Pink Poogle Toy Forum

So...has anyone taken them? I'm studying for them now...

The GREs are short for Graduate Record Examinations, and most graduate schools in the US require you take them in order to apply. I consider it a major pain in the butt.

My friends have taken them. I have studied for them. I have a couple books dedicated for the Physics GRE. I've done several practice exams for the Physics GRE. The best prep I got from friends and teachers is to study like mad. For Physics, it is recommended to make flash cards of every equation. The practice exams are supposed to be harder than the actual exam. And don't take more than one GRE a day since you get no breaks and you'll want to relieve yourself after just one.

Good luck!

I've taken them -- twice, in fact, and might have to again if I apply to a PhD program after working to pay off the master's loans -- why do the darned things have to expire after 5 years?

First was in ~1999, the last time they offered the paper-based test (with the old logic-puzzle analytical section). Then I took them again in ~2005 (I started grad school in 2006). The math has gotten easier and the verbal harder -- there were words on the most recent test that I'd never even seen before, and I used to read the dictionary for fun growing up (yeah, I know I'm weird). I dropped 60 points on the verbal between the two tests.

I'd recommend using several books to study, especially ones with practice tests on CD. I checked out several from the library -- even if they're older, the types of questions haven't changed much, so there's no point in wasting a ton of money (I bought one new edition since they're constantly tweaking the test). The review books all seem to have similar methods, but I found a lot of the shortcuts made me do worse, so I preferred just taking practice tests to work on my timing. I also practiced a few sample essays (and outlined several more based on the GRE official list; I was too lazy to write out more than 1 or 2) -- the method outlined in the books really works: I managed to get a 5 despite the little practice I'd done.

The first time, I used the book "Word Smart" to help me learn word roots and new words -- I'd make flashcards for ones I didn't know and go through ~20/day; once I felt I knew a word (usually after 1-2 days), I'd take it out of the rotation and add new ones. Then once a week I'd go back through the old ones and make sure I hadn't forgotten them.

I honestly didn't spend a ton of time studying either time. I tried to focus on areas where I wasn't as strong. The second time, my reading comp was horrible on the first few practice tests, so I went through that section of the book and took just those sections of some of the practice tests until I remembered how to do them. Since I'm pretty strong at math, I only did a few practice tests to make sure my timing was okay.

When are you taking the test? If you need any more specific advice, feel free to PM me. Good luck.

ETA: Just read Sky's comments. For me, the Princeton Review's practice tests (2006 ed.) were easier than the actual test -- which contributed to my verbal dropping 60 points (I had gotten an "800" on nearly every practice test, so I didn't bone up on my vocab as much as I could/should have). It's the only book I've given a negative review on amazon...

Thankfully all I need is the general test *phew*.

I have to schedule the test still (yeah, I know, but a few of us want to take it together). I'm aiming for September, so I can have the scores into grad schools by the deadline.

I have the Princeton Review (2008 ed.) book. It has pretty good general test taking tips, I think, but I have other books for practice tests. I'm using a Barron's (two years old, from the first time I scheduled the test) which has many more practice problems.

Has anyone used PowerPrep? I downloaded it, but haven't tried it out yet. It's right from ETS, so I'm hoping it will give me a feel for what the actual test will be like.

Math seems so far so good, as soon as I brush up on the things I haven't done since middle school. Verbal is kinda scaring me...go figure, I was an English major. I'm using a little program called jMemorize to type up some flashcards to use on my computer.

Writing should be a breeze. I've had to deal with this type of writing since I was in the 9th grade, all the way up to college with my senior thesis. It seems like it will be easier than the annoying English AP exam I had to take.

I think I'm just aggravated that there are so many standardized tests. *grumble* And it's all so darn expensive!