[Zishen GRE High-Score Write-up]

School and major: Nanjing University, Software Engineering

Scores: 1st attempt Q170, V149, AW3.0, total 319

Test date: 2025.09.19

[Prep Notes & Approach by Section]

[Vocabulary]

You absolutely have to know the 1,000-word book from instructor Li Shuo inside out. Given the vocabulary range on the current test, it doesn't feel like quite enough on its own. My rough guess is you need around 1,500 words to be sure of a 320; otherwise you risk ending up with a 149 like I did. But that book covers the basic, high-frequency words, and without them a 320 is basically out of reach.

[Text Completion]

Prioritize single-blank text completion and the pick-2-of-6 questions; you need over 80% accuracy on these two to have a shot at 320. You can let go of the double- and triple-blank questions, because they're harder and even spending lots of time on them doesn't guarantee points. If you can't get one, drop it fast and save more time for reading. The points you can basically count on are pick-2-of-6 and single-answer questions. For pick-2-of-6 you can pair up options first, and any option that doesn't pair is most likely not the answer; single-answer questions just come down to whether your vocabulary is big enough. Double and triple blanks are too hard: even if you understand every word you may still get them wrong, because you also have to follow the logic of the question.

[Reading]

For reading, my habit is to go through the questions first without looking at the options. If a question mentions something like a person's name, that's a bonus: while reading the passage, watch for where that name or term shows up, because that's likely where the question is testing. Then manage your time strictly while reading. Skip anything you can't do or don't understand instead of lingering, and for long, difficult sentences, find the SVO first; you only need to get the key meaning. The options are full of twists and traps, so read the logic inside each option carefully and never fill in content that isn't there.

[Quant]

There's not much to say about math; to me, drilling questions is everything. Most of the content is simple, basic high school math, but it's easy to get stuck on some problems because their wording is hard to parse and you have to read them several times to see what they're asking. So do the questions you know quickly and leave more time for the ones you can't quite understand. Drilling is how you cover these unusual problems: they need special methods or concepts, and you only learn them by running into that exact problem.

[Logic]

Logic is actually fairly easy. Do a few logic questions and you'll see that, apart from the hardest inference questions, finding what supports or weakens an argument is easy. You can basically answer once you understand the logic of the question. The key to strengthen and weaken questions is that what an option can change is never an objective fact; it is always a subjective claim in the passage. So options that dispute objective facts or deal with irrelevant content can be ruled out right away.

[Writing]

Many schools don't really care much about writing, so the main thing is to avoid getting flagged for duplicate content. Don't memorize sentences; write in your own words, and use templates for the opening and closing to write faster. Unless you're really good, writing is very hard to improve with last-minute cramming. Most people get 3.0 or 3.5, and very few get above 4, so you don't need to agonize over writing.

[Test prep is a long road. Recommend your own [Study Plan]] to the students coming after you!

My study plan is simple: do one full practice test every morning, and keep that up for the two to three weeks before the exam. The point is to get used to test conditions and build a feel for the questions, so nerves don't throw you off on the real day.

[Test Center Report]Every GRE test center has its pros and cons. Which one left an impression on you, and what did you like or dislike about it? (If you took the [At Home] test, you can also note what to watch out for when testing at home.)

Huanyu (寰宇) has very new equipment and is a great place to take the test.

[Words of EncouragementTo finish, write the one line you'd most like to giveOther Test-Takers]

Don't be afraid to take it a few times. The difficulty of the questions and your mindset differ every time, and if you take it a few times you'll definitely get the attempt that suits you best.

[Score Report]