Whizzing Past 320 With 170 in GRE Quant: Shivang’s Story So Far
A Perfect 170 in GRE Quant is a dream come true for most GRE aspirants. After the GRE pattern change of 2011, most universities hold the 170 scorers in high regard. Apart from boosting the overall GRE score, achieving 170 in Quant obviously increases your chances of getting noticed by top universities. Hence this improves your chances of receiving admits from them!
AdmitEDGE alumnus, Shivang an electrical engineer from IIT Kharagpur achieved this feat with an impressive score of 324 thus comfortably cruising past the much coveted 320 mark. We at AdmitEDGE were sure Shivang’s success story could definitely inspire many students. So, we requested him to speak with us and share his experiences, tips and tricks employed during his GRE online preparation. Shivang happily accepted our request. In a candid session with our senior GRE expert, Shivang opened up and discussed about his future plans, his preparation style, exam day experience and his success mantra. This is how Shivang’s discussion went with senior GRE expert.
So, this is what happened during the course of discussion in words.
Introduction
GRE expert: Shivang, before we begin with the discussion why don’t you tell us something about yourself.
Shivang: Sure. I’m an Electrical Engineering student from IIT Kharagpur. I hail from a small district in North Western UP. I am an avid cricket follower and a huge fan of Dhoni and Chennai Super Kings.
GRE Score
GRE expert: Alright Shivang. Could you tell us about your GRE score?
Shivang: I achieved a GRE score of 324, with a Quant score of 170 and a Verbal score of 154. Out of 6 points in AWA I scored 3.5.
Why Ms in US
GRE expert: Why MS in US?
Shivang: I actually wanted to go for Civil Services in my pursuit for a career. But it’s not until I went to Germany for a summer internship that i changed my mind. I got really interested in the field of renewable energy. I gave a thought about the pros and cons and finally decided to pick up MS over Civil services for a career option.
Coming to why US. It has some of the finest universities in the world. Great job opportunities and highly experienced faculty are some of the other reasons for preferring US. I will also apply for European countries but my first priority is US.
Motivation behind MS
Shivang, electrical engineer, IIT Kharagpur
GRE expert: What was your motivation behind pursuing MS?
Shivang: As I have already mentioned while completing my research/project in Germany in the field of wind energy, did I realize it was my chance to pursue my masters in that field. I want to contribute something to that field, invent something, try to build something. This is what encouraged to me to go for Master’s.
Specialization
GRE expert: What field are you going to specialize in?
Shivang: I will be pursuing my MS in Electrical in the field of Power and Energy Engineering.
Plans after Master’s
GRE expert: What are your plans after Master’s?
Shivang: As of now, after my Master’s I am planning to get into a job. But I am not sure, if I like the field I’m doing my Master’s in I will probably go for a Ph.D.
Planning for GRE
GRE expert: Shivang, can you tell us how you went about planning for your GRE?
Shivang: My friends had been preparing for GRE for quite some time. One of my friend who was preparing with AdmitEDGE at that time recommended about it. So, I registered and started my preparation from the first week of September. I had booked my GRE date on 12th October. So, I had 1-1.5 months to prepare.
GRE expert: A score of 324 with 1-1.5 months of preparation, that’s brilliant Shivang!
Shivang: Thank you.
GRE Preparation
Quant Preparation
GRE expert: Shivang can you tell us the secret behind getting a perfect 170 in GRE Quant.
Shivang: As soon as I joined AdmitEDGE, I gave my diagnostic test that helped me gauge my level and how much preparation is required to achieve my target score. I spoke to my SFAs (Personal Trainers or Student Facilitators and Analysts as we call them) and they provided a schedule which I tried to stick to. I tried to go through each and every module offered, took exams for each module, went through all of the questions even though I was pretty sure I could solve them.
I also attempted 10 GRE Quant style tests where the pattern is quite similar to the one in the actual GRE. The difficulty level of some of the questions in the AdmitEDGE module are a little bit higher than actual test, which I think is necessary so that you feel quite comfortable with all types of questions.
Verbal Preparation
“Don’t follow the crowd and work hard in what you believe”
GRE expert: Can you tell us about your Verbal preparation?
Shivang: My verbal preparation was similar to the GRE Quant preparation. I got a 149 in diagnostic test. I knew I had to pull up my socks. It’s different from Quant section. The difference is that in Quant with regular practice you’re assured to get good marks. Not so in Verbal.
I went through all the modules from text completion to reading comprehension to sentence equivalence. You have to learn a lot of words. WordBot and Wordlist helped me a lot. WordBot provides sentence usage and figures with words that makes it easier to remember the words. I learnt 500-600 words but remembering 1000 words should be fine.
Later on I went through the ETS book, you can go through that too.
AWA Preparation
GRE expert: How about your AWA preparation?
Shivang: There are two sections when it comes to AWA. Analyzing an issue and analyzing an argument. I started with my AWA preparation 1 week before. I went through ETS and the list of topics and wrote down essays on as many topics as possible. Taking timed tests help will help manage time in the actual test. Going through samples on ETS website and focusing on your weaker section will help.
Exam Day Experience
GRE expert: How was your exam day experience?
Shivang: I live in Kharagpur and my exam center was in Kolkata, so I had left a day early and stayed in a hotel. My exam started at 8:00 AM. It was a four hour test with 10 minute break in between 2 sections. But I felt it went by really fast.
Success Mantra
Shivang: Like many others I too believe in hard-work and dedication. I don’t follow the crowd and I believe no one should. Work hard in whatever you believe. Stay motivated and work hard. You will get to success ultimately.
For any queries – Please comment below and our experts will get back to as early as possible. You can also call us on+919884453276 and speak to our GRE expert.
We hope Shivang’s story has been able to provide you the much needed push, confidence and encouragement. Happy learning with AdmitEDGE.
