I needed an 800 to get into the graduate program and I made a 950! Not the best score but good enough. Woo Hoo!

PS: I have a 2007 edition of Kaplan's study guide. It helped me a ton. It's going rate is $35 in stores, I got it used for $25 on Amazon, I'll sell it for $15 plus shipping if anyone's interested.

Congratulations. I hated the essay portion (but I'm a techie, so I think that's par for the course).

Out of curiosity, how much did you guys study?

I'm pretty bright, very good at math, and a decent writer. I'm fortunate that I get writing, diction, and math practice at my hodge podge of a job, but I've been out of school for a year and was thinking of taking the test while my skillz are sharp. I don't know what I want to do in grad school, but there's a good chance I'll end up back there, wishing I'd already taken the GRE!

(Congratulations, by the way!)

If you decide to do an MBA, you'll need a GMAT, not a GRE. Just how wide open are your options?

I would encourage you to wait a few more years, especially if you're thinking about an MBA. In addition to having more "real world" experiences upon which to draw, you're likely to get more out of it if you have a better idea of what to do when you've completed the degree.


It depends on the school. Mine gave me the option of either and, not having a business undergrad, I chose the GRE.

I took the GRE on four days' notice, did absolutely no studying, and was in the 99th percentile in both math and verbal.

I think how much you need to study depends on your past experiences on standardized tests, not whether one is "bright" (don't most people categorize themselves that way, anyway? . Focus more on how you did on the SAT to indicate how much you'll need to study.

Obviously this puts you in the minority (statistically speaking and based on preparation). I was just curious. It does seem easier than the SAT's.



I totally agree. I do environmental and energy work at UC Santa Barbara so I occasionally work with students from the professional environmental grad school on campus (giving them data, help with projects, etc). You can usually tell just meeting them if they started grad school straight from their undergrad.

I took the old version of the GRE (lights a candle for the dearly departed analytical section), so I can't speak to preparing for the writing section.

I spent the $45 (probably more now) on ETS's own Powerprep software, practiced with it a couple of times a week for a few months, and got very respectable scores on the math and verbal. I've invariably done well with standardized tests, though.

I'd suggest nosing around and taking a sample test as a baseline. ETS probably has one on the website. Then once you have a benchmark, you can figure out how much time you need to prepare.