Application deadlines for most programs are in December and January. That means you should aim to have all of the pieces of your application polished and ready to go by the beginning of December. For those of you looking to attend graduate school in the fall of , this is a good target.
But does that mean you should wait until November to take the GRE? No, not at all. If your fall semester is very busy, then it will be better to prepare for and take the test over the summer. That way, if you need to retake the test, you will have enough time to do so. Keep in mind that you must wait 21 days before taking the test a second time. All Rights Reserved. The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University. Recently viewed. Find Your Dream School.
How important are my GRE scores? What fees are associated with the GRE Test? Where can I get more information about the GRE? Register Book Go. Institutional Partnerships K Home Tutor. This will only lead to more stress, and also will not help you concentrate much on GRE.
If you have trouble making a suitable study plan, sit with one of your friends, family members, or college seniors, and take their advises. Practice is another key aspect of your GRE prep. Only when you take practice tests regularly, analyze the results, and make changes accordingly, you are going to get anywhere close to your target. Now, it is recommended that you take at least practice tests before you encounter the real deal, because only when you take a few practice tests, you will understand the pattern of mistakes that you commit on a regular basis, hence making it easier to devise a strategic study plan.
We recommend you to take practice tests once in a week or two, which means, in order to complete 5 practice tests, it would take you about 10 weeks of time.
So, plan your practice tests ahead of time, and then decide the test date. However, it is the confidence level that is more important than how much you can learn in a particular frame of time. What happens most of the time is, you will start to feel anxious during the last few weeks, and your confidence levels plummet within a very short span of time. The very idea of taking the GRE repels you suddenly, because you are not confident enough of getting the score you aim for.
That is why, you should check your confidence levels and make a thorough decision, only when are you really sure that you can tackle the exam in the near future. Contrary to popular opinion, peer pressure really helps you study well for a test. But the minute you are in a classroom full of people studying hard for a test tomorrow, you will start to realize the importance of the exam, and you will join them in studying.
This is called The Bandwagon Effect, and it is quite recurrent in our everyday life. So, our advice to you is to study for the GRE along with your friends or classmates. But at the same time, you should be wary of the fact that the GRE test slots get filled up pretty quickly, and you should book your date as soon as you can.
You cannot alter the deadlines; all you can do is submit your scores as soon as you can. So, figure out your target universities, and find out their admission deadlines, so you can book your test dates accordingly. Now that we talk about deadlines and dates, it is also vital to understand how long it takes to get your scores. Even though you receive an unofficial score report immediately after the test, you will have to wait for days until you get your official score reports.
And it takes a few days for your scores to be processed as well, so they can be sent directly to the universities, if you have chosen so during the test. So, make sure you have sufficient buffer time before the admissions deadline. We recommend you to take your GRE at least six weeks before the University deadlines. If you are also taking other tests that are required by the universities, such as an English language proficiency test, you will have to allot sufficient time for that as well.
Remember that you should be sending your GRE scores along with your English language proficiency test scores, before the admissions deadline. Most students take around weeks to study for language proficiency tests, and the entire process of preparing, writing, score processing, and reporting takes around weeks.
So, be very aware of the time you need to allot to other tests as well. As you might know already, the GRE scores are valid for as many as 5 years from the date of the test. So, in an ideal world, you can take the test 5 years before the year you want to matriculate at your dream university. But in the real world, admissions officers would not be very amused of the fact that your GRE score is as old as 5 years. Or even 3 years, for that matter, especially if you are a recent graduate.
Unless you are a working professional, your GRE score should ideally not be older than 3 years. This is because, the GRE score represents your skill levels in math and verbal. Therefore, many students plan to take it only once and try to get a good score. There is a common misconception that the GRE is easier on certain days.
Regardless of what time of the day or what day of the week or what month of the year you take it, the exam level is the same for all students. Should you take it in the morning or afternoon? Below are two methodologies that you should use to decide the best time slot for the GRE. The first is a straightforward method that involves your personal preference. The other one is more methodical and scientific, and the one that I prefer.
The simplest way to determine whether you should take the GRE in the morning or the afternoon is to follow your routine. If you are a morning person, take it in the morning. If you are a night owl, then take it in the afternoon. Most students preparing for the GRE are night owls, and they take their exam in the afternoon. This is also validated by ETS data since afternoon test slots book much quickly than morning slots.
Moreover, if you are applying at the end of the year, you must book your afternoon time slot at least weeks in advance. This is because the application deadlines fall from September to December, which are very popular months to take the GRE. Both morning and afternoon GRE slots have their benefits.
If you are comfortable taking the exam at any of the two-time slots, you can use this table to make a final decision. There is a valuable scientific study that can help you decide the best time to take the GRE Exam.
This is because you will suffer from cognitive fatigue later in the day, which means that your brain will get tired. Cognitive fatigue is even worse in students who do last-minute revisions before an afternoon GRE.
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