One of the most enticing
aspects of taking practice tests for GREs is that they make you feel productive.
They seem like they provide you an edge on “the real thing”. On top of that there’s
always that secret anticipation that this time you’ll hit it out of the park
and you can eventually stop cramming.
At SkillMaestro; we love the
idea of taking a lot of practice tests. I love them as an instructor, as they assist
me evaluate my students’ progress. And I am pretty sure our students love them
too, because it helps them assess where they stand. We emphasize more and more
on taking these tests productively.
However, many a times, I have
seen students taking the practice tests in ways that are totally unproductive.
Since your time is invaluable and you want to achieve the best possible results
for whatever limited time you have to invest, I’d like to provide my $0.02 on
using practice tests effectively.
Take a mock test before starting your preparation.
The first practice test which
you should take is right before you start your preparation. This is the most efficient and an insanely
valuable task, which needs to be taken care of. Apparently it’s the one test; students are
most likely to skip. Most of the students avoid the practice test at the
beginning of a test preparation because they are afraid of what the results
will be (thinking that they haven’t prepared at all). Many other times, they
know the result won’t be worthy enough for their school of choice, thereby
taking the test pointless. I have also often heard my students saying that they
don’t want to squander one of their practice tests until they have started
studying in a serious manner.
I am very confident saying
that, without any exception, these are all wrong reasons to miss the first practice
test. It is very important to exactly know where you’re starting so that you
can draw a clear roadmap for the kind of preparation you need to work on.
Taking a practice test at the start of your preparation will provide you a starting
point from which to measure your growth and a vital exposure to GRE to prepare
a study plan for studying.
Take tests in a proper simulated environment
One of the major complaint I
have heard from students is “I used to get XYZ on my practice tests, but…”.
This implies that you have not utilized your practice tests as efficiently as
you could have. Some of the DOS
& DONTS you need to keep in mind
while taking the practice tests:
DOs
·
Always take a TIMED practice test.
·
Always try to take it in a time slot when you
are actually planning to take the real test
·
Always use authentic tests from reputable
sources
·
Always take full test and not avoid the AWA
section
DONTs
·
Don’t take an unusually long break in between your
practice test or pause it many times.
·
Don’t take it when you are expecting a lot of
interrupting phone calls, or you have a laptop that’s going to crash.
·
Don’t take it when you’re tired, or hung over,
or sick or after a hectic day.
You get the notion? You would want
to minimize any external mitigating environments that can possibly explain why your
practice test score is lower or higher than it should be on the real test. I
can understand that it is very difficult to avoid all interruptions during a practice
test but you need to make your best efforts to make sure that the practice test
reflects a true assessment of your abilities. In order to make sure that you get the most
out of a practice test, it needs to be in a perfectly simulated testing
environment, which is the whole point of taking a practice test in the first
place.
One of the most important things
to remember is that practice tests are NOT learning tools but evaluation tools
and should be used as such. Tests should be utilized to assess what you have
learned and your capability to apply that learning under simulated conditions similar
to the actual test as much as possible. In the broader perspective of your test
preparation, you should take a practice test at the very beginning of your study
preparations to establish it as a baseline and determine your strength and
weakness areas. After that, it is advisable to wait for another practice test
until you’ve had a chance to review some content and have taken some shorter
tests focused on individual particular areas. Once you’ve gotten a sizable
chunk of material and practice behind you, you should start including
full-length practice tests into your study plan.
To summarize, here are three valid reasons to take a
practice test:
·
To measure what you currently know
·
To practice your test-taking strategies (which also
includes pacing your test and sometimes intelligent guessing)
·
To identify your weaknesses & key areas to
study going forward.
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