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Jamboree GRE StudyPlan

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66 views5 pages

Jamboree GRE StudyPlan

Uploaded by

CHOPADE PRATIKSHA
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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GRE Study Plan 2022: How to be ready for GRE

in the next 2 months


Preparing for GRE is like putting together a puzzle. You have a model of what your goal looks
like, but the only way to get there is by connecting one piece at a time. Sometimes you might be
starting with a half-completed puzzle. So, to know your starting point, that is, to find out your
current grasp of the Verbal and the Quant sections, take a GRE diagnostic test
and do an in-depth analysis of the same.

This will,

● Give you a fair idea about not only the difference in your target and current scores but
also your adeptness with respect to each category of the questions asked in the GRE.

● Sensitize you towards the timings and the format of the test thus making you mindful of
your preparation by letting you realize how what you are about to study will help you
maximize the score.

Once you are equipped with this level of analysis and awareness, apportion your time among all
the question categories as per your strengths and weaknesses.

The Learning Philosophy


Your learning will likely be most efficacious when it is spiral in nature, that is, it revisits the basic
ideas over and over, building upon them and elaborating to the level of full understanding and
mastery. To do so, please note the following:

1) Frequent Small Chunks > Infrequent Big Chunks


Just as you can't workout for 10 hourson a particular day and be done for a month, so
you can’t study for 10 hours on, say a Sunday, and call it a week. Instead, schedule
study slots of 1.5 or 2 hours each day for at least 5 or 6 days a week. For these slots,
divide your learning into smaller chunks.These chunks should be designed such that
they build upon each other by calling into use the concepts learned in earlier
chunks, providing both repetition and connection opportunities, that is, connecting
new knowledge to previous knowledge in order to learn.
2) Solving (1.5 hrs) + Analysis (1 hr) > Solving (2.5 hrs)

New information needs to be learned slowly and in the context that it will be used. If you
speed through your preparation, you may get a good feeling from checking the tasks off
a list, but you won’t receive the lasting change of improved performance.

Remember, mindful solving is more important than solving in itself. If despite all the
efforts, your strong section gets stronger but the weak section remains weak, you
wouldn’t have maximized the return on your time investment. This usually happens
when we try to shrink our emotional learning barrier by sticking to the familiar
territory. As a result, we keep working hard on the areas we are already good at, thus
boosting our ego and creating an illusion of productivity and progress. But when
we take the mock and this “progress” does not reflect, the glass shatters and the panic
sets in.

To avoid this trap, maintain an “Error Log”. In this file, enlist all the questions you got
wrong along with the explanation detailing:

● The traps you fell for: tricky language, twisted options etc.
● The concepts you understood but couldn't apply
● The concepts you simply couldn't grasp
● The category of questions that takes up a lot of time

As you move further in your preparation timeline, this list will keep updating and your study plan
should evolve accordingly.

The Study Plan


Now that you have grasped the learning philosophy, let's apply the same in setting the study
plan. You can divide your study plan into three phases: Preparation, Practice, and
Performance.

Phase-1: Preparation
Timeline:Week-1 to Week-4
Goal: Accuracy
Agenda: Building Basic Concepts + Application

Based on where you currently stand in terms of your preparation, you can either prepare by
yourself or join a GRE preparation class to learn concepts and strategies in detail. In either
case, don't just passively consume the information, but rather actively practice its application to
the kind of questions that you will encounter on the GRE. This will help you solidify your
knowledge, allowing you to advance to higher level thinking, i.e., Phase-2.
What?

In this phase, focus on building


1) Basic concepts of Quant and Verbal along with their application
2) GRE vocabulary.

For the former, use the GRE Official Guide by ETS and for the latter, you can download
Jamboree’s GRE Vocabulary App.

How?

Based on the analysis of your Diagnostic Test, first divide all the topics of both Quant and
Verbal sections into the following categories:

1. Difficult and frequently tested


2. Difficult but not frequently tested
3. Easy and frequently tested
4. Easy but not frequently tested

In this phase, you will be learning the basics of all the topics, but your focus will be in the
ascending order of the aforementioned categories. Use this analysis to divide your
preparation time equitably among the sections based on not only your strengths and
weaknesses, but also their frequency of occurrence in the GRE. For instance, invest more
time on the topics you found difficult and that are frequently tested than on those that you found
difficult but that are not frequently tested. Also, reserve the following topics for the last week of
this phase: The Analytical Writing Assessment and The Data Interpretation.

While preparing for GRE vocabulary, remember that you don't need to know the exact meaning
of the word. The GRE tests your vocabulary via Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence.
So, spend more time on learning the strategies of the aforementioned topics than on learning
the vocabulary definitions. With this, note that your daily time quota for learning Vocabulary
shouldn’t exceed 20 mins.

By the end of this phase, you should be able to accurately apply all the concepts learned. Don’t
focus on time taken per question as of now as it will distract you from grasping the concepts.
You are in the learning phase, and as we discussed earlier, rushing it won’t let you reach your
full potential. Also, keep updating your Error Log.
Phase-2: Practice
Timeline:Week-5 and Week-6
Goal: Strategy + Accuracy
Agenda: Building Advanced Concepts + Application

What?
In this phase, focus on building
1) Advanced concepts of Quant and Verbal along with their application
2) Vocabulary

In Phase-2, you are in the second month of your preparation. By this time, you are expected to
be thorough with your basics and ready to advance to the next level. So, for Verbal, start solving
questions from the Official Guide for Verbal Reasoning as arranged in the order: Easy, Medium
and Hard. For Vocabulary, continue with the same pace as Phase-1 using Jamboree’s GRE
Vocabulary App.

How?

On each day of this phase, solve at-least 10-12 questions of each category of both Quant and
Verbal sections. This will develop your mental agility to transition between the Quant and the
Verbal sections as will be the case while taking the GRE. Again, don’t focus on time taken to
solve a question for now. Instead, spend time analysing your approach to each question
irrespective of whether you got it correct. It is possible that you got an incorrect answer with the
right approach because you ended up making a silly error. On the other hand, it is also possible
that you got an answer correct, despite using an incorrect approach or a very time consuming
approach. In either case, an analysis will help you plan your next course of action. Once done,
update your Error Log. By the end of this phase, you should be done with the Official Guide and
the Verbal Review. After this level of analysis and preparation, you will be ready to enter the
next phase of your preparation: Phase-3.

Phase-3: Performance
Timeline:Week-7 and Week-8
Focus Areas: Strategy + Accuracy + Time Management
Agenda: Test + Analyse + Reinforce + Repeat

What?

In this phase, focus on improving


1) Test taking skills and analysis
2) Weak areas
Phase-3 is the last phase of your preparation. By this time, you are expected to be at the peak
of your preparation and be ready to take the Full Length Tests. For Practice Test, ETS offers two
full-length tests in the Official Guide and two free full-length tests on their website. Take the
computer delivered test in the end. These tests are the closest reflection of the actual GRE.

How?

Before entering the testing phase, keep in mind that


1) The mocks are not tests of your competence, but rather tests of your preparation. So,
make sure that you are thorough with your content before moving onto testing. To
ensure the same, reinforce the concepts of the weaker sections as reflected in your
Error Log.
2) The mocks will accurately reflect your preparation level only if they are taken like the
actual GRE, that is, if all the sections are attempted in a single sitting. Remember, the
GRE is a test of your stamina as well.

Now, after taking each test, do an in-depth analysis of your performance and accordingly update
your strategy and reinforce the concepts for the weaker sections. If you take the next mock,
without performing the aforementioned steps, you will end up repeating those errors and hence
hitting stagnancy. Remember, as mentioned earlier, mindful solving is more important than
solving in itself. So, do not rush into taking mocks just to check them off your list, do it
deliberately, with an intent to maximise your learning from each mock and, in turn, maximise
your performance. Take all the mocks like the actual GRE so that the actual GRE feels like just
another mock.

All the best!

GRE Faculty
Samridhi Arora

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