Summary Of RC Questions

1.The order of the passage questions roughly corresponds to the order in which the issues are presented in the passage.

2. The six questions are
Main Idea
Description
Extension
Applicative
Tone

3. The main idea of a passage is usually stated in the first few sentences of the first paragraph. If it’s not there, it will probably be at the end of the entire passage.

4. If after the first reading, you don’t have a feel for the main idea, review the first and last paragraph.

5. The answer a description question must refer directly to a statement in the passage, not to something implied by it. Exact quotes are used with these questions to bait wrong answers.

6. When answering a description question, you must find the point in the passage from which thequestion is drawn.

7. If a description question refers to a particular line then the answer might be few lines before or after that line.

8. In extension questions, any answer choice which is exactly stated in the passage will mostly be incorrect.

9. Application questions are slightly different from extension questions. Entension questions ask you to apply what you have understood to a particular pasrt of the passage, while application questions ask you to apply the answer to a particular hypothetical situation.

10.Application questions are a bit tougher.

11. To answer an application question, take the perspective of the author. Ask yourself: What is the arguement about?

12. For tone questions, decide whether the writer’s tone is positive, negative, or neutral

13. Beware of answer-choices that contain extreme emotions they maybe detractors. If an author’s tone is negative, it may be disapproving. Or if her tone is positive, it may be approving.

14. The answers must be indisputable.A correct answer will always be in the passage.Do not assume.

5 Rules to Success in GRE

This is a 5 step guide which no 1 tells you about studying GRE

1. Don’t Be Scared
Everyone has their own experience regarding the GRE. Just because someone comes and says that it was very tough or its very easy does not mean the same applies for you. The GRE questions change every month atleast once every 15 days. All students giving the exam on the same day maybe having different questions. So for you to get intimidated by someone else’s experience is not right. Also don’t take it lightly because someone else says its easy. Maybe it was easy for him or he must have prepared really well for it.

2. Set Your Priorities
You know better than anyone where you are weak. Some people find verbal tough while some find Maths tough. The syllabus for GRE is posted on this blog. Check the syllabus and see where you feel you are weak. Do not directly jump to a decision. Practice some of the questions and see how much you are getting right. You should know what your strengths are and what your weaknesses are. To help you doing this you can also give diagnostic tests which also assist you.

3. Practice
This is a decision maker. The best way to do well in GRE is by practice. You cannot learn 3000 words from the vocabulary list in 1 or 2 months. You have to practice and revise each topic regularly. Make it a point to revise whatever you have studied during the day in the night. Revision is the best way to remember what you have studied.
Make a weekly schedule and stick to it. There is room for flexibility but try your best to stick to it. Don’t wait until test day to stat revising or practicing. You can start studying well before your test day or even before your tuitions begin.
During practice you should always concentrate on the process of solving or answering a question, not the performance. Getting a question right today is not the most important thing. What matters is wether you can get a similar question right on test day.

4. Focus On Your Weakness
To get a god score you should always give more attention to your weaknesses. Some students give the exam with the intention of score 800/800 in Maths but in the process neglect Verbal. On the whole, the students score comes down then. It is more important to practice verbal than to practice Maths. Although this should not be done if the student is very weak in Maths. If weak in Maths then practice Maths more.
You should focus on quality here. Don’t get excited if you have started getting many answers correct. You should focus on developing a strategic and productive approach here.

5. Give Practice Test
You should give practice tests usually 2-3 weeks before the day of your exam. Keep the ETS practice test CD for last. The idea of giving more practice test is to get mentally set for your actual exam. You should get yourself in the mood so on exam day your mentally prepared. Once that’s done, bring your attention to timing. Try solving each answer efficiently in the time allotted. Don’t be in a hurry and concentrate while solving.

Follow these 5-steps and your can easily expect a score of 1400 in your GRE exam.

GRE Syllabus

There is no declared syllabus for the GRE. This is a very big obstacle that makes studying the GRE difficult. Although there is no syllabus, ETS does state that the test makes up the following parts

The syllabus can be broke up as follows :

· Analytical Writing

· Verbal Sessions
1. Reading Comprehensions
2. Sentence Completions
3. Antonyms
4. Analogies

· Maths Sessions
1. Arithmatic
2. Algebra
3. Word Problems
4. Geometry
5. Data Interpretation
6. Quantitative Comparisons

Verbal and Maths syllabus will both be discussed in detail in separate posts.

Choosing A Counselor

Most students fail to understand that the best counselor is not the most popular counselor. Just because a counselor is famous does not mean he should be your first choice. Every counselor is a specialist in a particular department. For example, 2 counselors can be equally famous but 1 must be a specialist in Science courses and the other in Commerce.

When you search for a counselor atleast meet 3 counselors and then accept which ever counselor you like. There are some counselors who are very good in MBA but still counsel students for science courses. Please do not go to such counselors. Do a proper research of which course you want to do, how much the counselor is helping and the main part, how much he is charging.
Instead of counselors you can also contact some agents you are affiliated to universities abroad. They will help you submit your applications to the university for free. They are very useful but only help you with respect to the universities they are affiliated to. These agents get a commission for every students who accepts admission via them. They also have a consortium (quota) of their own so there are more chances of getting admissions that way. One of the most renowned places where students apply via agents is UK.

There are some counselors themselves who have a contact in getting students to a particular university. But remember, good universities don’t require people to represent them via counselors.
Counselors are sometimes not even required if you have a sibling or a friend who is willing to guide you with everything. You just need a little guidance, most counselors do only that, they only guide you. What you can do is ask your seniors, relatives or search the web for the prospects of the course you like and the university you prefer. You can also borrow their documents for guidance and prepare your own. But please be careful about plagiarism. Please do not copy thing word-2-word. The universities abroad scan the documents and use software’s to see if they are original or copied.

There are some counselors who help you entirely from A-Z from choosing a college to getting your visa done. Its choice if you want such counselors. Its better if you don’t go to such counselors because your entirely at their mercy. You will not have a clear picture of whats happening and will always be nervous.


To end, please choose your counselor according to the subject he is a specialist in and not how famous he is. Also please check the review of his previous clients.
All best with your selection!!!

Which Date Should I Take

Well choosing a date for your exam is a very important decision to make. Somtimes it can predict the entire outcome of your exam. Choosing an exam date is entirely your decision but here are a few pointers which you should consider and should help you choose the date.

· Choose the beginning of the month and preferably morning.
· Keep atleast 4 months for studying and 1 month additional as a safety if u want.
· For those studying can take 1 yr to 6 months time to study
· Take it atleast 3 months before the deadline of your university
· Since the GRE is valid for 5yrs, take it when you have had enough of time to study for it. You can give it around 4yrs even before you want to apply abroad.

This applies to those people who are not confident that they will do well. Please give the GRE as early as possible. If your score is low, don’t get disheartened, you can always give it again the very next month.

GRE can be given once a month and total 5 times in a year.

Registering For GRE

Well registering for GRE is not very tough, but can get a little confusing at times. Registration can be done in 3 ways, via, online, phone or mail.The most fastest and preferable is online registrations .The only problem with online and phone registration is that a credit is necessary. For those who do not have a credit card they can apply via mail and send a demand draft (DD) of the amount to ETS.


My advice – Register online. There are a few advantages of registering online:
· It’s the fastest.
· Its easy and safe.
· You can see all the dates available for the span of 3 months, unlike the phone where you tell them the date and they will inform you if its available or not.
· You know what is happening, if you are not confident of what you have done, simply don’t enter your credit card number and start all over again.
· If you are not from US, no commotions of making international calls.

Now how to go about it?
Well I will explain the online procedure first.

You have to visit the ETS link for GRE (http://www.gre.org/). Once your in the website, search for the title Test Takers in which you will find the option of registering for the test. Click on it. Then you will get the option for General GRE Test or Subjective GRE Test. Choose whichever test applies to you. The registration procedure for both are the same. After you have chosen the test you want to give, you will have the details on registering via mail, phone or online. Choose online which brings you to scroll down bar giving 2 options GRE General and GRE Subjective Test. Select the test you want and proceed .Now this is where it gets a bit different.I shall explain the General Test first.

Select your location which will then transfer you to Thomson Prometrics Home link.You will have 4 options – Locate a Test Site, Schedule an Exam, Reschedule or Cancel an Exam and Exam Confirmation.

If you do not know where is the location of your test center, first find that out and then proceed to scheduling an exam..Once you click on schedule an exam you will get some formality conditions, just accept all of them and proceed ( read if you want). You choose your location and schedule an appointment by clicking on Schedule Appointment . Now is the most important part Choose the Date you prefer. You can see the dates available in a 3- month pattern or directly on a specific day.Once you click on the date you will see the time available for that day.If the dates are not highlighted then there is no vacancy for those dates .

NOTE - Once you click on the time you are directly accepting the date.So do not click on the time until you are sure you want that date and time for your exam.

Fill the information form, once done, you fill the credit card details and make the payment. Once all is done you copy the receipt and the details of your exam (e.g. confirmation number).
Your confirmation letter is very important because you will have to present it to your exam center. Thats it, you better start preparing now.

The procedure is almost the same for paper-based GRE Test and the Subjective GRE test.


NOTE
To reschedule you will have to pay 50$
You must reschedule or cancel no later than 10 working days of your appointment

To register via phone you will have to contact your ETS center according to your country.
To register via mail you have to mail ETS atleast 1-2 months previous to the exam date that you want. Please refer to the site for exact details to register via mail. My advice, do it online.


Cheers!!! All the Best for your exam.