First Gmat, now GRE?

Question

Hey guys!

Over the course of my last internship, I changed plans for my master programs, which unfortunately requires me to take the GRE instead of the GMAT. I repeatedly scored 50-51 on quant parts of Manhatten and PowerPrep tests. I already bought all GMAT Quant books. Do you think its necessary to buy Manhatten's GRE books (my universities require a perfect score, meaning 800 in quant and only 790 in exceptional cases). What about the verbal books?

So far, I purchased the official guide to the revised toefl test and barron's book, as I heard that they are particularly good on the verbal part.

Best wishes!
Marcel

Edit: Aah and I have access to the GMATClub tests, how valuable to me are these?

mistahwaddie · Answer

Well, I don't think you have to worry about quant, because GRE math is waaaaaaaay easier than GMAT math. (This is coming from someone who is terrible at math, so if I found the GRE math more manageable, it should be a breeze for you!)

I've only recently begun prep and have taken a couple practice tests, and the thing that jumps out at me as being the most difficult would be the sentence completion. Some questions require you to add 3 words to a sentence to complete it, and you only get credit if you get all 3 words right. There are words I have never seen, and being a native speaker and an avid reader, I was surprised at all the words I did not know. So I think that would be the biggest challenge. I think the materials you have will be sufficient...I hear the Barron's vocab lists are particularly helpful.

There is a thread with free practice tests in it (a couple topics down from this one), so I would recommend you maybe take one to see where you're at and go from there.

Good luck!

pitpit · Answer

What schools/programs require a perfect quant section? That said, if you're getting 50/51 on GMAT quant, GRE quant will be a walk in the park. Just stay focused during the test and you should (should) be ok.

e1s · Answer

Cambridge requires quant scores above 90%, and 780 are already in the 85%, as I remember.

Thank you guys! I will finish the MGMAT questions and then take my first preptest. I am more afraid about the verbal part. :-/

rasta · Answer

Watch out for the vocabulary i.e. the sentence equivalence and text completion questions :twisted:

e1s · Answer

What does that tell me? They don't care at all about the verbal section? My comment is not too bad, I already got 30 points on my Toefl essays. I know the Gre Essays are definitely more sophisticated, but hey its a good start ;-)

e1s · Answer

One more! Besides the sentence completion book, do you think I should buy any other Manhattan verbal guide?

I am also very opposed to stupidly memorize vocabulary. Did anyone took the approach and learnt mainly roots, pre and suffixes?

rasta · Answer

I've gone through many of the books, and given a choice, i'd purchase just the OG and ALL the Manhattan Guides. If you have already purchased other books such as Kaplan, Princeton, and don't want to spend too much more, then you'll have to select based on which sections you are having trouble in.

Never, ever just stupidly memorize. It never helps. The best approach is to pick up a book/ newspaper/ magazine, go through the word list and note down foreign words, and their context. Check out usages of the word online, and then find the root, pre and suffixes....
Practice using the words you have "memorized" recently while talking to someone or typing out an email.

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