July 2, 2020 GRE 0

A Five-Step GRE Prep Guide

The Graduate Record Examination, commonly known as GRE, is one of the most widely accepted assessment tests checking the test taker’s analytical skills in reading, writing, and mathematics. It helps in the admission procedure of all prospective graduate and professional schools for masters’ education. The exam is not a college, subject, or course-specific. This examination tests students’ vigour for problem-solving and critical thinking required for a masters’ course. This blog will act as a GRE prep guide to understand how to obtain a good score in this prestigious examination.

The GRE:

The GRE test can be broken down into three particular sections- Quantitative reasoning, Verbal reasoning, and Analytical writing section. You could choose amongst an online GRE prep mode or pen-paper test mode to appear for the test.

The pen-paper exam has a time slot of three hours and thirty minutes, including six sections. The first two sections are of analytical writing, which lasts for thirty minutes each.

Either two thirty-five minutes of verbal reasoning or two forty-minute quantitative reasoning sections process after a ten-minute break. The verbal and quantitative sections do not follow a pre-set chronological order.

The online GRE test consists of six sections with a ten-minute break after the third section, making it a three-hour and forty-five-minute test. The first section is the analytical writing section consisting of two-thirty minute-long tasks. The test taker is then expected to proceed with either the thirty-minute verbal reasoning section or a thirty-five-minute quantitative reasoning section.

The test-taker then has to take either an unscored section, or a research section, or both. The online examination also includes adaptive testing sections that respond to the progress of the attempted quantitative and verbal reasoning questions and offer easier or moderately difficult questions likewise.

The right time to start your GRE prep:

The GRE test’s timing should be planned according to when you intend to start your graduate school, i.e., in summer or fall. With test results that stay valid for five years, you might want some time after the results, if you plan to reappear for better scores. Also, the retest is possible for five times in one year. Numerous test-taking center locations are operating around the world to ease you out with the location stress.

Strategizing your GRE prep plan:

1) Knowing your knowledge base:

Before starting to prepare for the examination, give a GRE mock test. It will tell you exactly where you stand without any preparation. It will help you realize the problems you are currently facing and allow you to strategize well. Stabbing in the dark does not kill the demons. Know your weakness well to be able to overcome it. Sit and analyze the result, and ask the right questions. You might want to take the help of your mentors to guide you through the same.

Compare your average time for the easy questions and the harder ones with other test-takers. Use test preparation guides that give you the provision of such tools.
See if you have attempted the maximum number of questions with the right accuracy and optimized your scores.
Note down your current strengths and weakness.
Note down your frequently repeated mistakes.

2) Set the target:

After knowing where you stand, you can rightly determine where you want to reach. Until and unless you know what score you want to achieve, you might stay complacent with the scores you receive with lesser efforts than you could actually put. To keep a check on the same, take an average of your scores and compare them with the scores from the recent intake batch for the same course, you are planning to apply. Always try to keep your score above the average score of the same lot.

3) Strategize a plan to cover the gap:

A smart plan will make you accountable for regular practice and help you achieve the desired results. Have decided hours to particular sections depending on your strengths and weaknesses. Keep revising topics regularly, even after mastering them. Choose the right type of prep course or an online guide that suits you. Keep practicing the newly learned techniques to make yourself comfortable in the exam conditions. Keep track of time while attempting a test. Find shorter and better approaches to commonly asked questions. You might get better perspectives or easier tricks to approach different topics or question-types from your mentors. Perseverance and discipline will never fail to bring good results.

4) Mimic the test environment:

On the D-day, both anxiety, as well as performance pressure, becomes dominant. Mimicking the test environment helps you release the tension and reinforces the confidence, which ultimately helps you to give your best. Prepare your study schedule according to the test timing to let your body adjust with that specific hours of the day for that duration.

5) Review and analysis:

Focus on analyzing every practice test. Know where you went wrong. Analysis of the test is what helps you improve your scores more than anything else. It tells you where you need to improvise on:

GRE prep is only partly about mastering some topics, but more about spontaneity and test-taking skills. Note down the mistakes you consistently make or questions you always tend to miss.

Some Key-Takeaways:

The above mentioned GRE prep strategies shall help you realize the topics you need to refer to again, the practice you need, choosing the right questions to attempt, and the time allotment per question. Learn the formulas and math concepts and practice all the questions without using a calculator. A realistic test condition and a good mentor can take you a long way. Take a step towards your dreams, with Miles Smart Tutoring Services. Our expert tutors can help you with a customized test strategy while analyzing your strengths and weaknesses so that you can ace prestigious examinations like the GRE in the very first attempt.