Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GRE courses absolutely free? We’re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here.

More than half a million people take the GRE each year. The admissions committees for hundreds of grad schools and thousands of grad programs accept the GRE. Read more

Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GRE courses absolutely free? We’re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here.

Last year, graduate school applications were up to the largest amount since the end of the Great Depression. At prestigious programs, the competition for a spot is fierce. Read more

Happy 2016! This is the year you get an awesome GRE score and are accepted to the graduate school of your dreams. Even if you’re reading this well into the year, or you’re half-way through your GRE prep, you could probably use some guidance, motivation and focus. Here are some New Year’s resolutions to get you started or re-started on your journey to a great GRE score. Read more

You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GRE courses absolutely free. Crazy, right? Check out our upcoming courses here.

If you’re a non-native English speaker and English is your second (or third, or fourth!) language, you might find GRE Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence frustrating. However, you can still improve your performance, and you don’t need to study thousands of flashcards to do it. Here are a few ways to address your weaknesses and play to your strengths.
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You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GRE courses absolutely free. Crazy, right? Check out our upcoming courses here.

“When I See This, I Will Do This”: A GRE Study Tool

“I know all of the rules, but I’m nowhere close to my goal score.”

“When I study, I understand everything right away. But when I took the actual GRE, I couldn’t make it happen.”

“I never know what to do when I see a Quant problem for the first time. If somebody tells me how to set the problem up, I can do it perfectly, but I can’t get started on my own.”

“I get overwhelmed by Verbal questions. I’ll think that my answer makes sense, but then I’ll review the problem and realize that there were a dozen different things I didn’t notice.” Read more

You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GRE courses absolutely free. Crazy, right? Check out our upcoming courses here.

When you take the test, you need a strategy for GRE percentage problems that works every time. Here’s that strategy, in four easy steps.
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GRE high-scorers might not be smarter than everyone else, but they do think about the test differently. One key difference is in how high-scorers do algebra. They make far fewer algebraic mistakes, because, either consciously or subconsciously, they use mathematical rules to check their work as they simplify. Here’s how to develop that habit yourself. Read more

The following article comes from our friends at AdmitSee. We’ve invited them to share their insight about peer mentors in the grad school application process.

As you begin the grad school application process, you will have plenty of opinions at your disposal.  From your parents, to your current educational institution, to grad schools themselves–you may be bombarded with conflicting opinions on where you should apply. Add to that the plethora of free (and sometimes unreliable) information on the web, often written by anonymous sources, and you’re likely no clearer than when you started!

If you’re fortunate enough to have an older sibling with a tight group of friends who’ve taken career paths that interest you, you’re in luck! Spend lots of time talking with these folks about how and why they picked their grad schools, what they like and don’t like about their programs, and what they wish they knew when they were considering their options.

But, if you’re like most applicants, you need to seek out your own mentors.

Often, people with similar interests who are just a year or two ahead of you will be your most effective mentors. There are many reasons for this, but, to start, you will have an easier time connecting with your near-peers than with someone who’s 20 years older than you. You’ll find more common connections and more shared experiences to bond over. A strong personal connection is the foundation for a great mentor-mentee relationship.
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ETS distributed this press release last week with an update on how the GRE is being used as a GMAT alternative for business school applications.  There is not too much new information in this release but a few things caught our eye.

The big news is that more than 1,000 business schools now accept GRE scores.  This follows the pattern that we’ve seen over the past two years “ the relevance of the GRE as a business school test continues to grow.  The press release also includes a sampling of quotes from business school admission directors affirming the validity of the GRE as a GMAT alternative.  These quotes match up with what we have heard from admission officers.  There is ample evidence that the GRE can be used for most business school applications in place of the GMAT.  As always, check the list of schools accepting the GRE before choosing to take it for your b-school application.

The release also specifically notes the success of the new ScoreSelect option.  As we mentioned earlier this year, the ScoreSelect feature is a student friendly addition to the GRE score reporting policy that allows students to only report their best GRE score out of multiple attempts.  While most schools never frown upon multiple GRE attempts, we believe this feature to have a psychological benefit to students.  The idea that a GRE score isn’t on your permanent record helps to take a bit of test-day pressure off students.

Applying to business school? Many schools, including Stanford, Harvard, and Wharton, accept either the GMAT or the GRE. Which one should you take, and how can you decide? We’ve talked about this topic before, but we’re revisiting it because the launch of the Next Generation GMAT is imminent (there’s a good GRE word for you).

There are two aspects to consider: whether you would have a significant scoring advantage on one test versus the other, and whether certain schools have shown a preference for one exam over the other. We’re going to address the first aspect in this article; we’ll leave the second consideration for the admissions consultants.

Both exams consist of multiple-choice quantitative and verbal sections, as well as an essay-writing section. The GMAT also includes an Integrated Reasoning section. Let’s take a look at the structures of the tests and discuss what is tested.

Quant

The two exams test high-school level math (including number properties, algebra, geometry, and statistics) and have some similar question types. Both tests have standard problem-solving questions “ the basic math multiple choice questions that appear on any multiple-choice math test. The tests also have questions that combine elements of quant content and mathematical logic; on the GMAT, these are called Data Sufficiency and, on the GRE, these are called Quantitative Comparisons. Within its quant section, the GRE also includes a small number of Data Interpretation questions, which include a table or graph, as well as some pick all that apply and fill in the blank question formats.

The general consensus is that GRE quant is more straightforward than GMAT quant; I’ve taken both exams and agree. If math is your weaker area, then put a plus in the GRE column. (This is especially true if we also take into account the new Integrated Reasoning section on the GMAT; more on this topic down below.)

Verbal

The Reading Comprehension questions on the GRE correspond fairly well to the Reading Comprehension and Critical Reasoning questions on the GMAT. The rest of the GMAT verbal section, though, tests grammar (via sentence correction questions) while the GRE tests vocabulary (via text completion and sentence equivalence questions).

If verbal in general is your weaker area, then decide based on this. Is your grammar great? The GMAT may be easier for you. Is your vocabulary so awesome that your friends regard you as their personal dictionary? The GRE is your test.

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