For a majority of my students, taking the GRE is the most formidable obstacle to applying to graduate school. This examination serves as a barrier wall that can weed out some of the less committed from graduate school in psychology. It is a high stakes exam. Doing well will go a long way to helping you get into a great program with financial support and an excellent career trajectory. Doing poorly will relegate you to a professional doctoral program at best and not going beyond the masters level in the field. Therefore, it is well worth putting forth the effort to do well on the GRE.
Yet this is easier said than done. The test process is confusing and has been changing recently. There are also two tests to consider – a general test and a subject test. The subject exam is more straightforward and tests your general knowledge of psychology. This test is relatively easy to prepare for. The general test is more problematic. The general test of the GRE purports to measure verbal and quantitative reasoning as well as analytical writing. Maybe it measures these things and maybe it doesn’t. Regardless it is a difficult test to study for. My understanding is that the best predictor for success on the general GRE is having taken the general GRE. In other words you need to practice taking this test – a lot. However, you don’t want to keep taking the test over and over and this is where the idea of taking practice tests comes in. There are a number of books of practice tests that you can do on your own. My opinion is that a better strategy is to sign up for either the Kaplan (www.kaptest.com/GRE/) or Princeton Review (www.princetonreview.com/graduate-school.aspx) course to prepare for the GRE. These courses will include a lot of practice tests as well as test-taking strategies specifically geared toward the GRE. Taking a course doesn’t guarantee success but will at least give you a good shot at doing well.
From your review of Graduate Study in Psychology you should have a good idea of whether the programs you are interested in require the general or subject GRE, or both. My suggestion is that students block out some time n the summer to take a review course. You should plan on devoting at least 4-6 weeks where you do nothing but eat and breath GRE. At the end of the summer you should be ready to take the official exam, typically in late August or early September. This should give you time to adjust the schools you are applying to based on your test results.
You can take the GRE multiple times but many schools look down on extra attempts at the exam. Most schools will give your first score more weight or average your scores. It is important to give the GRE your best shot the first time you take it!