GRE

[Strange]

Heya, anyone here took the GRE General Test before?

[affa]

yup... but i think it's changed quite a bit since i took it in '99

[Strange]

i see... i think i'm having a go
anything to look out for?
cheers
Strange

[Teazer]

I took it about 4 years ago. If you need to get a very high score in the quantitative/math section (>760), be warned that most books and practice tests give mostly much easier questions than you'll face on the computer adapted test. I found shortage of time to be a problem for that part - most questions were fine but there was one that was a real time hog! Stuff that is covered only goes up to Intermediate algebra, but you can save a lot of time if you notice some of the tricks and shortcuts for questions.
The verbal stuff - the books and practice tests were more representative of what showed up on test. Just need to work through a lot of these if that section is important to you. The tricky thing for the x is to Y as A is to B type questions is they go with the root meaning of the word rather than its general usage, So "catholic" for instance is taken to mean inclusive.
Depending on your goals, leave yourself plenty of time to study for it. Like 3-6 months. Practice timed tests and see how quick you can knock out math/verbal questions rather than without time pressure. Preferably take it early so you have time to retake it if necessary. The old score gets reported too, but it's only the latest one people care about (unless you've obviously retaken it a lot of times!). Most help /study books will give you the same advice: due to the computer adapting method of generating questions, the initial questions will be easy, so you could answer them quickly, but if you screw them up it'll drop your score a huge amount, from which it's difficult to bring it back up. Make sure to double check what the question is asking for since often it's phrased in a tricky way.

There's a bunch of assorted info on this forum:
http://www.urch.com/forums/gre/

[Strange]

really? ... thats not good
i'm weak in the quantititaive parts, and if the questions are tricky, its gonna be bad for me.
3-6 months? i'm planning to book for december.

gonna give it a go
thanks for the input

[Chris McKinley]

If you have the option, you may also consider taking a practice GRE first, then coming back for the real thing next year. Local community centers and certain online services offer practice runs. Here's an example:

http://www.princetonreview.com/grad/fre ... -test.aspx

[Father_Jon]

Strange: I took the test in 2008. I hadn't taken a math class since high school, so that was a big concern for me. I bit the bullet and purchased the Princeton Review study guide, and got really good results with it. At a very basic level, the guide is teaching you how to take the test, instead of just focusing on the material to be covered. It took me a while to get my head around that concept, and during that time I focused solely on the raw skills being taught. That said, I feel as though I did learn quite a bit about math over the course of my study. I even ended up passing the math section with a 710. So, I'd recommend the guide highly. Also comes w/ a cd that has some practice tests you can take. Good luck

[Strange]

wow 710! i think that's very very good.
Thanks all for input, my friend brought me a barron's test prep book
so far i think its quite ok, and rather in line with what you all say about the princeton one.
think i'll have to really concentrate for a period of time.
thanks again

S