yasminealdeeb
Students
 
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Jan 02, 2016 6:20 am
 

is the new gre quant section that hard?

by yasminealdeeb Tue Feb 23, 2016 1:28 pm

Hi guys,

I will take the GRE in two weeks (08.03). I am Swiss, my mother tongue is French and I will apply to the master of banking and finance, University of St-Gallen (call it a pseudo Ivy league university from Switzerland). The deadline is the 30.4.16. I have a bachelor in business administration and I started the prep at the beginning of January (between 15 and 25 hours a week, working full-time). I plan to retake the exam twice if my scores are not sufficient (I need a 160Q).

The university in question requires the toefl (100 min.) and a gre (or gmat, min. 680). I did the Toefl last December (scored of 106, 5 days of preparation). I decided to take the GRE (and not the GMAT) because they only require a quanti score for the GRE (160 Q) with no specific indication for the verbal section (according to the admission committee..). Moreover I heard that the GMAT quant is harder than the GRE. I am working with Magoosh (am I allowed to say that :) ) and Manhattan (5 lb books + voc flash cards). So far, I did take 4 practice tests (verbal always around 155, and q is the same).

I am a bit worried about some aspects:

- QUANT: I am not very gifted at math. Don't get me wrong: I am ok and I understand a lot although I had to work a lot to make up for the fact that I "gave up" math as a child. I belong to these people who once had nightmares about math (yes I swear I did). I have kind of a love-hate relationship to math (anyone in that situation :) ?). The rumor has it that the GRE quant got harder over the last months. I read on forums that some people got were very frustrated because of the difficulty of the questions on the test day (vs their practice tests). Some recent feedbacks would be much appreciated (I know it's a rumor but still...). Is it that hard to get a 160Q?

- VERBAL: I don't aim for a 160 V on the test as it is not required for my university. However, I am reading a lot in English, taking a lot of notes, and I work with Magoosh + Manhattan flashcards a lot. The fact that my mother tongue is French helps me (not a lot, but it helps). Would be great to have a feedback about that section from someone whose mother tongue is not English.

Finally, I would like to know what you guys think about the following: I have the feeling that quanti can seem very hard at the beginning but in the end, it is the verbal section that is the most challenging one, notably because of the fact that you need to have a great vocabulary to aim a very good score (160+). Do you agree?

I am writing on this forum because I need some encouragements.

Thanks a lot,
tommywallach
Manhattan Prep Staff
 
Posts: 1917
Joined: Thu Mar 31, 2011 11:18 am
 

Re: is the new gre quant section that hard?

by tommywallach Mon Feb 29, 2016 5:40 pm

Hey Yasmine,

Well perhaps others will have things to say in answer to your wonders/worries. I'll be brief, because I think most of your questions don't really have "Answers."

1) Is the math section harder than it was? I don't think so. I think the GRE was always pretty hard, and people have been underestimating it. Is it easier than the GMAT? Yes. Is it easy? No. That's really all you need to worry about. Is it hard to et a 160? Again, depends who you are! You can see the percentiles for yourself just by looking up what people have been reporting online.

2) Is verbal harder for ESL students? Generally, yes. However, the GRE is less vocabulary focused than it used to be (which is some good news, anyway), which is something.

Okay, I think that's all I can say definitively about your situation. Hope it's at least a bit helpful!

-t