- Get good at quant foundation, vocabulary, verbal and quant strategies, and untimed practice before worrying about the mocks. Try not to put the cart before the horse. Watch the timeline videos for both quant and verbal to get a sense of this progression on the must see videos page.
- Yep, Greg here.
Greg, it is an honour talking to you. I didn’t think you would give this much time for an individual student. It truly means a lot. Thank you so much for the advice!
I am just worried about the timeline because I might have to take the GRE again within a month as college deadlines are approaching. I will definitely go through the videos. During my first attempt I think time management in the verbal section was an issue. So, will have to take full length mocks eventually.
Also, if I knew it was you, I would have added more “oomph” in my answers!
P.S. - I found two errors in the vocab mountain to help you out -
- The word ‘cumbersome’ is repeated once in the vocab mountain. It is the 7th word in the 11th group and the 3rd word in the 22nd group.
- The groups 33 and 34 don’t have the option of “Take Test” above them.
Hi!
Glad I could help!
- This is more of an easter egg than anything. I wanted to look include the word “cumbersome” in a YouTube video that opened with the song “Cumbersome.” But I already had the word cumbersome in the vocab mountain from a previous group. I said, “Screw it. I’ll put it twice.”
- I haven’t made these quizzes yet unfortunately.
I actually thought that it might be some kind of an easter egg as when one gets to group 22, the whole process does feel cumbersome. But, it was great to know it directly from you.
Also, have you ever thought that “GregMat” is simply “GRE-GMAT??”
Thanks again!
Hello Greg, I apologise if I am taking too much time, I just have to ask one last thing -
I did take the foundation quizzes before my previous attempt at GRE. The scores reflected that the foundation is solid and you said so as well. I am still revising all the concepts again and will be going through the strategy videos and the must see videos section as well.
I just want to know that when I am actually ready to take the full length mocks, from where should I take them as I have exhausted all my free tests now and how many should I take before my actual exam?
Because I think time management in the actual exam will also play a crucial role and full length mocks are a good way to do it.
Time management doesn’t really make sense when one’s foundation and strategies need work, right? Especially because many of the strategies make you FASTER at the test. You’ll start taking mocks according to the timeline outlined in this video:
Have you seen this one yet? The Quant Progression Timeline - From Beginner to 170 - GregMat
Hello Greg, I just watched it !! Now all of it makes so much sense! With foundations I am a little confident because before the test you asked me to take all those quizzes and I did get above 85 in all of them.
Still, I will go through all the must see videos as well and start the I’m Overwhelmed plan.
Thank you so much again, watching the video really helped me calm down. I was so adamant (and for some reason overconfident too) on taking the test again within a month and was probably on the same path again, but not now.
LET’S GET BUSY !!!
Good luck!
Thank you, Greg! All this means a lot. I have structured my prep going forward and will be revisiting this thread for guidance if required.
Hello Greg, I hope you are doing good. I have been following what you said and everything is falling into place now. It feels a bit surreal. I am posting this question on this thread as an update and to help someone who might read this in the future. However, I am doing things at my own pace as I am really busy these days.
I practice the vocab mountain daily. Usually, I cover the whole thing in two days - 18 + 16 groups, as I am busy these days. My vocab check tests are now almost always 100%, with scores for each definition in the 8 - 10 range. My sentence equivalence scores are around 85% in the dedicated practice questions. When I do the vocab mountain, my error is less than 1%. In my last attempt, I marked red for only 6 in the 1020 words (34 groups). Should I still continue to do the Vocab Mountain daily, or do something else to save time and do the mountain say once or twice a week? Or should I try to again consolidate it in one day like I have done earlier?
Thanks again for the your guidance. And to anyone who is reading this - Kindly watch the strategy videos, almost all of your questions will be answered without even being asked.
If vocab really is strong, you don’t necessarily have to do the entire Vocab Mountain each day. Let’s say you’re on group 20. Instead of going through groups 1 through 20, you could go through just the even groups (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, etc.). Then on group 21, you could go through just the odd groups (1, 3, 5, 7, etc).
I’m glad things are falling into place for you!
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Thank you for the prompt reply, it means a lot.
I completed the whole 34 days of the mountain sometime ago. I even did 34 groups for sometime in one go. But that took a lot of time and I felt like this can be divided in two days. I have followed your advice word to word and I only did doing this in two days because I started scoring full marks in vocab check with 34 groups and 35 words multiple times and because now I think I should focus a bit more on quant as well.
P.S. - Sorry I didn’t reply sooner, was caught up somewhere.