Revised GRE - Nishita Muhnot

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•GRE or Graduate Record Examinations is a standardized test created and administered by ..... 1) Nova GRE Math Bible (softcopy). Excellent for math ...
(REVISED) GRE -Nishita Muhnot

© Nishita Muhnot

© Nishita Muhnot

Contents • What is GRE ? Quick Facts. • Revised GRE. What Changed ? • Test Content + sample questions • How to Prepare ? •After GRE •Q&A

© Nishita Muhnot

Quick Facts What ? •GRE or Graduate Record Examinations is a standardized test created and administered by Educational Testing Service (ETS), the same people who administer TOEFL (English language test).

Who requires it ? •It is an admissions requirement for almost all graduate schools in the United States, some of them in Canada and few of them in other countries like Germany, France, etc. It is also required for PhD programs. •GRE scores are now also been accepted by a fast-growing number of business schools such as Harvard, INSEAD, MIT Sloan, NYU Stern, Stanford, etc to “widen their application pool”.

© Nishita Muhnot

Quick Facts When ? •It is offered as a computer-based test year round at most locations around the world including India and as a paper-based test up to three times a year in areas where computer-based testing is not available. •In India, the frequency of the test is typically twice a day on the five working days of the week in all the major cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Trivandrum, Ahmadabad etc. This is subject to change. •You can take the GRE revised General Test only once every 60 days, and no more than five times in a year. •You are advised to book your dates at least 3 months in advance to get a desirable date (applicable to India).

© Nishita Muhnot

Quick Facts Validity Period ? •GRE scores are valid for 5 years though there are few universities that want GRE scores less than 2 years old.

Fee ? •190$ •This includes free score reports to 4 graduate schools and the POWERPREP II software CD which includes a simulated test-taking experience.

Registration and Information •Go to www.ets.org/gre

© Nishita Muhnot

Quick Facts 2 types of GRE tests : •General Test : •Has 3 sections – •Verbal Reasoning •Quantitative Reasoning •Analytical Writing •Aims to test skills that have been acquired over a long period of time and that are not related to any specific field of study. •More on the sections later.

© Nishita Muhnot

Quick Facts 2 types of GRE tests : •Subject Tests : •Tests your knowledge in a specific subject. There are 8 subject tests – Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology; Biology; Chemistry; Computer Science; Literature in English; Mathematics; Physics; Psychology. •General Test is a must whereas Subject Tests are optional. I have not come across any university that requires a subject test nor have I come across any individual who has given the subject test.

© Nishita Muhnot

Revised GRE •From 1st August 2011, the GRE revised General Test replaced the GRE General Test to “more closely reflect the kind of thinking you'll do in graduate or business school.” •Since its been less than a year since the change and most of the people are only familiar with the old GRE, we have included a short comparison of the old and new GRE.

© Nishita Muhnot

What Changed? Old GRE

New GRE

Test Structure

Test Structure

1 verbal section 1 quant section 1 analytical writing section

2 verbal sections 2 quant sections 1 analytical writing section

•Question Adaptive :

Each new question’s difficulty level was determined on the basis of the answer to the previous question.

•Section Adaptive :

Each new section’s difficulty level is determined on the basis of the answers given in the previous section.

•Cant skip or come back to a question.

•Can skip, mark, and come back to questions in the same section only.

© Nishita Muhnot

What Changed? Old GRE

New GRE

Duration

Duration

•2 hours 30 minutes

•3 hours 45 minutes

Scoring Pattern

Scoring Pattern

• Total : 1600 •Quant : 800 (score range : 200-800) •Verbal : 800 (score range : 200-800) •Analytical Writing : 0-6 •10 point increment •No negative marking

• Total : 340 •Quant : 170 (score range : 130-170) •Verbal : 170 (score range : 130-170) •Analytical Writing : 0-6 •1 point increment •No negative marking

© Nishita Muhnot

© Nishita Muhnot

What Changed? Old GRE

New GRE

Verbal

Verbal

Type of Questions : • Analogies •Antonyms •Sentence Completion •Reading Comprehension

Type of Questions : • Text Completion •Sentence Equivalence •Reading Comprehension

•All are Multiple Choice with only 1 correct answer

•Multiple choice questions with 1 or more correct answers + sentence-in-passage questions.

•Exactly 30 questions.

•Approximately 20 questions per section.

•30 mins.

•30 mins per section. Total Time : 60 mins.

© Nishita Muhnot

What Changed? Old GRE

New GRE

Quant

Quant

Type of Questions : • Quantitative Comparison • Problem Solving • Data Interpretation

Type of Questions : • Quantitative Comparison • Problem Solving • Data Interpretation

•All are Multiple Choice with only 1 correct answer.

•Multiple choice with 1 or more correct answers + numeric entry questions.

•28 questions. •45 mins.

•Approximately 20 questions per section. •35 mins per section. Total : 70 mins

Has onscreen simple calculator.

© Nishita Muhnot

What Changed? Old GRE

New GRE

Analytical Writing

Analytical Writing

Has 2 essays: • Issue Essay • Argument Essay

Has 2 essays: • Issue Essay • Argument Essay

•2 choices given for issue essay. No choice for argument essay.

•No choice for issue and argument essay.

•Issue Essay : 45 mins. Argument Essay : 30 mins. Total : 1 hour 15 mins.

•Issue Essay : 30 mins. Argument Essay : 30 mins. Total : 1 hour.

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Analytical Section (1 hour, always first) Verbal or Quant Section 1 ( 30-35 mins) Verbal or Quant Section 1 or Section 2 ( 30-35 mins) 10 mins break Verbal or Quant Section 1 or Section 2 ( 30-35 mins) Verbal or Quant Section 1 or Section 2 ( 30-35 mins) Unscored Verbal or Quant Section ( 30-35 mins) Research Question (Optional)

•The analytical section is always first, whereas the verbal, quant, unscored sections can appear in any order.

© Nishita Muhnot

Sample Questions Verbal Text Completion – 1 fill in the blank (Level Easy)

•Rumor : No need to learn words for the new GRE. False. Yes you still need to learn the Barron’s 5000 GRE words. No escape. •30% of the verbal section.

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Sample Questions Verbal Text Completion – 2 fill in the blanks(Level Medium)

•No marks for only 1 correct answer. You need to get all the blanks right to gain marks for that questions.

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Sample Questions Verbal Text Completion – 3 fill in the blanks (Level Difficult)

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Sample Questions Verbal Sentence Equivalence – always 2 correct answers

•Its like synonyms. •20% of the verbal section.

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Sample Questions Verbal Reading Comprehension (RCs) •sentence-in-passage question

•RCs now make 50% of the verbal sections as opposed to 30% earlier. There can be 1 para, 2 paras, 3 paras and even 4 paras RCs. •They are also now more similar to GMAT RCs where critical reasoning is also tested rather than just finding information from the passage. Questions are tougher. •Fast reading speed is a must to complete the test on time.

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Sample Questions Quant •Syllabus is same as 10th std Math in India. •An on-screen calculator has been added.

© Nishita Muhnot

Sample Questions Quant Quantitative Comparison – only 1 correct answer

•Easiest and most time saving questions on the test. •40% of the quant section.

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Sample Questions Quant Problem Solving – One or Multiple Answers

•35-40% of the quant section.

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Sample Questions Quant Problem Solving – Numeric Entry

•Around 2 questions in the quant section.

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Sample Questions Quant Data Interpretation – One or Multiple Answers

•20-25% of the quant section.

© Nishita Muhnot

Sample Questions Analytical Writing Issue Essay

•The good is– the entire pool of issue tasks is officially available online from ETS at http://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/prepare/analytical_writing/issue/po ol •The bad news is – there are just too many topics!

© Nishita Muhnot

Sample Questions Analytical Writing Argument Essay

•Pool http://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/prepare/analytical_writing/argumen t/pool

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Sample Questions Analytical Writing •Its best to practice writing essays a minimum of 6-7 times before appearing for the test. However this varies greatly according to individual caliber. Only you can decide how much practice you need. •Both the essays are graded on a scale of 06 and the average is taken. There are increments of 0.5.

© Nishita Muhnot

Basically REVISED GRE is : Old wine in new bottle!

© Nishita Muhnot

How To Prepare • Join Princeton/Kaplan classes. •Quite expensive. • Or prepare on your own. Certainly doable. •You need at least 2-3 months of preparation. •Verbal preparation and memorizing words consume 80% of the time for most students. •Start with high frequency word lists (around 500 words) to remember the important words first. Easily available on net. Then go on to Barron’s 5000 words list. • You need to do Barron’s 5000 word list at least 2-3 times to remember most of the words.

© Nishita Muhnot

How To Prepare •Don’t ignore math. Students often loose a lot of marks due to silly mistakes. •READ THE QUESTIONS PROPERLY! •Don’t ponder too long on a question. Mark it for review and move on! •Answer all questions, even if it is guess work. Remember there is no negative marking. •Make an educated guess. Eliminate potential incorrect answers to arrive at the right answer.

© Nishita Muhnot

How To Prepare Books : 1) The Official Guide to the GRE Revised General Test. By ETS.

• • •

A must have because right now ETS is more knowledgeable than any one else about the new format. Includes around 100 sample questions organized according to difficulty level. Has real essays written by test takers along with the ETS people’s evaluation and comments.

© Nishita Muhnot

How To Prepare Books : 2) Barron’s New GRE

• • • •

A good book for Quant. Does not have the word list  . You can download the word list online or xerox it from an old Barron’s. Includes sample tests. Also includes a CD with stimulated tests (around 2).

© Nishita Muhnot

How To Prepare Extra Books : 3) Cracking the NEW GRE by Princeton. •

A good book for practice. Nothing special.

4) Kaplan NEW GRE Premier •

I have not used the book. No comments.

© Nishita Muhnot

How To Prepare Other Important Stuff We Can Give 1) Nova GRE Math Bible (softcopy) Excellent for math preparation. Has 1000s of questions organized according to difficulty levels and topics. Must Have! 2) Voca Game based on Barron’s Word List An excellent refreshing multiple choice game where you need to guess a word’s meaning. Has ALL Barron’s Words. 3) Big Book (softcopy) This book had a lot of old GRE papers but is now out of publication. Even though it has old GRE questions, they really help you increase your reading speed for RCs and test your words memory as well.

© Nishita Muhnot

How To Prepare Online (Not Much) : 1) www.majortests.com Though their RCs section has weird questions and answers. 2) http://www.tyrannosaurusprep.com A fun word game for GRE and SAT though don’t rely solely on it to learn words as they do not have even half the important words that are present in Barrons. YOU CANNOT ESCAPE BARRON’S WORD LIST.

© Nishita Muhnot

After GRE •After completing the test, you are given an option to either view your score or cancel your scores. If you cancel your scores, you or anyone else will never know them. There is no use cancelling your scores. •When you give GRE more than once, the scores from all attempts are displayed on your score report. However, universities always consider your latest score.

© Nishita Muhnot

After GRE •After you accept your score, the computer then asks you the names or codes of the 4 universities you want to send your scores to courtesy ETS, free of charge. Basically, you need to order your GRE score reports to be sent by ETS to all the universities you wish to apply to. The universities don’t trust you. •Each additional score report costs 23$. •That’s why it is best to first decide on your universities and make use of the 4 free score reports option that you get when you register for the test. •Department codes are not necessary to send a score as most of the universities have a centralized database for all the departments. However, check with your university first. •You will need to memorize these codes at the end of the test to enter at the computer by going out for 5 mins with the official’s permission, as the center officials don’t allow you to carry any paper inside even after the test.

© Nishita Muhnot

After GRE •Cancellation and rescheduling services, available on ETS website, are not free of cost. •You get the official hard copy of your score report 15-20 days after the test. Most universities require you to scan this and upload it in addition to the official scores sent by ETS. •It takes 5-10 business days for a score report sent by ETS to reach the universities. So plan well in advance. •Ideally you should give your GRE by October end. Deadlines for universities start by Nov end and continue till March. •Students normally give their TOEFL, also a requirement in US and in almost all other countries, within a few days after GRE as their memory in case of words is fresh, which are needed to a very small extent in TOEFL also. You should schedule your TOEFL 3 months (applicable to India).

© Nishita Muhnot

Q&A