I took the GRE a little more than a week ago. While I want to hold off on writing about it until I see my final scores, I will say that it’s really important to prepare for the GRE before taking it. The best way to do this is to take practice tests. The best ones are those that tell you not only which questions you got incorrect, but why you missed them.
I went through a lot of these practice tests before taking the real GRE. I really think they do make a difference, especially when it comes to feeling comfortable while taking the test.
I thought I’d make a list of practice tests that you can use to study for the GRE, since I found them useful myself.
- The Princeton Review – This is a simple web based practice GRE, and the first one I took. It’s free to take as long as you do a quick registration with the Princeton Review. This practice test tells you how long you took on each question and gives you feedback on each answer (and why each wrong answer is incorrect).
- GRE Powerprep Software – This software is similar to the Princeton Review, and both are very similar to the actual GRE. This software is free with registration, and includes two tests and some focused practice sections. I found the focused sections to be very useful in preparing for the test.
- GRE Practice General Test -This isn’t a computer practice test, but a paper one. It’s a sample of the test you would take if you were to do the non computer one. What’s useful with this is it includes a few samples of the writing test, along with some critiques and suggestions on how to make the analytical section better.
- Kaplan GMAT/GRE/LSAT 2006 Platinum – While this software isn’t free, it really does help a lot. The Kaplan software includes practice tests and tutorials on how to answer questions, even if you don’t know the answer. While this is useful, it really makes the GRE feel like more of a test on how well you can take tests, and not on general knowledge.
Are there any resources that I’ve missed? If so, please let me know in the comments and I’ll update the post if I find that they’re useful.