I have gone through the post by DanjaNinja “How To Achieve High Scores On The GRE" and I can say that He is heavenly sent. And to all the people that have contributed to the thread, you are all wonderful. Anytime I get to know someone that wanted to write the GRE exam, I do always direct them to the thread on Nairaland.

How To Achieve High Scores On The GRE https://www.nairaland.com/1832477/how-achieve-high-scores-gre
The thread should be the first point of call. If you are contemplating or planning to write the exam and have not gone through that thread from the first page to the last (68 as at 9th of April, 2016), you will be missing out a lot on quality information, exam experience and perspective. Of recent, I decided to put my thought together and give my own little cent to anyone out there who could benefit from my own personal experience too. I could have just posted this write-up under DanjaNinja’s thread, but as you can see, this write-up is quite lengthy and it may be more beneficial if it is on a separate thread. In any case, the discussion will continue under the DanjaNinja’s thread "how-achieve-high-scores-gre".

From my interaction with a couple of guys at the centre where I did the test (GRE) at JKK in Lagos, it occurred to me that WE may not be pulling our weight when it comes to our GRE score objective. From what I gleaned from the interactions at the centre, it seems quite a number of guys do not know about DanjaNinja’s thread on Nairaland or even still, do not know the path to score “high” on the GRE. It should be noted that the GRE score is just but one of the criteria/requirements for graduate studies, other criteria include but not limited to ones grade in school, percentile position, statement of purpose, age (yes some applications especially MBA programs) and race/region/ethnicity(for diversity). These variables can be divided into the ones one have control over and the ones one can do nothing about. It is obviously prudent to improve one’s odds by maximizing the variables one have control over such as your GRE score and the Statement of Purpose.

About Myself
I am/was a relatively good student, studied Engineering, have been out of the university for some years, presently working but thinking of going back to school either for MSc or MBA programme.

My Motivation
It has always been of my thought that if I wanted to go to the United States to school, it should be one of the top schools out there, I mean the schools in the top 10 or at least top 20. A very high percentage of the International Students slots are regularly filled by the Asian Students (notably the Chinese, Indians and Koreans). Why not more of Seun Adedeji, Chima Chukwudi, Abubakar Muktar or Koffi Mensah?. Maybe we only need to increase the rung of the ladder of our target school a little bit higher. Because I wanted to go to such school, I started researching about their entry requirements, and unsurprisingly found out that high GRE score in the 320+ range is one of their requirements, some schools like MIT and Stanford even requiring around 330 score and above!!!. Thus I set my objective to score around 330 in the GRE exam.

My First Attempt
I once prepared for the GRE exam while in school, but did not take the exam, my textbook then was the Barron’s GRE textbook. Those were the days of 3500 Vocabulary word list, Synonyms and Antonyms. Also, I think the GRE prep helped me in the aptitude test of the company I am currently working with. When I decided to write the exam around November 2015, I pulled out my Barron’s text again and started reading. Nairaland search took me to the DanjaNinja's thread "how-achieve-high-scores-gre". As directed, I sent a mail to DanjaNinja and got all the materials in soft copies and started “jacking”. The values of the materials are INESTIMABLE. DanjaNinja, every day, your thread is opened, read, commented on, you and Seun (of Nairaland) will continually be blessed.
I have always had challenge with the Verbal part, so I focused much more on Verbal preparation (and it negatively affected my Quant score - more on that later). I browsed the net, read Magoosh Cruncprep and BrightLink blogs and practiced (not timed) during my off time at work and later in the day after work. After finally being able to write the exam on January 22, 2016 at JKK, I got a score of 320 (Q-160, V-160). Later my AWA came in at 4.
I was not happy especially on the final Quant Score because I instinctively knew I did very well on the First Quant section, probably got every question and had time to crosscheck. After the first quant section, I knew the second quant will be harder (adaptive), it was actually harder; word problems requiring either longer computation or better tactics. I also did not manage my time/pacing very well and it weighed down on my final quant score. When I did the analysis after the official score was released, what I knew was confirmed, I got 19 of the 20 math question of the first quant section, but only 12 of the 20 questions of the second quant questions. Ironically the reverse was the case for my Verbal: 12/20 for the first Verbal, 19/20 for the second Verbal. The score could "assist" in my admission into a good school, but I also knew I could have done better. The analysis and score breakdown was done with the GRE Diagnostic Service (if you are planning to take the exam the second time, make sure you use this service, it is free and comes with your online GRE account)
I was in a fix. Maybe additional 7 points i. e 327 (and another $199 @ 1$/N360) could get me into those higher ranked schools or even more funding or assistantship or full scholarship/fellowship in a very good programme. It was a dilemma, be Ok with 320? Or try again to combine another preparation with my hectic job plus Lagos Mainland to Island commuting.

My Shortcoming in the First Attempt.
My primary shortcoming is not unique to me. It is what many exam takers can relate to. Though I read for the exam, I did not PRACTICE for the exam. I will explain more on the “practice” stuff later and what is really meant to practice for the exam. On my first attempt, I did not take any full practice test, even the freely available ETS Power Prep software. I was having issues with the software on my system and was only able to work around it a day to the exam. Having a good knowledge of the exam software interface though really helped.

On My Second Attempt
My target was to add 6 points to my Quant score to get it to 166 (from the initial 160) and 4 points to my initial Verbal Score of 160 to get it to 164 for a total score of 330.

The reasons why I decided then to take test the second time (with accompanying money and time resources) was:
1. Not being under pressure then to meeting any admission deadline which was months away.
2. A higher score might assist in my application to a top grade MBA programme (why not Harvard , Sloan, Stanford, Booth or
other top ranked prestigious programmes).
3. If I decide to use the score for MSc/PhD programme, it could get me extra dollars in form of funding.
4. If I do well and make up my mind to post my experience and result on Nairaland, it might inspire my fellow
ladies/gentlemen/guys, that those higher scores are not meant only for the Asians (Narendras, Kapurs, Chen Zhuangs) and that
if we prepare ourselves very well and do our homework, we can have more of us greeting ourselves "How Far", “Bawo ni” on
the streets of Boston and California, and in lecture halls of those great schools.

My Strategy
As I stated earlier, my intention was to increase my 320 score to around 330, so I started doing Google searches such as "How to score 170 in Quant", "How to score high on GRE Verbal", "How to score 330 in GRE". I started visiting blogs to learn how those who have achieved it got it done.

For my Math Strategy, after reading various postings on blogs, quora and reddit, I decided to go through and master the content and strategy of the following Books.
1. Barron’s (1 time - It has been the foundation of my GRE Study. The plan is to re-learn the basics, and master the foundational
principles over again.)
2. Official GRE Quantitative Reasoning Practice Questions (Working through all the questions 2 times)
3. Official Guide GRE (Math Section -Working through all the questions 2 times)
4. Manhattan GRE Prep Guilds- The Math Sections (A thorough work-through of the text at least 2 times and with more focus on some
topics I usually struggle with). In retrospect, anybody that attempt GRE Quant exam without these guides will be doing a disfavor to
himself/herself
5. Nova Math Guide (1 pass) - A superb work materials with copious examples
6. GMAT Official Guide (2 times). To take care of my weakness/mistakes with hard/tricky math word problems

For my Verbal Prep
1. The Official Guide to the GRE Verbal Reasoning Practice Questions (2 times)
2. Official Guide GRE (Verbal Section - 2 times)
3. Old GRE Big Book with 27 tests (to practice as many Reading Comprehensions and Sentence Completion questions as possible). The
more one practices, the more one will be in tune with the convoluted and sometimes tricky ways GRE construct their sentences and
questions.

For my Analytical Writing Prep
1. As in my first attempt, I followed DanjaNinja directive on using the Kaplan template which was Ok, but also on the second attempt, I
added Manhattan RC and Essay Guide to it, especially on the tactics for smoking out flaws in Analyze Argument Task.

The essence of the repetition and reading those materials at least 2 times is that it enable one to start thinking like those GRE guys that set the question, knowing more of their method and tricks, insight on how to solve the questions faster and probably a few more points to the final score.

Practice Tests
The plan for me was to do a minimum of 5 Practice Tests. (If it is your first attempt on the exam, you should plan to do up 15 Practice tests and not fewer than 10).
The concluding part of this write-up can be found in the topic :How I scored 330 in the GRE Exam (Part 2)
https://www.nairaland.com/3478283/how-scored-330-gre-exam

Obebs:
I have gone through the post by DanjaNinja “How To Achieve High Scores On The GRE" and I can say that He is heavenly sent. And to all the people that have contributed to the thread, you are all wonderful.

Wow... I really gained a lot from your write up.very inspiring. I plan on taking mine this year. Would really appreciate any materials you could share ...

Wow,just recently saw ur post and this is encouraging. Please i really (in fact seriously)need ur help. Am planning to take the GRE exam by June, but i just want to start preparing (like reading for the exam).Seriously am confused and i don't know where to start not to talk of how to begin my reading plan. Am not even sure maybe it's compulsory to attend any lesson or do you think i should do personal study? You also mentioned something like taking the practice test, please i want to ask when can one take the practice test ?Is it after one is done with reading a particular text book?

I would be grateful if there is anybody that can put me through cos i really really need your help

Are you a writer/freelancer contact me at jibril41@yahoo.com

marilyn24:
I would be grateful if there is anybody that can put me through cos i really really need your help

Check out this thread
How To Achieve High Scores On The GRE https://www.nairaland.com/1832477/how-achieve-high-scores-gre read from pg 1 to the very end
There are really helpful insights to get you started and help you smash the exam

I am interested

oh thanks a lot. i just read the writeup and now i feel very confident of myself unlike before.Once again thanks a lot.God bless and in case there is any other information i would really be grateful if such information is sent to me.

thanks a lot pejpej

Nice thread
Do not send your email addresses here. Send a pm instead.

Congrat bro.