preparing for the verbal GRE

MasterMoe
Sun, 27 Sep 2009 14:04:16 +0000

I started off with a low verbal score ~500 when I first started studying. My final score was 670. Some people scored high off the get go. You don’t want to listen to people like that–they prolly would have done regardless of their study method. Some people didn’t even score all that high–listening to them is a waste.

Frankly, I don’t agree with most of the advice given on GREs in this forum.

You are MUCH better off going to the [TestMagic Test Prep](http://www.testmagic.com) forums. They have a strong dedicated GRE forum.

For verbal, this study method is the GOLD standard:

For Math:

–Barron’s first (~25$)
–The ETS GRE math review 2nd
–Nova Prep Course textbook 3rd (free—it can easily be found online)
–Powerprep practice problems 2nd
–Powerprep CATs 4th

That will give you a killer score. You can add in a few other CATs (like Kaplan’s 2004 CATs and online CAT as well as the 800score CATs if you can find them online—they are floating around).

Verbal:
–Firstly those megasized word lists are a waste
–Secondly, get the Kaplan 500word flashcards or books. These really are the high frequency words that are most likely to show up
–3rd, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, practice using the BIG BOOK Gre tests. There are 27x2 of these. Go through a few a day. (free–found online)

This will max your Verbal score.

I did the test twice and I know what works and what does NOT work. I used Barron’s, Kaplan, and skimmed through a lot of other books.

The BigBook is the most similar test to the GRE verbal next to Powerprep.