Some valuable resources

The other day, I was organizing my hard drive and I found some of my really valuable documents that I used for the GRE preparation, sitting in my folder and resting at peace. I am sharing some of them here now....I'm still digging into my huge piles of folders and I am sure I might find some more, but for now check these out!

1. Here are a few sample sets of essays for the Issue type of essay.

Part 1

Part 2

Keep checking this post for more!

Thesaurus for GRE

When I was preparing for my GRE test, I made a word-list grouping all gre words having similar meaning, and shared it in the forums then. I am glad that it turned out to be much more useful to people than I thought :) I still get thanking replies for that and frankly, that was one main motivation behind this blog!

Google this topic and the first hit will get you there. If not, here's the pdf version for print.

Please post your comments here and let me know if you find it useful.

Thanks and enjoy reading!

Analysis of an Argument

Of the two writing sections, I personally find this one a lot easier. It's more straight forward and assumes more or less a standard structure. If you're good at analytical thinking, you'll score well in this and let your creative brain sleep for a while :)

Again, like in the issue, evaluators see for certain specific things from your analytical argument essay such as these:

1. What claims, conclusions, and underlying assumptions does the argument make?

2. What additional evidence might weaken or stengthen the claims made in the argument?

3. What changes in the argument would make the reasoning more sound?

As you may already know, if you read an argument carefully, you may identify three disticnt parts in it: a) the basic claim that's central to the discussion b) one or more assumptions to arrive at the conclusioin c) of course the conclusion itself. If you recognised all of those perfectly, you've finished 1/4th of your job. There's still some work needed from you to think about some additional clauses that may weaken or strengthen the claim. And also some suggestions to the argument to make it look more reasonable. That's another 1/4th of your work. Now, all you need to do is plan your writing and structure it accordingly. So here's how you go about it:

1. Spend one minute to identify those 3 elements, think about some additional evidences and suggestions/changes to the argument, while simultaneously jotting them down on your scrap paper.

2. Structure your essay as follows: State clearly what the argument is all about - what it claims and concludes, in the very first paragraph. Add a line or two about your opinion over the argument expressing that it is not a sound argument and that it makes several assumptions. This makes a perfect trasition point to the following paragraphs where you'll talk about the assumtions one by one. Word your argument such that it sounds logical by providing contradicting examples where the claim may seem unfit. You could keep every point in a separate paragraph or keep all of them in one, as far as it logically transits from one idea to another. And finally, in the concluding paragraph, suggest one or two changes to the argument to make it sound more reasonable. Keep this one succinct and end it nicely.

3. Leave 5 minutes for revision. I cannot emphasise enough on this. Watch out for careless mistakes in grammar, spelling and typing.

You might already be knowing now about the pool of argument essays. My suggestion is to go through them once or twice and get prepared. Again, don't waste your time in writing all of them. But you might wanna practice a few of the topics in there.

Analysis of an Issue - What's your perspective?

Let me begin with the good news. And the good thing about this section is that you are given a choice to pick any of the two topics displayed on the screen. And the bad news? is that you still have to present your perspective on the chosen one and can't get away with it :) and the most intimidating part? is the time limit you have to be watchful of!! Am I scaring you already? Don't worry, read along and I promise, you'll be a lot more motivated by the end of this post.

Before anything else, always remember your clock's ticking constantly and no matter what, by the end of 45th minute, you'll be moved to another section. What I am trying to say is that you must be conscious at all times to finish your essay within the time, at the least, if not anything more. An incomplete essay will fetch you nothing even if it have excellent beginning and a perfect grammar.

Your screen at this point will look something like this:

"Present your perspective on the issue below, using relevant reasons and/or examples to support your views."

Topic 1

OR

Topic 2

My advice to you here is - Don't even look at the question for a second. Give a patient and careful reading of the two issues and instead of jumping into a topic, give an entire minute to think through each of them and then make a selection of the one you feel comfortable with.

It's now time for other important aspects you need to take care of. In fact I pulled out some useful notes from my old Barrons book which I want to talk about here. I'm sure everyone of you must be holding a copy of GRE Barrons right now and those of you who don't, grab one soon. That's my recommended book for the test.

The section evaluators test you on certain very specific aspects of writing, like the following, and score you accordingly. The earlier you know of them, the better.

• Have you understood the central issue presented in the statement?
• Have you communicated precisely if you agree with all or with any part of the statement? If it is a part of the statement, which part do you agree?
• Have you presented your reasons as to why you agree with the statement or parts of it or why not?
• In some cases, where applicable, have you been able to identify specific instances in which the statement is valid and where it is not?
• Have you been able to support your position on the issue with reasons that include examples — either hypothetical or drawn from readings or direct experiences?
• Have you been able to identify and highlight reasons that someone might use to refute or undermine your position? Have you acknowledged those and do you have a good defense against those views?

Here are some of my recommendations while approaching a topic:

1. Spend one or two minutes to plan your writing. Within this little time, quickly jot down a few points on both sides of the argument and decide which side to support. That way, you're making available all your main ideas you want to present, well before you begin writing. And now you can focus on the writing part without worrying about the points (they are now on your scrap paper).
2. A preferred structure for such essays is to have one starting paragraph to address the central issue and explain briefly about your perspective on it (against/for/somewhere in between). By doing so, it serves two main purposes - a) you tell the evaluator that you understand what the issue b) the evaluator gets a clear picture of what to expect from the following paragraphs. It's simple, straightforward and fetches you score then and there. Next, dedicate one or two paragraphs to put your perspective in two or three short points/arguments/reasons (feel free to look up your scrap paper in between). Make sure you provide a specific example to support that sub-argument you're currently describing. That way, you're perspective is better understood. And the evaluators keenly watch for such examples. And finally, make your conclusion in your last paragraph within 3-4 sentences. It would be nice if you're able to summarise your points but if time doesn't permit it, atleast include a brief conclusion to re-inforce your standpoint you made in the beginning paragraph.
3. No matter what, ALWAYS leave 5 minutes for revisiting your essay. I know it may sound like a waste of time but there are somethings you don't wanna go without double check - like spelling mistakes, silly grammatical mistakes and typo errors. I just cannot emphasise enough on this.
4. And finally, did you know that the GRE test makers have a pool of issue topics posted on their official site and that the topics appearing in the test day will be very similar to some of those? If not, it's a very useful information to know. My advice to all of you is to read through all the topics listed there once or twice to have a mental picture of what to expect on the test day but don't waste your time on working on each one of them, coz there are lots in their.

People do ask me for a lot of sample essays. I looked for them too, during my time of preparation. I have a collection of sample essays on most of the topics which I'll share soon with you all.

GRE Syllabus

Never forget to visit the gre official website to get the latest syllabus. They have a detailed explanation of all sections.

Here's a brief summary of the syllabus, for your quick reference.

Section 1: Analytical Writing Section - Issue (45 minutes)

Section 2: Analytical Writing Section - Argument (30 minutes)

Section 3: Verbal (30 questions, 30 minutes)

6 sentence completion questions

7 Analogy questions

8 Reading Comprehension questions

9 Antonym questions

Section 4: Quantitative (45 questions, 28 minutes)

Some problem solving questions

Some quantitative comparion questions

Some data analysis questions

My advice for each section:

1. For the writing section (issue), as you might know already, you will be given a general topic and you'll have to argue either for or against the topic. If you are unable to take a clear stand, you might want to agree to a part of it and disagree with some other point. Whatever the case may be, you won't be judged on any of these. What you'll be judged is on how well you make your case, and by that I mean, if you're able to support it with specific examples. You'll score for the points you make, examples you provide for those points, the structure of your passage and ofcourse for word usage. And be extremely careful of making any silly grammatical and spelling mistakes, as you might loose a lot of points on that.

I know, a lot of people get intimidated with this section. I did too! But trust me, it's no big deal to score well in it, if you remember certain key things while writing. I'll put a separate post for this section and elaborate more on this.

2. For the argument writing, the basic approach is the same: present your case with points and supporting examples. And maintain a uniform structure. (I'll explain what that means in a separate post) Also, BE CAREFUL with your grammar and spelling. Honestly, I found it easier than writing about an issue, as this is more structured compared to issue where you can opt for any format and get lost in between, if not planned properly. I highly recommend you to go through the post for this section, so that it makes more sense to you.

3. For the verbal section, I always remembered one thumb rule: Get all the gre words by heart. I know that's easier said than done, but once done, it's a lot more easier to score in this section. In fact, look for yourself - antonyms and analogies are a direct way to test your vocabulary. Sentence completion is also a lot easier to crack if you knew meanings of all the options provided. And finally, RC's are reasonably tough, if you're not used-to reading american journals and news article. More advise on that later but for now, just don't take this one very easy. And again, a good hold on vocabulary will help you a lot, in getting through the passages faster.

4. Quantitative section is ridiculously easy. To be honest with you, I got annoyed at the difficulty level, when I first saw a few sample questions. They felt like a waste of time. But then there's a catch here which you migh fall to, if you're like me. The questions are so damn easy that you'd want to jump to the asnwer and when you look at the options, all look very similar to one another. So there's a lot of room for silly mistakes. Just be watchful of that (it was a big trap net for me).

Go ahead and read through my other posts where I have talked in detail about each section. For now, I don't plan to include any post for the quants as most people find it easier to crack. Said that, I'll be glad to provide my help with that, if you feel so. Just post a comment.

Why this blog?

I took my GRE test in 2005. So technically my score is nearing the expiration date and you might wonder, why am I blogging now about something I did 5 years back. Well, here's the thing. Honestly, as much as I wonder the same, I have been getting a lot of requests from a lot of people - friends, friend's friends, acquaintancies and relatives, for guidance on the prep-work and sharing any resource I have. Everytime I have helped anybody with their test, I have wondered if I should be writing a blog, which might not just easen my job but also help a lot more people than I know personally of. And everytime I wondered that, I have procrastinated it at the same time, untill I recieved a mail request from someone for blogging all that I did to score well in the test. And here i am, doing exactly that.

What to expect from this blog:

1. A cogent explanation of the GRE syllabus
2. How did I prepare
3. Useful must-know links
4. Some websites that I found useful
5. All of my resources

I hope you find it useful for your preparation. More importantly, I am extremenly pleased and satisfied about finishing my highly procrastinated work finally!

All the best!