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How long will it take me to prepare for the GRE?This depends on so many different factors. If, for example, you come from a scientific/engineering background and therefore your mathematics is relatively strong you may not need too much extra tutoring to master the Quantitative section; however, you may find that you are in deep waters with regard to the Verbal section as your knowledge of key vocabulary or your reading skills are weak, and you have not written an academic essay. Or vice versa: you are an Arts major who was never very fond of or good at mathematics but suddenly you are confronted by the spectre of algebra, geometry and probability theory all over again. Generally speaking, we at AGF Tutoring find that given the above, the emphasis has to be placed on your weaker areas and thus the time devoted to tutoring distributed accordingly. In total, again generally speaking, 16 hours of intensive tutoring spread over a 2-3 month period is sufficient to put you in good stead for the GRE examination. Remember that for every one hour of tutoring you ought to dedicate at least 5 hours of studying to witness good results.
Do I have to write the essays and do my essay scores really matter?Yes, you do have to write the essays but dependent on the Masters program to which you applied, the emphasis placed on your essay scores will vary. If, for instance, you are applying for a Masters in Financial Engineering then the admissions officers will be more interested in your Quantitative section scores rather than seeing a 6/6 in your essay scores. If however you are applying for a Masters program that engenders a lot of language skills – History, Literature and so on – then there will be a heavy emphasis on your writing skills. Remember that good GRE scores should be included in your CVs and if you have good essay scores to boot then this will definitely be a plus for a future employer. Essentially, the purpose of the essay section is for the universities to discern that you have write competent, well-structured, academic essays.
How many times can I sit the GRE?Theoretically you could sit the GRE as many times as you like. However, it is best to prepare properly and sit the examination once. If you underperform then obviously you will go and resit. Again if you have prepared properly you should have numerous practice tests and therefore know pretty well how much you can attain in the respective sections. Also, do note that each and every time that you sit the GRE examination your score is recorded in a database and the universities to which you have applied can easily check to see how many times you have sat the test.
Which section is easier: the Quantitative or the Verbal?Well, that is an easy and a difficult question to address. Again it all depends on who you are and your relative strengths and weaknesses with regard to the two sections. On paper, it is more difficult to attain a high score in the Verbal section. Therefore, if your Verbal skills are weak from the outset it may be vain to believe that you can eventually get a 90% – you may achieve in 3 years but certainly not in 3 months. Therefore, our advice is to maximize your respective scores in the theoretical 3 to 4-month preparation period and move on.
Where can I sit the GRE test and how much does it cost?All the relevant information for location of test centers all over the world and the fees for the GRE test can be found here.
