Quick GRE Preparation Hacks : How To Prepare In The Final 7 Days

So you’ve your GRE exam next week. You’ve just a week’s time and you want to know what you can do in this one week to give a boost to your GRE preparation. In this blog we are discussing some quick preparation hacks to follow in this last week before your GRE.

Quick GRE Preparation Hacks

Revise Revise Revise

Revision is sometimes the most underrated thing. You might think what’s new in revision as the questions are already attempted and discussed. But trust me, revision makes all the difference. The same questions that you’ve practiced in the class might not repeat; but say a particular use of a certain keyword, several nuances or the tone of the sentences and how the keyword or the tone help you to decode the sentence in a GRE Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence question – these insights always come in handy when you try to crack a new question in your exam. So keep revising the class notes and check the class recordings or class videos on your portal. Revise the list of keywords (contrast, similarity, cause/effect etc). Revise Reading Comprehension tips and approaches too.

Official Guide : Hard Questions

It’s a good idea to revise Official Guide questions in particular for your GRE preparation. After all, the Official Guide is ETS mandated primary guidebook for your GRE prep. Go through the Official guide questions thoroughly. Revise how your teacher explained the questions. Pay special attention to the Hard section questions. Check how your teacher helped you to map the long reading comprehension passages and answer the questions going back to location in the passage. Revise the words you learned while doing the Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence questions in the Official Guide.

Revise AWA Tips

AWA is a very important part of your GRE test and thus it should be an important aspect of your GRE preparation. And you must have practiced AWA by now. In this last week go through all the AWA tips and approaches you’ve been taught. Check the templates if any your teacher has asked you to follow. Be mindful about the feedback your teacher must have shared with you as you showed her/him your written AWA samples. You can even write one in these final seven days and share with your teacher for her/his feedback.

Vocabulary

By now you must have already prepared all the GRE vocabulary lists from your portal. Keep this last week for revising the same. Revise two vocab lists everyday. Keep surfing through all the lists at least twice a day. Also keep surfing through the Jamboree GRE Vocab app. Last but not least, pick, learn and revise any new words you come across while practicing and revising this week.

Some More Practice

You can take up some new GRE practice questions too in this last week before your test. Some Sectional and Verbal Tests from your Jamboree portal would be great! You can do one each daily along with the revisions and vocab prep.

Timed Practice : Specially RC

You’ve approximately less than two minutes for each question on GRE. So if we think there are three questions from a particular Reading Comprehension passage, then you’ve less than six minutes – let’s say five minutes – to do the three questions. So even if you take a minute on each question you’ve just two minutes to read the passage. To cut it short, you’ve huge time crunch. So it’s better to do timed practice, especially in this nick of the time when you’ll write your test in a week. One way to do this timed practice is sit for one and a half hour of practice. In the first half hour attempt three RC passages. In the second half hour attempt four RC passages. And in the third half hour attempt five RC passages. Push yourself this way to crack RCs faster. Also check how many questions in your GRE preparation you’re getting wrong in your each half-hour slot of practice.

No New Concepts Please

As you revise or even take up some more practice this last week, don’t learn any new concepts or approaches. You’ll feel overwhelmed, also you don’t have time to practice enough drills now to use and master the new approaches. Stick to the approaches already learned, practiced and honed.

Analyse Your Performance

This is very important! Don’t treat your practice drills and tests just to check what’s the score you’re getting. Learn from them. Learn from your mistakes. Ask yourself why you got a question wrong. Is it because some words were unfamiliar? Then learn the words. Is it because you overlooked a keyword? Did you miss out some information in the passage in case of Reading Comprehension? Go through detailed analysis of each question you got wrong. Take help from your teacher.

Mock Tests : Dress Rehearsal

In this last one week before your GRE write two full length mock tests with a gap of three days between the two. But write these mock tests in the exact slot of your real GRE. In fact get dressed and ready and write the mock tests preferably coming to a Jamboree centre near to you (rather than in the comfort of your home). Even if you write the tests at your home, write them all dressed and ready as if you’re writing the real test.

Don’t Judge Yourself

As you write the mock tests there is a chance you might start judging yourself as per your performance in the mocks. Especially if you’re not scoring that high you might feel disappointed and demotivated. Please don’t. Stay positive. Staying positive can really impact your GRE preparation.

Your Teacher Knows you best

Let your teacher know that you’ve your GRE next week. Ask her/him about a study plan for this week. Also share with your teacher the detailed analysis of your performance in the mocks. Ask her/him what can be improved and how. She/he has taught you ; she/he would know about your strengths and weaknesses in general. Seek her/his help and suggestion in this final stage of your GRE prep.

The Day Before

Don’t do any practice/tests the day before your GRE. Rather revise and relax. Listen to some soothing music or some comedy show that cheers you up. Dine early and sleep well. Ensure you’ve your valid passport to carry the next day. Don’t panic or feel nervous. You’ve practiced and prepared. Now go and write a good test.