I took the GRE today. I needed to bring up my writing score from the last time and I think I did it. I won’t get the score back for 2 weeks but I feel really good about it.
Yasuko asked me how I studied. I used several study guides: Magoosh.com, Princeton Review’s “Crack the GRE”, Kaplan’s GRE book, the official book and sample tests from ETS.
Magoosh.com is great: When you don’t understand a problem, they talk through it in a little video. Great. (a bit expensive, but hey). Their video lessons on writing are great. I took notes, followed the strategy and used it to great effect on the test.
The Magoosh GRE vocabulary app for Android was really good (and free!)
Cracking The GRE from Princeton Review: I like the attitude of the book, and their math tutorials let me (re)learn a lot of math from years gone by. I liked the guide for the writing section too.
Kaplan GRE Premier: I despised the tone of the book, always using the royal “we” and saying that some strategy or another is “the Kaplan method” as if we were all living in the ivory tower together. That said, they had some good tips.
The official GRE book and test were pretty good. I initially figured the book was going to be dry and chincy but it was remarkably solid. The computerized practice test was also a pretty good indicator of the score I was going to get.
The best advice I can give for studying is to study a solid 1-3 hours 5 days a week for 3 months. Mix it up. Watch some videos, do some exercises, make vocabulary cards, play with the vocabulary flashcard app while you’re on the train, write sample essays (let yourself do it in 60 minutes… then 45… then 30), write out cheat sheets for all the math principles, take notes from the Magoosh lessons… just keep focusing on it!
Success! Hooray Lee!
:-)
Yasuko asked me how I studied. I used several study guides: Magoosh.com, Princeton Review’s “Crack the GRE”, Kaplan’s GRE book, the official book and sample tests from ETS.
Magoosh.com is great: When you don’t understand a problem, they talk through it in a little video. Great. (a bit expensive, but hey). Their video lessons on writing are great. I took notes, followed the strategy and used it to great effect on the test.
The Magoosh GRE vocabulary app for Android was really good (and free!)
Cracking The GRE from Princeton Review: I like the attitude of the book, and their math tutorials let me (re)learn a lot of math from years gone by. I liked the guide for the writing section too.
Kaplan GRE Premier: I despised the tone of the book, always using the royal “we” and saying that some strategy or another is “the Kaplan method” as if we were all living in the ivory tower together. That said, they had some good tips.
The official GRE book and test were pretty good. I initially figured the book was going to be dry and chincy but it was remarkably solid. The computerized practice test was also a pretty good indicator of the score I was going to get.
The best advice I can give for studying is to study a solid 1-3 hours 5 days a week for 3 months. Mix it up. Watch some videos, do some exercises, make vocabulary cards, play with the vocabulary flashcard app while you’re on the train, write sample essays (let yourself do it in 60 minutes… then 45… then 30), write out cheat sheets for all the math principles, take notes from the Magoosh lessons… just keep focusing on it!
Got my score back: 160 Verbal, 150 Math (I got a 156 last time), 4.5 Writing. Achievement unlocked!
Hi Lee,
Kudos on the GRE score. I am heading down to CSU-DH for a MSOT program admissions interview tomorrow. Let’s find a time to connect soon.
Best, John