New GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing - 2011-2012

The new revised GRE pattern's experience...

It would be a great help if anyone could share his/her experience with the Revised GRE test Pattern... On the basis of my rough approximations at least 1000 people would have gone through the new pattern... Any wild clue will serve to be worthful for me and many others...

Hoping for some valuable response... A hearty Thanks in advance....

Re: The new revised GRE pattern's experience...

Hi Ritesh, I have seen in some other webs and blogs where the new revised GRE test takers shared their Experience, According to them , The Analytical Writing is not so hard and could attend that easily, AWA is followed by GRE Verbal Reasoning questions which they felt tough, most importantly the Reading Comprehension was Very hard it-seems. In reading comprehension questions, the passages were too lengthy and the questions were in-direct. so it consumed most of their time. GRE quants was better and On-screen calculator helped them a lot. So from this You have to practice a lot of RC questions to get a good score in revised GRE...All the Best Ritesh.

Re: The new revised GRE pattern's experience...

@raminjpr: Thanks for sharing this valuable information. I think we should start more RC related threads on CE, so that test-takers can have more practice for that section.

Re: The new revised GRE pattern's experience...

AbraKaDabra@raminjpr: Thanks for sharing this valuable information. I think we should start more RC related threads on CE, so that test-takers can have more practice for that section.

Hmm...yeah... The Reading comprehension is the toughest part of GRE as commented by the recent New Revised GRE test takers. The more number of Reading Comprehension questions GRE aspirants practice, they would score more. We all know that RC's make up 50% of GRE Verbal section and its time consuming, so the only way to succeed is PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!!!! No other shortcut. So i try my best to update about the Reading Comprehension in my following posts in CE. i have posted some info about the GRE verbal section in my blog too. Share it to all. All the Best.

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

AbraKaDabraThose who have taken the New GRE test, from August 1, please share your experience here:
1. New pattern style
2. Questions Appeared
3. Difficulty level
4. Which books/material helped you most in the exam
5. Use of calculator
6. The easy parts etc..

I am sure this information will be very useful to all who are about to take the test.

Please post your experiences & if you have heard about it from your friends, you can post that too.

Hi Ankita, I have seen in some blogs where the new revised GRE test takers shared their experience, so here it goes. . .

In the New pattern style, RC's are terrorizing the test takers, it eats up all the valuable time of the GRE verbal section, the RC Passages are lengthy and confusing , so the students need to work hard on RC's , AWA are comparatively better and GRE Quants section is having the same toughness as before, but the On-screen Calculator helped them a lot.

Once the Barron's GRE was the top class book for the Old GRE, But now its not so great to purchase a Barron's GRE, So the Best Books to have for the New revised GRE are:
1.) official ETS Guide----> Must have
2.) Gruber's GRE
3.) Manhattan GRE - 8 strategy guides (though its expensive, it has a all-rounder performance)
4.) Kaplan's NEW GRE
5.) Princeton Review- Cracking the New GRE
6.) Barron's New GRE -- can be used for its exercises

So the from the score of the Recent Revised GRE test takers, The GRE quantitative section is easier, as many have obtained the full score(800) ....But on the contrary GRE Verbal is harder than Ever, so practice more RC's and try to attend as many practice tests as possible...All the Best.

Re: The new revised GRE pattern's experience...

raminjprHi Ritesh, I have seen in some other webs and blogs where the new revised GRE test takers shared their Experience, According to them , The Analytical Writing is not so hard and could attend that easily, AWA is followed by GRE Verbal Reasoning questions which they felt tough, most importantly the Reading Comprehension was Very hard it-seems. In reading comprehension questions, the passages were too lengthy and the questions were in-direct. so it consumed most of their time. GRE quants was better and On-screen calculator helped them a lot. So from this You have to practice a lot of RC questions to get a good score in revised GRE...All the Best Ritesh.

Thankyou so much for the valuable information 😀....I am afraid my RC is the weakest.... I'll have to practice it day and night... Thanx again...

Re: The new revised GRE pattern's experience...

Hi,
I am now trying to get ready for taking GRE on October, but I don''t know which ref would be more useful for verbal section. I wonder if anyone who has taken revised exam before, found any question similar to those questions are available in big book or kaplan or ....

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

Merged the two threads.

If anyone else has taken the test, please post your experiences here. It will be very very helpful to the new test takers.

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

Here's what friends told me:

On the New Revised, the quantitative section covers the same topics as the old test i.e. you have to covered algebra, geometry, data interpretation & analysis. You should be fine using study material from the old test

Some have said that :

It appears that the revised test will handicap non-native speakers as it tests more your instinct and natural feel for the English language than it does your ability to memorize esoteric vocabulary, particularly by putting the questions into context.

Calculator is handy, but it also means that there are more questions dealing with exponents than the older format. What I noticed were a number of questions that required some savvy to minimize calculation, though they could also be tackled by brute force calculation at a great cost of time. Watch out for those questions.

Overall, the message is you can still use the old GRE books and get a really good score.

All the best, candidates. 👍

Re: The new revised GRE pattern's experience...

monadyHi,
I am now trying to get ready for taking GRE on October, but I don''t know which ref would be more useful for verbal section. I wonder if anyone who has taken revised exam before, found any question similar to those questions are available in big book or kaplan or ....

Hi monady, happy to see you here in CE. many have the doubt ... what is the main difference in old GRE Vs New GRE ??? In this New GRE, Reading Comprehension is made tougher and lengthier so it would take up your time. GRE quants is almost similar to the Old GRE, So better practice with NOVA MATHS GRE 2009 book and Kaplan GRE 2009 book could fulfill your need. So in this new GRE verbal part is made tougher, all the non-native english speakers are suffering with that, Vocabulary is essential but i don't feel you have to memorize those 3500 Barron words(hurrah!!!) again... you concentrate more on high frequency words and if you are able to understand the sentence equivalence and text completion, thats well and good. Online Calculator helped many to solve quick, but try to solve it in the paper for short calculations. My Conclusion here is, The New GRE is made a little tougher, trickier and more with real life problems, so prepare well and you could succeed. All the Best....😀

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

Here's what people have said across internet:



“It is a great improvement over the old version, it is what students want. Moving back and forth is a pleasure and gives you flexibility.” —Nakul Vyas, Mumbai, India


“Being able to flag questions and go back to them in the review section was really, really cool because I was able to go back and work on the questions that I wasn’t sure about. And, I used the on-screen calculator a lot, it was really helpful.” —Lindsey Todd, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.”

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

cooollll 😁🎉

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

hi guys i took the new gre on aug 16
firstly they give a score in terms of o;d scores as they have not decided on the new score scales
my scoore ws in verbal 520-600
quant 750-800


now about the test

Quant as easy as always
any engineer will get above 700

Verbal
difficult than previous pattern
Rcs are difficult as well as text completion and sentence completion
confusing options are there
so start reading rather than cramming words
The best way to prepare will be to read
you will get a low score if you dont know how to think in context



Awa
is the same just the time duration has decreased !!

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

hello #-Link-Snipped-#can u please tell me the way u prepared ... and the books u referred to ... both for english and maths ....
how did u prepare for verbal ... did u cram up the words ??
and what were the topics of AWA given to u ....
also about the so called - Experimental Section ?? whats that all about ??
and if u r suggesting to read for the verbal section .... kindly suggest the material ..
that will be of great help
thnx
mahima 😁

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

books i referred :
1.kaplan gre
2 ets
3. major tests.com here the tests are very difficult

how i studied
I completed both the books
did word list 5 times yes you need to learn words and remember atleast 2500 /4000
gave all the tests in major tests .com
read new york times and other news paper used to read novels also

awa topics
1. young minds should be taught to think long term rather than short term famea and recognition

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

also u do not need to learn second meaning third meaning of a word just the ability to recognise the word is sufficient !!

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

heya
thanx again .... i have added u in my frnd list .... so ill keep bugging u 😛
anyways i wanted to ask ... that i am already doing vocab ... like cramming up the words.... but i am not doing it , in the way as given in Barron's .... i have a separate word list of about 2000 words in which similar meaning words have been grouped with their meaning and sentences ..... that way it is much more easier .... so is that the right way of remembering words .... or should i simply close my eyes and follow Barron's .. which in a way is tough for me 😔 😭
help!!!
SOS !!!! 😛

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

The best way to learn new words is to learn then in the context. Get a book that gives the usage of the word in sentences. I think if you try to memorize multiple words starting with same letter, it would be bit confusing. Try memorizing 5 words from each letter's word-list. Like 5 words from 'A', 5 from 'B' - It's easy to remember about 100 new words every day.

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

i truly love u for dis 1 😁 😒 i am trying hard man 😐 but i think there's no escape from vocab 😡

ciaoxxx 😁

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

krjkinanbooks i referred :
1.kaplan gre
2 ets
3. major tests.com here the tests are very difficult

how i studied
I completed both the books
did word list 5 times yes you need to learn words and remember atleast 2500 /4000
gave all the tests in major tests .com
read new york times and other news paper used to read novels also

awa topics
1. young minds should be taught to think long term rather than short term famea and recognition

Thanks for info on majortest.com.. Practicing with it.. My GRE is tomorrow... I have ups and lows in alternative tests
Above all this
It has to be your day
Because no one can comprehend all words in a language even if he is a native speaker..

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

@Rakesh: Please let us know your experience with the test in detail. It will be highly appreciated.

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

Sure.. First thing on returning home.. pray for me brothers and sisters 😁 Got a strategy in mind will say how effective it was

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

how was it dude ??? waiting for your comments ........ 😎

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

Took my GRE successfully today
1.Analytical Writing topics were quite simple. hoping for atleast 4 pointer
2. Quants-750-800(Very easy)
(I guess will end up on the higher side) 😀
3.Verbal -530-580(All rc's were big 😔 😔)

Materials I used
1.Barrons OLD GRE book
2.Powerprep II
3#-Link-Snipped-#(Awesome app)
4.Cliffs Notes for Standardized tests-Best math book
5.majortests.com

My strategy
Quants
1.Left statistics to the end. Generally they are time consuming(Multi-chart ones)
2.So better finish other questions and get back to them
3.If you score an average of 7 in majortests.com tests(very difficult ones). You are sure to hit 800.

Verbal
1.Left RC's to the end
2.Sort of worked,still found RC's lengthy and the topics are really boring for any engineer. I was amazed I did not doze. Very dry.. archaeology, animal statistics stuff like that..
3.Others were pretty decent.3 Blanks ones were confusing 😁
4.majortests.com verbal tests was a level ahead I must say, but their RC's were not that lengthy

Overall,NEW GRE can be cracked ,watch out for RC's 😁

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

good dude enjoi
ur verbal score is excellent !!
as the verbal side is difficult than it used t be !!
but tell me one thing how did yu find your text completion and sentence completion!!
and how are you going to apply to universities becoz our scores we will not get uptill november !!

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

dude Can u share a few question in verbal?

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

krjkinangood dude enjoi
ur verbal score is excellent !!
as the verbal side is difficult than it used t be !!
but tell me one thing how did yu find your text completion and sentence completion!!
and how are you going to apply to universities becoz our scores we will not get uptill november !!

Thanks... they were pretty challenging as well... more or less similar to majortests.com difficulty( to be honest a bit easier than in majortests).The three blank ones were highly confusing.with close options.Always look out for the keywords. that will help you eliminate confusing ones. For Rc pray it is your day. Well the application deadlines for most universties end only in December week 1.So do not worry about it.Take up the GRE sooner but

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

anandprbhdude Can u share a few question in verbal?

Honestly I dont remember any of them 😁 That's was what ETS has achieved. No one can remember any questions any more. I credit them that. Between I am not supposed to say even if I remember . It's a rule. Enjoy it mate. Show confidence in yourself. "Nothing Else Matters"

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thanx alot dude ..... u rock ,,,, thats a lot of help man ..... i am blindly going to follow that .... ahhh ... i am so relieved ... 😛

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

I WANNA BUY THAT BOOK ,,,, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/CliffsNotes-Review-Standardized-Tests-Cliffs/dp/0470500778" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Amazon.com</a> ... IS IT THIS ONE .... THE SECOND EDITION .... ??????? PLEASE REPLY 😀

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

mahimakumarI WANNA BUY THAT BOOK ,,,, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/CliffsNotes-Review-Standardized-Tests-Cliffs/dp/0470500778" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Amazon.com</a> ... IS IT THIS ONE .... THE SECOND EDITION .... ??????? PLEASE REPLY 😀

Yes the same book 😁 :

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

Hi RakeshVasudev,

Congrats for your score !!
I have my exam in 2 days. I took up the Powerprep 2. I have a doubt here. It had the same questions as that was found in the ETS website. And also there was only one test given there. (timed and untimed having the same questions).

Guys, if any of you have taken Powerprep, please tell me if it is the same case for you also. And the Quant over there was too simple. So I wanted to know from the previous test takers, if the quant was in the same standard.

Please help. 😔 Only 2 days to Go.

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

The quant more or less remains of the same standard as in Powerprep. You'll get mixed responses as the actual GRE is adaptive - meaning if you answer correctly - the computer will present you questions of similar or higher difficulty than higher level.

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

aynavalHi RakeshVasudev,

Congrats for your score !!
I have my exam in 2 days. I took up the Powerprep 2. I have a doubt here. It had the same questions as that was found in the ETS website. And also there was only one test given there. (timed and untimed having the same questions).

Guys, if any of you have taken Powerprep, please tell me if it is the same case for you also. And the Quant over there was too simple. So I wanted to know from the previous test takers, if the quant was in the same standard.

Please help. 😔 Only 2 days to Go.

majortests.com

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

hi everyone. i am raj vardhan, final yr,industrial engineering student from r.v. college of engineering-bangalore. i gave GRE on AUG 24th,2011 and my scores are:- 650-750 Quant and 410-510 in Verbal section. i know i kinda screwed up the whole thing coz in practice sets i used to get way hgher. some points i would like every one to know about the revised pattern

1. not much focus on vocab,options were simple but tricky.u need to know the context in which words are used else doing mistake is of high probability.
2.rc's will save your life.most importantly a long rc comes at ques 7-8,followed by 4 ques.if you get this right then cool else don't waste too much time on it.
3.please do not try to do all rc's at the end.slry you'll get screwed.i think one should go with the ques flow.
4.always review coz chances are there one might miss 1,2 ques in the middle or at the end.
5.regarding quant. expect some new questions, esp probability and quadratic eqn, but quant is managable so need not worry. n please review all the questions at the end.
6.i suggest major tests, kaplan books n online tests for taking tests.

all the best folks..!!..n let me know did my suggestions help you..😛

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

Hi Rajver,

Thanks for sharing your experience with us.

How many RC's approx you had faced ? Was there enough time to complete them ?
Also, was majortest sufficient for the Quant level there ?? or quant was much more higher level ?

Coz I see the questions in major tests are of good standard only..

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

there were 4 rc's as far as i remember with 9-10 questions from them...means 50%...time is a big factor here...the lengthly rc consumed my time.it came at ques 7 or 8...major test.com is the best and more than sufficient for the revisede pattern..quant had some fresh questions...esp quadratic...,parabole curve and function questions which we did in calculus..(but no diff, integral)..just the simple ones... taking tests are very important..same as learning words..

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

The_Big_KThe quant more or less remains of the same standard as in Powerprep. You'll get mixed responses as the actual GRE is adaptive - meaning if you answer correctly - the computer will present you questions of similar or higher difficulty than higher level.

sir,
the new gre is not question adaptive .It is section adaptive so if u do one section well the the next section may be tough

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

major test is more than suff for the quant level actually it is tough !! where as rcs are concerned they may be life saving but they are tricky

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

Hello Everyone,
Just wanted to keep you guys posted on the New GRE. I've given mine on 25th August and my scores are 570-670(Verbal) and 740-800(Quant and DI). New GRE is a whole new experience and the Verbal Section is highly challenging(I thought i would get 650+... Sigh...). RCs were long and complicated but if you hang on till the end without dozing off you can crack them. Quant was a piece of cake but watch out for the DI. AWA is normal and good practice helps a lot.

My Suggestions for Verbal Section:
-> Do your words(Princeton Review's hit parades are awesome)
-> Read read and read(Great help on RCs)
-> Practice sentence Completions as much as you can.
-> Sentence Equivalence is probably the toughest part of the Verbal Section, so cram up your words.

As for the Quant Section, like i said, piece of cake😀

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

@swetha_b : How'd you rate the DI in new GRE over the old one?

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

It's almost the same though they said there would be a lot of emphasis on the DI in the new pattern. You'd see one set for sure and the questions are pretty much straight forward with a few traps thrown in.

Great to know about your experience Shwetha. Please keep sharing your experiences folks.. lots of engineers are finding it useful!

Hi All,
the official ETS Guide says
"The Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning measures are section-level adap-
tive. The computer selects the second section of a measure based on your performance
on the first."
Has anyone experienced such behavior?
like screwed up in first section and got the second section easy or done good in the first and the latter was hell.
Giving my GRE on 5th OCt . Any info would help.
Thanks.

Re: New Revised GRE Test Takers Experience Sharing

Hi Swetha,

Congrats on your score. Am taking my GRE on OCT 12! Am fine with quants but I seem to have a huge problem when it comes to the verbal part! I have a doubt- Is it necessary to read all 3500 words in barrons or is it sufficient if i go for the gre only with the hit parade of princeton? Thanks in advance. 😀

Hi Sanju,
What you heard is true. The new GRE is section adaptive. My second quant section was slightly tougher than my first but then, my verbal sections were of the same difficulty level. A few of my friends who gave the new gre said that their second verbal section was easier than the first(Their verbal scores were in 350-450 range). Anyway, I think section adaptive pattern is better because all the questions in the section are of the same weight(No more stressing over your previous question's answers!).

Hi Sachin,
ETS said that the New GRE has less emphasis on vocabulary and more on the usage. Though it sounds like Vocabulary isn't very important, it is. You don't have to do the usual cramming the old pattern required but if you're good with words then your verbal score is gonna hit the skies. Application of the words is what they're looking at, so reading helps a lot. Do the hit parades and try and learn words in groups(as in words with similar meaning, root words, prefixes and suffixes etc). Don't neglect your math too, keep practicing every chance you get. 30 days of proper prep is enough to crack it. Good luck!

Hi All,


Took my GRE earlier this week, Ended up quiet low level in first attempt.
First regrarding my preparation, just went through "Words power made easy" and "333 gre high frequency words list" for verbal. As preparation for quants i just took model test in majortest.com as discussed in many GRE forums. On the eve of exam i took ETS mock Exam. Which helped me a lot in getting used to the GRE enviromnent.
On the test day i went to test centre without any excpectation. Only think i was praying since a week before was to get quants as 1st section so that i will get 3 quants section. Once the test started all the people around me was looking at me as i was banging my head on the monitor (Verbal was my first section 😡).After cursing all the lords whom i prayed, Started to continue with the test.
Then came Quants where i felt comfortable with (as its is one of my stronger area).There after got 2 more cursing verbal section and 1 pleasing quants section.


Regarding Exam AWA section was quiet easy to manage, I did not complete any of the 3 verbal section as time was not sufficent , forced to go random guess for last few questions. Got Cumulatively 2.5 RCs per section(only relief is that it was not that vague but lengthy one). Comming to Quants, its piece of cake studded with lots of plums for those who has hands-on in CAT quants. Though am good in math but not that fast in calculation even i got 10 min to review. If any one is hate or fed of maths exams here is ur boost take few GRE quants test.
Once the test is over seeing score split ups verbal (340-440) and quants (750-800), I could not come up with any conclusion. Only thing i feel is it not enough if u just cram up barron words. You should have some knowledge on forms and usage of it.


Pls reply me if u got any suggessions for me to improve in verbal as i wish to take gre once more.
All the best for those who taking exam in the future.

Thank you Swetha. I appreciate that. 😀

Hi All,

Gave GRE on 5th Sept. Scored Quite low.
My Score Range was:
Verbal 350-450
Quants 750-800...

As mentioned by amiforhigh Quant was a piece of cake. It was quite.
But on the other hand, Verbal was quite tough. Time was less, There were hell lot of RC's and that too they were very long. Was out of time so had to go with random answers.
As for AWA, they went well.

Any suggestions for improving my Verbal? If I apply with this score what colleges can i go for?