4 Biggest Mistakes that people make while preparing for the GRE

Are you aiming for a really high GRE score? A critical factor in ensuring your success on the GRE is knowing what not to do. Skill Maestro lists 4 common mistakes that most people commit while preparing for the GRE. Avoiding these mistakes can help you streamline your time and efforts more judiciously, which can be a significant score booster.

Last minute preparation

Many GRE aspirants slack most of their early preparation time and try becoming a ‘samurai’ in the last few weeks. Most of them think that working under pressure might increase their productivity. This is, however, a common fallacy. That’s because GRE is an aptitude based exam and not some undergraduate college exam where full swing last minute prep can help you ace the exam. GRE requires tacts and tricks to crack it. You cannot expect last minute prep to help you crack the GRE. Preparing for the GRE is a process.  If you want to crack it, you need to be methodical right from the beginning. Remember, cracking the GRE is a skill that you can acquire if you give yourself sufficient time. 

Focusing only on one section

It is quite common for students to underestimate either quant or verbal section of the GRE, thinking that they have the natural ability for a particular section, which leads them to systematically neglect their preparation for that section. This can be deadly. For example, many students underestimate the quant section of the GRE and take it too lightly. This can prove to be lethal because GRE is a tricky examination and building familiarity with the common traps that the test throws you with is important. And only practice can help you with that. Thus, no matter what it is always advisable to have a balanced study plan.

Not charting your performance after practice tests

Practice tests allow you to monitor your performance for patterns, weaknesses and strengths. Therefore, just seeing your score on the practice test and not charting the mistake patterns you have committed can be a blunder. Understanding your mistakes, weak areas and strong areas can help you quantify your progress and accordingly help you create a study plan for yourself. This can make a significant difference in your performance. 

Reviewing only the questions that you got wrong

It is essential to review each and every question that you practice, because getting the right answer is just not enough - how you got the right answer is more important. You might get an answer correct with a lot of drudgery that can eat up your energy and time, leaving you with less of it for other questions. Thus, knowing the most efficient way to approach questions is extremely important. Thus, review all the questions that you practice and look out for the solution process given in the answer sheet and ask yourself what’s the most cost efficient way of approaching this question.

We hope this article would make you more methodical in your GRE prep plan. After all, knowing what not to do is also crucial! 

About Skill Maestro At Skill Maestro, We guide prospective students about the entire application process as well as suitable universities as per their profile/test scores. We have consulted dozens of prospective students for MIS across the globe. We have a physical presence in Indore where we also help students prepare for GRE, GMAT & SAT Follow Us  on Google+!