So I've finally got around to booking myself in for a standard GRE test and a physics GRE test. Any physicists on the board who've done them before - what are they like? I'm applying to a few serious universities in the US for grad school, I'm fairly confident that my grades will be very good and I have some fairly awesome lab experience under my belt, I'm just worried that this random test I have to take is going to muck the whole thing up. A quick skim of their sample test for physics suggests it's somewhere between my sophomore and junior level physics, but it's still a lot to remember....
Aye. The general GRE was crazy easy, so unless you had a hard time with stuff like the SAT's or ACT's or whatever, I wouldn't even worry about it. The physics GRE was interesting, and I found it was imminently useful to go over the practice exams to find a strategy that worked for me.
The thing is, with the physics GRE, the most important strategy is to focus on speed: with 100 multiple choice questions, you just don't have much time. There's also going to be a lot of specialized physics information that you're probably just not going to be aware of. So what's important is being able to think quickly and accurately, and being able to skip over questions you aren't sure about. Some general tips:
1. Use dimensional analysis. Many questions can be answered simply by looking at the units. Even if only one or two of the answers can be eliminated this way, it improves your chances of guessing.
2. If you can eliminate at least one answer, it is better to guess than not answer.
3. Be conscious of spending too much time thinking about any one question, and be prepared to move on quickly if necessary.
Once you get the general strategy stuff out of the way, doing practice tests is going to be the best preparation. I found that much of the unofficial GRE preparation material was just so far from the actual examination that it was useless. But the GRE people do offer previous examinations when you sign up for the test to practice with, and you may be able to get more previous examinations either through your school or elsewhere.
In this way, you can do a test, then examine which questions you got right and which ones you got wrong, and use that to shore up any knowledge that you may be lacking. Rinse and repeat, and after doing a few tests this way you should be very, very prepared by the time the physics GRE comes around.