GRE Prep for Oak’s Students: Plan for Taking Practice Computer-Based Tests

Dilip Oak's Academy

CBT – Practice on the Computer-Based Tests (1 month before GRE test)

The final stage of your GRE prep is taking practice GRE computer-based tests. If you are a student at Dilip Oak’s Academy, here is the plan – if you’re not, you are missing out!

  • Start doing the Computer-based tests 3 weeks-1 month before the GRE.
  • There are 10 Oaks tests (5 to be taken in the lab and 5 online) and two PowerPrep tests from the ETS, making a total of 12.
  • Going through all of them, at the rate of one every 2-3 days will take about a month.

Material to be Covered and Order:

Given below are the tests you should take and the order in which you should take them. Carefully read the accompanying notes wherever they are given – they will save you a lot of confusion.

  1. The Oak’s free full-length diagnostic test
    1. The free test is separate from the 4 online tests that you will do at the end of your GRE course at Dilip Oak’s Academy
      1. You will have to register separately for the free online test at http://online.dilipoakacademy.com/ (click on the url to register).
      2. The login and password for the 4 Oak’s online tests are given in your I-Card; they are NOT to be used for the free test.
    2. This test should be taken as a diagnostic, to help you identify your areas of weakness, so that you can eliminate them while you are attending the course or, as you do the paper-based practice material.
    3. The Oak’s tests are harder than the GRE test, so to get a more accurate estimate of what your score will be in the actual test, add 10-12 marks to your score in the Oak’s tests. (This applies both for the free tests and for the 4 online tests.)
  2. First ETS PowerPrep II test
    1. The ETS PowerPrep II software contains 2 full-length CBTs.
    2. The PowerPrep II tests can be obtained either from CD in the ETS’s Official Guide for the GRE or, from the GRE website, where you can download the software.
    3. Do the first test after you have completed (most of) your paper-based practice material, so that you will understand the question types, techniques and timing thoroughly before you attempt the test.
    4. Your score in the PowerPrep II software will be given in the form of a range on the earlier 200-800 scale (so, for example, your verbal score might be given as 550-650/800). You can convert this into the corresponding range on the new scale using ETS’s concordances (score conversion tables) at the following url: http://www.ets.org/s/gre/pdf/concordance_information.pdf
  3. 5 Tests in the Oak’s Lab – these are onscreen practice exercises which will prepare you for the full-length CBTs
  4. 4 Dilip Oak’s Tests Online – remember to add 10 marks to your overall score to get a more accurate idea of what your score will be in the GRE since our tests are tougher than the actual GRE.
  5. Second ETS PowerPrep II test – this will give you a fairly good idea of where you stand at the end of your preparation.

Take your last test a day or two before your actual exam – don’t do any last minute testing. This is the final stage of preparation. So, after this you should be all set to do your GRE. All the best!