Know the Test System
Start with the materials published by ETS to get yourself familiarized with the test system:
Prepare for the GRE® General Test
Read some Strategy Guides
Strategy guides will help you understand the question types and the best way to attack those within the limited time on the test day. Following are the best strategy guides I have gone through.
Practice Books
Free Practice Tests
Practice tests are very important for the preparation of GRE. The more practice tests you take, the better you will do on the test day. By taking more practice tests you can learn how to effectively manage your time on the test. Here are the best practice tests available (in order).
Some local test centers offer the above tests with a fee. In Dhaka, American Alumni Association (AAA) offers most the above practice tests.
Here is a good comparative review of different free practice tests for GRE: 33 Free GRE Practice Tests That You Should Definitely Take!
After taking the practice tests, review your mistakes. Read explanations for all the answers (including the ones that you got correct).
Improve Your Reading Skill
Effective reading is the single most important skill that you will need on the GRE (and also in your higher studies). A superior reading skill will not only help you excel in the Verbal sections of GRE, but also in the AWA and Quantitative sections. The quant section now-a-days contains lengthy word problems that can steal your valuable time if you can not understand the question quickly. A good reading skill will also help you acquire a better writing skill.
Build up extensive reading habit. Read academic publications of good quality. Read a lot.
Enrich your Vocabulary
Though the Revised GRE is supposed to emphasizes more on understanding words by context, still you will encounter many difficult words in the verbal section. Especially, in the Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence parts you will be presented with difficult words that you have never heard of in the numerous Hollywood movies and TV Series that you may have watched. So, watching TV Series and movies alone will not rescue you in this case. You have to deliberately learn some difficult words that are believed to have frequently appeared on the GRE in the past.
Here is what I did to learn new words. I downloaded Magoosh Vocabulary Flashcards on my smartphone. I went through each set of words and had written down in a notebook all the words that I don't know along with the meaning of the words in my native language (Bangla) ... and in some cases with examples. While at home I regularly reviewed the words from the notebook and while travelling I reviewed the words using the flashcard-application on my smartphone.
So, make a notebook right now. Write down every new word in that book.
Learn at least 20-30 new words every day. Regularly revise the words that you previously learnt.
Look up the meanings and take note of unknown words while reading. (I used to send the words with meanings to my own secondary skype account - which I could later review at some free time)
Some good reading materials:
Arts & Letters Daily
The Economist
New York Times
The New Yorker
The Washington Post
The Atlantic
ipl2 - Literary Criticisms
Literary Review
Scientific American
Learn Analytical Writing
Read Introduction to the Analytical Writing Measure by ETS.
In short, you have to write two different types of essays (in 30 min + 30 min = 1 hour time). Despite having a comparatively good writing skill, I did not do well in the analytical writing section -- the reason is, I did not practice properly. Most people do the same mistake like me -- we practice writing a few essays just before the exam. But, you can not improve your writing skills overnight ... you should start practicing the essay-writing at the same time you start practicing the other sections. Try to write 5 to 6 essays every week (each within 30 minutes time). Review your essays after writing -- and try to find improvements of the essays (i.e. identify cases where you could have used better sentence structures or better vocabulary words). Do not overwhelm essays with too many difficult vocabulary words ... it will make the essay difficult to read and there is also possibility that you may apply the words in wrong places.
The issue essay will require you to provide relevant examples to back-up your opinion on a presented topic. On the test day I found it difficult to find good examples within the short time-period. I think I could have come up with better examples if I had read about some biographies of prominent scientists, politicians, social reformers or artists and about notable events / inventions in the history of mankind.
Note: ETS has published all the essay topics for the test-takers' convenience. On the test-day you will see two essays from the Issue Pool and Argument Pool. So, practice topics from these lists.
Disclaimer: I am no "GRE-Guru". I have been an average-level student my whole life and my GRE score was also average. But, while taking GRE twice I have acquired some knowledge that I think, if shared, might help others. Hence written this post.
Start with the materials published by ETS to get yourself familiarized with the test system:
Prepare for the GRE® General Test
Read some Strategy Guides
Strategy guides will help you understand the question types and the best way to attack those within the limited time on the test day. Following are the best strategy guides I have gone through.
Practice Books
Collect the following practice books and try to solve all practice problems in these books. You should keep track of time while practicing.
- ETS Official GRE Verbal Practice Questions
- ETS Official GRE Quantitative Practice Questions
- Manhattan Prep - 5 lb - Book of GRE Practice Problems
Free Practice Tests
Practice tests are very important for the preparation of GRE. The more practice tests you take, the better you will do on the test day. By taking more practice tests you can learn how to effectively manage your time on the test. Here are the best practice tests available (in order).
- ETS Powerprep Software: There are two tests available. These tests will accurately measure how you will perform on the actual test day. I took GRE twice, both of the times I got exactly the same score as I got in the 1st PowerPrep test. (The second one appeared a bit easier for me than the first one). Take the first practice test two or three weeks before your test-day. Take the second one a few days before the test day.
- Magoosh GRE Prep: There are no free test on Magoosh. But they provide the best prep-materials.
- CrunchPrep: After ETS Powerprep, CrunchPrep provides the best free practice test. There is only one free test. For additional tests, you have to purchase.
- ManhattanPrep: There is one free test for which you need to create an account. There are also 6 other tests that you can purchase.
- McGraw Hill Practice Tests: There are several practice tests available. The tests are easier than the original test.
- Kaplan GRE Practice Test Software - contains 10 Verbal, 10 Quant and 5 Analytical practice tests. The practice materials are quite easy compared to the original test. (may be this software is not free ... I collected it from a colleague)
- Barron's GRE Practice Tests: I did not take the Barron's tests - don't have idea how those are.
Some local test centers offer the above tests with a fee. In Dhaka, American Alumni Association (AAA) offers most the above practice tests.
Here is a good comparative review of different free practice tests for GRE: 33 Free GRE Practice Tests That You Should Definitely Take!
After taking the practice tests, review your mistakes. Read explanations for all the answers (including the ones that you got correct).
Improve Your Reading Skill
Effective reading is the single most important skill that you will need on the GRE (and also in your higher studies). A superior reading skill will not only help you excel in the Verbal sections of GRE, but also in the AWA and Quantitative sections. The quant section now-a-days contains lengthy word problems that can steal your valuable time if you can not understand the question quickly. A good reading skill will also help you acquire a better writing skill.
Build up extensive reading habit. Read academic publications of good quality. Read a lot.
Enrich your Vocabulary
Though the Revised GRE is supposed to emphasizes more on understanding words by context, still you will encounter many difficult words in the verbal section. Especially, in the Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence parts you will be presented with difficult words that you have never heard of in the numerous Hollywood movies and TV Series that you may have watched. So, watching TV Series and movies alone will not rescue you in this case. You have to deliberately learn some difficult words that are believed to have frequently appeared on the GRE in the past.
Here is what I did to learn new words. I downloaded Magoosh Vocabulary Flashcards on my smartphone. I went through each set of words and had written down in a notebook all the words that I don't know along with the meaning of the words in my native language (Bangla) ... and in some cases with examples. While at home I regularly reviewed the words from the notebook and while travelling I reviewed the words using the flashcard-application on my smartphone.
So, make a notebook right now. Write down every new word in that book.
Learn at least 20-30 new words every day. Regularly revise the words that you previously learnt.
Look up the meanings and take note of unknown words while reading. (I used to send the words with meanings to my own secondary skype account - which I could later review at some free time)
Some good reading materials:
Arts & Letters Daily
The Economist
New York Times
The New Yorker
The Washington Post
The Atlantic
ipl2 - Literary Criticisms
Literary Review
Scientific American
Learn Analytical Writing
Read Introduction to the Analytical Writing Measure by ETS.
In short, you have to write two different types of essays (in 30 min + 30 min = 1 hour time). Despite having a comparatively good writing skill, I did not do well in the analytical writing section -- the reason is, I did not practice properly. Most people do the same mistake like me -- we practice writing a few essays just before the exam. But, you can not improve your writing skills overnight ... you should start practicing the essay-writing at the same time you start practicing the other sections. Try to write 5 to 6 essays every week (each within 30 minutes time). Review your essays after writing -- and try to find improvements of the essays (i.e. identify cases where you could have used better sentence structures or better vocabulary words). Do not overwhelm essays with too many difficult vocabulary words ... it will make the essay difficult to read and there is also possibility that you may apply the words in wrong places.
The issue essay will require you to provide relevant examples to back-up your opinion on a presented topic. On the test day I found it difficult to find good examples within the short time-period. I think I could have come up with better examples if I had read about some biographies of prominent scientists, politicians, social reformers or artists and about notable events / inventions in the history of mankind.
Note: ETS has published all the essay topics for the test-takers' convenience. On the test-day you will see two essays from the Issue Pool and Argument Pool. So, practice topics from these lists.
Disclaimer: I am no "GRE-Guru". I have been an average-level student my whole life and my GRE score was also average. But, while taking GRE twice I have acquired some knowledge that I think, if shared, might help others. Hence written this post.
