Dear Aspirants, let us directly think over the preparation part.
Preparing for GRE:
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1) Learn the Barron’s wordlist.
2) Practice a lot. Use the freely available Powerprep software, published by the ETS. The scores you get in Powerprep are good indicators of what your actual scores are going to be.
3) Subscribe to the yahoo groups. You’ll get lots of useful information. Choose a group that has at least 100 members, so that your queries are more likely to get addressed. But opt for the ’’Daily Digest’’ choice otherwise u’ll get 20-30 emails per day!
4) Make sure u practice ’’FULL LENGTH’’ test and not just individual sections. Sitting at one place for 30+45+45+30+(experimental) minutes can sap ur energy. I attribute low verbal score of aspirants(which come as last section) to low energy levels at that time.
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When going to the test center, you can take care of following things-
1) Do carry Glucon-C /biscuits or similar such energy supplement, and use it during the breaks. It’ll help a lot esp.when you are feeling hungry due to not having breakfast when exam. time is at early morning hrs..
2) Wear warm cloths. Wear a sweater no matter what the outside temperature is. The exam-room is chilling cool. Even if u r suited to a/c, it won’t harm putting a sweater on, u can always remove it later. This is special tip during rainy season (July/Aug/Sept.)
3) Take all the time it takes to answer the first 10 questions, never rush through them. Here’s a small study, which I did with the Powerprep software (official test preparation software from ETS)
C- correct, W-wrong
490
ccccw wwwcc wccww cwwcc ccccw wcccw
(12 wrong)
510
wccwc ccccw cwccc cccwc wwwcc ccccc
(8 wrong)
530
ccwwcwccccwcccwcwccwcccwwwwccc
(11 wrong)
570
cccwc wccwc cwccc wwccw cwccc cwcwc
(10 wrong)
580
wcccc ccccc wccww wwccc ccccc ccccw
(Wrong 7)
650
cccwc ccccc wcwwc wcccc cccwc wcccw
(8 wrong)
680
ccccc cwccw ccccc wwwcw ccccc wwccw
(9 wrong)
690
cccwc ccccc cwccc ccwcc wwwwc ccccw
(8 wrong)
It clearly proves that first few questions carry a LOT of weightage. After all, that’s how computer adaptive test works.
Best of luck and don’t forget to put your comments if any.
Smiles,
Mrs.Medha.