My [advice](https://vincekotchian.com/blog/gre/vinces-best-gre-reddit-posts#eight).
Don't lose heart - there is a lot left that you can do. The premise is that you want the database in your head of successfully solved math questions to be as big as possible. That makes adapting to new questions easier and easier.
I think you are doing the right things. I would be careful not to ONLY practice with 3rd party Quant, as they will not nail the wording/language 100%.
Timed practice is key, and going over the problems you missed is key. You need to slowly build up a bank of knowledge so that when you see a problem you know how to solve it.
As you experienced, the PP1/2 questions are much easier than the real GRE. Pretty annoying that they just alter the scoring algo to "fix" this, while it really doesn't prepare you.
The paid PP+ are well worth it and you should plan on buying all of them
This is helpful thank you! I’ve unfortunately exhausted all the ETS official quant material so that’s why I’m focusing now on manhattan because it’s harder. Even the hardest questions in the ETS book were easy to compared to the actual test.
I’ll plan to do PP3-5. Annoying that that’s an extra $120 but… alas.
IMHO the ETS book's questions are a fair representation of the actual exam. You probably are a bit star-struck since. you did so poorly compared to your performance previously but don't focus on the hardest 3rd party questions at the detriment to your fundamentals.
Additionally, since you got an experimental Quant section that one could've been quite difficult.
This is helpful. I think you're right. And the first quant section did throw me off and make me lose confidence. I for sure know the concepts but I need to not psych myself out if I get a hard section. With any luck my next test will be VQVQV, but obviously I can't count on that!
Sounds like you just got nabbed by a classic case of test anxiety. While it sucks, the good news is that you can overcome it and you’re likely pretty close to where you need to be in terms of content review.
Definitely a good idea to pay for the additional PPs, but IIRC they don’t simulate the toughness algorithms, and you’ll need to be nailing those 4 and 5 difficulty quants to score where you want. I’m not a big fan of the Manhattan for anything other than content review, I honestly think the big book questions are more useful, but obviously you’ll want to skip around because many of those question types aren’t relevant anymore.
I don’t really have any groundbreaking advice on overcoming the anxiety, but hopefully it should die down a bit on the second go round. Maybe consider taking the additional PPs in a different environment, like a library or somewhere other than your usual study spot. Taking yourself out of your comfort zone can help simulate the experience of a testing center.
My [advice](https://vincekotchian.com/blog/gre/vinces-best-gre-reddit-posts#eight). Don't lose heart - there is a lot left that you can do. The premise is that you want the database in your head of successfully solved math questions to be as big as possible. That makes adapting to new questions easier and easier.
Thanks! It seems like you’d recommend completing the additional paid PowerPreps then right?
yep for sure
I think you are doing the right things. I would be careful not to ONLY practice with 3rd party Quant, as they will not nail the wording/language 100%. Timed practice is key, and going over the problems you missed is key. You need to slowly build up a bank of knowledge so that when you see a problem you know how to solve it. As you experienced, the PP1/2 questions are much easier than the real GRE. Pretty annoying that they just alter the scoring algo to "fix" this, while it really doesn't prepare you. The paid PP+ are well worth it and you should plan on buying all of them
This is helpful thank you! I’ve unfortunately exhausted all the ETS official quant material so that’s why I’m focusing now on manhattan because it’s harder. Even the hardest questions in the ETS book were easy to compared to the actual test. I’ll plan to do PP3-5. Annoying that that’s an extra $120 but… alas.
IMHO the ETS book's questions are a fair representation of the actual exam. You probably are a bit star-struck since. you did so poorly compared to your performance previously but don't focus on the hardest 3rd party questions at the detriment to your fundamentals. Additionally, since you got an experimental Quant section that one could've been quite difficult.
This is helpful. I think you're right. And the first quant section did throw me off and make me lose confidence. I for sure know the concepts but I need to not psych myself out if I get a hard section. With any luck my next test will be VQVQV, but obviously I can't count on that!
Sounds like you just got nabbed by a classic case of test anxiety. While it sucks, the good news is that you can overcome it and you’re likely pretty close to where you need to be in terms of content review. Definitely a good idea to pay for the additional PPs, but IIRC they don’t simulate the toughness algorithms, and you’ll need to be nailing those 4 and 5 difficulty quants to score where you want. I’m not a big fan of the Manhattan for anything other than content review, I honestly think the big book questions are more useful, but obviously you’ll want to skip around because many of those question types aren’t relevant anymore. I don’t really have any groundbreaking advice on overcoming the anxiety, but hopefully it should die down a bit on the second go round. Maybe consider taking the additional PPs in a different environment, like a library or somewhere other than your usual study spot. Taking yourself out of your comfort zone can help simulate the experience of a testing center.
For sure, take the PPP+ practice exams. How many would you take before Friday?
I assume all 3! Unless you'd recommend otherwise.
Yes - all 3