What does it take to crack the GRE? In a recent survey of GRE test-takers, individuals from around the world shared their personal study habits and preferences about their test preparation.
Their answers provide an insight to the hundreds of thousands of individuals currently readying themselves to take the GRE revised General Test during the peak testing season in pursuit of master’s, MBA, specialised master’s in business and doctoral programmes.
While test-takers in India shared many consistent practices with counterparts in the United States, China and other regions in the world, there were some noteworthy differences about study habits.
The survey revealed that the most common length of time students around the world spend preparing for the test, including those from India, is about one month to less than three months. Test-takers in India showed a high preference for online study groups.
As many as 40 per cent reported that group study was a part of their preparation, compared to the global average of 21 per cent. Around the world, however, test preparation duration was fairly consistent.
Globally, test-takers reported that slightly more than one-third of them spent less than one month preparing and only about six per cent said that they spent six months or longer.
Survey respondents cited using flash cards and reading books as some of the most popular preparation tools, with nearly 40 per cent globally reporting flash cards were part of their study protocol. The trend is similar amongst Indian students.
Home outranked all other locations as the favourite place to study everywhere around the world, including India, where over 80 per cent of students prepared at home. However, differences emerged around favourite time of day to prepare. Chinese students led the group with the most “early risers” while test takers in India reported the greatest number of people interested in late study, at about 29 per cent.
In addition, test-takers in India and China were nearly three times more likely to prepare with friends than those in the U.S. Friends, however, were the universal winner, ranking highest as favourite study buddy choice. About 10 per cent of U.S. respondents reported that their favourite study buddy was their dog or cat.
Fruit edged out all other options as the favourite study snack around the world. Indians revealed they also have a great fondness for potato chips, compared to the rest of the world, with close to 32 per cent of Indian respondents citing it as their favourite study time snack. Indians also appear to love ice cream more than their American counterparts, with over 9 per cent citing it as their favourite study snack, compared with 4.5 per cent of U.S. test-takers.
Over 18,000 individuals from over 150 countries responded to the survey.
