I score 315 on GRE.
With about 3 months of preparation I was able to achieve this score. I referred most of the material that was available on official GRE website and it really helped a lot. I also attempted the two full length tests on official GRE website. One about a month before the test and the second one a week before the test day. Other than that, I also solved the sectional and full length tests given in The
Kaplan and The Princeton Review books.
This way I could assess my skills on the 3 sections: Quantitative Reasoning, Verbal Reasoning and Analytical Writing.
If you you know your strong and weak points, it helps you a lot in your preparation strategy.
Practice is the key to a good score in GRE. Whatever time you have in hands before your test, use it effectively. Each day choose a section and practice different types of questions and strategies to solve them.
Weekly full length tests are a great way to assess your preparation.
Another most important factor is TIME. You don't want to miss out on any questions in your test in which you might score well. So, always go for timed tests while practicing.
On test day, as soon as the analytical writing part is over(which is the first section), forget about the topics and your essays. Concentrate on the upcoming sections.
Maintain a reasonable pace from the beginning. Allow some extra time for Reading Comprehension questions in Verbal Reasoning section as RC is a bit more time consuming than Text Completion and Sentence equivalence.
Try to maintain 100% accuracy. Double check each answer as you proceed, don't wait for the end of the section to check answers. You may not have enough time. Mark the questions where you need some extra time to think and you may come back to them after finishing all the other questions, if you have time left.
I scored quite well on quantitative section i.e. I got 163 or 86 percentile rank, and my major strengths here were Time and Accuracy. This applies to other sections as well.
My verbal scores was 152. Here, I scored better on Sentence Equivalence and Text Completion than Reading Comprehension. Moreover, reading lengthy passages took me some extra time too which I could have used to double check my answers. So, the thing to remember is, while attempting RC questions, don't devote too much time towards reading the lengthy passages and then attempting the question. Do both things simultaneously. Label every para of the passage. Go through the questions, find the relevant para and then dig deeper into it, if required. This strategy works well according to my personal experience.
Well, I am quite happy with my scores and I have received admission offers from some of the best colleges in USA.
All the best to all the aspirants!
27 May 2015, 04:21
