I thought I was graduating from college not high school?

Seniors and juniors it’s time to think about graduate school! If you plan to go to graduate school, your senior year looks a lot like your senior year in high school: applications, applying for scholarships, and there is even a test that looks a lot like the SAT—the GRE (Graduate Record Examination).  Like the SAT, the GRE has a writing, a verbal, and a math section.  However, the GRE has two writing sections, two math sections, and one verbal section.  It is timed and will take you three hours to finish.  The only difference is that the GRE is computerized and you receive your math and verbal scores as soon as you finish your test.  Why must ETS do this to us? The SAT was grueling enough but if you want a chance at acceptance to a grad program you have to take it and I have a few suggestions on how to prepare for the test.

Before taking the real $160.00 GRE, you should take a free practice test sponsored by Kaplan at William and Mary at the beginning of the spring semester. There are other free practice test opportunities online also just check Kaptest.com for more information.

During my junior year I purchased The Princeton Review “Cracking the GRE 2010 Edition” on Amazon.com.  This book was very helpful in breaking down analogies and creating efficient ways to do well on the test questions.  It gives you useful math methods to solve the quantitative questions.  The book is a great investment for about $20.  It gives you a list of vocabulary words called the Hit Parade that appear on the GRE often. It is useful to make flash cards with these “Hit Parade” words so you can study on the plane, in the waiting room, or wherever you have free time because vocabulary can make or break you.  Even though you can buy GRE flash cards, you will retain more if you see the definitions in your own handwriting.  In plus you can come up with funny sentences to help you remember the words.  The amount of words the book expects you to memorize is ridiculous but with the help of the online Mnemonic Dictionary, committing them to memory was much easier.  Whoever created the Mnemonic Dictionary is awesome and most of my flashcards had a nice mnemonic to assist in memorizing those impossible Hit Parade words.  The mnemonic dictionary site even has its own list of GRE words if you want more resources for improving your verbal score.

Speaking of improving your verbal score for free, Freerice.com is a wonderful site to consider. This website is set up as a vocabulary quiz. When you go to the site, there is a word at the top and you have to pick the correct definition out of four choices. Every time you get a question right, you donate 100 grains of rice to a country in need.  So the site helps you learn big words while you help save starving countries.  Genius if you ask me.

Another preparatory option is to take a prep class offered online through different agencies such as Kaplan and Princeton Review.  If you don’t think you are self-motivated enough to read through a book ,  take an online course to prepare. They can be pretty expensive and I did not take a prep course but I’m sure many students have.  I would do some research on the different agencies and their prices before purchasing a class.  If I were you, I would buy the book and follow a strict schedule on reading through sections because it is financially feasible and yields great results.  On the official GRE website and the Princeton Review website, free practice modules are offered to help you prepare also.   Honestly, there are too many free options available to invest in an overpriced prep class. Hopefully this helps my fellow classmates.

Yours Truly,

London Lady