GRE questions

Hi guys,

Realizing a large portion of the highschool posters here are tking the SAT's. I thought I'd ask a question about the GREs (Graduate Record Exam). I'm a senior in college, and i plan on going back for a masters degree within a year or two of graduation. To do that of course, i'll need to take the GREs. Although a few friends have taken them, I don't really know much about them apart from the fact that they are sturctured like the SATs. So to anyone that has taken them i have a few questions:

How difficult are they? I'd assume since they're college level they're much more indepth than the SATs. I'm particularly concerned with the verbal sections as I'm an engineering student and considerably more confident in my math skills.

Also. when is the best time tio take them, while I'm still in school, or afterwards? I ask because this year has turned out to be quite stressful, and i'd like to avoid having one more thing to think about. Are they like the SATs, where you can take them several times and use the best scores?

Thanks in advance for any input.

mtastic

I am just finishing my masters so I still remember what the GRE was like. I would wait till you are out of school to start preparing for it. The math should be cake for you since you are an engineering student. I was a bio-chem undergrad and it was no problem. This does not mean you shouldn't review the math. I had to relearn some simple geometry that I had completely forgotten since high school. Over all I would say that the GRE is not a hard test. The verbal was a bit harder for me. Check out study guides by Petersons, they have a cd-rom that helped me substantially with the verbal part. It is set up like a game show or trivia game so at least it is moderately entertaining.

For the record I am a good test taker. I know some people hate standardized tests but I have always been good at them so this may be skewed. The verbal and quantitative portions are set up SAT style and the analytical writing is fairly straight forward. Honestly, if you can write a clear, logical and well structured paper you will be fine on the writing portion. I thought it was very easy and I would not stress too much about it. Just don't try to pile that on top of finals and graduation…there is no need since it is too late for you to get your scores in time to enroll for a fall semester anyway.

Now if there is an engineering specific subject test with the GRE that might be a lot harder. I took the biology portion and it was not easy. It was on par with some of the MCAT material that I studied. Let me know if you have any specific questions or anything I can help with……

Nap

Hey there...

Man!! Just some of the stuff I need to hear....So Peterson's has a good study guide on cd-rom...what about the math...I'm a Psych graduate...I need more focus on the math...

sorry, i didn't check this post for a while. yes, petersons has a great math review. i needed some of the review as well. my learning style works with cd-roms and reading so it was great for me. if you are at all worried just go to any borders or barnes and noble to check them out before you buy. like i said, they really helped get me in shape for the test. i would much rather spend about 60 bucks on books and cd-rom than 1000 bucks for Kaplan.