Must I have to take the GRE general test?
We take the GRE general test mainly for our application to graduate school. Many people think that they must have to take the test to apply for graduate school in the US. However, this is not true.
In fact, many schools don't require the GRE to apply to their school.
When should I start to prepare for the GRE test?
In my opinion, you should prepare for the test as soon as possible. In this way, you will feel more relaxed when preparing for the test. Many students only start to prepare for the test several months before the test day. This is not very good. From my experience, you should prepare for the test AT LEAST ONE YEAR before the test date. This is not always true. However, you should take a look at ETS's two full-length practice tests. After reading that book, I believe that you will have a better idea of how much it takes to prepare for the test.
ETS’s free GRE revised General Test Preparation Materials
At this page, there are Sample Questions, Tips and More, as well as the FREE POWERPREP® II, Version 2.2 Software: Preparation for the Computer-delivered GRE revised General Test.
This free software also includes two full-length practice tests. These timed tests simulate the test-taking experience. However, you should not take the two full-length practice tests too soon. Taking them one week before the test date might be a much better choice since this helps you predict your scores quite precisely.
Although you may take a computer-based test, and this publication simulates a paper-delivered GRE revised General Test, do not miss it! You'll get many things that are not available at the above software, such as one full-length paper-delivered test, test-taking strategies, sample questions with explanations, etc.
Guides and resources
for the verbal section
Which word list
should I learn first?
My suggestion is that you should learn Magoosh’s word list
first, then come to Graduate Hotline’s word list, Kaplan’s word list, and Manhattan’s word list. Barron’s
word list has too many words. Many of those words are not common in the test.
Don’t waste time to study Barron’s word list.
Although most of the word lists are said by their creators, “these
are the … most important/basic/… word”, I don’t think that’s true! In most of
the word lists, I can find “not really important” words. How to judge that?
Just do practice tests and questions and read “The Atlantic, CNN, etc”.
On this page, we follow the above suggestion to create poems
for you to learn English. When creating poems at this blogspot, I dismiss the
words that I find unimportant or place them in the advanced word lists. I also give
some notes on confusing words to help you learn better. Thus, don’t
forget to study my commonly mistaken word list! You will find it
very useful!
After learning basic wordlists, don’t forget to do practice
questions. GRE verbal questions are all about choices and vocabulary.
If you have to prepare for not only the GRE test but also the TOEFL/IELTS, then you should learn the TOEFL/IELTS vocabulary before learning the GRE vocabulary. The reason is TOEFL/IELTS vocabularies are at the high school level; SAT vocabularies are at the university level, and GRE vocabularies are at the graduate school level.
Guide and Practice
For a guide to the verbal section, register at https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/
and read their
guide first! Their guide is very useful. Some other good advice can be
find at
Greenlight Test Prepare [Youtube channel]
Princeton's cracking the GRE also has a lot of useful guides that other test preparation materials don't have. There are also many practice questions in their book. However, those questions are easier than questions in real tests.
Princeton's cracking the GRE also has a lot of useful guides that other test preparation materials don't have. There are also many practice questions in their book. However, those questions are easier than questions in real tests.
Free practices
questions
Best sites:
http://gre.graduateshotline.com/:
Very good
http://magoosh.com/ : very
good, of course.
http://www.kaptest.com/gre:
register at this site and you will receive some practice questions with
explanations each day. After registering, you can also enjoy their free
resources.
http://barronstestprep.com/gre/: very
good
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/:
very good
other sites:
Free full-length practice tests can be found at:
http://www.kaptest.com/gre:
After registering for Kaplan, you can take a free full-length practice test. This
test is easier than a real test. However, it’s worth to try.
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/resources/:
Manhattan’s free practice test is a little more difficult than the official
tests. So, you should do this test after taking Kaplan’s free test.
References for the
Writing section
You MUST visit
You MUST visit
ETS's
Pool of Issue Topics: When you take the test,
you will be presented with one Issue topic from this pool.
Pool of Argument Topics: When you take the test, you will be presented with one Issue topic from this pool.
You might not have
enough time to write all the topics in the sample pools. However, you
should read all the topics and
learn all the unfamiliar vocabulary. On
the test date, it might be a great danger if you don't know what the words
in the writing topics mean.
Also, searching for the topics’ sample essays on the internet might be a good idea.
Also, searching for the topics’ sample essays on the internet might be a good idea.
Sample essays can be found at:
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