Has anyone taken the GRE Test Prep Workshop?
http://ncsu.edu/mckimmon/cpe/gre.html

If so, was it worth the $560? Did you learn anything you couldn't get from a study guide?

[Edited on May 11, 2010 at 8:35 AM. Reason : ``]

5/11/2010 8:34:31 AM

i have a hard time imagining any GRE prep is worth $560.

as far as your actual question goes though, i cannot answer.

5/11/2010 9:00:30 AM

Eeek that seems really steep. Honestly, I just used the Kaplan study book with the CD and got the box of 500 vocab words.. I did really well so I would just suggest that.

PS I know a girl who took that class multiple times and each time it only increased her score a little bit. :\

5/11/2010 2:54:03 PM

hell no it's not worth it... unless you really need some help. and if you need that much help, you're money would be spent best with some smaller class sizes/one-on-one

5/11/2010 3:03:50 PM

What I found to be the key for the GRE is doing as many practice tests as you can find...of course I didn't really care about my verbal score too much. If you want to improve upon that, start studying as much vocab as you can and do it over time. Cramming for the verbal section would be pretty useless.

5/11/2010 7:49:08 PM

The primary factor to consider is time. If you have plenty of time, you can do well with practice tests and prep books. If your GRE is two weeks from now and you are at ground zero, take the class.

1-3 months should be sufficient time to prepare for the GRE. Closer to three if you are trying to get in a graduate engineering/science program and need to stick the landing. FYI, it is pretty easy to improve upon quantitative scores, but harder to move the needle on the verbal.

Couple of other factors:

* What program are you trying to get in
* Which schools are you applying to
* Find out their average qualifying scores for the three sections. Note: if you are going for STEM, I highly recommend you get on http://www.edulix.com. All of the users are primarily Indians applying to the US, but they have compiled incredible information about what each school wants. It is a free site and they have really got grad school applications figured out.
* Take a practice test cold and see where you stand

-cschp

[Edited on May 11, 2010 at 8:03 PM. Reason : Couple more thoughts]

5/11/2010 7:55:51 PM

Quote :

"i have a hard time imagining any GRE prep is worth $560."

Yeah, Jesus. Do you lack a grasp on basic math and reading comprehension? Then yes, spend the $560.

I took the test like 2 weeks after I signed up for it and did fine, prob would've been good to prep a little more though.

I would go with this guy's suggestions^, except I'm kind of leery on the 3 months end of the preparation. You can take the GRE once every what, 5 months? Something weird like that. Take a look at the online/downloadable practice tests and see how you do on those.

5/11/2010 10:31:40 PM

Just buy the book and study for 2-3 weeks.

5/11/2010 11:17:46 PM

Thanks for the tips all.

My plan is to skip the course for now and just work with study guides. If I don't get the score I want on the practice tests after a few weeks (above 780 on Quant, no real target for Verb or AnWr), I will reconsider (Princeton Review has online GRE Prep courses that are actually a bit cheaper anyways).

Now I guess I just need to figure out which study guide is the best..

New thread I suppose.

5/13/2010 7:35:07 AM

a word about GRE practice tests: i took two of them (kaplan i think) that came with a book and got maybe 650s on the quant, or something in that area, then took the actual GRE and got a 780, so don't automatically go spend $600 based off of practice test scores.

in fact, i would advise you not to pay that much for a course under any circumstances.

also, i suspect that if 780 is a realistic goal for you that the difference between achieving it and not is just not fucking up. i guess you might pick up a trick or two in a course, though.

5/13/2010 7:44:39 AM

Are you still a student at State? I know when I was there they offered free GRE prep courses/practice tests. I planned to go one morning, but couldn't get myself out of bed that early on a Saturday. I ended up taking the GRE twice

5/13/2010 2:32:19 PM

Quote :

"Kaplan study book"

5/14/2010 12:57:59 PM