GRE prep

[Swerve]

For those who are in a psy doc or phd program now... can anyone comment on their GRE preps?

In my area there are plenty of kaplan, princeton review and sherwood classes offered. The Kap and Prince being both 1200 are the big $ classes, and the Sherwood classes run just under 500$.

I need to score 550 or better for the psy doc that I am applying for...

Thanks.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[cara susanna]

I'm not in a program (applying this fall), but I did Princeton Review online tutoring and my score went up 130 points.

 

[Thrak]

I did the Princeton Review intensive class, which met twice a week for a month. I went from high 1100s to mid 1400s. I also did a lot of outside (free) prep, especially for vocabulary words.

I really think it's worth it.

I don't know what you mean by better than 550 though. Per section for Q and V, or are you talking about the Psychology Subject Test? If you're talking about the subject test, honestly, I'd say buy prep book from Barnes and Noble or Borders, and then just re-read a good intro to psych text.

 

[Swerve]

I did the Princeton Review intensive class, which met twice a week for a month. I went from high 1100s to mid 1400s. I also did a lot of outside (free) prep, especially for vocabulary words.

I really think it's worth it.

I don't know what you mean by better than 550 though. Per section for Q and V, or are you talking about the Psychology Subject Test? If you're talking about the subject test, honestly, I'd say buy prep book from Barnes and Noble or Borders, and then just re-read a good intro to psych text.

Well I need 550 per section. What were the specific approaches and princeton review features that hit home? Thats a very impressive gain! Congratulations!

 

[cara susanna]

I did the Princeton Review intensive class, which met twice a week for a month. I went from high 1100s to mid 1400s. I also did a lot of outside (free) prep, especially for vocabulary words.

I really think it's worth it.

I don't know what you mean by better than 550 though. Per section for Q and V, or are you talking about the Psychology Subject Test? If you're talking about the subject test, honestly, I'd say buy prep book from Barnes and Noble or Borders, and then just re-read a good intro to psych text.

Did you mostly improve in verbal, or was there a high increase in quant, too? Because that is VERY impressive

 

[apumic]

While I might be in the minority here, I'd say, to be honest, skip the expensive test prep classes unless you really don't have the self-discipline to study on your own. $1200 (or even $300, which was what I paid for my school discounted PR 7-week class) is far too much for what they really give you. If you're applying for clinical psych doctoral programs in the first place, you're probably near the 80th+ percentile as-is and should be able to learn the stuff on your own. When I took the PR course, he basically focused on getting people's AWA scores from a 3.0 to a 4.5/5.0 (rarely did he talk about getting anything above a 5.0 -- even when I asked about it) and we focused excessively on Q and V questions that were in the 400-600 range -- which is the average overall, but in reality are insufficient for most any reputable clinical psych program.
That having been said, I would suggest you do it the cheap way -- self-study. If you get a copy of the 10th Ed. GRE test book (has 7 retired tests plus the math review and basic suggestions for each question type), you should be able to maximize your score. One study ETS has published suggests that the verbal score may not even really be particularly helped by studying (the quant definitely is, though), and while that study probably had numerous methodological flaws and biased results, it may still be worth taking into consideration when preparing for the test. Personally, I waited a year after taking the PR review course last October and did my own self-study (starting in June) and managed a score in the mid-1400s on the first try this October.
My suggestion would be to try your hands on one of the PR's free practice tests online and see how that goes.
Then use www.number2.com 's free GRE prep questions to prepare you. They do a pretty good job reviewing each question type before providing practice problems and then immediately give you feedback on each question. I believe they provide you with a total of 60 questions (3 sets of 20) per question type (60 analogy, 60 sentence completion, 60 reading comp, 60 antonymn, 60 arithmetic, 60 algebra, 60 data analysis, and 60 geometry) and then give you a percentile figure as to where you rank in comparison to all the GRE students currently using the site in each category of questions.

 

[cara susanna]

I would agree, had I not studied on my own for two years and still only gotten an 1110. After the Princeton Review tutoring course, my score went up to 1240. Some people can't teach themselves and need to learn the best approaches for the test questions.

I disagree with that study as well: my verbal score alone went up 90 points. I didn't study vocab, but I did learn how to approach analogies and reading comp questions, with which I struggled.

 

[Ex1844]

DO NOT TAKE A KAPLAN COURSE!! HORRIBLE!!!

I took a Kaplan course and did not do too well on the GRE's. Actually, I didn't too bad on the verbal and writing, but horrendous on the math. In fact, I memorized 2,100 vocab words(YES 2,100) and only 3 or 4 appeared on the GRE test. Personally, I think all these prep classes are a scam, and either you have the ability to do well on these tests, or you don't.

I plan on taking it again this saturday, so we shall see what happens.

 

[Swerve]

DO NOT TAKE A KAPLAN COURSE!! HORRIBLE!!!

I took a Kaplan course and did not do too well on the GRE's. Actually, I didn't too bad on the verbal and writing, but horrendous on the math. In fact, I memorized 2,100 vocab words(YES 2,100) and only 3 or 4 appeared on the GRE test. Personally, I think all these prep classes are a scam, and either you have the ability to do well on these tests, or you don't.

I plan on taking it again this saturday, so we shall see what happens.

Wow. I looked into the number 2 site. Seems helpful. We should stickie a list of resource for others.

Any sites catering to our psych subject test ?

 

[BamaPsych]

Swerve,

for the genral GRE i reccomend two options:

1. If you are focused and have excellent time management, I reccomend purchasing the Princeton Review and Kaplan books. Go from cover to cover completing everything inside. In addition, make about 500-900 flash cards with vocab words that you get from GRE websites online. This is what I did and it imrpoved my score dramatically.

2. If you need the pressure of appointments to keep you on track, by all means enroll in a GRE class like you mentioned. You will learn the same material but you will basically be forced to go because with the amount of money you invest in the class, you will hit yourself if you skip a session .

 

[deleted176373]

I would agree, had I not studied on my own for two years and still only gotten an 1110. After the Princeton Review tutoring course, my score went up to 1240. Some people can't teach themselves and need to learn the best approaches for the test questions.

I disagree with that study as well: my verbal score alone went up 90 points. I didn't study vocab, but I did learn how to approach analogies and reading comp questions, with which I struggled.

You are right some people need the prep courses and their learning style is what really dictates this. I, like some others, do well preparing on my own and was able to raise my practice scores from 960 to over 1300, with a 1300 on the real test. The only right way to go in prepping is the way that works for you. Some really benefit from classes and tutoring.

Mark

 

[Thrak]

Whoops, sorry for the delayed reply... I'm behind the eight-ball with things due in the next couple of weeks. My life is a deluge of journal articles with things I highlighted at 3 am!

I had taken the GRE twice in the dark days of the paper-and-pencil, analytical-is-a-full-section era. The first time, I had a mid-600s in V, and mid-500s in Q. The second time, mid-500s in V, and low-600s in Q. That was '98/'99. I had prepared on my own, getting books from Barnes and Noble (I think it was one Princeton Review book and one Kaplan book). And not that it matters, but my A score was stable around 620.

Last summer ('07), after taking the Princeton Review course, I had a 730V, 720Q, 5.5 AWA. From my own distorted view, using my SAT score as a guide, I overperformed in Quant (670 SAT) and underperformed in Verbal (770 SAT). I never took an SAT course, though, so obviously there are a lot of caveats. Also keep in mind that I have a completely unrealistic yardstick that I use to compare my standardized test scores to... my wife, who got a 176 on the LSAT (out of 180... 99.9xx percentile). She's the smart one in the relationship

What specifically did the Princeton Review course do for me? One, I generally suck in math, GRE score notwithstanding. I didn't know/forgot everything about geometry, especially triangles, and was crap when it came to exponents. As disgusting as it is for someone who has already completed grad classes in multivariate statistics, I was screwing up probability questions. They got me up to speed.

Two, time management and general test strategy. The first ten questions on each section really are critical, and I had to train myself not to panic when I took the lion's share of my time on those first ten questions for Quant. (Verbal, not so much... I took as much time as I felt I needed, and it worked out. My vocabulary is decently extensive, and I read somewhat quickly).

Three, and this was critical for me, I had one free one-on-one session included with my course. I was able to address a key problem I was having: neatness. Yeah, neatness. When it came to working out the Quant problems, I'd freak out, and write randomly all over the page. This lack of structure caused numerous careless errors.

I would not have been able to get a 1450 without this class.

 

[zeldazelda]

I bought books, studied on my own and ended up with 1400 (700 700). I think the key is whether you have the discipline to study on your own and whether you are a decent test taker to begin with. The courses seem to be most helpful in terms of providing test-taking strategies, and providing structure to a study regimen.

If you have time, I'd suggest buying a few books, studying on your own, taking a practice test and seeing where you stand. If you aren't making the progress you desire then a course might be worth it.

 

[Swerve]

awsome stuff. We need a 2009 - 2010 app thread !