Rock the GRE

I’ve begun studying. Recently bought the Kaplan book that I hope will help me, especially on the math section since I haven’t taken any math courses in four years.

I want to take the a Powerscore course in DC, but that would set me back about $400. :(

I want to do the GRE before I leave for Korea in February. I need to get above 1266 total, 595 verbal and 671 quantitative, which is the average MA’s candidate profile for my target Master’s program. I did really bad on the SAT, so here’s to hoping, and actually studying for this one…

Then, when I’m in Korea, I can focus on the rest of the application.

I took a practice test yesterday. Totally a dry run with no preparation at all. And I’m impatient and was getting annoyed, so I rushed through it a bit.
Anyway… I got Q:610 and V:690. These scores resemble my SAT scores a lot (although those were a little higher). For some reason I do badly on these stupid math questions on standardized tests, but give me something much more complicated and I’m fine.
My goal is to get a 1500 (750 on each section). Absolute minimum 1400. I know I’ll get above a 700 on the verbal, and probably better than that, if I so much as glance at a couple of vocab cards before the test and don’t skim the reading comprehension passages because they’re boring like I did last night.
I basically shouldn’t even bother applying to the schools I’m looking at if I don’t get above a 700 on the math section.

I don’t even want to think about the subject test right now. I’m planning on taking the general test in January over break, and then taking the subject test at the end of next summer so it’ll all be over with before classes start again.

Let’s see..

apply for grad schools end of fall 2010.
take GRE: summer 2010
GRE goal: 1400+

Hopefully I can start studying now..

take it by the end of January, rock it by the end of spring.

the first time I took it I had only a week to study before. The small town I’m from doesnt have a testing center and I happened to be traveling the next week anyway. So yeah 460 math 510 verbal ouch! this time I am studying for at least a month!

A 1200 is the cut-off for a lot of scholarships, and so I’m stoked at my score. 610 V, 590 Q is good to go.

I take the GRE five weeks from today (December 23). Here’s the rest of the plan:

Nov. 9-15

-Kaplan: Arithmetic-
-ETS: Arithmetic-
-Kaplan CD: verbal quiz 5-

Nov. 23-29

-Kaplan: Arithmetic cont.d, Algebra-
ETS: Geometry
Kaplan CD: Test #1
Princeton: Writing

Nov. 30-Dec. 6

Kaplan: Geometry, Data Problems
Kaplan CD: Test #2
ETS: Test #3

Dec. 7-13

Online: CAT 2 with LiveGrader
Online: Advanced Quant Comp drill
ETS: Data Analysis
ETS: Test #4 & 5

Dec. 14-23

ETS CD: Tests #1 & 2
Online: CAT 3

Goals: 700-770 V, 570-630 Q

I walked in with very little preparation and got a 1070. This time, after months of studying, I’m shooting for somewhere between 1300 and 1400. I’m getting nearly perfect scores on the verbal practice tests and quizzes I’m doing.

I had trouble with the reading comp questions at first, which stupified me since I read so much. I’d read the whole passage, analyze it, and then move on to the questions. The Princeton Review taught me to read the first and last sentence of each paragraph, and then read the question without looking at the given answers to see if you can come up with the answer yourself. Look and see which answer matches most closely and you’re on your way. I tend to over-analyze, spending minutes on each question. That was unproductive and a huge time-waster.

I’ve gotten to the point where I know approximately how long each section will take me: I fly through sentence completion in 4 minutes; I take 12 minutes for the passages; I do the analogies in 8 minutes; the antonyms get 6 minutes. Knowing my strengths and weaknesses has helped enormously.

800 quantitative (how the hell did that happen?!)
650 verbal

considering i spent much more time preparing for the verbal section of the exam, i was a little perturbed when i got my score. but apparently they made it super difficult – a 650 was 93rd percentile! and i can’t argue with a perfect quantitative score…i didn’t even think i’d break 700. i’m so happy i spent the time studying and learning how to take the test – it definitely paid off. good luck everyone!!

770 Q
650 V

Deciding to go into an economics PhD program meant I’d have to step out of my liberal arts element and into math. Getting better at something that comes naturally is a fine tuning, while getting good at something new is an evolution. Both of which are grand. But the evolution has been a new experience for me, and it’s really empowering. That being said, I scored in a higher percentile bracket in verbal (93%) than in quantitative (88%). ;)

Alas, now I really, really need to finish my statement of intent.