4 things you need to know before starting your GRE Prep TCYonline Blog

4 things you need to know before starting your GRE Prep

I am taking the risk of boring you with some personal information. My girlfriend is taking GRE this August and of course she wants my advice. As I pondered over how best to help her, it occurred to me that many of the things I suggest to her would apply to everyone who is beginning with his/her GRE preparation.

1. A plan

The biggest challenge that you will face during your prep is to keep the energy levels high and to keep yourself motivated throughout.

I will try to cite an example from a non-academic setting � Exercise.

When we go to a gym, the instructor gives us a well-structured plan as to work on each muscle group, cardio, weight training etc, punctuated with days of rest. Yes, you heard it right; REST. Rest is very important as this prevents burn-out. This burn-out can cost you very dearly. You may need many precious days to recover. So rest is of paramount importance.

So when you are preparing for GRE, work on various skill sets. On some days rigorous vocab work outs, on some days rigorous quant work outs on the other days rigorous reading work out and on some days rest.

By bringing in variation, you keep developing each skill and it becomes easy to fight monotony.

Use various tools available on TCYonline.com such as the vocab building apps, vocab based tests, reading tests, quant tests, video tutorials, challenge zone, quiz zone, to bring in variety in your prep. This will help you work on each skill and keep you in top shape.

2. Vocab is not just word lists and flash cards

It is a delusion that learning tomes of words can fetch you kudos on the GRE. Just knowing the meanings of words for the GRE will do no good. Flash cards and word lists are good for the last minute brush-up, but it is not a good idea to start preparation with them.

In one of my earlier posts; I had recommended some reading resources that are a must for any GRE aspirant. Reading regularly from these resources will definitely help you become familiar with most of the GRE words in their actual context. What GRE tests is your ability to navigate through the text, not just you familiarity with the words.

3. Quant is a test of strategy not Math

Believe it or not, most of the questions on the Quantitative Reasoning section can be solved without actually solving them. You just need a proper strategy. Quantitative Comparison Questions just ask you to compare quantities; you do not need to find the quantities. So if you develop a strategy to solve such questions, you can save a lot of time.

4. A target score in mind

Never start your prep without a target score in mind. This is simply directionless. You will reach nowhere. On TCYonline, the moment you take a test, you are asked for your target score, and thus we always keep a watch as to where you are heading vis � a � vis your target score. Isn�t this amazing? To help you stay in sync with your target score, Expert Recommendations are offered, which again guide you towards your target score, if in case there is any deviation.

Remember, we here at TCY are committed to your success.