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2gretest


Location: UK
Topics: 10
Posts: 10
Posted 06/09/10 - 08:29 PM   #1
My friend shared with me some good experiences. I hope it is useful for you!!! See more here: http://masteryourgre.com/

Analytical : I had joined the Dilip Oak’s Academy ( DOA here onwards) . Basically the ETS has published a list of 100-200 issues and arguments. So what DOA has done is, it has classified the topics into similar categories ( eg. Art v/s Poverty : Should all money used in art be used for poverty alleviation instead) and then mentioned the points along which one may develop an issue. Well,that helped a lot. Apart from that, i had been through Kaplan’s and Barron’s strategies. Kaplan’s is ok….but Barron’s has a good method. Start typing as soon as you can think of some examples. In the end, develop the introduction and the conclusion. I have noticed that writing an effective introduction, especially at the start itself wastes a lot of time. So it’s best to write it after the rest of the body of your issue has developed.
Secondly, it helps to have some preconceived notions. Try to think about examples for the different topics. It’ll save you a lot of sweat in your final exam.

Verbal: DOA material was again irreplaceable. If you don’t have it, then solve all Kaplan’s, Barron’s, Nova’s , Princeton’s material and whatever else you can lay hands on. Btw, you should know all 4000 words from Barron’s list pit-pat. Try to finish them of once atleast 30 days before your test . I didn’t, and had to keep crazy sleeping hours during the last 20 days ! RC’s from big book are pretty much how RC’s in the test will be…actually i managed to solve just 8 big book tests , and it has 54. As for the RC’s, get used to reading it at top speed with full concentration and understanding it as you do so. It will help you. Kaplan’s has very little practice as such. It is a costly book, and i had bought it, but frankly it is not worth it…a lot of things having the tone of ” Kaplan’s Quant Comparison Strategy” , “Kaplan’s Antonym strategy” …but nothing extra- ordinary.

Quantitative : There’s much to be said about this. First let me tell you a bit about my maths. I’m pretty fast….infact, make 30 people sit with me,and make us solve the same 30 q’s , and i’ll probably be in the top 3 as far as the speed is concerned (not always the accuracy ) I practised quant mainly through a lot of tests, and had no problem whatsoever with finishing it..be it kaplan’s, princeton’s or anything else. For practise , i had completed nearly all of DOA material. But actually i’m not very happy with it…because it focuses on hard word-problems types, but the actual GRE questions are of a slightly different type….a blend of statistics with a lot of tables. I felt the practice given for statistics sorely lacking. Not only in DOA, but also in Nova, Kaplan and everything else. Secondly, i think Nova is a pretty good book for maths. Don’t even bother looking up Kaplan’s. It’s crap with 5-6 questions for practice in each category. Do a lot of co-ordinate geometry , focusing on slopes of line. I can’t go into much details, because i don’t want to break any confidentiality agreements.

The CBT practice : It is vitally important having enough of this. I’ll mention which all tests i took,in order and at what point of time before my actual GRE date.

Davidson’s : 40 days before . Score 800 Q 580V
Kaplan’s 1: 33 days before . Score 800 Q 550V
Kaplan’s 2: 25 days before . Score 800 Q 580V
Kaplan’s 3 : 10 days before . Score 800 Q 582V
Princeton’s 1 : 10 days before . Score 800 Q 720V
DOA 1 : 8 days before. Sore 600 Q 590V
DOA 2: 8 days before. Score 700Q 560V
DOA 3: 7 days before Score 780Q 590V Didn’t appear for any DOA test after this…i mean, well its too difficult…and “the more difficult the better” logic doesn’t hold good a week before your test.

Power Prep 1: 5 days before Score 800Q 710V
Barron’s : 5 days before Score 800Q 700V
Power Prep 2 : 4 days before Score 800Q 700V
Princeton’s 2 : 3 days before Score 800Q 740V
GRE Bible : 3 days before Score 800Q 800V
Gave Power Prep tests again…some 4-5 questions in each section get repeated. Got 1600 both times.
Actual GRE: 780Q 720V

As you can see, Princeton’s, Barron’s and most importantly Power Prep are the surest indicator’s of your score….as long as you remain dead calm at the test. Pay close attention to Power Prep, especially the type of questions. You’ll get similar stuff in the exam.

Wow….that’s a lot of preaching…sorry for that. But i tend to get a little verbose when i’m trying to help. My advice is…remember to keep your cool and hold your nerves at all times. While practicing, try to complete verbal in 28 min and Quant in 40 min…it’ll help you.Each person’s way of remaining calm is different. For me looking at my passport - ‘Republic of India’ helped. Patriotism to combat nerves Psyching yourself is vitally important. GRE is all mind game, though the difficulty level is quite low. And the correct way of approaching Verbal is trying to reduce the amount of marks that you lose, and not by trying to score ‘as many marks ‘ as you can.

Lastly, i would like to thank Mukul sir, Atul sir, Anil sir and all others at the Dilip Oak’s academy for all the help and guidance.

If you are appearing for the exam, Best luck ! Be steadfast, God speed
ringabell20
New

Topics: 0
Posts: 1
Posted 06/18/10 - 08:36 PM   #2
It's great that you posted your real experience here, not advertisement. Thanks!








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