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Zulfiqar Zaidi was able to increase his score from 320 to 330 in a period of around 1.5 months. He has shared some valuable advices for prospective test takers on how one should approach the various sections of GRE.

Advice for Verbal Section

On Reading Comprehension

This was my weakest section. I personally tried to read the passage first. Practiced a lot for this section.

On Sentence Equivalence and Text Completion

I learned somewhere around 1200-1500 words. Consequently, I didn’t find any words on the actual test that were new to me (apart from 1 or 2). I would personally recommend to dedicate time to learning words (at least the most frequent words list)

Time Management

I just went through the questions orderwise. Kept a close eye on time. In both the verbal sections, I saved 2-3 minutes in the end to review the answers found doubtful.

Advice for Quantitative Section

On Quant Concepts and Quantitative Section

I had a pretty good group on this section due to my engineering background. So, I didn’t spend much time on it during preparation. Just try to complete all the exercises given in the preparation books. Focus on areas you find difficult. Also, even while preparing try to solve the questions within 1 – 2 minutes.

Time Management

Once again, I went through the questions order wise. Saved a few minutes to relook the questions that were particularly difficult. Also, try to improve your mental maths skill. It could save you time as I found to use the GRE calculator pretty cumbersome.

General Advice

One of the most useful things during preparation is to maintain an error log. This literally allows you to track your progress. As the test day approaches, error log is a very useful tool to gauge where you need to invest your time for best results.

I personally think learning vocabulary is a very useful part of the preparation.

Try to spread the mock tests instead of taking all of them at end. As, mock tests are there to determine your progress.

Finally, listen to all the advice you can get. But, do what you think suits you the best. As one method is not a remedy for all.