MS in US: Preparing for GRE

Welcome back friends

In this post, I will give a brief review about the books and tips for GRE, for those who are eager to start their preparation as early as possible.

GRE is a computer adaptive test, which means as you keep on giving the right answers in one section the next or the subsequent section becomes tougher to test caliber of the students. The more you are correct in one section the more resilient the next section will be.

In the two sections involved i.e. Quant and Verbal, Quant appears to be easier for most of the Indian students because of obvious reasons, but Verbal is the one which always proves to be a headache of each and every student.

Coming to the books and stuff required for better preparation

Quant

1.    BARRON

2.    MANHATTEN 5 LB

3.    ETS Official Guide

4.    NOVA

Verbal

1.    Princeton review

2.    Mnemonicdictionary.com (use this website for memorizing tougher words)

3.    ETS official guide

The books mentioned above are sequentially arranged in order of toughness (easy to hard).Try to cover as much books as possible from above and avoid others in between so as you don’t confuse yourself.

According to my point of view, for Quants, I would prefer MANHATTEN 5 LB and for Verbal I would prefer Princeton review. But it’s my individual choice and many people have their own freedom to choose any of them and again I had completed all the books before my GRE exam. Stress yourself particularly on the verbal side as this will help you in your TOEFL/IELTS exam to attain top scores.

Tips for verbal (because this where most students can’t keep up)

1.    Always carry a small OXFORD dictionary in your bag or pockets

2.    Make note of any tough word you come across even if you know meaning of the sentence and not the word

3.    Concentrate on the structure of sentence rather than mugging up words

4.    Make a habit of writing on random topics everyday on issues you come across and consult a teacher/guide to correct you (for better ones search “AWA topics in GRE” on Google)

5.    Learn new words from “high frequency word list/hit parade GRE (found on Google)” and instead of mugging those up, try to make your own sentences.

6.    Follow Princeton review thoroughly and don’t neglect anything written in it.

Tips for Quant

1.    Keep on practicing even if you are strong

2.    Don’t waste more than 5 minutes on any question

3.    GRE quant is more of using head rather than calculation. So avoid calculations. If you are having more calculation in solving method then you are surely wrong.

4.    Stress on probability, permutation and combination and bar charts (most imp and easily marks fetched)

I have seen many of friends having knowledge of more than 1000 new words in verbal but when it comes to exam time they hardly score above 155+. What I have got to know by my experience that both things are imp i.e. understanding the structure of sentence and the word which suits there properly. I am not criticizing anyone because they are as par with me but I am mainly concerned here for one reason which is to show them what is really beneficial for them in longer run. A poor verbal score can lead to visa rejection, if your luck is bad on that particular day. So folks don’t worry or stress out on verbal now, just keep it steady and regular so as each and every day you learn something new about it. Quant is in our blood so just a regular day to day practice will easily fetch you 160+.

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