RC is a section which cannot be improved very quickly. However this is not impossible either. A good way to improve reading comprehension is to spend time on regular reading. Editorials on leading newspapers is a good place to start. If your reading speed is not very good then also focus on speed can help. A very good book is Read Better and Faster by Norman Lewis. Maths - Work on the basics first. Understand basic topics like work & time etc.. Once you are comfortable with basics try doing it faster.
As far as I remember, RC part comes after the first 10-12 questions. Once you are through with the 1st 12 questions and if RC appears as the 13th question, just chill. click whatever you want and let it go. The score is decided by the number of correct answers you give in the 1st 12-15 questions and the last 5 ones.if it appears on the 8th or 10th position then be careful with the answers. Again, if your synonyms and understanding of the sentence structure are good enough, these questions should not be a problem. However be careful with the answers you choose. All the answers seem to be right(I did the guess work on this part and scored 410 on an average).
The GRE screen is at a resolution of 640x480 pixels. So a passage that seems very long isn't really that long. Anything below 50 lines is short, above 100 is long. Time is precious and you don't want to be wasting too much time on RCs. For short passages, read first and then answer the questions. For long ones, read the questions and search for the answers - you have a much bigger chance of getting the answers wrong here but you save a lot on time. Again, questions based on the entire passage (like author's mood for example) are hard to answer this way, because you need to know the entire passage - but for a long passage such a question would usually be grade 5 - so you would hardly lose any points for getting it wrong.
In quant, you can get about 4 questions wrong and still get 800. Most questions in quant should take you about a minute to solve. Data interpretation (4 questions) take around 3-4 minutes. These are the questions you should be prepared to get wrong. If you get easy DIs, well and good, solve them, otherwise simply guess and move on - dont waste too much time on them. The rest is pretty straight forward. Just be alert, re-read questions before submitting, and do casual common-sense checks on your answers (i.e check your answers, but not not so minutely that your average time per question suffers).
Just keep your cool when you go to the exam centre. You will see a few guys and gals as if the whole world has come down on their shoulders. Dont do that. It spoils your mood and preparation to a great extent. Just make sure you dont drink a lot of water(you know why). They wont allow you to come out untill you have finished essay+analytical. And remember, the first 12-13 questions and the last five questions are really important(this is the information for people who are trying to explore GRE for the first time).Give maximum time to these(but dont take a longer time on any one question). If you miss out some questions then prepare another $160 credit. Leaving questions will screw up your score badly.
It's been two months, that I gave my GRE exam. My tips,are 1) Never think about the admission process. Concentrate wholly on the GRE exam. Only get some list of 4 colleges, where you would like to send the GRE score. But dont waste too much time on it. Get some advice from others on this. 2) Get GRE cd's and practice. Dont' practise on paper. Even if you have not covered the entire word list or not completed the maths' part, keep taking GRE exams on cd. It will make you understand, how much you need to improve upon. Infact, I would suggest that you first give a GRE exam on cd and then start studying for GRE. 3) Never underestimate, the analytical part. A book is available with essays on all the given topics. Go through it or atleast give some thought on each topic. 4) It's very important to get a good GRE score, but many universities, have a higher deadline for Quanitative score then Vocabulary score. EG: In most top universities, minimum vocab score required is about 550-600. But minimum quantitative score need is more then 700. 5) Aim for a score of 800 in quantitative. 6) Vocabulary is important and you should do well, but don't get caught up on it.
Vocabulary takes the maximum time for preparation. Also important to give as many sample tests as possible....more towards the end of preparation, ie closer to exam dates.....Keep revising words everyday...Besides Barrons, also good are Kaplan & Princeton for preparation.
Having taken up GRE/TOEFL/GMAT in order, I realised that more you practice with sample tests, better your score in the exams. Voracious reading of general articles(the one like The HINDU editorial page) will help you in RC, and for Math, get your basics strong, CSR Competition Success Review will get you on the right track.
I keep reiterating, practice as much as you can, a daily 3hr practice test(follow religiously the time allotted for each section) WILL DEFINITELY BOOST YOUR SCORE.
