I GOT 320 IN MY GRE – this is how I did it

JOURNEY STARTED

In case you’re not familiar with the term, GRE is an acronym for Graduate Record Examination – an exam required by graduate schools (mostly in the US, Canada, and a few other countries) for admission to Masters and PhD programs. The computer based exam has six sections: 1 Analytical writing section (I’ll call it AWA) divided into two essay tasks – an argument essay in which you evaluate an argument for its validity and an issue essay in which you generally write about the extent to which you agree with a claim or statement, 2 quantitative sections, 2 verbal sections and 1 experimental section (either quant or verbal). The analytical writing is scored over 6, quant and verbal each scored over 170. Pheewww, said enough already.

MY SCORE: Quant – 169, Verbal – 151, making a total of 320.

My journey started early May, this year, when I was added to a GRE group chat courtesy of Ismail Olaniyi who introduced me to most of what I know today about the graduate school journey. Till date, the “NEW GRE GROUP ANNEX” I was added to is the most active (by every significant measure) WhatsApp group chat I’ve ever been involved with.

In the group, relevant aids including tips on how to get around your graduate school journey, links to GRE (and TOEFL) study materials and tons of questions from materials were posted on a daily basis, mostly in the evening. Also, one or more people selected to coordinate the day’s session, were in place. A few graduate students (mostly PhD students in the US), who give useful advice and encouragement, and some others who have already secured admission with funding, continuously gave me hope. Barely a week after introducing myself on the group after being added, a weekday was assigned to me (and new fellows) to coordinate the evening’s question and answer sessions, hence I had to sit up almost immediately.

MAIN PREPARATION

My preparation started with the Official GRE (quantitative and verbal) reasoning materials by ETS 150 practice questions, where I learned the general structure of the exam and immediately tested my ability to tackle GRE-like questions with the sample questions and answers provided. While I initially felt very confident about my ability with any kind of quant, considering my engineering background and knowing the topics it generally covers, my performance was average and reality set in really fast. For my performance in the verbal section, just skip, lol.

It took me a few days to exhaust those study materials before engaging in intense practice on the GRE group, as you had to be active on the group else, you’d be kicked out.

I covered a whole lot of concepts by participating in the daily Q & A sessions, particularly relishing days when quant was the focus. Incentives were offered by one of the graduate students on the group – I still don’t know his real name (let me just call him “Ejanla”) in form of give-aways to the first to give correct solutions to certain questions. I quickly became settled with the group’s activity in about two weeks and adjusted to its unending buzz, eventually becoming an integral part of it.

The next point of focus for me was Manhattan’s study guides, which made me feel like a baby. I had to re-learn basic arithmetic and other topics while discovering I had forgotten a lot (or oblivious) of techniques and traps. For the verbal, the techniques were quite helpful and made me realize my vocabulary was quite poor to accomplish anything much in the TC and SE sections. These study guides took about 2-3 weeks to complete them alongside actively participating on the group and coordinating a few more Q&A sessions.

Afterwards, I almost completely lost zeal for a week or two and It took the advice of “Ejanla”, who persistently sounded the need to take practice tests, to motivate me to take my very first practice test. I registered with Princeton review to get 4 free practice tests and took my first (and most impressive practice test till date), getting a total of 326. I shared the result with the group and was positively encouraged and congratulated by most of those who saw it. This revived my zeal to continue studying.

Thereafter, courtesy of Snazzy, I studied the Norman Lewis Word Power Made Easy to improve my vocabulary. To say my vocabulary moderately improved would be seriously downplaying its impact – it’s a wealthy (not just rich) book. I enjoyed it, learning hundreds or up to a thousand (I don’t know the exact number) new words from their etymology which greatly improved my practice performance on Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence questions.

Next, I moved on to Kaplan’s GRE Prep guide, as advised, to improve my performance on the verbal section. Their tips especially on the Analytical Writing and Reading Comprehension section was priceless to me and it positively aided my preparation and main exam. Although, I studied their quant sections, I didn’t take it serious as was also advised. Moreover, I was already feeling pretty confident in Quant.

I barely ever studied anything quant again until 2 more practice tests with ETS (Powerprep) and Princeton, the former of which I got my highest ever Quant score (same as my actual exam), but my performance in verbal hovered about the first score I got. Subsequently, I turned to the ETS GRE guides as advised, since they are the makers of the test themselves, and took a few more practice tests where my performances in both sections (save for AWA which fluctuated widely) was declining – it was worrisome, but the mean total score in practice was just over 320.

On the average, I practiced AWA 2 hours a day for a total of about 10 different days, excluding days in which I took practice tests. I only skipped AWA during practice tests once, in my Powerprep II test since I realised it wouldn’t be graded. On the other hand, I occasionally studied for 2-5 hours daily, including weekends. This duration varied widely because I was involved in a remote internship and research projects, for which some are currently under review for publication. The stated study hours exclude my evening practice sessions on the group, which is usually between 7.30pm – 10.00pm and extending to slightly longer durations.

SUMMARY OF PRACTICE TESTS

·        Princeton Review: 326 (Quant – 167; Verbal – 159; AWA – 4.5: Argument – 5, Issue – 4) – taken a month and half into my journey.

·        Princeton Review: 315 (Quant – 163; Verbal – 152; AWA – 2.5: Argument – 2, Issue – 3) – taken two weeks later.

·        ETS Powerprep Online: 325 (Quant – 169; Verbal – 156) – taken over a week later.

·        Princeton Review: 324 (Quant – 167; Verbal – 157; AWA – 4.5: Argument – 5, Issue – 4) – taken 6 days to my exam.

·        Powerprep II App: 321 (Quant – 167; Verbal – 154) – taken 4 days to my exam.

·        Princeton Review: 324 (Quant – 164; Verbal – 160; AWA – 3: Argument – 2, Issue – 4) – taken 2 days to my exam.

REGISTRATION AND TIDYING UP PRACTICE

Getting exhausted with intense practice, after having spent at least two and half months in total, I decided to register for the test and scheduled my exam for two weeks’ time (12th of August). Although I was nearly overwhelmed with tension, I forged on with my group’s practice, albeit a bit less active. I also desperately sought recommendations for my RC, which I got from fellow group members – Gregmat videos, which I subscribed to and watched some of his YouTube videos two days to my exam, and one other which wasn’t touched. I also concluded practice with the Manhattan’s 5lb book (which I started a week to my exam’s date) but couldn’t finish up to a third of it as the questions were quite dense and exhausting, coupled with the tension of my looming exam.

Thereafter, I took my final test (6th graded practice test – 4th Princeton review test) two days to my exam – immediately after finishing Gregmat’s videos. Learning some strategies from Gregmat, got me my highest verbal score (160), quant – 164 and further increased my confidence. A day to my GRE, I finished the entire Kaplan’s verbal & AWA and Norman’s book again and did some practice on the Verbal section on www.testbig.com

I also attempted developing points for a few essay topics on ETS argument and issue essay pools before calling it a day.

D-DAY

I had a good sleep (compared to previous weeks but still short) and arrived quite early at my centre (exam scheduled for 8.30am), barely eating. I prayed for QVQVQ as the order of my exam and got just that. The AWA was quite gracious and I was a lot less tensed doing it than in any previous practice test taken. The first quant (Q) section was a breeze through, but the subsequent V nearly left me depressed. I went to the rest room for my 10-minute break and was in deep thought about what went wrong, because I knew my performance was disastrous – I didn’t even finish the section (never happened before).

I remained there lost in my worries until my break was over and was jolted back to life by knocks on the door from one of the test officials informing me the next session was counting. Thankfully, it didn’t affect my performance in subsequent sessions, and I attempted all but the very last quant question of the 6th session. Tensed after submitting, I waited anxiously for the few seconds or milliseconds (that seemed like a year) for my score to load on the computer screen. I feared going below 320 as I initially had a 330+ when I started preparations but adjusted the goal (downwards) because of the reality of my practice tests.

Finally, I saw my Quant – 169 and Verbal – 151 and was quite relieved, before selecting 4 schools to send them to.

SUMMARY AND TIPS

This means I got the perfect 320 minimum target – the test’s difficulty more closely matched my ETS practice tests for the Q and V sections, but for the AWA and the overall experience and stamina required was reminiscent of my Princeton review tests. In essence, I only studied:

·        The Manhattan’s strategy guides

·        ETS official study materials and 150 practice questions

·        Kaplan’s book for the Quant, Verbal and AWA sections

·        A bit of Manhattan’s 5lb for practice questions and

·        Norman Lewis’ book (which I enjoyed the most) for building my vocabulary.

I took 6 graded practice tests – 2 with ETS Powerprep II and 4 with Princeton’s review (there were a few ungraded ones). I’m quite excited writing this and hope it would encourage and possibly guide others who are preparing for their GRE.

No mincing words here – my background with quantitative courses in engineering definitely played a role in my high quant score, but that would be undermining the impact of Manhattan’s study guides especially, which treats topics for a complete novice to understand. The quantitative topics are all secondary school topics – no further maths (don’t fear).

For those seeking aid with quant, I would advise you start from Manhattan’s study guides and actively study it, attempt every exercise and possibly, the examples before viewing the breakdown. Solutions to exercises are always provided at the end. You can thereafter progress to its ETS quant guides and then, Manhattan’s 5lb material for full practice.

ETS verbal guide, Big book, Kaplan and Manhattan would definitely aid your Verbal skills (I never used big book, but those who did had wonderful scores there). Norman Lewis Word Power Made Easy book would boost your vocabulary. You can finish one or more sessions daily while studying other materials – ensure you attempt every exercise before viewing the answer. Finally, for AWA, ETS material of course, Kaplan and Manhattan would aid – there are definitely others I didn’t mention or touch. Ensure you attempt some essays from ETS online GRE pool for argument and issue topics.

The group chat has been my greatest source of aid for this exam, and thanks to Ismail Olaniyi once again who introduced me to it. Onto something else – mailing profs, TOEFL, applications, etc.