I remember when my friend and I began to study for the graduate record exams. We studied for hours and hours, had books spread all over the place, and were glued to our laptops pouring over notes. We created quizzes for each other over quantitative and verbal reasoning as well as analytical writing. Then my friend sent me this link for top apps for GRE prep, and it changed our study game immensely. It made our study material more organized, easier to find, and honestly, a little more fun then thumbing through books and online files. So, check out the link below to see if any of these apps jump out at you as good sources for preparing for the GRE, but keep reading on to learn about some tips I uncovered.
Verbal Reasoning Can Improve Analytical Writing
As you are probably already aware, the GRE is a difficult test made up of four sections. So, if you want to do well on the test, you must study verbal reasoning, critical thinking, analytical writing, and quantitative reasoning. You need to be able to study them all rigorously to be able to achieve a high score on the exam. Notably though, if you’re looking for apps to help guide you through the study process, you might want to recognize that most apps will not be able to cover all four disciplines expansively, so you want to hunt for two or three apps that give enough focus to each section.
Another important aspect of the exam to consider is the emphasis on verbal reasoning. Meaning being able to use words to express theoretical and complex ideas in a way that makes sense to others. If you feel less than confident in the category, other good apps to use would be any with a focus on vocabulary building, and of course, a dictionary.
Another subject in the exam you might want to pay equal attention to and practice in analytical writing. If you don’t feel as though you are a strong writer, you might want to get an app that focuses on giving you extra study time in the field of analytical writing. So, find an app that gives you writing exercises so you can feel confident come exam time.
Quantitative Reasoning & Boosting Critical Thinking
Now writing and verbal reasoning aside, the next two subjects of the exam are heavily focused on math problems and principles. So, if you lack confidence in different studies of math like geometry or algebra, a good thing to do would be to focus on that study to make sure you work through problems of the past and feel better about the section going into the exam.
Importantly, you should download apps that give you different ways to study and provide exercises for you to practice. Math can be hard for some students, and easier on others, but no matter what you need to have a good foundation, especially in algebra, to do well on the exam. Therefore, you want to make sure you have an app that lets you practice over and over again.
The last subject of the exam is critical thinking. Now, this subject is not as easy to study for, especially alone. Therefore, when coming to study for this portion of the exam, you might want to seek out fellow students to help achieve success in this section.
Practice Together for Success
Whether you have a dedicated study buddy or prefer to study alone, at times, you will come across problems in one of the four exam subjects you need help one. When this happens, it’s good to join a study group or discussion board via an app. This way, many students can exchange ideas and give each other help in areas that one may feel uncertain of.
Also, having a chat function in this app could really help. You might be able to find fellow students that have a better grasp of a certain subject and happy to help you understand, or maybe some tutors can also help you.
Importantly, if you don’t already have a study buddy, with an app that allows students to help each other, you might find someone to pair off with and work out problems. Ultimately, studying is a lot easier when you have someone to talk problems through with and get their perspective on a problem that has been hard for you to understand, and vice versa.
In Conclusion
Apps can make studying for the GRE a lot easier and organized. You can focus on one of the four subjects in a number of apps, and make sure you feel confident in the section before moving on to the next one. You can use apps to practice algebra and math, which are heavily relied on for quantitative reasoning and some critical thinking. Lastly, apps can help you find tutors and study partners to get more out of your studies, hence being more successful on exam day.