Preparation tips by GRE topper

Salam everybody,

I write this to share my complete GRE experience: how I prepared for the test, what
test strategies I figured out in the process, the role of BrighLink Prep and all the
important lessons I learnt during this two and a half month ride. This piece is not
supposed to be a generic guideline or a rigorous preparation guide, the whole GRE
experience is by its very nature subjective and not everything works for everyone.
Also, because my approach towards a question was mostly intuitive rather than
based on some acquired methodology, I may not be the best person to suggest a
proper study plan. I do hope however that my ordinary but sincere effort to share
my own experience will play a part, however small, in helping you find your own
course towards your dream score.

It all began in mid July of this year when a friend of mine told me about BrightLink
Prep, just three days before the beginning of their new session. I took the entrance
diagnostic test and trial class and decided to attend their classes. It proved to be a
very wise decision in retrospect, since Sir Talha Omer has played a massive role in
my success. This is not to say that you cannot prepare for GRE on your own, but if
like me youre distracted too easily and are too lazy to carve out a study plan and
stick to it by sheer determination, BrightLink Prep is the place for you. All you will
have to do is take your weekend classes regularly and do the assignments and
quizzes diligently and everything will be taken care for. Besides, you will always
have a mentor in Sir Talha to look for when in trouble. I registered myself for the
GRE and selected 3rd October as test date.

Fast forward eight weeks, by the start of September I had completed my 8 week
course at BrightLink, taken all the quizzes and done every assignment and practice
exercises assigned by Sir Talha. I didnt touch the Manhattan 5lb or any other GRE
book, the class coursework proved to be enough. This course gave me ample
practice for the quantitative questions and reading comprehensions / critical
reasoning questions. I had however neglected vocabulary all this while, and to make
up I dedicated the first two and a half weeks of September solely to vocabulary. In
hindsight, this wasnt the right thing to do. Its better to learn vocabulary from the
start, little by little, in conjunction with the rest of the preparation, instead of
dedicating days or weeks at the end to it at the cost of valuable quantitative and
verbal practice. If it wasnt for Sir Talhas timed intervention, I would have wasted
my prior hardwork in the last couple of weeks. Sir Talha directed me to start giving
mock exams. I complied and took almost 12 mock tests in as many days before the
test. This was vital practice since I figured out some crucial time management
strategies from taking these tests. Two days from the actual test, I stopped taking
practice exams, revised all the words I had learnt and brought my preparation to a
close. The last day I studied nothing, hung out with friends, kept myself distracted
to elude all last day nervousness, and most importantly went to bed early. I cannot
stress this enough. You must not underestimate the importance of a good nights
sleep before the test. Your mind has to be totally alert and stay so for almost 4
hours during the six sections of the test. So sleep is pivotal. Anyways, I had a good
breakfast on the test morning, and reached the test centre one hour before the test.
The number of practice tests I had taken made the actual test appear pretty normal
in terms of difficulty. The rest is history

Id like to share some of the lessons that I learned from my experience; they worked
for me, I hope they do the same for you.

PREPARATION TIPS

(1) Register yourself for the test before starting your preparation. You wont
study unless you have a sword hanging over your head

(2) If youre preparing on your own, Manhattan 5lb and the three ETS books
(Official Guide, Quant Practice and Verbal Practice) are sufficient resource material
as far as I know. To further consolidate your preparation, you can buy the Magoosh
subscription and watch their videos.

(3) Time all your practice sessions. I realized this when I initially struggled with
managing my time during practice exams.

(4) For both short and long passages, read the passage first, then read the
question without looking at the options, go back to the relevant lines in the passage
and form your own answer, and then look for the option that is consistent with the
answer you formed. If the question is too difficult to figure out a clear answer,
employ the elimination method. Start eliminating options that contradict the
information in the passage or contain information that cannot be inferred from the
passage. Narrowing down choices in this way increases your chances of getting your
answer right.

(5) Remember that your past knowledge and your common sense will only trap
you in passage questions. The passage and only the passage is your reference, not
your past knowledge or experience. You cannot select an option if it cannot be
deduced from the passage, even if it is a universal truth.

(6) As far as the vocabulary is concerned, the more words you learn the better.
Obvious isnt it? There is no limit to the number of words you can learn. I learnt all
of the Magoosh Flashcard vocabulary and Manhattan 500 wordlist, and also
skimmed through Barrons 1100 and 333 High Frequency List on the penultimate
day before the test. Also, regularly revising the words you have learnt is absolutely
essential. You cannot retain even half the words you learn if you dont revise them
(unless you have a superhuman photographic memory).

(7) Coming back to the passages, remember that options that contain strong
assertions are usually wrong. Words like must, always entail generalizations that
are incorrect if not supported directly by the passage. Think of the passage as the
only truth there is.

(8) Mock exams give you the near real experience of the actual test. Take as
many as you can in the last two weeks before the test. Especially, take the two ETS
PowerPrep tests, mock tests at the end of ETS Official Guide and the practice
sections at the end of ETS Quant and Verbal books. Also if you can acquire the
Manhattan practice tests, itd be great. A week of Manhattan mock test practice will
more than prepare you for the actual test difficulty.

TEST STRATEGY

(1) For the quantitative section, it is of utmost importance to read the question
carefully. However obvious this advice may sound, believe me jumping to an answer
before fully grasping the question is a very common vulnerability. Also read the
instructions at the start of the quantitative section carefully and bear them in mind
throughout.

(2) Time is of the essence in GRE. Do not be tempted to get too focused on a
single question. If its taking too long, mark the question and move on. Every
question carries equal weight, its foolish to waste too much time on a hard question
when you can get five easy questions right in the same time.

(3) For the verbal section, employ the following strategy: text completion and
sentence equivalence questions in the first 5-10 minutes, short passages in the next
10 minutes, and long passage in the last 10 minutes. Follow this order and time
distribution strictly; youll easily be left with 3-4 minutes at the end to check your
marked questions.

(4) For the quant section, the strategy is similar: do the most time consuming
part i.e. the data interpretation in the last 10 minutes. You must be done with the
other 17 questions in the first 25 minutes at all cost.

(5) Take dates, chocolates etc and water with you to re-energize yourselves
during the scheduled break.

(6) Finally, do not panic. Go in with zero expectations. Do not worry about the
score. Just do your best and baaqi Allah pe chhorr dou.
On the 8-10 mock exams he took prior to his GRE exam, his score ranged from 320
to 326 with his quant touching as low as 161 and verbal 159. So he wasnt really
sure if he will be able to make it above the 325 mark out of 340.