I have given my GRE exam recently and scored a good score.

Though my preparation has taken way longer than anticipated, I managed to get the desired score.

I have made several mistakes in GRE prep and I am writing this post so that others might be able to learn from my mistakes.

Most established test providers claim that the official GRE material might not be adequate for GRE preparation. I also believed it to be true only to realize that their claims are not entirely accurate. Though, the content provided by established test providers is good for beginners. Eventually, you better shift to the official GRE material. Nothing is superior to the quality of the content that is provided by the official material.

My verbal skills were not very good at the beginning. I had to work very hard on my verbal. After reaching a certain point my verbal score got stagnated and the verbal score I was getting was not sufficient for what I was aiming for. I was stuck and I tried following the material from the established test providers, but I didn't see a significant improvement. Then a friend of my has suggested I look at a prep provider named gregMat. This guy is great. I have watched his verbal lectures and they are quite extraordinary. He breaks down everything into simple steps and explains the most efficient ways to solve problems. I wanted to hug him and thank him for his lectures but I couldn't find out who he is. He is quite mysterious with no digital presence and in fact, no one even knows who he is. His pricing model is quite affordable (Only $5 per month) and yet manages to provide great content. I wish I have come across this website earlier so that I wouldn't have wasted a lot of my money on the established test providers. I have only used his website for verbal, but I have heard from others that his website is pretty good at quant and AWA also. The only negative thing that I saw on his website was, that it was pretty disorganized.

Also, I was very overconfident regarding my writing skills. I thought I could easily score a good AWA score, but it turned out to be wrong. Thank god I have given a Princeton review mock test. Perhaps it is the only mock test where your essay will get graded for free and the grading is very accurate to the original GRE grading. This gave me an opportunity to work on my writing skills. Again, I found gregMat to be very helpful. There are two 40 minutes videos where he explains everything that is necessary to get a good AWA score, they are available for free and are very helpful.

For quant practice, I have used the 5 lb book by Manhattenprep. It was pretty good and I was able to score a score of 164+ on every single mock test. I haven't spent much time on any other material for quant.

As most of us can agree, mock tests play a crucial role in optimizing our performance. It is also necessary for us to give the right kind of mock tests. Though no mock test is similar to the official mocks, most established test providers do a pretty good job. I have given 10 mocks in total and they have helped me a lot. I will give a brief about the mock tests provided by various established prep providers

Official mocks - Very close to the real test. But it has only 4 sections and the experimental section is not available. and essays are not graded. If you want your essays to be graded you have to pay.
Manhatten Prep - Quant is more difficult than the real test. I found verbal to be of the same difficulty as the real test. Essays are not graded. But it has only 4 sections and the experimental section is not available. But the score is very close to the real score.
Kaplan - Quant is more difficult than the real test. I found verbal to be of the same difficulty as the real test. Essays are not graded. But it has only 4 sections and the experimental section is not available. But the score is very close to the real score.
Princeton Review - Both quant and verbal are slightly easier than the original test. The best part about Princeton review is that it has an experimental section and the essays are also graded. This will put you in the same conditions and circumstances that you will face on the test day. I have purchased 4 mocks and they were very helpful.

I would personally recommend you take the mocks by Princeton review since the essays are graded and the structure mimics the format of the original GRE. If you are planning to purchase any mocks, you can use a platform named YMgrad. He is selling accounts for a small portion of the original price, though I am not sure how is he doing it. I purchased it from him and it was legit.

Also, greprepclub is a priceless resource. In the last 4 weeks of my preparation for GRE, this was the only resource I used, and solved questions only from the official guide that are available on this platform. Though it is free, it is great and very useful resource. The timer is a very useful resource and in most cases, the explanations provided for the questions are very helpful.

I Hope, my experience will help you in your GRE prep. I am leaving this platform since my GRE prep is over and might not be able to answer any of your questions or reply to any comments.

All the best for your journey!!