Now begins the really hard part of writing statements of purpose, soliciting letters of recommendation, and putting together application packages.

Giddy Up

One of the absolute best strategies I found for improving my GRE score was taking practice tests. As many as I could get my hands on. All in all, I have probably taken 30 or so timed practice tests. One of the problems I ran into during my preparation for the GRE was finding sufficient practice tests.

I tried to do roughly 3-4 a week for a total of 6-8 weeks. Naturally, I started to run out of practice tests. For those of you who hope to take an inordinate of practice tests as a part of your preparation, here are a few resources I’ve come across.

• http://www.syvum.com/gre/
• http://www.greguide.com/gre-practice-tests.html
• http://www.princetonreview.com/grad/free-gre-practice-test.aspx
• http://www.ets.org/
• http://www.kaptest.com/Graduate/GRE/Practice-for-the-GRE/GR_aboutgre_practiceGRE.html
• http://www.petersons.com/testprep/practice_test.asp?id=1295&sponsor=1&path=gr.pft.gre

In addition to these online resources, there are a number of books filled with old GRE paper exams. These are a great place to start as well. Honestly, I would just camp out in Barnes and Noble or Borders and use their books without having to purchase them. It’s not a bad way to go.

Typically, the area which needs the most preparation is the Math, or Quantitative, section. This was certainly the case for me. Having taking AP Calculus in high school, I was able to test or opt out of all the college level math requirements. So, given the fact that I haven’t looked at a math problem, let alone taken a math class, since high school, the GRE Math section proved quite daunting.

The thing I had to constantly remind myself was that the GRE is not testing how well you know Algebra, Geometry, and Arithmetic, it is testing how well you can take the GRE. Anyone can figure out the answers to any of the GRE math questions, it is simply a matter of time. Given the time constraints, the GRE tests how well you can take the GRE. For the most part, you should not have to do any major number crunching on any of the problems. If you find yourself crunching huge numbers, you are likely missing some trick which the test is ultimately quizzing you on.

There are some great resources out there to sharpen your skills on the math portion of the test. Any of the major publisher’s books – Barrons, Kaplan, Princeton Review, will all serve as adequate resources for refreshing your math skills and learning some of the tricks. If you have time, I’d recommend that you do multiple books.

In the end, however, it’s about knowing the tricks and tons and tons of practice.

A few online resources I came across that may be of use to you:

• http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/GRE/pdf/GREmathPractice.pdf – This is the math review section provided by ETS, the makers of the GRE. I’d highly recommend reviewing the practice problems and the advice they give. It’s a great place to start.
• http://gmatgremath.blogspot.com/ – This blog helped me a lot by providing some difficult questions to help frame my thinking.
• http://www.sparknotes.com/testprep/books/gre/chapter2section1.rhtml – Good ol’ Sparknotes. They’ve put together a good overview of the kinds of things you’ll need to know to do well on the GRE.

Hopefully these resources, along with one or more of the published resources, and a good amount of practice will lead you to successful score.

As an English major during my undergraduate studies, I assumed the GRE Verbal section would be something of a walk in the park. During my first practice test, however, I was stunned to realize that I essentially knew maybe half of the given words and had a difficult time identifying the essential relationships in the analogies section.

I found the reading comprehension portion of the Verbal section to be relatively straightforward – take your time and pay attention and you should do fine.

The bulk of the verbal section, however, has little to do with any real knowledge or understanding of the English language or its literature. It is simply a vocabulary test.

If you can essentially memorize roughly 700-900 difficult words and their antonyms, you should be  sitting pretty.

A few resources to help you in your efforts:

Firstly, the Kaplan premade flash cards are completely worth the $20.00 – especially if you don’t want to spend hours and hours on making flash cards.

If you’d rather make your own flashcard or you are looking to supplement the 500 or so words in the Kaplan box. Tthere are a plethora of great blogs and websites. Here are a few:

• http://gre-verbal.blogspot.com/ – Every month the author posts some of the most frequently used words and their definitions.
• http://www.vocaboly.com/vocabulary-test/ – A series of vocabulary tests to sharpen your skills with the vocab words and the analogies.
• http://www.studystack.com/GRE – One of the best resources I’ve come across. It’s essentially a conglomeration of flashcards and the various study book’s words lists.

I have recently begun the process of applying for graduate programs for the fall of 2010. During the past few months I have done significant amounts of searching for various resources and recommendations regarding the graduate application process, from studying and taking the GRE to personal statements and graduate funding opportunities. As such, I wanted to create this blog to document my progress and provide a common location for the all the resources I’ve come across. Hopefully this can serve as a reference for my fellow applicants and hopefully my fellow graduate students.