I am Srinivasan Sivaramachandran and I scored 328 in the GRE test with 168 and 160 in quantitative and

Verbal reasoning Sections respectively and 5 in AWA. I feel that 3 months are sufficient to prepare for

the GRE assuming that you are already familiar with basic Quants and have basic verbal aptitude. You

must be ready to put in at least 2 dedicated hours for GRE.

Preparing for GRE is more about getting oneself accustomed to the examination than preparing for

getting all the answers right. You will have to endure 4-5 hours in a new place, staring at a monitor. It

can get really boring and even scary if you haven't got the patience. So, here is my timeline for the 3

months (12 weeks)

Books Required : ETS - The official Guide to GRE, Manhattan Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence,

Manhattan Reading Comprehension and Essays. Nova's Math Review. With the new GRE pattern, you

don't actually HAVE to know the meaning of all words, but it does add a lot of confidence!

Week 1 - 3

Verbal : Start with words. Barrons 333 High Frequency words and Kaplan 400. Use WordWeb to know

the meaning, usage and synonyms. This exercise is purely to improve your vocabulary and confidence.

Quants : Review the math formulae. Understand the type of questions that you will be asked. This

information is available in the ETS Official Guide.

Week 4 - 6

Verbal : Time to go through the ETS Official Guide. By week 5 you must start with Manhattan Text

Completion and Sentence Equivalence and Manhattan Reading Comprehension.

Quants : Start Nova's math review.

End of 6 weeks : Time for your first practice test. Take the test at the same time as you have booked the

actual exam. Take the full test. Do not skip the essay section.

Week 7 - 9

Verbal : Review the words behind Manhattan SE book.

Complete the Medium and Hard Sections of the Manhattan Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence

and Manhattan Reading Comprehension.

Quants : Continue and complete the math review.

End of Week 7 : Full length practice test 2.

End of Week 8 : Full length practice test 3.

End of Week 9 : ETS Powerprep I

Week 10 and 11

Verbal : Stop learning new words. Review your mistakes in the practice tests so far. Try 1019 practice

questions by Barrons. Start practising and strategizing for Essays.

Quants : Solve all the problems in ETS Official Guide and be thorough about all the topics ( at least the

basic formula)

Week 12

Verbal : Review all your practice tests. Review the mistakes in powerprep 1. This reviewing will give you

a lot of insight on the type of questions you might go wrong.

Quants : Write down all the formulae in a sheet of paper and revise them when you have time.

2 days before your GRE : ETS Powerprep exam 2

Last 2 days :Revise your essays. Structure them and practice.

Final day : Keep your cool and Write the GRE.


Reference