New(Revised) GRE test takers Experience

Great Idea and I think the new GRE format is really great and makes perfect sense to all those who are looking to apply to Top B-Schools in US

Took the revised gre the first week it was available. Hard to give any specific advice as everyone is different and you need to find your own study style...but here's what I did. I used an ETS book for basic test taking strategy - i.e. when to plug in the answers, when to plug in your own numbers, when to estimate, what key words to look for in sentence completion, etc. Once I worked through the majority of that, I went into a Princeton review book of practice questions. I worked through most of the math questions, which were divided up based on the type of question (probability, triangles, graphs and charts, etc). I think it's nice to do a bunch of the same type of question in a row to really hammer down and refine your approach. As I got closer to the test I looked over some sample essays as well and tried my hand at a few. I didn't really do any actual practice for verbal, but I'm a native speaker and I was more concerned with getting a good quant score. I'm sure studying vocab flash cards would've been helpful, but I just can't support that. Overall, I studied an hour or two each week over the course of a couple months.
As far as practice tests are concerned, I completed one each week over the last three weeks. Two were paper-based and one was computer-based. The computer-based test was absolutely invaluable; you must do this. I didn't take the computer one as a timed test, I just went through and familiarized myself with the layout and functionality, but this step is critical. If I had to do it all over I would do one timed paper test, one timed computer test and then I would work through questions on another computer test, without it being timed. In any event, you must do a computer test....seriously.
Couple other odds and ends....
It's absolutely critical to know what the test taking center is like. Mine was in a dark, dungeon-like room with no natural light, old computers, and uncomfortable chairs in drab colored cubicles. Had I not known this going in, I would've bugged out. Prepare yourself.
My center did offer headphones, which were kind of helpful. People are coming and going throughout the test because everyone is on a different schedule so it's nice to be able to block out most background noise.
For me it was more difficult to read and do problems when you have to look up and read them on a computer and then look down at your scrap paper and then up and down again and up and down. This, as opposed to looking down at both the question and your scrap paper with the paper-based tests. You also have to redraw the math figures on your paper w/out being able to look at the screen at the same time. Don't underestimate how annoying this is. Again, prepare yourself beforehand. What was all that talk about a new test-taker friendly design???
Last suggestion...ask for more scrap paper during your break, even if you don't think you'll need it. I didn't ask and then during the last section I was writing in the margins and in between other scribbles from previous questions. Needless to say, that's not ideal.
You won't get your actual scores for a couple months, but you get an immediate "estimate" based on the old scoring system. I have no idea how accurate or useful that estimate will prove to be, but I guess it's better than nothing.
My estimates were 750-800 quant and 630-730 verbal. The verbal range in particular seems pretty large, so I'm interested to see how that turns out.
That's all folks, I hope I didn't scare anyone away. Hope you learn from some of my mistakes and I wish you the best of luck.

steney, Congratulations on your test score, and thank you for sharing your experience.
A few questions:
1. Which practice tests did you take, and how much did you score on them.
2. How would you compare and rate the two books that you used (ETS OG and the Princeton Review)

Thanks!

I think both books were worth looking into and they provided different types of support. The ETS book was more for strategy and to review basic math concepts. The princeton book was very light on strategy but had over a thousand practice problems. The combination worked well for me.
I took the computer practice test from the ETS website, and each book had one paper-based test included that I took.
As for scoring, I missed anywhere from 1-9 math questions on the practice tests and 5-13 verbal questions.
Overall, I felt that the actual GRE test math sections were on the easier side but that the verbal was slightly more difficult than the practice tests I took.

I think a huge percentage of those writing in the first two weeks of this month would be GRE tutors.

I just retook my GRE today :D

I first took it in Jul '12 without much studying. I did browse through the Princeton review book just to get a feel of what the test was like & learn some test strategies (always always use the scratch paper to eliminate/make notes/count - very useful strategy).

On test day, I didn't bring my passport because I had thought my ID card alone would be enough. The exam center gave me 45 minutes to go home to get my passport, but as a result, I came in to the exam room flustered/irritated/unfocused etc. Still, I did pretty okay, V157 Q157 AW4.5.

Kellogg waitlisted me in Dec & I figured I'd apply to a couple more schools for R2, so I registered for another test for Jan '13. This time I got a few more books and practiced a bit more. Though, to be honest, I only managed to get about 1.5 week of studying/practicing of about 2 hrs per night, no thanks to the holidays!

This time I only focused on my weak areas like Reading Comprehension, Quantitative Comparison and some math concepts like Inequalities, so I was able to use "old" books I got from the library like Barron's from 2009 and Kaplan from 2011. I also read GMAT RC strategies, tips & practice questions here in the Gmatclub for RC, which can be applied just as well to GRE! Like, I have a bad habit of not reading all the choices when I think I found the answer in A/B/C so there was a tip here that recommends reading choices from E to A. Which works wonders for me! (I probably should've practiced this back in school....)

Today I remembered to bring my passport so no more panic attack! My scores from today were V162 Q161, which I think is a pretty good improvement.

Comparing the books, I think Princeton is pretty good for test strategies, but the material is light & made me think the actual test was going to be pretty easy. Even though I was using an old Barron's book, I really like it because the explanations & concept reviews were really good. I would probably recommend to just use Barron's & review it as many times as you can.

okay, so quants is easy i get it. but, what about verbal? i am from India and my vocab is not exceptional, it is just okay!! thanks all.

Took the test in spring 2012 and loved the format. On 3 days studying (I can't remember which book I did but I just read through the book straight through doing the walk through examples and taking a practice test the night before), I was able to get a 159V/161Q (84th/86th percentile). The vocabulary words were the hardest part by far, and the math was pretty easy considering it was simply stuff most people did in high school and simply needed to be refreshed on. I plan on taking it again after my masters to hopefully apply to an MBA program, but I would suggest anyone to take a look at this test. Having taken a practice GMAT just to see the format, I found the GRE significantly easier.

If you have any idea about new pattern then plz send me PM in Detailed.

Thanks & Regards

Will anyone compare verbal difficulty for a non native b/w GMAT and GRE? How Difficult GRE will be for a person who has already given GMAT and didn't get a good score ??