My GRE Preparation Strategy for 326
I am a full-time software engineer in India. I have decided to take up the daunting task of giving the GRE as the first step of my Master's journey in the USA. I have prepared for two months (daily around 2 hours) and scored 326 (Quant: 169, Verbal: 157, AWA: 3.5), an above-average score. I want to share my preparation strategy and plan here.
Starting up
First things first, let's talk a bit about the GRE pattern. GRE is divided into three parts, i.e., Quant, Verbal, AWA (writing). Quant and Verbal sections have a score range of 130–170, whereas AWA is on 6 point scale. Before starting the preparation, everyone should give a diagnostic test to know where we stand and plan precisely how to achieve our target score. I gave a mock test (not a full-length one) to understand how Quant & Verbal questions are. I felt Quant is a bit easier for me as most of the concepts were covered and well-practiced during my 11th & 12th, Thanks to my JEE prep 🤘. In contrast, Verbal questions felt like an alien language where I could understand neither question nor answer options 😖.
After watching some YouTube videos and going through some articles on the internet, I understood how the scoring works in GRE and which score ranges are considered good. So as the first step, I've set myself the target as 320–325 (Which is too bold then because of the depression caused by Verbal).
This article would benefit you if you are aiming for a similar score and are relatively comfortable with the quant section like me. So, let's go ahead and plan our preparation.
To achieve the score mentioned above, we need to strategically set goals for each section, i.e., Quant & Verbal. We can lose 15–20 points to accomplish the target score. In my case, I was confident that I could score 160–162 in Quant, and with some good practice, I could even increase it to 167-168. So my target score for Quant is 167. If I lose 3 points in Quant, I would have the buffer of losing 12–17 points in Verbal, so my target score for Verbal would be 153–158. I hope your target scores are also very similar.
Now that each section's target is set, the next step is to prepare accordingly to reach that score.
Quant Strategy
Since our target for Quant is 167, we can't lose many points here. So, each and every topic that would come up in Quant should be well-practiced without any excuses.
The quant concepts in GRE can fall broadly into four categories, as shown in the picture. Many of us are acquainted with these topics at some or the other level in our educational background (Though there might be exceptions). So, the real key for a good Quant score is getting our basics right and practicing them under time constraints. Many people have strong fundamentals of all the quant topics, but they still don't get a great score because of not-so-great time management and falling prey to pitfalls.
Yes, you heard it right; there are a lot of pitfalls in the quant section. ETS likes to play with us. The question, which seems to be an easy one at first glance, turns out to be tough.
For instance, consider the following question.
Given that x is greater than 0, we would immediately say x³ > x² for all positive numbers so that option B would be our answer. Very Simple !!!
But there's a caveat. It is given x is greater than 0, but it is never mentioned x is an integer. x can be any real number above 0 which includes the range between 0–1 where x² > x³. Also, when x=1 → x² = x³. Therefore answer to this question would be option D because x² > x³ when x is in between 0–1, x² = x³ when x=1 and x³ > x² when x is greater than 1.
Many of the questions might seem easy and trivial, but a lot of thought should be put in to get them right. We can see many such pitfall questions in the quant section and can easily avoid these pitfalls by being careful and a good amount of practice. The Manhattan 5lb book is an excellent starting point to get the hang of all the concepts and most pitfall questions that we might see in the actual exam.
Though Manhattan 5lb book is a great starting point, I felt it’s quant questions are slightly on the easier side when compared to the actual GRE questions (and I felt it is true after giving the exam — My personal opinion). So, on top of Manhattan 5lb, I have taken a Magoosh subscription on a shared basis to practice and their quant questions are really good.
Some of the resources that I'd recommend for practicing Quant are Manhattan 5lb (must use this) as the first book to get started with, followed by official ETS books. Kaplan, Princeton, and Barron's guide have some good questions too. If you can spend some money, taking a Magoosh subscription is worth it.
Intentionally not going deep into each category of questions in Quant because we can’t designate one category as important. To score 167+ we have to be strong in all the categories of Quant.
Verbal Strategy
Now coming to the verbal, which gives us a tough time, our target is 153–158. The verbal section consists of three types of questions, i.e., Text Completion (TC), Sentence Equivalence (SE), and Reading Comprehension (RC). The really important point that we should know is, out of the 40 verbal questions, 20 are RC's. Since half of the verbal questions are RC's, special attention should be given to RC's to increase our verbal scores. We should also note, Sentence Equivalence questions are considered easy questions as the correct answers should be synonyms (Do watch this video to know why I feel so). But, as always, ETS doesn't make it easy for us to capitalize on the points mentioned above. We should have a very good grip on vocabulary and the ability to comprehend complex sentences to score well.
Vocabulary is essential for the Verbal section. I have seen people learning around 3500–4000 words as part of their prep. If we have a considerable amount of time for preparation, we can learn those many words. In this case, we can use Word Power Made Easy book, which uses etymology techniques to teach the words. But, if we are short on time, we need to streamline our preparation to what is absolutely necessary. Here is where wordlists come in. Some of the really good wordlists are Barron's 800, GregMat 27 set vocab list, and Magoosh flashcards. I felt almost 60–70% of the words I saw in the GRE test were from the above lists.
Learning words is the job half done. Along with our vocabulary, the Verbal section also tests our critical reasoning and language proficiency. For SE and TC's, we should be able to understand and identify the hints provided in the sentences to come up with the correct answer for the blank (or blanks). For RC, we should comprehend the complex sentences and how they are connected with other sentences in the paragraph. Obviously, language proficiency and critical reasoning are not something we can master overnight or in a month. Since we are not aiming for the perfect score in the Verbal section, we can score 150+ in a reasonable amount of time with the right strategies and practice.
Note: When I mean reasonable amount of time, it is very specific for each person depending on their current vocabulary and reading habits/level. In my opinion, for a person who is slightly familiar with English movies, web series, books, and novels, the reasonable time would be around one-and-a-half to two months.
Now let's talk about the step-by-step preparation strategy that I followed and recommend for Verbal Section.
Vocabulary should be given the first preference in the preparation of the Verbal section. We can comprehend sentences or passages only if we know what the complex words mean in them. I have followed the wordlists mentioned above at the pace of 25–30 words a day. One thing I have observed is, there are many overlapping words in the above lists, and the absolute no. of words that I've learned from all those lists combined are around 1100. One helpful and simple tip that I have used in my vocab preparation is to note down 2–3 synonyms for each word in the wordlist. This tip increased the no. of words I learned and helped cluster the words with a similar meaning (greatly helps for SE questions). This simple tip boosted the no. of words I've learned to almost 1700–1800.
Our next preference is to understand the tips & tricks and proper strategies to solve each type of question and get comfortable with them. In my opinion, the best and cheap resource available for this is GregMat. His strategies for verbal questions are straightforward to understand and will work like a charm. I'd say the 5$ I spent to get the GregMat subscription is the best investment for Verbal. Some of his videos are available on youtube for free. However, taking the subscription would give access to the complete set of videos, including those where he solves Big Book questions by explaining every minute detail. Apart from GregMat videos, Magoosh Verbal videos are also very good.
Parallelly, we have to put into practice the vocabulary and tips & tricks that we are learning. Obviously, ETS official GRE books are the best resources to practice as they would give the same feel of the questions as in the actual exam. As we have already discussed the importance of RC's for a good verbal score, I feel Manhattan's 5lb book is a fantastic resource to practice RC's. It has plenty of passages with different lengths and difficulty ranges. On top of Manhattan's 5lb, I've practiced long passages from Big Book. Along with the GregMat tips for RC's, I found this excellent article very helpful. Coming to TC & SE, I felt Manhattan's 5lb is not that good. It focuses majorly on vocab but not on sentence complexity. So for TC & SE, I have used Magoosh (paid and awesome), Princeton 1014 (above average), Barrons (above average), and Gre Big book (OK-OK) to practice.
Analytical Writing
Writing is the most neglected category by many people, including me :(. AWA has two tasks, namely Issue and Argument. For the Issue task, an open-ended statement is given where we are asked to pick a side (agree or disagree) and explain why we chose it. For the Argument task, an argument/proposal is presented, and our job is to evaluate the presented argument/proposal, underlying assumptions and point them out.
The most crucial aspect of getting a decent score of 3.5 or 4 is to follow the TEMPLATE. The template is nothing but a structure that presents an idea clearly and understandably. I've followed the templates provided by GregMat in his videos. His writing feedback videos were very helpful to know what not to do in the Writing sections. To be honest, I didn't practice much writing, which is evident from my AWA score :/.
Being a person with a 3.5 AWA score, I'm not sure if I'm eligible to suggest techniques for getting a high score. But looking at the rubrics and sample responses present in the official ETS book, the key to getting a high score is the clear & persuasive presentation of the point and as few grammatical mistakes as possible. Practice…Practice….Practice.
Stepping up the Practice
Up until now, we have discussed the strategy and resources for practicing each of the sections individually. Now Imagine giving a full-length exam for 3.5 hrs with back-to-back AWA, Quant, and verbal sections. Believe me; it is not that easy. A section that didn't go that well in the middle will affect the performance in the following sections. Even if all the sections did go well, the brain gets exhausted by the time we reach the last section and refuses to work effectively. There are many other subtle issues present that don't happen when practicing the sections individually.
Giving full-length mock tests in the actual test conditions is the best way to prepare the mind. I'd recommend giving a lot of them. It is not necessary that we have to give the mocks only at the end of the preparation. We can give mocks in parallel with our preparation to track the progress and identify strengths & weaknesses. After giving a mock test, analyzing what went wrong and what went right is very vital. Based on the analysis, we can strategize the preparation accordingly. In my case, I have given 9 full-length mock tests in parallel with my preparation.
Final Thoughts
- Use websites like Vocabulary.com, Mnemonicdictionary.com, and Quizlet to understand the different meanings of the word and some funny pictures or sentences to remember it.
- Try to consider the time constraint as an essential aspect from the early stages of the preparation itself.
- Apart from the resources I've mentioned, there are many other fantastic youtube tutors like The Tested Tutor to follow.
- Try to join as many GRE groups as possible on WhatsApp, Telegram, and Facebook (and any other platforms) to connect with fellow persons in the journey of preparation. This helps a lot to discover new questions and techniques.
- In the verbal section, to score 157, we need not get 27/40 questions right. Even by getting 25/40 questions right, we can score 157. To know more about it, we should understand how the GRE scoring algorithm works, and this fantastic video helps us understand it.
I have tried to write down almost all my learnings in this article. I hope you like it and find this helpful.
