Best time to write GRE?

How do I prepare for the GRE while I am working?

• Any experiences would help. I am working full time.. and with travelling,  my whole day is consumed .. I really want to know how should i go about it. i have even joined weekend classes for the GRE. but if i cant spend time in weekdays on the prep i know its going to be of no use. I want to write the exam in Aug. and apply for universites by Dec. There is hardly any time left.  This question is specially for IT engineers

• Answer:

  I wrote GRE in the month of October' 2013,  which unfortunately is a very bad time for writing your GRE. I started my preparation in the month of August' 2013 and since I was working also I didn't get much time to go through my preparation properly. My work schedule was chaotically irregular as I was supposed to work in shifts, each shift lasting 8 hours. During morning shifts I was supposed to report at 06:00, evening shift would commence from 14:00 hours and, for twice a week, I was supposed to work for the entire night. Amidst such irregularity, planing for the GRE was a humongous challenge. I used to divide my week into two parts of 3 days each. For the first 3 days I would take up the verbal part, going through the passages and the articles on magazines like The New Yorker, which I believe is custom- made for the GRE. The remaining 3 days would go into quants, solving as many questions as possible. Because of my schedule I didn't get an off on Sunday but I used to get an off on the day following my Night shift, so I pivoted my whole week around that day. I would spend my off day in writing practice tests, initially untimed and later on timed. I didn't sign up for any online courses and I mostly relied on some books and the ETS official guide. However during the last days I took a few online practice tests, manhatten and a few others. Now GRE is all about testing your analytical skills more than anything. GRE  is often misconstrued as a test of your vocabulary but in the real sense it is a test of everything but vocabulary. It tests many qualities required for doing some qualitative research during your MS or Ph.D. The verbal part is meant to gauge your understanding and sorting of data. The passages that pop up during the exam are often convoluted to a level, it takes a lot of time and understanding to analyse them, deconstruct them, sort out the data, make precise and sometimes even bold assumptions and finally work your way up to a proper response. Through out the verbal part I never felt I was being tested for my vocabulary rather I was constantly being exposed to questions challenging my mental acumen. The quants section grows in difficulty gradually as the test is adaptive and is not likely to pose a very severe threat, with the time limit being the only limiting factor. The whole test is adaptive and timed. You get around 30 mins for each section.  All in all, GRE is a beatable test if you can frame a proper study schedule and keep your nerve during the actual exam.