I hope this message finds you well. I would really appreciate any assistance with my preparation strategy for my next attempt.
I recently gave the GRE and received a score of 308 (151 - V, 157 - Q). I fell sick for quite sometime after booking my date & even right before test day and was consequently not able to put in the desired efforts or time required (roughly studied for about a week before the GRE relying heavily on YouTube & no practice from any other material whatsoever). I am not content with this score and feel I could achieve a much more competitive score on my next attempt. However, I need your guidance with the following to help me achieve the same:
On my first attempt, I struggled with managing my time due to a lack of speed in solving Quant and fatigue faced during Verbal. Any tips on how I could improve my speed in solving sums as well as increase my endurance w.r.t. thinking clearly during the Verbal section?
Is following only the 2-month plan helpful for achieving a 330+? Any advice on how I could use it or any other supplementary resources more effectively since I believe I do possess an elementary understanding of Quant & Verbal? (I wholly understand that the 2-month plan isn’t a guarantee for any high score.)
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!
Firstly, how many mocks did you give before your actual test?
From my personal experience, I believe timed-practice is the key. Almost anyone can solve the quants questions but solving them accurately within the specified time is the main challenge. So my advise would be to solve under timed conditions. Preferably giving mocks. If you don’t have enough time to attempt 3.5hrs mock test, then give section wise tests or at least put a virtual timer while practicing.
For second, yes 2-month plan is more than enough for getting 330+, it is really intensive and I would say if you don’t complete that, still it doesn’t mean that you can’t score high. Materials or plans are just a side gig to get you going. But the key is practice here. For verbal, Greg’s basic strategies are great like Math strat or double possibility. You need not know all of them, still its doable I guess.
So to answer your first question, I gave three mocks in total. On my first mock which was a Diagnostic Test (from Kaplan) given a year ago, I scored a 297 (148 - V, 149 - Q). On my second mock (from ETS powerprep) which I gave roughly a month before the GRE, I received a 303 (153 - V, 150 - Q). And on my last mock (from Kaplan) which I gave a week before my GRE, I received a 296 (150 - V, 146 - Q).
I was quite confused about how to interpret these mock scores. I did however use the feedback from the last 2 mock tests to improve my understanding of the topics I fell short on and built my vocab to about 500 words using the GregMat word list. On test day, I did not face the problem of not knowing enough words, but I did find it very exhausting to go through verbal (since I had 3 Verbal sections) and consequently kept second-guessing my answers to the questions in RC. Any insights you may have about this would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your guidance on the 2-month plan and also for the advice on timed practice. Have a great day!
Okay, as per the your score breakup. Verbal is decent enough, but quant is the issue. 146 in Quants is really low as this section is very scoring.
Clearly, you need to focus upon improving quant concepts. Start with basics and practice them first without any timer. Once you get the answers correct, then focus on timed conditions.
I can help you with the doubts in quant topics if you have any weaker areas. I like teaching maths
Feel free to post any doubts. Or ping me on TG, I can respond whenever I am free.
I will focus on building a solid foundation in Quant and definitely would reach out for more help to improve myself. Thank you for your time and all the advice is really appreciated.
