Need some advice from someone with experience in prep world

[jeremy.staub]

Hello everyone!

I would like some advice on where I stand and what I can expect from GRE. I just did my GMAT last week and scored a Q49 which is something like 83rd percentile.

However I now would like to apply to another master program where they do not accept GMAT but only GRE is accepted. Luckily they only take into account the quant section of GRE. The deadline is at the end of this month and I need a score of minimum Q160 and preferably in the Q163-166 range. How hard is this to achieve? I can spend 100% of these next days getting accomodated to the new question types.

I have already started reviewing GRE material and have noticed that the subjects seem to be exactly the same as the GMAT subjects. I even have an impression that the level may be a bit easier but I heard the section gets harder so I am not sure if this is true.

Where could I find the best sources of hard GRE questions to practice? I just bought the 6 Manhattan online tests, are these very representative of the real thing?

I look forward to your replies and of course thank everyone in advance
Best regards,
Jeremy

[tommywallach]

Hey Jeremy,

If you can get a 49 on the GMAT, you can easily get a perfect quant score on the GRE. It is significantly easier than the GRE, and the subjects are almost exactly the same. I'd recommend you jump straight to taking some practice tests and see how they go. Don't agonize about practice, as you may very well already have a good enough score.

Good luck! (And congrats on your Q49!).

-t

P.S. I teach both tests, just to make clear I know what's up.

[gbd97]

I think you should have MGRE prep "Quantitative comparison book" as this part is different from GMAT.MGRE 6 is very good plus I think you could have a look up for this material:
1.ETS official guide 2nd edition
2.ETS paper based practice 1
3.ETS paper based practice 2
4.Powerprep II

[jeremy.staub]

Thank you very much for your great replies!

@Tommywallach: when you say "a perfect score" do you litterarly mean a 170? Do people actually get this sometimes? I suppose the scoring system is probably something like GMAT where you are allowed to make a few mistakes and still get high score? But basically since I would be really happy even with a 163-165 that gives me a certain margin I guess!

@gbd97: thank you for these references! Time to get to work ! :)

Best regards,
Jeremy

[tommywallach]

Hey Jeremy,

With a Q49, I'd be surprised if you got less than a 170, to be honest. For us instructors at MPrep, we aren't allowed to teach the GRE unless we have a perfect quant score. So yes, people do indeed get it! : )

And also, no offense to gbd, but I'm an instructor, and I promise you, you don't need to do all that work. As I said before, a GMAT Q49 puts you way ahead of the GRE overall. It could definitely be helpful to glance through the QC book, because there are some general techniques you won't be aware of on your own (trying to prove D whenever possible, treating the columns like a giant inequality, etc.), but it should be fairly straightforward and quick.

Let me know how it goes!

-t

[jeremy.staub]

170 it was !!!! but gosh it was tough! What I was dreading most happened: I got 3 Quant parts and I believe the hard one was the last section.. Some questions were quite tough and I am really happy to have got away with this 170. I basically only had time to do 4 practice tests as preparation just to keep fresh what I learned during gmat preparation. I got something like 155 on verbal but didn't study at all for that part (of course having taken gmat recently helped a lot).

However, I was really disapointed not to get an "unofficial score report" at the end... I will have to pray now that the university will accept receiving the report after the deadline...

My practice test scores:

MGRE1 : 166 (5 mistakes)
MGRE2: 166 (4 mistakes)
Powerprep 1: 169 (1 mistake) ==> wahou so you actually need 0 mistakes for the 170 ?!

MGRE 3: 166 (2 mistakes) ==> so I take it 166 is the max you can get on the MGRE tests?

Powerprep 2: 164 (4 mistakes) => 1 mistake was that I was unable to insert the "minus" in the answer box and this caused me to get it wrong plus loose time and get off balance...

Finally, I would like to thank you TommyWallach for your precious responses. I really appreciate it! And of course manhattan for their great practice tests! Take care!

Jeremy

[tommywallach]

Hey Jeremy,

Glad it worked out so well (and...I'm not going to lie...I'm psyched that I totally called it!).

Good luck with your applications! I now predict that you will get into every one of your top 5 schools, but, for reasons unknown, you will be rejected by your 6th most favorite school. : )

-t