Kritika Sachdeva 321 (Q - 163, V - 158)

My GRE Experience:

Score: 321 (Q - 163, V - 158)
Test Center: Shiksha Overseas, East Patel Nagar, New Delhi. (Non - Prometric)

- How was the center?
Awful. There was no discipline at all. Even the main door was left unopened; you could hear the noises from outside. Moreover, the AC wasn't working, and no lockers were provided.
However, if you are able to concentrate, nothing will distract you. 

-How was the test?

AWA: Both issue and argument topics were simple and straight forward.

Verbal: I got verbal as the experimental section. The first verbal section was pretty simple; there were no difficult words as such. I got one long RC, on which I spent more time than was required. I fell short of time and had to mark two questions randomly.
The second VA section was again simple, no esoteric words. RCs were not difficult.
The last section was difficult. There were some difficult words, and one RC was particularly hard. Moreover, by then, I had started to lose my cool, which led to no time left to even read the last RC; I ended up marking three questions randomly.

Quant: There were a few problems which were long and had complex wording, in both the sections. However, apart from a couple of questions, there were none that were particularly vexing.
My time management skills were really poor today- I did not have time left to solve even a single DI problem. I was able to barely look at the graphs, and read the questions. They seemed to be on the easier side.

-How much time had I spent on preparation?
Around 1.5 months.

-Is coaching required?
Personally, I think that unless you have really weak concepts, there is no need to join a coaching center. They are over hyped. I had joined one, it mainly helped in forming a routine in the beginning. That's all. I regret joining it.
In the end, your skills, and how much effort you have put in, are the only things which matter.

-How many words should be done?
I did the Princeton word list, which had around 450 words. And around 300 more words from various other sources. I did not encounter many words whose meaning I did not know.

-Study Material followed?
I read the Princeton Guide, and the official ETS Guide. (And attended the coaching classes  ) . I also read the RC strategies given in Manhattan Lb. They were useful.
For practice, I did the Kaplan sectional tests. Also, I did RCs from various sources, to get used to the pattern of questions.

-Mock tests?
I gave 4 Princeton tests, and one powerprep. My score was between 322 and 325 in all of them.

-Random
>Manage your time well. If you are stuck on a question, just mark it and come back to it later.
>Practice a lot of RCs.
>Don't be stressed before the exam, it NEVER helps. It is essential that you write the test with a free mind.

Thank you for reading. Good luck everyone

Meghna Verma 321 (Q-162, V-159)

Gave GRE yesterday!

321 (Verbal-159, Quant-162)

Those who are going to give GRE in coming days, a month, this is for them.

The level of quant that comes in exam is much higher than what is in Kaplan MST or Powerprep! I had VQVQV, out of which the difficulty level of verbal was as expected, as it is in the mock tests; it dries out your mind a lot and focus is needed every passing minute!
But, the point where I got disturbed was quant (unexpectedly)! First Q was fine, but as soon as the second started, difficulty level had increased which was expected, but never in all the mock tests I had given, were all the questions so time-consuming coz of which I panicked!
In the 8 tests I gave, I ALWAYS had 5 minutes remaining to check my quant-2 (13-14 for quant 1 which became 7-8 in real GRE)..I marked 4 questions blindly in quant 2 in the real exam!!!!!!! (ugh ugh ugh!)

So guys, if you even have a week left and u r confident abt quant, still give it one day whole for practice! That's my suggestion, the only one for which I have written this post!  Don't want any one else to go thru d same!

Divya 313 (Quant-161, Verbal-152 )

GRE(wrote today): scored 313, quant-161, verbal-152 (QVQVQ)

For Verbal: There were no difficult words. Just learn the barrons 333 high frequency words and learn to use them in context. Understanding the pattern of the question is very important. Try magoosh tricks or princeton review tips for verbal.
i)Verbal TC, SE have multiple triggers(negative, positive, all sorts), and thats were many might go wrong. I would say instead of focussing on learning words, read editorials of newspapers like The Hindu, daily, understand the concept behind what they write and learn the words you come across. Most importantly understand the sentence structure, which one word might negate whole sense of sentence.
ii) Reading editorials pretty much covers RC part too. Practice the techniques for speed reading. Instead of reading lengthy passages, skim through them, come back later when you know where everything approximately is. Lots of practice is the only thing required for RCs.

For quant: I don't know if its really true that the same pattern repeats the whole month. But its better to be mentally prepared for such things. Quant was very tricky(as per my knowledge i made 2-3 wrong , but scored less ). For quant, Review each topic, practice questions involving differnet concepts.

No other tests come close to ets tests. But do take minimum three complete tests to be able to go through the test. 

Harshdeep 320 (V-157, Q-163)

gre score: V 157 q 163 awa not recieved.

experience: i underestimated quant section.. it was easy yet time consuming. i missed 3 questions
rc were quite short and easy.. no point in doing long rc because i atleast did not encounter any. .. 

prep details: kaplan 400 and manhattan advanced+essential wordlist.
verbal: manhattan guides 7 and 8, 5 lb book of gre problems.
quant: tactics from barron's gre test prep book and questions from 5 lb book. 

Vavilapalli 302 (V-141, Q-161)

Done with my GRE today ....
I wrote in chennai Prometric near Guindy .. (are there any here who gave exam here)
I got 161 in Quant and 141 in Verbal
Quant was little tough, Verbal is not linked to words learn the strategies ...
If you have difficulty remembering words, i would suggest you to go for just the high frequency words...and learn the strategies well ...
Stay cool during the exam, i panicked on my verbal section and thats the reason for my low score ...

WPME is the book to go for ...if you are not very good at remembering words , go for manhattan high frequency and barrons 333 for verbal ... however it is advisable to learn the strategies well ....if you know the strategy you can get the answer without knowing the word ... For RC i dont think one can easily crack unless they have some reading habits ... RC gor for Manhattan many did well preparing from that...

Shashank 326 (161 V , 165 Q.)

Experience:
1. Issue essay was philosophical, meandered along the topic somehow. Argument essay was a breeze.
2. Got QVQVQ. First two went great. Third the worst: I think it was ungraded since it had one definitely wrong question. Fourth made me sweat and fifth was okayish.
3. Overall, I opine that you can estimate how it feels with PowerPrep. Nothing else comes closer.

Tips: Do Barrons 333. Use those words in sentences of your own. If you have more time, go for Magoosh words. For Quant, pay more attention to statistics.

Akshay Takker 307 (Q 157 and V 150)

I wrote GRE today. Got 307 (Q 157 and V 150). It was QVQVQ.

Following are a few leanings:

1) There is no need to focus on mugging up more words (I did Barron's 3500 words). Reading speed matters in RCs. On the whole, verbal was upto the expectations. and AWAs were pretty much upto their level.

2) For quants, Lemme be honest, i have had many tricky questions today. More than the difficulty level, the length of the questions and understanding the real meaning of question is what will consume time. They seem easy at first glance, bt sooner or later you get the exact devil behind them. DI questions surprised me for the first time ever since i started practicing. manhattan series is the best. Do not touch Kaplan or magoosh.

3) Brush up your concepts with Maths Review of ETS, will prove beneficial.

4) Apart from taking all free tests, you can take mock tests from ETS. No other test seemed more close to what i saw today(leaving the quants part for obvious).

5) Unlike CAT which is a power test, GRE is a speed test. So practice matters a lot. Dont rely on Verbal part, it will just demoralise you to see that none of the words from any high frequency list or any book(except dictionary...lol) seemed familiar with.

6) Dont go without a passport. A passport is all you need and all you will be allowed take in the exam hall. No point carrying any extra burden. And also, try not to study anything for 2hrs before the exam. It will make you loose your cool.

7) You should keep extra tee,you wont be comfortable with AC. Keep snacks and a energy drink for 10 min break.

Rest, its upto you and your preparation. All the best to the future test takers. 

Tushar Gupta 329: Q-170, V-159

Verbal (in order which I studied):
1. Did the following courses on Memrise: Barrons 333 high frequency, Manhattan 500 basic, Manhattan 500 Advanced, Verbal Advantage: Essential GRE words, Challenging GRE words. And I created 1 list: Difficult GRE words.
2. Verbal Workout by Princeton (Found it the best for verbal)
3. Kaplans verbal section
4. Princeton 1014 questions verbal part complete
5. ETS verbal
6. Kaplans verbal tests (on CD or online, 10 tests in total are available)

Quant:
1. Nova
2. Kaplans quant section
3. 1-2 drills from each topic in princeton 1014 questions
4. ETS quant

AWA:
1. Read examples from ETS book.
2. Read strategies and examples from Kaplans.

Practise Tests:
1. 6 Kaplans free Tests (1 in book, 5 online)
2. 4 ETS (2 in book and 2 on software)
3. 4 Princeton (doc in this group states how to get them)
4. 1 Manhattan ( free online)

Harshal Gavali 316 (Q 161 and V 155)

I wrote GRE on 26th Sept at Borivali Center. Got 316 (Q 161 and V 155). It was VQVQV.

Following are a few leanings:

1) There is no need to focus on mugging up more words (I did Barron's 3500 words). I think 2-3 high frequency word lists from Barron and different publishers would be sufficient. I ran out of time in 2 sections of verbal out of 3 I got. So reading speed matters.

2) For quant, Manahttan series is the best. Do not touch Kaplan.

3) To brush up some concepts, you may like to see 'Math Review' of ETS. Also check with their math conventions.

4) Apart from taking all free tests, you can buy 3 tests for $ 10.75 at mygretutor.com (it's kind of cheaper software built on open source technology!). They give range of final marks you receive in their tests unlike other publishers who give a 3 digit figure, but it's OK for practice.

5) Unlike CAT which is a power test, GRE is a speed test. So practice matters a lot. Your stamina for this marathon exam is crucial.

6) It would be better to keep an photo ID (PAN, DL, Aadhar card), along with passport.

7) You should keep extra tee if not comfortable with AC. Keep nutrition bars like Snickers for 10 min break.

 If you are a working professional, please be confident that you can crack this exam in 2-3 months of prep (as I did. Thanks to BEST and Locals  )!

Thanks. All the Best!

Sumoni Hfg (GRE Score: 305/159Q/146V)

Firstly my preparation time period:
Well, Last year I had joined KP Singh here in Mumbai which started in AUgust and continued till March, but seriously it was utter waste of money and time, as the things those guy's taught us was good but not to the level of GRE, all the did was explain some basic concepts which we can even get from Internet.
So, seriously I prepared for only 45 Days, as I was pretty much decent in my Quants{Although my marks suggests otherwise, but believe me I am}, I concentrated more on Verbal.
For first 30 days: 2 hours a day{of which 1 hour was spent in this groups solving questions posted by others}
Last 15 days: 5-7 hours.

My Center: Prometric Testing Center, Aditya Insititute of Management, Borivali, Mumbai
The center was pretty much decent, the security check took about 15-20 mins which includes filling up a form taking oath that we will not share the questions which come in examination to anybody {Well, that was a joke :D}
after that you need to again do security check up and then you will be called upon and you will be asked to verify your details once again and if any correction you should call ETS Guy's before hand and then on the test day, they will help you change it.

About my Exam.
I got VQVQV.
1st Verbal: 1st verbal was of medium difficulty as the words were decent and something which I had learnt/heard before. I got 1 long RC of some 5 odd paras on Literature which had 4 questions.
1 short RC for inference type questions{Strengthen/Weaken the RC}
1 short RC with 1 questions
1 Medium RC with 3 questions
SE was a bit difficult as the words were pretty close to each other and the it was difficult to make a calculated guess also.
TC's were as comparable to Powerprep test.

1st Quant: The disaster.
Quants being the strong point I was pretty surprised with the lengthy and tricky sums which showed in my Exam, although I almost completed my exam apart from 1 question, which I could not enter the number as the time was over 
3 Stats question, 1 probability, 3 absolute value, 3 geometry, 2 Co-Ordinate geometry, 2 PNC

2nd Verbal:This one was difficult.
This section was the most difficult of all the sections, and I was reading questions, I felt that looks like I did pretty good in my first section that's why the level of the questions is difficult that normal.
Anyways, I got 3 medium RC's {No Long RC's, sad as I love long RC's }
and I got 3 TC which was triple blanks {Disaster as those triple blank were of atleast 4 lines and difficult to understand :(}
I completed this section in 28 mins, for 2 mins I rechecked the answer's again 

2nd Quants: Worst DI.
This section was also of medium difficulty level as apart from DI, almost all the sum's were solvable but lengthy which involved quite a lot of calculation and multiple concepts.
The DI was worst of all, it took me 15 mins to solve 2 DI questions and atlast I had to randomly mark my 3 DI questions {For your knowledge, DI was my strong point}.
DI had 1 pie diagram, 6X8 Data and 4 lines each questions which took 2 mins to understand on what actually they were asking 
Anyways, in this section I had to miss last question due to time constraint 

3rd Verbal: Most easiest of all verbal section.
Nothing to say much, this section had some easy questions and no long RC's although 3 medium RC's were difficult to get in first attempt, but was manageable.

AWA: I got one on "Society Enhancement by questioning authority} {It's there in ETS pools
and 1 on Industry change based on Survey.

Material Used:
Quants: there's no better book than Manhattan set of 6 strategy guides for Quants and Magoosh videos for clearing your concepts.
For practise, I used Nova, Manhattan 5LB and some part of Magoosh also.
I believe Magoosh is the closest to GRE {Mark my word for this statement}

Verbal: 
I bought Manhattan Reading Comprehension Guide {Hardcopy} and read it's strategy, it does help it seriously as I could increase my accuracy in Essay from 305 to 50-60%.
for SC/TC/SE, Magoosh Videos will suffice.

Words: I did only 333 barrons and grouping of words which did help eventually.

MY Mock scores:
I only gave Powerprep
PP1:310
PP2:310

I will update later on what strategy to use, as I am retaking it again and will post the exact strategy that I am gonna follow this time around to cross 315 barrier,

I am retaking on 315, anyone up for it?