I took the GRE last September, and the result was horrible. Despite a poor score, I applied to a few programs. Because I was very confident about my profile and considered the GRE only to tick the check box. However, I was rejected by all the programs, and one program specifically mentioned my poor test score in the rejection letter. My confidence collapsed. I started to feel that all my hard work (pre-doctoral research, etc.) over the past few years was for nothing.
It took me almost six months to gather the courage to start again. Still, I am very afraid and always thinking I won't be able to crack the GRE. In the meantime, I have assessed the mistakes I made during my preparation last time. They are:
Not following any specific plan. I started with the Manhattan Prep strategy guides 1-8 and the 5lb. I completed each of the. Went through each of the books, solved the practice question at the end of each section, and solved problems from 5LB. However, I focused on how many questions I was getting right rather than on why I made the mistake and on solving to make sure it did not happen again. Also, I didn't master the problem-solving strategies. I took as long as necessary to solve it and did not focus on speeding things up. I also subscribed to GregMatt. I just watched the Prepswift videos and did not use quizzes or other tests.
Didn't sit for any mock except PP1
Didn't familiarize myself with the exam setup.
Didn't assess or evaluate my preparation level.
I had absolutely no preparation for the verbal and AW section. During preparation, I just memorized 7-10 groups.
Summary: I wasn't prepared enough to take the GRE. I did not choose my resources wisely and did not utilize the resources I had access to.
Now is the time to prepare effectively for the GRE. My official GRE score merely reflects my baseline. I am only interested in getting 165+ in quant and 4.0+ in AW. My desired programs do not ask for a high verbal score, but anything above 160 is a plus.
To achieve my desired score, I have the following plan:
Master one topic at a time. Mastering each topic will have 2 steps. First, understand the concepts and solve problems. Keep practicing until I achieve 90-95% accuracy. Then, master the strategies. Any problem that takes more than 2 minutes is wrong.
For verbal, first, I will memorize at least 10-15 groups. Then I will start working on strategies. (I could really use some help here! What are the strategies? I don't know)
After I master quant and verbal, I will sit for the mocks. My preparation is not complete until I get 325+ on conservative mocks.
I have two questions:
Is my plan too ambitious?
Is there any specific plan that I should follow to achieve my goal?