Physics GRE Discussion Forums

Hey guys,

When one has all 400 questions down from the practice GRE exams, and after one calibrates the testing speed in their brain (by taking the practice exams under timed constraints), what else can one do to prepare further? My current goal is 90+ percentile. Any tips?

Thank you much,

Maxwell's Demon

Pesonally, I'm going for the 3000* down after I finish with the 400.

* Schaum's Outline 3000 Solved Problems in Physics

[bump]

Any others?

I've heard that for the Physics GRE, the more problems and solutions you see, the easier it is to recognize right and wrong answers. This might be where the purple book (currently collecting dust on my shelf) becomes helpful, assuming the errors are minimal of course. I don't know if it's worth the price though.

You can also review the examples in your textbooks, and if you still have them, go over solutions for old tests, quizzes, and homework sets.

I don't know if this helps, but these are the best ideas I can come up with. Once I finish the practice tests, I'd like to hear suggestions for what to do next myself.

Does the "3000" help? Has anyone flipped through some of the "3000" and found it essential for the physics GRE?

-Maxwell's Demon

It's certainly not essential, but whether it's worth reading varies by student...

I bought it but only went through the first hundred or so problems which was mainly simple mechanics (pulleys, planes, gravity etc). There were a few good problems that I found instructive, but I wouldn't call it essential to the GRE because there are just too many routine, high school level problems with no type of trickiness to them. It would take an enormous amount of time to do all, or most of the 3000 problems and you'd get much less benefit than if you spent that time focusing more on learning the theory (i.e. reading physics material) or doing more difficult problems from another source like a text. However, if you find that you have a habit of screwing up routine calculations/arithmetic in physics problems, then it might be just what you need since the 3000 book does have answers/solutions which helps.

the 3000 is weird. quiz is correct some the problems are pointless, however, some of them are exact copies of the problems you see on the test. i spend the last three weeks going through them, just reading the problem and seeing if i understand them and know what to do, if not i look at the answer and take some notes and ideas and principles behind it.

I will be going back to the 4 tests next week (i have two midterms this week) and get used to the type of problems again. i have never been the kind to get a lot out of textbooks. i learn from examples, so that might be where the 3000 are helpful.

less than 3 weeks left.... i am so screwed

Actually, don't forget the extra 33 sample problems! So it should be "433" down.

Whoa, extra 33 sample problems? Tell me more about these...