So I decided to do this post to tell my story with the GRE and, hopefully, help others.

A bit of a background: Im a non native english speaker with a law degree and with the math skills of a toddler, my goal is to apply to an MBA program in the US.

My path:

I started preparing for the GRE in july 2019, I joined Magoosh and worked with that for about 2 hours per day/5 days a week. I did that until about october when I got introduced to the "praise the ETS material" philosophy. I ditched my Magoosh subscription and focused on ETS material only, I did the "3 book" guide and complement it with a few Old GRE questions. I also tried to learned a few of the verbal strategies from u/gregmat.

In the last days of november I took a prep test from ETS (my first ever) and I scored 150V 150Q.I thought I was in the right path so I kept doing the same stuff for about 2 months. I took the test on the last day of December and it went bad, I scored 150V 152Q. I was honestly surprised because I had been studying for about 6 months.

So I took a week off and started my GRE journey 2.0 in January 10th of 2020. I realized that my biggest weak spot in math was my lack of math foundation so I went over the u/vince_kotchian guide for khan academy and went over EVERY CONCEPT. It took me about a month to go over all the lessons but it was worth it, as I said I have the math skills of a toddler so it was a good confidency boost. I also did the 5lb book and most of the old gre (This last part might be misleading, the difference btwn the current Quant and the Old Quant is HUGE)

For Verb, I went over the videos of Gregmat+ for his techniques and practiced with the Old GRE exams, I did all the 27 exams. The most important part for TC is understanding the logic and having a robust vocab. Since Im not a native speaker, I went over greg's words list and learned all of them. This part was painful and it made my days miserable but it played a crucial role in my improvement. I also include academic reading in my routine, a bunch of The economist articles a day. I think this helped me to improve my RC.

On the last week of march I took a mock test from ETS and I got 155V 153 Q. Dont waste your time with non ETS mock tests, they are not accurate. ( At this point I think even ETS mock tests arent accurante but oh well)

My GRE at home experience: V160 Q151

The experience

Equipment: Microsoft surface pro with Windows 10

My test was scheduled at 9:40 am. They made me download a chat and the ETS POS software to take the test. The proctor was really cool, she let me have my white board and did a very shitty "security" check. You dont see the proctor, only listen to his/her instructions or text over their chat system. The test started at like 10:30. During the last part of AWA, the stupid thing got frozen. I was unable to talk to the proctor. I sat in my chair for about 2 hours waiving my hand. I got no response so I got up, grabbed my phone and called ETS/proctoru. After like an hour of trying I got a hold at ETS, they said " send us an email and we will reply in 2 days". At this point my laptop was unsresponsive, so i unpluged it and waited 3 hours for it to die. At about 4:30 pm I restarted my computer and went to the proctor u website, it had the option of "resuming" the exam. I had to do all the "security" process all over again. This new protor was HILARIOUS she was literally singing while doing the "check". The test resumed from where I left it, after that it ran smooth. I got a bunch of different proctors but had no issues. I had my 10 min break, had some coffee and food and they let me go to the bathroom.

The experience was terrible at the beggining but then it was fine. If you are doubting to take the GRE at home, I would advice you do it just expect to run into a few bumps but for me it was worth it because I was wearing my PJs the entire time and nothing beats that

The test itself

Quant is way WAY more difficult. Nothing is gonna prepare you for that shit. But having concepts cristal clear is KEY. It helped me to be confident.

In verb, I think that my main improvement was vocab and understanding the logic behind the questions. Practice, practice and practice is the key for this. (Thanks u/gregmat!)

The (lackof) security

It was a JOKE, for those fellows looking for an oportunity to cheat, you will have plenty. Proctors have waaaay too many test takers to handle. For someone who invested a **** year to get ready for this day its kinda sad how unprofessional the whole thing has turned.

Finally, I wanted to thank u/gregmat one more time for trying to make test prep accesible and fun. Ill be more than happy to answer your questions!