The Product GRE test takers need

TLDR; Why we’re building PreparingForGRE.com; a product that helps GRE test takers get better at the Verbal section, in the right way.

The GRE is a standardized test which is an admission requirement in most graduate schools in the US and elsewhere.

A big part of the GRE is the verbal section. This section is tricky, to say the least, and has a few misconceptions attached to it:

• contrary to popular belief, the GRE does not solely test for vocabulary, it tests for verbal reasoning and understanding.

As a result, students find themselves mugging up scores of difficult vocabulary words. This feels wrong, unproductive and irksome in preparation. Students feel that learning for the GRE seldom adds to their knowledge.

Now, here’s what the ETS says about the GRE:

Verbal Reasoning — Measures the ability to analyze and draw conclusions from discourse and reason from incomplete data, understand multiple levels of meaning, such as literal, figurative and author’s intent, and summarize text and distinguish major from minor points, understand the meanings of words, sentences and entire texts, and understand relationships among words and among concepts. There is an emphasis on complex verbal reasoning skills.

In short, the GRE’s verbal section tries to test if candidates who would pursue their masters' education have what it takes to keep up with the course work. It tests if candidates have the reasoning and comprehension skills required to glean the meanings from complex research papers or literary texts. To be a successful masters student, you must be proficient enough in English to be able to actively read, critically analyse and comfortably comprehend academic texts. It measures the probability of success as a graduate student.

To help solve this problem of preparation for the verbal section of the GRE, we started PreparingForGRE.com

The Problem

The verbal section of the GRE is something most people find tough, especially the reading comprehension and vocabulary part. We have reached out to the market to test this assumption and have talked to users and conducted surveys.

The Solution

We are helping test takers by helping them read articles from good sources such as NYTimes, Atlantic, New Yorker and more; with high-frequency GRE words highlighted in the articles.

This solution has many advantages:

• gives much-needed reading practice
• builds patience reading long texts
• helps build vocabulary by seeing the words used in a context

We’ve built a website that recommends articles for daily reading practice, curated for the GRE.

We use AI algorithms to ensure the quality of the reading material is high and has plenty of those high-frequency GRE words.

We have an early stage product live at PreparingForGRE.com. We would love any feedback on this!

We are building this with a team of dedicated learners scattered around the world, using open software and the free internet; a unique way of starting up! Come join us if you’re looking to learn and collaborate on this project.

If you have any feedback or queries, you can get in touch with me at saurabh.av@preparingforgre.com