"Staying calm and practice got me 1530"

Sneha Hariharan is a student of GREedge.com and scored 1530 in the GRE, with 800 in Quantitative and 730 in Verbal !!!  Here is what she has to say about her GRE. (Sneha is a student of Pharmaceutical Technology from AC tech, Anna University, Guindy campus. She is currently in her 3rd year.)

Experience with GREedge:

GREedge has been a phenomenal support. The personal attention we get is especially commendable. I seriously had a lot of trouble understanding the nuances of connections in analogy.

My Verbal SFA, Muthuja, has been very patient with me and has tried to explain all the intricacies of the relationships which have been of great help during the final test. Her patience in correcting and evaluating each of my AWA, also helped me hone my strengths and do away with my weaknesses.

Sudha, my Quant SFA was also extremely supportive, solving my doubts even one day before the final test!! It is the promptness and precision with which she replied that really motivated me to keep going. I thank both of them, and the whole team of GRE for having come up with such a comprehensive database, helping us to better out scores.

GREedge's method of explicitly explaining each word is awesome.

Q. Did we add value to your exam preparation?  What you liked about us?
Most certainly you did. I have mentioned most of these points in the previous question itself! But one thing I probably missed is the new software you have introduced that helps us learn as we surf! It really really helped me.

Q. How did you prepare to score 800 in Quantitative?

•    What are the books that you have referred?
No books really! I did whatever Barron’s had to offer in Quantitative and did all the sessions of Quantitative from GREedge. Other than that it was just taking adaptive tests again and again and again!!

•    What was the study plan that you have made for yourself
Well for Quantitative, frankly, there was hardly any study plan. I just took a couple of adaptive tests from GREedge initially to find out what my weak areas were. Then I worked accordingly sorting each of these topics independently and taking adaptive tests simultaneously to gauge my progress. Thats it!

Q. How did you prepare to score 730 in Verbal?

•    The books that you have referred.
Well, initially I referred to a quite a few books, including Argo, Barron’s, the lists given by local institutes borrowed from friends and so on! It really made me regret studying for GRE and I procrastinated doing so as much as I could ;)
SO, towards the last two months or so I concentrated solely on Barron’s and GREedge word lists exclusively. I just tried to make sure I do all that I can to ensure that I understand the intricacies of these words as much as possibly by exercising with practice sessions rather than forcing myself with infinite words and finally learning nothing at all!

•    The methodology that you have followed to get a good hold on each question type.
1.    More than the question type this is the methodology applied to get a hold on the words:
Well, it might appear tiresome to many, but I made flash cards of each of the words given in Barron’s and the GREedge wordlists. I helped me tremendously during revision. But doing so is left to the individual.
2.    Regarding the question types, I just identified my weakness (ANALOGY!!) and worked on it with practice, practice and more practice!!

Experience with GRE
Once in the testing center, I just threw all the inhibitions about not getting into my dream university, screwing up in the most easiest of questions or committing silly mistakes due to tension out of the window and decided to take the test like any other mock test I would have otherwise taken. It most certainly helped.

I got two long Reading Comprehensions (126lines and 85 lines) and a comparatively shorter one (65 lines), making it worse. Anyway, as I was approaching the end of verbal, I had about 11 seconds to do the last two questions and just 6 seconds for the final one. The blunder is yet to come! The last one was pretty easy, so I sorted the answer with still 4 sec in hand. But in this tension, I just clicked on ‘next’ and DID NOT check in ‘confirm answer’. I sat idly for 3 sec, just to find out later that my last answer was not even considered!! I am sure I have missed out on about 20 points or so because of this. So please do not PANIC, at any point. Just attempt the GRE as if it is any other mock test you are taking. Keep your calm. It will certainly do wonders to you.

During the exam, I personally found quantitative more taxing than Verbal. But the key is to keep going and take every question put to you with a new vigor. Each question is a new battle so just try and do everything you possibly can within a minute or two to come up with the most appropriate answer but once that is done just move on with it.

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