Un-hyping GRE: A Comprehensive Guide

(Probably) Not just a ‘yet another article’ about GRE

(Because they call me Narcissus) About me:

I do not usually have a lot of free time on my hands. Mostly, it’s just college, hostel, eat, sleep, repeat. A routine that is so monotonous that it is exhausting. When India went under lockdown though, I decided there could not be a better time for me to give my GREs, something I had been planning to do for ages.

So I went ahead and prepared for about a month. Registered for the at-home edition of the test. Bought a whiteboard, duster, and a couple of markers. Practiced day in and day out.

On the day of the test, I got a mild panic attack.

So this is a disclaimer for the people reading this: if you use my strategies and remain calm throughout your test, you might score way more than I did. In fact, you probably will.

My scores were: 165 in Quant (86th percentile), 160 in Verbal (86th percentile), and 5 in AWA (92nd percentile).

NOTES

In this article, I am talking about GRE iBT (Internet-based test). I do not know much about the paper-based test, but since the questions are more or less the same, you can read it anyway.

Also, I am talking exclusively about the GRE General Test, please do not confuse it with the subject one.

The resources, websites, etc. I mention in this article are NOT sponsored.

Contents

I. What is GRE? Do I need to give it?

II. GRE Section breakdown

III. Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA)

IV. Issue Task

V. Argument Task

VI. Verbal

VII. Quantitative Aptitude

VIII. Experimental

IX. Ending Notes

What is GRE? Do I need to give it?

The GRE is the most widely accepted Quantitative + Verbal + Analytical Writing aptitude test that you take to get admission in grad schools. It is necessary to take for some schools but might be optional for others. If you are not sure if this is the right test for you, I’d suggest that you visit the website of the school you are interested in applying for and have a look at their requirements. All schools explicitly state if they require GRE or not on their websites.

Earlier, almost all of the admission criteria of grad schools depended upon your GRE scores. In recent years, though, the focus has shifted almost equally to other factors as well, such as your undergrad GPA, statement of purpose, letters of recommendation, papers you’ve published, etcetera.

However, your GRE scores still remain a prime factor in determining your fate. Most grad schools use a filter (e.g., GRE > = 320) for the incoming applications. So if you score well, there may or may not be a chance of you getting selected to your dream school, but if you do not score decent marks in your GRE then there is a high chance of you getting filtered out before your application even reaches the authorities.

GRE Section Breakdown

The GRE consists of 6 sections overall:

Section 1- Issue Task Assessment

Section 2- Argument Task Assessment

Section 3, 4, 5, 6- Two of them would be verbal sections, two would be Quantitative Aptitude and one would be experimental (it is an ungraded section that we’ll talk more about later). You would be given an optional 10-minute break after section-3.

The Issue Task and Argument Task Assessments (sections 1 and 2) are collectively called Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA). Their scores are considered disparate from your Verbal and Mathematics cumulative scores.

The GRE paper is section-wise adaptive. This means that its difficulty level would adapt to your performance level. The better your performance, the more you will face difficult questions.

There are three difficulty levels divided for both Quant and Verbal individually: Easy, Medium, Hard. The first graded section of both Verbal and Quant would always be of Medium difficulty. If you did well on that, (for example, got fewer than 5 questions incorrect) the next section of the same category (Verbal or Quant) would be rated Hard. On the other hand, if there were between 6 to 12 incorrect (tentative), the next section would be Medium rated. If you got more than 12 wrong then you will receive an easy section of the category you screwed up in.

Tip #1: (It’s big brain time) Solve a LOT of questions

The first and the foremost tip/trick that you need to ace your GRE is that you need to solve a plethora of questions. Give online timed test papers or solve questions from a book with a timer in front of you, it doesn’t matter. All you need to do is solve questions, as many as you can but surely above 1000 in number, in an environment that resembles that of the actual exam.

However, it is also important to be wary of where you study from. Some resources are harder than the actual test and might dampen your spirit. Some resources are so easy you might not feel the need to study at all! We will talk about good resources later in this article.

Tip #2: Write down your mistakes

When you are taking practice tests, maintain a notebook, and write down all the questions that you did wrong, their answers, and why you went wrong with your answers in that notebook. Your reasons can be anything: it could be that you misread the question, misinterpreted the paragraph, ran out of time, etc. Write it all down.

Tip #3: The half-minute/full-minute rule

Time is an underrated issue in the GRE. While you are solving the problems on a test, do not spend more than 30 secs on a question. For reading comprehension and statistical questions, do not spend more than 1 minute on a question. Quant or verbal, it does not matter. If you feel like you are exceeding the time limit, skip the question, and attempt others. It is okay even if you feel like you are skipping a lot because I assure you that you would have time remaining after you’re done with all the questions once. Then, come back to the questions you left unattempted and try for them again.

Tip #4: Easy first

Solve the easy questions first. This may feel like a no-brainer, but many people have the tendency to get stuck upon a challenging question and try to solve it for several minutes at once. Follow the time-management trick and traverse your questions from easy to hard. Remember, each question in a section has equal weightage, so skipping 1 hard question would be worth it if you could solve 2 easy ones in its place.

Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA)

Many people dismiss AWA as an unimportant part of the GRE, but I have seen plenty of cases where a good AWA gave weightage to a person’s profile. That means that when two similar profiles were considered, the profile with a higher AWA score was given more preference.

The AWA is all about writing essays. It consists of 2 sections (section 1 + section 2), Issue Task and Argument Task, of 30 minutes each. Each Section is graded individually on a scale of 0 to 6, with a 0.5 difference. That is, the only possible scores are 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, and so on till 6. It is impossible, for example, to get a 5.2 on your GRE AWA section. The final score is an average of the scores of the two sections.

The GRE essay writing tool lets you perform only fundamental functions with your text: undo (up to 10 times), redo (up to 10 times), copy, paste, and cut. Embellishments to your writing would not be allowed.

Tip #5: A good argument wins over fancy language

One thing that might help to remember while writing your essays is that the AWA section requires you to be more fluent with your ideas and way of expressing them, therefore, it is good not to bloviate while writing. Do not write gibberish only for the sake of filling space. Your arguments need to be clear and succinct, bolstered by solid examples. Your essays should be structured properly. That said, however, it is okay to not be very fancy with your grammar and vocabulary. It is also okay to have a modicum of grammatical errors in your essay (but not too many). Remember, it is not a creative writing competition. You need to put forth your arguments before using flowery language.

Who can help me with my essays?

(a) ETS official tests (Powerpreps). The paid tests have the essay rating option, and what better resource to use than the actual machine that would be rating your essay on the real test?

(b) Check out the GREGMAT youtube channel for learning more about writing a good essay. They have amazing GRE strategies, not only for AWA but also for Verbal and Quant sections. They do not, in my knowledge, grade your essays.

(c ) The Princeton Review has an essay rater as well, and in my experience, it is good. I scored approximately the same as my actual test on Princeton Review’s rating services.

(d) Other websites like Magoosh.

You would have to do some research and figure out which one suits you according to your budget.

Issue Task

The prompts given for Issue Tasks are debatable topics that do not have a right or a wrong answer: they are based entirely on an individual’s opinions. You have to write what you think about that topic in a few paragraphs, giving reasons for why you think so and supporting those reasons with concrete examples.

Tip #6: Should I use an essay structure?

There are a few essay structures that you can adopt while writing. However, templates are for people who do not trust their essay-writing skills. If you think you can write a decent essay within 30 minutes, my tip for you would be to not use any structure at all. That gives way to a flow in writing that the test-takers appreciate. They also take note of the fact that you used your own words (and not those of templates) to write your essays. With that being said, if you’re not extremely fluent or comfortable with essay-writing, it would be better for you to not take the risk and stick to an essay-structure you find comfort in. Essay structures can still help you to score a perfect 6/6 if your points are good enough.

Tip #7: The 5-paragraph structure

This structure has 5 paragraphs (go figure).

The first one contains the essay introduction. Here, you would elaborate upon the topic of the essay. For example, say your topic is, ‘Should the government of a country focus on its long-term goals or short-term goals?’ Here, your first paragraph can talk about governments in general or the types of goals they have. Pick keywords from your prompt and write 3–4 sentences about it.

The second and third paragraphs are points for you to support your argument. For example, my points for the above prompt would be that governments should focus on short-term goals because:

Second paragraph: short-term goals are often urgent. For example, in the testing times of COVID-19, it would be silly to consider making nuclear weapons.

Third paragraph: the government could make long-term goals, invest in them, and then be replaced before the said goals are completed. That would be a waste of money.

The fourth paragraph usually talks about a point opposing your own argument. For example, in the above, I could write something like ‘if no government starts working on a long-term goal we’d never be able to achieve anything big’. However, you can also choose to just add another point in favor of your argument, or even conclude here in your fourth paragraph.

The fifth paragraph, if included, would inevitably be the conclusion.

Tip #8: Examples!

The Issue Task section requires you to state your opinion, give reasons for it, backed by examples. Remember, examples might just be the most important parts of your essays. Now, most issue task topics are academic and might require specific knowledge in order to be able to gain examples on them. To combat that, I would recommend you to read and take general knowledge about the broad spectrums of the GRE topics:

(a) Education

(b) Government

(c ) Cities/Societies

(d) Art

(e) Philosophy

(f) Technology/Science

Read documents from Britannica, NYTimes, AlJazeera, and other international journals. Gain general knowledge of the above-mentioned rubrics. And practice. Practice writing 1 or 2 essays every day within 30 minutes each.

Helpful Links for the Issue Task

(a)- The GRE always gives the Issue Task prompt from an official list of topics: https://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/prepare/analytical_writing/issue/pool . So if you are practicing, pick one of these topics to practice with.

(b)- The official scoring guide for Issue Tasks: https://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/prepare/analytical_writing/issue/scoring_guide

(c )- Sample Issue Tasks with their official scores: ets.org/gre/revised_general/prepare/analytical_writing/issue/sample_responses

Argument Task

The Argument Tasks provide you with someone’s opinion, belief, or something else that is equally erroneous — it’s always erroneous! Your job is to figure out what is wrong with their belief and write about how that belief can lead to problems, and how it can be rectified.

Tip #9: My Template for the Argument Task

I followed this template for my argument task:

First paragraph: The <writer (e.g., editor of the magazine)> makes several claims that, if left unchecked, may prove to be hazardous for his company. Some of these claims are:

Second, third… paragraphs: Read the prompt and address the problems in it sequentially, line-by-line. There would be an error in every line (approximately). Start each paragraph with, ‘the writer says that …’. This is incorrect/This is an assumption because…

Conclusion: From all the above reasons we see that the author has made several assumptions. Till these assumptions are either verified or discarded, we cannot be sure if…

It is a self-made template, and you can make one for yourself as well.

Tip #10: What do the numbers say?

In Analytical Writing Sections, statistics can make or break your game. You always have to notice the stats! If they are not there, then you just got lucky — not having statistics can be the primary reason your prompt may be based on false assumptions. When there is nothing to prove, you have nothing to believe.

If stats are given, it is still possible that they are old, incomplete, etc. You would almost always have to pay attention to the numbers because that is almost always where the problem lies.

Tip #11: How to deal with surveys/experiments

Oftentimes, the prompt would tell you something like, ‘in a survey conducted they found out …’ If you see something like this, you just got lucky. They are easy to fight with! Your points for battling these questions would primarily be:

(a) Can the population that is chosen for the survey represent the entire population for which it was being surveyed? For e.g., if in an experiment, the COVID-19 drug worked on, say, a hundred people. Would that guarantee it would work on everyone? Would it guarantee the success of the drug?

(b) Can the survey be trusted? That is, for e.g., suppose a newspaper company says no one likes their ads because in a survey they got a negative response regarding their ads. Here, your points can be that many people may not have submitted the survey, may not have filled their own surveys, or may not have liked only a particular ad, etc. The survey’s results may not be completely accurate.

(c ) How old is the survey? Data may change with time, and old surveys may not be valid anymore.

Helpful Links for the Argument Task

(a)- The GRE always gives the Argument Task prompt from an official list of topics: https://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/prepare/analytical_writing/argument/pool. So if you are practicing, pick one of these topics to practice with.

(b)- The official scoring guide for Argument Tasks: https://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/prepare/analytical_writing/argument/scoring_guide

(c )- Sample Argument Tasks with their official scores: ets.org/gre/revised_general/prepare/analytical_writing/argument/sample_responses

Verbal

The Verbal section is a major pain in the backside for most GRE test-takers. Half of each verbal section is made up of difficult reading comprehensions, and the other half is made up of fill-in-the-blanks that require you to have excellent command over vocabulary.

Tip #12: Translate those sentences

During your practice or in your real test, if you are having a hard time understanding what a sentence is saying, it would be a good idea to try to translate it to your native language. It makes comprehension much easier. However, this comes with a caveat: translation, even if it is mental, consumes time. Make sure you have the required time on your hands before you try to translate.

Tip #13: Do not look at the choices

Many people will tell you this, and for good reason too. When you read a question in the verbal section, do not look at the answer choices. Instead, come up with your own answer and look for its synonyms in the options given. The reason for this is because oftentimes the choices are designed to confuse you. If you have an answer ready before you look at the options, you are less likely to choose the wrong answer.

Tip #14: Build a good vocabulary

Now I don’t know about you, but I have come across many websites saying that GRE does not test your vocab, and instead only tests your ‘aptitude for finding the right answer’. So that is A-grade BS. The questions on the test are designed to test your vocabulary as well. Especially if you are a non-native, this can be a huge obstacle on your way to scoring well, so here are some things I did for building my vocabulary:

(a) I learned 30 words from Barron’s every day. Each day, my brother would quiz me on all the words from the beginning that I had learned until then(i.e., 1–30 on day-1, 1–60 on day-2, 1–90 on day-3… and so on).

(b) I started writing a daily journal, incorporating those words into it.

(c ) I browsed through Magoosh’s free vocabulary flashcards app in my free time.

Note: Remember, the information you gain from flashcards gets stored in your short-term memory. You might not remember those words for long enough. To retain them for longer periods, make sentences using those words. Make a sentence for each word every day.

Tip #15: Read like a reading-starved monster

To deal with the verbal section, it is important for you to read as much academic material as you can find. The keywords here are ‘academic material’. Reading novels or stories might help with your vocabulary, but would not be as fruitful for your reading comprehension questions.

Some resources you can read from are Britannica, International news journals like The Washington Post, NYTimes, Al-Jazeera, and others, The Internet Archive. You can also read official IELTS/TOEFL material for practice.

Who can help me with Verbal?

(a) I cannot stress enough on how important ETS official guides and paid powerprep tests are. They have questions made by the original test-takers. If you are willing to spend some money, these should be your first priority. They have only a few questions though, and you might need more practice than just that for your verbal.

(b) GREGMAT Youtube channel, which has both free and premium options, has great strategies to get you through GRE Verbal.

(c ) Magoosh also has amazing questions and lectures for Verbal. Among all websites, Magoosh is the best in my opinion.

(d) I have noticed spelling errors on The Princeton Review quite often, so I would not recommend that. Manhattan’s verbal section is really NOT good at all, except for its reading comprehension and logical reading comprehension questions. If you are practicing from Manhattan, only solve those two topics from the verbal section. Kaplan is good for beginners, but it is too basic for the actual test.

(e) For vocabulary, visit vocabulary.com, learn all the words from Barron’s 1100 list, learn all the words on the Magoosh vocabulary builder app. All of this would NOT be enough, but it would be a great step ahead.

Note: You would find subreddits, pages, groups, links, and resources online containing all premium books and test questions for free. You would just have to look hard enough.

Helpful Links for the Verbal Section

(a) Interview with a 167 scorer in Verbal (Part-1): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkD7UB2K0WU

(b)Interview with a 167 scorer in Verbal (Part-2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmtFXw22p2w

(c) Vocab study tips from Magoosh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4AHoUEhR8g

(d) Games, helpful word lists, word definitions with roots, and much more: https://www.vocabulary.com/

(e) Barron’s 1100 words you need to know: https://archive.org/details/1100WordsYouNeedToKnow.pdf/page/n17/mode/2up

Quantitative Reasoning Sections

There isn’t a lot to speak about these sections because of the vast amount of resources available to them. If you are struggling with the QR, you might want to see general tips above (tips 1,2 and 3), and/or practice more.

Who can help me with Quant? (Hint: Literally everyone)

(a) Again, ETS official guides would be great for questions from the official test-takers. They have only a few questions though, and you might need more practice than just that for your quants.

(b) Kaplan is good for beginners and intermediate-level students. It might help you to score 160+, but if you are aiming for a perfect 170, you would need something more challenging than that.

(c) The Manhattan 5lb book is splendid for a good quant challenge! Its questions are great, divided conveniently into sections and difficulty levels. You should definitely go through this book in the later phases of your preparation.

(d) GREGMAT Youtube channel has great strategies for quants.

(e) Magoosh website has good lectures and questions for quants.

(f) The Princeton Review website is also good for quants. I especially liked their quantitative comparison questions.

Experimental

Experimental is an ungraded 30-minute section on your test, i.e., its scores are not counted in the final cumulative. It can be either verbal or quant and can randomly appear as any section from sections 3 to 6. There is no way of knowing if your section is experimental, except for the fact that it has varied difficulties in questions, so you would have to attempt every section seriously as if it were graded.

Also, when you are practicing, it would be good to practice with an additional section (if you’re practicing from a book, attempt 2 Verbals and 2 Quants, and then throw in an extra section of whatever you find yourself to be lacking in). This is mainly because the real test is long due to the experimental, and practicing to sit and focus for that long would be a good idea so it does not bother you on your ‘big day’.

Ending Notes

Tip #16: Be a part of a community

Join Facebook groups, Whatsapp groups, subreddits, and online forums and discussions. The people there are extremely kind and would help you to solve your doubts. It would also give you an opportunity to explore more questions and gain advice as other users post them.

Tip #17: Do not buy a lot of material

If you have money to spare, then sure, go ahead and buy them all. If you have only some money to spare, buy ETS tests and Magoosh. If you are more of a book person, I would suggest you buy at least the ETS guides, and then either Manhattan 5lb or Kaplan. If you have no money to spare for buying material, that’s okay, too. You will find all the books (and even the paid tests!) online on different forums (Hint: I saw some on a subreddit). You can download them for free. Also, GREGMAT has videos available for free as well, and they are very helpful.

That’s all, folks. All you have to do now is to stay calm and practice. If you have any further questions, feel free to leave them below in the comment section.

Good luck with your test!