Graduate Record Exam is an exam which prospective undergraduates take in order to take admission in a graduation course. When you pass out of a school and seek admission in a college or university you will be expected to have taken the GRE. This exam is a part of the admission criteria of colleges. Your school results are not sufficient for admission in a college. College admission authorities intend to take in the best students so that they produce good results. GRE acts as a source of certifying the caliber of students at the same standard level.

GRE tests the candidates for their proficiency in English, their ability of quantitative reasoning and their analytical writing skills. This it does through three sections of the test; Verbal Section, Quantitative Reasoning Section and Analytical Writing Section. Each of these sections has a fixed format and fixed types of questions. These questions are not of the ordinary type and level which you have done during your schooling. They are tricky and require practice and study. Hence in order to score well you will have to take up GRE study seriously and work hard. After all, it is not just the passing that counts here but a good score as well. It is finally the merit that the colleges will consider for admitting students.

The first step towards GRE study is planning. You have to start well in advance about when and how you are going to start preparing for the exam. Gain as much knowledge about the test as you can through friends, books, teachers, internet, official websites, blogs etc. After you are well aware of what the test requirements are choose the best medium for GRE study according to your capabilities and shortcomings. For each section of GRE you will have to practice. There is no portion of the test which you can attempt without studying specifically for it.

For the verbal section you need to concentrate on the vocabulary and English grammar. For improving your vocabulary it is best to get a list of words. This list you can download from some websites, or consult a book or prepare one yourself. The easiest way is to get a readymade wordlist but it is ideal to prepare one yourself. You can start a year in advance and start writing difficult words which you come across in newspapers, magazines, textbooks etc. compile them and start learning a few everyday. You must also know the usage of each word and for this you can refer to examples or form some on your own. The verbal section also has questions on antonyms and so you must also learn the opposites of the words you list. The knowledge of English grammar is equally important in this section. You will be asked to complete sentences with words given in five options. You have to fill in the blanks with those words which complete the sentence both logically and grammatically. For this you can go back to basics of grammar which you were taught in school. Take up a good book for grammar and revise your concepts. This revision should be done before you start with any written practice so that you can fix the concepts of grammar. English grammar, though complex, is brief. You need knowledge of applied grammar instead of just remembering the rules. Thus it becomes important that whatever you study, you practice as well for it. This section also has reading comprehension questions. You can practice these from any grammar book, or other books especially for the purpose of GRE study. Practice of comprehension will help you learn how to speed up and save time in the real exam

The GRE is a CAT test, timing and strategy is important. See the Timing Tips/Skills tutorial at MyGRETutor.com for detailed information about timing and other test tips.

The single most important thing that you can do to prepare for the GRE is to become familiar with the test format and to practice with as many tests as possible.

Remember that most of the concepts on the GRE are straight-forward concepts that you probably learned in middle school or the early years of high school, and so the content of the test is not hard. The test IS hard because it is a timed test!

ETS provides the PowerPrep Software, for free, which inclutes a sample computer-based GRE general test. PowerPrep is a program that runs on PC-compatible computers.

On MyGRETutor.com, you’ll find many full-length, computer adaptive GRE Practice Tests . Use our full-length GRE practice tests with score analysis to see what the GRE test conditions are like. Do you want to increase your score? Taking a GRE practice test is an easy way to see what score you would get if you were to take the GRE test today. After each test, view complete analysis, including score, percentile rank, and a tally of question types and difficulty — that way you’ll know what you need to study to improve your GRE score.

The computer-adpative General GRE test is substantially different from equivalent, paper-based tests.

Most importantly, you cannot skip around to various questions, but instead you must answer the question that is currently on the screen and you must confirm that you are sure of your answer choice before going on to the next question. Once you confirm an answer, you cannot go back to change your answer, and a new question is shown. When you confirm your answer for a question, the next question will be slightly harder or slightly easier than the previous question, depending on whether you got the previous question right or wrong. Initially, on question 1, the computer assumes that your score is average, somewhere between 450 and 600, depending on whether you are on the verbal or math section.

As you progressively answer more and more questions, the computer will choose the questions that best suit your ability level.

The average GRE scores has consistently risen in recent years. That is due to the substantial growth in the number of candidates who are applying to graduate schools. In general, the GRE is the applicants’ nightmare. Apart from the few candidates who obtain outstanding scores, most candidates bang their heads against the wall over their GRE scores. We encourage you to not get obsessed with having the “perfect score” and to not discourage yourself or write yourself out of the race because of your GRE scores. Rather than getting fixed on the average score, it is in your interests to think about the deviation from this average or the range of accepted GRE scores.

Serious candidates take several trial runs in order to prepare themselves for the GRE. But which tricks make the difference?

Gram Intelligently!

The GRE is better mastered with practice than with cramming. I encourage you to not only do lots of practice exercises but to do them in an effective manner. For my part, I made flashcards for the trickiest questions. Upon finishing a series of practice exercises most of us are eager to know our total score. It is certainly less pleasant to look at the your mistakes in detail. Yet having a good understanding of the underlying principles of a question (theorems, rules, and formulas..) is essential to your success because questions are never asked in exactly the same manner.

Time Yourself!

Don’t underestimate the fact that the GRE is above all an exercise in speed. The questions are rarely “technically” difficult: the math level on the GRE would be the equivalent of 11th grade (remember Thales, Pythagoras, powers, square roots, etc.). The difference between an excellent score and a good score is the speed with which you are able to respond to the questions. While you are doing all of your practice exercises, you should time yourself and simulate the conditions of the real test, and stop yourself even if you haven’t finished in the allotted time.

I insist on timing yourself because it’s important for you to develop the “sixth sense” that recognizes precisely how much time is passing. The majority of candidates (you rivals) take a number of practice tests, but few of them force themselves to practice under exam conditions. I know that you might feel a bit stupid with a stopwatch around your neck, but it’s worth it!

The first step in acing the verbal section of the GREs understands the format. The verbal section contains 4 types of tasks:

(1) Sentence Completion: find the word or words that complete the sentence; and

(2) Reading Comprehension: answer descriptive, interpretive, and analytical questions pertaining to a passage that is provided.

(3) Antonyms: you are presented with 2 words that are connected in some aspect and your goal is to find 2 words that have a similar connection from the options provided;

(4) Analogies: find the word that has the opposite meaning of the presented word from the choices provided;

Knowing vocabulary and how to masterfully use language does not guarantee a good score on the verbal section of the GRE. A few strategies are in order too. These strategies can help you answer questions rapidly and assist you in solving impossible problems.

Prepare Beforehand

(1). First and foremost, purchase the appropriate study guide and utilize it daily.

(2). Take practice tests.

(3). Read more to improve your ability to understand and evaluate reading material.

(4). Use the process of elimination to eliminate choices that are incorrect.

During the Exam

(1). Use the newly learned words in sentences and in your day to day conversations.

(2). Remember as many roots, prefixes, and suffixes of terms as possible.

(3). Remember secondary or alternative meanings of a word.

(4). Also, in Sentence Completion problems, if it is a double word sentence completion, make sure both words fit. Eliminate choices that only have one correct term.

(5). Read all choices before choosing an answer.

(6). Be aware of obvious answers.

(7). Use different techniques to memorize definitions of the GRE words, such as mnemonic devices and associations.

(8). For the Reading Comprehension Section remember that your answers should only be relevant to what was mentioned or implied in the passages.

(9). Also during Reading Comprehension, remember that the first and last sentences of each paragraph are the most important, answer easiest questions first, and don’t be afraid to reread sections although keep an eye on your time.

(10). Examine the context in which the words are used.

(11). Consider the definitions of words that resemble the given term.

(12). When completing the Antonyms Section, remember that many words have a positive or negative connotation. Try to see if you can decipher the tone of the word to determine a good choice.

(13). While completing the Analogies Section, try to create a sentence with the given words to decipher their relative meanings.

(14). During the Sentence Completion Section try using words that you already know to complete the sentence before looking at the choices.

The best preparation for the GRE Verbal Section is one that takes time, and that you likely by now have done, read. By reading broadly and intensely you will make wider your vocabulary and have a better understanding of language. That said, GRE review books and classes will boost your scores. These tips are simply guidelines that can assist you from end to end the verbal segment of the GREs. However, it would be best to increase your vocabulary, read, and spend endless amounts of time practicing and studying in order to get a higher verbal score.