I score 315 on the GRE

Let’s cut to the chase and come to the point.

I was planning to take the GRE Score for a long time but was not doing anything in this regard. Then one day I sat down and made up my mind. I am a software engineer and my office timing is from 9 am to 6 pm. My job is a bit hard, and I don’t have enough stamina left at the end of the day for my preparation. So, at the start, I took a week off so that I could get started properly, and then I would manage things with my job. It was about a month to go for the exam when I got registered. Once my leaves were over, I took a diagnostic test using the Power prep software that ETS gives you. I scored 299. That was a terrible feeling. Partially because I had already paid my fee and could not afford to lose and partially because I thought I didn’t have enough time to waste for another try if I didn’t get good enough marks.

I started preparation on a daily basis. I started going to the office about an hour before my office time and used that time doing GRE preparation. It went smoothly for a week or two. Then, I took another diagnostic test. You might know ETS Power Prep gives you two timed tests for your evaluation. This time I scored 141 in verbal and 160 in quant. My math section was always strong, so I was not as worried about quant, but verbal did frighten me.

Then I got a bit lazy, and another week passed with no proper preparation, it was partially due to my job. Then a week before the exam I started preparation again. I was planning to attempt multiple mock tests.

I knew where I was standing. But I made up my mind to get the possible out of it. I decided to focus on quant and get the max of 170 if possible. And for verbal, I planned not to worry at all. Because I knew if I attempted verbally without any tension, I could get a GRE score of 145. My vocabulary was very bad, but after all, it’s not just vocabulary. Moreover, vocabulary has a minor role in the test.

Luckily, the exam was a bit easy, especially the verbal sections, or I just assumed that verbal would be very difficult. Eventually, I scored 165 in quant, 150 in verbal, and 3.0 in AWA.

About AWA, let me tell you something, I never attempted a mock test properly. I mean I only attempted quant and verbal. I didn’t even prepare AWA as such. If I am not wrong, I only practiced AWA by writing two essays for each section. This is not something I am proud of. If I had prepared for AWA, I could have scored well. I would suggest write as much as you can and get it reviewed by someone. I didn’t prepare properly, but on the test day and also two days before the test, I put all my focus on GRE Score 315. I relaxed because I knew I could score well if I did it without any pressure. Besides, I also found some alternatives so that if I could not score well, I would not be doomed completely, and it also made me a bit relaxed.

I scheduled my exam on Tuesday so that if I take leave from the office on Monday and Tuesday, it will give me four consecutive days for the exam. So consider these things too. These are small things, but sometimes small things make much difference combined.

You might have noticed some grammar and composition mistakes in this essay, too, but I am not going to ask someone to revise because I want you to know how bad I am for the verbal and AWA sections.

Prep Material:

scholarden.com & ETS