325 GRE (155V 170Q) I MADE IT
This is my first time taking the GRE test and I am happy with what I got.
For your information, I first took a diagnostic test using the GRE Official guide and got a 147V and 160Q. I choked so hard on Verbal because I have severe difficulty in reading the text slowly and critically and my vocab foundation is pretty weak.
My total preparation time spans about 3 months but I took it seriously throughout the last final month only, which is September (I’m a chronic procrastinator). My advice for whoever is planning to cram for their GRE is to break down the Vocab list into smaller doable lists and form a habit of daily reading so that you can get used to reading comprehension.
My preparation source is mostly Gregmat. I watched all videos on Quant concepts using Prepswift and do the exercises for each of the concept. First few exercises can be disheartening since I kept making stupid mistakes because I was rushy and didn’t read the questions clearly (this taught me a hard lesson). After making sure I know all the concepts, I found Quant Mountain TRULY HELPFUL. You must watch the videos first before going for the Quant Mountain to make sure you can explain to yourself clearly everything noted in the Mountain. Next up, for further practice, I also do Quant exercises with a focus on Medium, Hard and Extreme difficulty levels but after taking the real test, I have to say that the Quant practices by Gregmat aren’t quite close in format to the real one, but still, my speed and critical thinking does improve a lot and they play an essential role in helping me get a 170 in Quant. Besides, I also do Manhattan Prep and use Gemini to generate GRE-like questions to practice and make sure I understand all confusing concepts like Probability and Combinatorics and somehow, the questions on the real test on these two concepts are almost exactly the same so I didn’t have to think twice once I encountered them.
Personally, I don’t think the GRE Quant is that hard once you learn the “trick”.
To be specific, for Comparison questions on algebra, try subtract A from B or vice versa and plug in the number. Be careful with additional conditions such as: A is an integer or A is positive or A is a non-zero integer,… They make a huge difference and can save you a round.
Also, for multiple choice questions, you can try eliminating first and then plug in the answer. I did the same technique for at least 2 questions on Quant section 2 and got them all correct.
For Geometry questions in particular, don’t let the shapes given fool you. The ratio of the polygrams are deceptive and it is meant to lead you to give the wrong anser choice so be careful with additional information such as 0 < x < y < 90 degree (for example). You should probably draw one yourself ^^ just to be careful lol.
For Verbal, I don’t have anything great to advise u guys since my score for verbal isn’t very decent. However, shout out to Gregmat for tagging me along with Reading Comprehension and AWA with all the tips and practice problems, I truly appreciate you :3
After all, I hope you guys reading this post can have a clearer insight into the test and believe that you can do it. Moreover, don’t compare yourself with whoever posting their scores in this forum because they may have different background and amount of time dedicated for studying. As for me, my quant background is pretty decent so I didn’t struggle as much but it wasn’t the same for verbal so obviously I couldn’t nail it.
If you have any questions for me, feel free to leave a comment, I will try my best to reply to you all :3. Wish you guys a lovely day 🥰