Hello guys.

Since the time I first saw people sharing their experiences I resolved
to share mine as well after I give my exam. Its a bit late since I gave my GRE a
month back but nevertheless here it is.

MY PREP:
I started my prep around 5 months back. That was when I decided to give GRE.
In the beginning I took my time to gather my study material, chalk up great plans
of what to do when, see the guidelines and familiarize myself with the test. The
very first thing that struck me was that I sucked at vocabulary. Sure I read a
plethora of books and I understood the context of quite a lot of words but when it
came down to the actual meaning I stumbled. I couldnt even fathom that effect
and found could also have alternative meanings. So I started with Barrons High
Frequency 333 list from memrise.com. Its a good site if you have time and if you
want to store these words in your long term memory.
A month passed and my sluggish pace was evident in the fact that I still hadnt
finished that list. I started reading articles then and maintained a notebook of all
the unknown words I encountered. At the same time I became an active member
of this group as well. I looked at the questions being posted and tried to solve
and post explanation of every question I solved. Every TC had words I didnt
know so I looked them up and wrote them down and memorized them.
In the beginning of the second month, when I finally finished the Barrons list, I
started doing SE from 5lb. Now they had a LOT of words that werent there in the
high frequency list. So I wrote every word down and learnt them along the way.
One tip here: Download the wordweb software from the net. With that you can
use two keys of your choice and it will display the meaning of the word along
with a sentence example in a jiffy. It captures the word automatically from pdfs,
images and almost everything you will encounter (articles, posts, etc.).
Sometimes you need to know the real feel of how the word is used. There is no
better resource than vocabulary.com that I can assure you. The way it explains
each word is just beyond remarkable. Mnemonicdictionary.com is another site
I used to help learn the words I couldnt remember in the long run.
After completely focussing on vocabulary for two months I thought it was time to
start my real preparation. I had found that, by solving questions on the group, I
had the knack of solving most quant questions and I just need to burnish it, but
what I really needed to do was focus on my verbal section. I booked my test date
and my prep was bolstered with the pressure that came along.
I picked up 5lb and started my quant prep from there. Man that book has tough
questions. The difficulty gradually increases and then the last questions really
test your analytical skills as well all the concepts you know about that topic. The
explanations are superb and many a times contains short tricks (Do look at the
explanation of ALL the questions you solve from here because in many questions
their approach maybe a better and faster one or maybe it contains an estimation
which could have solved the questions in 10 seconds). This book should ideally
be the guide for anyone hoping to get a 165+ score in quant.
Eventually, I got into a routine. I watched the Magoosh videos (available for

download via torrent) and then solved questions from 5lb of that chapter. I
marked all the questions which either had a useful shortcut or which I couldnt
solve in my first try. Along with quant questions I solved SEs side by side. Always
maintain a notebook which summarizes the formulas and important questions of
that topic. This way this becomes your bible during the last few days of your
preparation.
I even got access to the Magoosh account which I didnt use at all during the
initial stages as I wanted to build up my base and then apply my collective
knowledge to the best question bank I have encountered for GRE. The
explanations for every question they give is sufficient to solve majority of
questions of that topic in the future. I highly recommend Magoosh for everyone.
It has tough quant questions (tougher than the ones you will encounter) but that
just prepares you for the worst and thus you dont really get nervous when you
actually get a tough question on D-DAY. Also, you must have a good vocab for
solving its verbal questions. Although the best use of Magoosh comes when you
solve their PA questions. Their videos on PA give one particular method which
solves 75% of all PAs since a majority of the questions ask for that Z factor
mentioned in the videos.
For RCs I really did nothing special. And I really believe that practice is the only
thing that can help you get better in RCs. Keep on reading and solving more and
more questions. Take up any resource (RC-99, Magoosh, 5lb, Princeton 1014) and
just keep reading actively. Believe me, I still suck in RCs as even after reading
the passage once I reread some paragraphs again while solving its questions. So,
if you are like me the best tip for you is to improve your vocab so that you can
solve TCs and SEs at a faster rate and give more time to these frustrating
pieces of write ups. One more thing, you WILL get a long paragraph in the first
section and thats not only horrifying because of its length but in every test I
solved that was also the toughest and on the most esoteric topics I could ever
think of. I got one on roman architecture, for gods sake, in my actual exam. And
I am quite sure I answered all of its questions incorrectly :P So the best bet for
anyone like me is to solve the TCs and SEs correctly and rapidly.
Two weeks before the exam I forgot everything but GRE and solved all Magooshs
questions and solved questions from other books only for those topics I was
weak in (Rates & work, plugging in values, Percents, etc.). I literally memorized
like 500 words in the last two weeks. I also gave as many tests in real test
conditions as I could.
On the last day I picked up my bible and just revised all the questions I had
jotted down from various sources and just went through the crucial tips and
important points. I also revised EVERY single word (I had a list made on quizlet,
vocabulary.com and the sets from Magoosh). My exam was scheduled for the 8
am slot so I slept at around 12:30 pm.
One last tip. Do read the sample issues and arguments provided in 5lb and make
an outline for the argument essays specially. The arguments pretty much have
the same outline and you can just fill in the blanks for your particular topic. TIP:
ETS has provided a pool of issue and argument topics. Now I am sure many of
you know this but what you might not know is that you will be given a topic
selected from this pool itself. Thats mentioned on the site (I got to know this

AFTER my test, unfortunately). Its not realistic to write so many essays and thus
you can write on topics which are given higher priority on this site:
www.simplygre.com (its based on duplicate entries). Trust me, it will help you
tremendously. Lastly, do write at least 2-3 essays in actual test conditions so that
you can have an idea about time management.

THINGS TO TAKE CARE OF BEFORE D-DAY:

Have a printout of the appointment letter.

Have your passport ready. I cannot stress how important this is. So let me
write again in caps HAVE YOUR PASSPORT READY
No need to worry about pencils and pens since they wont allow you to
take them inside. They will give you their own two pencils and scratch
paper for rough work.
Have a high energy source snack like for e.g., bananas, dates, red bull or
coffee powder + milk powder (they had a kettle there in my case) which
you can take inside the centre.
Take a jacket with you since it might not be that cold inside but its
definitely not that comfortable if you have just a light t-shirt on.
Sleep for at least 7 hours before you give the test. In fact in the last week
try to schedule a test at exactly the same time as your actual test. Also try
to adjust your sleeping habits one week prior to the exam day (I woke up
at 7 every day in the last week just so that I dont feel sleepy while I give
my actual exam). This is really important since improper sleeping habits
before the exam can result in head aches and inefficiency.
Based on your mock test scores have a list of universities ready in that
range, which you can select after you give the exam. Also have a backup
of other names in case you get a lower score.

D-DAY:
First you are told to take every item and put in your bag, which you keep in a
locker, apart from your passport and locker key which you can take inside the
exam hall. Then they make you sign a confidentiality agreement and give you
general instructions. You are also given noise cancelling headphones so if you
speak out the passage while reading it thats good news for you. After each
section you can take a 1 min break AND have a break of your own while reading
the instructions page since the timer will only start once you see the first
question (Dont take too long though as this will only delay the test duration and
you dont want to sit there feeling nervous and jittery for a long time since GRE
itself is a freaking 4 hour exam). In the ten minute break go to the loo even if you
dont feel like since you really dont want to mess up the rest of your paper
because of natures call. You are also not allowed to leave the hall at any time (I
specifically asked this before the exam began) apart from this 10 minute break.
In this break do try to calm yourself and close your eyes for a minute, have some
water and some snack. Finally at the end you will need to fill in the university
name where you want to send the score.
Some tips:

Be prepared for the worst. If you feel strong about quant then be prepared
to have an experimental section on that which will contain weird
questions. So, you really need to compose yourself if you find that you are
unable to solve questions. Maybe, that section was experimental and you
certainly dont want to ruin your actual section by worrying about this
experimental section.
Block that CONTINUE button on the screen (not literally). Think of it like
being UNTOUCHABLE. You should not ever use it. That button will, after a
prompt, skip to the next section even if you havent completed all the
questions in this section. Why not just use all the seconds provided and
revise if you have answered all questions before time.
After clicking on any button if there is a prompt please read the instruction
even if its something mundane and trivial and you know what it says. It
doesnt eat up much of your time and this prevents you from committing a
mistake if you clicked on the wrong button.
Once they replace your scratch paper they wont allow you to keep the old
one. So make sure you replace your scratch paper in the beginning of any
section. This will allow you to review the answers at the end of the section.
After the test has ended it asks for YOUR university name. Now I started
clicking on my DESIRED university name and luckily a good Samaritan
(test centre employee) told me to skip that detail since in INDIA theres
just one registered university (in MUMBAI) and you are supposed to skip
that option. After this prompt you will get the option of choosing the
RECIPEINT university name and branch where you want to send the
scores. Its really easy. All you need to know about your university is the
state in which it is located. Also some universities like University of
California have multiple branches. So make sure you click the right one.
Test the entire procedure one day before the exam. The time you will get
up, the snacks you will eat, everything. Just to make sure that apart from
the questions you do not encounter anything unusual.

ACTUAL EXAM EXPERIENCE:

The issue topic was easy but the argument topic had very few
inconsistencies. Thank god for my prepared outline since that helped fill
quite a few words and also provided me with a tested approach to write
the argument.
The first verbal section (if not experimental) will contain one long passage
and one medium passage. Apart from that you may get 2-3 more
passages depending upon the number of questions in each passage. I had
2 PAs and one more short passage. So that made 5 passages in total
(exhausting I tell you). The long passage was the toughest I encountered
including the ones I encountered on Kaplan.
The TCs and SEs were a lot different than the ones I had seen before. The
TCs had no difficult words. You do need to know the context of each word
though and many words seemed to fit for one blank so you had to look for
the overall picture and the words in the other blanks. Sometimes the other
blanks decided the answers. Ill say TCs were tough and if Kaplans MSTs
depended less on the vocabulary I would say that their level is kind of like

what you can expect in the real exam. SEs were pretty easy since most
contained just one pair of synonyms.
Quant was easy. It did test the basics of every chapter. Thats what you
need. A strong foundation and fast question solving skills to master quant
along with a calm demeanour. I had pretty decent quant scores in the
mock tests and even then I scored less in the actual test due to anxiety. A
lot of questions were from averages, median and mode, percents & ratios
and rates & work. Inequalities and Integer properties are their favourite
topics however. In the experimental section (or more appropriately, what I
think was the experimental section) contained some freakingly tough
questions on geometry. Probability questions were scant but what few
came (actually just 2 but recently probability questions are coming in good
numbers but they are relatively easy I have heard) were quite difficult to
solve in the exam environment. DIs were pretty easy as well. No normal
distribution questions for me luckily.
Similarity with other tests: I solved msts, Princetons free tests,
Manhattans 1 free test and 2 powerprep tests and 2 paper based tests
from the official guide. Princeton by far is the WORST. It has questions like
2+2 = 4. So do not waste time on that. Kaplan had good quant questions
and their plugging in questions and quant comparison questions were
splendid. Their verbal was tough (some questions were beyond my level :P
). I had high hopes from Manhattan and even though the test itself had
very good quant questions (being from the very same people who wrote
the 5lb book so thats expected) but the worst thing about this free test is
that IT DOES NOT PROVIDE YOU WITH ANY SCORE. After I finished the test
I was like WHAT BLOODY NONSENSE? You can see all the correct and
incorrect questions and it does provide you with time and percentile
comparisons but I believe if you do not get a score then its useless. I
advise all of you to certainly give the test but solve it like an exercise but
not like an actual test. Powerprep 2.2 was very much similar to the actual
test but surprisingly I found that the paper based tests given in the official
guide were by far the most accurate and I actually received roughly 25%
questions COMPLETELY based on the questions in these tests. One
question even had the SAME diagram (Surprising, I know!!!!) but the
values were different and what it asked for was different. But still if you
get a familiar question it boosts up your confidence and really helps you
get through the section more easily.

At the end I would just say perseverance is the main key to GRE. Keep solving
questions from various sources, keep reading passages and in the exam just try
to be calm and solve as much as you can. Its a long process and the test itself is
very exhaustive and very tiring. At the end of my last section I was breathing so
fast that I could not even add up my score in my mind. I had to write the quant
and verbal score down and add like amateurs to find out my actual score.
This group has helped me immensely and thus I thought let me try to answer all
questions in this write up rather than comment and answer individual questions.
I have tried to cover all points and hence a very long document.

For those people who would like to see a score comparison here it is:
mst1 : 326
mst2 q: 168
mst3 q: 167
mst4 : 320
Princeton free test 6: 315
Princeton free test 7: 328
PP2.1: 329
PP2.2: 327
Official guide paper based test1: 327
Official guide paper based test2: 327
Actual score: 157v + 167q and 4.5 awa (I got QVQVQ)