Parents and Preschool

Kindergarten, Primary and Secondary

Post Secondary and Adults

Teachers

Downloads

Job Hunting and Employment Alternatives

Private Tutor Registry

GRE Coaching and Information

The GRE is essentially the SAT's big brother. If you are going into most graduate programs, you will probably have to write the GRE general test. Some specialized programs (MBA, Medical, Dental and Law) do not require the GRE, but they have their own tests.

As it is very similar to the SAT, it is also a very coachable test. The GRE is mostly a multiple choice test, although it also has an essay component. Both the multiple choice and essay portions have certain skills that you can learn. Coaching can help you do your best and get accepted to the program you choose.

Don't let the test makers keep you out. Let International Test Prep help you beat the test.

GRE Information

While the GRE has some strong similarities to the SAT, there are also numerous differences. The most important one is that the GRE is a Computer Adaptice Test. This means you'd better get used to computers, because you will write the GRE on one. This doesn't change the question strategies significantly, but does require some changes in methodology.

The way the GRE works is that the computer begins by assuming your score is about a 500. It then draws questions from a pool that is appropriate to a score of 500. As you answer questions correctly, your assumed score will rise and you will be given more difficult questions. If you answer questions incorrectly, your assumed score decreases and you will be given easier questions.

Functionally, this means that if you had done some practice work, you can gauge what difficulty level the majority of your questions will be and adjust your stratagies accordingly. If you score around a 700 on your practice tests, then you know that your questions will be in the moderate to hard range, mostly hard. If you're scoring about a 550 on the practice tests, then you know your questions will be around an average level of difficulty.

There are some things you can do to prepare for the GRE without any kind of course or coaching. One of the most important is to get used to guessing. You cannot skip questions and come back to them later on the GRE. You must answer the question in front of you before you can go on to the next. There is also no going back, so once you answer that is it. As such it's best to forget questions as you answer them, since you can't change them if you realize you got one wrong.

Like the SAT, the GRE is menat to be a test of mathematical and verbal reasoning. Also like the SAT, the GRE is mostly a test of vocabulary and problem solving skills. Unlike the SAT, the GRE also contains a written component.

To get ready for the essays, practice typing essays. The written component will be done on a GRE word processor, so typing speed and skill is essential. The word processor is very simple. You will have the character keys and some formatting keys, notably direction keys, ins and del. That's about it. If you pratice typing like that, you will improve your speed and accuracy and waste less time on the actual test.

The math and verbal sections of the GRE are very similar to those on the SAT. In fact, if you have SAT prep materials, you can probably get by reviewing the math concepts in them. To maimize your score, though, you would be wise to review GRE math. There are some more comlex concepts on the GRE than there were on the SAT, but they still don't go beyond what you likely learned in grade 9 or 10.

The GRE has only problem solving and quantitative comparisons, no grid ins. It is generally easier to eliminate wrong answers than to pick out the single correct one. Knowing your approximate score will be useful here. If you know you will be given mostly moderate to difficult questions, then you will know that the answers that look obviously right most likely aren't. The question types will not be broken up into sections this time, however. Comparisons will be interspersed with the problem solving questions.

The verbal section has all the kinds of questions the SAT did. There are Analogies, Sentence completions and Reading Comprehension. There is also one new type, antonyms, or opposites. The key for all the sections except reading comprehension is vocabulary. If you are considering taking the GRE, take steps right now to improve your vocabulary. If you can, go back to your SAT material and look at the sorts of words that are common there and learn them. This will give you a good jumping off point. Then start reading the newspaper regularly. Novels are good too. Look up as many words as you can. If you can't afford good reading material, check out Writing.Com. You can read a lot of the material on the site free of charge.

The reading comprehension questions ask a student to read a passage and then asnwer questions based on it, normally 3-6 questions. The reading passage always remains on the screen until all related questions are finished, so a useful technique is to skim the passage for the main ideas and structure and then go back to the passage when questions about a specific point come up. One key thing to remember is that only information in the passage should be considered. Relying on outside knowledge can actually cost you marks on these questions.

The analogies ask you to take two words (the root) and determine the relationship between them, then select the two words in the answer choices that have the same relationship. Since there are a vast number of possible relationships between two words, this could be a very difficult section. In practice, the GRE uses a very limited number of possible relationships. If you learn about 15 different possibilities, you can score very well on the anaologies.

Sentence completions will provide a sentence with one or two blanks and a selection of answer choices that could fill in the blanks. One useful technique is to fill in the blanks yourself before reading the answer choices. Then look for the choice that closely matches your answer. This will not always work, however, as some of the questions are tests more of an ability to think like the question writier than of English usage. However, using this technique will be effective on many of the completion questions and can improve your score if you are encountering difficulty.

Like the SAT, the GRE is designed for ease of administration and marking. Knowing the way the test writers think and the way questions are constructed can give you a tremendous advantage. Since this test will be a determining factor in your options, don't sell yourself short. Get the help you need to excell.

To enroll in GRE Coaching, click here to go to the enrollment page.

GRE Prep Course

20 Hour Intestive Seminar

Upcoming Test Dates:

The GRE is now written on computer. Call your nearest testing centre to arrange an appointment to write. You can find the locations of test centres at the GRE Homepage.

Upcoming Courses Start Dates:

Jun. 25, 2004
Oct. 11, 2004

Prep Course Costs

Register 30 days or more before start date: $422.65

Register less than 30 days before course start date: $529.65

GRE Coaching Costs

Individual Coaching: $107.00 per hour, minimum 2 hours

Individual Coaching: 454.75 for 5 hours

Individual Coaching: $802.50 for 10 hours

Online Coaching: $74.90 per hour, minimum 2 hours

Online Coaching: $321.00 for 5 hours

Online Coaching: $535.00 for 10 hours

Online Coaching: Group

If three or more students wish to do online coaching at the same time and book for 10 hours, the cost is $321.00 per student.