So, you've decided to take the GRE. You're thinking about grad school, and you want to get into the best grad school of your choice. But before you do that, there's this little test that you need to give, to prove how good you are.
I too am in the same position. I want to succeed in this GRE thing. However, as I go along on my journey, I would like to share the tips, tricks and resources that I come across with everyone and keep a record of what I myself did to prepare, just incase it may somehow be useful in the future.
After a quick look at the exam content, it seems like the GRE has absolutely very little correlation with the amount of technical or specialized knowledge you've gained from your undergraduate degree. Instead, it seems to be a test of how well you prepare for the test and a test of your stamina. Kind of like a test cricket match that goes for 5 days and players play from 9AM-5PM every day!
It seems like the computer based test has the following:
First off:
2 Essays of 30 minutes each - Both essays need to be typed out on the computer
Then you'll get the following in random order:
2 English/Qualitative Sections of 30 Minutes each - 20 multiple choice questions
2 Math/Quantative Sections of 35 Minutes each - 20 multiple choice questions
1 Experimental Section that can be either Math or English - 20 multiple choice questions
You start off with the 2 essays first, and then get the "reasoning multiple choice section" in random order, including the experimental section.
In total, the test is about 4 hours long!
So, it seems like you'll need the following to succeed:
I too am in the same position. I want to succeed in this GRE thing. However, as I go along on my journey, I would like to share the tips, tricks and resources that I come across with everyone and keep a record of what I myself did to prepare, just incase it may somehow be useful in the future.
After a quick look at the exam content, it seems like the GRE has absolutely very little correlation with the amount of technical or specialized knowledge you've gained from your undergraduate degree. Instead, it seems to be a test of how well you prepare for the test and a test of your stamina. Kind of like a test cricket match that goes for 5 days and players play from 9AM-5PM every day!
It seems like the computer based test has the following:
First off:
2 Essays of 30 minutes each - Both essays need to be typed out on the computer
Then you'll get the following in random order:
2 English/Qualitative Sections of 30 Minutes each - 20 multiple choice questions
2 Math/Quantative Sections of 35 Minutes each - 20 multiple choice questions
1 Experimental Section that can be either Math or English - 20 multiple choice questions
You start off with the 2 essays first, and then get the "reasoning multiple choice section" in random order, including the experimental section.
In total, the test is about 4 hours long!
So, it seems like you'll need the following to succeed:
- A rather large english vocabulary -- time to memorize the dictionary!
- Ability to read large amounts of prose without getting tired or "zoning-out"
- Good grasp over elementary school/high school mathematics
- Good typing skills
- Stamina, lots of stamina!
And that's about it for Day 0. Just thinking about four hours of almost non-stop thinking makes me a bit concerned. But, I guess the trick is to prepare enough for it so that you're on "auto-pilot" for most of the test.
