’t as much tough as CAT, XAT etc. but it certainly requires some hardwork particularly Verbal section. Secondly, GRE is really costly exam, so it’s not good idea to waste that money. I know, some people write GRE with very less preparation, obviously they have their reasons for that. I would suggest take your time, prepare well & just give your best shot on that special day.
Also, HSB is really helpful in terms of providing information about study plan of different students & their success stories. This gives you a rough idea about what is GRE & how should be your approach, but at the same time one should not forget every individual is different. It is not necessary what worked for person A, should also work for person B. In my opinion one should start preparation with diagnostic test. Diagnostic test gives you some idea about your skills. After some preparation you should read experiences of other people. This helps one to compare one’s performance with other people & also to avoid mistakes done by other people.
I am working professional. I prepared for almost 5 months to get 1470. One can guess from my writing I am not that good in english, but I was extremely confident (overconfident:)) about my math abilities. So I used most of the preparation time almost 90% for verbal section. On the other hand, if one is really good at english then may use that extra time for math. The point is judge yourself first & prepare rough plan. Last but not least, someone has rightly said ‘Rome wasn’t build in a day’. Universities don’t care how much time you put for preparation, Right? So my dear friends give appropriate amount of time for preparation.
P.S. Kindly ignore spelling & grammatical errors if you found any:)
Hey, to be honest your prep time was relatively short. But I think your high score is completely based on your sound foundation in verbal and maths. I am giving GRE in Sept. and I’m preparing real hard for it, leaving no stone unturned.
I donno why pple around here are in a habit of bragging abt their high scores obtained by prep of few days. This really misguide other pple. The scenario of your scores are based on the habit you’ve inculcated frm ur childhood(thts reading a lot of stuff). If a person is not involved(specifically a lot) in reading frm the springtime of their life , then don’t even think that you can get a good score by a prep of month or two.
Stop misguiding pple into wasting their resources..
Hello Evea,
Nobody is posting about getting high scores with a short term preparation without speaking a bit about their background. Its the responsibility of the people to understand their capability and plan accordingly. These posts on short-prep-high-score may actually motivate people who are just about couple of weeks from their exam. Ultimately, there is no substitute for work and commitment!
People who Post here Saying they scored high in the GRE in not less than 3-10 days lol…!! I know the Mantra is these kinda people were studyng for GRE may be since a year or two with N no of gaps. Later they Realize ohh i just got 9 Days for my GRE then they revise it. SO according to me i dont think that called studyng in 9 days. Revising in 9 days & i scored 900 Would sound pretty. 🙂
hi
i have been following the blogs in this site for the past two months. It has been really helpful. But i wish people were not so scary. I gave the GRE on 8th august 2011 and i got a decent enough score range of 1410-1560. i have been preparing for this for three weeks. i didn’t take any coaching classes and i followed only two books : the standard ETS book and the Kaplan GRE book . that’s it.
what i did do seriously was learn my words. that is absolutely essential. And get into the practice of reading from the computer screen. Read from New york times and you will get a hang of the language pattern. And most importantly take a minimum of two to three full length practice tests in one sitting. this is really important. because u need to get used to sitting continuously for two hours and staring at the computer screen. that can get stressful.
In my opinion, you can beat the GRE if you can study three hours for this everyday for three weeks. Do your practice tests, follow the books and you will be ready.
PS- the new GRE pattern is nothing to be scared of. The most important thing is your vocabulary. Fix that and everything else will fall into place. RC is beatable!!
Thanks Rajeshree!
thank you for your post, it is really inspiring. Please, which of the Kaplan GRE Book(which year) did u use? ETS Standard book is it the same with the CD rom that ETS send when you register for GRE and finally Is it the new version GRE that u wrote? Your response will be greatly appreciated.
yeah the same kaplan book …. the same ETS book that you are talking about.
if you can survive the kaplan tests , trust me the New GRE will be a piece of cake for you. Kaplan is really tough but the strategies are really good. so try to practice the strategies whenever you solve the practice tests. and dont worry …. any test is beatable…. and GRE is not the end of the world nor is it the beginning. just another exam!!! 🙂 all the best to everybody
hey thanks for finally an optimistic response. all i am reading from this blog and everywhere else is New GRE is very very tough. And to frankly tell I got a cold feet, about my exam.
Congrats on a pretty good score. And yeah did you use Kaplan Verbal or Kaplan Premier book or both??
hi, thanks for submitting ur experience. Can u suggest me how to prepare for revised GRE ? i just have started preparing and i am planning to sit in November.
I’ll have to tell this now. I gave my GRE on Sept 29th 2010. I booked my date only 7 days prior to the exam and prepared for 2 days. I still dont know what made me to do all that in a hurry(Maybe i felt intelligence can substitute hardwork or atleast just work). Anyway, I ended up with Quant:800 and Verbal:460. Almost after 1 year from that, now, i feel there is no substitute for work. So guys, you can be very good in your analytical skills and vocab, but trust me, there is a probability of getting punished for over confidence 😛 Prepare for a month and you’ll find GRE to be a walk in the park 😉
This post may help for our studys.
and here i am trying to crack gre in 11days:( i m giving gre next week and will let u guys know..this has seriously scared me :((((((((((((((((
21) (A) If you can score 900 marks in 9 days, (B) then can you score 1100 marks in 11 days?
A) Column A is greater.
B) Column B is greater.
C) The two columns are equal.
D) The relationship cannot be determined.
lol..couldn’t help it.
But I think your state of mind during the exam is what’s more important. I would suggest that you don’t make the mistakes mentioned in ‘other reasons’ column. I read in some other before that it’s necessary to get the first 14 questions right for a good score and then guess if required (in each section). It also makes sense that the first half of the exam should be strictly done. Relax and do your best!
Well said ! And, u have got the GRE pattern into ur blood, think so, because you created a excellent GRE question.
How do i like this post ? 😀 +1
lol thanks, i hope i do good. im practising all i can, but in reading comprehenson im not getting more than 5 correct answers out of 12 🙁 🙁 🙁
*fingers crossed*
Molly not wasting ur time by commenting here might help a lot 😉
Yes, we need to know the word list and I saw a survey which tells that, a average bachelor degree student will know 20,000 words and each year they come to know 1000 words.
As per this a average prospective graduate student will know 20000 to 25000 words.
If we apply 20-80 principle we would need to know minimum 5000 words which are of graduate degree student level !