GRE is a prerequisite to enter a masters program at most universities in the US and certain universities in Canada and TOEFL is required by all of them! Most people are falsely made to believe that these tests are really tough and that you absolutely have to have professional coaching to crack them.This fear is usually instilled in students by GRE training centers which come to college. However, from my experience, that is definitely not the case and that with proper focus and planning, most people can prepare for these tests by themselves.Right at the outset, let me give you'll an idea about the structure of the test. The GRE test has a max score of 1600. It has two main section types, the results of which form your score: The quantitative section and the verbal section. The quant section essentially consists of simple math, arithmetic and geometry, though questions from probability and statistics have also been asked. It is 45 minutes long. The verbal section is without a doubt the tougher of the two and usually proves to be the downfall of most students and is 30 minutes long. There is also a writing section called the analytical writing section which consists of two essay type questions. This section is scored separately and does not count towards your score. The writing section is graded on a scale of 0-6, in half-point increments.Also the test is "computer adaptive". This means that the first question that you get will be of average difficulty. If you answer correctly, your next question would be slightly tougher, however if your answer is wrong, the next question would be easier. And this continues throughout the rest of the test. Therefore, to get a high score, it is very very important to NOT mess up the first couple of questions. Doing so would result in a lower score. By making the test computer adaptive, they have ensured that random guesses will really not help students much.
To get an admit to a masters program abroad, the first aspect that all universities consider is your academic profile. Contrary to what most coaching classes and your friends might tell you, the GRE is NOT the most important parameter. Believe me, it would be better to put greater efforts in acquiring a good percentage( around 65% and above) than just studying for GRE. In the end, your GPA or percentage is what counts. The GRE is merely an additional tool in helping universities select students. This however does not mean that getting a GRE score in not important. Students with both a good academic standing as well as a really good score in GRE are the ones who usually get admits to the top universities. Doing well in both is absolutely a must!
Prior preparation for the test is very important to do well on the day of the exam. Unfortunately, the usual study methods do not really work with GRE. I'm sorry to disappoint some of you but the GRE is a test of the skills in math and English that you have acquired over the years. So students who are weak in math or are not particularly comfortable with difficult English will surely have a tougher time preparing for the test. And sadly, they also do not perform particularly well in the test. Of course, working hard can surely help everyone. Now, the following methods were used by me and may or may not work for you, but they may at least give you some idea about how to go about your preparation.
The verbal section consists of sentence completion questions, analogies, antonyms and reading passages. The first thing to do is to start memorizing vocabulary words. Usually, students purchase a box of flash cards and start learning the words. These cards are definitely not exhaustive and you might encounter words never seen before as well. But flash cards at least help you get started. The best way to learn from the flash cards is to do a small number of words each day and keep on revising them from time to time. Also, sometimes you may already know the meanings of some words and so doing them again is a waste of time. So if possible, maintain a list of words you didn't know and keep on revising ONLY these. Once you're done with all the boxes of cards, you will eventually have a large list of words that you didn't know and you should now revise only this list.This, trust me, will save you a lot of time during revision. Ideally speaking, you should know all the words contained in the flash cards. This will surely increase your score in the final test. Also, vocab building will help you sentence completions(essentially fill in the blanks), antonyms( where you have to chose the correct opposite of the given word) and analogies.
Passages in GRE are just like those we had in 10th and 12th standard English. You read a passage and answer questions. But sadly, its not as simple as before. The passages are ridiculously difficult sometimes and selecting answers for the questions is tough too. You almost never get a direct question and almost always have to 'read between the lines'. Wild guesses are no help here as the test is computer adaptive. The only way to do well in this section is to practice as many passages as you can. This will help improve your reading speed and also give you an idea about the type of questions asked which definitely gives you an edge in the final test. No amount of coaching in classes will help you in this section. You just have to practice.
The quant section is comparatively much more easier than the verbal section. The only preparation you need is to revise basic maths, geometry, probability and statistics. After that, you really don't need to study anything as such. Again, practicing as many problems as you can will help you thereby giving you an idea about the type of questions asked. That is about all you need to do in maths.
The analytical writing section is only slightly different from the usual essays that you write. Also, all the questions that could possibly be asked on the test are available on the GRE site: www.ets.org
No one can help you much here because it completely depends on how you write and think. So you can accordingly prepare for this section.
Now there is a book called "The Big Book"( really the name of the book) which is a must for preparing for this test. I don't think that it is commercially available these days so you'll just have to ask your seniors or friends. This book has numerous actual GRE tests and sometimes you may encounter the very same questions from this book during YOUR final test. However, you may find the quant section in Big Book to be very easy and that in the real test, the quant questions are slightly tougher. Nevertheless, it will give you practice. The verbal sections of the Big Book contain classic GRE questions and are pretty much what you would see in the real test. So if you find that you're not doing really well in big book tests, then practice harder if you have the time or don't expect a good score at all. Those under-performing in the big book tests will NOT get a high score at all. I guarantee it!
Apart from these, there are several software tests which are available which you can either download from the net for free or borrow from friends. These tests are also very important because they give you a feel of the actual test and they'll help you in timing yourself effectively. Notes provided by classes are really a waste because they include extra tough questions which are usually never asked. Also, these very notes are used by MBA aspirants giving GMAT and CAT as well. So do not waste time going through classes' notes.
Now the best time to give the GRE is in the vacation after the even semesters. The vacation is longer(almost a month) and even if college starts, the first couple of months are really a joke with nothing serious going on. So it's best to sacrifice one vacation in your engineering student days and give your best shot for this exam. With proper focus and training, this test should not be much of a hassle for most students.
Passages in GRE are just like those we had in 10th and 12th standard English. You read a passage and answer questions. But sadly, its not as simple as before. The passages are ridiculously difficult sometimes and selecting answers for the questions is tough too. You almost never get a direct question and almost always have to 'read between the lines'. Wild guesses are no help here as the test is computer adaptive. The only way to do well in this section is to practice as many passages as you can. This will help improve your reading speed and also give you an idea about the type of questions asked which definitely gives you an edge in the final test. No amount of coaching in classes will help you in this section. You just have to practice.
The quant section is comparatively much more easier than the verbal section. The only preparation you need is to revise basic maths, geometry, probability and statistics. After that, you really don't need to study anything as such. Again, practicing as many problems as you can will help you thereby giving you an idea about the type of questions asked. That is about all you need to do in maths.
The analytical writing section is only slightly different from the usual essays that you write. Also, all the questions that could possibly be asked on the test are available on the GRE site: www.ets.org
No one can help you much here because it completely depends on how you write and think. So you can accordingly prepare for this section.
Now there is a book called "The Big Book"( really the name of the book) which is a must for preparing for this test. I don't think that it is commercially available these days so you'll just have to ask your seniors or friends. This book has numerous actual GRE tests and sometimes you may encounter the very same questions from this book during YOUR final test. However, you may find the quant section in Big Book to be very easy and that in the real test, the quant questions are slightly tougher. Nevertheless, it will give you practice. The verbal sections of the Big Book contain classic GRE questions and are pretty much what you would see in the real test. So if you find that you're not doing really well in big book tests, then practice harder if you have the time or don't expect a good score at all. Those under-performing in the big book tests will NOT get a high score at all. I guarantee it!
Apart from these, there are several software tests which are available which you can either download from the net for free or borrow from friends. These tests are also very important because they give you a feel of the actual test and they'll help you in timing yourself effectively. Notes provided by classes are really a waste because they include extra tough questions which are usually never asked. Also, these very notes are used by MBA aspirants giving GMAT and CAT as well. So do not waste time going through classes' notes.
Now the best time to give the GRE is in the vacation after the even semesters. The vacation is longer(almost a month) and even if college starts, the first couple of months are really a joke with nothing serious going on. So it's best to sacrifice one vacation in your engineering student days and give your best shot for this exam. With proper focus and training, this test should not be much of a hassle for most students.
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