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The Graduate Record Examination or GRE is a standardized test that is an admissions requirement for many graduate schools in English speaking countries. GRE is generally considered to be an entrance requirement for Engineering and Sciences Programs, just the SAT is a requirement for undergraduate programs and GMAT for business or management programs.

There are two kinds of GRE tests:
1) GRE general test and
2) GRE Subject tests.

The subject test is offered in a wide variety of subjects and is usually required by only a small number of universities.

The GRE General Test measures verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, critical thinking, and analytical writing skills that have been acquired over a long period of time and that are not related to any specific field of study.

The GRE is a computer-based adaptive test, which means that the number of questions in any given section is fixed, while the difficulty level and score value of those questions varies according to the previous responses provided by the test-taker. Since the test format goes through changes every few years, it is best to check the current format and other details directly from the official website: http://www.gre.org

Advice from Sudipta Chatterjee’s Blog

1. How long does it take to prepare?

A: There is no definite time frame. But about 2-3 dedicated hours a day, for about two-and-a-half months is enough. Then, again, it is dependent on your level. To find that out, I’d suggest that you should take one paper-based test that is there in the front of the book (Barron’s, Kaplan, anything… or even the Big Book). If you score about 750 on the quants, and about 500 on the verbal (no cheatings, etc) then the time frame I’ve said should be enough. If you scored more, great… you should try to get to around 1550!! But if less… well, spruce up depending on how much less.

2. From where do I do the quantitative section?

A: Keep in touch with the section along with your verbal prep. Ignoring this section can mean the difference between a 780 and a 800. Try to get all your answers right when you practice the tests from the Big Book… no big need to do the practice material from the books. But again, if you stand currently at about 600 on the quanti, please do all the exercises. For the probability and statistics questions, I’d suggest that you catch hold of some CBSE XIIth grade books and do them from there. It is more than enough. Remember, the tests on the different books like Kaplan, Princeton, Barrons are a tad bit easy. You will get a taste of the real thing on the Powerprep ones.. they are good.

3. What about the Verbal Section: Should I do vocab and the Barron’s Wordlists ?

A: Yes, you have to read this one… there is no shortcut. I will suggest that you should start with the lists and go through the Norman Lewis book (a red one titled “Increase your Word Power” or something) in parallel. Make sure you do all the exercises as the author suggests in the book — word for word. Once you are through, you’ll be having a feel that you really know some words. Flash cards do help, trust me… I read most of the Barron’s lists through the flash cards one of my sisters had prepared for herself, going to and fro on my office bus. It looks a bit weird, but they are good. After that, when I sat down with the Barron’s book… I could see that I knew many words.

4. How should I prepare for the reading comprehension?

A: The best way to tackle this is to practice. One RC a day continuously for 2 months should be enough to help you spot the right answer. Most importantly, please go through the methods and things suggested in the Kaplan’s book as well as the Barron’s book. This goes not just for Reading Compehensions, but analogies, sentence completions and antonyms as well. The methods in these books are really good, and they will tell you much more lucidly how to tackle them than what you can gather from my mail.

A word about the books here should be befitting. Please read the Kaplan’s and Barron’s book cover to cover. There is a virtual treasure-trove of information that is of immense help and can help you find answers to most of the questions you may be having. The Princeton’s book is OK, but I think it is relatively easy and not as good as the Kaplan’s and Barrons.

5. Should I use The Big Book ?

A: Yes, even if you haven’t bought this one, do so. You can get the book there for about 300 bucks. The verbal questions are really GRE standard, and I think one or two questions were among those that I had already seen on the Big Book. One verbal test daily and one quants test once every two days should be enough practice from this book.

6. How to go about AWA section — Essay writing?

A: This one again is heavily dependent on practice. What I’d suggest is that you write your essays, and then mail it to the group. When somebody does mail an essay, PLEASE EVALUATE IT. Believe me, it takes just about 4-5 min to evaluate 2 complete essays and then you can have a good buddy. Besides, this is a mutually beneficial affair and I personally benefited immensely from this.

7. General tips and tricks

A. PLEASE TAKE YOUR PASSPORT TO THE TEST CENTRE.
B. Get your first 6-7 questions correct. When I was taking the powerprep tests, I got the first (and fifth) verbal questions wrong on my first test, and the second (and fourth) wrong on the second. Consequently, my scores plummeted to 590 and 620 respectively on these sections, although the quanti scores were ok (800 and 790). This happened one week before the actual test, and I cannot properly express what I had felt on the last few days because of this.
C. Don’t forget to read magazines and newspaper editorials everyday. And do hunt up words which you do not know. As for example, I remembered the words UMBRAGE and PECADILLO from a newspaper article although I had read them in Barron’s because I hunted them up then and there. Now, you have seen these words in my mail. Go and find your dictionary, right now!
D. There are numerous sites such as http://www.i20fever.com that offer a lot of information for GRE people. Try google, university webpages, and anything that you can lay your hands on and to narrow down on these sites… build a good list of bookmarks and keep practising. I believe that the Princetons, Kaplan’s etc also have free online tests. Subscribe to the word of the day from the http://www.dictionary.com site, and make sure you read through the entire mail everyday. Most importantly, join lots of Yahoo and Google groups, and try to answer questions that other members pose.