I just want to encourage anyone who is studying for the GRE, especially if you have been out of school for more than 5 years and have a full time job and family commitments. This is for those of us who absolutely cannot prepare for the test in three weeks . You can do this!! Just give yourself plenty of time.

Here's my story - I graduated undergrad in 2004 (social sciences), and finished my first masters (humanities) in 2008. At the time I submit my business school applications this year, I will be in my mid-30s. Work history is completely communications and project management. I wanted to really do well on GRE to make up for my non-traditional career path and age (i.e. compared to the typical MBA applicant). I've always been good at math, but certainly not the best - I did not study engineering or accounting or computer science, for instance. So I knew that I would need to dig deep into quant prep.

I started studying for the GRE in October 2016, and just took the exam yesterday. SIX MONTHS people. With a tough full time job (50 hours a week), I knew I had to spread out the studying in order to get my target score. I just didn't think it would be so stressful. It didn't help that I had no idea what my strategy was for the first month or so.

So when I started studying in October, my target was 328 - 162 Quant and 166 Verbal, translating to 700 on the GMAT. Ah the days of innocence.

I initially started with Manhattan's Foundations of GMAT Math to get reaquainted with math. After going through maybe 3/4s of the book, I decided it would be a good idea to take a class in my city focused on the GRE. So I took a two-month class, costing $500 with Sherpa Prep. The class schedule was brutal - 3.25 hours in classroom every week, plus an expected 10 hours of studying (I did 5). It was during that time I realize the GRE (as well as certain study plans) is really designed for young people who just finished college. It took me a month to accept that I could not study for 10 hours a week on top of my job. At the same time the class helped me push past procrastination and also forced me to get used to sitting in one place for 3 hours.

My first practice test was the ETS one in December 2016, and I scored 160 Verbal, 154 Math♥. This reminded me again that Math was going to be a problem. So I really focused on Quant in my class and in studying. By the time I finished the Sherpa class in early February, I had taken 4 Manhattan GRE practice exams and was scoring about 321. I did not feel ready for the GRE, despite my preparation of four months. So I moved my test date by 2 months, paying the $50 fee. I decided to try out Magoosh (which had been recommended to me by a coworker), and I sheepishly revised my target score to 326, i.e. 160 Quant and 166 Verball.

For two months I worked through Magoosh videos during my lunch break and in the evenings and weekends at a coworking space. I learned new words for vocab using flashcards I made, and created flashcards with strategies for each type of question on Quant (eg. combinations, geometry, integers, etc). It was brutal and I definitely gained 4 pounds from eating takeout and skipping exercise. By the time I took my second Magoosh Practice exam, the rewards showed in 160 Quant and 166 Verbal. I was so happy! This was 2 weeks before my test date. So I said to myself, you just have to repeat the performance on test day and you are golden. I kept studying and decided to take my second ETS practice test two days before my test date. I scored 158 Quant and 163 Verbal three days before my GRE. That was the worst day of my life since I decided to apply to business school. I was so depressed after. 321 after six months of stress and studying. What the heck!!

So I spoke to a kind friend who advised me to take it easy. And I decided to accept that I may have to retake the GRE (something I had refused to consider). I also decided to really rest up on Saturday - went to yoga, scheduled a massage, and slept and watched Netflix. The one bit of studying I did was to review about 30 mins of Magoosh reading comp videos, read my formula flashcards again, and research strategies on time management. I realized that I had missed the last 2 - 3 questions of every section in the last ETS practice test because I ran out of time. The day before my exam, I realized that I needed to skip ahead to the end of the section for Reading Comp (leaving the long passage for last) and to make sure I got any easy/medium questions lingering at the end of the Quant section.

So test day, I went in with a downgraded target score of 160 Quant and 164 Verbal. Yup, I am nothing if not a realist. I told myself, if I could just get 324, then maybe I could improve by 2 points in my second try at the GRE. I'm still amazed at my score, especially the verbal. I finished 2 minutes early for each of the verbal sections (there were three) so I figured I was doing okay. And the AWA essays were quite fun to write - though I am hoping for a 4.5/6 - I made sure to reserve my energy for the other parts of the test. Quant was tougher - I knew I'd done good in the first Quant section, so I went on the bathroom break telling myself "they're going to throw you a tough second quant section" and trying to prepare emotionally. Somehow I managed to pull through, despite missing a lot of questions, and score the 161.


Honestly, I wish I had done a bit better on Quant. It would have been sweet to land in the top 15 percentile as a non-engineer. But I have to be thankful for the fact that I broke my overall target. Assuming my official scores are the same, and the GMAT conversion doesn't change, this translates to a 710. I am not taking the GRE again - doing so may possibly increase my quant but I don't want to risk my delicious verbal score. I'M SO GLAD IT'S OVER.

Good luck everyone. Devote enough time. Study smart. Use a variety of resources, and come up with a time management strategy (preferably sooner than the day before the test!).