What I did to study for the GRE
Studied November 12th thru December 6th, almost 4 weeks, maybe averaging 4 days/week, 3 hours/session.
I read “Cracking the GRE 2013” from Princeton Review; doing all the examples and sample tests as I went.
In the week before the test I did the two timed practice tests in the PowerPrep II software.
Tidbits:
* I find that caffeine pills really work to enhance my mental focus and stamina. I used them for my physiology class over the summer and in studying for the GRE to good effect. I had to carefully manage my caffeine intake (I’ll tell you the caffeine story another time). By the end of my study cycle I was popping a lot of pills. On the day of the test I took 3 200 mg pills divided into 1/2 pills over the course of the day. Today, 4 days after the test I’ve got a pretty consistent dull caffeine withdrawal headache. I’ll probably have it for a week or two. It was worth it.
* The test paced REALLY FAST. If I had enough time I would have gotten a nearly perfect score. But they make sure you don’t have enough time. Taking the practice tests alerted me to this issue.
* The test is REALLY LONG. I was in my chair for some 4 hours, focusing hard the entire time. It is a grueling marathon of a test.
* I found the following question answering strategy worked for me: I’d look at a question and if it didn’t feel right, I’d skip it. Usually the issue would be that I’d read a question and then have no idea where to go with it, or it just seemed really hard. Or overly complicated. Just skip it! (I knew my brain might be churning on it in the background)