To all the MS/MBA aspirants out there, Hola! I am one amongst you! (Or was)

Before we jump straight into the topic, I have started a YouTube Channel which has videos about various courses/programs around the world. Do check it out, you might find the best program for you, releasing new videos several times a month, subscribe for further networking events with the speakers :)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwSK6tmo_0_pABaTMzVJyfQ?view_as=subscriber

Even before we start planning our specialization or course, we start shelling out money on GRE coaching. Seems like the hardest hurdle to most and undoubtedly a costly affair (especially given the number of times people attempt the exam). Unlike others, I decided late into the year that I wanted to purse a masters from the US, sometime towards mid-September and I barely had 4 weeks to prepare. I took my exam in early Nov by when most applications had already begun, and I didn’t have a choice but to crack it at once. I’m guessing you are on this page because you are sailing in the same boat as I was (if not congrats, you have done one thing right in this journey). Thought I’ll share insights into my study plan and schedule so that you can achieve the score you intend to. I’ll keep the article detailed so that you don’t have any further queries, if you do, feel free to reach out to me!

P.S. I did all of this while holding a corporate job.

P.P.S Not to give false hopes, but this article is for those who are already decent in Quants and English. Take up a mock, if you score 300 or more, then this article is for you! Else you might want to work more extensively.

VERBAL PREP:

So, this section was a little hard for me when I started because I’m someone who hasn’t completed a single novel in my life (I usually get bored mid-way). But if your English is decent (Grammar is good!), you can pick up the vocab. I divided my Verbal prep into 3 parts:

1. Vocab

2. Sentence Equivalence and Text Completion

3. Reading Comprehension

Vocab:

I used 2 apps to improve my vocab and familiarize myself with GRE words. “Magoosh GRE Vocabulary flashcards” which has about 1000 words and the famous “Barron’s 1100 words you need to know”. It’s not just about knowing the word but understanding its usage in the context. (Every single GRE page suggests this, but I don’t know how you can learn a word otherwise. So, it’s obvious, unless you are memorizing just the word and its meaning). I made sure I knew every single word from these two apps and a day before my exam I used the Barron’s 333 high frequency words for revision. (All these are available online for free).

On the day of the exam, you might not know the meaning of every single word that appears on screen but if you are thorough with this list, you can easily guess the meaning and understand the context and tone of the word. Knowing more words will help you eliminate choices at a glance. I didn’t chalk out separate time for this, I used to spend 2 hours in Bangalore traffic every day and used this time for vocab prep! Start with 50 words a day, revise them the next day and move onto a new set. In 40 days without your knowledge you would have learnt 2000 words which is more than enough to score a 320+.

Note: This strategy works for everyone, starting early or late.

Sentence Equivalence and Text Completion:

The first 6 questions in your verbal section will be text completion and usually Q12,Q13,Q14,Q15 will be Sentence Equivalence.

Text Completion: Text completion will have single blank, double blank and triple blank questions.

Strategy for single blank:

1. Determine if the blank is positive or negative, this you’ll intuitively guess if you understand what is being conveyed in the sentence.

2. Fill the blank with your own word. DO NOT LOOK AT THE OPTIONS. Initially when I started, I would directly jump into the choices and start eliminating wrong choices and I would either get stuck at the last 2 choices or get it confidently wrong. So DO NOT LOOK AT THE OPTIONS BUT FILL IN THE BLANK WITH A WORD YOU THINK IS MOST APPROPRIATE. (You can even think of this word in your mother tongue if it helps, because sometimes we know what goes in there but don’t know the exact word).

3. If the blank is positive, eliminate all negative choices and vise-versa. (You’ll have 5 choices)

4. After this stage is where your vocab knowledge will come into picture, eliminate the words based on meanings.

5. If you follow this diligently, you’ll get at least 80% of your answers right, which is 4.8 out of 6 questions. (That’s like a super awesome score in vocab, 330+!!)

Strategy for Double blank:

1. Start with the blank that has most information, i.e. usually the second blank is easier to guess because you’ll know the context of the sentence.

2. Follow steps as in single blank question.

3. Now move on to the other blank. Here is the trick, you must determine if there is a shift in sentence. When I say shift, note if the first half and second half are contrasting or they remain the same, in terms of meaning. If the sentences are contrasting the words in the blanks will be opposite in tone (and sometimes in meaning as well).

Eg: Thomas Paine, whose political writing was often flamboyant, was in private life a surprisingly simple man: he lived in rented rooms, ate little, and wore drab clothes. See how the sentence shifts from talking about something extravagant to being so simple. These are the shifts one must notice.

4. Spot the connecting words, usually and, as well as, in additions…have no sentence shift. Both blanks will be positive or negative (i.e. same tone). Say the words are but, however, in contract…the blanks will be opposite. This is one trick, do investigate more on this!

Strategy for Triple blank:

1. Extend the 2-blank strategy, sentences wise. Starting with the blank that has most information to comparing the tone and filling in the blanks.

Note: Initially when you start you can spend 2–3 mins following this process, overtime you’ll do this within a minute or 45 seconds. I used to practice 5 each of single blank, double blank and triple blank questions every day. (15*30 days=450!). In the exam hall, I finished these questions in 6–8 mins.

Resources for Text Completion:

1. Started with Magoosh portal. (Fortunately I had coupons and got this account at just Rs.1800)(Or if you have a friend going to Princeton for coaching borrow their book, questions are very similar!)

2. Prepared from the Manhattan 5lb book. Did this after I had exhausted Magoosh questions. (Free resource available online!)

3. Finally, a week before the exam I started preparing from the questions posted on GRE club website. These questions are relatively easier than Magoosh and Manhattan ones. (Free resource again!)

4. 2 days before the exam, I solved question from the official ETS guide. There are only practice tests and hardly a few questions which you can finish in 2–3 days, but make sure you get them all right. (Again, available on the net!)

5. If you are underconfident about the strategies, which I was in between because I wasn’t getting the answers right, there are good videos on YouTube. Check them out randomly, if on any day you don’t feel like solving questions. Magoosh is a good resource for strategies if you feel you are weak in Verbal.

SENTENCE EQUIVALENCE:

I found this to be the easiest of all the vocab sections. You’ll be given a sentence with a single blank and 6 options. 2 of these options fit the best for the blank and you must pick these 2 options. Note: Your answer is scored only when you pick both the options right.

Strategy:

1. You’ll have 4 SE questions per verbal section.

2. Read the questions and do as you would on a single blank text completion question.

3. Only this time, you’ll pick 2 right answers instead of 1.

4. Common Traps:

a. Don’t assume that the 2 words are always synonyms. Sometimes the words just have similar meanings.

b. There will be 2 pairs of synonyms, to confuse you. Make sure you pick the right pair.

Resources:

I used the same resources as Text Completion. I would solve 10 questions per day from this section. (40*10=400)! If you manage to get even ¾ of this right, you can aim for a 325.

READING COMPREHENSION:

This section was initially the hardest for me. I’m someone who skims content and GRE was a test of patience for me. I developed this slowly over a month and towards the end I could read all the passages and answer 10 questions in 13–15 mins.

Strategy:

1. This is one section for which I used Magoosh training material extensively. Initially when I started, I would just read the passage and answer the questions based on my understanding. I used to get 4/10 right. Later, I realized, every question within this section belonged to a different category, such as primary passage question, inference-based question, text in context…etc and each could be tackled using different strategies. If you plan on using Magoosh, do watch the video explanations from this section. If not, below are the types of questions, use free resources available online to understand what is expected out of each question. The most important thing to note is to answer all these questions using the process of elimination. If you know the method of eliminating irrelevant answer choices, you can score in this section.

Types of RC questions:

1. Primary Purpose — summary of the entire passage.

2. Inference — something that is not directly stated in the passage, needs to be deduced.

3. Detail Questions — has reference in the paragraph

4. Critical Reasoning — Requires you to logically understand the context and think what extra information would be needed to answer the question. (usually 19/20 question: strategy is totally different for this, please do read up on this)

5. Vocab in context — Vocab knowledge helps here! Try grabbing the meaning from the context.

6. Select the sentence — This is about what answer you are looking for. Don’t just pick the sentence that has the same words as in the question.

7. Multiple answer question — You’ll have 3 options and 1,2 or all the 3 options may be right.

8. Structure based question — Relationship between the various parts of the passage/paragraph.

Note: I’m not mentioning how to prepare for each of these questions in detail. But make sure you understand these ‘really’ well.

Resources:

1. I used the Manhattan 5lb book for this. This covers literally all types of questions. Both passage-based and critical reasoning. I completed all the questions from this book and worked on my mistakes. Make sure you go back and analyze your mistakes else you’ll never learn. I made this mistake for long and learnt it the hard way.

2. I used Magoosh for extra questions.

3. 4–5 days before the exam I solved questions from the ETS guide.

I used to practice, a mix of paragraphs (short, medium, long) and CR questions, about 10–15 a day. (15*30=450)!

QUANT PREP:

My goal was to get a perfect score in this section, given the challenges I was facing with Verbal.

There are two kinds of people in this category:

1. Category-1: People who don’t get the concepts right.

2. Category-2: People who don’t get the answer right.

If you are someone who either doesn’t understand what is being asked or don’t know which concept/knowledge/formula is being tested, you belong to the first category.

If you are someone who knows exactly what to do but are getting the final answer wrong or making accuracy mistakes you belong to the second category.

Types of Questions:

All the below types can belong to easy, medium, hard and very hard level of questions. Easy questions can be answered in less than 15 seconds, Medium in less than 30–45 seconds, Hard questions take anywhere between 60–90 seconds and very hard, can take up to 2 mins.

1. Multiple Choice: This is the regular MCQ type where you have 1 right answer. Basic conceptual knowledge is sufficient to answer this question. It’s the easiest of all the types. Try solving this in under a minute or 45 seconds.

2. Multiple Answer questions: In this type you’ll have more than 1 correct answer. This can get tricky because, even if you get 1 choice wrong or don’t mark one of the right options, you lose marks on the whole question. It’s important to re-check the corner cases for this. This question can be a little time consuming and I always made sure I tested every answer choice. You can take 60–120 seconds for this type.

3. Numeric entry: In this type, you will have to get the exact answer, and no options will be present. This isn’t particularly hard, but where It gets tricky is when you enter your answer. Make sure you put the negative sign where required and be very careful with decimal points. If your answer is 12.36667, write 12.36667 and not 12.37 unless it’s specifically mentioned to round the answer to a certain decimal place.

4. Quantitative comparison: Again, this question has 4 options, a>b; a<b; a=b; Cannot be determined. The questions are such that we are usually tempted to pick the ‘Cannot be determined’ option when not required and tempted to ignore the same when that could be the right answer. Some key pointers for this type: Make sure you check for positive and negative numbers (>0 and <0 cases), natural and whole numbers differences, fractions and powers; Odd and Even. This is usually the trend.

5. Data Interpretation Question: This is the most time-consuming question. But make sure you get this right, because there are multiple questions (usually 3–4) dependent on the same graph. The questions can range from easy to very hard. You’ll easily lose track of time and end up spending 10+ mins on this. Make sure you practice finishing this within 5–7 mins.

Strategy:

Prep Strategy:

1. Round-1: Solve questions to get the answers right. — ALL ABOUT CONCEPTS (First 20 days)

2. Round-2: Solve questions to get the right answers well within time. Practice question by question, i.e. time every question not the entire section. This will help you plan your exam time strategy. — ALL ABOUT TRICKS (Latter 20 days)

Exam Strategy:

Round-1: During the mock-exam I would start with all the questions that were easy and I could solve without much thinking. Usually this would be 6–10 questions depending on the complexity of the session. (5–8 mins)

Round-2: I would solve the data interpretation questions. (5–7 mins). By now, I would have answered 10 questions, that’s like half. So, you’ll still have close to 20 mins to solve the remaining 10 questions, which is a great confidence booster and also allows you enough time to review your answers.

Round-3: Solve all the medium and hard questions in the next 15 mins.

I followed the same procedure during the exam and Luckily, I had 2–3 mins to revise my answers, it’s always good because you notice silly mistakes during this time. Initially during practice, I never scored a perfect 170 because I always made a very silly/overlook mistake. During exam I made sure I was extra cautious and solved with super extra concentration.

Resources for Category-1:

1. First thing you must do is learn the concepts right. A good book for this is the Manhattan GMAT Prep. This is also available for free, just google. (NOTE: This cannot be covered in 40 days. You’ll need at least a month more)

2. After you get this right, move on to the strategies listed in category 2.

Resources for Category-2: (Since I was confident with my strategies, I started from here. Although I did review the concepts time and again.)

1. I used Manhattan 5 LB book. For me this was the bible. There are questions for each section of quants. I solved every single question and for every single answer I got wrong, I revisited the concepts.

2. I solved all the questions from Magoosh portal in addition to the above. I also went through the videos to review my concepts. They are pretty good.

I prepared section-wise, there are about 20 topics. I had enough time to do all the sections twice in 40 days. As already stated before, first round I was testing my concepts and I used the Magoosh portal questions. Second round I was testing my speed and accuracy for which I used the Manhattan 5lb book.

And that’s about quants, in a nutshell: Get your concepts right, understand the types of questions, Practice!

AWA PREP:

This is the most ignored section, but guys, this will be the first on screen! So do plan this as well, lest you’ll not have the mood to attempt the rest! There are two types of questions on this. Issue Task and Argument Task. A lot about this is already available on the net, do check them out. Nothing extra to add from my side. I didn’t prepare much for this, I just made sure I knew what was expected out of these. But if you are underconfident, do prepare for this as well. I got 4.5/6.

I just wanted to add one thing here, the first section that popped on my screen was Verbal. And it was the toughest section I had ever solved. I almost lost confidence and was prepared for a second attempt. But I convinced myself that it could be the experimental section and made sure I gave my best on the remaining sections. If you get bummed somewhere, don’t lose your focus. Treat every section as a separate exam and give your 100%. Nobody knows how GRE scoring is done, all may work out well for you!

Mock Exams:

Like people say, take a mock initially. This will help you assess where you stand. If you score 300 and above, awesome. If not, you’ll have to work a little harder. (I didn’t do this; I didn’t have the time or patience to sit for a 4 hours diagnostic test. I just took a random 10 questions mock test online. I got a 300, not sure how this was scaled, but yeah don’t do this!!)

I took 2 Official ETS GRE mock tests, 1 Magoosh, 1 Manhattan, 1 Kaplan before the exam. I took 1 official Mock after I had understood every concept and got 314. It was only a matter of practice after that. I took these mocks at different intervals which eventually helped me achieve 328. All these resources are free!!! And from my knowledge, your final score will be +/- 5 (usually on the + side) of the ETS GRE Mock. At least this is what happened with me.

Honestly, I wish I had known all these before I started my prep, I could have scored over 330. I learnt this along the way and thought it could help someone else like me!