Can your GRE coaching help you prepare for the GMAT?

The straight-forward answer is “No”. Let me tell you why.

Although there are some similarities between the GMAT and the GRE, the two tests are very different in many ways.

The AWA sections: On the GMAT you have to write only an analysis of an argument whereas on the GRE you have to write an analysis of an argument and also an analysis of an issue.

The Verbal Sections: For the Verbal Section on the GMAT you would have prepared for Sentence Correction (SC), Critical Reasoning (CR), and Reading Comprehension (RC) whereas on the GRE you have Text Completion (TC), Sentence Equivalence (SE), and Reading Comprehension (RC).

Reading Comprehension (RC): On the GRE Reading Comprehension you will get to see three question types: (i) MCQ: Select One answer Choice, (ii) MCQ: Select One or More Answer Choices and (iii) Select-in-Passage. On the GMAT you wouldn’t have come across the last two question types. A few of the GRE RC passages are also different from the GMAT RC passages in content and nature. Thus almost everyone will need to practice solving GRE specific RC Passages in order to score well on the GRE. I must say that Manya-The Princeton Review takes care of this aspect very well.

Text Completion (TC) and Sentence Equivalence (SE): You wouldn’t have learned to solve these question types while preparing for the GMAT as these question types are unique to GRE. One would need to learn to solve and practice solving these two question types for GRE.

Vocabulary: The TC and SE questions to test your knowledge of words in a big way. You would need to learn a lot of “GRE words” in order to score well in the Verbal section of the GRE. Even the GRE RC passages warrant better knowledge of vocabulary than the GMAT RC passages do. Manya-The Princeton Review has a wonderful app — GRE WordsApp — to help any GRE aspirant build a strong GRE relevant vocabulary.

The Quant Sections: For the GMAT you would have practiced two types of questions — (i) Problem Solving (PS) and (ii) Data Sufficiency (DS). Whereas, on the GRE, while you will not get DS questions, in addition to PS questions (that are Select One Answer type MCQs), you will need to learn to solve and practice three other question types viz. (i) MCQ: Select One or More Answer Choices, (ii) Quantitative Comparison Questions, and (iii) Numeric Entry Questions. For these latter types of questions on the GRE, you will need to prepare differently for the GRE Quant section.

The Calculator on the GRE Quant Section: On the GRE Quant section you get an on-screen calculator. You would need to practice using the calculator.

The difference in the adaptive nature of the Tests: While GMAT is adaptive by the question, GRE is adaptive by section. Thus even the approach while taking the two tests has to be different.

To sum it up, while Sentence Correction and Critical Reasoning are hall-marks of GMAT Verbal section, GRE is uniquely Vocab intensive. AWA — Analysis of an Issue is also peculiar to GRE. As discussed above, some of the question types on the GRE are also different from those on the GMAT. The TC and SE questions particularly test your ability to understand complex sentence structures and your ability to reason and create a picture of the whole, revising that picture as you keep reading a sentence or a group of sentences comprising a passage. You will, therefore, need to prepare separately and differently for GRE. Perhaps, no one understands it better than we do at Manya-The Princeton Review.

Postscript: Similarly, anyone who has prepared for the GRE and wants to take the GMAT will also need to prepare for the GMAT separately and differently in order to score well on the GMAT.

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