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