GRE Advice/Hints

[gimpyone]

I'm currently studying for the GRE.  I have scored around 550 verbal (all I care about) on the three practice tests I have taken.   Analogies and reading comp questions seem to be kicking my ass.  I was wondering if anyone had suggestions or things they did to get ready for the exam?

[Viin]

Funny, my wife is studying for it too so she can start her MBA.

But she hasn't actually started yet, just bought a book with the questions - so no advice from us yet, but we'd be interested in some as well.

[gimpyone]

Well, so far, I've made flashcards of the 350 most frequently occurring GRE words and memorized all of them I think.  It really helps with the antonyms.  For sentence completion, it can get kind of tricky.  I tend to look for key words or phrases to see if there is a relationship between the words. 

[schild]

I've never taken the GRE, but analogies and such are simply a matter of memorization. I mean, the whole of the english language is a matter of memorization. Inference can only get you so far. Flash cards are probably the best method. Though reading complex text with a dictionary by you can help. Mostly though, just a grind. I should take the GRE for fun.

[Margalis]

Is the analogy problem a problem with not having the vocab, or is it just sucking at analogies? I suspect if you are also doing poorly on reading comp that it isn't just a vocab issue.

Post up some of the analogies you got wrong and I can explain them a bit more? That might be helpful.

For the record I've never taken the GREs but I got exactly one wrong on the verbal SATs.

[gimpyone]

Here's an example I ran into today:

Delicate : Fastidious ::
hard-working : diligent
altruistic : mercenary
demonstrative : effusive
deceptive : fallacious
blithe : melancholy

I knew it was not B or E.  A didn't seem to have to have the same relationship.  I picked D which was wrong.

[schild]

For the record I've never taken the GREs but I got exactly one wrong on the verbal SATs.

You limey. I got 3 wrong. And I knew which 3 when the clock ran out.

[Viin]

Here's an example I ran into today:

Delicate : Fastidious ::
hard-working : diligent
altruistic : mercenary
demonstrative : effusive
deceptive : fallacious
blithe : melancholy

I knew it was not B or E.  A didn't seem to have to have the same relationship.  I picked D which was wrong.

Sounds like A to me, but I suck at these too.

[Margalis]

The key is to construct as specific a sentence as possible to link the two. So the sentence I would construct is "a fastidious person acts in excessively delicate fashion" where fastidious describes the person and delicate the acts of the person.

So I would choose demonstrative / effusive, because "an effusive person acts in excessively demonstrative fashion" makes perfect sense.

The problems with D are it's odd to term a person fallacious, and being fallacious is not a super-charged form of being deceptive. If anything it's a weaker form of deception, and a deceptiver person uses excessively fallacious arguments.

For A a diligent person is hard-working, but the scale is equal. A diligent person isn't extra hard-working, nor is a hard-working person extra diligent. And to me diligent also captures a certain attention to detail that is different than simply hard work. Hard work is only one aspect of diligence. I could see the two being used as near synonyms in some cases, but then again the scale is equal.

My best advice is to contruct as specific a sentence as possible to link the two original words. If you construct a sentence like "fastidious things are very delicate" that's so vague it would fit perfectly with "obese things are very overweight." But if you construct something much more specific like "a person with a fastidious disposition acts in excessively delicate fashion" it doesn't fit at all.

Here's an example I ran into today:

Delicate : Fastidious ::
hard-working : diligent
altruistic : mercenary
demonstrative : effusive
deceptive : fallacious
blithe : melancholy

I knew it was not B or E.  A didn't seem to have to have the same relationship.  I picked D which was wrong.

[Selby]

I took the GRE almost 6 years ago, so I hope it hasn't changed that much.  What I did was buy a book on how to take it that also included an electronic test that I could take over and over again (not very many repeats either).  I read the book, took 3-4 practice tests, and aced most of it.  I was an engineer, so verbal was the hardest part (I think I got a 650 or so?).  The logic test was easy (got like a 780 on it I think) but they didn't count that portion to get into grad school.  Math was pretty basic, mostly it consists of "can you recognize this problem and how it is solved?" type of questions rather than true out and out mathematics (I had already taken 3 semesters of calculus, linear algebra, and differential equations so it was like going back to jr. high).  Margalis' method is pretty much how I was able to do verbal.  Force it to make logical sense somehow, even if you don't know what every single word means.

As my professor told me, the GRE is the easiest test you can ever fail, and not preparing is the main way to suck at it.

When I took it, there were 4 parts.  1 math, 1 logic, 1 verbal counted, and you either got 1 more math or verbal section, but didn't know which one counted (so you had to do your best on both of them).  It was completely electronic, but I hear they have added a written part in the last year or two.  I would still get a book, study, and practice practice practice.

[Oz]

Everyone seems to have given pretty good advice on the test sections so maybe i'll give you a bit of advice on the format of the test.

Since its computer there's some trickery in how it scores the test.  the first half of each section is way more important then the second half.  the first half determines your range for score (i.e. if you do well you can be garaunteed a score between 80-100%), while the second half determine where in that range your score actually falls (i.e. 92%).

This means that if you ace the first 1/2-2/3 and don't even finish you can get a higher score then if you do shitty the first 1/3-1/2 then ace all the remaining questions. 

Another trick you can do is schedule the test so you take it 2 days in a row so that your studying is fresh in your mind.  (schedule test for 8/31 and 9/1).   

[voodoolily]

I love vocabulary, and it still took me a minute to figure out that the answer is in finding the only other hyperbolic relationship (C).

Did you take the GRE yet?

[Morat20]

I took the GRE cold, about 5 years after I finished my Bachelor's. I don't even recall the score, other than it was apparently fine for grad school.

I actually had more problem with the math section than the verbal. Those X is to Y things are a PITA, but other than that the verbal was easy. Math, though -- I hate any question with a possible answer of "I can't tell" which means I have to stare at the problem for forever to see if I can break it into two conflicting answers.

[Oz]

Back in the day when i took the GRE  there was a reasoning/logic section.  It was full of logic puzzles, etc.   Now it is simply tied into the writing part, which is too bad because i almost scored a perfect on that section.   Go, go philosophy degree!