The very words “physics GRE” are enough to strike terror into the hearts of physics grad school-hopefuls everywhere.

The week of November 7 was not a fun week. In fact I can probably blame the tension of that week for this blog’s unintended death (I have other excuses for the weeks since then). That was when I learned how I should have been studying for that beast of a standardized exam all along. Unfortunately, it’s too late to wallow in regret. I don’t think I did that badly, but that remains to be seen. Time to move on, kick myself to write that “Statement of Purpose” and put together a CV for grad school applications, and hope admissions committees don’t notice my GRE score. Finally, I just want to put out there the things that were most helpful to me in studying for the physics GRE. If I had to do it all over again, how would I study? Here’s an approximate plan.

In the summertime (The GRE is in November, if you don’t know.)

• Read your general physics textbook. The GRE doesn’t cover really advanced topics, so you should worry more about getting the basics back. Memorize the important equations…and probably some of the unimportant ones. Maybe make a list. Put them on Post-It notes around your living space. Don’t let lack of memorization get in your way. Make sure to cover a bit of everything.
• Doing a practice run of the GRE will be a good motivator. The four old exams available can be found at the bottom of this page. I think I scored in the 400′s (out of 990) the first time through.

2 months in advance

• Pick one of the practice GRE tests, doesn’t matter which. Get a clean notebook. Open up to problem 1 and try to solve it. Then visit this site. See if you were right. If you weren’t, read carefully through the problem solution until you understand it. In your notebook, copy down the solution. Then write any equations involved in that problem that you would have to memorize, or any concepts used that would allow you shortcuts, and put a big box around them. Then go on to problem 2 and do the same thing. When you’ve gotten through all 100 of the test problems, you will have a notebook filled with most of the things you’ll need to know, and some great time-saving tricks. Study the things you’ve boxed in this notebook.
• Working assiduously, I got through one exam in a week in this manner. Unfortunately, I didn’t even think of this until 6 days pre-exam. That’s why you should give yourself a huge buffer time. I was studying for an E&M exam the day before the GRE. I think both suffered. In any case, if you start early enough, you should be able to get through ALL FOUR practice exams. These are the most useful resources you can get your hands on.

Exam day
Don’t panic, you’ll do fine.

Update: Scores are in, and I got a semi-respectable 670, which is in the 48th percentile. I’m seriously kicking myself for not following my own advice.