Time required for GRE® preperation

[Harry Potter]

hi, i am a doctor
i wish to know, whether one and a half months preperation is enough for gre and toefl.
i am aiming for 1300+ in gre and around 280 in toefl
i plan to study atleast six hrs daily
further are barrons books on toefl and gre enough for the preperation
i got 900 in barrons diagnostics, can anyone please elaborate on my status honestly.
thanking you in anticipation.

[Outofbreath]

HP, what kind of doctor are you, just curious.

I have heard that yes you can cram decent amount of knowledge in 6 weeks, as you have planned.

You seem to write rather well, I am sure you can manage to do well on the tests.

[Harry Potter]

i am, just an mbbs doc. Nothing hot.
Planning to give usmle.
long way to go

[Malachite]

6 hours a day is a bit much. You'll fry your brain.

A 900 isn't very good, but if you've just started, don't worry about your score yet. Focus on learning the strategies and mastering the math and verbal skills.

I don't have Barrons; I have Princeton Review books and like them a lot.

[Omarsarwar]

Hi,

I'd suggest setting aside a good 4 to 6 weeks for preparation if you're looking to get a solid score. I took the GRE two days ago and got a 790 Verbal and 740 Quant. Still waiting on the essay scores in the mail. My math score wasn't so great but since I'm applying to History Ph.D. programs in the fall, my goal was to break a 700 in Math just to be competitive.

As far as Math prep goes, I suggest Kaplan's and Barron's. I know there are other excellent study aids out there, but I happen not be familiar with them. Kaplan's practice math q's are probably slightly easier than those on the real exam; Barron's practice math q's are significantly more difficult than those on the real exam. In fact, while doing the paper practice tests in the Barron's book, I could never finish all 28 questions in 45 minutes and became unnecessarily worried about what would happen to me on test day. I'm not sharp when it comes to math, but if you do all the practice in those books, learn all the formulas/relationships in the indexes, and practice with your PowerPrep CD, you'll be fine. And, if you're actually savvy with math, you'll definitely score higher than a 740, a score I got even after having guessed on quite a few questions in my Quant section ...

Good luck!

Omar S