> > GRE 319 - Mamoon Masud

## GRE 319 - Mamoon Masud

I gave GRE on 20th Sept – 2016 and scored 319. I prepared for the GRE from the following books and apps.

1. The Official Guide to the GRE (Verbal, Quant + AWA).

2. Manhattan Prep GRE (Set of 8 books)

3. Manhattan Prep — GRE App. (Available for Android and iOS – complete access for $10). (Quant + Verbal) 4. Vocabulary Builder by Magoosh. 5. GRE Flash Cards by Magoosh. For the GRE, I started preparing in the second week of August, and after about 40 days, gave the test. The Verbal portion is more difficult to prepare and requires more effort as compared to the quantitative section, at least that was the case for me. The first book I read was the Official guide, as it explains in detail the GRE, it’s sections, and the scoring criteria for AWA. For the verbal section, I used to the Vocabulary builder app for learning around 900 words in 25 days, giving it almost 2 hours every day. Afterwards, I started practicing RC, Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence from the Manhattan Prep. I started revising all the words 1 week before the test. Learning Greek and Latin Roots also helps in vocab. For the Quant Section, I did most of my preparation from the Manhattan Prep-GRE app. It comes for$10 and it’s not a subscription like Magoosh. The Questions are divided into different categories, as well as sub categories. Once you answer a question, it gives a complete explanation of the answer. The app is very useful as I had set a goal of solving atleast 60 questions each day, and could track my progress, like my average time/question, as well as my strengths and weaknesses. In this way, I spent preparing more time on the sections I scored less. The app also has 6 quizzes (3 Quant, 3 Verbal), which I gave in the last 5 days. 1 day before the test, I only gave the PowerPrep II Mock Test.

At the beginning of my preparation, I didn’t know much about GRE. But when I became a member of GRE prep Scholar’s Den. All the material in the group helped me a lot, specifically Samar Haider’s Guide. I was able to score 319 after preparing for about 40 days has only been possible because of the guidance and the preparatory material I got from these groups.

My advice for test takers is to spend more time on Verbal Section, as quant is a lot of what we did in High School. Do lots of practices, and hopefully you can get 320+.