Taking test in 6 weeks - how to maximize?

GRE General
1

Some advice needed: I am aiming to take the GRE in early October for the third time. I took the first two last year and scored a 324 on the second try (163Q 161V). I am aiming to score a 166+ on the quant (less focused on verbal since that’s my strong suit and the program I’m applying to is quant focused).

I took Gregmat’s diagnostic test 2 weeks ago and scored a 156.

In order to realize that 10 point gain in quant, in the next 8 weeks, I was thinking about doing the 2-month study plan. However, it is quite an overwhelming amount of work and I’ve thusly been moving a bit slower, even when short-cutting through verbal.

Would you recommend I continue focusing on the 2 month study plan and really just focusing on the areas I’m weakest in (geometry, word problems, probability and a few other small things)?

2 Likes
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How did you prepare the first two times?

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My study materials:

  • Empower: I used their 3-month study plan for their focus on test-taking strategies
  • Magoosh for their question bank (I think I got through ~1200 of the quant questions and maybe 900 of the verbal)
  • Gregmat: I started doing this closer to my tests and got a ton of value out of the question banks and quizzes.
  • Barron’s 800 flashcards on Quizlet
  • Official Guide for their practice tests

Total prep time: right around four months, studying ~2+ hours a day consistently

4

Did you take our Google Forms foundation quiz (links at https://www.reddit.com/r/GRE/comments/1b26qws/comment/ksnq2qk/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)?

5

Hey Leaderboard, following up on this with some updates:

I’m a week away from taking the test and am finishing up week 8 of the two month study plan. I’ve mostly been focused on the Quant since I’ve been comfortably scoring 160 on the Verbal without much practice.

I’ve taken these practice exams and seem to be stuck at the 160 mark for Quant:
Gregmat Practice test 2 (two weeks ago): Quant 158 score
Manhattam Prep Free Practice test: 160Q/160Q
Kaplan Test: 160Q/158V

In my mocks (e.g. Mprep mixed practice, OG practice tests, etc. I am scoring at the 163-165 level which is where I want to be, but I’m having a really tough time with time management and am making mistakes due to rushing.

A few areas of self reflection:

  • Not skipping problems sooner (terrible!)
  • Making sloppy errors (on two tests, this was what held me back from my target score)

I need to practice a more disciplined approach to each question so I don’t make these rookie mistakes. Any tips?

6

I asked whether you took the foundation quizzes. Did you - if so, when did you take?

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I actually took the foundations quizzes this week to assess:

Arithmetic: 43/50
Algebra: 30/36
Coordinate Geo: 36/38
Geometry: 37/44

Need to take the others.

8

That’s OK:

  • you can afford to have a couple of problems that you do not know how to solve - it’s more important to nail down the rest (i.e, the ones that you do know).
  • this means that you need to improve your skipping capability and we expect you to have at least 4 minutes for you to check your work.
  • with one week it is uncertain to me whether that would be enough for you to get where you want. Have you tried out our mixed practice tests available at Timed Quant Practice - GregMat? This could be useful for practicing your strategies, time management and skipping skills - remember that perfection is not expected.
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That’s exactly it - I need to focus on skipping and time management. I feel largely good on the foundational skills and to your point, don’t need to be able to solve every question

I will work on timed quant practice. I am going to take PP3 tomorrow and focus on time management. Any other resouces? I was going to continue taking free practice exams from 3rd parties like Princeton Review over the coming days to practice time management as well

10

You have only a week left - I would have suggested the Big Book but I am not sure you have the time to make a lot of use of it.

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I’ve actually gotten through alot of the Big Book problems since they were included in the 2 month study plan. I have a few more sets to do so I’ll continue to work on thos

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If you do that, make sure to time yourself properly and follow the rules (eg no calculator), and complete the two quant sections in one go so that you have a score out of 800 that you can convert to the 130-170 scale using something like (Updated) Old GRE to New GRE Conversion Charts • PrepScholar GRE.

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Thanks will do. I sadly bombed a Princeton Review practice test this morning FML. Not good timing. Oh well.

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I took a big book exam and got 53/60 and took PP3 this morning and got a Q170. I took it a year ago so the questions were somewhat familiar but I feel better about pacing heading into the last week of prep.