Just some thoughts for this exam After so many people asking how to approach for studying GRE,

I have broken this down as per time duration. I havent read site for preparation strategy but I think this is just my take, but please ^n, I am absolutely no one to pass or make u a schedule for studies as you are the best judge of yourself, and trust me no one could give your exam better than you. Ha .I write well.Coool Three Months Prep Strategy I have heard from a lot of people that three months are minimum required for GRE, Well according to me, it totally depends on your need, If you are the whiz kid this might be a childs play, but if you think you are average and need to work on, you need to plan well, Well I did not plan well at all, I just kept doing things and never bothered what else is to finish because I used very limited material to prepare with. For three months, I bet you should finish every aspect of this exam, For verbal Barrons + non barrons words ( you can collect Non barrons from Dr. Raju Verbal Database) , plus tons of practice from bigbook and other sources you may find. Quantitative is Generally easy for most of us, but after arriving here I saw a lot of people doing some really silly mistakes and please they were no calculation mistakes, it was really lacking principle, Like once I saw someone arguing with me about the value of 10^-1 being negative. So this is no judgement on anyone, its just that we have forgotten and just need to have a look at it again. This is all what quants ask according to me. More than 90% of the people on the forum give CAT, 80% go to coaching classes for CAT to IMS or CL or times and trust me the level there is way too high for a simple reason that you can skip questions on CAT and but not here. Ill tell in detail of how to deal with Verbal and quant both in details below A basic Schedule for three months can be A month for Vocab, I mean at atleast two rounds of the whole 50 lists. Another 20 days for 2-3 rounds of the whole 50 lists. By 4 rounds I believe things will be on your grasps. Rest time, should be done for Big book and barrons, I think thats more than enough. Try to solve big book twice and use the notepas version I have uploaded. Its got Analogies / Reading comprehensions / antonyms / SCs all as different sets which will really work great than the stupid PDF tests which are really hard to look at. Parallel with the Vocab, Start with your quant, R S aggarwal is best for this, Even the Firangs Download and study it, I read this on Test magic. Practice individually and finish as per your convenience, I dont think Its gonna take more than a Month. Switch to NOVA next for other things like Geometry, P&C, Co-ordinate etc. you can do that whole book in 7 days ( if you are lazy). After this is done, Start with the Database, Try not skip any question, unless the question itself is ludicrous. The DB I uploaded is from January 2008 to march 10th 2010, Download that and keep updating whenever it updates. Its really amazing for practice. If you cant do questions, post them here, Youll find a lot of

people ready to answer you and you should too participate in these discussions as it ll lead to a lot of shortcuts. Last 2 weeks can be given to tests and revisions to be planned by you. One month Prep strategy Even if you are whiz kid, chances of vocabulary being great are ludicrously long shot. In such a scenario, dont beat the bush and think of finishing everything in the world. Instead, if you are working, take a med leave for a month, show some broken bones or jaundiceand start off For verbal, Download the wordlist from majortests.com, its got 1500 words all stacked as per similar meanings or as technical term says synonyms. Besides these, pick up the high power barron words. Thats it, no more and no less. If you get time , just have a look at the verbal database for the last three months, I Think this will take the boat. The above can be done in parallel with maths in 20 days tops. Its crash course, you gotta work hard. Start with big book next day, and that can be over in 5 days maximum.Youre done for verbal. For maths, Download NOVA SAT math bible, amazing, finish it in arnd 7-8 days, and start with the database ASAP. Try n finish the whole thing till the last one is updated on the Dr. raju Site. Dont participate in the forum, but be good observer. Because you are in a state of watch your watch. Last 3-4 days, give 1 powerprep, depending on the score give another. If you get really good, Try for Kaplan, and before the exam give a Cambridge ( its a feel good exam) Above if done sincerely, An Ass or a dumb like me can get around 1200-1300, but keep the mind open throughout the month. Individual Section Preparation Verbal Depends, Really Totally depends. How you want to approach. Just remember dont go for the overkill, If you remember lets say 2500 words, and if you find a question which doesnt give u god damn clue, Piss on it and move on. Unless u r aiming for 800 in verbal. The best thing about the adaptive thing is you get an easy one after a wrong, but after a row of right answers, you still get an easy question. Just try not to get wrong in a row. And keep an attitude, like I am the best, Fuck the rest. Really helps. Barrons is the most comprehensive, yeah I am barking again, but yeah do it in such a way that u remember the exact meaning of the thing, you may forget the word but the sounds can really lead you to the meaning. Some people try prefix and suffix but really it doesnt work everytime. Loathe/ loath . Wrath/writhe , inveigh/inveigle/invective, list similar sounding words together, you would never face a problem. A voracious reader is at a great advantage on this paper and I am not talking about nancy drew girls or chetan bhagat or hardy boys. I am talking really good words, Because the verbal is harder than SAT. Mnemonics help a lot of people but sometime mnemonic leads you to a wrong meaning, so try n make your own, it ll lead you to the correct meaning. Keep in touch with your vocab. I know when u practice questions you wont be able to read the

words again, So keep a week to revise the whole thing. Capacity and grasping power really matters so work it out your way. Some people love the time table, but Generally So called engineers make a plan but it keeps revising because of some or other beer party or release of a new movie. Just suit yourself here, because it requires a cool mind and a hot head cant do it. I did the wordlists in a scrambled way, not alphabetically, Because When I read Abase, Abash, Abate all in one breath, I got Bamboozled and said, I need scrambled and I found one too. I have posted that on the forum and I know it ll help atleast 20% of you who read this. Its better to learn from someone elses Ass getting rambed , than putting yours on the line. Analogies Well, With the words, it would be awesome, if you learn the parts of speech, just basic, noun, pronoun, verb, adverb stuff like that, Its given in probably 5th standard English books. Or more sophisticated Wren and Martin. The reason is that even if bad luck clashes with the words on exam and you dont have an idea on the words, you can identify parts of speech and match accordingly. Makes sense doesnt it. The nouns, collective nouns, male female type analogies hardly appear. So whatever is there in barrons and big book, thats really more than enough. Following are some tips Create a sentence that includes the two capitalized words. Ideally, the sentence should reveal the essence of the relationship between the two words, and should not be so specific that none of the answer choices will fit, or so general that several fit. Here are two examples of the types of sentences that might zero in on the correct choice:

One possible function of a [first word] is to [second word]. [First word] is a condition that is necessary in order for [second word] to occur.

Eliminate any answer choice in which the two words are unrelated to each other. Typically, at least one answer choice will fit this description. You can eliminate all such choices without even considering the original pair! If you know only one of the two words in an answer choice, you can always take an educated guess, even with just one of the words. You can often eliminate an answer choice by knowing just one of the two words. If one of the original words has either a negative or positive connotation, the corresponding word in the correct answer choice will be similarly "charged." But if the original word is neutral, the corresponding word in the correct answer choice must be neutral as well. You can often guess the meaning of unfamiliar words. Any of the following might provide a clue about what a word means:

Another word that resembles the word in any way The word's root or prefix The meaning of the other word in the pair

Look out for the sucker-bait answer choice that involve the same subject as the original pair. More often than not, this sort of answer choice is wrong.

Antonyms Probably the easiest. If you know the word. The only catch is secondary meanings of words which often appear. This is the direct test of your vocabulary. Try working backward from an answer choice to the capitalized word to help gain insight if your stuck. Try to think of a single word (not a phrase) that expresses the opposite of the answer choice. Ask yourself whether your antonym for the answer choice is a good synonym for the headword? If not, you can eliminate the answer choice. If an answer choice stumps you, resort to intuition by asking yourself two questions:

Can you express the opposite idea using only one word (as opposed to a phrase)? If not, the answer is probably wrong. Can you imagine hearing the headword used in connection with the answer choice's antonyms? If not, go with your hunch an eliminate that answer choice.

If you're stuck, try converting a word to another part of speech. Many GRE words are difficult to deal with simply because their part of speech (noun, verb, or adjective) is not commonly used. Turning the word into a more familiar form can help. Be sure to look for an antonym, not a synonym! This might seem like obvious advice, yet it's amazingly easy to get everything backwards during the pressure of the actual exam. The slightest lapse in concentration can result in your carelessly choosing a synonym instead of an antonym. Avoid "synonym syndrome" by always verifying your choice before you move on. Resolve close judgment calls in favor of the more specific antonym. This is another one of the test-makers' common ploys, and it is sometimes the key to distinguishing a best response from a second-best one. Always be on the lookout for this ploy! In most Antonym questions, the best answer isn't a perfect antonym. The test-makers can't resist hiding the ball from you; so don't expect to find an exact opposite among the answer choices. Reading passages I ask nothing, Really just 2 passages a day , just 10 minutes of a day. If u can do this for a month, I guarantee atleast half the questions on RCs on the D day will be right. Big book RCs are really tough, and even GRE exam have easy passages compared to them, If you are good with them, youll kill any RC that comes your way. The tips for RCs can be read from any book you feel like, but really one ugly truth is that there is no shortcut. You got 2 solve the puzzle. Sentence Completion Perhaps you just to understand the mood of the sentence, and its a test of your language skills more than the vocabulary. Following are some of my tips Look for key words and phrases in the sentence that tell you where the sentence is going. Is it continuing along one line of thought? If so, you're looking for a word that

supports that thought. Is it changing direction in midstream? If so, you're looking for a word that sets up a contrast between the thoughts in the sentence. Words signal blanks that go with the flow: and, also, consequently, as a result, thus, hence, so

Words signal blanks that shift gears: but, yet, although, on the other hand, in contrast, however, nevertheless
To get your mental wheels turning and help you to "get into" the question, first think of your own words that complete the sentence at hand. Although you shouldn't expect to find your words verbatim among the answer choices (most GRE Sentence Completion questions aren't that easy), determining up front what sort of words you're looking for will help you zero in on the best answer choice. Don't choose an answer to a dual-blank question just because one of the words is a perfect fit. As often as not, one word that fits perfectly is paired with another word that doesn't fit well at all. This is the test-makers' most common Sentence Completion ploy; don't fall for it! Check for usage and idiom problems if you're having trouble homing in on the best answer. Sentence Completion questions cover not just overall sentence sense but also word usage and idiom (how ideas are expressed as phrases). So eliminate any answer choice that makes any part of the sentence confusing, awkward, or sound wrong to your ear. In dual-blank questions, if you can eliminate just one of the words, the whole choice won't work, so you can toss it out and go on. Don't confirm your response until you've considered each and every one of the five answer choices. Remember: The qualitative difference between the best and secondbest answer choice can be subtle. Quantitative Section If youve just begun your preparation, your first step should be to solve all the math exercises in the NOVA SAT BIBLE guide. In this book, each math concept is given separately followed by a set of exercises based on that concept. This arrangement is very useful because it helps to gauge how well you can apply the concept youve just learnt and pinpoint your weak areas., the NOVA SAT BIBLE guide is an indispensable part of your preparation because it covers all the basic definitions related to number theory (prime numbers, whole numbers, etc.) and geometry (peculiar properties of certain figures). But remember that all the necessary concepts are not covered here. Next going, is to pack some chapters from R S aggarwal. Believe me the real Quant of maths amazing and high level, but the concepts of percentage, profit loss, ratio, time and work are amazing and to put the cherry the data interpretation is amazing and closest to Real GRE with every kind of question covered. Following are the chapters that should be covered through QUANTITATIVE APTITUDE R S AGGARWAL 1. Number system 2. Surds

3. Percentage 4. Averages 5. Profit loss 6. CI SI installments 7. Mensuration 8. Ratio 9. Mixtures 10. Data interpretation Rest all can be covered by NOVA SAT Maths Bible. I think after this exercise, youll be prepared for the test of Dr. Raju Question bank of more than 2 years that I have posted on the forum. These are real GRE questions, and believe me they do reappear and also even if they dont You will know what kind of questions are actually asked. The solutions shd be worked out by you, and Any Trabahos can be posted on the forum where everyone can discuss and solve. After this exercise, Start giving quant tests, there are 5 in Kaplan ( individual Quant Tests), 2 in powerprep and 10 on majortests.com, Try and finish as many as possible. Pay special attention to the following concepts, since theyre tested most often on the real GRE. 1.Statistics (mean, mode, SD, range, ND, graphical representation of ND) 2.Quadratic equations (roots, type of roots, number of roots, positive and negative roots, etc.) 3.Series (AP, GP, series definition, nth term of a series, etc.) 4.Number theories (divisors, remainders, GCD, LCM, prime factors, number line, etc.) 5.Probability (counting principle, basic probability, coin and die tossing, arrangements, etc.) 6.Speed and work problems (relation between speed, distance and time, rule of 3, rule of 5, etc.) 7.Some other concepts (ratios, inequalities, etc.) The Careless Mistakes bug biting everyone This is the number one reason why even the best math brains end up scoring 750790 instead of the perfect score. This phenomenon is so common, that only a very few are gifted with the eternal vigilance necessary to avoid being struck by it. I was so vexed with it myself that I thought I was doomed to make a small mistake

somewhere. By making yourself aware of the common types of silly mistakes you can greatly reduce becoming susceptible to them. What you have to do is to constantly keep them at the back of your mind during the test, and while solving a problem, just run a mental check to see whether your approach falls prey to most common types. Since each individual may find different concepts problematic, the best remedy is to make a list of your own math vices, which can be drawn from the many practice exercises that you solve. After a while, youll start seeing a pattern where you make the same kind of silly mistakes again and again. Note them down carefully. For example, some of the common types of silly mistakes are as follows. 1.Not considering zero, fractions and negative numbers while solving inequalities or picking numbers. Remember that when ETS say a number is real, it can be positive, negative, fractional or zero. Dont assume its always positive and dont draw your own conclusions. 2.Taking leave of common sense. Sometimes we get so involved with the nittygritties of mathematics that we start functioning like automatons and stop thinking. Dont fall prey to this trap. For example, what is the probability that a number amongst the first 1000 positive integers is divisible by 8? Dont start counting the multiples of 8! The figure of 1000 is a red herring. Use a little common sense. The numbers will be 8,16,24,32So, 1 in every 8 numbers is a multiple of 8, even if you consider the first million integers. So Probability is 1/8 (Question from Power-Prep.) 3.Not drawing figures. Drawing figures, especially in questions relating to geometry, speed, etc. makes the question ten times easier to understand. Drawing figures also makes the question more true to life. For example, if ETS tells you that Sally lives 10 miles due west of John and Anna lives 14 miles due north of John, you can bet your farm they want you to use the Pythagoras theorem. Dont miss the obvious; draw a diagram. 4.Forgetting definitions. If you forget that 1 is not a prime number, youre making life hard for yourself. Definition questions are the easiest to solve. High scores on the GRE quantitative are so common, that its no longer such a big deal. All the more reason why you should get it too. With a little effort and sincerity, its not all that difficult to achieve. With a high score, no one can dispute math is not your cup of tea. Good luck! Other things Please dont be a Data collector for this Exam. Because I have seen people clamoring for material and when they have, they cant decide which to choose. All The Best for Prep.