GRE study guides, need a little help please?
December 7th, 2009 | 
Author: 
Hi and welcome to my blog,
I opened this blog to help anyone who is preparing for his GRE exam.
I remember myself when I started - I was so lost and in such a panic.
Luckily I got this great Gre guide that helped me a lot
So study hard and good luck!
Hi everyone out there in cyber world,
I live in the UK and am at a UK university for my undergrad degree. Next year I’d like to go to grad school in the US so I gather I need to sit some extra tests to apply for that- the GRE general and the GRE physics tests. Since this concept of extra tests for postgrad study is completely alien to me over here I think I will need to get a couple of study guides for these two tests. I was hoping to sit the tests in mid November since then that should give me a month to get results back and complete applications for the earliest deadlines.
Could anyone advise me on the best study guides to get? There seem to be a few on the internet available. I need something that explains the whole sort of principles of these tests as well as tells me everything I need to know (or at least outlines it in enough detail so that I could then use other books). There isn’t anyone over here who knows anything about these so I can’t just pop along to ask what I need to learn next. If these requirements aren’t all met by one individual book then are the perhaps pairs you’d recommend?
Also, any study/exam tips? How much onus do the universities place on these tests? It would seem strange to me that they would consider them more important than the grades you have been getting during your courses for the last 3/4 years?!
Thanks for your help
Posted in gre guide | 
Tags: cyber world, grad school, gre general, onus, pairs, physics, study guides, thanks for your help, undergrad degree, universities
First, my experience stems from just recently taking the GRE on Sept 1, and i did try several different study guides, the one i settled on ended up helping me achieve a score better than necessary for acceptance into grad school. That being said, let me give you a few pieces of info about Grad Schools and such. Overall there are four criteria that grad schools look into. 1) GPA 2) undergrad research experience or your work experience relating to the field of study, also what kind of benefit to the research of that university you may become. 3) Letters of recomendation from faculty and staff that attest to the type of student and overall person you are 4) your GRE scores. now, assuming you have stellar three out of four of those criteria, you will be fine and have a great shot at acceptance, so if everything but your GRE scores are good, you will be ok. i know several professors that will tell you they did not get into grad school because of their GRE scores.
As for study guides: Get on the GRE website and sign up for a test date. preferably, one in late sept or october so you can retake it if need be. but if you can only take it once, make sure to take it at the latest by early november, as you have suggested above. Once you register for the test (the general GRE specifically) you will be sent free GRE PowerPrep software from ETS, the company that issues the GRE. that software is a great resource with several study applications and two full length practice general tests. Also, i found the study book Master The GRE by Mark Allen Stewart to be extremely helpful. it gave several insights that im sure gained me points on the actual GRE exam. lastly, because i am looking into bioengineering schools i am much more science minded than literary, so i picked up a box of flashcards titled "500 of the hardest GRE words" from Kaplan in order to boost my vocabulary for the verbal sections of the GRE.
As for the subject tests, the ETS website list the topics covered in the subject tests. its best to review these topics using your normal university text books as you would for a lecture class. i found that the available texts in bookstores for the subject test are far to vague and do not help.
Helpful tips: you will be crunched for time during the test so the best idea is to be completely familiar with the layout and format of the test. the best way to get comfortable is by taking several practice tests. Also, when you finish the test, because the general test is done on a computer, your scores will be presented to you immediately after you submit the test, so you know within a matter of seconds after finishing the test how you did on the test, except for the writing section which has to be hand graded by GRE readers. overall, read the study book and the GRE website along with their software and focus on the skills you may be lacking, and you will do just fine. Good luck with your GRE endeavor!