GRE - ADAPTIVE CAT - ->> FIRST TEN QUESTIONS IMPORTANT??

Since the GRE - Computer Adaptive Test (CAT) is introduced in the year 1992, it started to assess the level of the intellect in a student.

Differences between Paper based GRE and Computer based GRE are :

• In the latter, the questions are answered on a computer when compared to the former with the paper
• In GRE CAT, a questioner varies from person to person depending on their intellect whereas in the Paper based GRE we have the same question paper for everyone.

Adaptive CAT

The advantage of GRE CAT is that, instead of all the students answering to the same set of questions, the GRE CAT adapts itself according to the performance level of the student. This is achieved through a set of practical rules that it follows.

GRE CAT Questions

GRE CAT is an adaptability test and it purely depends on the level of answering of the candidates ability
and the manner in which the consecutive questions comes makes your score a good one or a bad one. the process is as follows :

• At the beginning of the test, every student is given the easiest of questions to start the exam from a moderate level as possible.
  

• The next question purely depends upon the students ability to increase his level or decrease his level of difficulty by answering it right or wrong respectively.
  

• If the student select answers wrongly, the next question will be of the same level as the previous question. This same pattern is followed through out the GRE CAT test.

• If the student answers correctly, the difficulty level of the next question would increase. With the difficulty of the questions the score level too increases. Hence, the number of difficult questions the student answers the more score he gains.

First Ten Questions

Since the first few questions play a crucial role in the progress of the test level, the students have to be more careful at the beginning of the GRE CAT test. hence the following points should be kept in mind :

• If the first 10 questions are answered correctly in GRE CAT, it will take you closer to 800 even if you answer the remaining questions wrongly.

• First 10 wrong and subsequent questions correct will not fetch you much of a score.

• Keep this in mind and spend more time and effort in answering the first 10 questions of GRE sections correctly.

GRE VERBAL - Sample Questions

Sentence Completion

The pressure of population on available resources is the key to understanding history, consequently any historical writing that does not take cognizance of_________ facts is_________flawed.

• A. ecological..marginally
  
• B. demographic..intrinsically
  
• C. cultural..substantively
• D. psychological..philosophically
  
• E. political..demonstratively
  

Answer: B

Antonyms

PERSEVERE

• A. Take Away
• B. Put into
• C. Send out
• D. Give up
• E. Bring forward

Answer: D

Analogies

EVAPORATE:VAPOUR

• A. petrify:stone
• B. centrifuge:liquid
• C. saturate:fluid
• D. corrode:acid
• E. incinerate:fire

Answer: A

Reading Comprehension

In his 1976 study of slavery in the US, Herbert Gutman, like Fogel, Engerman, And Genovese, has rightly stressed the slaves' achievements. But unlike these historians......(rest of the passage) ........In sum, gut man's study is significant because it offers a closely reasoned and original explanation of some of the slaves' achievements, one that correctly emphasizes the resources that slaves themselves possessed.

Which of the following is the most appropriate title for the passage, based on its content?

• A. The influence of Herbert Gutman on Historians of Slavery in the US
• B. Gutman's explanation of how slaves could maintain a cultural Heritage and develop a communal consciousness
• C. Slavery in the US: New Controversy about an old subject
• D. The Black heritage of Folklore, Music, and Religious Expression: It's growing influence
• E. The Black family and extended kinship structure: How they were important for the freed slave

Answer: B

STRATEGIES - VERBAL SECTION

Sentence Completion

The following strategies can be used in tackling the sentence completion questions in a more effective manner. They are

• Read the incomplete sentence and try to fit your own words in before looking at the answer choices.
• Pay attention to grammatical clues.
• Break down sentences with two blanks into parts and analyze each part individually.
• See that both parts of your answer choice fit the sentence correctly.

Antonyms

The below points will be helpful in answering the antonyms accurately:

• Try to define the word precisely
  
• Look for shades of meaning of the given word
• Make a sentence with it
• Analyze the prefix or suffix to help establish a individual words meaning
• Eliminate irrelevant answer choices

Analogies

The key points to tackle in the analogies are given below:

• Try to establish a strong relationship between the given pair of words
• Consider relationships of kind, size, spatial contiguity, or degree.
• If more than one of the answer choices seems correct, try to state the relationship more precisely.
• Check for second meanings of the given words

Reading Comprehension

This is the more difficult and a very challenging section with regard to the students. To solve them, you need:

• Go through the passage once to get the general idea of the passage.
• Do not try to memorize details but instead pay attention to the topic and the focus of the passage as you read.
• For questions asking you to give the passage a title, look at the first and last lines of the passage for clues.

Verbal Section

Hi am back with the GRE - Verbal section now. Most of the students of the non-western origins especially Asians will be taken aback when they face this section. To be honest, Indians speak even a notch higher than the well-educated Americans, which is the greatest asset. The true fact is the cream layer of the students going to US are mostly Indians when compared to other countries. It is just perseverance with patience, with which we can make it . The main aspect is Hardwork and deep concentration. The verbal section comprises

• Sentence Completions
• Antonyms
• Analogies
• Reading Comprehensions

Multiple-choice response sections are graded on a scale of 200-800, in 10 point increments. This section primarily tests vocabulary, and average scores in this section are substantially lower than those in the quantitative section. In a typical examination, this section may consist of 30 questions, and 30 minutes may be allotted to complete the section.

Sentence Completions

GRE Sentence completions in GRE Verbal measure your:

• ability to understand the logic of a sentence
• recognize words or phrases that complete the meaning of a sentence

You are given a sentence with either one or two words missing. Your job is to pick the answer choice with the word, or words, that best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole.

Antonyms

GRE Antonyms measure your:

• vocabulary
• ability to reason from a given concept to its opposite

You are presented with a single word followed by five choices containing words or short phrases. You have to select an answer choice that is nearly opposite in meaning to the original word. Since the questions often require you to distinguish finer shades of meaning, go through all the possible answer choices before making your selection.

Analogies

Analogies measure your ability to recognize:

• relationships among words and concepts they represent
• parallel relationships

You are presented with a related pair of words followed by five choices containing lettered pairs of words or phrases. Select the lettered pair that best expresses a relationship similar to that expressed in the original pair.

Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension is the toughest one in GRE Verbal. Many students get a poor GRE Score in GRE Verbal section because of the toughness of the reading comprehension questions. GRE Reading comprehension measures your ability:

• to read with understanding, insight, and discrimination
• to analyze a written passage from several perspectives

Passages are taken from the humanities, social sciences, biological sciences and physical sciences. The passages are of varied lengths, but generally of 75 to 150 lines. The number of questions pertaining to a particular passage could range from 3 to 5.

Finally, i think you all would have got an idea about the GRE Verbal section,. If not, a hint of what happening in Verbal and what to do for answering in it. In the coming posts, we will discuss the strategies how to tackle the verbal section as such.

Catch you later!!!!

Analytical writing section

The analytical writing section consists of Issue and Argument. The writing section is graded on a scale of 0-6, with half-point increments. The essays are typed in the computer using a word designed by ETS. On a whole, a test taker is given 75 minutes for this section. The split is 45 minute for Issue and 30 minute for Argument. The program do not contain any spell checker or any error correcting features. It is necessary for a test taker to take care of the mistakes which they might commit, say spelling and grammatical slips. Each essay irrespective of the Issue or Argument is evaluated by atleast two readers in a holistic manner for a Six-Point scale.If the two scores are within one point, the average of them is taken. If the two scores differ by more than a point, a third reader examines the written essays.

Issue task

The test taker will be able to choose between two topics upon which to write an essay. The time allowed for this essay is 45 minutes. It is recommended to take the topic which makes more comfortable, in your thought process to earn quality points respective of your stand, either for or against or even a neutral stand at times, depending on the format used. The Issue can be written in two formats: Website and Princeton. It is a Thumb rule that a Website format is better in relative terms of earning quality points rather than in Princeton.

Argument task

The test taker will be given an argument and will be asked to write an essay that explains why one side of the argument is superior. Typically, the task requires the test taker to identify and critique through logical fallacies of the argument. The time allotted for this essay is 30 minutes. Unlike Issue, Argument cannot have a neutral stand either support or oppose. This same fact boils down to take up Princeton rather than Website format.

Let's discuss more of Princeton and Website in the coming posts. Any comments or suggestions is purely welcome. Will be Back!!!

Starting With GRE

GRE-->Graduate Record Examination is a basic admission requirement for pursuing graduation principally in US and also in other English speaking countries. It is administered by the ETS- Educational Testing Service, the exam is mainly helpful in testing an individual in the areas of math, vocabulary, and analytical writing. It is conducted via computer and paper based: of which the former is mostly perferred by the students.
The exam consists of three graded sections, plus a required experimental section that is not included in the reported score. The three graded sections: Verbal, Quantitative and Analytical Writing. Out of the three sections, anyone may come first irrespective of the order given above since it is basically a patterned approach. The three sections are scaled on a mark of 800 each for Verbal and Quantitative Section, a scale of 6 for the Analytical Writing section. An additional non-scored and clearly-marked optional research section may also appear at end of the test. The entire test procedure takes about 3 hours.
The non-scoring section is a optional type, depending upon the test taker to answer or not. This section neither drops your score nor increase your score. It is basically placed for knowing the overall quality of the test takers whether to make the pattern harder or continue at the same difficulty level. In the next post, we will have a clear picture on all of the three sections.

Cheers Arun:)

Climacteric Phase

Hi friends, everyone will be in your hot seats by now, due to post-graduate programmes in this part of the year. Am i right???????...The answer will be a big hefty nod from your head saying 'Yes'. Some of my inmates and a few among the student community in the early 20's, whom i see, always meander around the things in and around them, in choosing their careers. So i personally feel for those poor students, in order to help them, without digressing from what they have in their ignited minds. Among the students applying for these programmes, nearly half of them decide their future prospects after a perplexed mind. There is a need for definite guidance to streamline them which credits for their future. This is why i call it a climacteric phase for these poor students. As the sketch suggests, the students who are more bamboozled are the students who pursue in US, struggle in the name of GRE. Finally, i decided to help them in what all way i can for them. Send in your comments and also the queries. Catch you all soon with it!!!!