Chris Lele

GRE Forums

Given the sheer number of students from around the world who take the GRE annually, the lack of GRE forums is somewhat surprising. Nonetheless, if you have a question on a tough triangle question, or simply want to commiserate with others over the grueling preparation required for the GRE, you do have a few options.

 

Urch.com

If you want someone to answer a tough GRE question you have, Urch.com is probably your best option. That doesn’t mean that every answer to your post will be illuminating, or even correct. But every so often a professional tutor will chime in.

Typically, the math GRE forum gets more activity than the verbal forum. For what it’s worth, if you float a question on parabolas you are more likely to get a quick response than if you ask about a reading passage.

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I should also warn you that the site can be incredibly frustrating to use. There is a mess of information and links to navigate through, the sign up process can be cumbersome (they make you sign up twice just to post), and the site is woefully dated. For instance, there is no separate section for Text Completions or Sentence Equivalence. Instead, you get Sentence Completions, the old designation for fill-in-the-blank sentences.

 

Gradcafé

Got the GRE blues? Need to figure out score report confusion? Gradcafe is full of useful information from students who usually know what’s going on. I don’t see too many experts here, but in general the quality—and depth— of advice surpasses what you’ll get on Urch.com.

At the same time people are pretty loath to answer actual GRE questions. Gradcafe is more of a community that can lift you up when your spirits flag, and galvanize you days before the test itself.

 

GMAT Club

Nope, that’s not a typo. While GMAT and GRE are different tests, the sections overlap enough so that often your question can be answered. For instance, if you have an issue with a Problem Solving on the quantitative section, the GMAT club forum is a great place to post. Half a dozen expert tutors will likely get back to you within an hour. However, Quantitative Comparison (QC), a section not found on the GMAT, will probably not get you much sympathy on a GMAT forum.

For Verbal, you are really limited to Paragraph Argument questions and reading comprehension questions. First off, it is important to know that Paragraph Argument questions on the GMAT are known as Critical Reasoning questions. There is an entire section devoted to such questions, so it is hard to miss.

As for Reading Comprehension questions, you can ask them. Do keep two things in mind. First, many GMAT reading comp questions go unanswered (people don’t like sifting through the passages). Secondly, if you have a question on a reading passage that is clearly GRE-y, it most likely will be answered. What do I mean by GRE-y? Well, the passage could be very short (few GMAT passages are less than 200 words), or it could simply come down to question type, i.e., multiple answers or highlight the passage questions, neither of which is on the GMAT.

 

Takeaway

While there aren’t too many GRE forums, you will most likely be able to get your question answered, whether that question relates to admissions, a specific test question, or simply a cry out for commiseration.

 

Author

  • Chris Lele

    Chris Lele is the Principal Curriculum Manager (and vocabulary wizard) at Magoosh. Chris graduated from UCLA with a BA in Psychology and has 20 years of experience in the test prep industry. He’s been quoted as a subject expert in many publications, including US News, GMAC, and Business Because. In his time at Magoosh, Chris has taught countless students how to tackle the GRE, GMAT, SAT, ACT, MCAT (CARS), and LSAT exams with confidence. Some of his students have even gone on to get near-perfect scores. You can find Chris on YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook!

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