I am Ojas and I studied for about a 1 month for my GRE. My GRE score was 320. (V 157, Q 163) I

took my GRE on 10th Sept 2013. Here I narrate my experience; one may take whatever is

suitable for him/her.

Situation around me:

I started my preparation about 40 days before the exam as during the summer before my

college reopened, I was busy with a project (FS UK 2013) and later with my internship.

I am in eight semester of BTech of ECE, so I had fairly high workload to handle (as I have taken

an extra lab this semester +classes, placements, midterm test, class tests, major project etc).

The placement season was going on simultaneously. I chose companies wisely as opting for

every company meant that you lose one day out of your preparation time. Fortunately I got

placed in the third company which I opted for so I lost only 3-4 days considering the PPTs,

placement rounds and treats for the same. There were other time consuming factors which

can be attributed to the 'hostel life'. Like Football, Computer games, TV serial, Assignments, lab

reports, lab viva preparation, late night canteen coffee time with friends (min 1 hr.).

My Strategy

I had 3 labs to handle in a 5 days academic week, and usually after coming from lectures and

lab day, I would not have much stamina to start GRE prep. Knowing that days and evenings

can't do me much good towards my preparation, I decided to-
Study during night (12.30 - 6am)

Especially after my placement i.e. 19th August - 2nd Sept. I would get relatively undisturbed

time by myself (thanks to my friends who had mutually decided not to tempt and lure me into

some any other activity during that time.).I would come back from lab, eat and sleep, I would

get up at 12 had coffee and sat for my preparation, fresh and ready to go at it (with a tic-tic

clock going at the back of my mind).

I used this time efficiently except the fact that started watching Suits and finished 3 seasons in

that time, sometimes at a stretch of 4-5 episodes at a time. This started with a small clip which

my friend showed me and then I could not control myself, but I made sure not to get into any

other time consuming activity.

Learn words

This is the most common strategy which every GRE aspirant uses, so there is nothing very new

in it. A friend of mine who had finished GRE before me came to my room one day and saw me

reading NORMAN LEWIS, he insisted me to chuck Norman lewis (considering that I had only

about a month in hand) as the "words learnt/ time invested " efficiency from the book is usually

much lower as compared to what it could have been had I used other wordlist and flashcards

etc. The Norman lewis wordlist is good, though and a sufficient take away in my case.

I kept http://majortest.com wordlists in my cellphone.(to be read during lectures).Completed 4

of those (400 word in lectures, labs, etc)

I went over my wordlist multiple times to make sure that I know the words which I have seen

till date. (One disadvantage of wordlists is that you remember some words merely by knowing

their position in the list, hence I would suggest flash cards over wordlists).My friend had

advised me to do 1000 most frequent words. (I managed about 800).

Prioritize

Take an assessment test in worst possible condition at the beginning of your preparation to

know your base level. (I took one 3.30 am to 7 am scored 306)

I realized from the assessment test that I need to learn words and time management for verbal

section.

This will help you making your plan and revise the plan with continuous assessment approach.

Make sure to go through solutions of your tests and check where and why you went wrong.

This helps in getting hold of GRE pattern and tuning your own thought process to the same.

Identify sections which you need to worry about. Your bastions and weaknesses.Like in my case

I was comfortable with passages, hence I did 10-15 old GRE type long passages and that was all

I required, whereas I felt that I need to focus on sentence completion i.e. vocabulary.

I gave GRE priority over my contemporary coursework, to such an extent that I studied for only

3-4 hours before my mid sem exam papers. (2nd - 6th sept)

I did ETS official guide for Quant.

• Do words from flashcards as you will face 1 word at a time in the exam,I did words from

Dictionary.com - The world's favorite online English dictionary! flashcards. (~300 words -

most frequent).

• I did 500 most frequent words from Manhattan word list.

• Read the passages as fast as you can.

• Practice drills by putting a alarm clock with you. set appropriate time and try to finish

it within time. (According to me GRE is an exam of vocabulary, time management and

common sense )

• Quant- Keep your mind and do well in actual exam. (I took it easy in the exam and paid

penalty for the same (lost 7 marks).

• In case you are going to some other city for your test, plan your journey (and

accommodation) in advance. Keep sufficient time for rest on the day before exam, avoid

travelling on the day before exam. (I had to go all the way to Ahmedabad).

Hope you Rock the Examination!


Reference